The Tower Builder is the saying of Jesus about a man who starts a tower and cannot finish it.
For which of you,
desiring to build a tower,
does not first sit down and count the cost,
whether he has enough to complete it?
Otherwise,
when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish,
all who see it begin to mock him.
This man began to build and was not able to finish.
So therefore,
any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.
Great crowds were going with Him. He turned and named the price before the parade.
- Hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even your own life.
- Carry the cross.
Then two pictures: a tower and a war. The tower is ordinary. A man wants height, safety, a name on the skyline. He sits down first. He counts stone and wage and days. If the sum will not reach the roof, he does not break ground for applause. An unfinished foundation is a joke the neighbors will not forget. Jesus is not warning people off the kingdom. He is warning them off a cheap start. The gospel is free. The following is total. A foundation without walls is a disciple who said yes in the crowd and no when the bill came. The king going to war sits beside this builder. Both sit down first. Both face a cost they cannot fake. Renounce all is the last line over both stories. Mockery is what the world does with half-built religion.
The cross is what finishes the house.
- Sit down first is wisdom, not cold feet.
- Desire to build is not the same as having enough to finish.
- The foundation can look like faith and still be a monument to quitting.
- Mockery is public because the start was public.
- Crowds follow. Disciples count.
- Renounce all is the cost He named. The tower only illustrates it.
- Finish matters. Beginning is not the same as being His.
- The Desire – A tower he wants to raise.
- Sit Down First – Deliberation before the first stone.
- Count the Cost – Whether he has enough to complete it.
- The Foundation – Started, visible, unfinished.
- The Mockery – This man began and was not able to finish.
- The Cross – The real tower’s price.
- Renounce All – The condition of being a disciple.
- Luke 14:28-30 – “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’”
- Luke 14:25-27 – “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
- Luke 14:31-33 – What king will not sit down first and deliberate whether he can meet twenty thousand with ten thousand? Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.
- Luke 9:62 – “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
- Matthew 16:24-26 – If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
- Matthew 7:24-27 – Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell. The house did not fall.
- 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 – Let each one take care how he builds. The fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
- Hebrews 3:6, 14 – We are His house if indeed we hold fast our confidence to the end. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
- Hebrews 12:2 – Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
- Philippians 1:6 – He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
- Philippians 3:7-8 – Whatever gain I had I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
- Matthew 13:44-46 – In his joy he sells all and buys the field; the merchant sells all for the pearl.
- John 6:66-68 – Many turned back; Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
- 2 Timothy 4:7 – I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
- Proverbs 24:27 – Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.
- Genesis 11:4-8 – Come, let us build a tower; the Lord scattered them—they could not finish what pride began.
Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
This man began to build and was not able to finish.
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.
No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.
He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. Look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter.
Sit down first. Count. Then go all the way. Do not lay a foundation for the neighbors to laugh at. The cross finishes what a crowd-start cannot.
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