Count the Cost, Then Surrender Everything

Luke 14:28-33: "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."


These words of Jesus were quite provocative for the large crowds that were following the Messiah. Earlier in the chapter, Jesus had been invited by the Pharisees to a banquet at the home of one of their prominent members. The banquet was not to bless Jesus but to trap him, for the Pharisees "carefully watched" Jesus to see if He would do or say anything that could be used to incriminate Him. Jesus in turn used the opportunity to address the spiritual condition of these religious leaders. As Jesus observed the Pharisees scurrying about to sit in the esteemed seats for dinner, He took the time to share a parable to teach them of the importance of replacing their hearts of pride and self-fulfillment with the attitudes of humility and surrender. He did this knowing that pride was the foundational problem with these people, and He instructed them that a person with a humble spirit toward God would in turn be exalted by the Lord. When one of the Pharisees countered Jesus with the rather arrogant proclamation, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God," Jesus knew that this man believed himself to be one of these privileged men who would dine with God. Thus, Jesus responded with the parable of the great banquet, in which the Master called his servants to invite many guests, but many of the expected guests made excuses to refuse the Master's invitation. Jesus used this illustrative story to identify the hardened hearts of the hearers. Jesus knew that these men arrogantly thought themselves worthy of eternal blessedness, but He also knew that these men were calloused toward the Lord of Hosts and were thus refusing His offering to the Great Banquet. They in effect had elevated themselves to the place of a god in their own lives, and thus they were resistant to the notion of surrender to the One True God.


After leaving the banquet, Jesus then began to teach the crowds about God's grace. He began with two different illustrations of a home builder and a king, who both counted the cost of building a home or fighting a battle respectively before charting their course of action. He used these stories to teach the people that each person must contemplate deeply their spiritual conditions and respond accordingly to finish in a way that would gain God's eternal blessing. Jesus told the crowds that a person must make God preeminent in one's life . . . nothing, can supercede the place of God as Lord. This is the key ingredient to salvation; it necessitates that a person repent of the sin of rebellion against God and surrender to Him as Lord (Master). As we receive the solely sufficient gift of grace through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, we respond by removing ourselves from the throne of our lives and bow to the Lord as our Sovereign King. Our wills are conformed to His will, and we choose to follow in obedience to His commands.


Jesus reinforced everything that He had shared with the people by reiterating, "any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple" (14:33). We must relinquish our rights to everything and surrender them to our Savior. We must have an attitude of humility and contrition before the Almighty, and we must seek Him above all persons and things.



Tragically, many of the Pharisees who invited Jesus to the banquet would never count the cost of their arrogant quest for self-adulation. They never contemplated the eternal loss that they would encounter, because deep within their hearts was a desire to usurp the throne of God for themselves, and this lack of sobering reflection would lead to their eventual doom.

There is a good word for each of us here. We all must count the cost of surrender versus rebellion against the Lord. For those who would fall before the Lord with a humble spirit of repentance and submission, God has offered His gift of eternal life. For those who defy the One True Lord for their own wanton desires, only judgment remains.