Estimate the Cost

Luke 14:25-33

Some called them the “Auca Indians” meaning the Savages. They were actually the Waorani Indians, one of the indigenous peoples of the Rain Forrest of Ecuador that segregated themselves by families. Each family lived independently of the others until food was short or wives were needed then one family would raid the other family and take what they could. As family members were killed by spear, the other family would avenge the death of their relative and so the cycle of violence continued year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation.
These were a people that lived in fear, fear of a raid by the other families, fear of illness, but mostly the fear of “Jumping the Great Boa.” This expression was their way of explaining how one crosses over from this life to the next. Their legends told them that the great Boa guarded the afterlife and only those strong enough to jump over the boa could enter eternity, otherwise they become “termites” – the bugs of the earth. To gain strength they had to spear others. To gain power for eternity they had to take the life of others.
By the mid 1950’s this once great people had become so violent that they numbered only in the hundreds and decisions of the Ecuadorian government and foreign oil explorers threatened to wipe out the remaining members of the tribes.
Nate Saint, a former WWII fighter pilot and now missionary to the area did not want to let this happen. He and four others began what they called the “Operation Auca.” They began flying over the Waorani tribal village, dropping care packages. They even devised a method of circling and dropping a bucket on a rope to the village. As they circled the bucket would remain almost still. The Waorani could take the gift from the “Great Wood Bee” and let it return. At times the gift might be a knife, a trinket or toy, a live chicken, a colorful cloth… Eventually one of the Waorani warriors returned a gift, a parrot, to the bucket. This was Nate’s sign that they were ready to be contacted.
They knew of no one who had ever contacted the Auca and lived to tell about it but they were compelled to contact these people. They felt that it was only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that the cycle of violence could be ended. The day Nate was to fly in to make first face to face contact with the tribe his young son, Steve, asked him, “If they attack will you use your guns”. Nate replied, “Oh no, They aren’t ready to go to heaven, but we are.” On January 6, 1956 Nate and the others landed on a sand-bar of the river at the edge of the Waorani territory and set up camp. On January 7, three Waorani visited their site and seemed peaceful.
What is more important is that they knew that the missionaries were peaceful. However, in a lie to cover up a hidden relationship between two of the three original visitors to the beach, the rest of the tribe thought they were hostile and on January 8, Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and Nate Saint were speared to death at their camp sight. They gave their life for the Gospel in what has been called the most publicized missionary massacre of the 20th century.

They gave their life for the gospel but what do we give? What is the cost of the gospel here in Wortham, TX? What does it cost us to follow Christ? The truth is, it doesn't cost us much to follow Jesus. We live in a time and place where many of us don't have to turn our backs on our family religion in order to be a Christian. Instead, it is our families that have “raised us in the ways of the Lord.” We live in a time where in some circles it costs more to not be a Christian than to claim to be a Christian.
When Jesus was walking among the people of Judea and Samaria, there wasn't much cost to follow him either. At least not in a casual way. The people who followed him were looking for a great leader, a great teacher, a great miracle worker. They found that in Jesus. The problem was that they didn't fully understand what it meant to follow him. They thought it meant walking around, hearing some teaching, traveling from town to town. They thought it meant being a better Jew. They thought it meant becoming a Jew. They thought it meant continuing as things are and being a little better. Jesus was telling them here that there is more to it than that. Jesus was telling them that families would turn against them. Jesus was telling them that some of them would loose their life. Jesus was telling them that there was a cost to following him. So, what is it that he was telling them? What was he asking them to consider?

1.Is there anything in life that is more important than their relationship with God? He was asking them to think of family – mother, father, sister, brother, wife, children... He was asking them to take inventory of their life and their priorities. Today the question is the same.
Is there anything in life more important than your relationship with God? Is your relationship with your family not only a priority, as it should be, but is it taking the place of your relationship with God? What about your job. Is your job taking precedence over God? Is money more important than church? Is your reputation more important than your witness?
What else was Jesus telling the people, and us?
2.He was telling them to carry their cross. When I hear that I think of these guys walking down the highways with their 4 X 4 Cross nailed together with a wheel on the bottom. You may even know some of the people who have participated in this image of “carrying a cross”. But some how I don't think that is what Jesus meant by this.
The people hearing this phrase would have had a different meaning. As they walked the highways and byways of the near east, they would have seen crosses lining the way with victims in various stages of death and dying. For them to carry ones cross would be akin to telling someone to carry ones noose, or carry ones electric chair. It meant to bear the very method of death that was inflicted by the powers that be. It also meant that they were to give up control of their life.
For those that read these words after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we know that it means we are to give our life over to Christ. We know that it means that to follow Christ, to live as Jesus, to truly be a Christian means that we give up control of our destiny, we give up control of our life, we give up control.
3.Finally, Jesus was telling them to make sure they knew the cost before they commit. Now, when I think of this one I can't help but follow the analogy that Jesus started. Most of you know that I have a Rent House in Hillsboro that Renee and I remodeled when we lived there. When we started the job I planned, I prepared, I estimated, I got Bobby the builder in there and we planned and estimated. I wanted to know how much it was going to cost to remodel this house before I got started because I had to pay for it. I wanted to make sure that I didn't bite off more than I could chew. As it was, I learned that you always need to plan to spend about 30% more than you think and it will take about 30% longer than you think to finish the job. Even when you estimate the cost, you have to be ready to accept the fact that it may actually cost more.
Another area that my mind goes is the cost of being a church member. For so long we have allowed there to be no cost to becoming a member of the Methodist Church. When someone comes to join we usually say something like this... “Oh, you want to join this wonderful church. Well, I can speak for all of us, we are so happy to have you (meaning – we are so happy to have anyone join the church). I just have one little question to ask you. It's just this thing we ask as Methodists. Ummm, will you do your best to support the church with your prayers, your presence, your gifts, and your service?, and I know you will so I want to extend the right hand of fellowship.” Mary Sue will you play one more verse of 'Just as I Am' while Margaret and Armond go to the back of the church to meet their new family.”
You see, there really hasn't been a cost. Membership has been a privilege, not a responsibility. Since the 1960's when that mindset for membership began, the United Methodist Church has been in a constant decline. While other denominations, both conservative and liberal in social and theological teachings have upped the requirements of membership and seen phenomenal growth, we in the Methodist church have been afraid to offend someone and actually hold people to their membership requirements. As a result we have seen our denomination shrink from 10.6 Million member in 1970 to less than 8 Million today. What has happened? We have lowered our expectations for our members to that of being a warm body that shows up when it is convenient.
Time and time again we have seen this fact. High expectation churches grow while low expectation churches die. My question for us is what are we?
Do we expect our members to actually show up? Weekly? Twice a month? Once a month? At least on Christmas and Easter?
Do we really expect our members to pray for the church? The leaders? The pastor? The Conference?
Do we actually think our members should give of their finances & their time? You mean it's not an either / or?
Do we really expect our members to tell others about the church and more than that, tell others about Christ?
In short, yes. You are expected to be in church when you are in town. You are expected to serve and reach out in ministry to others. You are expected to give... a tenth. You are expected to pray for me, the leaders of the church, and the District and Conference leaders. You are expected to tell others about God and the church.
Is there a cost? I don't know if you could call it that. Maybe you could.

I know Nate Saint thought of his sacrifice as a cost when he lay dying on that sand bar in the jungles of Ecuador.
In the Waorani dialect, there was no word for friend or friendship. As Nate Saint lay dying on that beach looking up at the warrior Micayani, he uttered the words, “Qua Bia Ganumbua” The closest thing that he could say to “I am your sincere friend.”
It was those words and the fact that though these missionaries had guns yet they did not fight back, that stuck in the mind of Micayani. In the weeks that followed it was the wives’ of the missionaries and Nate’s sister, Rachael, that actually made contact with the Waorani and lived to tell about it. With the help of Dayumai, the sister of Micayani who had some years earlier escaped the violence of the family and been living with Rachael, the ladies began to present the message of Jesus’ love to the “Auca’s”. They lived through Polio epidemics, spearing attacks from neighboring tribes, and many other hardships but the power of the gospel was worth it.
In 1969, the first copies of the Gospel of Mark in Waorani were dedicated at “God’s Speaking House.” Kimo, one of the original warriors who attacked Nate Saint’s party some 13 years before prayed, “Father God, You are alive. This is Your day and all of us have come to worship You. They brought us copies of Your Carving, enough for everybody. We accept it, saying, ‘This is the truth.’ We want all of your carving.”
That is the power of the Gospel. That is the power of the cost of following Christ. Through the good news of Jesus, lives are changed.
Prior to the 1960’s the Waorani Indians seldom had more than two generations present in a family. Disease, but mostly spearings, killed off the adults before they could see their grandchildren. Today, because of the Christian example of forgiveness lived out by the families of the Five Missionaries, the Waorani Indians are again a thriving population of Indigenous people of Ecuador. Micayani is a minister who preaches to visitors and tells them the story of the lives he took, the forgiveness he found, and the beauty and power of the Gospel.

Five missionaries gave their life for the Gospel and the power of that Gospel has since changed the lives of thousands in the rainforest of Ecuador. The Gospel has the power to do the same for you today if you will let it. No greater love is there than this, that one would lay their life down for another. Jesus loves you and Jesus can make a difference in your life. What do you want to do with that message? When you estimate the cost, is it worth it?