Worth Vs Cost

“Radical” Session 7 – Friday April 12, 2013

• PRAY!

• WELCOME!

• It’s been over 4 months of laying brick by brick foundation to get us to this point where we can finally start this year’s book, “Radical”.

• I hope that through our study of the importance of sharing the Gospel and showing the power of the Gospel at work in our lives through learning the Beatitudes, we are now able to serve with the Gospel and persevere the heavy cost of discipleship.

• Again our theme for this year, and probably for the next 2 to 3 years, is share the Gospel, show the Gospel, and serve with the Gospel. This should lead us to become true disciples that make disciples.

• We will be referring to the things that we have learned in the Beatitudes in our study of the book.

• So please, if you have any questions regarding what we took up with the Beatitudes, do not hesitate to approach me with your questions.

• As I’ve said last week, tonight is the start of our study of “Radical” and I also said that in preparation for tonight, I encouraged you to read the first chapter of “Radical”, “Someone worth losing everything for”.

• To start off, I’d like to read a quote from the first chapter.

• READ PAGE 18 AND 19 “IS HE WORTH IT?”

• Is Jesus worth the cost of discipleship? Now some of you are asking, what is the cost of being a disciple of Jesus? We took this up for the majority of the year last year. But for the benefit of those who weren’t here, let’s review it.

• READ Luke 14:25 – 33

• So what will it cost for us to become a disciple of Jesus? As far as the scripture goes, IT’S EVERYTHING! Everything that we have!

• Now, here’s the question: Why is the cost of following Jesus so great? And, just like the quote I read from “Radical”, is Jesus worth the cost?

• To help us answer those questions, let’s take a look at the relationship between the worth of something and its cost.

• I think that there is a direct relationship between the worth of something and its cost in that we could say that the worth of something determines how much its going to cost or, to put it the other way; we can say that the cost of something displays or reveals how much its worth.

• The cost of something does not determine its worth, it only displays it or it reveals it. The actual worth of something is based on what that something is.

• Again, the cost that is associated to a thing is not the determining factor of it’s worth. What that thing IS, determines its worth, and it is then revealed by how much it costs.

• Illustration: Show paintings.

• For these paintings that we just saw, if we were to look at just the cost or the price that was paid for them, we can say that these paintings must be worth a lot if someone is willing to pay that much for it.

• And for the buyers of these painting to be able to determine how much they will pay for a certain painting, they must know a lot about that painting (ie. The painter, significance, importance).

• But, for somebody like me who doesn’t know much about art, I wouldn’t spend that amount of money on these paintings because I don’t see or I can’t see how they are worth it. I don’t see their worth even if the price or the cost associated with the painting clearly displays its worth.

• So why did these paintings sell for this much? It’s because the people that actually bought them, valued or treasured them based on their knowledge of their worth. Or in other words, how much you value something is how you see the worth of that thing.

• The value that they put on the worth of these paintings is so much that to them the price that they would pay for these paintings wasn’t even an issue as long as they get it.

• Again, the people that bought these paintings knew how valuable they are based on their knowledge of the painter and the actual painting itself and from there comes the worth of the painting which then dictates the cost or the price associated with such a painting.

• Therefore, the thing that displays the worth of something is its value. Or, to say it another way, how much you value something displays its worth to you.

• Now, earlier I said that it is the cost that display worth right? Now we’re saying that value also displays worth. What’s the difference?