For which of you, desirous of building a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, if he have what [is needed] to complete it;
Just before this, Jesus told the parable of a great banquet — a picture of God's grace — and great crowds began to follow Him. He turns around and, instead of welcoming the enthusiasm, asks them to do the arithmetic of a builder.
The order of the chapter matters. The invitation comes first, and only then the terms.
Of all the four Gospels, Luke's is the one which emphasizes grace. In fact, the paragraph just before this one holds the parable of the great banquet (Luke 14:15-24). That parable is a marvellous unfolding of the grace of God. He unfolded grace in a way that brought great crowds around Him, eager to hear. Then the Lord turns on them and tests how real they are: He puts the terms of discipleship to them. Is that not worth noticing? And should we not keep the two together in the order He put them, while still seeing the difference between them?
Being saved and being a disciple are not the same thing. Mix them up, and the cost looks far too high.
It costs to be a disciple, but it does not cost too much! The fact is, our gloomy-looking friend was not saved, he had never tasted grace, and so had nothing to spend. When a man goes to market with no money in his pocket, everything costs too much! He was putting discipleship before grace. That is the same as putting demand before supply, and responsibility before the power that meets it.
A tower's features all belong to Christian discipleship.
A "tower" is a building that stands out and rises high. For that reason it needs to be especially solid. It may be for defence; it may be for overlooking what is around it. Our Christian discipleship should have all these features.
So the real question is whether a person wants a life that is out in the open.
Is a person prepared for all this when he takes a Christian stand? It is far wiser to count the cost of building before beginning. To honestly follow Christ is no light matter. On the other hand, one should count the cost of not following Him. Lazy self-pleasing will always end in tragic disappointment.
The verse says he sits down first. Many never do, and you can see the results.
How many unfinished buildings we see across the wide field of Christian profession! They give onlookers sad reason to mock. How many set out on a path of discipleship under some sudden impulse, or under nothing more than human pressure. They never properly understood or carefully weighed all that it involves. Then difficulties arise. Trials come. The path turns out to be narrow, rough, lonely, unpopular. So they give it up. This proves they had never counted the cost, never taken the path in communion with God, never understood what they were doing.
A careful count ends in a shortfall, not a balance.
If we count the cost on our side, we shall always find it more than we have resources for. Yet we do need to consider the cost. We must look at it long and seriously, until we feel how completely insufficient we are. Then faith takes root in God's almighty power, and finds the ability to stand where God calls.
So the counting is real. But the answer never comes from our own resources.
Yet this is not about gathering resources in a human way. It is about giving up all your own, and so being Christ's disciple. There is such a thing as people beginning well and turning out good for nothing.
The mockery in the next verse falls on the man, but the damage does not stop with him.
Here the Lord guards against the shallow attitude we so easily fall into. The cost must be counted. A breakdown is humbling. It dishonours the Lord. It amounts to saying that He called the soul out into a path where He cannot sustain it. That is how it looks to those who are watching. And people mock the one who fails — "This man began to build and was not able to finish."
- Order — the banquet comes before the tower. God gives grace first, and only then Jesus sets out the terms of following.
- Supply — being saved is one thing, being a disciple another. It costs to be a disciple, but only those who have tasted grace have anything to spend.
- Shape — a tower stands high, shelters, and is seen by all. Discipleship is the same, so it must be built solid.
- Sum — count the cost and it will always beat your own resources. That gap drives faith to rest on God's power.
- Stopping — a half-built tower draws mockery. It makes the Lord look unable to sustain the one He called. So sit down first.
in order that, having laid the foundation of it, and not being able to finish it, all who see it do not begin to mock at him,
Jesus spelled out what following Him really involves, and He pictured it as a building project. A builder sits down first to price the job. This verse shows what happens when he skips that step: he lays a foundation, the money runs out, and onlookers laugh. So what costs so much? And what keeps a person from ending up as that half-built tower?
The warning is aimed at a particular thing. Three times in this passage the Lord names what a person forfeits by not counting the cost, and it is not forgiveness:
In Luke 14:25-35 we read: "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." Those four closing words come three times (vv. 26, 27, and 33). Notice that it does not say "he cannot be saved," but "he cannot be My DISCIPLE."
One man complained that being a Christian costs too much. He had misread the bill:
He meant, "It costs too much to be a disciple." He was wrong. It costs to be a disciple, but it does not cost too much! The fact is, our gloomy-looking friend was not saved. He had never tasted grace, and so he had nothing to spend. When a man goes to market with no money in his pocket, everything costs too much! He was putting discipleship before grace, which is the same as putting demand before supply, and responsibility before the power that meets it.
The Lord did not pick a cottage or a wall. A tower does particular work, and it makes particular demands:
A "tower" is a building that stands out and catches the eye. For that reason it needs special solidity. It may be for defence. It may be for overlooking what is round it. Our Christian discipleship should have all these qualities.
So what does the building take? A foundation, a hand, a posture, and a defence:
"Faith" is the hand that builds. "The faith" — and we find it in the Word of God — is the mighty foundation on which we build. Prayer is the attitude best suited to these building operations. The love of God, consciously known, is our tower of defence.
The watchers in the verse laugh at the builder. But the damage does not stop with him:
The cost must be counted. A man intending to build a tower must count whether he has enough to finish it... It is easy to say, "I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death." A breakdown is humbling. It dishonours the Lord. It amounts to saying that He called the soul out into a path where He cannot sustain it. That is how it looks to those who watch. And the failing one is mocked — "This man began to build and was not able to finish."
Unfinished towers are not rare, and there is a pattern behind them:
How many unfinished buildings we see as we look out over the wide field of Christian profession! They give onlookers sad occasion for mockery. How many set out on a path of discipleship under some sudden impulse, or under nothing more than human pressure, without properly understanding or weighing up all that it involves. Then difficulties arise. Trials come. The path turns out to be narrow, rough, lonely and unpopular — and they give it up. This proves they had never counted the cost, never taken the path in communion with God, never understood what they were doing.
So where does a builder find enough to finish? Not in himself:
The resources are certainly not natural abilities. If we are to continue, Christ must be the object of our devotion — Christ, in whom are the resources for every need that may arise. In other words, let the disciple check himself closely. Is his confidence fully in the One he claims to follow?
The discouragement is deliberate, and it points somewhere:
Adding up the cost may seem to bring nothing but discouragement. That is exactly what it is meant to bring — discouragement of all flippancy and all self-confidence. If you are setting out in either of these moods, you may as well give up at once. But if you are in serious earnest, the Lord's words are meant only to throw you on resources better than your own, resources that are enough for everything.
- Free, then costly. Salvation costs the believer nothing. Discipleship costs — but never too much. And the person who has never tasted grace has nothing to spend.
- Built to be seen. A tower stands out, defends, and overlooks. It needs solidity — so price the job first.
- Built by faith. The Word is the foundation, faith the hand, prayer the posture, the known love of God the defence.
- Mockery reaches higher. When the building stops, watchers conclude that Christ could not sustain the one He called. His name takes the ridicule.
- Counted, then cast. The sum kills flippancy and self-confidence. It throws the earnest builder on resources better than his own.
saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish?
Jesus set two pictures side by side: a man building a tower, and a king going to war. This verse is what onlookers say when the builder never counted the cost.
The builder's project is not a random illustration. One writer reads the tower as a picture of the Christian life itself — visible, and therefore exposed:
The tower stands for Christianity. A tower is a place to watch from, a high place that everyone can see, and a place of defence. Is a person ready for these things when he takes a Christian stand? It is far wiser to count the cost of building before beginning. To honestly follow Christ is no light matter. On the other hand, one should count the cost of not following Him. Lazy self-pleasing will always end in tragic disappointment.
So there are two sums to do, not one. And an unfinished tower is failure with an audience.
This is a common pattern, not a rare disaster. People start under a rush of feeling, or because others pushed them. Trouble later shows what was missing:
Look out over the wide field of Christian profession. How many unfinished buildings meet our eyes! They give onlookers sad occasion for mockery. How many set out on a path of discipleship under some sudden impulse, or under the pressure of mere human influence! They never properly understood or weighed all that is involved. Then difficulties arise, trials come, and they find the path narrow, rough, lonely and unpopular. So they give it up.
The mockery targets the man, but the damage does not stop with him. Onlookers draw a conclusion about the One he claimed to follow:
The cost must be counted. A man intending to build a tower must count whether he has enough to finish it. A breakdown is humbling. The Lord is dishonoured. It is the same as saying that He has called the soul out into a path in which He is not able to sustain it. Such is the appearance to those who observe. And the failing one is mocked — "This man began to build and was not able to finish."
Add up your own resources, and the sum will not work out:
Suppose someone tries to be a disciple in his own strength, by the working of his own will. He would be like a man who begins to build a tower without counting the cost. Or like a king who goes to war with ten thousand men against another king with twenty thousand. The cost of being a disciple is beyond the resources of man.
The next verses turn that admission into the way forward. Give up your own supplies, and the Master's are at your disposal:
If, as verse 33 says, we do indeed forsake all that we have, we shall rest wholly on the resources of the great Master we follow. Then the path of discipleship becomes gloriously possible for us.
Does this parable mean that following Christ costs too much? One writer says no, and points to the order of things:
It costs to be a disciple, but it does not cost too much! The fact is, our gloomy-looking friend was not saved, he had never tasted grace, and therefore had nothing to spend. When a man goes to market with no money in his pocket everything costs too much! He was putting discipleship before grace. That is the same as putting demand before supply, and responsibility before the power that meets it — in everyday language, "putting the cart before the horse."
Years test a building, not the opening day. One writer applies the mockery of this verse to truths that never became real in private with God:
Perhaps you began 25 years ago, perhaps more — well, go on... Time tests us as Christians. It is not the first blush. We get to know things. We gain a knowledge of Christianity. We receive certain truths. But unless they become real in the secret of our souls, that tower will stop building, and all who look on will mock, saying, "This man began to build and was not able to finish."
- Cost. Following Christ is no light matter. Count it before you lay the foundation, not after.
- Cause. Towers stall when they start on impulse or under pressure from others. Trouble then shows the cost was never weighed.
- Supply. Add up your own strength and the sum fails. The cost is beyond human resources, so forsake all and lean on the Master's.
- Order. Grace comes first and supplies what responsibility then demands. Put discipleship before grace, and everything looks too expensive.
- Continuation. A tower is public, so the world watches. Keep building in secret with God, or the mockery in this verse becomes your own.