The Cost of Stepping Into the Kingdom (Luke 9:57–62)

On March 17, at River Corner Church, Pastor Jeff McLain looked at Luke 9:57-62 and the cost of stepping into the Kingdom. Together we looked at what it means to continually say yes to Jesus and to accurately count the cost of following Jesus.

About saying yes to Jesus, John Wimber once said, "The economy of the kingdom of God is quite simple.  Every new step in the kingdom costs us everything we have gained to date.  Every time we cross a new threshold, it costs us everything we now have.  Every new step may cost us all the reputation and security we have accumulated up to that point.  It costs us our life.  A disciple is always ready to take the next step.  If there is anything that characterizes Christian maturity, it is the willingness to become a beginner again for Jesus Christ.  It is the willingness to put our hand in his hand and say, “I’m scared to death, but I’ll go with you.  You’re the Pearl of great price.”

Who we are together.
River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together.

What we practice together.
Our small church community is uniquely caring, simple, laid-back, and intergenerational. As a church, we want to be a welcoming, safe, and healing community for those who are seeking, hurting, or need a place to belong. Our practices are contemplative (reflective) charismatic (Spirit-driven), conversational, and informative. The times we share together are intentional and intimate, and a mix between modern and traditional. We want to be a place in which love and honor are lived out, where humility is central, and where hospitality is woven into the threads of our community. There is room at the table.

When we gather together.
River Corner Church gathers weekly on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM to worship and experience God, study the scriptures, journey through life together, and partner with the Holy Spirit. We meet in a simple worship meeting house at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. You are welcome as you are, just be yourself. There are other times that we hold small groups, events, and more.

Our Pastoral Leader.
As the pastor of River Corner Church, Jeff McLain leads our church community and helps others to think differently about Jesus, life, and everything in-between. Jeff also serves as the Director of Pastoral Ministries at Water Street Mission, where he works with those facing homelessness and poverty. Jeff, Katie, and their three wander-filled daughters look to lead quiet lives. Committed to lifelong learning, Jeff is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry at Kairos University and completing a Master of Business Administration with a focus on Executive Leadership at City Vision University. These academic pursuits complement the two masters he completed earlier at Fuller Seminary. Jeff has a passion for baseball, boardwalks, beaches, bays, and books, but above all, his greatest joy lies in spending time with his family and guiding our church community on our journey of faith together.

Learn more about us at rivercornerchurch.com.

Transcript

Everything has a cost to it. There is a cost to all choices we make. It is not only the choices we make that are determinantal to us that can be costly, but also those decisions that are beneficial to our way of life come with a cost.  Often, when we think about bettering our lives and dream about what a better reality would look like for us, we don’t imagine the costs of that better life or the new problems that new life will bring us. No, when we dream about a new way of living, we only look at what we think will be the blessings or rewards of such a way of living. For example, when I dream about running off into the backcountry and living off the land in the woods, away from people, I don’t think about the costs of that life or what I will do for a living. When I dream about living at the beach on some ocean or bay-front property, I don’t think about the taxes I will have to pay or even the credit approval that I will need to make that happen.

In 1988, William Post III was in a rough spot. He dreamed about what life could be like, but he had no way of getting there. His hard life started when he was just 8 years old, his mother died, and his father would go on to send him off to an orphanage. His life was spent as a drifter, working in circuses and carnivals. In all honesty, he had nothing to his name. In 1988, he was on disability and he only had $2.46 in his bank account. He decided to pawn a ring for $40 and gave someone the $40 to buy him 40 tickets in the State Lottery. Thankfully, one of those tickets led to him winning $16.2 million. Imagine that shift. To have nothing, and overnight walk into 16.2 million dollars. However, William Post III did not count the cost.

In 1993, just five years after winning 16.2 million dollars, William Post III would say publicly, "Everybody dreams of winning money, but nobody realizes the nightmares that come out of the woodwork or the problems.” He, like everyone else who dreams of a better life, doesn’t count the cost. Mr. Post acquired a liquor license, a lease on a Florida restaurant for his brother and sister, a used car lot, and an accompanying fleet of cars for another brother. Additionally, he bought a twin-engine plane, though he didn't have a pilot's license, and so on. Within three months of winning, he found himself in $500,000 of debt. Things didn't get better. He went on to purchase a mansion in Oil City, Pennsylvania and set about upgrading it. Around that same time his sixth wife, yes the sixth wife, got a court order to keep him away after he fired a rifle shot into her Pontiac Firebird. Then the person who bought the ticket for him sued him for a share of the money and won 1/3rd of the winnings. He refused to give her the share, and so the court froze his money. Walking around his 16-room home, he moaned "I was much happier when I was broke.” After attempting to pay off now millions of debt, he was arrested in 1998, ten years after winning, for firing a shotgun at a man who tried to repo a car, and it was found that one of his brothers tried to kill him and his sixth wife. Life was certainly better for Mr. Post when he was broke. Mr. Post didn’t count the cost of his new life.

Many of us in this room could dream about what it would be like to come into 16.2 million dollars. It is not hard to dream about what we would do with the money. Many of us are most likely thinking, “I would never make those mistakes.” Surely there are a few mistakes that Mr. Post thought of that I don’t think anyone in this room would make. At the same time, we don’t know what problems we would face with that much money. Though we would like to say we would just better our life, live just slightly better, and save for the sake of the legacy of our family, the truth is - as one author said about this story, “more money, more problems.” The truth is that we all have weaknesses, we all have temptations that speak to us, and those temptations and weaknesses are only magnified when we are tasked with greater responsibility. These problems though are not in the minds of the eternal optimist, or those individuals who seem to have a rose-tinted view of the world. Rather, these individuals live in an idealistic or overly positive state of mind.

Not counting the cost, or realizing the problems, when we dream of a better opportunity is only one way we fail to count the cost. There is another way that we fail to count the cost. Sometimes we look at the cost of an opportunity and we give up before we even try. This is often the problem of those who are pessimistic, or cynical about every opportunity. These gloomy outlooking individuals are overly critical and often think they are defeated before they count the cost of what might be possible if they step out in faith.

Often, this defeated viewpoint looks like us being offered an opportunity, and when we look at the leap of faith it takes, we back out and give up because we think the cost of starting over is too much. The cost becomes too great and we don’t think the reward will outweigh the cost. Now, sometimes analyzing the cost and reward is an important decision to make. There is wisdom in knowing when the cost is too great and and not. However, sometimes what we think is wisdom is just fear. I have come to believe that the longer we stay in a place, the older we get, and the more stuck we become in many ways. In the movie Rocky Balboa, Rocky (the main character) says, “ya know they always say if you live in one place long enough, you are that place.” I love that quote and find it so true in my life. The longer we stay somewhere, the more we become a place, the less likely we are to step out in faith. When I was younger, I would jump all over the country for opportunities. Right before joining the community here at River Corner Church in 2022, I was in conversation with another opportunity, an opportunity that would take our life in a whole other direction, on the other side of the country. That opportunity would have not only started our life over, but it would also have been a great leap of faith in every area and arena of our lives. Now, don’t get me wrong, there was certainly the possibility of a significant reward or blessing for taking this leap of faith. That leap of faith could have brought about a reward that would have been reflected in our finances, our emotional health, our relational health, and more. Perhaps that leap of faith would have had an amazing reward, despite its significant risk. However, when I looked at the leap of faith it would take, and the possible reward, I felt defeated and like it would not lead to the blessing I wanted out of life. 

The truth is in counting that cost, I don’t know if it was fear or wisdom that stopped us from moving. I suspect it was wisdom, but in our human condition, as we make decisions from emotional responses and our liminal spaces of understanding, the truth is it can be hard to know if we are reacting to wisdom or fear. Have you ever made one of those decisions where you counted the cost and decided it took too much of a leap of faith and so you passed on that opportunity? I suspect it is at the end of our lives when we realize if those opportunities we passed on become things we are glad we did not take or become the regrets that haunt us. 

Think about it, do you tend to fail to count the full cost when looking at an opportunity, or do you tend to look at an opportunity and see the cost as too costly to step out in faith? Because we are likely to respond to opportunities in one of these two ways, we often fail to accurately count the cost. Just like the story of Mr. Post who faced ruin by not accurately counting the cost, we can bring ruin by not accurately analyzing the reward of stepping out in faith, the road that might have been easier for us, suddenly becomes tense and with toil.

The scriptures are full of stories of people who do not count the cost, either failing to see what problems their discernment will bring about or those who allow the cost to defeat them and make them miss out on life. It only makes sense to find stories of people who don’t accurately count the cost in the scriptures, because the scriptures not only tell the story and character of God, but they also reveal a lot about ourselves to us, and if it is a story about mankind in contrast to God, it only makes sense to see the same struggles we face, to also be illuminated and illustrated in the stories of other humans. 

One of those stories of people who do not count the cost is found in Luke 9:57-62. This morning I am going to be reading Luke 9:57-62 out of the New International Version. In Luke 9:57-62, Jesus encounters three individuals who fail to accurately count the cost. Follow along as I read from Luke 9:57-62, and allow a word, phrase, image, or idea to stand out to you.

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

In Luke 9, Luke combines three stories, stories that Jesus had with those during his ministry. Each of these three individuals saw the opportunity at hand, the possibilities when they looked at what it means to follow Jesus. However, neither of them accurately counted the cost. All three of these people failed to experience life at Jesus’ side.

First, we have a man who encounters Jesus on the road. He is willing to follow Jesus, he even is willing to step out in faith without counting the cost. This individual fails to see that there will be new problems if he steps out in faith in this way. Perhaps like the man who won the lottery, this man’s life is full of so many struggles, that all he can see is the blessing of following Jesus. However, Jesus is aware that this man has not accurately counted the cost, and so Jesus counts it for him. Seemingly, Jesus cuts to the very thing he knows this man will not be able to face, Jesus tells him the new problem that will seemingly be too great for him - he will be homeless, uncomfortable, and without anything to his name.

Notice, in this story, a man is approaching Jesus and willing to follow him as a teacher and Rabbi. In this era, “Disciples usually sought out their own teachers.” In this way, Jesus was unique, he went after his disciples and invited them to follow him. To me, this speaks to the way that Jesus still knocks at the heart of all of us, that he comes to us, and that we do not come to him. In this day, there were some teachers and philosophers - such as the Jewish Essences and some other Greek Sects - who radically were opposed to owning posessions. As a result, when people wanted to follow these religious teachers, they would raise the bar or raise the challenge of what they would need to surrender as a way of testing them. This may be what Jesus is doing in this story, looking to see if this man was worthy of following him and his mission. Jesus certainly asks us to count the cost of following him, to realize what we will have to risk to find life at his side. Though, I think Jesus is revealing something this man was not willing to see, the cost, in his emotional idealism of what it meant to follow Jesus. In this day, many “Palestinian Jews were poor, but few were homeless,” because of the way the culture embraced the hospitality of their injusticed fellow countrymen. However, in an unusual way of ministry, Jesus modeled giving up his “home to travel and is completely dependent on the hospitality and support of others.” I am not saying this is the way Jesus wants us to live out homelessness, but I do want us to notice that Jesus broke the mold and was doing things in revolutionary, countercultural, nonconforming ways - and he does model that as a way of life.

I think the first thing we take away from this story is that when we are looking to accurately count the cost, Jesus calls us to measure the costs by a different standard. Jesus calls us to not count the costs of fruitfulness and success based on the world’s understanding. Rather, Jesus calls us to a kingdom that works in ways that can be described upside down, Jesus calls us to measure the costs in ways that are revolutionary, countercultural, and nonconforming.

The second thing we take away from this story is that sometimes following Jesus means we have to give up the things of comfort that we want out of life. The cost of following Jesus is that we may have to give up a comfortable, restful, and organized normal life.

In the next story, Jesus calls a man to follow him, but the man wants to bury his own father first. Jesus asks but the man allows the expectations of his life from others to keep him out of this experience. Notice, that not everyone whom Jesus knocks at their heart and invites them to live at his side will choose to do life with him. Note, that this man is not wrestling with having to bury his dad in an actual sense. Rather, in this time if you were preparing for a funeral, you would not be outside for the week after the death, and you would not be talking to a rabbi in the mourning period, talking about following them. A person was buried almost instantly in this time and would have already occurred by the time you were talking to a rabbi. They couldn’t delay funerals like we do today. There was a practice that after the initial burying, a year later the oldest son would have to come and rebury the bones, and place them in a special box on the tomb wall. This person is likely asking for at least a year’s delay. The oldest son was responsible for the expectations of caring for the family and the funerals. Truthfully, it may even be that he is the oldest son and he is saying, I need to wait to my father dies, and a year after that to rebury him, and then I am down to live out your cause. This guy is not idealistically looking at the cost of following Jesus, he is allowing the cost of following Jesus to keep him out of the experience. The cost of letting his family down is too much for him to risk. The short-term reward outweighs the greater opportunity for this individual.

The third thing we see in this story is that the cost of following Jesus includes breaking perhaps the strongest of all bonds - the expectations of family and friends. Family puts perhaps the greatest expectations on us - regardless if they are our parents or our kids - family puts an unusual sense of duty on us.  In this day, you weren’t only responsible for your family, but honoring them and caring for them was a God-given calling. To call someone to abandon this would have felt like heresy. Often it is our loyalty to family that can keep us in a state of fear from moving away. Early on in my life, I remember people talking about individuals “abandoning the family,” when they moved away, even if it was for missions. I have heard people say things like, “I don’t think God would call you to abandon…” and son. There was an expectation you were to be always around family. So, often we are scared to leave our kids or aging parents and follow an opportunity. However, not even the expectations of family should keep us from stepping out in faith.

In the last story in this passage, an individual says something quite normal, that he is willing to follow Jesus - and we don’t know if Jesus invited him or if he just wants to follow Jesus - but he wants to go home and say goodbye to his family. However, Jesus responds with this unusual statement to what seems like an okay response. I mean even missionaries would have a chance to say goodbye to their family. When Katie and I left for California to attempt church planting in 2010, people held a going-away celebration for us. That is just normal. Yet, Jesus responds with a statement that calls for immediacy, so much immediacy that a going away celebration seems to be bad. In this day, when farming, a play had to be kept straight. I remember my grandfather using an old plow behind the tractor to dig up potatoes. He had to keep the plow straight, and so did the tractor driver, to make sure we unearthed the potatoes correctly. One had to keep their eyes on the plow so the rows didn’t become crooked.  The plows in this day were light and wooden but had an iron point - that needed sturdy hands and focus. There is a story in the Old Testament where Elijah found Elisha plowing. Elijah called to Elisa and called him into ministry, but allowed Elisha time to go home and say goodbye to his family. But in the story of Elijah calling Elisha, when Elisha went home, he burned his plow and cooked his oxen so that he could never return to that life. Jesus keeps that same kind of radical call or total reckless abandonment of worldly responsibility. Rather, Jesus says the Kingdom of God, cannot take a person who splits their loyalty. The truth is that many will be enthralled with an opportunity when it is right before them, but if they go home and say goodbye, they could then realize the cost of abandoning their responsibility would be too much and change their minds. 

Lastly, in this story, we see that following Jesus means we cannot keep our focus on two worlds. Following Jesus is a total abandonment of the rights and ways of this world or nothing at all.

I think sometimes we look at this story and think about the start of our journey with Jesus and the cost of saying yes to Jesus that first time. However, our lives our a journey of continuing to say yes to Jesus. Each year, each step, we learn a new way that we must follow Jesus and sometimes those steps of faith are risky and costly, and we constantly ask ourselves if this is a step we can take. Is the cost too great? At each step and stage, we are analyzing our fears that keep us from truly following Jesus and saying yes to him. We don’t just say yes to Jesus, and no to our comforts, families, and responsibilities one time. This is a lifelong journey of learning to say yes to Jesus as these things pull at us and our focus. 

I think I have shared this quote before, but it is one of my favorites from John Wimber. He used to say that each time we say yes to Jesus it was a step of risk, a step of faith and it cost something. It was a cost that we had to analyze correctly. Wimber said:

“The economy of the kingdom of God is quite simple.  Every new step in the kingdom costs us everything we have gained to date.  Every time we cross a new threshold, it costs us everything we now have. (Slide) Every new step may cost us all the reputation and security we have accumulated up to that point.  It costs us our life.  A disciple is always ready to take the next step. (Slide) If there is anything that characterizes Christian maturity, it is the willingness to become a beginner again for Jesus Christ. (Slide) It is the willingness to put our hand in his hand and say, “I’m scared to death, but I’ll go with you.  You’re the Pearl of great price.”

I love this quote. This captures Luke's point of point in these three stories together. Faith, as William Barclay says about this passage, is realizing that “Jesus urges us to act at once when our hearts are stirred.” Science says that the more we say no, the more we stall, the more we become in a place, the more we will always be that and never step out in faith. The more we step out as individuals and experience change, the more likely we will continue to step out in faith. There is a church coach named Karl Vaters who says churches should follow the ABCS, Always Be Changing Something, so that they never forget what it means to step out in faith. The same should be true of us. An author I appreciate, Brandon Schaeffer writes, “One of the most interesting and disturbing features of the villains of Jesus’ stories is how normal and ordinary they are - which makes us deeply uncomfortable.” These are all normal, ordinary, things but these guys become opposite to the work the Kingdom is doing. It is easy to become an accidental villain in the work of the Kingdom. When we operate out of a me-first, fearful, lacking trust, scarcity mindset, we find ourselves at odds with what God wants to do in, with, and through us. The Kingdom, the rule and reign of God is always marching on, calling us to greater faith.

In the New Testament Jesus uses economic imagery a lot. Language that states we need to give up something to get something, Jesus continually tells us that we find our lives only by losing them. The economy of the Kingdom is different than the world’s. These stories in Luke aren’t Jesus being unrealistic, he is asking them to accurately count the cost, to know what and why they are giving up what they are giving up. Following Jesus may involve a sacrifice, and it did for the three individuals in this story, but it is also the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance for us to inherit not only eternal life but also the good life at Jesus’ side. If they would have followed after Jesus, they would have learned to experience the good life. To have all that mattered. But they weren’t willing to re-learn an idea of what it means to have it all. Sure, by saying yes to Jesus, they are going to miss out on things that other people may get to experience. These things are certainly good, but sometimes we can let good things come in the way between us and Jesus, and if he asks us to step out in faith, we need to be willing to let both good and bad things go. We need to step out with immediacy, knowing what we will get from him if we do step out.

I think this story prompts us to ask, what is holding us back this morning? Where are we not fully analyzing the cost? Where is Jesus asking you to step forward in the kingdom, and what reputation and security, what comfort and things that you have accumulated to this point, might Jesus be saying it is going to cost you? Even more are you willing?

In closing, we're reminded that every decision we make carries a cost, whether we perceive it or not. The story of William Post III illustrates how we can get ourselves in trouble if we don’t accurately count the cost. The first story in Luke tells us the same. Jesus may ask us to give up our comfort, reputation, and security but he will reward us with something greater - God’s presence and our purpose. These things we give up are our hindrances. The encounters in Luke model a life of continuing to say yes to Jesus. As we journey with Jesus, we must continually reassess our willingness to follow him, understanding that each step of faith may require us to relinquish what we've gained and become beginners again. That is our invitation I think this morning, practicing saying yes to Jesus again, like it was the first time. Saying yes to Jesus means embracing risk and accepting the challenge of constant change. As we step out in faith, we align ourselves with the ever-advancing Kingdom of God, where true fulfillment and purpose are found. So let us not shy away from the costs, but rather, let us embrace them with courage and trust, knowing that the rewards of following Jesus far outweigh any temporary sacrifices.