Count the Cost

Our convocation of eagles gathered for class here in India this morning,

And the Lord impressed on me that He was breaking limitations off natural dimensions: 

the length + width + height + depth, so we might go beyond mere knowledge to experience His love, 

exceedingly abundantly above all we might ask or think and I read from Ephesians 3:18-21.

Well, He truly did that today!

I continued by recapping a few key points from yesterday + then plunged ahead to break through new horizons!

Jesus doesn’t fit man’s boxes.

They tried to put Him in a box once, but He broke out. It’s called the Resurrection!

And ever since, He’s been breaking boxes: earthly plans + religious stereotypes, set formulas, mouldy molds.

We are not cookie-cutter robots; we are joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

What does that mean?

We are co-inheritors with Him; we have received an inheritance through our relationship with Him. 

We haven’t earned it like wages. He died and His last will + testament + our inheritance came into effect + He rose again!

It’s a free gift …even though worldly governments will try to tax that too!

But... I asked them: What is our inheritance in Christ!

I’ve been teaching them to let Scripture interpret Scripture, so we turned to Ps 2, the 1^st Messianic Psalm:

v2: ‘the rulers of the earth take counsel against the LORD + His Anointed = Messiah = Christ

        and plot to rid themselves from His rule but

v4: He who sits in the heavens laughs… at their puny efforts of rebellion

v6: Yet I have set My King

       On My holy hill of Zion

v7:  I will declare the decree:

      The LORD has said to Me = Jesus

      You are My Son,

      Today I have begotten You.

v8: Ask of Me, and I will give You

      The nations for your inheritance

      And the ends of the earth for Your possession.’

So there it is: clear + simple: the nations… and not 1 nation today is immune to the gospel!

Not one nation can secure a border to keep the Good News out, prevent it from being sown, taking root and bearing fruit … much fruit, more fruit + fruit that remains!

The rulers can’t stop it; neither can the politicians, nor the humanistic gainsayers; not even the devil himself!

God is raising up sons + daughters, training up disciples, sending out messengers to carry His message to all parts of the globe: arrows tested + true, on target, fitted to the Father’s Heart + released in His Time to hit the mark!

We proceeded to how Jesus called His disciples: ‘Follow Me!’ and then to 3 in Luke 9:57-62 who were called or volunteered, but never followed through. Something intervened between their professed intention + realization.

Following Jesus somehow became personally inconvenient.

They couldn’t break free from their comfort zone. They’d become too entwined in their own limitations?!

The hasty braggart, the hesitant procrastinator, the double-minded waverer: each of them intended to follow Jesus, 

but neglected to Count the Cost, somehow got turned aside, distracted, and fell behind.

v62: ‘No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’

As plowmen in the natural, we cannot spiritually plow forwards while looking backward.

We must focus in the direction we are plowing or we will leave a maze of circuitous confusion behind us.

Count the Cost! God wants us to not only start, but also finish well!

Jesus did. ‘It is finished!’

He counted the cost + paid it in full… with His life, His blood!

When I’d taught this lesson previously here and come to this same point, I’d had quite the personal revelation

… and was about to experience another.

That time I’d been seeking a suitable conclusion and a song from my old Jesus People days came to mind.

But… I thought, these Indian students would never have heard that ‘70s tune: I have Decided to Follow Jesus!

But it wouldn’t go away; I started to sing it out loud and was totally surprised when they joined in singing with me!

‘How do you know my old North American gather-round-the-campfire+strum the guitars Jesus People song?’

‘Oh,’ they objected, ‘but this is an Indian song!’

I kinda brushed it off and graciously let them continue in their nice, but I was sure, misguided belief.

And God moved, we ended our class, I returned to my room, and like all contemporary seekers of the truth,

I Googled I have Decided and…

promptly had to repent of my skepticism… and more!

To my amazement, I discovered the song indeed has Indian roots.

Over a century ago, missionaries traveled to Assam in North India, to what must have truly been the ends of the earth at that time, and preached the gospel. Their labours seemed quite unsuccessful, but they did manage to see 1 family converted in the Garo tribe.

However, soon after the missionaries left, the Garo chief demanded that family repent of their newfound faith.

‘Renounce this foreign god… this Jesus!’

Nokseng: the man, the husband, the father, with his family gathered round him, refused his chief's command.

‘Your foreign beliefs are hurting our tribe, our traditions, our unity; you are angering our gods,’ the chief continued.

‘But,’ Nokseng pleaded, ‘I cannot turn away from my Jesus. I’ve come to know Him, He alone is my Saviour!’

And the standoff came to the crisis point.

‘Renounce this Jesus or… we will kill you and your family; you are bringing curses on our tribe!’

‘I cannot,’ he replied; ‘even if you were to kill us all.’

And so the chief had Nokseng’s children slaughtered, right before his eyes.

… and Nokseng began to sing, inexplicably, painfully, through his tears:

  ‘I have decided to follow Jesus

   I have decided to follow Jesus

   I have decided to follow Jesus

   No turning back

   No turning back.’

The chief could not believe Nokseng’s stubborn determination.

‘See what your new beliefs have cost you? Your children have now perished + your Jesus did not save them?!

 He is not a very caring or powerful god. Renounce him… or we will kill your wife also!’

But Nokseng continued, stood on his faith + testified before the entire tribe,

 ‘I love my wife and family, but I cannot and will not deny my Jesus!

So the chief ordered them to kill his wife… again right before his very eyes.

And again Nokseng’s voice rose + broke through his tears:

  ‘Though none go with me, still I will follow 

   Though none go with me, still I will follow 

   Though none go with me, still I will follow 

   No turning back

   No turning back.’

Frustrated, exasperated, the chief demanded Nokseng himself repent or forfeit his own life also.

‘You are a stupid, foolish man and look, your ignorance has cost you your wife + family! Repent!’

But Nokseng had no more words left… and they attacked him.

Except the same melody rose from his dying lips with new words:

  ‘The Cross before me, the world behind me

   The Cross before me, the world behind me

   The Cross before me, the world behind me

   No turning back.

   No turning back.’

… and so Nokseng and his entire family died… for Jesus... in vain?!

No... that was not the end of this story.

That night the chief had a dream.

God appeared to him + reproved him, ‘You have killed My people!’

The chief was so troubled by what he heard and saw that he called the tribe back together the next morning.

‘We have killed the true God’s people,’ he remorsefully confessed and recounted his dream…

 and led them all in repentance from their foul deed.

Somehow someone recalled Nokseng’s song: both his melody + its lyrics, the tribe found forgiveness…

and the chief and his entire tribe… Decided to Follow Jesus

...and to this day, their heirs continue in this tribal inheritance.

And that’s my revelation story from a few years ago

… but that’s not the end of my story today.

This morning God was at work again; not just the same way as before, but exceedingly abundantly above all…

I’d requested we again sing I have Decided, so the worship team gathered behind me + I began to share Nokseng’s story.

But I didn’t get past the introduction: Assam, Gora, Nokseng, when suddenly, 1 of the worship team started waving his arms + cried out, ‘That’s my tribe; those are my people; that’s our story!’

I turned around to see: Sengku, a new student from Assam = the resurrection of Nokseng’s martyrdom: 

the proof of his living inheritance standing right in our midst!

I was undone. My students were undone.

Sengku + I repeated Nokseng’s story together.

And once again, his powerful gospel testimony broke through in new fervency!

... broke through my heart, and my students’ as we gathered together at the front… and worshiped

... and sang Nokseng’s timeless song … and God worked again and did what He does best in hearts: freed, healed, filled!

I have Decided to Follow Jesus and…

I will never be the same.