Cost Basis and Return on Investment

This message was first delivered at Providence United Methodist Church and White's United Methodist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia on September 4, 2016. It is based on the lectionary text of Luke 15:25-33.

Luke 15:25-33 Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them,“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

For more than a dozen years I have worked off and on as a bookkeeper. Sometimes it has been my core responsibility wherever I worked, sometimes just part of my job. But I've come to understand a lot of accounting principles. Two of those core principles are Cost Basis and Return on Investment. If you don't know what your product or service costs to produce, you can't possibly know how much to charge. My favorite illustration of that comes from the classic TV show, I Love Lucy. Lucy needs money – for something – maybe it was a hat or a present for Ricky... She decides to go into business for herself making jars of mayonnaise with her long-suffering sidekick Ethel. She makes like 50 jars and sells it around the neighborhood but doesn't make a lot of money. So she decides to ramp up production and makes like 200 jars! She and Ethel work day and night producing and selling. They sell all the product and are excited to show Ricky the pile of cash. But then they start looking at the bills that come in from the grocer for eggs and oil, the hardware store for the jars...when Ricky does the math, they have been losing a nickel on every jar. Lucy wants to sell even more...the more they sell, the better, right? It is Ricky that has to explain the cost basis principle...but it doesn't translate well from Spanish. Mostly he waves his hands around and holds his head in his hands muttering words like “loco.” It seems simple enough – if you are losing a nickel on every jar of mayo...the best business plan is to stop making mayo.

It is important for us to know what the cost of things are before we start. In today's gospel lesson Luke uses the example of building a tower. Wouldn't it be silly to just get the foundation done before running out of resources? People will make fun of you! You'll look foolish. And short-sighted.

I found an excellent comparison when I looked at today's lesson on Sermons4Kids.com. I often find good stuff there. Thought provoking and not just for kids. It instructed me to ask “How many of you would like to play the piano?” Remember, you're eager young kids! “Wait! Not so fast! Before you raise your hand and say "yes" to that question, let's see what it would cost to be able to play the piano and see if you are willing to pay the price: First of all, you would have to buy a piano. It would be rather silly to say that you wanted to play the piano if you weren't willing to go out and buy a piano, wouldn't it? So the first thing you would need to do is look for a piano. I found a used piano on Craigslist for $500. The ad said it needed some repairs, so it probably isn't a very good one, but it's a start. Hmm....$500, do you still want to play the piano?

Next you need to find a teacher. After all, you can't teach yourself. Not if you really want to play well. I searched Craigslist to find a piano teacher. I found one for $25 a week. Let's see, that's $100 a month, do you still want to play the piano?

What else do we need? Oh yes, we will need some music! I went to the music store and found out that most of the music books cost $10-$15 each. If you want to buy a single copy of sheet music, they usually cost around $5.00 each. Do you still want to play the piano?

Now that you have a piano, a teacher, and some music you must be willing to practice. Most piano teachers require their students to practice at least one hour every day. That means that there will be times when other kids will be out playing while you must stay in and practice. Do you still want to play the piano? If you want to play the piano, you have to count the cost and make sure you are willing to pay the price!

Jesus said that same thing to people who said they wanted to be his disciples. Jesus told them that if they wanted to follow him, they had to count the cost. He said they had to be willing to take up their cross daily and follow him. To follow him, they might have to be willing to give up their family and friends. Jesus also said that people might make fun of them and call them names and that some people might even want to hurt them. They had to count the cost and make sure they were willing to pay the price.

A lot of people today say that they want to follow Jesus. They join the church and for a while you will see them every week, but when they find out how much it is going to cost, they fall away. Being a true follower of Jesus is not always easy, but it is always worth it, if you are willing to pay the price.

Making the sacrifice. Being a true follower. Jesus' non-negotiables are a hard list. Jesus said to those who were following him, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.”

This week’s reading from Luke takes toughness through the roof. On the face of it, the teaching here seems utterly offensive. Hate your family? Take up a crucifix and follow Jesus? Give up all your possessions? And if you don't do these things you cannot be a disciple of Jesus? What kind of cult leader is this Jesus guy?

What’s going on in this text? We’re seeing large crowds of people, groupies if you will, who are now joining a growing entourage around Jesus. Some of them may think joining the crowd constitutes being one of his disciples. He turns to them to clarify what he expects of those who are his disciples. It’s far more than admiring him, or even traveling with him. He’s going to be building a new movement and fighting against spiritual strongholds at the same time, and he needs people he can count on, absolutely. Their allegiance must be to him, and him alone. Not to family. Not to self-preservation. Not to comfort. And not to possessions. Only to Jesus.

In so doing, he wasn’t telling his admirers to go away. He was telling them not to confuse themselves for disciples, because he didn’t. On the other hand, if some of them were willing to be that committed to him, Jesus was also offering a call to discipleship. It would appear, based on Luke’s testimony in Acts 1 and 2 (there were 120 disciples praying together for ten days in Jerusalem and preaching at Pentecost), that perhaps some of them did.

If you are looking around or thinking about someone who isn't here today or other Christians you know...and asking how well they fit the standards set by Jesus, you may be tempted to use this passage to browbeat those who aren't living this way. Do not fall for that temptation!

Nowhere in this text does Jesus browbeat anyone. He simply puts forth what his standards for disciples are, and explains why those standards are as high as they are. It’s because the stakes of his mission and ministry are that high. They still are. Not all will respond to a call to discipleship.

Jesus points out the difference between fans and followers. And he makes it clear that he knows the difference. It isn't the only time the Jesus indicates that his followers are going to have to let go of things and people. The disciples who Jesus entrusts to continue spreading the word – that he was subtly training to be the grassroots effort to develop what we know as the church, the body of Christ, today...those disciples had to learn to travel light. They learned the value of less possessions.

Wait, what? What is the value of LESS possessions? Didn't I read somewhere that the person who dies with the most toys wins? Ah, embracing the value of less. That's hard for a lot of us. Not too many years ago I heard the late great George Carlin's take on “Stuff.”

I won't go into the whole rant – it is out there on YouTube and he is a lot funnier than I am. But in part of that stand-up routine he talks about how when you go on vacation, you have to take a smaller version of “Your Stuff” - he travels to Hawaii and has hauled two big suitcases (clothes and the practical stuff, obviously...but also little things that bring a sense of home, like a pillow or his slippers). Well, after getting all his STUFF settled in at the hotel – some friends invite him to visit them on Maui for a few days, so he has to create another even smaller version of his STUFF to take!

I can relate. I have been known to drive to visit friends in New York City instead of the relaxing comfort of Amtrak – just because I wanted to have some of my STUFF with me! I have a lot to learn about letting go of possessions. What does Jesus advise? We need to let them go. We cannot let them define us. We cannot be in any degree of allegiance to our possessions.

In his Sermon, “On Dress,” John Wesley tells a poignant story of a time he discovered, to his shame, he was more in allegiance to his possessions than to his call to be in ministry with the poor. He was faced with a girl likely to freeze to death because she didn’t have adequate clothing, and it was winter. He realized two things in that moment. First, he didn’t have the money on him at that moment to change her situation. Second, he did have assets in his home, such as draperies and paintings on his walls, that, had he not purchased them, would have enabled him to have the money to give her that day. Out of this he calls Methodists everywhere. “See your expensive clothing in the same light—your gown, hat, headdress! Everything about you which cost more than Christian duty required you to lay out is the blood of the poor!”

Jesus says, “None of you can be my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” Give them up. Let go any notion they belong to you alone. All of them. This is why monasteries typically require a vow of poverty. It is not to show off. It is not to “live simply” as if living simply in itself were a salutary virtue. It is to ensure that the community as a whole can give as much of what it earns to enrich the lives of those around them. This is why John Wesley and Francis Asbury died virtually penniless. Everything they received beyond what they needed to live off of, they gave to those who had need of them. In his sermon “The Use of Money” John Wesley urged the Methodists to earn all they could and save all they could (and by save, he meant avoid needless spending, not hoard!)—so they could give all they could. All they could.

How can we live out this teaching in a time where possessions seem so important? Are we called to monastic living? When we weigh out this cost of giving up self. Giving up security. Letting go of things...or people...which may be keeping us from fully realizing our potential. The potential to be in communion with the heart of God. To be reconciled to the one who loves us beyond reason? When we tally that cost – what is the other side of the equation? We ask ourselves the deep questions that the passage from Luke burns into our hearts:

How can I hate the family that has loved me,
A family you love?
How can I forsake the safety you have given me
Or choose my cross to bear?
How can I forsake what I've received, Unless I die?

I can't do it alone. And I realize that isn't the point. It's in letting go that I free myself to receive what God wants for me. If I stop hanging so tightly on to what I think is best for me...or what is comfortable for me... then I open myself to the possibility that maybe, just maybe...God might have another plan. Another path. I turn away from what satisfies me and toward what will bring me into a closer relationship with the one who knows me better than I even know myself.

The Psalm for today talks about how much God knows us. From Eugene Peterson's The Message, Psalm 139:1-6. Close your eyes and listen to a short portion of this love letter from David to God:

God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful— I can’t take it all in!

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body;

What is the other side of the equation? What balances out letting go of the stuff? And then what is the analysis? Is there good return on the investment? What comes from turning away from the earthly ties toward the heavenly relationship? And is the sacrifice worth it?

What would you give for the opportunity to be in full relationship with our Heavenly Father, the Creator, Master of the Universe? Would you be willing to shift from fan to follower? To embrace to chance to share that love with the world? Jesus had a pretty straightforward job description – “Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple.”

I like it when the lines are clear. I don't like leaders who aren't honest about what they expect or whitewash the project's obstacles. That sort of communication gap frustrates me. I want the facts. Tell me what your expectations are so I can make an informed decision.

My paternal grandfather passed when I was about 10 years old. After a while my grandmother dated a few gentlemen. One was a fellow that she had known back in high school. They seemed to get along great, our family was fond of him...As a teenager, I didn't know why she didn't commit to him. Until I overheard her telling my mother her reason – my grandmother thought that her gentleman friend was something of a slob. And as I recall, he was kind of “rustic” - but I heard her tell my mom that she had set a deadline in her mind that if he had not cleaned off his desk at his house by the end of the year, she would never marry him. Mom asked what he had said when she told him. She hadn't told him and had no intention of telling him. So...the longevity of their romance was pinned to the cleanliness of his desk, at HIS house and he had no idea? On what planet is that fair?

But how many of us have fallen into that pattern ourselves? Setting up expectations but not communicating them? We should follow Jesus' example.

Jesus got crystal clear – if you are going to call yourself my disciple...that comes with a distinct identity. If you are going to call yourself my disciple, it is about following me. And if you've got any personal agenda, leave it at the door. If you are going to move forward with me – be fully with me.

God knows us completely, inside and out. Thus God can both judge us and show mercy toward us. You know how I will fail. You ask me to reach up anyway. And you meet me where I am. And I am grateful.

You teach me that there is so much more than the earthly things – you show me that the God who created the universe desires more for me than I can even begin to imagine. The possibilities are endless, once I learn to let go of self and trust in the wild and unfathomable love of God.

Luke's story doesn't end with Jesus' urging his followers to consider the cost of being his disciple. Jesus spoke those words mid-way through the gospel of Luke. Can you imagine a new pastor coming into a pulpit and saying “unless you are willing to give up everything, you can't be a part of this congregation?” No. But what happens after this in Luke's telling? You would expect the result of this hard truth to be the end of people following Jesus. The 12 disciples whittled down to 2 or 3? That's not what happened.

They kept following. No false advertising with Jesus. No empty promises. The disciples continue to follow toward Jerusalem and almost certain death. He tells them up front about the cost of following him – he promises them not a cushion, but a cross. He urges them to count the cost before deciding to follow. But note, that despite the demanding words and the difficult journey, still – they followed.

Doesn't mean that they don't stumble along the way. It doesn't mean that they don't disappoint Jesus along the way. It doesn't mean that they fully understood everything that Jesus had to say, it doesn't mean that they were always steadfast in their commitment. Still, they followed. And it doesn't mean that they didn't have their doubts along the way. Still – they followed.

And so have you. You may not know everything there is to know about scripture, you may have questions, you may have doubts and you may have fears...but still, you follow. There you are – you follow! You've stuck with Jesus, even when his words have stuck you...you are here, in this place of worship, banding together with others. Following. You'll go home after today and spend time meditating on today's message and counting the cost – but I believe that next week you'll be here, continuing to follow. Thanks be to God.