Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
Before laying a foundation for a tower, a builder must sit down and count whether he has enough means, ability and strength to finish it, lest he prove unable to finish and all who see the unfinished work mock him as a laughingstock. Counting the cost means deliberate, considerate forethought rather than rash haste, taking time for wise thought, prayer, Scripture and counsel, weighing strength, opposition, consequences, and whether God has assigned the work and it can be completed and supported. Becoming a disciple requires the same reckoning, weighing the evidence for truth and deciding with settled purpose to obey God and pay the price before enlisting, so as not to leave the work unfinished or build in vain. The price to be counted is complete surrender for eternity, giving the whole heart, renouncing self, dying to self and selfishness, giving up every cherished idol and sinful pleasure, and submitting the will into perfect conformity with God's will to be filled with the Spirit and mind of Christ. Jesus is the opposite of builders who plan greatly but fail, for he counted the cost of saving every son and daughter of Adam and provided abundant means and unfailing resources to complete the work he has begun for all who comply with the conditions. For a sanitarium or school or any work for God, this means first finding out what means can be commanded and then limiting outlay to those means, beginning small, enlarging only as circumstances demand, and refusing to go into debt or build on borrowed money.
Counting Cost Before Building
The tower-builder must first sit down and count whether he has enough means, ability and strength to finish what he intends to build. If he lays the foundation and then is not able to finish, all who behold the unfinished work begin to mock him as a laughingstock. For a sanitarium or a school this means first finding out what means can be commanded and then limiting outlay to those means. It warns against starting hastily or on suppositions about where funds will come from, against acting impulsively, and against letting building plans proceed suddenly on assumptions about funding. It requires the strictest economy with every advance step, guarding against investing large and unnecessary sums in one place, since extravagance in building and fitting up one institution while other important places are neglected leaves an incorrect and unhealthful impression, especially when means are greatly needed to support field workers.
Counting the cost means being deliberate and considerate rather than rash, hasty, impetuous or presumptuous. It means taking time for wise thought before action, with prayer, Scripture, counsel and shared judgment, and moving firmly yet humbly only after seeking wisdom. Each one must consider what strength he has and whether it is sufficient to stand ground and finish, without despising the strength and power of opposition, and must weigh the likely results and consequences of the course. Plans for buildings and other undertakings should be made only after workers consult together, assess resources, and agree that the plans can be completed and accord with God's will, for individual action without shared judgment is not the proper order, nor is proceeding without clear duty and adequate preparation or on one's own wisdom. It also means being sure whether God has assigned the work and has something for the person to do according to ability, repaying existing debts before new ventures, since taking on debt and leaving obligations unpaid brings dishonor and damages influence.
Forethought is of far more value than afterthought. Building without first sitting down and counting the cost to see whether there is ability to finish reveals weakness and lack of wisdom. What is required is careful, guarded movement with wise calculations, calculating talent, sound judgment and careful management. That refuses to begin on suppositions about where the necessary funds will come from or on sudden assumptions about funding.
The reckoning must include more than putting the building up. It must count what it will cost to keep the institution alive and healthful afterward, without continual absorption of means and without creating necessities that must constantly be fed with money. It must weigh what the expenditure will do to the whole work and to other portions of the field, considering how resources spent in one place affect work elsewhere. Investing an excessive sum in one structure when that spending prevents necessary buildings from being built elsewhere violates this, as does beginning plans calling for means exceeding revenue, gathering much money into a few places, rearing immense buildings where there is every facility while other portions lie barren, and drawing from the treasury without remembering that all the revenue is the Lord's and that destitute missionary fields must be supplied, which brings debt, discouragement and confusion and hedges up progress in new fields. Even where centers for training workers and educating youth will require larger facilities, in every undertaking the cost to the whole work must still be counted.
Following Christ Fully
Becoming a disciple means sitting down first like a man intending to build a tower, lest after laying the foundation he cannot finish and all who see it mock him. Everyone is to be considerate rather than rash and impetuous, taking time for wise thought before action to weigh the evidence for truth, to consider what strength he has and whether it is sufficient to stand ground and finish, without presumption and without despising the strength and power of the enemy. Jesus makes the conflict and its hazards known, and Christian service requires complete surrender and faithful performance of duty with settled, decided purpose to obey God and pay the price before enlisting, so as not to leave the work unfinished or build in vain. Those who take their position against God and the truth especially need this weighing, and one who has sincerely counted that cost can explain the commitment modestly, yet with decision and firmness, in thorough consecration to Christ. Baptism is included in this reckoning, for parents and children should not rush into the ordinance but must understand its meaning and consider the commitment it entails.
The price to be counted is thorough work for eternity at cost of great effort that pays in the end: giving the whole heart and entire affections, denying self, dying to self, lifting the cross Christ appoints, crucifying pride, self-sufficiency and selfishness, overcoming vanity, worldliness and sin in every form, giving up everything wrong and every favorite sinful pleasure and cherished idol, and refusing to retain one's own mold, superscription, nature and temperament. It means surrendering pleasing self and having one's own way to be gladly led by God, submitting the personal will into perfect conformity with God's will, yielding everything, taking up stumbling blocks cast in the path of the young, and being emptied of self so as to be filled by the Holy Spirit with His Spirit, power, fullness and the mold and mind of Christ. Until a person is willing to pay this price the transforming grace of God will not be manifested, for a supposed hope and profession only will never save but leaves one deceived, unworthy of the Christian name, and certain to fail of everlasting life if the society of those who pay no heed to divine things is kept, since the spirit of God's peculiar people cannot mingle with the spirit and influence of the world any more than oil and water. Yet getting the guilt of sin from the conscience brings sweet happiness and rest in the yoke and burden Christ lays, surpassing every sinful pleasure and gratifying indulgence, for heaven is worth the sacrifice, life is short and eternity endless, and God who does not want anyone to perish desires to bless a fully consecrated life now and give a blessed eternity.
Christ first chose His people at infinite price for redemption, and the true believer must choose Christ as first and last and best in everything in a union enduring only by living faith in utter dependence. That union costs a proud being something, requiring feeling need of the atoning blood of Christ, a change of heart, submission of the personal will to the will of God, struggle with outward and inward obstacles, and a painful work of detachment as well as attachment. Those who try to attach themselves to Christ without first detaching from cherished idols find the Christian life deplorably hard and become fickle and variable, unable to complete what they began. The first steps in work for God must therefore be carefully considered with the humility of a child, first surrendering the will wholly to God and asking for willingness to do the easiest, smallest things first instead of continually searching for some large thing to do. Those who faithfully do the smallest things with best effort while looking to God for guidance will soon find themselves able to accomplish more important duties, because the Lord will give ability and strength for greater things. Those who give themselves wholeheartedly as light-bearers and rely on Christ's strength will receive supernatural help and, advancing by faith, will not fail nor become discouraged.
One who begins building a character devoted to God but gives up when trials, scorn and ridicule come has not counted the cost, but turns from Christ and brings Him to open shame, like Peter in the judgment hall, whereas a true disciple must be prepared to endure opposition and remain faithful to the end. Those who claim to accept Christ while refusing to obey the law He came to vindicate place themselves in that same position of an unfinished work exposed to ridicule. Building for eternity means counting the cost and faithfully putting sound material into the structure, choosing associates who are serious, thoughtful and religiously inclined, putting good material of good character into the building, and refusing rotten timbers and contentment with deficiencies of character that doom the building to ruin. All must take heed how they build, because the storm of temptation will sweep over the building to test whether it stands, and unless it is firmly and faithfully constructed it will not stand the test. Parents who consent to their children's baptism pledge to guide them faithfully in Christian character and obedience.
Those preparing as medical missionary workers must first understand themselves, their health and strength and what they can endure, and must be careful to observe physical laws. To pile on studies and submit to exposures that imperil health and life while expecting God to sustain is presumption that dishonors God, because it breaks down the man in the process of educating him and leaves a broken-down, discouraged burden to himself. Nature will not be imposed upon and will not forgive injuries done to the wonderful, delicate human machinery. Continuing in ministry likewise applies the tower picture: a worker should count the cost and consider whether he can finish the work. Taking the burden alone and exhausting one's strength can leave the work unfinished, while using fellow workers whom God has provided helps the ministry be completed.
Israel Unfinished, Christ Finished
The unfinished building is the religious life of the Jewish nation, which had laid the foundation of its faith in sacrifices that prefigured Christ and pointed to the Lamb of God. Christ was the one who would complete that faith by making atonement for sin and giving it power, but when the people refused Him the type never reached its antitype, and He became the stone they stumbled over. Without Him their service remained unfinished, their salvation incomplete, and they stood as a ruin whose failure to finish brought shame upon them.
Jesus is the opposite of men who make great plans yet fail because they begin to build without counting the cost and are not able to finish. He counted the cost of saving every son and daughter of Adam and provided abundant means whereby all might be saved. Those means take effect for all who comply with the conditions, lay hold upon eternal life, and yield their wills to Him in response to His love, for He has unfailing resources at His command to complete the work He has begun so that they will not perish but have everlasting life.
Building Institutions Wisely
For a sanitarium or a school the verse means first sitting down to find out what means can be commanded and then limiting outlay to those means. The rule is to begin small and work carefully, enlarging business slowly only as circumstances demand, refusing to go into debt or to build on borrowed money, refusing to spend more than is made, and standing in individual responsibility rather than throwing an embarrassed, debt-involved institution upon an association. Existing debts are to be repaid before new ventures are undertaken, work is to be brought within present resources even at great inconvenience, and increase of facilities is to wait until means are in hand, with economical planning, limited outlay, drawing as little as possible from the treasury, and securing existing buildings at low cost where possible. Taking on an additional debt without means to manage and finish the undertaking risks an unmanageable burden and leaves the unfinished work exposed to mockery.
To begin a work for God without counting the cost is a reproach to God, for to lay a foundation without sufficient means to finish invites mockery from all who behold it. Neglect reveals weakness and lack of wisdom and brings failure, debt, discouragement, confusion, and loss of courage. It leaves a lasting reputation for poor management and incompetence and hedges up the way of progress in new fields by investing much money in a few places, drawing from the Lord's treasury without remembering that all the revenue is the Lord's and that other parts of the vineyard must be supplied, so that destitute missionary fields are left unworked.
The work requires the strictest economy with every advance step, guarding against the tendency to invest large and unnecessary sums in one place and against any extravagance in building and fitting up one institution while other places of great importance are neglected. There is to be no beginning in extravagance and show and large outlay, no spreading like a green bay tree and absorbing means that would support a whole mission of organized workers, and no patterning of costly furnishings after other schools. Those beginning school work with very small means in hand must choose common linen and furniture instead of the best quality and practice economy in all purchases so that a large sum is saved, and sanitariums are to be begun modestly with limited means wisely used so the work can be completed.
Establishing a sanitarium is a great undertaking requiring counted skill, adaptability, available workers, and ability to finish as well as money. Building towers of debt without carefully considering the cost, the available workers, and how to secure more workers is without wisdom and risks failing to finish what has been begun. Doing good work at an established sanitarium does not by itself show that a person can successfully establish another, and those who lack what is needed should join an established institution rather than begin a new one or start recklessly and expect another organization to complete the work and thereby come into difficulty, as when the Los Angeles bakery was built prematurely because required money and skill were not available.
Means are the Lord's entrusted talent and must be invested as faithful stewards with a right understanding of the work to be done and with reference to the whole world and the many other places where institutions must be established. This forbids selfishly gathering all possible means to invest in a few places, investing an excessive sum in one structure when that spending prevents necessary buildings from being built elsewhere, and rearing immense buildings where there is every facility while other fields lie barren. Even where larger facilities are needed for training workers and educating youth, each undertaking must be weighed against the needs of the wider field and the means available, lest extravagance in one institution leave an incorrect and unhealthful impression, especially when there is great need of means to support field workers and foreign fields.
Managers who are slack and do not know how to manage should be separated from the work. Men and women who know how to bind about the edges so that the work shall not ravel out should be secured to act with wisdom, tact, and adaptability even in times of little increase.
Counsel for Particular Projects
In city work the verse forbids beginning in extravagance and show and large outlay in high halls, spreading and absorbing means that would support a whole mission of organized workers, and requires counting the cost in every movement by beginning humbly and working steadily together with Christ in house-to-house labor so the work remains and can be finished complete. One who begins to build must first consider whether he is able to carry the tower up to the top complete, for if after laying the foundation he is not able to finish for lack of money, all who behold it will mock him as a laughingstock. The Chicago work is such an unfinished tower, and its plans should not be extended to every city without reasoning from cause to effect about likely results. The tower in Australia is the building work there, whose completion depended on ten thousand dollars promised as a loan being sent immediately, requiring cautious work to counteract influences deterring the lender, personal presence on the ground, and earnest prayer to secure the funds so the tower is not left unfinished.
Building plans for the Los Angeles sanitarium must not proceed suddenly on assumptions about funding, but only after the cost and means of completion are considered lest the building be left incomplete and mocked. The proposed Colorado sanitarium must not be undertaken while an existing institution already burdens the conference with debt and the needed funds could support other work. Extravagance in building and fitting up one institution such as the Nashville Sanitarium while other places of great importance are neglected leaves an incorrect and unhealthful impression, especially when means are greatly needed to support field workers, so the strictest economy is required at every advance step and large unnecessary sums must not be invested in one place. Building the Los Angeles bakery was premature because the required money and skill were not available, showing that plans for God's work must be considered carefully and together before construction begins.
A proposed purchase taking on additional debt without means to manage and finish it risks an unmanageable burden with the unfinished work exposed to public mockery. Any costly purchase with added debt must weigh available resources and continuing expenses beforehand to know whether there will be enough means to complete it. Plans for setting up a business can be rendered impossible to complete by physical infirmity, since starting without means or ability to finish leads to failure and mockery. No rash move in relocating from Battle Creek should be made without taking time to consider carefully, seek God's wisdom, weigh all the movement portends, be sure of a work in educating and training for more spiritual service according to ability, and then moving firmly yet humbly trusting in God.
In purchasing goods and furniture the amount to be spent should be estimated carefully toward the salvation of souls, teaching self-denial and living within means with every dollar spent for that purpose, since excessive spending at the outset can force cutbacks later where they are more keenly felt. Restaurant work must be arranged to serve the saving of souls, otherwise if helpers are kept too busy to commune with God or share truth it becomes a snare and should be given up for work that awakens interest in present truth. Evangelistic work with extravagant costly preparations and without reliance on the Holy Spirit is not in harmony with God's plan, for the builder who begins a large undertaking without first counting its cost may be unable to finish and become an object of ridicule. Rescue plans must count whether they can be completed rather than taking on so much that the leading and most urgent features of the last gospel message are left aside.
Institutions that build towers of debt without carefully considering the cost, their available workers, and how to secure more workers act without wisdom and risk failing to finish what they have begun. Major projects that consume gospel resources without discerning whether God assigned them violate the verse and bring public ridicule, especially when they consume resources needed for the gospel work. A tower of work and responsibilities planned and begun but left unfinished shows plans that were not from God, who had assigned only the responsibilities the builder was meant to bear. Work that absorbs revenue where it accomplishes the lesser good while neglecting fields ripe for harvest withholds the gospel from those ready to perish, collects donations only to absorb means without producing and bring comparatively very few to the truth, which is not the inspiration of God.
Building hopes and making plans without considering how the work will be finished and supported risks failure and public humiliation, so a named leader is warned not to press ahead with an undertaking without sound counsel and due regard for likely results and limits. Another planner is warned to carefully consider expenses before investing in enterprises that may consume money without producing results, lest he begin what he cannot finish and be mocked. Timely financial support is needed to establish work in a new field firmly and not leave it half completed to shame and public judgment.
Before laying a foundation for a tower, a builder must sit down and count whether he has enough means, ability and strength to finish it, lest he prove unable to finish and all who see the unfinished work mock him as a laughingstock. Counting the cost means deliberate, considerate forethought rather than rash haste, taking time for wise thought, prayer, Scripture and counsel, weighing strength, opposition, consequences, and whether God has assigned the work and it can be completed and supported. Becoming a disciple requires the same reckoning, weighing the evidence for truth and deciding with settled purpose to obey God and pay the price before enlisting, so as not to leave the work unfinished or build in vain. The price to be counted is complete surrender for eternity, giving the whole heart, renouncing self, dying to self and selfishness, giving up every cherished idol and sinful pleasure, and submitting the will into perfect conformity with God's will to be filled with the Spirit and mind of Christ. Jesus is the opposite of builders who plan greatly but fail, for he counted the cost of saving every son and daughter of Adam and provided abundant means and unfailing resources to complete the work he has begun for all who comply with the conditions. For a sanitarium or school or any work for God, this means first finding out what means can be commanded and then limiting outlay to those means, beginning small, enlarging only as circumstances demand, and refusing to go into debt or build on borrowed money.
Counting Cost Before Building
The tower-builder must first sit down and count whether he has enough means, ability and strength to finish what he intends to build. If he lays the foundation and then is not able to finish, all who behold the unfinished work begin to mock him as a laughingstock. For a sanitarium or a school this means first finding out what means can be commanded and then limiting outlay to those means. It warns against starting hastily or on suppositions about where funds will come from, against acting impulsively, and against letting building plans proceed suddenly on assumptions about funding. It requires the strictest economy with every advance step, guarding against investing large and unnecessary sums in one place, since extravagance in building and fitting up one institution while other important places are neglected leaves an incorrect and unhealthful impression, especially when means are greatly needed to support field workers.
Counting the cost means being deliberate and considerate rather than rash, hasty, impetuous or presumptuous. It means taking time for wise thought before action, with prayer, Scripture, counsel and shared judgment, and moving firmly yet humbly only after seeking wisdom. Each one must consider what strength he has and whether it is sufficient to stand ground and finish, without despising the strength and power of opposition, and must weigh the likely results and consequences of the course. Plans for buildings and other undertakings should be made only after workers consult together, assess resources, and agree that the plans can be completed and accord with God's will, for individual action without shared judgment is not the proper order, nor is proceeding without clear duty and adequate preparation or on one's own wisdom. It also means being sure whether God has assigned the work and has something for the person to do according to ability, repaying existing debts before new ventures, since taking on debt and leaving obligations unpaid brings dishonor and damages influence.
Forethought is of far more value than afterthought. Building without first sitting down and counting the cost to see whether there is ability to finish reveals weakness and lack of wisdom. What is required is careful, guarded movement with wise calculations, calculating talent, sound judgment and careful management. That refuses to begin on suppositions about where the necessary funds will come from or on sudden assumptions about funding.
The reckoning must include more than putting the building up. It must count what it will cost to keep the institution alive and healthful afterward, without continual absorption of means and without creating necessities that must constantly be fed with money. It must weigh what the expenditure will do to the whole work and to other portions of the field, considering how resources spent in one place affect work elsewhere. Investing an excessive sum in one structure when that spending prevents necessary buildings from being built elsewhere violates this, as does beginning plans calling for means exceeding revenue, gathering much money into a few places, rearing immense buildings where there is every facility while other portions lie barren, and drawing from the treasury without remembering that all the revenue is the Lord's and that destitute missionary fields must be supplied, which brings debt, discouragement and confusion and hedges up progress in new fields. Even where centers for training workers and educating youth will require larger facilities, in every undertaking the cost to the whole work must still be counted.
Following Christ Fully
Becoming a disciple means sitting down first like a man intending to build a tower, lest after laying the foundation he cannot finish and all who see it mock him. Everyone is to be considerate rather than rash and impetuous, taking time for wise thought before action to weigh the evidence for truth, to consider what strength he has and whether it is sufficient to stand ground and finish, without presumption and without despising the strength and power of the enemy. Jesus makes the conflict and its hazards known, and Christian service requires complete surrender and faithful performance of duty with settled, decided purpose to obey God and pay the price before enlisting, so as not to leave the work unfinished or build in vain. Those who take their position against God and the truth especially need this weighing, and one who has sincerely counted that cost can explain the commitment modestly, yet with decision and firmness, in thorough consecration to Christ. Baptism is included in this reckoning, for parents and children should not rush into the ordinance but must understand its meaning and consider the commitment it entails.
The price to be counted is thorough work for eternity at cost of great effort that pays in the end: giving the whole heart and entire affections, denying self, dying to self, lifting the cross Christ appoints, crucifying pride, self-sufficiency and selfishness, overcoming vanity, worldliness and sin in every form, giving up everything wrong and every favorite sinful pleasure and cherished idol, and refusing to retain one's own mold, superscription, nature and temperament. It means surrendering pleasing self and having one's own way to be gladly led by God, submitting the personal will into perfect conformity with God's will, yielding everything, taking up stumbling blocks cast in the path of the young, and being emptied of self so as to be filled by the Holy Spirit with His Spirit, power, fullness and the mold and mind of Christ. Until a person is willing to pay this price the transforming grace of God will not be manifested, for a supposed hope and profession only will never save but leaves one deceived, unworthy of the Christian name, and certain to fail of everlasting life if the society of those who pay no heed to divine things is kept, since the spirit of God's peculiar people cannot mingle with the spirit and influence of the world any more than oil and water. Yet getting the guilt of sin from the conscience brings sweet happiness and rest in the yoke and burden Christ lays, surpassing every sinful pleasure and gratifying indulgence, for heaven is worth the sacrifice, life is short and eternity endless, and God who does not want anyone to perish desires to bless a fully consecrated life now and give a blessed eternity.
Christ first chose His people at infinite price for redemption, and the true believer must choose Christ as first and last and best in everything in a union enduring only by living faith in utter dependence. That union costs a proud being something, requiring feeling need of the atoning blood of Christ, a change of heart, submission of the personal will to the will of God, struggle with outward and inward obstacles, and a painful work of detachment as well as attachment. Those who try to attach themselves to Christ without first detaching from cherished idols find the Christian life deplorably hard and become fickle and variable, unable to complete what they began. The first steps in work for God must therefore be carefully considered with the humility of a child, first surrendering the will wholly to God and asking for willingness to do the easiest, smallest things first instead of continually searching for some large thing to do. Those who faithfully do the smallest things with best effort while looking to God for guidance will soon find themselves able to accomplish more important duties, because the Lord will give ability and strength for greater things. Those who give themselves wholeheartedly as light-bearers and rely on Christ's strength will receive supernatural help and, advancing by faith, will not fail nor become discouraged.
One who begins building a character devoted to God but gives up when trials, scorn and ridicule come has not counted the cost, but turns from Christ and brings Him to open shame, like Peter in the judgment hall, whereas a true disciple must be prepared to endure opposition and remain faithful to the end. Those who claim to accept Christ while refusing to obey the law He came to vindicate place themselves in that same position of an unfinished work exposed to ridicule. Building for eternity means counting the cost and faithfully putting sound material into the structure, choosing associates who are serious, thoughtful and religiously inclined, putting good material of good character into the building, and refusing rotten timbers and contentment with deficiencies of character that doom the building to ruin. All must take heed how they build, because the storm of temptation will sweep over the building to test whether it stands, and unless it is firmly and faithfully constructed it will not stand the test. Parents who consent to their children's baptism pledge to guide them faithfully in Christian character and obedience.
Those preparing as medical missionary workers must first understand themselves, their health and strength and what they can endure, and must be careful to observe physical laws. To pile on studies and submit to exposures that imperil health and life while expecting God to sustain is presumption that dishonors God, because it breaks down the man in the process of educating him and leaves a broken-down, discouraged burden to himself. Nature will not be imposed upon and will not forgive injuries done to the wonderful, delicate human machinery. Continuing in ministry likewise applies the tower picture: a worker should count the cost and consider whether he can finish the work. Taking the burden alone and exhausting one's strength can leave the work unfinished, while using fellow workers whom God has provided helps the ministry be completed.
Israel Unfinished, Christ Finished
The unfinished building is the religious life of the Jewish nation, which had laid the foundation of its faith in sacrifices that prefigured Christ and pointed to the Lamb of God. Christ was the one who would complete that faith by making atonement for sin and giving it power, but when the people refused Him the type never reached its antitype, and He became the stone they stumbled over. Without Him their service remained unfinished, their salvation incomplete, and they stood as a ruin whose failure to finish brought shame upon them.
Jesus is the opposite of men who make great plans yet fail because they begin to build without counting the cost and are not able to finish. He counted the cost of saving every son and daughter of Adam and provided abundant means whereby all might be saved. Those means take effect for all who comply with the conditions, lay hold upon eternal life, and yield their wills to Him in response to His love, for He has unfailing resources at His command to complete the work He has begun so that they will not perish but have everlasting life.
Building Institutions Wisely
For a sanitarium or a school the verse means first sitting down to find out what means can be commanded and then limiting outlay to those means. The rule is to begin small and work carefully, enlarging business slowly only as circumstances demand, refusing to go into debt or to build on borrowed money, refusing to spend more than is made, and standing in individual responsibility rather than throwing an embarrassed, debt-involved institution upon an association. Existing debts are to be repaid before new ventures are undertaken, work is to be brought within present resources even at great inconvenience, and increase of facilities is to wait until means are in hand, with economical planning, limited outlay, drawing as little as possible from the treasury, and securing existing buildings at low cost where possible. Taking on an additional debt without means to manage and finish the undertaking risks an unmanageable burden and leaves the unfinished work exposed to mockery.
To begin a work for God without counting the cost is a reproach to God, for to lay a foundation without sufficient means to finish invites mockery from all who behold it. Neglect reveals weakness and lack of wisdom and brings failure, debt, discouragement, confusion, and loss of courage. It leaves a lasting reputation for poor management and incompetence and hedges up the way of progress in new fields by investing much money in a few places, drawing from the Lord's treasury without remembering that all the revenue is the Lord's and that other parts of the vineyard must be supplied, so that destitute missionary fields are left unworked.
The work requires the strictest economy with every advance step, guarding against the tendency to invest large and unnecessary sums in one place and against any extravagance in building and fitting up one institution while other places of great importance are neglected. There is to be no beginning in extravagance and show and large outlay, no spreading like a green bay tree and absorbing means that would support a whole mission of organized workers, and no patterning of costly furnishings after other schools. Those beginning school work with very small means in hand must choose common linen and furniture instead of the best quality and practice economy in all purchases so that a large sum is saved, and sanitariums are to be begun modestly with limited means wisely used so the work can be completed.
Establishing a sanitarium is a great undertaking requiring counted skill, adaptability, available workers, and ability to finish as well as money. Building towers of debt without carefully considering the cost, the available workers, and how to secure more workers is without wisdom and risks failing to finish what has been begun. Doing good work at an established sanitarium does not by itself show that a person can successfully establish another, and those who lack what is needed should join an established institution rather than begin a new one or start recklessly and expect another organization to complete the work and thereby come into difficulty, as when the Los Angeles bakery was built prematurely because required money and skill were not available.
Means are the Lord's entrusted talent and must be invested as faithful stewards with a right understanding of the work to be done and with reference to the whole world and the many other places where institutions must be established. This forbids selfishly gathering all possible means to invest in a few places, investing an excessive sum in one structure when that spending prevents necessary buildings from being built elsewhere, and rearing immense buildings where there is every facility while other fields lie barren. Even where larger facilities are needed for training workers and educating youth, each undertaking must be weighed against the needs of the wider field and the means available, lest extravagance in one institution leave an incorrect and unhealthful impression, especially when there is great need of means to support field workers and foreign fields.
Managers who are slack and do not know how to manage should be separated from the work. Men and women who know how to bind about the edges so that the work shall not ravel out should be secured to act with wisdom, tact, and adaptability even in times of little increase.
Counsel for Particular Projects
In city work the verse forbids beginning in extravagance and show and large outlay in high halls, spreading and absorbing means that would support a whole mission of organized workers, and requires counting the cost in every movement by beginning humbly and working steadily together with Christ in house-to-house labor so the work remains and can be finished complete. One who begins to build must first consider whether he is able to carry the tower up to the top complete, for if after laying the foundation he is not able to finish for lack of money, all who behold it will mock him as a laughingstock. The Chicago work is such an unfinished tower, and its plans should not be extended to every city without reasoning from cause to effect about likely results. The tower in Australia is the building work there, whose completion depended on ten thousand dollars promised as a loan being sent immediately, requiring cautious work to counteract influences deterring the lender, personal presence on the ground, and earnest prayer to secure the funds so the tower is not left unfinished.
Building plans for the Los Angeles sanitarium must not proceed suddenly on assumptions about funding, but only after the cost and means of completion are considered lest the building be left incomplete and mocked. The proposed Colorado sanitarium must not be undertaken while an existing institution already burdens the conference with debt and the needed funds could support other work. Extravagance in building and fitting up one institution such as the Nashville Sanitarium while other places of great importance are neglected leaves an incorrect and unhealthful impression, especially when means are greatly needed to support field workers, so the strictest economy is required at every advance step and large unnecessary sums must not be invested in one place. Building the Los Angeles bakery was premature because the required money and skill were not available, showing that plans for God's work must be considered carefully and together before construction begins.
A proposed purchase taking on additional debt without means to manage and finish it risks an unmanageable burden with the unfinished work exposed to public mockery. Any costly purchase with added debt must weigh available resources and continuing expenses beforehand to know whether there will be enough means to complete it. Plans for setting up a business can be rendered impossible to complete by physical infirmity, since starting without means or ability to finish leads to failure and mockery. No rash move in relocating from Battle Creek should be made without taking time to consider carefully, seek God's wisdom, weigh all the movement portends, be sure of a work in educating and training for more spiritual service according to ability, and then moving firmly yet humbly trusting in God.
In purchasing goods and furniture the amount to be spent should be estimated carefully toward the salvation of souls, teaching self-denial and living within means with every dollar spent for that purpose, since excessive spending at the outset can force cutbacks later where they are more keenly felt. Restaurant work must be arranged to serve the saving of souls, otherwise if helpers are kept too busy to commune with God or share truth it becomes a snare and should be given up for work that awakens interest in present truth. Evangelistic work with extravagant costly preparations and without reliance on the Holy Spirit is not in harmony with God's plan, for the builder who begins a large undertaking without first counting its cost may be unable to finish and become an object of ridicule. Rescue plans must count whether they can be completed rather than taking on so much that the leading and most urgent features of the last gospel message are left aside.
Institutions that build towers of debt without carefully considering the cost, their available workers, and how to secure more workers act without wisdom and risk failing to finish what they have begun. Major projects that consume gospel resources without discerning whether God assigned them violate the verse and bring public ridicule, especially when they consume resources needed for the gospel work. A tower of work and responsibilities planned and begun but left unfinished shows plans that were not from God, who had assigned only the responsibilities the builder was meant to bear. Work that absorbs revenue where it accomplishes the lesser good while neglecting fields ripe for harvest withholds the gospel from those ready to perish, collects donations only to absorb means without producing and bring comparatively very few to the truth, which is not the inspiration of God.
Building hopes and making plans without considering how the work will be finished and supported risks failure and public humiliation, so a named leader is warned not to press ahead with an undertaking without sound counsel and due regard for likely results and limits. Another planner is warned to carefully consider expenses before investing in enterprises that may consume money without producing results, lest he begin what he cannot finish and be mocked. Timely financial support is needed to establish work in a new field firmly and not leave it half completed to shame and public judgment.