Count Up The Cost

In Matthew 11: 28, Jesus said, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

This is a general invitation to all of humanity to come to Christ so that we may be relieved from our burdened. Christ is willing to carry our burdens if

we come to Him. If we follow Christ, He will lead us to salvation, He willlead us to eternal life, He will lead us to a true peace and happiness. He will lead us to rest.

There is great Joy in following Christ, and

having a relationship with Him. There is something very comforting about knowing that Christ is with you no matter what you are going through.

Jesus said that He would “never leave us, nor forsake us.” We must turn toChrist and allow Him to be all that he promised He would be to the

believer.

In Luke 14: 25 we see that a great multitude of people began to follow Jesus. There was something about Jesus that people were drawn to. The people knew that we was different. He was able to do things that no

body else could do. He seemed to know the law and was able to teach in a way that illuminated the minds of those who heard Him. He was young and charismatic. People knew that things were happening when

Jesus was in town. So they wanted to follow HIM.

But Jesus knew that some of the people were not following Him, because they knew the He was the promised messiah. They were not following Him

because they knew He was the son of God.

They were following Him because of the miracles He did. They were looking for a hero, one that could solve all of there problems and Jesus was it. They weren’t following Him because of who is was, but because of what He could do. Even today, some people follow Jesus because of what He can do, not because of who he is. As soon as life gets rough and they need Him, they break the church doors down to get in. However, as soon as things get better, they leave Him alone.

So Jesus said to the crowd that was following HIM

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother,wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be MY disciple.

What did Jesus mean when he said “you must hate your family and even your life or you cannot be His disciple.”

Certainly Jesus was not telling us to hate our family. That is not the Gospel, but Jesus said we are to love, even our enimies. So He could not have ment that we have to hate to follow HIM.

This word hate comes from a Greek word which means “to love less”

So Jesus was saying you must love me MORE THAN your family and MORE THAN your own life.

He was saying that if you have to chose between your family and Him, you must be

willing to choose HIM. Many Christians around the world, have lost meaningful family

relationships because they have chosen to follow Christ. Yet still there are many more

others, who will not follow Christ because the love there family more.

IF you have to choose living your life the way you want to live it. Or live it the way HE

wants you to live it. You must be willing to say yes to his way! You must be willing to

surrender your will, your desires, your hopes, and your dreams, to the will of Christ. This

his a high cost, but it is worth the investment. He who loses his life for the sake of Christ,

will find life eternal.

Jesus went on to say that “whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be MY disciple.”

If you are going to follow Jesus, you must be willing to wear the garment of suffering.

The cross represents, suffering,pain and rejection.

The cross represents the innocent suffering for the guilty.

Jesus was saying that If you are not willing to suffer because of doing good. Than you cannot be His disciple. If you can’t stand to be mistreated even when you do good, then you cannot be a disciple of Christ.

If you want to celebrate in the glory of Christ rein, you must have fellowship with His suffering.

To follow Jesus you must be willing to lose all, take a stand,and follow HIM. You must follow Him regardless of were He leads you. Even if it means that you must go through the vally of the shadow of death.

Jesus goes on to say, “Before a man builds a tower, he must count up the cost. I wise builder does not start a project unless he knows he has what it takes to finish the Job. You must ask yourself, "Do I have what it takes?"