Counting the Cost: Alvaro Briones
“Christ not only challenges his new followers, but he also challenges his twelve closest friends and followers”
As my crusty eyes opened, Pastor Sam Miles was still preaching. It was 2014 and I was sitting in the last row of pews of the sanctuary hoping nobody caught me slipping. Little did I know that God would soon do a miracle in my life, because this was the first year I would start counting the cost for Christ.
I remember everyone was using the phrase “COD” like the brand Gap, and I was just supposed to know what it was. I later found out “COD” stood for the “Cost of Discipleship” class. The phrase is found in Luke 14:28, and it is used when Christ is being followed by great multitudes. He turns around and asks them to consider what it will take to follow Him. Christ does this same thing with the crowd that followed him across the lake in John 6:25. After challenging them with the idea of Him being the only way, the bread of life, they turn from Christ and walked with him no more (John 6:66). Christ not only challenges his new followers, but he also challenges his twelve closest friends and followers, saying, “...will you also go away?” (John 6:67).
“I’ve realized that every decision that is a decision of faith will always cost me something”
From these examples I’ve learned that counting the cost, or the cost of discipleship, is really a daily weighing of choices to become obedient to Christ. Our COD class at church expresses this by covering areas of life in which the person wanting to follow Christ must examine their life and consider if they are willing to match their life to the standard that the Bible teaches.
In my mind, at 18, I wasn’t... uhhh... very spiritual or even a deep thinker. But I started noticing that there was a relationship between my ability to count the cost and having a faith-filled life. I started realizing — and am still realizing — that every decision that is a decision of faith will always cost me something. It will cost me my time, my attention, my emotions, and all the nooks and crannies of my life to follow Christ. The inverse is also true. Not counting the cost, or being reckless in disobedience or obedience, always led me to half-baked results in following Jesus and the disappointment of those that entrusted me.
“Every time I count the cost, I make a decision to matter for the kingdom, and that to me is the sweetest thing I’ve ever experienced”
This mindset of sacrificing all for Christ was something I learned the hard way and it took time to develop. To follow Christ, I had to start by saying yes to the small opportunities. But then I would show up late, unprepared, not prayed up, and would have cycles of disappointment about myself. My conscience would be like the haters in Luke 14:30 mockingly saying: “This man began to build, and was not able to finish.” As much as these moments hurt (forgot the snacks for Bible study yet again!), they taught me that for me to count the cost meant slowing down and taking a diligent inventory of my understanding of following Jesus’ words and responding to them in faith. It taught me that I had to put people-pleasing away, and I had to look to my Savior for motivation and the tenacity to get the big and small things done.
You might be wondering: why? (I do too sometimes). Why put that pressure on my life and on myself with the decisions to follow Christ? When counting the cost, what I have found to be true is that following Jesus Christ is always worth it. Consider the man who didn’t count the cost of building the tower in Luke 14:28. Wouldn’t it have been awesome if he had finished that tower? Even if it was quite small, it would have been amazing to see what tower he could’ve built with the resources God provided. I like to think that the man building the tower in Luke 14 is a picture of the believer partaking in the mission. 1 Peter 2:5 says, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” Every time I count the cost, I make a decision to matter for the kingdom, and that to me is the sweetest thing I’ve ever experienced.
Alvaro Briones is a member of Midtown Baptist Temple and is a part of C&YA. He leads a UMKC men’s Bible study.
