"The Price Is Right" Series

"The Price is Right”

Luke 14:25-35

Picture this with me. The disciples are standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The have just finished a long night of fishing and they’ve got nothing. Ever had a fishing trip like that? And Jesus walks up and says to them, go back out and take the net and cast it into deep water. The disciples are no doubt tired; they are weary from working all night. Fishing can be fun but not when you aren’t catching anything. It is Simon who speaks up first and he says Lord we have worked hard all night long and we have nothing. But then he says but if you say so we will let down the nets. And they did. The Bible says that they caught such a great number of fish that the nets were literally breaking and when they placed all the fish in the boats… we know there was more than one…they began to sink. Now I have never had that much success fishing before but I think I would like it. And it was there that Jesus said to them, “from now on I want you to be fishers of men.” We then read that these early disciples made a life-changing decision. The Bible puts it this way… “Then they brought the boats to land, left everything and followed him.” Did you hear that? They left everything. Think for a moment about what they would have left behind to be his disciples.

• They left their jobs. They were fishermen. It was more than a hobby. It wasn’t something they did to relax. It was work. This is how they made a living. And they quit their jobs right there to follow Jesus.

• They left their families. Mark speaks of Simon’s mother in law so we know Simon was married. Paul confirms that Simon was married. So this was not only a commitment for the disciples but also for their families.

• They left their security. They left a lifestyle that was all they knew to follow someone who had not even told them where they were going. I think most of us would say that we kind of like security. We like to know that things are going to be taken care of. We like to feel some level of control in life. But one of the things that happens when we decide to be a follower of Christ is that we have to give up some of that control.

So these men left their jobs, their families and their sense of security…why? Because they chose to invest their lives in something that was much bigger than them. I want that. Don’t you? Because everything is not about us and anything we do in life that is worth doing will cost us something.

I looked through our church membership file this week and I thought about each of you and the work you do, the job you hold or have held and I thought about your background. I found a band member, barber, bankers, bus driver, a butcher, billing and insurance worker, car salesman, construction people...carpenters, plumber, construction worker, a chef, dentist, receptionist, locksmiths, several nurses, physical therapist, tire salesman, city workers, assembly line mechanic, piano teacher, pizza maker, postal worker, sales people, school teachers, stock clerks, ticket-taker, truck drivers, x-ray tech and even a pastor. And I thought about each of those professions and they all have at least one thing in common...they all require training. Some require a lot of training. A lot of hard work. A lot of sacrifice. There is a price to be paid.

Now this morning we are looking at two parables, very simple but with a profound truth we need to get hold of: There is a price to pay to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and the price is right. The price is high and it should be high. Because the calling to be a disciple is the greatest calling anyone can have on their life.

Now one of these parables deals with constructing a tower and the other deals with government and going to war. Jesus told us these stories for two specific reasons: (1) He told us these stories to teach us to count what it would cost to be a disciple. (2) He told us these stories to teach us to count what it would cost if we choose a different path.

The setting for these two stories was during the time of Jesus when there were large crowds following Him around from Galilee to Jerusalem. They loved following him as long as the miracles were being performed and the crowds were being fed. They were ready to make Him king. Some of his closest friends, Peter, James and John all wanted positions in His kingdom...they even argued over who would be able to sit at His right hand. But Jesus knew that things were about to get tough. Things were going to get hard. His ministry would come under attack. He knew this road was taking Him to the cross. He knew that for someone to follow Him that life could be difficult.