#131 Lu. 14:28-30 BUILDING A CHRISTIAN LIFE Introduction: In our previous text we learned that except one loves Jesus more than anyone else in the world, including himself, he cannot be a disciple of Christ. He can be saved without loving Jesus that much, but he cannot be a genuine disciple or follower of Jesus without loving Jesus that much. He must love Jesus more than all else. In our text today, Jesus uses an example to illustrate the point. He said that if a man intends to build a tower, he needs first to sit down and figure up how much it is going to cost him to build. Otherwise he is apt to run out of funds before the tower is complete. So it is with building a Christian life or becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. The building of Christian discipleship or building a Christian life is like building a tower. One who intends to follow Jesus and build a Christian life should first sit down and count the cost. I. The tower, as spoken of in Scripture The tower which is most commonly spoken of in Scripture is a watchtower which is built for protection. Towers were usually built at threshing floors and winepresses for the purpose of guarding the harvested produce against thieves, which would steal, or against animals, which would destroy. They were also built in villages to protect the people from an approaching enemy. A hedge which was grown around villages to protect the people who lived within the village. Towers were built at intervals along the hedge to warn the people of approaching danger. They were also built at intervals in the great walls which completely surrounded the large cities. They were built much taller than all the surrounding structures so that the watchman could see anything or anyone who might pose a threat to the people inside. They were built strong so that an enemy could not easily capture them and endanger the city or village. I repeat: In this text Jesus uses the building of a tower to illustrate the building of Christian discipleship or the building of a Christian life. II. The necessity of building on a good foundation There is one very important thing about building Christian discipleship or a Christian life that is not specifically mentioned in this text. I am talking about building on the right foundation. It is not specifically stated in our text that the tower must have a good foundation, but it is implied. If the foundation is not strong, the tower could fall. It is very clearly taught in Scripture that if one builds a Christian life, he must build on the right foundation. So even though it is not mentioned here in this text, I want to dwell on that thought for a few minutes. In order to build any structure, whether a tower or some other kind of structure, it is necessary to have a good foundation on which to build. If one builds on a sandy foundation, when the floods come the sand will wash out from under the structure and the structure will fall. Even so, in building Christian discipleship or in building a Christian life, one must build on the right foundation. That right foundation is Jesus Christ. There is no other foundation upon which to build the Christian life. To put it another way, one must believe in Jesus Christ in order to be saved and in order to become a genuine disciple of Christ. In the first place, one must believe there is a God. He must also believe that Jesus is Deity God dwelling in human flesh. Jesus was not conceived by Joseph, the husband of Mary. Rather He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of God. Therefore Jesus was born with the body of a human being, but He was born with the Spirit of Deity God. The Bible teaches that there are three in the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was conceived, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity moved into that germinated seed within Mary's womb and gave life to that seed. Thus, when the child, Jesus, was born, He was a human being as far as His flesh was concerned, but He was the Second Person of the Godhead, as far as His Spirit was concerned. He was a brand new baby boy who was just beginning life as far as His flesh was concerned. But He was Deity God who had lived throughout all eternity past as far as His Spirit was concerned. Now one must believe that Jesus is Eternal God in human flesh in order to be a true believer in Jesus Christ and in order to build a Christian life. One must not only believe that God is and that Jesus is Deity God in human flesh, but He must also believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of men. He is the only Savior of men. When the angel appeared to the shepherds in the field he said, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord," Luke 2:11. In John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." In Acts 4:12 we read, "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Unless one believes that Jesus is the Savior--the only Savior of men--he cannot be a true believer in Jesus and, therefore, he cannot be a Christian. Yet one must not only believe that Jesus is God and He is the Savior, but he must trust in Jesus to save his own soul. He must trust Jesus to cleanse him from all his sin. He must trust Jesus to keep him out of the fires of hell. He must trust Jesus to take him to heaven. In Acts 16:31 Paul says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." John 3:18 says, "He that believeth on him is not condemned..." In John 5:24 it is said that the believer has everlasting life, shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. So if one believes in the existence of God, believes that Jesus is the Son of God, and trusts Jesus as his own personal Savior to keep him out of hell and take him to heaven he is saved and he has started to build on the right foundation. So if one is going to build Christian discipleship, if he is going to build a Christian life, he must first be saved and thus build on the right foundation. III. What it costs to build a tower for Jesus But now let us look at our text again. V. 28, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?" He must not only build on the right foundation, but he must consider what it costs to be a disciple of the Lord. It does not cost a thing to be saved. Salvation is a free gift from God. But it costs something to be a disciple of Jesus. It costs something to follow Jesus. It costs something to follow the teachings of Jesus. It costs something to follow the will of Jesus in your life. Jesus has already informed us in our text last Sunday that in order for one to be a disciple of Christ, it is going to cost him something. I do not mean that it is going to cost money. I am not saying that Jesus charges a fee. But I am saying that if one is going to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ it is going to cost him something. For one thing, as we saw in our text last Sunday, one is going to have to love Jesus more than he loves his father. He is going to have to love Jesus more than he loves his mother. He is going to have to love Jesus more than he loves his sister or brother or wife or husband or children or anybody else in this world. He is going to have to love Jesus even more than he loves his own life. He is going to have to be willing to suffer for Jesus. He is going to have to be willing to sacrifice for Jesus. He is going to have to sacrifice his time for Jesus. He is going to have to be sacrifice his talents for Jesus. He is going to have to be willing to sacrifice whatever is in his possession for Jesus. He is going to have to sacrifice his own fleshly desires for Jesus. He is going to have to live a godly life for Jesus. He is not going to live a perfect life here in this world, but he is going to have to try. He is going to have to be willing to give up sin. He is going to have to be willing to live the kind of life that Jesus would be pleased with. He cannot be a disciple of Jesus and deliberately live in a way he knows that displeases Jesus Christ. He is not going to be free to do many of the things that the rest of the world does. He is not going to be free to do many of the things that even his own flesh nature would desire to do. He is going to have to say "No" to his own flesh nature. One needs to know that if he is going to please the Lord Jesus Christ---if he is going to really be a disciple of Christ---if he is going to really life the Christian life---he is going to have to pay the price. He needs to know this and he needs to make up his mind to start with that this is the kind of life he wants to live. He needs to love Jesus so much that he is willing to make whatever sacrifice is necessary in order to please the Lord and in order to bring honor and glory to the Lord. IV. The failure to complete one's tower for Jesus V. 29-30, "Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish." If a man makes a profession of faith in Jesus Christ he announces to the world that he is a Christian. Then if he lives his life like the Devil, he is going to be the laughing stock of the non- Christian world. A man may actually walk the Christian walk for a while, but if he turns back and forsakes the Christian way, the world looks on and laughs. The world loves to see a professed Christian fail in his efforts to live the Christian life. The world loves to see the Christian stop going to church. The world loves to see the Christian drink and gamble and carouse around in an ungodly way. The world loves to hear a professed Christian curse and use filthy language. It loves to see a Christian man or woman live an immoral life. The world loves to see a professed Christian be unfaithful to his or her companion. The world loves to see a Christian loose his temper and behave in an unchristian way. The world loves to see a Christian who tell lies and tries to cheat people out of their money or property. The world loves to watch a Christian fall on his face, so to speak, in his efforts to serve the Lord. It laughs and mocks and ridicules the Christian who lives in such an ungodly manner. The world especially loves to see a preacher who disgraces the cause of Christ by immorality or by greed and dishonesty. It had rather see an ungodly preacher than anybody. The world laughs harder at a wayward preacher than it does at anybody. The world loves to see any Christian stop building his tower for the Lord. It would love to see every Christian stop building his tower for the Lord. It loves to see a Christian who has made no progress on his tower in several years. V. An incentive to build for Jesus On the other hand, the Lord loves to see a Christian sit down with his Bible in his hand and study the word of God. The Lord loves to see the Christian grow in his understanding of the will of the God for his life. The Lord loves to see a Christian who seeks to put the will of God first in his life---even before his own will. The Lord loves to see a Christian who loves Jesus enough to live a godly life. The Lord loves to see a Christian keep on building his Christian knowledge. The Lord loves to see a Christian keep on building his Christian character. He is pleased to see one seek to live better today than he lived yesterday. He loves to see one who repents of his wrong doing and changes his ways to please the Lord. The Lord loves to see a Christian who keeps on building the tower for the Lord every day that he lives. Now there is the possibility that some Christian may sit down and count the cost of building the tower and say that the cost is too high. He may say, "It just costs too much to live the way the Lord wants me to live. It is just too much to sacrifice. It is just too much to ask. It is too much to expect." I know of someone who will disagree with you. Listen to what the Apostle Paul has to say. In Romans 12:1-2 Paul said, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Paul said that when we consider what the Lord has done for us it is only reasonable that we live our lives to His honor and glory. I'll tell you, my friend, we can never sacrifice as much for Jesus as Jesus has sacrificed for us. Let me also say to you that it would be better for us who are saved to build a tower to the honor and glory of the Lord than to build a fortune for ourselves. It would be better for us to build a tower for the Lord than for us to build a name for ourselves. It would be better for us to build a tower for the Lord than for us to build a kingdom for ourselves. VI. A challenge to build your tower for Jesus I want to issue a challenge to you to build your tower for the Lord. Some of you have already made much progress in the building of your tower. I want to challenge you not to let up. Keep on keeping on. I want to challenge you not only to keep up the good work, but I want to challenge you to do even better. I want you to have the very finest Christian character and the very finest Christian life and to build the very finest tower for the Lord. It is possible that some of you are saved and yet you have built very little on your tower for the Lord. Let me challenge you to get busy building for Jesus. If you have not followed the Lord in Scriptural baptism, then get that done and get busy for the Lord. If you do not hold membership in a local church where you can be active for the Lord then get in one of the Lord's churches where you can serve Him better. I'm not saying that you cannot serve the Lord outside a church, but I am saying that you can do a better job of serving Him by holding membership in a good Scriptural New Testament church. There may be someone here this morning who is saved who at one time was very active in building your tower for the Lord, but something happened and you have not done a very good job of building lately. Let me challenge you to renew your commitment to the Lord and get busy once again for Jesus. There may be some of you who are not yet saved. You know that you need to be saved. Maybe you have been intending to be saved, but for some reason or other you have kept on putting it off. Let me challenge you to put if off no longer. Get this matter settled while there is time. I am going to ask our musicians to come forward at this time and while they are coming I am going to ask you to silently join me in prayer to God. I will pray aloud; you pray silently. Conclusion: Who will come as we sing this invitation hymn and commit yourself to the Lord?