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For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. — Luke 14:28-32, NASB

The brief parables illustrate that true discipleship demands careful consideration of its requirements. Using the examples of a man attempting to build a tower and a king preparing to go to war, Jesus shows that if the conditions of following Him are not understood and a person is spiritually unprepared for the task, they cannot be a true disciple.

The passage appears in the central section of Luke as the Lord and His disciples travel toward Jerusalem, and His message is directed to the growing crowds that have joined them. In the preceding verses He explains that those who come to Him should love Him more than even their own relatives or their own life, and likens the believer’s walk to that of a condemned man bearing his own cross to the site of execution. The parables are then given to illustrate that a believer’s ability to pay the hefty price of discipleship relates directly to their ability to endure to the end.

Many people today have a distorted view of Jesus and what it means to follow Him, and choose to approach Him on their own terms. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “discipleship is not an offer that man makes to Christ.” God alone sets the terms for discipleship, and they are the following: self-denial and sacrifice, loyal obedience and submission, and the ready acceptance of persecution, suffering and death for His sake. It should come as no surprise that our Lord would caution us to count the cost, though He never sugarcoated the realities of discipleship (Mt 7:13-14, 19:16-22, 23:8-12, Lk 9:57-62, 14:26-27, 14:33, Jn 15:20-21).

His is not a popular evangelistic approach because preaching discipleship unvarnished can easily discourage people, as it contrasts sharply with the natural man’s love of self and the treasure of this world. Jesus’s straight talk during His earthly ministry about the sacrifices of discipleship certainly deterred some, but He was effectively calling His true disciples, enabled through God-given faith to endure the earthly difficulties of the Christian walk. Strength and encouragement is found in the fact that God always supplies believers with what He requires.

In verses 34 and 35 Jesus compares spiritual faith with the essence of salt. Salt that loses its saltiness can no longer flavor or preserve anything. It has become useless and suitable only for being thrown out. Likewise poor discipleship, a product of false faith, is of no use to Him because it ultimately comes to nothing - much like a doomed tower project, or the campaign of a king at war who has no strategy.

Christ explained elsewhere that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, which could be a stumbling block for some as the demands of discipleship are pondered. It is important to consider scriptural context and note that while He has lightened the load considerably by fulfilling the requirements of God’s law on man's behalf, following Him in discipleship presents its own challenges for the believer. It is a narrow path of obedience and sacrifice which exacts a high price from those who walk it.

One way or another everyone will pay a high price regarding Jesus; a man will either buy a future of everlasting life through faith and discipleship, or a much more expensive fate of eternal damnation as a result of indifference and unbelief. As the reckoning approaches, every man should consider each of those costs.

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Most scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB)

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