Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 14:28
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have [sufficient] to finish [it]?
28. intending to build a tower ] This and the next similitude are meant, like the previous teachings, to warn the expectant multitudes that to follow Christ in the true sense might be a far more serious matter than they imagined. They are significant lessons on the duty of deliberate choice which will not shrink from the ultimate consequences the duty of counting the cost (see Mat 20:22 ). Thus they involve that lesson of “patient continuance in well-doing,” which is so often inculcated in the New Testament.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Intending to build a tower – See Mat 21:33. A tower was a place of defense or observation, erected on high places or in vineyards, to guard against enemies. It was made high, so as to enable one to see an enemy when he approached; and strong, so that it could not be easily taken.
Counteth the cost – Makes a calculation how much it will cost to build it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Luk 14:28-30
For which of you, intending to build a tower
The Christian builder
Our Lord on purpose mentioned a tower rather than any other building, perhaps to signify that the top of our spiritual building must reach to heaven, or otherwise it will be vain to build.
A Christian, then, is a man that builds a tower, a noble building, not a cottage, and therefore should count the cost.
I. WHAT SORT OF A TOWER THE CHRISTIAN BUILDS.
1. A tower is no small building, but a noble structure; and so is the believers spiritual building.
(1) Infinite wisdom is the contriver of it.
(2) The Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation of it.
2. It is a noble building, or a famous tower, because the design of it is to preserve the soul from all its enemies, and from all dangers whatsoever, to eternal life.
3. This spiritual building may be called a tower, because a Christian is a soldier, and this building is to be his fortress; and if he builds on Christ, or rightly upon the only foundation, he need not fear all the gunshot of Satan, sin, the flesh, and the world, though he must expect to be battered severely by these enemies.
4. It may be called a tower, because the Christian builds for another world. He must gradually proceed until he reaches heaven.
II. WHY IS A CHRISTIAN SAID TO BUILD THIS TOWER?
1. Because he is to believe in Jesus Christ, i.e., to build on Him.
2. But note that it is God who finds all the materials.
III. EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD CONSIDER THE MATTER SO WELL AS TO COUNT THE COST. Why?
1. Because it will be a very costly building to him.
(1) He must give up all his cursed sins and lusts, though as dear to him in times past as a right hand or eye.
(2) He must expect it will cost him the loss of whatsoever he once accounted gain.
(3) He must part with all his former companions, and expect they will mock and deride him, and may be his own wife also.
2. Because great storms may rise, and floods come, and beat upon his high tower; and he should count the damage he may sustain in such storms.
3. Because he is not able either to begin, nor to build, or lay one stone by his own strength; and if he knows not this, or does not utterly despair of any power or ability of his own, he will never be able to finish, and then men will mock him, etc.
4. He must account how rich, how strong, and able he is in Jesus Christ; and if He knows that Christ is his strength, he counts the cost aright; and if he depends wholly, constantly, and believingly upon Jesus Christ, he need not fear but he shall have wherewith to finish this famous tower, i.e., the salvation of his precious soul.
Application:
1. This reprehends all rash and inconsiderate persons, who, through some sudden flash of zeal (which may prove like a lava flood) set out in a visible profession of Christ and the gospel.
2. This may inform us of the reason there are so many who grow cold, and soon falter, and fall off, or decline in their zeal and seeming love to Christ, His truth, and people. They counted not the cost–what corruptions they must mortify, what temptations they must withstand, what reproaches they must expect to meet with, what enemies they may find, and what relations they may enrage and stir up against them.
3. Let all from hence be exhorted to count the cost before they begin to build, and not expose themselves by their inconsiderateness to the reproach of men, either to the grief of the godly, or to the contempt and scorn of the wicked.
4. Yet let none from hence be discouraged, or decline closing with Christ, or with His people; for if they are sincere and gracious persons, they will understand that the almighty power of God is engaged to help them.
5. Count also all the external charge, which a visible profession of Christ may expose you to; for the interest of Christ, and the charge of His Church, must be borne.
6. How great is the work of a Christian. No lazy life.
7. Let all learn on what foundation to build, and not refuse the chief cornerstone. Depend wholly upon God in Christ. His money pays for all. Yet you shall not miscarry for want of money to finish, if in all your wants you go to Him by faith and prayer. (B. Keach.)
Importance of consideration
Nelaton, the great French surgeon, once said that if he had four minutes in which to perform an operation on which a life depended, he would take one minute to consider how best to do it. (Baxendales Anecdotes.)
Purposes should be weighed
Before proceeding to any work, we should weigh it. Letters are charged in the post office according to weight. I have written and sealed a letter containing several sheets. I desire that it should pass; I think it will; but I know well that it will not be allowed to pass because I desire that it should or think that it will. I know well it will be tested by imperial weights and measures. Before I plunge it beyond my reach, I place it on a balance before me, not constructed to please my desire, but honestly adjusted to the legal standard. I weigh it there, and check it myself by the very rules which government will apply. So should we weigh our purposes in the balance, before we launch them forth in action. (W. Arnot.)
The religious life exceeds human resource
He is not, in our Lords estimation, the true spiritual builder, such as will bring his work to a successful end, who, counting the cost, finds that he has enough, as he supposes to finish the building which he has begun; but the wise and happy builder is he who counts and discovers that he has not enough, that the work far exceeds any resources at his command, and who thereupon forsakes all that he has, all vain imagination of a spiritual wealth of his own; and therefore proceeds to build, not at his own charges at all, but altogether at the charges of God, waiting upon Him day by day for new supplies of strength. (Archbishop Trench.)
Counting the cost
I. TRUE RELIGION IS COSTLY. A poor man is suddenly made a prince; it will cost him the giving up of his former manners, and will involve him in new duties and cares. A man is set on the road to heaven as a pilgrim: does he pay anything to enter by the wicket-gate? I trow not: free grace admits him to the sacred way. But when that man is put on the road to heaven it will cost him something. It will cost him earnestness to knock at the wicket-gate, and sweat wherewith to climb the Hill Difficulty; it will cost him tears to find his roll again when he has lost it in the arbour of ease; it will cost him great care in going down the Valley of Humiliation; it will cost him resistance unto blood when he stands foot to foot with Apollyon in conflict. What, then, is the expense?
1. If yea would be Christs, and have His salvation, you must love Him beyond every other person in this world.
2. Self must be hated. I must mortify the flesh with its affections and lusts, denying myself anything and everything which would grieve the Saviour, or would prevent my realizing perfect conformity to Him.
3. If we would follow the Saviour, we must bear our cross. He who has the smile of the ungodly, must look for the frown of God.
4. We must follow Christ, i.e., act as He acted.
5. Unreserved surrender of all to Jesus. If you possess a farthing that is your own and not your masters, Christ is not your master.
II. WISDOM SUGGESTS THAT WE SHOULD COUNT THE COST.
1. If you do not count the cost, you will not be able to carry out your resolves. It is a great building, a great war. Faith and repentance are a lifework.
2. To fail in this great enterprise will involve terrible defeat. Half-hearted Christians, half-hearted religious men, may not be scoffed at in the public streets to their faces, but they are common butts of ridicule behind their backs. False professors are universally despised. Oh! if you must be lost, be lost as anything but hypocrites.
III. COST WHATEVER IT MAY, TRUE RELIGION IS WORTH THE COST.
1. The present blessings of true religion are worth all the cost.
2. What recompense comes for all cost in the consolation afforded by true godliness in the article of death?
3. Christ asks you to give up nothing that will injure you.
4. Christ does not ask you to do anything that He has not done Himself. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Ill-considered beginnings
This parable stands in juxtaposition with that of the Great Supper, and is plainly designed to supplement its lesson, and preclude any perversion of its meaning. In the one you have the freedom of gospel privileges, in the other you have the costliness of gospel responsibilities. You that are following me so readily, says the Saviour, consider what you do. As builders of a spiritual house, are you incurring a new and a serious outlay; are you prepared to face it? As warriors on a spiritual campaign, you are challenging new and uncompromising enemies; are you able to confront them? Far better leave an undertaking alone, than, after starting it, have thereafter to abandon it, especially when, as in the present case, it attracts the observation of so many watchful eyes, and provokes the resentment of so many jealous hearts. Beware lest you waken the worlds hostility by your pretensions to strength when you begin, and live to incur its mockery by your confession of weakness when you desist. That, then, is the drift of this passage. Of course, only one side of the truth is here brought before us. It is not only on account of the views of outsiders, their spitefulness when a man commences, and their contempt when he leaves off, that our Saviour bids those who would join Him count the cost. There are other and worse consequences to be faced by him who begins and who ceases in this matter, than the pointing of a worldlings finger or the wagging of a worldlings tongue, and for these we must look elsewhere. But so far as it goes the parable is both pertinent and pungent, the lesson of it plain, the application unavoidable. He that will build a tower necessarily invites attention, provokes scrutiny, sets speculation astir, and these not always of the kindest or most favourable sort. Publicly he succeeds, if success be in store for him; but publicly, too, he must fail. Exactly so is it with the assuming of a Christian position. Let a man bear in mind that for this, if for no other reason, he is wise to think well ere beginning, remembering that the eye of the world is upon him. Not only is this matter of a Christian profession and a spiritual life a necessarily public undertaking; it is also a very costly one. And the higher the ideal we erect for ourselves, the more important and commanding the position we assume, the greater the outlay we must face. True, let me remind you again, the building of the tower may turn out in the end the most gloriously profitable investment that is open to us. When the walls are complete, and the headstone brought forth with shoutings of grace, grace unto it, it may prove a magnificent and an everlasting habitation, repaying a thousandfold, both in shelter and in splendour, the disbursements its erection occasioned.
But, meanwhile, these disbursements may be trying. And let every man weigh the solemn fact, the assuming of a Christian profession and the maintenance of the Christian life may in some cases involve a serious price. Nor will any be able to say that the estimates for the building of the tower have been kept in the background by Scripture; they are clearly drawn up, and faithfully presented. And what is the expenditure they specify? This among other things (let the context testify): the hatred of father and mother and sisters and brethren, the losing of ones own life, the taking up of the cross, the forsaking all a man hath. These be strong words, but, brethren, they are Christs, and there are those, many and many a one, who have found them no whit beyond the facts. This brings me to the third point in the parable, for which we are now prepared, namely, the consequence that too often takes place from a rash and ill-considered beginning. For a time the building proceeds. He has founded it in accordance with Gods appointment, he rears it in conformity with Gods plan. But there comes a period when the enterprise gets costly. It touches him on the side of his comfort, touches him on the side of his pride, and the unaccustomed drain begins. It is first a call on his time, time he wanted to use an he liked; next a wrench of affection, the severance of a tie which was dear to the flesh, but which Christian principle forbade; next, the sudden disappointing of desire–desire which only a disciple of Christ would possibly have been asked to deny himself; then an inroad on his purse. And thus there comes a time when in his own heart of hearts the ominous uncertainty begins, even though shame for a time makes him persevere. Have I not gone too far? he is now beginning to ask of himself, and may not this tower of mine bear curtailing, without any loss to the general design? God will make allowance for my poverty, and the world will be unaware of the difference, or approve of it. So, lesser inconsistencies creep in; lesser incompletenesses make themselves manifest; there is a saving here and a saving there. Already the mans life has fallen below his profession; the execution of the building is not up to the plan, and the end of it all throws its shadow before. We all know what that was. Alas, he had not sufficiently examined himself; he had not sufficiently counted the cost. He did not know all he was doing when he separated himself from the worlds companionship, and resolved to take up the cross of Christ. Better never to have asserted a superiority to the world at all, than, having assumed the position by leaving it, thereafter to renounce it by going back. When Pliable re-entered the City of Destruction with the mud of his expedition bespattering his clothes, and its terrors still pale on his face, the city was moved round about trim, and we read that some called him foolish for going, and others called him wise for coming back. But I can fancy that even these did not quite take the erring one back to their arms, nor forget the facts of his escapade, and that all the time he went in and out in the midst of them the consciousness never faded from their hearts, the sneer never passed from their lips. And when the man who has begun to build the tower of a religious profession, and is compelled to leave it unfinished, slinks back to the comrades his enterprise has offended, saying, Brothers, I find I have made a mistake; I am, after all, no better than yourselves; I will henceforth make amends for my folly by dwelling in a house and sitting at a table like your own, think you that the world will have any sympathy or respect for him? It may applaud him to his face, but behind his back there will ever be the pointed finger and the whispered scoff: That man began to build, and was not able to finish. For, oh! here is the solemn thought. The man may change his mind, but the fabric he has reared remains notwithstanding, the monument of his pride and his folly alike, unhonoured, untenanted, and unfinished. There the building stands, in the words of seeming sincerity the man has spoken, in the Christian teaching he has published, in the Christian schemes he has launched, all which he has long since abandoned, because he had failed to lay his account with the difficulties, had forgotten to count the cost. And through all time the unfinished fabric shall remain, the sorrow of the Church and the triumph of the world, ay, and perhaps throughout eternity too, as the rebuke of conscience and the taunt of the lost. Hitherto we have moved only along the strict lines of the parable, and narrowed ourselves to the special thought that the Saviour was enforcing at the time. But there are several thoughts in connection with the passage before us, which, though not exactly in it, are so closely akin to it and so naturally suggested by it, that we cannot quite omit them.
1. And first, are there any among us who have been saying to themselves, But we have been building the tower. Ours has been a Christian profession ever since our earliest years. And really we have had no experience of the difficulties of which you speak. So far as we know, our operations have wakened no ones envy, and provoked no ones hostility. And do you think, therefore, that the statements already made as to the costliness of a Christian profession are overdrawn and exaggerated, suitable perhaps to the times in which the Saviour spoke, but scarcely suitable to our own. Remember, however, ye who speak thus, that there is an evil quite as bad as unfinished building, and that is unstable building.
2. Then, again, it follows from all this, that we are to be cautious and careful in our judgments as to those around us, whom we might have expected to build, but who seem to hesitate. Of the utterly indifferent, who have never yet faced the matter nor once realized the claims of Christ, we do not, of course, speak. But there are others who have not yet taken up a Christian position, not from want of thought, but rather because they are thinking so deeply. They, at any rate, are sensible of the cost, and are settling down to count it. And that is better than the conduct of the man who complacently offers God a service that costs him nothing, and perseveres in his presumption, or of the man who rashly begins what is costly, and then desists.
3. But thirdly, a word in closing to this very class,–the backward and reluctant. Brother, you are counting the cost. You do well to count it. Christ here counsels you to count it. And you feel, do you, that it is a risk that you cannot honestly face? Far better, do you say, to be a consistent man of the world than an imperfect professor of religion–like him who began the tower, and was not able to finish? True, again; but is your state of hesitation therefore defensible? Do you think Christ bids any man sit down and count the cost of the project only that he may renounce it altogether? Nay, verily; it is only that out of a deep sense of your weakness you may be driven to ask the needed strength from Himself, and, knowing that you have not the wherewithal to carry on the fabric He nevertheless seeks you to rear, you may be thrown on the helpfulness and ready supplies of Him who giveth liberally and upbraideth not. (W. Gray.)
Religion
The great fact which our Lord designs to illustrate is this–that numbers embrace the gospel from reasons that are not conclusive, and when stronger reasons, as they appear to them, arise in their intercourse with social life, they lightly renounce a creed they lightly adopted.
I. First, there are THOSE WHO ACCEPT RELIGION MERELY FROM IMPULSE, They are constitutionally the creatures of impulse. One man is the creature of feeling; another is more the creature of intellectual conviction; another is more borne away or decided in his course by fact. The Scotchman must have strong arguments; the Irishman must have eloquent appeals; and the Englishman must have hard matter of fact. Each nation has its idiosyncracy; each individual his peculiar temperament. Men who are the creatures of strong and impetuous emotion, subscribe to a creed, if I may use the expression, on the spur of the moment, and because they feel profoundly, they think they are convinced, and that the creed which they adopt is demonstrable and necessarily true. Now, I answer–this will not be sufficient to keep you steadfast. This is commencing the tower, before you have laid a fit foundation; this is plunging into a conflict whilst you have not the weapons that will enable you to conquer. Feeling in religion is right; but feeling must not be all. An eloquent appeal may move you, but it ought not to decide you.
II. In the second place, there is THE RELIGION OF THE CROWD. Many men are religious in a crowd, who are most irreligious when alone. They like what seems to be popular; they can be Christians in the mass, but not Christians when insulated from others. Many a soldier is a coward when alone, but he becomes a hero in his rank and place in the battalion.
III. There is a third sort of religion–THE RELIGION OF MERE CIRCUMSTANCE. People often accept the religion of those they love, and with whom they associate.
IV. There are others whose religion is simply the religion of tradition. An outside robe; not the inner life.
V. There is another religion which may be called, THE RELIGION OF SENTIMENT. This religion is nourished by all the beautiful and the romantic. It is the religion of Athens rather than the religion of Jerusalem–the religion of painters and of poets, rather than the religion of thinking and intellectual minds.
VI. There is another religion which is equally false; and that is THE RELIGION OF MERE FORM. It regards the outer aspect of things; not the inner light. This is not a religion that will stand.
VII. And in the next place let me add, there is THE RELIGION OF INTELLECT. If some profess Christianity from sentimental sympathy with its beautiful parts, and others profess Christianity from admiration of its ritual, or its form, there are others who profess Christianity from deep intellectual apprehension of it; and yet theirs is a religion that will not stand.
VIII. And, lastly, there is another religion which will still more surprise you when I say that it also may be a religion that will not stand–THE RELIGION OF CONSCIENCE. It is possible for conscience to be in religion, and yet your heart not to be the subject of living and experimental Christianity. You will go to the house of God because your conscience would torment you if you did not do so. But is this the beautiful, the blessed, the happy religion of Jesus? Such service is slavery; such duties drudgery; and such a religion is a ceaseless and perpetual penance, and not righteousness and peace in the Holy Ghost. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
On counting the cost
THE COST ATTENDING THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSION.
1. In order to be the disciples of Christ, there is much that we must instantly renounce It is a profession of holiness: it, therefore, demands the immediate renunciation of criminal and forbidden pleasures. By His gospel, and by His Son, God has called us, not to uncleanness, but to holiness; so that he that despiseth the precepts of purity, despiseth not man but God.
2. The Christian profession is spiritual, and therefore requires the renunciation of the world.
3. In order to be a disciple it is necessary, in the concerns of conscience, to renounce every authority but that of Christ. The connection of a Christian with the Saviour is not merely that of a disciple with his teacher; it is the relation of a subject to his prince. One is your Master, even Christ.
4. The cost of which we are speaking relates to what we are to expect. In general, to commence the profession of a Christian, is to enter upon a formidable and protracted warfare; it is to engage in an arduous contest, in which many difficulties are to be surmounted, many enemies overcome. The path that was trod by the great Leader is that which must be pursued by all his followers.
5. The cost of the Christian profession stands related to the term and duration of the engagement–Be thou faithful unto death. It is coeval with life.
II. WHY, WE SAY, IS IT EXPEDIENT FOR THOSE WHO PROPOSE TO BECOME CHRISTIANS TO COUNT THE COST?
1. It will obviate a sense of ridicule and of shame (see the context).
2. It will render the cost less formidable when it occurs.
3. If it diminishes the number of those who make a public and solemn profession, this will be more than retrieved by the superior character of those who make it. The Church will be spared much humiliation; Satan and the world deprived of many occasions of triumph.
III. THE REASONS WHICH SHOULD DETERMINE OUR ADHERENCE TO CHRIST, NOTWITHSTANDING THE COST WHICH ATTENDS IT.
1. His absolute right to command or claim our attachment.
2. The pain attending the sacrifices necessary to the Christian profession greatly alleviated from a variety of sources.
3. No comparison betwixt the cost and the advantages. (R. Hall, M. A.)
True heroism: counting the cost
The cost of a Christian profession, if it be genuine and true. Alas! to be called Christian, to have the Christian name, to pass muster with the world as a Christian, is a light and little thing; and as John Bunyan well paints in his admirable portraiture of the false as well as the true professor; There are many By-ends, who like to go with religion when religion goes in silver slippers, who love to walk with him in the street, if the sun shines and the people applaud him, but such By-ends will not pass muster in the great day. They may be esteemed members of the visible Church, but the question is, Will they stand the test in the great day, when the Lord comes to reckon with the servants? If, indeed, we understand the Christian profession as Jesus portrays it, we cannot suppose it is a thing that does not require to be weighed well. There is a cost, there is a sacrifice to be counted upon, there are difficulties and dangers to be looked forward to, there is much to be borne up against that will be hard to bear, and on these things we are to decide. If a man must thus deny himself in order to be a soldier of his country, how much more must he deny himself to be a soldier under the Captain of his salvation? He requires us to renounce His enemies, who are our foes, let us not forget, though we naturally regard them as our friends. Our sympathies are with them, and our desires and tastes lead us captive after them. A man must make his election; will you have Jesus to be your Redeemer? But we must not glance only at what a man must forego, but at what he must undergo; and here is the part of the cost that many shrink from. For instance, a young man is entangled in the midst of worldly connections, and he begins to look more serious, and to go to church, and to read his Bible regularly, and to find out that he is disinclined to go to the theatre, and to scenes of rioting and revelling, and to join the multitude to do evil. He knows what will follow, but the cross must be taken up. He will be laughed at by the silly and ungodly. And therefore, brethren, there is a cost; a man must undergo shame and the cross; it will not do to dismiss it, to muzzle it, to step over it even in order to escape it, for, as the Master tells us, If any man will come after Me, he must bear his cross daily and hourly. If a man counts the cost, he counts also the help and succour he shall find; for he knows his weakness, and he learns his strength; and if he finds himself encompassed with danger, he will not rush into the temptation, but he will nestle beneath the Almighty wings, and shelter beneath the ark of safety. In the first place, if a man count the cost of taking up the standard, and enlisting in the army of Christ, he has to obey the simple claims of Christ as one in whom there is power and authority. And then, brethren, let us not forget that if the service of Christ has its sorrows, it has its joys; if it has its self-denials, it has its self-indulgences; if here there are thorns and briers, the world above has everlasting flowers, and heavenly violets, and sweet-smelling lilies, that shed a fragrance around all and above all; and though the way may be narrow, it is a straight one; it has no pitfalls, no traps, no bitter fears, no dark forebodings, no haunting spirits, but it has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. It saves a man from a thousand snares, it shields him from a thousand dark remorses, it guards him from a thousand fearful misgivings, and enables him to look God and man in the face. Can the world, or the service of the world, do that? Then, to sum up all, if we cast into the balance of gains life everlasting, surely that must make the scale touch the ground, and the opposite scale strike the beam. What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? I reckon, said one, who had large experience of the worlds trials, that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Can language go further? And that is not the language of a fanatic or a fool, but of the Spirit of God, teaching us through one whom He had taught with Divine wisdom, that overcoming is heroism. The heroism of the Cross–that is true heroism. (H. Stowell, M. A.)
Holiness: the cost
I. WHAT IT COSTS TO BE A TRUE CHRISTIAN.
1. It will cost a man his self-righteousness. He must be content to go to heaven as a poor sinner saved only by free grace, and owing all to the merit and righteousness of another. Sir, said a godly ploughman to the well-known James Hervey, of Weston Favell, it is harder to deny proud self than sinful self. But it is absolutely necessary.
2. It will cost a man his sins. No truce with any one of them. This also sounds hard. Our sins are often as dear to us as our children: we love them, hug them, cleave to them, and delight in them. To part with them is as hard as cutting off a right hand, or plucking out a right eye. But it must be done.
3. It will cost a man his love of ease. He must take pains and trouble, if he means to run a successful race towards heaven. He must be careful over his time, his tongue, his temper, his thoughts, his imagination, his motives, his conduct in every relation of life.
4. It will cost a man the favour of the world. He must count it no strange thing to be mocked, ridiculed, slandered, persecuted, and even hated.
II. WHY COUNTING THE COST IS OF SUCH GREAT IMPORTANCE TO MANS SOUL. There are many persons who are not thoughtless about religion: they think a good deal about it. They are not ignorant of religion: they know the outlines of it pretty well. But their great defect is that they are not rooted and grounded in their faith. For want of counting the cost myriads of the children of Israel perished miserably in the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan. For want of counting the cost many of our Lord Jesus Christs hearers went back after a time, and walked no more with Him. For want of counting the cost, hundreds of professed converts, under religious revivals, go back to the world after a time and bring disgrace on religion. They begin with a sadly mistaken notion of what is true Christianity. They fancy it consists in nothing more than a so-called coming to Christ, and having strong inward feelings of joy and peace. And so, when they find after a time that there is a cross to be carried, that our hearts are deceitful, and that there is a busy devil always near us, they cool down in disgust, and return to their old sins. And why? Because they had really never known what Bible Christianity is. For want of counting the cost, the children of religious parents often turn out ill, and bring disgrace on Christianity. And why? They had never thoroughly understood the sacrifices which Christianity entails. They had never been taught to count the cost.
III. Hints which may help men to count the cost rightly. Set down honestly and fairly what you will have to give up and go through if you become Christs disciple. Leave nothing out. But then set down side by side the following sums which I am going to give you. Do this fairly and correctly, and I am not afraid for the result.
1. Count up and compare, for one thing, the profit and the loss, if you are a true-hearted and holy Christian. You may possibly lose something in this world, but you will gain the salvation of your immortal soul.
2. Count up and compare, for another thing, the praise and the blame, if you are a true-hearted and holy Christian. You may possibly be blamed by man, but you will have the praise of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.
3. Count up and compare, for another thing, the friends and the enemies, if you are a true-hearted and holy Christian. On the one side of you is the enmity of the devil and the wicked. On the other, you have the favour and friendship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your enemies at most can only bruise your heel. They may rage loudly, and compass sea and land to work your ruin; but they cannot destroy you. Your Friend is able to save to the uttermost all them that come unto God by Him.
4. Count up and compare, for another thing, the life that now is and the life to come, if you are a true-hearted and holy Christian. The time present, no doubt, is not a time of ease. It is a time of watching and praying, fighting and struggling, believing and working. But it is only for a few years. The lime future is the season of rest and refreshing. Sin shall be east out.
5. Count up and compare, for another thing, the pleasures of sin and the happiness of Gods service, if you are a true-hearted and holy Christian. The pleasures that the worldly man gets by his ways are hollow, unreal, and unsatisfying. They are like the fire of thorns, flashing and crackling for a few minutes, and then quenched for ever. The happiness that Christ gives to His people is something solid, lasting, and substantial It is not dependent on health or circumstances. It never leaves a man, even in death.
6. Count up and compare, for another thing, the trouble that true Christianity entails, and the troubles that are in store for the wicked beyond the grave. Such sums as these, no doubt, are often not done correctly. Not a few, I am well aware, are ever halting between two opinions. They cannot make up their minds that it is worth while to serve Christ. They cannot do this great sum correctly. They cannot make the result so clear as it ought to be. But what is the secret of their mistakes? It is want of faith. That faith which made Noah, Moses, and St. Paul do what they did, that faith is the great secret of coming to a right conclusion about our souls. That same faith must be our helper and ready-reckoner when we sit down to count the cost of being a true Christian. That same faith, is to be had for the asking.. He giveth more grace (Jam 4:6). Armed with that faith we shall set things down at their true value. Filled with that faith we shall neither add to the cross nor subtract from the crown. Our conclusions will be all correct. Our sum total will be without error. (Bishop Ryle.)
On the folly of profession without forethought
I. The entrance upon, and progress in, a religious life, may, with some considerable propriety, be COMPARED TO THE BUILDING OF A TOWER. Something to be done by us. Many graces to be exercised, many temptations to be resisted, many enemies to be vanquished, and many duties to be performed. The power of religion must first be felt, then a profession of it made, and, last of all, care taken to adorn the profession; the whole of which may be compared to building a tower, because–
1. There must be a foundation to support the building. Christ–the foundation of doctrinal, experimental, and practical religion.
2. It is a work of labour and difficulty. Requires exertion of all the strength we have, and every day fresh supplies out of the fulness of Christ.
3. A gradual work. A tower reaching to heaven. Patient continuance in welt-doing.
4. A visible work. The Christian is a spectacle to world, angels, and men. His sufferings make him so; his conduct, so different from that of others, makes him so; and though the springs of his life are hid, yet the workings and effect of it are manifest to the world. Grace makes a visible change in the temper and conversation.
5. A durable work. True religion is like a strong and well-built tower, secure itself, and a security to its builder. The foundation and materials of it are both lasting.
II. THIS WORK CALLS FOR GREAT CAUTION AND CIRCUMSPECTION.
1. The Christian will consider beforehand the certain and necessary expense.
(1) Remorse for past sin.
(2) Conflict with spiritual enemies.
(3) Corruptions to be mortified.
2. To this he will add the possible and contingent expense. Not only what it must, but what it may, cost him. Friends may desert him, enemies assail, and a thousand obstacles be thrown in the way to discourage him.
3. There is another kind of expense which such a one will also take into account, not only what it will cost him, but what–if I may be allowed to use the expression–it must cost God, before He can finish his work. The Spirit of God must afford him His continual aid, and Christs strength must be made perfect in his weakness. No spiritual duty can be performed without a Divine influence.
4. To the labour and expense he is at, he will oppose tim benefits and advantages hoped for. The cross is the way to the crown.
5. Where this caution and circumspection is neglected, it is an instance of egregious folly, and will expose to universal shame and contempt. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
Unfinished works
Such uncompleted buildings, open to all the winds and rains of heaven, with their naked walls, and with all that has been spent upon them utterly wasted, are called in the language of the world, which often finds so apt a word, This mans, or that mans Folly; arguing as they do so utter a lack of wisdom and prevision on their parts who began them. Such, for example, is Charles the Fifths palace at Granada, the Kattenburg at Cassel. They that would be Christs disciples shall see to it that they present no such Babels to the ready scorn of the scornful; beginning as men that would take heaven by storm, and anon coming to an end of all their resources, of all their zeal, all their patience, and leaving nothing but an utterly baffled purpose, the mocking-stock of the world; even as those builders of old left nothing but a shapeless heap of bricks to tell of the entire miscalculation which they had made. Making mention of a tower, I cannot but think that the Lord intended an allusion to that great historic tower, the mightiest and most signal failure and defeat which the world has ever seen, that tower of Babel, which, despite of its vainglorious and vaunting beginning, ended in the shame, confusion, and scattering of all who undertook it (Gen 11:1-9). (Archbishop Trench.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 28. To build a tower] Probably this means no more than a dwelling house, on the top of which, according to the Asiatic manner, battlements were built, both to take the fresh air on, and to serve for refuge from and defence against an enemy. It was also used for prayer and meditation.
This parable represents the absurdity of those who undertook to be disciples of Christ, without considering what difficulties they were to meet with, and what strength they had to enable them to go through with the undertaking. He that will be a true disciple of Jesus Christ shall require no less than the mighty power of God to support him; as both hell and earth will unite to destroy him.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Our Lord had in the parable of the supper showed what those things are which keep men from embracing the call of the gospel, to wit, their hearts too much adherence to and embracing of sensible and sensual things. For the meeting of which temptation he had told them, Luk 14:25-27, that if they loved any thing in the world more than him, they could have no portion in him, they could not be his disciples, for (as Matthew saith) they are not worthy of him; nay, more than this, they must take up and bear their cross, and come after him. Here he directs them the best expedient in order to the performance of these duties, so hard to flesh and blood; that is, to sit down beforehand, and think what it will cost them to go through with the profession of religion. This, he tells them, ordinary prudence directeth men to, when they go about to build, or fight. As to the first, they make as good an estimate as they can of the charge. As to the latter, they consider both the charge, and the strength that they are able to produce to make opposition. So, saith he, must they do who will be his disciples:
1. Sit down and consider what it will cost them to become the Lords building, what old foundations of nature must be digged up, what new foundation must be laid, how many stones must be laid before they can come up to a wall level to the promise wherein salvation is insured.
2. Then they must consider what oppositions they are like to meet with, from the world, the flesh, and the devil.
And they must be ready to forsake all for Christ, though, it may be, they shall not be actually called out to it. Only we must remember, that in parables every branch is not to be applied.
1. We must desire no conditions of peace from our spiritual adversaries.
2. In our counting up of our strength to maintain the spiritual fight we must do as princes use to do, who use to count the forces of their allies and confederates, as well as their own: so we must not count what opposition we, alone can maintain against the world, the flesh, and the devil; but what Christ (who is in covenant with us as to these fights) and we can do together.
So as consideration and pre-deliberation here are not required of as upon any account to deter us from the fight, (for fight we must, or die eternally), but to prepare us for the fight, by a firm and steady resolution, and to help us how to manage the fight, looking up to Christ for his strength and assistance in the management of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
28-33. which of you, c.Commonsense teaches men not to begin any costly work without firstseeing that they have wherewithal to finish. And he who doesotherwise exposes himself to general ridicule. Nor will any wisepotentate enter on a war with any hostile power without first seeingto it that, despite formidable odds (two to one), he be able to standhis ground and if he has no hope of this, he will feel that nothingremains for him but to make the best terms he can. Even so,says our Lord, “in the warfare you will each have to wage as Mydisciples, despise not your enemy’s strength, for the odds are allagainst you; and you had better see to it that, despite everydisadvantage, you still have wherewithal to hold out and win the day,or else not begin at all, and make the best you can in such awfulcircumstances.” In this simple sense of the parable (STIER,ALFORD, c., go wide of themark here in making the enemy to be God, because of the”conditions of peace,” Lu14:32), two things are taught: (1) Better not begin (Re3:15), than begin and not finish. (2) Though the contest forsalvation be on our part an awfully unequal one, the human will,in the exercise of that “faith which overcometh the world”(1Jo 5:4), and nerved by powerfrom above, which “out of weakness makes it strong“(Heb 11:34 1Pe 1:5),becomes heroical and will come off “more than conqueror.”But without absolute surrender of self the contest is hopeless(Lu 14:33).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For which of you intending to build a tower,…. Taking up a profession of Christ and his Gospel, is like building a tower; which, as a tower, must be laid on a good foundation; not on carnal descent and parentage; nor on a sober and religious education; nor on a civil, moral life and conversation; nor on a bare knowledge of Gospel truths and a flash of affection for them, and the people of God; but upon Christ the sure foundation; and on principles of grace formed by his Spirit, in their hearts: and this, like a tower, is carried very high; not by professing high things, but by living on high amidst a profession; by having the affections set on things above; and by looking down with contempt on things below; and by looking to, and pressing after, the prize of the high calling of God in Christ: the profession of some persons is very low; it arises from low principles, and proceeds on low views, aims, and ends; but where it is right, and well founded, it is like a tower, firm and steady, and is a fortress and bulwark against apostacy. Now what person acting deliberately in such a case as this, and proceeding with intention and design,
sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? as every wise man would, who has any thoughts of building a tower, or any other edifice: and so such that have an intention to take up a profession of religion, should sit down and well consider of it; which does not imply, that persons should delay making a profession, on whom it is incumbent; but that this should be done with thoughtfulness, care, and prudence: it should be considered on what foundation a man is going to build: whether the work of grace is truly wrought upon his soul; what be the nature and use of Gospel ordinances; with what views he takes up a profession, and submits to ordinances; what the church and minister are, he intends to walk with; and what the charge and cost of a profession; for such a work is chargeable and costly, and should be thought of and considered, whether he is able to bear it: for he will be called to self-denial; and must expect to suffer the loss of the favour of carnal relations and friends; and to be exposed to the scorn and rage of the world; a cross must be took up and bore; and great grace and strength are requisite to all this.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Build a tower ( ). A common metaphor, either a tower in the city wall like that by the Pool of Siloam (Lu 13:4) or a watchtower in a vineyard (Mt 21:33) or a tower-shaped building for refuge or ornament as here. This parable of the rash builder has the lesson of counting the cost.
Sit down (). Attitude of deliberation.
First (). First things first. So in verse 31.
Count (). Common verb in late writers, but only here and Re 13:18 in the N.T. The verb is from , a stone, which was used in voting and so counting. Calculate is from the Latin calculus, a pebble. To vote was to cast a pebble ( ). Luke has Paul using “deposit a pebble” for casting his vote (Ac 26:10).
The cost ( ). Old and common word, but here only in the N.T. from , to tear, consume, devour. Expense is something which eats up one’s resources.
Whether he hath wherewith to complete it ( ). If he has anything for completion of it. is a rare and late word (in the papyri and only here in the N.T.). It is from , to finish off (– and like our articulate), to make even or square. Cf. in 2Ti 3:17.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
A tower. The subject of the parable is the life of Christian discipleship, which is figured by a tower, a lofty structure, as something distinguished from the world and attracting attention.
Counteth [] . Only here and Rev 13:18. From yhfov, a pebble (see Rev 2:17), used as a counter. Thus Herodotus says that the Egyptians, when they calculate (logizontai yhfoiv, reckon with pebbles), move their hand from right to left (ii. 36). So Aristophanes, “Reckon roughly, not with pebbles [] , but on the hand” (” Wasps, “656). Similarly calculate, from Latin calculus, a pebble. Used also of voting. Thus Herodotus :” The Greeks met at the altar of Neptune, and took the ballots [ ] wherewith they were to give their votes. “Plato :” And you, would you vote (an yhfon qeio, cast your pebble) with me or against me? “(” Protagoras,” 330). See Act 26:10.
Cost [ ] . Allied to daptw, to devour. Hence expense, as something which eats up resources.
Sufficient [ ] . Lit., unto completion. The kindred verb ajpartizw, not used in New Testament, means to make even or square, and hence to complete.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
PARABLE OF TOWER BUILDING V. 28-30
1) “For which of you, intending to build a tower,” (tis gar eks humon thelon purgon oikoeomesai) “For who out of your company having a priority will to build or erect a tower,” that is here referred to as the building of a life of tower-like character, with a good or godly name, Pro 22:1.
2) “Sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost,’ (ouchi proton kathisas psephizei ten dapanen) “Does not first, sitting down, count the cost,” deliberate or calculate, with pebbles, what the construction cost will be? Have you counted the cost, if your soul should be lost? Or if a life of service is given to an evil or heretical or immoral cause? Have you deliberately considered?
3) “Whether he have sufficient to finish it?” (ei echei eis apartismon) “if he has, holds, or possesses enough to complete construction? Our Lord thus compared to challenge of following Him with a man who had a tremendous vision, but quizzed him, have you counted the cost, so that you have the heart commitment from which there will be no turning back? Lest shame come to you and the members of your family? Luk 9:52.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Luk 14:28
. For which of you, etc , That no one may think it hard to follow Christ on the condition of renouncing all his desires, a useful warning is here given. We must consider beforehand what the profession of the gospel demands. The reason why many persons yield to very slight temptations is, that they have pictured to themselves unmixed enjoyment, as if they were to be always in the shade and at their ease. No man will ever become fit to serve Christ till he has undergone a long preparation for warfare.
Now the comparisons are exceedingly adapted to this object. Building is a tedious and vexatious matter, and one that gives little satisfaction on account of the expense. War, too, brings along with it many inconveniences, and almost threatens destruction to the human race, so that it is never undertaken but with reluctance. And yet the advantages of building are found to be sufficient to induce men to spend their substance on it without hesitation; while necessity drives them to shrink from no expenses in carrying on wars. But a far more valuable reward awaits those who are the builders of the temple of God, and who fight under the banner of Christ: for Christians do not labor for a temporary building, or fight for a passing triumph.
If a king find himself unable to endure the burden of a war, (607) he prevents an ignominious defeat by seeking peace with his adversary. The statements which our Lord makes to this effect must not be applied to the present subject, in such a manner as if we were to enter into any compromise with our spiritual foe, when our strength and resources fail. It would be idle to treat parables as applying in every minute point (608) to the matter in hand. But our Lord simply means that we ought to be so well prepared, as not to be taken by surprise for want of a proper defense, or basely to turn our backs: for it is not every one of us who is a king, to carry on war under his direction.
This doctrine reproves the rashness of those who foolishly proceed beyond their capacity, or flatter themselves without thinking of bearing the cross Yet we must take care lest this meditation, to which Christ exhorts us, should fill us with alarm or retard our progress. Many persons, not having from the outset laid their account with suffering, relax their zeal through cowardice: for they cannot endure to be Christians on any other condition than that of being exempted from the cross Others again, when a condition that is harsh and unpleasant to the flesh is proposed to them, do not venture to approach to Christ. But there is no good reason for being discouraged by a knowledge of our poverty, for the Lord grants to us seasonable aid. I readily acknowledge that, if we calculate the expense, we are all destitute of power to lay a single stone, or to wield a sword against the enemy. But as the materials, expense, arms, and forces, are supplied by the Lord out of heaven, no pretext on the score of difficulty can be offered by our indifference or sloth. The design of Christ, therefore, is to warn his followers to bear the cross, that they may prepare themselves with courage.
(607) “ Pour soustenir une guerre, et fournir l’argent qu’il faut “ — “to support a war, and to supply the money that is required.”
(608) “ De vouloir esplucher tout par le menu, et rapporter tout jusqu’aux petits mots;” — “to wish to explain every thing minutely, and to make every thing apply down to the smallest words.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(28-30) Which of you, intending to build a tower . .?The words do not depend for their meaning on any local or personal allusion, but it is quite possible that their force may have been heightened for those who heard them by the memory of recent facts. Pilate had begun to buildcertainly an aqueduct, probably a towerand had not been able to finish. (See Notes on Luk. 13:4; Mat. 27:16.) He had not counted the cost, and when he was hindered from laying hands on the Corban, or treasure of the Temple, his resources failed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
28. Build a tower As becoming my disciple is building the structure of your salvation.
Sitteth not down first Added to describe graphically the reckoning of the tower builder.
Have sufficient Just so you, pursuers of my footsteps, imagining you will be my disciples, should weigh, before you go farther, whether you have the moral capital. See whether you are so renouncing every obstacle, abhorring every counter tie, and making that complete surrender which the enterprise demands.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“For which of you, desiring to build a tower (farm mansion), does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he have that with which to complete it? Lest haply, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all that behold begin to mock him,”
But Jesus does not want them to take the decision lightly, and therefore illustrates this in terms of a builder of a tower or ‘large farm house’ (a farmhouse on the grand scale – many of his hearers would be farmers). Does not such a builder work out the cost before laying the foundation? For there is little point in laying the foundation if he will not be able to finish building the house. This brings out the size of the enterprise. It is no light thing that he is taking on.
But if he lays the magnificent foundation and then is unable to do any more work because the money has run out everyone will jeer at him and mock him. Why had he been such a fool? Why had he tried to participate in such a grand scheme? So in order to avoid this he should prepare a budget beforehand in order to ensure that he has enough to finish the project. And then he may make his free choice as to whether to go ahead or not (compare the men in Luk 9:57-62).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Two parables for emphasis:
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?
v. 29. Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
v. 30. saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
v. 31. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
v. 32. Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
v. 33. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple. Foolish is he that counteth not the cost. If a man wants to build a tower, a fine, high structure, prominent before all the buildings in the neighborhood, prudence will dictate that he sit down first and’ calculate the cost very carefully. His plan will be gone over thoroughly; the material is painstakingly grouped and added; the exact cost of the project is computed. For if the man should start to build and then find that it is impossible for him to finish up, he will become an object of ridicule for all the passers-by. In the same way, prudence will govern the actions of a king who has broken off diplomatic relations with another ruler. He will call in all his counselors and make a very careful calculation whether he will be able to carry out his plans in case he should decide to assume the offensive. And in case the matter seems dubious, he will prefer to enter upon negotiations with the enemy in time, and find out his conditions of peace. Either parable teaches the necessity of considering the costs; either one represents the absurdity of those that undertake to be disciple of Jesus Christ shall require no less difficulties they are to meet with, and what strength they have to enable them to go through with the undertaking. “He that will be a true disciples of Jesus Christ shall require no less than the mighty power of God to support him, as both hell and earth will unite to destroy him. ” Because complete self-renunciation is required, earnest consideration is absolutely unavoidable. So much the discipleship of Christ demands, and so much the true disciple will give cheerfully.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Luk 14:28. To build a tower, We learn from eastern writers, that besides fortified towns and cities, they used to have towers for the people of open towns to fly to in time of danger, as well as magnificent towers for pleasure in their gardens. Our Lord probably refers to a tower of this latter kind; for one can hardly think, with some commentators, that he is speaking of the slight and unexpensive buildings in a vineyard, which indeed are sometimes so slight, as to consist only of four poles, with a floor on the top of them, to which they ascend by a ladder; but rather of those elegant turrets erected in gardens, where the eastern people of fortune spend a considerable part of their time.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Luk 14:28-33 . Peculiar to Luke from the source that he has followed since Luk 9:51 .
] Reason for the . Since he, namely, is as little able to fulfil this great and heavy task [177] as any one is able to build a tower if he has not the necessary means, etc.: thus the latter serves for corroboration of the former. Comp. Luk 14:33 .
] if he will . The article ( who will ) is unnecessary, and too weakly attested (in opposition to Bornemann).
] “ut intelligas diligentem atque exactam supputationem,” Erasmus.
] sc . .
, completion , only to be found in Dion. Hal. De compos, verb . 24. On the use of in Greek, see Lobeck, ad Phryn . p. 447.
Luk 14:30 . ] with scornful emphasis: this man, forsooth !
Luk 14:31 . ] intransitive: to encounter, confligere , 1Ma 4:34 ; 2Ma 8:23 ; 2Ma 14:17 . See Wetstein and Kypke.
] belongs to : for a battle . Thus frequently (see Kypke); in the sense of the purpose . Comp. , Polyb. x. 37. 4, also Xen. Cyrop . vii. 1. 20 : ; Strabo, xiv. p. 676.
] deliberates with his generals and counsellors. Comp. Act 5:33 ; Act 15:37 .
.] , in the midst of, surrounded by, amongst . Comp. Jud 1:14 .
Luk 14:32 . ] sc . . See on Mat 6:1 , and Dindorf, ad Dem. Praef . p. v. f.
] quae ad pacem componendam spectant , arrangements for peace. Comp. Test. XII. Patr . p. 599. Contrast: , Xen. Anab . iv. 3. 10. On the whole sentence, comp. Xen. Mem . iii. 6. 8.
Luk 14:33 . The application , and consequently the doctrine , of both examples as a commentary on the of Luk 14:28 .
. ] the general statement to which the special instances, Luk 14:26 , belong. has the emphasis of the self -denial. Comp. Luk 14:27 .
[177] More precise interpretations of the figures are not justified. Especially the second ought not to have been expounded, as it has often been, of the struggle against the devil (Augustine: “simplicitatem Christian! dimicaturi cum duplicitate diaboli”), to which, indeed, the peacemaking of ver. 32 would be wholly inappropriate.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1541
THE FOOLISH BUILDER AND THE INCONSIDERATE KING
Luk 14:28-33. Which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? 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. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not. all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
MANKIND in general, when they want us to engage in their pursuits, are apt to exaggerate the advantages, and to hide as much as possible the difficulties, that will attend the adoption of their plans Our Lord, on the contrary, declared plainly to his followers, the conflicts they must engage in, and the losses they must sustain, if they would be his Disciples. In the verses preceding the text, he states in very strong language the only terms on which he would admit them into his family; and, having cautioned them by two familiar parables against engaging rashly in his service, he again reminds them, that they must forsake all, if they will follow him. To elucidate the passage, we shall consider,
I.
The scope of the parables
Both of them have the same general tendency to guard men against a hasty and inconsiderate profession of religion. But,
The former points out the folly of such conduct
[Every one sees, that a builder, who, through neglecting to count the cost, should be compelled to leave his structure unfinished, would be universally derided as a foolish man. But incomparably greater is his folly who begins to follow Christ, and afterwards by his apostasy shews, that he had never duly considered how much was requisite to make us Christians indeed. The very people who have turned him aside, will be the first to deride him for his instability; and while they reverence him who maintains a firm and consistent conduct, they will despise in their hearts the man who proves unfaithful to his God. The saints indeed will not mock him, because they know what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God; but they will pity him, as a poor infatuated creature, who has left off to behave himself wisely, and reduced himself by his folly to the extremest misery. Nor is it long ere he himself will see his folly in its true light; when he will behold afar off that heaven upon which he turned his back, and inherit that portion which he so thoughtlessly preferred.]
The latter leads us rather to contemplate the danger of such conduct
[A king who should inconsiderately plunge himself into a war with an enemy that was too powerful for him, would expose both his kingdom and his life to the most imminent danger. Thus it is also with a man who commences a warfare with sin and Satan without knowing how he shall make head against them: for as a hasty profession of religion exposes him to self-deception, so a hasty dereliction of it will subject him to the heavier condemnation. It is true that all must perish who do not enlist under the banner of Christ; but it is equally true, that cowardly soldiers, who forsake their standard, are far more guilty than if they had never been enrolled upon his list: It is better never to have known the way of righteousness, than, after having known it, to turn from it: their end is worse than their beginning; and they shall be punished with more stripes, in proportion to the advantages they have enjoyed, and the professions they have made.]
These parables will afford still further instruction, if we consider,
II.
Our Lords improvement of them
Our Lord did not amuse his hearers with speculative truths, but brought them home to their conscience by a direct and personal application
1.
We must count the cost
[Here the cost is plainly told us; We must forsake all; that is, forsake all comparatively in respect of affection, and absolutely, whenever it stands in competition with our duty: nor, if we refuse these terms, can we be his disciples. We are not indeed to cast away our possessions at all events; but so to withdraw our affections from them, as to be willing to resign them whenever the retaining of them shall be inconsistent with our allegiance to him. This we ought to weigh in our minds, and to consider whether the benefits of religion be sufficient to counterbalance its trials. We must be ready to part with our reputation, our interest, our carnal ease and pleasures, our friends, our liberty, our life: but in return for them we may expect, the honour that cometh of God, the riches of Christ that are unsearchable, the pleasures that are at Gods right hand for evermore: we shall even now possess that peace which passeth all understanding, together with the liberty of the sons of God; and soon we shall inherit eternal life and glory in his more immediate presence. We should dispassionately balance these against each other, that we may see which scale preponderates, and whether the pearl be worth the price demanded for it.]
2.
We must pay it without reluctance
[All have not the same trials to endure; but all will meet with some which shall prove a test of their sincerity. Whenever, or in whatever degree, we be tried, we must shew our decided purpose, our fixed determination. We must hate (that is, we must esteem as worthless and of no account) our nearest friends, our dearest interests, yea, our very lives, when they stand in competition with our duty to God. Nothing must tempt us to draw back from him. If once we draw the sword, we must throw away the scabbard. If we slay not our spiritual enemies, they will destroy us. We must endure to the end if ever we would be saved. On the other hand, we have every encouragement to war a good warfare; for, if we go forth in the strength of the Lord God, we shall be more than conquerors through him that loved us.]
We conclude with an address to,
1.
The inconsiderate Christian
[Men promise at their baptism that they will renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil; but never afterwards think of fulfilling so much as one of their engagements. They expect wages without work, and victory without a conflict. But such conduct will expose them to everlasting shame and contempt, and will ultimately involve them in irrecoverable ruin. Let it be remembered then, that, as it is no easy matter to be a Christian, so nothing but real Christianity will be of any avail. If we accept not salvation on the terms which God has prescribed, it is in vain to hope that we shall ever participate the blessings it affords.]
2.
The mistaken Christian
[It is too common to imagine that we can retain the friendship of the world, and preserve at the same time our fidelity to Christ. But we are plainly warned to the contrary. Our Lord elsewhere assures us, that we cannot serve God and mammon. And St. James affirms the friendship of the world to be enmity with God; and that whosoever desires to be the friend of the world, he is thereby constituted the enemy of God [Note: Jam 4:4.]. Would to God that this were more considered! But many, because they make some sacrifices, suppose that they come up to the terms which Christianity demands, when in fact, they retain their bosom lusts, and sacrifice only those, which their change of situation, or their more advanced age, has rendered less importunate. Instead of being jealous of their own sincerity, they are over-confident: and instead of being filled with shame and sorrow on account of their defects, they are ever pleading for indulgence, and labouring to persuade themselves that they come up to the mark prescribed to them in the Scriptures. Let such persons beware, lest, while they value themselves on their more liberal and enlarged sentiments, they deceive their own souls, and be found wanting in the day of final retribution. If when Christ calls them to forsake all, they are striving to forsake as little as possible, they have good reason to fear that they have not the mind which was in Christ Jesus.]
3.
The timid Christian
[Many, when the hour of trial comes, are ready to faint and draw back. But what are our trials when compared with those of thousands who have gone before us? We have not yet resisted unto blood. Besides, have we not been told repeatedly, that if we have no cross we must not expect a crown? Let us recollect, that, if we turn back, Gods soul shall have no pleasure in us; and, that the whole world will be a poor exchange for an immortal soul. As soldiers we must expect to endure hardness. Let us then be strong and very courageous: let us fight the good fight, and quit ourselves like men: and let us reflect for our encouragement, that, though our enemies may encompass us like bees, there are more for us than against us.]
4.
The steadfast Christian
[Have any ever found cause to regret that they endured the cross? Will any complain that they ever suffered too much for Christ? Has not a rich reward been invariably enjoyed by them in the testimony of their own conscience, and in the consolations of Gods Spirit? Yea, whatever they have suffered, have they not had an hundredfold more given them even in this present life; and will they not have life everlasting also in the world to come? Surely the intrepid Christian has chosen the good part; nor shall it ever be taken away from him. Go on then, strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. See that ye lose not the things that ye have wrought; but that ye receive a full reward. Be faithful unto death, and God shall give you a crown of life.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
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 ?
Ver. 28. Intending to build a tower ] Rodulphus Gualther being in Oxford, and beholding Christchurch College, said, Egregium opus: Cardinalis iste iustituit collegium, et absolvit popinam. A pretty business! a college begun and a kitchen finished.
Counteth the cost ] Let him that intendeth to build the tower of godliness sit down first and cast up the cost, lest, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
28 30. ] Peculiar to Luke. The same caution is followed out in this parable. This is to be borne in mind, or it will be misinterpreted. The ground of the parable is, that entire self-renunciation is requisite, to become a disciple of Christ. This man wishes to build a tower: to raise that building (see 1Co 3:11-15 ), which we must rear on the one Foundation, and which shall be tried in the day of the Lord. He is advised to count the cost, to see whether he have enough thoroughly to finish it. If he begin, lay the foundation, however seemingly well it may be done, it is not well done , because he has not enough to complete it: and the attempt can only lead to shame. So it is with one who would be Christ’s disciple: but with this weighty difference, lying in the background of the parable that in his case the counting the cost must always issue in a discovery of the utter inadequacy of his own resources, and the going out of himself for strength and means to build.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 14:28-33 . Parables illustrating the need of counting the cost , peculiar to Lk., but intrinsically probable as sayings of Jesus, and thoroughly germane to the foregoing discourse. The connection is: It is a serious thing to be a disciple, therefore consider well before you begin the renunciations required, the cross to be borne as you would, if wise, consider before building a tower or engaging in battle .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Luk 14:28 . : conditional participle, “if he wish”; with the article it would = who wishes. , a tower; need not be magnified into a grand house with a tower. Doubtless, as Bengel remarks, Christianity is a great and arduous affair, and is fitly compared cum rebus magnis et arduis . But the greatness of the undertaking is sufficiently represented by the second parable: the first emblem may be allowed to be less ambitious and more within the reach of ordinary mortals. A tower of observation in a vineyard (Mat 21:33 ) or for refuge in danger, or for ornament in a garden may be thought of. : the attitude appropriate to deliberate, leisurely consideration. , the cost, here only in N.T. ., if he has what is necessary for ( understood). = for completion , here only in N.T. and in Dion. Halic.; condemned by Phryn., p. 447. Cf. in 2Ti 3:17 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Luke
THE RASH BUILDER
Luk 14:28
Christ sought for no recruits under false pretences, but rather discouraged than stimulated light-hearted adhesion. His constant effort was to sift the crowds that gathered round Him. So here great multitudes are following Him, and how does He welcome them? Does He lay Himself out to attract them? Luke tells us that He turned and faced the following multitude; and then, with a steady hand, drenched with cold water the too easily kindled flame. Was that because He did not wish them to follow Him? He desired every soul in that crowd for His own, and He knew that the best way to attract is sometimes to repel; and that a plain statement of the painful consequences of a course will quench no genuine enthusiasm, but may turn a mere flash in the pan into a purpose that will flame through a life.
So our Lord lays down in stringent words the law of discipleship as being self-sacrifice; the abandonment of the dearest, and the acceptance of the most painful. And then He illustrates the law by these two expanded similes or condensed parables, of the rash builder and the rash soldier. Each contains a side of the Christian life, and represents one phase of what a true disciple ought to be. I wish to look with you now at the first of these two comparisons.
I. Consider then, first, the building, or the true aim of discipleship.
But then remember we are always building, consciously or unconsciously. By our transitory actions we are all rearing up a house for our souls in which we have to dwell; building character from out of the fleeting acts of conduct, which character we have to carry with us for ever. Soft invertebrate animals secrete their own shells. That is what we are doing-making character, which is the shield of self, as it were; and in which we have to abide.
My friend, what are you building? A prison; a mere garden-house of lustful delights; or a temple fortress in which God may dwell reverenced, and you may abide restful? Observe that whilst all men are thus unconsciously and habitually rearing up a permanent abode by their transient actions, every life that is better than a brute’s ought to have for its aim the building up of ourselves into firm strength. The development of character is what we ought to ask from, and to secure by, this fleeting life of ours. Not enjoyment; that is a miserable aim. Not the satisfaction of earthly desires; not the prosperity of our business or other ordinary avocations. The demand that we should make upon life, and the aim which we should have clearly before us in all that we do, is that it may contribute to the formation of a pure and noble self, to the development of character into that likeness to Jesus Christ, which is perfection and peace and blessedness.
And while that is true about all life, it is eminently true in regard to the highest form of life, which is the Christian life. There are dreadful mistakes and imperfections in the ordinary vulgar conception of what a Christian is, and what he is a Christian for. What do you think men and women are meant to be Christians for? That they may get away from some material and outward hell? Possibly. That they may get celestial happiness? Certainly. But are these the main things? By no means. What people are meant to be Christians for is that they may be shaped into the likeness of Jesus Christ; or to go back to the metaphor of my text, the meaning and aim of Christian discipleship is not happiness, but the building up of the tower in which the man may dwell.
Ah, friend; is that your notion of what a Christian is; and of what he is a Christian for, to be like the Master? Alas! alas! how few of us, honestly and continually and practically, lay to heart the stringent and grand conception which underlies this metaphor of our Lord’s, who identifies the man that was thinking of being His disciple with the man that sits down intending to build a tower.
II. So, secondly, note the cost of the building, or the conditions of discipleship.
Discipleship demands constant reference to the plan. A man that lives as he likes, by impulse, by inclination, or ignobly yielding to the pressure of circumstances and saying, ‘I could not help myself, I was carried away by the flood,’ or ‘Everybody round about me is doing it, and I could not be singular’-will never build anything worth living in. It will be a born ruin-if I may so say. There must be continual reference to the plan. That is to say, if a man is to do anything worth doing, there must be a very clear marking out to himself of what he means to secure by life, and a keeping of the aim continually before him as his guide and his pole-star. Did you ever see the pretty architect’s plans, that were all so white and neat when they came out of his office, after the masons have done with them-all thumb-marked and dirty? I wonder if your Bibles are like that? Do we refer to the standard of conduct with anything like the continual checking of our work by the architect’s intention, which every man who builds anything that will stand is obliged to practise? Consult your plan, the pattern of your Master, the words of your Redeemer, the gospel of your God, the voice of judgment and conscience, and get into the habit of living, not like a vegetable, upon what happens to be nearest its roots, nor like a brute, by the impulses of the unreasoning nature, but clear above these put the understanding, and high above that put the conscience, and above them all put the will of the Lord. Consult your plan if you want to build your tower.
Then, further, another condition is continuous effort. You cannot ‘rush’ the building of a great edifice. You have to wait till the foundations get consolidated, and then by a separate effort every stone has to be laid in its bed and out of the builder’s hands. So by slow degrees, with continuity of effort, the building rises.
Now there has been a great deal of what I humbly venture to call one-sidedness talked about the way by which Christian character is to be developed and perfected. And one set of the New Testament metaphors upon that subject has been pressed to the exclusion of the others, and the effortless growth of the plant has been presented as if it were the complete example of Christian progress. I know that Jesus Christ has said: ‘First the blade, then the ear; after that the full corn in the ear.’ But I know that He has also said, ‘Which of you, intending to build a tower’-and that involves the idea of effort; and that He has further said, ‘Or what king, going to make war against another king’-and that involves the idea of antagonism and conflict. And so, on the whole, I lay it down that this is one of the conditions of building the tower, that the energy of the builder should never slacken, but, with continual renewal of effort, he should rear his life’s building.
And then, still further, there is the fundamental condition of all; and that is, self-surrender. Our Lord lays this down in the most stringent terms in the words before my text, where He points to two directions in which that spirit is required to manifest itself. One is detachment from persons that are dearest, and even from one’s own selfish life; the other is the acceptance of things that are most contrary to one’s inclinations, against the grain, painful and hard to bear. And so we may combine these two in this statement: If any man is going to build a Christlike life he will have to detach himself from surrounding things and dear ones, and to crucify self by suppression of the lower nature and the endurance of evils. The preceding parable which is connected in subject with the text, the story of the great supper, and the excuses made for not coming to it, represents two-thirds of the refusals as arising from the undue love for, and regard to, earthly possessions, and the remaining third as arising from the undue love to, and regard for, the legitimate objects of affection. And these are the two chords that hold most of us most tightly. It is not Christianity alone, dear brethren, that says that if you want to do anything worth doing, you must detach yourself from outward wealth. It is not Christianity alone that says that, if you want to build up a noble life, you must not let earthly love dominate and absorb your energy; but it is Christianity that says so most emphatically, and that has best reason to say so.
Concentration is the secret of all excellence. If the river is to have any scour in it that will sweep away pollution and corruption, it must not go winding and lingering in many curves, howsoever flowery may be the banks, nor spreading over a broad bed, but you must straighten it up and make it deep that it may run strong. And if you will diffuse yourself all over these poor, wretched worldly goods, or even let the rush of your heart’s outflow go in the direction of father and mother, wife and children, brethren and sisters, forgetting Him, then you will never come to any good nor be of use in this world. But if you want to be Christians after Christ’s pattern, remember that the price of the building is rigidly to sacrifice self, ‘to scorn delights and live laborious days,’ and to keep all vagrant desires and purposes within rigid limits, and absolutely subordinated to Himself.
On the other hand, there is to be the acceptance of what is painful to the lower nature. Unpleasant consequences of duty have to be borne, and the lower self, with its appetites and desires, has to be crucified. The vine must be mercilessly pruned in tendrils, leaves, and branches even, though the rich sap may seem to bleed away to waste, if we are to grow precious grapes out of which may be expressed the wine of the Kingdom. We must be dead to much if we are to be alive to anything worth living for.
Now remember that Christ’s demand of self-surrender, self-sacrifice, continuous effort, rigid limitation, does not come from any mere false asceticism, but is inevitable in the very nature of the case, and is made also by all worthy work. How much every one of us has had to shear off our lives, how many tastes we have had to allow to go ungratified, how many capacities undeveloped, in how many directions we have had to hedge up our way, and not do, or be this, that, or the other; if we have ever done anything in any direction worthy the doing! Concentration and voluntary limitation, in order to fix all powers on the supreme aim which judgment and conscience have enjoined is the condition of all excellence, of all sanity of living, and eminently of all Christian discipleship.
III. Further, note the failures.
Whosoever throws himself upon great undertakings or high aims, without a deliberate forecast of the difficulties and sacrifices they involve, is sure to stop almost before he has begun. Many a man and woman leaves the starting-point with a rush, as if they were going to be at the goal presently, and before they have run fifty yards turn aside and quietly walk out of the course. I wonder how many of you began, when you were lads or girls, to study some language, and stuck before you had got through twenty pages of the grammar, or to learn some art, and have still got the tools lying unused in a dusty corner. And how many of you who call yourselves Christians began in the same fashion long ago to run the race? ‘Ye did run well.’ What did hinder you? What hindered Atalanta? The golden apples that were flung down on the path. Oh, the Church is full of these abortive Christians; ruins from their beginning, standing gaunt and windowless, the ground-plan a great palace, the reality a hovel that has not risen a foot for the last ten years. I wonder if there are any stunted Christians of that sort in this congregation before me, who began under the influence of some impulse or emotion, genuine enough, no doubt, but who had taken no account of how much it would cost to finish the building. And so the building is not finished, and never will be.
But I should remark here that what I am speaking about as failure is not incomplete attainment of the aim. For all our lives have to confess that they incompletely attain their aim; and lofty aims, imperfectly realised, and still maintained, are the very salt of life, and beautiful ‘as the new moon with a ragged edge, e’en in its imperfection beautiful.’ Paul was an old man and an advanced Christian when he said, ‘Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after.’ And the highest completeness to which the Christian builder can reach in this life is the partial accomplishment of his aim and the persistent adherence to and aspiration after the unaccomplished aim. It is not these incomplete but progressive and aspiring lives that are failures, but it is the lives of men who have abandoned high aims, and have almost forgotten that they ever cherished them.
And what does our Lord say about such? That everybody laughs at them. It is not more than they deserve. An out-and-out Christian will often be disliked, but if he is made a mock of there will be a soupon of awe and respect even in the mockery. Half-and-half Christians get, and richly deserve, the curled lip and sarcasm of a world that knows when a man is in earnest, and knows when he is an incarnate sham.
IV. Lastly, I would have you observe the inviting encouragement hidden in the apparent repelling warning.
Now, if I may so say, there are two kinds of ‘forsaking all that we have.’ One is the forsaking by which we become disciples; and the other the forsaking by which we continue true disciples. The conviction that they had not sufficient to finish is the very conviction that Christ wished to root in the minds of the crowds. He exhibits the difficulties in order that they may feel they cannot cope with them. What then? That they may ‘forsake’ all their own power to cope with them.
That is the first kind of ‘forsaking all that we have.’ That makes a disciple. The recognition of my own utter impotence to do the things which yet I see must be done, is the underside of trust in Him. And that trust in Him brings the power that makes it possible for us to do the things which we cannot of ourselves do, and the consciousness of the impotence to do which is the first step toward doing them. It is the self-sufficient man who is sure to be bankrupt before he has finished his building; but he who has no confidence in himself, and recognises the fact that he cannot build, will go to Jesus Christ and say, ‘Lord, I am poor and needy. Come Thou Thyself and be my strength.’ Such a forsaking of all that we have in the recognition of our own poverty and powerlessness brings into the field an Ally for our reinforcement that has more than the twenty thousand that are coming against us, and will make us strong.
And then, if, knowing our weakness, our misery, our poverty, and cleaving to Jesus Christ in simple confidence in His divine power breathed into our weakness, and His abundant riches lavished upon our poverty, we cast ourselves into the work to which He calls us by His grace, then we shall find that the sweet and certain assurance that we have Him for the possession and the treasure of our lives will make parting with everything else, not painful, but natural and necessary and a joy, as the expression of our supreme love to Him. It should not, and would not be difficult to fling away paste gems and false riches if our hands were filled with the jewels that Christ bestows. And it will not be difficult to slay the old man when the new Christ lives in us, by our faith and submission.
So, dear brethren, it all comes to this. We are all builders; what kind of a work is your life’s work going to turn out? Are you building on the foundation, taking Jesus Christ for the anchor of your hope, for the basis of your belief, for the crown of your aims, for your all and in all? Are you building upon Him? If so, then the building will stand when the storm comes and the ‘hail sweeps away the refuges’ that other men have built elsewhere. But are you building on that foundation the gold of self-denial, the silver of white purity, the precious stones of variously-coloured and Christlike virtues? Then your work will indeed be incomplete, but its very incompleteness will be a prophecy of the time when ‘the headstone shall be brought forth with shoutings’; and you may humbly trust that the day which ‘declares every man’s work of what sort it is’ will not destroy yours, but that it will gleam and flash in the light of the revealing and reflecting fires. See to it that you are building for eternity, on the foundation, with the fair stones which Jesus Christ gives to all those who let Him shape their lives. He is at once, Architect, Material, Foundation; and in Him ‘every several building fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
of = out of. Greek. ek. App-104. Not the same word as in Luk 14:8.
intending = desiring. See App-102.
not. App-105.
counteth = reckoneth, or calculateth. Greek psephizo. Occurs only here and in Rev 13:18 in N.T. It is from psephos = a pebble, with which calculations were made, or votes given. Occurs only in Act 26:10. Rev 2:17
cost. Greek. dapane. Occurs only here.
whether. Same as “if” in Luk 14:26.
sufficient to finish it = the [means] for (Greek. pros. App-104., but the texts read eis) [its] completion. Greek. apartismos. Occurs only here.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
28-30.] Peculiar to Luke. The same caution is followed out in this parable. This is to be borne in mind, or it will be misinterpreted. The ground of the parable is, that entire self-renunciation is requisite, to become a disciple of Christ. This man wishes to build a tower: to raise that building (see 1Co 3:11-15), which we must rear on the one Foundation, and which shall be tried in the day of the Lord. He is advised to count the cost, to see whether he have enough thoroughly to finish it. If he begin, lay the foundation,-however seemingly well it may be done, it is not well done, because he has not enough to complete it: and the attempt can only lead to shame. So it is with one who would be Christs disciple: but with this weighty difference, lying in the background of the parable-that in his case the counting the cost must always issue in a discovery of the utter inadequacy of his own resources, and the going out of himself for strength and means to build.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 14:28. ) a strong-hold [tower].-, having sat down) so as to give himself time for making a summary calculation of his means and resources. So too in Luk 14:31 [, calculates). This calculation of the expenses of building, or a consultation on a question of war, are things of no inconsiderable moment. But do thou see to it, whether thou hast ever bestowed more careful deliberation on the (infinitely more momentous) question of eternal salvation or else misery. Easy is the descent to hell!-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
intending: Gen 11:4-9, Pro 24:27
counteth: Luk 14:33, Jos 24:19-24, Mat 8:20, Mat 10:22, Mat 20:22, Mat 20:23, Act 21:13, 1Th 3:4, 1Th 3:5, 2Pe 1:13, 2Pe 1:14
Reciprocal: Pro 13:10 – with Ecc 10:2 – wise Jer 22:14 – I will Rev 3:15 – thou
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
TOWER BUILDING
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost. This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
Luk 14:28; Luk 14:30
In the parable set before us is one who without counting the cost set to work to build a tower, and was not able to finish it. He thus became an object of ridicule to his neighbours.
It is not difficult surely to apply the lesson of the parable to ourselves. In one sense, indeed, I doubt whether there is any one here present who has not experienced the unfinished tower, who has not some time or another grown weary under the thraldom of some besetting sin, some bad habit. And this because he has not first counted the cost and found out that he has no strength of his own.
I. A tower of holiness.The motto for the Christian banner is, Higher, evermore higher. The aim set before each one of us is, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. It is indeed a mark which can never be reached in this life, but our life now is to be a continual progress towards it. It was this that St. Paul tells us he devoted all his energies to. This one thing I do, I press towards the mark. But how is this to be done? How, when there are so many towers building around us and by us, towers of usefulness, towers of fame, and most of all towers of mere earthly riches, mere glittering gold, how, bewildered by all these, are we to be diligent in building up the unpretending tower of holiness? Well, we must remember first and last that we are Christians. Christian progress is only possible in Christ. We must begin with simple faith in Him. The foundation of all human goodness must be made deep in the blood of the Redeemers Cross, and in the power of His Resurrection. God has a will concerning each one of us. We are not to hurry blindly first here and then there, where various ambitions rise before us, but for His faithful ones God orders all for good, He renders all progressive towards the great end. Apart from Christ all earthly ambitions must surely sooner or later end in bitter disappointment, but in Him not one sphere of honourable industry is unblessed.
II. A tower of usefulness.Let me speak briefly of another tower, a tower of usefulness. I mean usefulness in its highest sense, that of working as a member of Christs Church for Christ. I seek not to answer the question as to what form this work is to take. Each one may best answer this for himself. In these days the opportunities for doing work for Christ and showing a living interest in our brothers welfare cannot be said to be far to seek. There is abundant work for every member of this congregation to do in his own parish. In the work of usefulness there is every need of self-forgetfulness. It is enough for the most ambitious of men that God should deign to accept his services and make him an instrument for good. It is not any particular scheme of our own; it is Gods work that we have to strive for, and thus it is only when we do really surrender ourselves to God that we can do Him true and laudable service. We can all of us speak of self-surrender, but when we stop to think what it really means we cannot but feel a kind of shame. How full our days are of selfishness! Self-denial and self-sacrifice are doctrines far beyond us, impossible for our faith to attain to. And so, indeed, they are, but for one thought giving illumination to our paththe love of Christ constraineth us. Thus alone can the work of our life be made acceptable, not an unfinished tower, open to all the winds and rains of heaven, standing with its incomplete buildings ready to fall to pieces at the last great day, but a perfect building founded upon a rock, pointing towards heaven. Such a house will stand unshaken amid the ruins of that day.
Bishop C. H. Turner.
Illustration
How many are there of us, I wonder, who can bear to labour earnestly in good causes for years with no apparent result, and then at last to see the object attained, and yet, as it seemed not by our means or not in a manner that we wished, perhaps our own labour altogether forgotten? Who can bear this, I say, and be simply thankful? And yet this has been the lot of numberless saints of God. It is a wholesome discipline for us. We learn that we cannot in our own strength do any work for God; we are but instruments in His hands to be directed by Him. In undertaking each good work, set before your mind the example of our Saviour Christ, Lo! I come to do Thy will, O God. Not My will, but Thine be done, with only one object, and that is Gods will, for the edification of His Church, the good of His service.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE TRUE AIM OF DISCIPLESHIP
I.The building, or the true aim of discipleship.
(a)We are all building a house for our souls.
(b)What are you building?a prison, or a house for God?
(c)What is Christianity for? For building.
II.The cost of the building, or the conditions of discipleship.
(a)Constant reference to the plan. The Bible is our plan.
(b)Continuous effort. You cannot rush up a great edifice.
(c)Self-surrenderi.e. concentration and self-denial.
III.Note the failures.Tower of the rash builder stands a gaunt, staring ruin.
Illustration
A certain man made public confession of faith in a surrender to Christ; whereupon his worldly friends lamented together that they would lose the enjoyment of the worldly entertainments for which his house had been noted. Not long after, these entertainments were resumed, and the profession allowed to fade away; with the result that the very friends who had respected, though they lamented, his change, now mocked at it and said: After all, it has not made much difference. The world which rejects the claims of Christ has often a keener apprehension of what those claims demand than the Christian who is careless about obeying them. The world can respect, even if it hates, the thorough disciple; but it mocks, even while it welcomes, the half-hearted and backsliding professor of religion.
(THIRD OUTLINE)
.
EXAMPLES OF COUNTING THE COST
Look at some examples of counting the cost.
I. St. Peter.When our Lord was enforcing the need for leaving all to follow Him, and St. Peter had asked the reward for doing so, He answered: Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake, and the Gospels, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life (Mar 10:29-30). A proper counting of the cost will therefore put down the loss of ten thousand per centfor such is the value of an hundredfoldto every one, who refuses to leave aught that stands in the way of discipleship.
II. St. Paul.Again, when St. Paul counted the cost, he reckoned that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us (Rom 8:18); he declared that our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2Co 4:17); he counted the seven topics of human righteousness he possessed to be but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord (Php 3:8).
III. Moses.Again, of Moses we are told the double comparison he made, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward (Heb 11:25-26).
IV. The glory to be gained.Once more, in the second and third chapters of Revelation, there is put before us a sevenfold reward and glory to be gained by those who consent to the sevenfold conditions of overcoming. Surely here are found the materials for calculation, and a right estimate of profit and loss. Who can endure to lose such glories, both present and eternal, for the fleeting and illusive profit of a passing moment?
Let us sit down, count the cost, and decide for God. The principle of the true Christian life is given in the words, We walk by faith, not by sight (2Co 5:7); and nowhere is the victory over sight more needed than when balancing the matters of profit and loss in the service of Christ.
Rev. Hubert Brooke.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
8
The lesson of the parable, beginning with this verse, is that following Christ should not be a matter of carelessness or light concern. Whoever thinks of being a disciple of Jesus should realize it will cost him many sacrifices.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 14:28. For which of you. By two illustrations our Lord enforces the requirements just stated.
To build a tower, a structure of some importance, and involving considerable expense. The prudent way is described: first the plan; second, the careful consideration of what is required to carry it out; third, the examination whether the resources will suffice.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our blessed Saviour, by these two parables, advises all his followers to sit down and consider, to weigh well, and cast up beforehand, what it is likely to cost them to go through with their profession of religion: this, he tells us, common prudence will direct men to do in other cases; particularly when they either go to build or fight; as a man that intends to build, will consult whether he is able to defray the charges; and a king that goes forth to war, will consider what strength he has to make opposition: in like manner should persons engage in religion: not rashly, but advisedly, with consideration and judgment.
It is good to remember the issues of action, before we act; before we engage in the spiritual combat, to consider the difficulty of the battle; what proud leviathans we have to conflict with, what mighty giants to contend and strive against, even the world, the flesh, and the devil. But then we must take great care that our deliberation and consideration of difficulties and dangers may not deter us from, but work in us, a steady resolution for the combat, looking up to Christ for his auxiliary aid and strength to render us victorious, who though of ourselves we can do nothing, yet we may do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Php 4:13
Learn from hence, that such as take up a profession of Christianity, without considering the dangers and difficulties, the trials and troubles, the afflictions and temptations, which may accompany it, will never hold out in the spiritual warfare, but either fall in it, or run from it.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Luk 14:28-33. Which of you, intending to build a tower, (the word here signifying the same as the Hebrew migdol, seems to denote any great building whatever,) sitteth not down first and counteth the cost To illustrate the necessity of their weighing deliberately, whether they were able and prepared to bear all their losses and persecutions to which the profession of the gospel would expose them, which indeed was the only term on which they could be his disciples, he desired them to consider how prudence would direct them to act in other cases of importance. The most thoughtless person among you, as if he had said, will not resolve on a matter of such importance as the building of a house, without previously calculating the expense; because you know that the builder who begins without counting the cost, being obliged to leave off for want of money, exposes himself to the ridicule of all passengers who look on the half- finished edifice. In like manner, the king who declares war without comparing his forces with those of his enemy, and considering whether the bravery of his troops, and the conduct of his generals, will be able to make up what he wants in numbers, is sure to be ingloriously defeated, unless he humbly sue for peace before the matter comes to an engagement. So likewise Like the person who began to build and was not able to finish; or like the king who, being afraid to face his enemy, sends an embassy and desires terms of peace; whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath Who does not engage so earnestly and resolutely in his Christian warfare, as to hold all things cheap in comparison with life eternal, and be ready to forsake them when I call him to it; he cannot be my disciple He cannot be acknowledged by me as such, because my disciples will be exposed to such trials, to such reproaches, losses, imprisonments, tortures, and martyrdoms, that unless they prefer me, and the cause in which I am engaged, to all visible and temporal things whatever, they certainly will not steadily adhere to me, or continue faithful and constant in my service. Christ does not here require that we should actually renounce these [temporal] things, but that our heart and our affections should be so taken off from them, that we always love them less than we love him; and be always ready to part with them when we cannot keep them without making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience.
Whitby. To the same purpose Baxter: A man cannot be Christs disciple if he prefer not the kingdom of heaven before all worldly interest, and forsake it not all comparatively, in esteem and resolution now, and in act when he is called to it. It was in this sense that the apostles understood their Master: for though they are said to have forsaken all and followed him, they still retained the property of their goods, as is evident from the mention that is made of Johns house, into which he took our Lords mother, after the crucifixion; and from Peter and the other disciples prosecuting their old trade of fishing, with their boat and nets, after their Masters resurrection: nevertheless, though they thus retained the use and dominion of their property, they had truly forsaken all, in the highest sense of their Masters precept, being ready, at his call, to leave their families, occupations, and possessions, as often and as long as he thought fit to employ them in the work of the gospel. Upon the whole, therefore, it appears, that the renunciation and self-denial which Christ requires, does not consist in actually parting with all before he calls us to do so, but in being disposed to part with all, that when he calls we may do it. See Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vers. 28-30. The Improvident Builder.
Building here is the image of the Christian life, regarded in its positive aspect: the foundation and development of the work of God in the heart and life of the believer. The tower, a lofty edifice which strikes the eye from afar, represents a mode of living distinguished from the common, and attracting general attention. New professors often regard with complaceney what distinguishes them outwardly from the world. But building costs something; and the work once begun must be finished, under penalty of being exposed to public ridicule. One should therefore have first made his estimates, and accepted the inroad upon his capital which will result from such an undertaking. His capital is his own life, which he is called to spend, and to spend wholly in the service of his sanctification. The work of God is not seriously pursued, unless a man is daily sacrificing some part of that which constitutes the natural fortune of the human heart, particularly the affections, which are so deep, referred to, Luk 14:26. Before, therefore, any one puts himself forward as a professor, it is all important that he should have calculated this future expenditure, and thoroughly made up his mind not to recoil from any of those sacrifices which fidelity will entail. Sitting down and counting are emblems of the serious acts of recollection and meditation which should precede a true profession. This was precisely what Jesus had done in the wilderness. But what happens when this condition is neglected? After having energetically pronounced himself, the new professor recoils step by step from the consequences of the position which he has taken up. He stops short in the sacrifice of his natural life; and this inconsistency provokes the contempt and ridicule of the world, which soon discovers that he who had separated himself from it with so much parade, is after all but one of its own. Nothing injures the gospel like those relapses, the ordinary results of hasty profession.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION
Luk 14:28-30. For which one of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first, sitting down, count the cost, if he has unto sufficiency? Lest he, having laid the foundation, and being unable to finish it, all those seeing it may begin to mock him, saying that this man began to build, and was not able to finish. The word which we here in two verses translate finish is ektelesai, completely perfect. Telesai is the regular verb constantly used in the New Testament where the E. V. has perfect. Hence this word for Christian perfection occurs twice in the above quotation. Besides, the preposition ok, preceding this verb, adds additional force to its already superlative signification. Hence the plain meaning of this forcible little parable is, that it is not worthwhile to become a disciple or set out for heaven, unless you are going for perfection. Before the man begins to build, he projects and contemplates, not an unfinished frame, but a house complete in every respect, suitable and comfortable for habitation. An unfinished house, exposed to the weather, soon rots down. Man is unwilling to live in an unfinished house; how can he expect Jesus to live in it? No wonder you have a lonesome time out in an uninhabited house. Stir up, push the work to completion, and turn over the key to Jesus, so He will move in, to abide with you forever, bringing down heaven and glory. Here you see that Jesus gives no encouragement to imperfect discipleship, but presents the highest possible incentive to Christian perfection, His plain statement clearly involving the conclusion of ultimate wreckage and failure, even becoming a laughing-stock for men and devils, if you do not reach the experience of perfection. O, what an inspiration to entire sanctification!
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 28
Build a tower; commence any great undertaking.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, {e} sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have [sufficient] to finish [it]?
(e) At home, and calculates all his costs before he begins the work.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The parable of the tower builder 14:28-30
Jesus then told another parable. His point was that those in the crowd who were considering becoming disciples of His should count the cost before they embarked on a life of discipleship.
"The simple fact is that the New Testament never takes for granted that believers will see discipleship through to the end. And it never makes this kind of perseverance either a condition or a proof of final salvation from hell.
"It . . . is simply a theological illusion to maintain that a Christian who has embarked on the pathway of discipleship could never abandon it. In the spiritual realm, this notion is as naive as an earthly father who declares, ’My son would never drop out of school!’" [Note: Zane C. Hodges, Absolutely Free! pp. 80, 82.]
A person who begins following Jesus and then stops following only makes a fool of himself. The Greek word purgos can mean either tower or farm building. Probably many of Jesus’ hearers were farmers.