Are you Paying the Cost

Good morning. I greet you in the name of Jesus. I want to start out this morning with a small story, something I learned about this last week.

The title of it is America's Largest Abandoned Subway. Beneath the busy streets of Cincinnati, the remnants of an ambitious dream lie dormant. A vision of modern, connected city that never came to fruition.

The Cincinnati subway, once a symbol of progress and innovation, now stands as a silent monument to a project that failed to reach its destination. In the early 1900s, Cincinnati was a rapid-growing city, and its leaders envisioned a world-class transportation system to match its booming population. The subway was conceived as a solution to the congested streets and overcrowded streetcars, promising to whisk residents from one end of the city to the other with ease.

Plans were drawn, tunnels were dug, and constructions began in earnest, fueled by optimism and a belief in a brighter future. But as the tunnels snaked their ways beneath the city, the realities of the project began to set in. The initial estimates, based on the rosy predictions of planners, proved woefully inadequate.

Costs spiraled out of control as unexpected challenges emerged. Each setback added to the bill, and the city's coffers began to run dry. By the time the Great Depression hit, the project was in dire straits.

Funding dried up, and public support waned. The half-finished tunnels, once the pride of the city, were now seen as a financial burden, something Cincinnati could no longer afford. In 1928, the city made a difficult decision to halt construction, leaving the subway incomplete and its tunnels abandoned, at the cost of, in their day, $6 million, which in our day would be the buying power of $97 million.

The subway was never officially completed, and the tunnels were never filled in. Instead, they were left to the elements, a reminder of the ambitious plans that were never fully realized. The city's planners had failed to account for the true costs of such a massive undertaking.

In their haste to build a symbol of progress, they had overlooked the complexity of bringing that vision to life. Today, the Cincinnati subway remains a fascinating chapter in the city's history. The tunnel still exists, hidden beneath the city, a ghostly reminder of what could have been.

And while they never carried a single passenger, they continue to inspire curiosity and reflection on truly counting the cost. I heard a sermon a while back, and he was talking about that some of the people were asking him, this pastor, about how many he had in his home congregation back at his church. And he was telling, well, we have about 450 chairs, and normally every Sunday they're full.

But he said, he made the statement after that, he said, you know, when I stand before the Lord someday, if only 20 people turned out to be true disciples, I'll be happy. You know, that's kind of shocking. He said if only 20 out of those 450 people that sit in his chairs every Sunday turned out to be true disciples, he'd be happy.

That made me stop and think and ponder a little. This last week I saw an article, actually I think you saw it last night, and it reminded me of my own job. As a profession, I do computers, I do IT work, and I saw the title of the article.

It says most IT projects fail, 75% fall short of the goal. Most IT projects fail. Think about that.

You hire an IT guy to come in and do a whole massive project. The bigger it gets, it seems like the more likely it was to fail. It reminded me of a time when I got a call from a customer.

They wanted to implement a new contact management slash accounting system. I got some advice, and he told me, you know, Jeremy, before you get into this project, he said 90% of all ERPs, if you go custom, if you try to do it yourself, fail, 90%. I sat down in the meeting with the leaders and the decision makers, and I tried to convey this to them.

They still, after coming out of that meeting, said, let's move forward. We want to make a custom application. Dennis Hertzler and I sat down for weeks and months on end, designing and sending in the bill every week for all of our time, sending in the bill.

The programmers were actually over in Ukraine. They kept sending in their bill. We got into the project a ways in, and the project kept mounting and getting bigger and bigger.

Pretty soon, the people in Ukraine came back and said, you know, our estimates, they're probably double of what we originally told you. The company said, just forget it, pull the plug. After all that development, all the meetings, all the design work that had been done, it was all scrapped.

It still haunts me to this day to think of all the money that was wasted. You know, Jesus talked about counting the cost, and I want to liken this to today's sermon. I actually titled it, Are You Paying the Price? Now, you know, I thought about titling it something like Counting the Cost, but many of you would already have claimed to have counted the cost.

Many of you would claim you're a Christian this morning, and you would say, I have counted the cost. I have made the commitment. And so I'm not so concerned about are you counting the cost or have you counted the cost, but are you paying the cost? Are you actually doing what you supposedly committed to? And maybe you didn't realize, maybe when you became a Christian, you didn't realize the cost, and maybe you needed to take some time to think about what it takes to be a true disciple of Jesus.

You know, I thought about the day that Jesus came walking down the Sea of Galilee, and here were two men, Simon and Peter. They were casting their nets on the side there. And Jesus walked up to them, and all he said, surely they must have known him.

Surely they must have heard of his fame. All he said to them was, come follow me. And it says they left their nets.

I mean, think about what that would be like. You get the call. And they went and followed him.

He walked down the seashore a little further, and James and John, he met them. And it says they were in the boat with their father. They were mending their nets.

He said to them, come follow me. I'll make you fishers of men. And it says immediately they left their nets and their father.

I thought that was interesting in the text. It says they not only left their profession, they left their family. They left their own father there.

Peter, as he was called just earlier, he had a wife at home, as we know. He left immediately from his work and started following Jesus. A little, I don't know how much later, but Jesus called Matthew.

He was sitting at a tax collector's booth. It says he was taking in the taxes, doing his job. Jesus walked up and said, come follow me.

And it says Matthew got up and he left everything. That word is there. He left everything.

And he followed Jesus. But then Jesus tells of a couple examples later in the book of Luke. He says, a scribe once came to Jesus and he said, I want to follow you.

Now think about a scribe, somebody that is affluent. Somebody that is knowledgeable. Somebody that maybe knows the scripture, maybe is respected and looked at highly.

And Jesus said to him, when he asked, I want to follow you, he said, well, does anybody know? What did Jesus say to him? He said, foxes have holes, right? And birds have nests. But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Think about that statement.

He was telling that if you want to be a follower of Jesus, you're going to have to leave your comfort behind. You're going to have to walk away from knowing the safety and comfort every day you experience. The next guy walked up to Jesus and Jesus said to him, follow me.

And his response was, well, let me go home and first bury my father. And you know what Jesus said to him when he said that statement? He said, let the dead bury their dead. You go and preach the kingdom of God.

I mean, when I hear that, it just boggles me to think this man wanted to simply go home and bury his father. And I know there's different theologies to explain what this all meant. Some people believe it meant that he had a father at home.

He was old and aging. And so he was an excuse to go and take care of him first. And maybe that's what it really meant.

But it does show us a high call to follow Jesus. Then the next man came and he said, I want to follow you, Jesus. And Jesus said, well, let me just go home first and tell my family goodbye.

And Jesus said, he said, no man who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is worthy or fit or useful for the kingdom of God. Jesus has a high calling for each one of us in our lives. And so the question is, are you paying the price? Let's turn to Luke chapter 14 in verse 7. Jesus tells of a parable here and he talks about a feast that he's going to be put on, putting on.

Actually, verse 16, sorry. And it says he sent out after he had the feast ready. He sent out and invited a bunch of people to come to this feast.

And it says they began to make excuses in verse 18. The first one said, I have bought a piece of ground. I bought some land and I need to go see what that land's like.

I need to go take care of that land. So please have me excused. Verse 19.

Another one said, I bought five cows, five oxen. I need to go prove them. I pray have me excused.

And another said, I've just married a wife. I cannot come. And so after that, Jesus said, those people weren't going to taste of his feast.

They weren't going to taste of his supper. But he did go out and find people that were worthy. The ones maybe that society would look at as least worthy.

He said, go find the maimed and the poor and the crippled, the lame and the blind. Tell them that they're worthy to come in. They didn't have anything.

They didn't have oxen. They didn't have land. Maybe they weren't even able to be married.

But they wanted to come to Jesus' feast. I want to read you something I found yesterday that I enjoyed the reading. It said, once there was a man who collected and traded in pearls.

He had a fine collection of his own. But one day while he was away on business, he spotted a beautiful pearl in a jeweler's window. It was a pearl such as he had never seen, perfect in shape, size, and color.

He thought to himself, I must have that pearl. So he went into the jewelry store and asked to see that beautiful pearl. The jeweler carefully spread a piece of black velvet on the countertop and gently placed the pearl upon it.

The man was overwhelmed at the sight of that pearl. With great intensity, he looked the pearl over, carefully examining it. Finally, he said to the jeweler, that's got to be the most exquisite pearl I've ever seen.

The jeweler replied, my friend, that is the most exquisite pearl in the whole world. There is not another one like it anywhere to be compared with it. I must have that pearl, the man said.

How much is it? The gentleman behind the counter replied, I'm afraid you cannot afford this pearl. But I must have it. I'll pay anything, the man said.

Anything, replied the jeweler. Yes, anything. Very well.

If you want this pearl, you can buy it. But it will cost you everything you have. Everything I have, the man explained.

Yes, everything. He paced the floor for a while. At last, he said, I must have that pearl.

I'll pay the price. So he took out his wallet and began to count his money. He kept only $5 for himself.

He said, I will have to buy some gas for my car. The jeweler said, oh, do you have a car? It will cost your car, too. But how will I get back and forth to work? Oh, you have a job.

It will cost your job, too. But the man said, if I give up my job, how will I pay for my house? Oh, you have a house. I'm afraid that this pearl will cost your house, too.

But sir, what then would become of my family, my wife, and my children? Oh, you have a family. It will cost you your family, too. But then the man said, but that's everything I have.

The jeweler responded, I told you, it will cost you everything you have to obtain this pearl. But I didn't know you mean everything. Yes, everything.

At last, the man said, I must have the pearl. I'll pay it. And he gave him everything he had.

Then the jeweler gave him the pearl, and he gave him his money, the keys to his car, the deed to his house, told him to keep his job, his wife, and his children. And he said, now remember, all of these things belong to me. I want you to take them and use them.

But don't ever forget, they belong to me. Any time I call for them or call upon you to use them for me, you must remember, they are mine. You gave them all to me for this pearl.

Salvation is fruit-free, but it will cost you everything. So the question I have this morning is, which Jesus are you following? Are you following the costly Jesus, or are you following the cheap Jesus? Are you paying the price? I heard of a man, I read this, a young man who had just been called to go to Iraq because the U.S. had just declared war on Saddam Hussein. The problem was, for this young man, is he didn't want to go.

He didn't want to go to Iraq. He didn't want to go to war. He explained that he hadn't joined the army to go to war.

He had joined because of the benefits, the pay, the college tuition, and the insurance. How much of our pews, how much of our seats, how much of our churches are filled with people who joined not to go to war, but joined for the benefits. Why are you a Christian this morning? Is it for the benefits? Are you willing to pay the price for those benefits? Let's all turn to Luke chapter 9, please.

Luke chapter 9 and verse 23. Jesus said, For what is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory, and his fathers, and of the holy angels. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God.

Here Jesus explains a concept. He says that we need to deny ourselves, first of all. What does it really mean to deny yourself? What does it mean to deny the very you, the very existence of you? Some would take it and maybe understand it in a wrong way.

Maybe start to think that maybe they should just hate themselves. Maybe they should just die. Maybe they should just kill themselves.

But Jesus didn't mean that. Here and in the New Testament, whenever the word deny is used, it's used to disassociate from something or a relationship. When Peter denied the Lord, he was trying to disassociate himself from the Lord.

He knew the Lord, and the Lord existed, but he was trying to disassociate or renounce his relationship with the Lord. So then another translation might be, if any man would come after me, let him renounce himself, let him disown himself. Self-denial is intentional disowning of the self or stepping away from relationship with the self as primary.

Who is your primary allegiance to? Is it to yourself or is it to Jesus? That's what he's asking for. He wants complete allegiance to him and not yourself. So the first thing he asked for to pay the cost to be a true Christian, to be a true follower of Christ is to renounce yourself as being the authority of your own life and to put him in the rightful place.

The second thing we read here is that he says, let him take up his cross. Now, you know, crosses have become very churchy. I mean, we can all look here at the front and we got this pretty cross on here and, you know, we hang crosses on our necklace and, you know, people hang them off their cars and, you know, crosses anymore.

We sing about the cross, and I love the old rugged cross. But, you know, think about today. If Jesus would have died last week, I don't think they would have killed him on a cross.

They would have killed him probably like lethal injection or the electric chair. How strange would it be, like years later, we got like a little picture of the electric chair, like right here, or like a lethal one, like some kind of shot thing. Like it's strange when you stop and think about it.

A cross, in fact, when Jesus said this statement, he hadn't even died yet. You know, think, there was no glorification in it. It was a way that criminals died for doing wrong things.

It was a torturous death. So when he tells his followers, you need to take up your cross, it'd be like saying, you know, every day I want you to take up your electric chair and follow me. It's just, it's morbid a little bit.

It's a little different than we would think. What did he mean by that? Take up this instrument of death, this instrument of torture? And then in Luke, it says daily. It doesn't just say once, like we all wish it would say.

We all wish it would mean like, well, when I became a Christian, I took up my cross. But somehow we have to do this every day. When you wake up out of your bed, you somehow need to look around in your spiritual life and say, where's that cross? I need to carry it again today.

I need to take it up willfully. I need to take it up intentionally. So what is a cross? Let's talk a little bit about some of the characteristics of the cross.

If you were put on a cross, would it be what you want to be done? So the first thing, I saw a man write these things down, but the first thing is, it's opposite to what you want, right? It's opposite to your will. It's opposition to what you and yourself want. The second thing, you think Jesus was like enjoying his time up there and having some pride and respect while he was up on the cross? It was a very shameful time.

The cross is shameful. When they were pounding the nails into his hands and into his feet, do you think he was whipping him and all of that and mocking him? Do you think that that was an exhilarating or a painful experience? Very painful. It was a great experience of suffering.

The cross is something we suffer on. And lastly, it only ended in death. The cross was an instrument at the end of the day.

After all of this happened, the primary purpose of the cross was death. So to take up the cross, I'm reading something from somebody else. To take up one's cross referred to the practice of forcing a condemned person to carry the cross beam to his execution.

Think about that. You're the criminal. You're the one now that's going to be put to death.

And not only that, you get to carry the device that's going to kill you to your place of death. This showed that although he had rebelled against authority, the condemned person was now so completely conquered that his last act in his life would be to carry the instrument of his demise to the place of his death. He was so conquered and broken that now he had to carry his own instrument of demise to his own death.

It was a show of complete and utter submission. So a call to bear one's cross as part of following Jesus is a call to be as submitted to Christ as a condemned criminal was to his death. Paul talked about this.

He said, I die daily. He said, I offer yourselves as a living sacrifice. He said, I'm crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And Jesus said that unless a corn or a grain of wheat fall into the ground and dies, it abides alone.

It can do nothing. It can have no resurrection life. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.

We will never know the fullness of the resurrected life until we have experienced the crucified life. We cannot experience resurrection power until there is a death to self. And so if you're here this morning wondering, why am I always in failure? Why am I always struggling against sin? Why am I struggling with these things? The question you might need to ask is, are you carrying your cross? Are you picking up your cross every day? And just because you did it once doesn't mean you're going to do it tomorrow.

Let's keep reading in this verse. Verse 24, for whoever will save his life will lose it. But whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it.

So there's two I's here. If you notice, there's two I's. Whoever will lose his life and whoever will save his life.

The first I is the old you. I'll put the old I and the new I. Whoever will try to, if your old I says, let's get away from these things. What's some of the opposites of this? So let's put over here the opposites of the cross.

Opposition, anybody got a good word? How about acceptance? Don't we all want acceptance? The opposite of shamefulness would be maybe we want respect from people. We want people to think highly of us, esteem. The opposite of suffering is comfort.

And the opposite of death is safety. So, you know, the new I, the old I says, I don't want any of these things. I want these things.

I want acceptance. I want respect. I want comfort.

I want safety. And he wakes up in the morning every morning saying he wants these things. He doesn't just go away when you become a Christian.

And so the old I, Jesus says, needs to be lost. If you lose your life, the new I will be saved eternally. This is a temporal life.

This is an eternal life. But if you save your life, this is the paradox of it, if you want to save your life in this world, if you want to, you will lose it eternally. So the question is, you can say all day long, I'm a Christian, but if you aren't taking up your cross and you aren't walking in the surrendered life here, you may be just like that failed subway.

You may just be like that failed project. You know, you tried to count the cost, but you didn't pay the cost. Maybe you didn't count it up front.

The question is, at the end of the day, not if you counted it right, but are you paying it now? Have you made a commitment? Have you found the treasure in the field? Have you found that pearl so great a price that it's worth everything? And I didn't read it, but in that passage where they made the excuses and they said, oh, I've got an oxen, and I got married, and I got a piece of land. Jesus said at the very end, he said, Whoever doesn't give up everything, renounce everything he has cannot be to my disciple. How do we reconcile that? You need, if you want to be a follower of Christ, you need to renounce everything you have.

So we have this battle in us. We have this old eye and this new eye. And Jesus says if you find it, if you try to save it, you'll lose it.

If you try to lose it, you'll save it. So the true cost of being a follower of Christ boils down to are you trying to save your life now or are you trying to lose it for Christ? So let's talk about some practical self-denial. I want to know, and I'm going to open it up here in a minute.

I want you to be thinking, I want to know last week in your life what were practical ways that you either, hey, be honest. If you lost the battle, just tell it like it is. I mean, who are we trying to kid here? What matters is Jesus at the end of the day.

I'll be vulnerable and tell you my story, but I want to know some practical ways you learned, either learned or failed to deny yourself this last week, take up your cross or didn't take up your cross. What indications did you have that you needed to die in your life? What things were there? What steps were involved to renounce yourself? So last week, you all know this trailer place down here. He called me up a couple weeks ago and said, we want you to come in and we want you to be our new IT guy.

And so I've been there almost all week long replacing computers, getting things set up, making plans, and I had a plan to go in on, I think it was Thursday, and I'd woken up in the morning. I made this little plan in my mind. You ever make plans for your day? Does anybody not make plans for their day? I made a plan for the day that this is what I hope I was going to get done.

I was hoping today I was going to get a couple things quick done in the office and then I was going to get up to here and continue on my project. You ever get things that are a little more exciting than the mundane, right? You're like, oh, I want to get to that. And so I'm looking forward to getting up there and keep things moving.

It's an exciting new project. So I'm sitting there and, you know, things start coming in, interruptions start happening. I needed to be a parent.

I needed to help my wife with a particular issue. And before you knew it, the day just slowly is going away. You know, I'm watching the clock go.

It's like 12, 11, 12, 1. And I don't know about you, but when you make a plan, do you ever start feeling that just like tension in your chest, that anxiety building? You all looking like I'm the only one that does this? Okay. Okay, good. You're human.

Okay, yeah. And so the tension's rising and I'm thinking, you know, and pretty soon I'm starting to find myself sighing. You ever find that? My wife's like hearing me sighing constantly.

Why are you sighing so much? And I'm working and I'm sighing, though. This computer cannot move fast enough. And I had this research.

I needed to find this piece of software that would do what I needed to do up here, and I just could not find one that worked. Every one I would try wouldn't work, would be like a sham, you know, and I was getting frustrated. And then interruptions would come in and other phone calls.

And pretty soon I just had to stop and realize what is going on. I'm all tense. I'm stressing about what? Like my own plan.

They never asked me. They never said you need to be here at this time. They just said, hey, just do it on your convenience.

But I made the plan that I was going to be there and I was going to get this done, and I had to stop and think, wait a minute, this is ridiculous. Like, I mean, seriously, 4 o'clock before I finally walked out the door. My wife, even as I walked out the door, she says, is there any use in even going? Like all the things you could say to a man who's made a plan.

I'm like, yes, I just need to go show up for a little bit. But I kept telling myself, I kept saying, what? Okay, stop a minute. God allowed these things.

One of my most favorite verses lately has been, God has ordained everything according to the counsel of his will. Do you believe that? Do you believe that everything that happens in your life has been run by God according to his counsel? It says it in Ephesians. It's Ephesians 1.11. He has ordained everything according to the counsel of his will.

I'm afraid too often we live like life is a, what is the word? What is it? Coincidence. Thank you. I think too often we live like that.

Life is just a big coincidence. And we get frustrated because this isn't working like I thought. Instead of thinking, wait a minute.

God has allowed this. God's doing something. This is God's plan.

This is God's life. This is God's possessions. This is God's job.

This is God's everything. I'm starting to grab ahold of, I want the pearl and I want all my things too. I want my schedule.

I want my job. I want it like I want, right? Versus, no, this is all yours, Lord. I am your servant now, whatever you say.

So anyway, I started talking to myself and telling myself these things. And, you know, sometimes you just have to have a little pep talk with your soul. Yourself.

This thing right here. This guy needs to talk to this guy and tell this guy to get with it. He needs to say, you know the scripture, it says, by the renewing of your mind, the spirit of God wants to talk and renew that whole concept of taking up your cross, of dying to self.

And so anyway, after talking to myself and telling myself that I started feeling attention, let go. And you know what? You have to say things to yourself like this. So what does it matter if I do it tomorrow instead? What does it matter if like, I mean, even I've had times where I have had a hundred employees waiting on me for fixing this problem.

And I feel the stress coming on like I have a hundred people wanting something fixed. And I just have to say I'm doing the best I can. And I can only do that.

And you have to talk to yourself because what then comes out. Okay, so we struggle, right? We say, well, why am I so angry at people? Or why am I so fearful? Or why do I respond in these ways? And I guess the question I have for you is we think it's so easy. I just need to stop being angry.

I just need to stop lusting. I need to stop. But what if there's some root level things that are causing some of this? What if because you didn't take up your cross and you planned everything out yourself and you let yourself be in control, that then created the fruit of you being angry with people, impatient with people because you're still on the throne.

Maybe we need to go back to that root that says, okay, Lord, it's all yours. Which then what I find is the peace of God comes and guards your heart as it says. I think it's Philippians or Colossians.

It says the peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds if you do these things. So the question is, I know it sounds so simple. But the question is, are you really, really, really in your moments walking as if God's in control of your life and you aren't? Are you taking up your cross? Are you saying, is your new self talking to your old self and telling him to behave and to die and to get out of the way and let Jesus be in the throne? Who's got an example from last week that they can tell us how you practically took up your cross and denied yourself? It's not.

Yes. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Mm hmm. Yeah. And this doesn't have to be just you had something.

Maybe it's. Maybe you had some opposition for being a Christian or you were shamed or maybe the Lord told you to go speak to somebody about the Lord. Maybe you're suffering for your faith.

But how are you doing with walking in a crucified life? How are you doing? Like Romans says, reckon yourselves to be dead and deed to sin. Titus says, the grace of God has appeared to all men and it teaches us something. It teaches us to deny.

It teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. And to live soberly, righteously and godly. So the grace of God talks to this guy and it teaches us to deny this guy.

But sometimes this guy says, huh, I don't want I want to deny that guy. Anyone else? Example of how you took up your cross or how you denied yourself this last week? Yeah. Thank you.

You know, the scripture says we're to cast down imaginations. You know that word for imaginations? The Greek word is logic. Think about that.

Casting down your logic, your plans, your ideas that exalt itself above the knowledge of God. You know, in all your ways, the scripture says, acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. He has a plan for your life, but we've got to get off the throne.

So I have a couple of closing thoughts. Unless somebody has something they want to share. Trevor.

Yeah. Here's a quote I read. It costs something to be a true Christian.

Let's let that never be forgotten. To be a lukewarm Christian and go to church, it's cheap and easy work. Did you hear that? It's cheap and easy to go to church.

What's hard is to hear the voice of Christ, to follow him, to believe in him, to confess him. And it requires much self-denial. It will cost us our sins.

It will cost us our self-righteousness, our ease, and our worldliness. All must be given up. Our Lord Jesus Christ would have us thoroughly understand this.

He bids us count the cost. Self-denial is not merely a periodical practice. We aren't occasionally called to pick up a certain cross.

We are called to an entire way of life. Discipleship is extreme. The seemingly harsh language of Jesus, when he says even to hate your father and your mother, when he says you must die and get on a cross, the harsh language of Jesus' call is intended to make this clear.

There are no halfway measures in following Christ. It's all or nothing. By definition, it's not a hobby, but total and complete allegiance to him in every corner of your heart.

Here's another quote. In every Christian's heart, there's a cross and a throne. And the Christian is on the throne until he puts himself on the cross.

If you're not on the cross, you're on the throne this morning. It's one or the other. There's no in-between.

You're either on the throne or you're on the cross. If you refuse to cross, you remain on the throne. We want to be saved, but we insist that Christ do all the dying.

No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying. We remain king within the little kingdom of man's soul and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of Caesar, but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

So God bless you. When you are weak, then you'll be strong, as Paul said.