Jump Start # 1559

Luke 14:28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?”

This week we are looking at the subject of planning, particularly, spiritual planning. Our verse today, comes from the theme of discipleship. Counting the cost, is what Jesus is driving at. Calculate the cost. Figure out how much you can afford. Financial terms and words that express the idea of planning are used here. We understand this concept in other areas.

Car shopping involves looking at different kinds of cars, colors, options, sitting in the driver’s seat, taking in the smell, touching buttons and being amazed. Before long a person looks at the sticker on the side of the car window. That ends it for many people right there. It’s too expensive. I can’t afford that. Calculate the cost before you sit down and sign papers.

In the story Jesus tells, a builder is constructing a tower. Without careful planning, he’ll run out of money and the tower will stand unfinished. Unable to finish, he becomes the source of jokes, ridicule and embarrassment. A foundation was laid, but no tower was ever built. He ran out of money. He failed to calculate. He did not finish what was started. Before he ever turned over dirt, he should have planned. His failure to plan lead to a failure to build. Planning. Thinking things out. Looking at the current situation and then looking to the future to improve things is what he should have done.

Throughout our lives there are all kinds of planning stages. Before the baby is born, a young couple will pick out names, fix a room up and make plans for the new baby. Before we purchase a car, a house or even take a vacation, the wise person will plan things out. These plans include counting costs and finding the best deals. These plans involve looking at calendars and schedules. These plans are put on paper. They are thought about and thought about. Often the plans are scratched out and new plans are drawn up. It is amazing that we can put so much planning in picking out a college for our kids, buying a house for ourselves or even purchasing a car, but give so little thought to things spiritually. How rare is it that anyone asks, “Where does this congregation plan to be in five years?” Like an old river, too many just keep rolling along like they always have. A funeral here and a funeral there and the numbers dip down. No one speaks about what everyone sees, “We are decreasing, not increasing.” No one thinks about what needs to be done to turn the tide. No one seems concerned about the future. And so, the church continues doing what it has in past decades. Dusty tracts line the wall and no one thinks that these haven’t been touched in years. The same class format is used over and over and no one tries a new method. Every spring and every fall a series of lessons are presented by a visiting preacher. That brings a bit of hope and excitement, but it quickly goes away about as fast as it came. No one follows up with further teaching. No one suggests a different format for those lessons. No one is even sure what the purpose of those special meetings are. No thought is given to who will replace the current shepherds. Everything moves along slowly until one of the men dies. Then there is a swarm of activity to find his replacement. No thought was ever given to this before. Someone reluctantly agrees to serve and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Things return to the lifeless normal. Nothing more is ever said about leaders again until the next one dies.  Without realizing it the church slowly dies right before their eyes. Folks wonder what happened. It used to be big but now it’s not. Some claim that all the young people moved away. Others say, “it’s just the times. No one is interested these days.” Still, nothing changes. No plans. No direction. No future. Smaller and smaller the church becomes. More and more discouraged are the members. This is the scene in many, many congregations today. I know. I’ve been with them. I’ve asked them questions of which they have never thought about before and which they don’t know how to answer. Questions such as, “How are you going to turn this around?” “What are your plans in ten years?” Sometimes, a few will give safe, guarded answers, such as, “We want to be as big as we can be.” Really? How are you going to do that? What you are doing now doesn’t seem to be working. Is it time to get back to the drawing board and think of other things? How about a class during the week?  How about a class in the homes? How about a specific meeting to address the specific things that they are facing? Are you kidding? Think these thoughts? That would involve plans, changes and a roadmap to get from point A to point B. No. Instead, they will just keep doing what they are doing!

Sit down and calculate. If Jesus wants us to do this in discipleship, don’t you think that He’d expect us to do the same in leading His people. Calculate what it’s going to take to get these folks stronger. Calculate what it takes to spread the word in the community. Calculate how to get more elders. Calculate. Count. Figure out. Get together and do some talking, thinking and praying.

Maybe it’s time to have a planning meeting. Maybe it’s time to think about what teaching we are putting folks through. Maybe it’s time to think about developing leaders. Planning. Thinking things out. Making adjustments to meet goals. This is what shepherds need to be doing. In the great Psalms, the shepherd led him to green pastures. How did he know where the green pastures were? Why was he leading him through the dark valleys of the shadow of death? He was going some where. Often, in the spring the grass is eaten in the lowlands and the shepherds would move flocks to the higher, cooler pastures in the summer. To get there they had to travel through those dark canyons. He was on a destination. He was going somewhere. He had a plan. Do you see that? Shepherds need a plan to get their people to Heaven. What is it?

Calculate the cost. Figure out how much that tower is going to cost before it is built. Leadership involves not just those things in the present but also looking into the future. Where are we going and how are we getting there. Too many places are stuck on auto-pilot. It’s time to turn it off, put your hands on the wheel and map out a course that will accomplish what needs to be done.

What’s it going to cost? The wise builder knows that before he starts building.

Roger

Jump Start # 1558

Luke 14:28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?”

This week we begin a series looking at making plans. All through life we map out and plan certain paths to take. The high school student who wants to go to college will take certain classes that will make that possible. We have a plan for retirement. We sit with the HR people at work or a financial planner and they show us a roadmap that we need to follow to be able to retire. The guy who lives pay check to pay check and never gives that any thought will wake up one day, too old to work and in a world of mess financially. He didn’t plan. The current vogue today is to map out a health plan. Certain insurance companies will have you filling out questions, seeing the doctor and doing things to keep you healthy. Following those plans ought to help one to better health.

However, isn’t it amazing that so few have a spiritual plan. The most important aspect of our lives and we don’t have much of a plan. They just haven’t given that much thought. They attend worship services, study whatever the church is offering in Bible classes and just move along that direction. Not much thought is put into a spiritual road map.

Even more amazing is it to find out how few congregations have plans beyond the current year. They schedule a couple of Gospel meetings, decide what classes will be taught and that’s about it. Some will go so far as scheduling Gospel meetings three or four years out and that makes them believe that they have really planned things out. But have they? Why is it, for instance, that they are currently teaching the book of Mark? Is it because last quarter they taught Matthew? Is that the only thought that was put into that? Is that what the congregation really needs? Who will be the next deacons? Who will replace the current elders when they no longer serve? Who will fill the pulpit in ten years? What will the congregation look like in ten years? How will that look affect things financially? How will it affect what the church wants to do?

If we ran our personal lives like many plan things in the church, we’d be a mess. Forward thinking…looking out ten, twenty years tells a congregation what adjustments need to be made today. Just doing the same things over and over often doesn’t meet excellence nor does it meet the demands and the needs of the congregation. What worked in the 1970’s may not be the best model today. Even having a discussion like this is extremely rare in most places.

So, we hope the next few Jump Starts will open the door and begin conversations about the future. We hope that adjustments will be made and careful thought will begin taking place as to why we are doing what we are doing.

Our verse today is about planning. This is found in a series of examples about discipleship. Jesus was teaching hard about being His disciple. The core definition of a disciple is a follower or a pupil or student. But it’s more than that. The concept is mentoring. There was a time, long ago, when parents would send their sons off to learn a trade. They didn’t send them to a school, but to a craftsman. The young man would live and watch and work with that craftsman for a while, often more than a year. When he was finished, he had learned a trade in which he could make a living and support a family. In time, a person could know who the mentor was because of a specific style that he had learned. Artists, musicians, craftsmen all had a unique style or signature to their craft. That was learned and passed on to their disciples.

We are disciples of Jesus. We learn from Jesus. After a while, there is a certain mark or style that people can notice. We are the light of the world, as Jesus was. This was discipleship.

The concept of discipleship was dedication. This is the thought that Jesus was driving at in Luke’s gospel. Here Jesus outlines the principles of discipleship:

• Jesus must come first (Lk 14:26). Even before family, Jesus must come first.
• There is a sacrifice each must pay (Lk 14:27). You must carry your own cross.
• There is a calculation that must be thought out first. (Lk 14:28-32). Plans are made in advance of building or going to war.
• Surrendering self must take place (Lk 14:33). You must be willing to give up your possessions.

Multiple times in this passage Jesus says, “You cannot be My disciple.” If you do not hate father and mother, you cannot be my disciple. If you do not carry your own cross, you cannot be my disciple. If you do not give up your possessions, you cannot be my disciple. Three times Jesus says this.

Most find this very strange. You’d think that Jesus would open wide the doors of His kingdom and call for anyone and everyone to come in. You’d think Jesus was “pre-qualifying” people. You almost get the impression that Jesus didn’t want certain ones. The truth be told, that’s it exactly. For Jesus to be Lord, He must be the Lord of our hearts. Jesus will not be the co-pilot. He must be the pilot. Any of these things would be enough for some to simply stop walking with Jesus. Family pressures…too many sacrifices…too much involved…putting self and stuff before the kingdom—we see that today. It makes folks weak and not committed. Family demands and you’ll find some putting Jesus on the back burner. Worship is trumped by family. Inability to make sacrifices leads one to sacrificing our commitment to Christ. Jesus is the one that is sacrificed, certainly not our ballgames, our days off or our time. This second rate commitment would make these less than harder believers fold up their tents and go home when things go tough. What would they do when family turned against them because of their faith? What would they do when people would hunt them down because of their faith? What would they do when they were unable to buy food at the market place because of their faith? What would they do if they lost their jobs because of their faith? These not so committed folks, would cave it. They would sell out. They would easily trade in what they believed to get along with the world. They’d be AWOL. They’d quit. Jesus was doing them all a favor by saying, “I don’t want you, if that’s the way you are going to be.” All in or not at all. 100% and nothing less. Serious and not playing around. Discipleship. This is what Jesus is driving at.

Next time, we’ll look into the example of building towers.

Committed to Jesus. Are you? How serious are you? Do you let the easiest thing get you off your path? In the great commission Jesus told the apostles to go into all the world and make disciples. I wonder if our hast to baptize folks, we’ve forgotten discipleship. The result is congregations filled with lukewarm, half committed, not very serious Christians who sit on the sidelines of life and must be begged to come and worship the God that saved them. Really? If this was a marriage, we’d kick the guy in the pants and say, “You said, ‘I do.’ So, start I doing.” Maybe it’s time we told folks to get on board, or to just stay at the dock and wave goodbye. Maybe we are so interested in full church buildings that discipleship doesn’t seem that important to us. To illustrate this, the number one question I am always asked when I travel to new places, always, without failure, is: “How large is your congregation back home?” Why do we ask that? If I said, “Five,” folks would say, “Oh, my,” as if they were sorry. If I say, “About 400,” the response is “WOW.” No one asks, “How strong are you?” “How faithful are you?” “How many disciples do you have?” No, it’s all about size. The big church mentality has reached even us. Bigger is better. Really? Maybe stronger is better. Maybe stronger and more faithful ought to be the direction of our questions.

Disciples of Jesus. It’s not the same as just going to church.

Roger