PARABLES OF CHRIST
THE TOWER AND THE KING AT WAR
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 14:25-33
AUGUST 9, 1998
“Saving Private Ryan” is, of course, the name of a movie currently in release, produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Hanks and Matt Damon. The movie portrays the horror of war and the incomprehensible sacrifice made by so many that we might enjoy the freedoms we do today. Matt Damon plays the part of Private James Ryan, a young man who grew up on an Iowa farm, whose three brothers have already died in the war. Of course, Tom Hanks plays the part of Captain John Miller who leads seven other men in a quest to find Private Ryan and return him safely to America and to his grieving mother.
The first half-hour of the movie is very difficult to watch. It certainly was for me. In fact, I could not look at many of the scenes. It portrayed D-Day and the siege of Omaha Beach at Normandy. The violence was graphic. Not gratuitous but realistic and hard to watch. I wondered, as I was there at that movie, how many American men who fought in that war, really counted the cost. So many who fought in World War II were not conscripted. They were not drafted. So many volunteered. But I wonder if, before they volunteered, they counted the cost. I wonder if they knew that they might be like sitting ducks in a shooting gallery on D-Day. Of course, I suspect that many of them did count the cost and were ready to die, the cause was so great. I believe that many did count the cost and they believed that the atrocities of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi holocaust was worth their risk of death.
The Bible tells us that the kingdom of heaven is at war. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that His kingdom, His church, is at war. This is not popular imagery today. Not many Christians today like to sing “Onward Christian Soldiers” and yet the Bible tells us that the church of Christ is at war and the Bible says we do not struggle against flesh and blood but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies. The church of Jesus Christ is at war with Satan and with the powers of darkness. This effort requires our sacrifice. This war, this battle, requires the sacrifice of all who believe in Christ. It requires our time. It requires our talent, and it requires our treasure. Literally the souls of men and women the world overhang in the balance.
This is also a war that takes place within each and every one of us as the old and new nature that is given in Christ—the new nature that has been given through Christ is at war with the old and fallen nature that is still yet within us. To this war and to this battle, we bring every effort, and the Lord Jesus tells us we are to count the cost. Now, He says that “anyone who would come after Him and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters and yes, even his own life, cannot be His disciple.”
This statement is, of course, a difficult one. It has been hard for many to hear and even harder for others to accept. We need to understand, however, that the word hate in the Greek is different than the word hate in the English. In the English, the word hate is an absolute term but, in the Greek, the word hate is oftentimes a relative term. It means “to love less.” It means “to honor less.” It means “to regard as less.” And so, Jesus is saying to us that if we would be His disciples, we must honor Him above all others. We must love Him above all others, and we must regard Him as above all others. He is, of course, not telling us literally to hate our families. He has already commanded us to love our enemies. He is not here telling us to hate those nearest and dearest but He’s telling us to regard Him, to regard Christ, as preeminent. To bear our own cross and follow Him, there is a cost. To be willing to renounce all things and follow Him. He needs to be our supreme allegiance.
In this context, He gives these two little parables, the parable of the tower, where Jesus said, “Who sits down to build a tower without first counting the cost, whether he’s able to finish.” Christ wants you to understand that if you take His name and you call yourself a Christian, count the cost because you have been called by Christ to finish the race. You have to be in it for the long haul.
On this very day, August 9, today at 12:00 Noon in 1974, Gerald Ford took the oath of office and became the 38th President of the United States. At that same moment, August 9, at noon of 1974, Richard Nixon was in Air Force One flying to California, literally drinking a martini. He was not able to overcome the scandal of Watergate and he knew that he would have been impeached and probably convicted of crimes. And so, he resigned. Two and one-half years were left in his second term and yet he was finished, unable to complete his term of office and that is, of course, a sad thing when a president is unable… It’s a tragic thing when a President is unable to complete his term of service, but it is sadder still, more tragic still, when a Christian does not finish the race and cannot say with Paul, “I fought the good fight. I’ve kept the faith. I finished the race.” Jesus would have us to think this morning… Are we in it for the long haul? Have we counted the cost?
Then, of course, He gives the little parable of the king at war. He said that a king doesn’t go to war with another king without first sitting down and taking counsel whether he, with his ten thousand, can meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand. Bible scholars’ debate whether or not Jesus is telling us to count the cost of going to war with Him or count the cost of going to war against Him. But, you see, either way there is a cost. If you go to war against Him, count the cost. There is an eternal cost. If you would go to war with Him, there is a cost, for He’s called us to bear our cross and to present ourselves as living sacrifices.
Some of you may have heard of Charles T. Studd. I read about him this past week. I’ve heard of him many times through the years, but I’d never researched his life. Charles T. Studd was born in England in 1862. He was born to a very wealthy British family. They had acquired their wealth through tea plantations in India. Charles Studd was reared and educated in the finest schools. He attended Eton and Trinity College at Cambridge University. He was an all-English cricketeer. He was one of the greatest athletes in the world, regarded as truly one of the finest athletes on the earth.
The year was 1883, when Charles Studd was 21 years old and a student at Cambridge, when Dwight L. Moody came to England to conduct a revival at Cambridge University. Dwight L. Moody came with fear and trembling because he was not an educated man, and he knew that he was coming into the epicenter of the academic world when he came to Cambridge. The first night of his revival, D.L. Moody told the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. Now, the word Daniel in the Hebrew has three syllables. The name Daniel in English typically has two syllables but somehow D.L. Moody was able to say the name Daniel with one syllable. People laughed and they mocked him that night.
There were 1,800 people there the first night of the crusade at Cambridge University in 1883—1,800 people. The next night only 100 showed up but God was there, and amazing things happened. Of course, the brother of Charles T. Studd was there and gave his heart and soul to Jesus Christ that night. Charles’ brother then came to him and led him to Christ, led Charles Studd to Christ, indirectly through the ministry of D.L. Moody. The world would somehow never be the same. Charles Studd formed friendships with six other students at Cambridge University who also believed in Christ and had given their lives to Christ. They were also from wealthy families, and they were also great athletes. Those seven college men were called the Cambridge Seven. The Cambridge Seven started the student volunteer movement. They went around from university to university, to Oxford and Edinburgh and St. Andrews recruiting students to serve Jesus Christ. God used the Cambridge Seven mightily, partly because they were so respected because of their social status and also because of their athletic skills.
Incredibly, in the year 1884, Hudson Taylor of the China Inland Mission came to speak at Cambridge University. The Cambridge Seven together gave their lives as missionaries to go to China. All seven of them. It was publicized in newspapers all over the world. The date was March 18, 1885, when Charles Studd arrived in Shanghai, and he came in humility. He was 23 years old. He adopted Chinese customs, wore Chinese clothes. He wasn’t trying to convert their culture. He was trying to save souls and lead people to love of Jesus Christ. He renounced all for Christ.
When he led the first person in China to Christ, when he led his first convert to Christ, he made the statement. He said, “You know I have experienced almost all the pleasures this world has to give but they are as nothing when compared to seeing one soul accept Christ.”
On December 5, 1887, when Charles Studd was 25 years old, he came into his inheritance. He came into his inheritance, and he received more money than any of us in this room are likely to earn in our entire life. In 24 hours, Charles Studd gave it all away, every single penny. He gave it all away to the work of Christ, most of it to the ministry of D.L. Moody. In the year 1900, Charles Studd left China and he went to India to serve in India. He became gravely ill in India, returned home to England in 1906. There doctors cared for him. In 1910 he was still ill, and he resolved to go to Africa as a missionary. In 1910 he went to Africa even though missionaries had warned him that he would die because his health was so grave. He said it would be the greatest joy of his life to die for Jesus Christ. He served 18 hours a day in Africa for 21 years until he died in 1931 and not before he had established the Worldwide Evangelistic Crusade, a ministry which still exists today, a ministry which still leads women and men to Jesus Christ today.
But the story of Charles T. Studd is not all a wonderful story. You see, he had a critical spirit, and he was often critical of others whose energy and zeal were less than his. He worked 18 hours a day and barely slept. He didn’t understand other people who were not equally committed and not equally able to labor. His wife was often ill and often abandoned because he left her to often in his ministry and his work. He just left her. Though she loved him greatly, she really saw him in her life as a tragic story. With his sacrifice, he ruined his own health. He spent the last years of his life addicted to morphine.
Read the life of Charles Studd, you will find out that one of his favorite passages in the whole Bible is our passage of scripture for today. He loved the call to love all things less than Christ and he loved all things less than Christ. He loved the call to bear his own cross. He loved to call of Christ to renounce all things and he did renounce all things. He loved the little parable of the tower, and he loved the parable of the king at war, and he loved the command of Christ to count the cost and he counted the cost. I think if we had no other passage in the Bible to go on, we would say that Charles T. Studd lived a perfect Christian life. But, of course, there are other passages in the Bible and when you look at the Bible as a whole, you see that Christ calls us to more balance than Charles Studd had. He does not call us to have a critical spirit of those with less zeal. He does not call us to abandon our wives and our husbands and our families. He does not call us to ruin our own health and yet Charles Studd was right about one thing.
He wrote a book entitled “DCD.” We do not have it in the Inklings Bookstore. The book “DCD” means “Don’t Care a Damn.” That was the title of his book, obviously very controversial in the Christian world. In that book he condemned the church in America and throughout much of the world because he said the church just does not care. I think there is some truth in that is not there. We do not care enough. We certainly do not care enough. If we err in the balance of our Christian life, it is rarely on the side of too much zeal and too much commitment. It is more likely on the side of too little zeal and too little commitment. Isn’t that true? So often we do not hear the words of Christ to bear our own cross and we do not hear the words of Christ to renounce all things and we don’t love Christ above all else and we haven’t counted the cost. And so, this morning, as we come to this communion table, this is His word to us. Count the cost.
I recently read the story of a man who wanted to show his wife how much he loved her. He decided to write her a poem. That night after dinner, he read her the poem. He described the depth of his love for her. At the end of the poem, he said that he would climb the highest mountain to be with her. He would swim the widest ocean. He would trek burning deserts with their scorching sand just to be with her. When he was finished, she looked at him and she smiled and said, “But would you do the dishes?”
I think sometimes that’s how Christ feels. I mean I think sometimes that’s how Jesus feels because, you know, we come to church, and we sing all these hymns, and we sing all these songs about the depth of our love for Him and how great He is. We sing all of our praise to Him and express all of our love for Him, and He says, “Yeah, but would you teach Sunday School? Would you serve Me? Would you enter into ministry?”
This past week I read a book called “Margin” written by Richard A. Swenson. Richard Swenson is an M.D. and a professor at the University of Wisconsin in the medical school there. In this book called “Margin,” and by the way, Richard Swenson spoke at our church in conjunction with the General Assembly that was here this year. He is a brilliant guy, and he loves Jesus Christ. In this book called “Margin,” he describes the lifestyle of the average American. He says that the problem is that for the average American, the load is right near the limit. You see, margin is the difference between your load and your limit. The margin economically in your life is the difference between your load and your limit. The margin emotionally in your life is the difference between your limit and your load. The margin in terms of time or temporally in your life is the difference between your load and your limit.
He says the problem is most Americans have no margins. They have just run their load right to their limit. They have no margins. They are just overloaded temporally, and they are overloaded emotionally, and they are overloaded financially. And so, in the church, when we say to most Americans, when we say to most nominal Christians, “We need your help, we need you to teach Sunday School,” their load is already at their limit.” When we say, “We need you to give sacrificially to the work of Christ,” their load is already at their limit. This is why we are told so many Christians do not seem to bear their own cross and they don’t seem to renounce all, and they don’t seem to love Christ first. If you read this book, and I highly recommend it, he really calls us to lifestyle changes, massive lifestyle changes.
As you come to the communion table this morning, to this table, I know that Christ wants you to consider your lifestyle. He wants you to consider the relationship of your load to your limit. He wants you to examine your margins, financially, emotionally, temporally, and He wants you to ask this question, “Have you renounced all for Him?” He wants you to ask this question, “Are you bearing your own cross and have you come after Him?” He wants you to ask this question, “Do you love Him most of all and have you counted the cost?” Let us look to the Lord with a word of prayer.