Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 9
In the tower/war parables, the speaker warns that not counting the cost can make someone “begin in Christ and do not finish” and become “a mockery to the gospel,” and he adds the cost must be “counted…daily”; what are realistic “unfinished tower” scenarios you’ve seen (or fear in yourself), and what daily practices would keep your discipleship from becoming a public half-built structure?
Another way to ask: Jesus’ tower and war stories warn about starting to follow him but not finishing, and the speaker says we must count the cost daily. What “half-built” discipleship examples have you seen (or fear in yourself), and what daily habits would help you keep going?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Based on the speaker’s warning, an “unfinished tower” happens when someone starts following Christ without accepting the full cost—then turns back to the world’s passions, pleasures, or relationships. The transcript suggests daily cost-counting, cross-bearing, and ongoing “forsaking” (saying goodbye to competing attachments) as the practices that keep discipleship from collapsing publicly.
- He explains the tower parable’s lesson: without counting cost, people “begin in Christ and do not finish… and can be a mockery to the gospel.”
- He says counting cost is not only pre-baptism: it “continues even after baptism… counting the cost… daily.”
- He connects discipleship endurance to separation: “Separating our life from the fellowship with the world… passions and pleasures… desires… Christ is requiring us to lay down.”
- He frames cross-bearing as daily death: “The cross… crucifying the flesh, produces the life of Jesus Christ.”
- He cites Cyprian’s warning about being “retarded by… covetousness of wealth or attraction of his own people,” tying these to failing to follow through.