Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
When I grew up, we spent a lot of the summer mowing the lawn around our house. It was a pretty big area, and the grass grew so quickly that it seemed you could hardly keep up with it. We didn’t have a riding lawn mower like a lot of people use today, just a small little push mower that we spent many hours pushing around our backyard. It would have been interesting to know how many miles that we had walked back then, if there had only been a pedometer strapped to our leg. If we didn’t start early enough in the morning, it would begin to get really hot in the early afternoon, and as we wiped the sweat from our foreheads, the cool water of the lake looked very refreshing. Sometimes the temptation became so great that we would shut off the lawn mower, abandon our duty, and spend the rest of the day swimming on the beach.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
There are so many distractions in this world that can prevent somebody from getting things done. Rather than doing their homework after school, a student might decide to go to the park instead. Rather than taking out the garbage, a child might play a game on the TV instead. But when it comes to the preaching of the gospel of Christ, it is a duty that cannot be forsaken. It is a responsibility that requires our diligent attention, and is more important than anything else in this world. God’s Word needs to be sowed, and the plow must never be left unattended.
Luke 9 ⁵⁹ And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. ⁶⁰ Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. ⁶¹ And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. ⁶² And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
When we begin the Christian Life, there is nothing that can become more important than the will of God. Everything must become secondary in regards to fulfilling God’s purpose and calling. In order to keep an Earthly job, you have to show up diligently for work. A wife might try to coax you to stay home, but when all is said and done, most husbands will tell them that they will just have to wait until they get home. If your employer wouldn’t be happy with you putting things before work, how do you think God feels? These type of people are unfit for the kingdom of God. Our love and passion for Christ Jesus has to dominate any other love in this world. He must be our all-consuming desire, to which all other relationships must take a backseat.
Luke 14 ²⁶ If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? ²⁹ Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, ³⁰ Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
³¹ Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. ³³ So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
I don’t believe there is any greater honor than being able to minister God’s Word to others. Titus was granted this responsibility, called by the Apostle Paul to preach and teach the things of Christ Jesus. But not everybody is going to love the Lord like the Apostle Paul did. Although you have great hope for those whom you disciple, some of them are just not going to have what it takes to complete the task at hand, and their hearts will become suffocated by the desires of this world.
“He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.” Matthew 13:22
Love is a powerful emotion and it can lead to your own salvation or to your own damnation, depending on what it’s placed upon.
1 John 2 ¹⁵ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Spiritually, when you put your hand to the plow, you are preaching and teaching the Word of God, but many men are not going to have the stamina to keep at it. This is why we need to plant lots and lots of seeds! Think about all of the people who were following Jesus at one time, but then turned away from Him. In the end, He was left with eleven faithful servants, but look at what resulted through their obedience to Christ! Not every seed that you plant is going to make it into the fertile ground of a good and obedient heart, but remember, there is plenty of soil on this Earth. We are not responsible for the growth, we are responsible to keep planting! Nothing can come in the way of our duties, as God will reward every man according to his labor.
1 Corinthians 3 ⁶ I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. ⁷ So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. ⁸ Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
The greatest task that one could ever be involved with, is the preaching of God’s Word, but for many, they will be incapable of completing what they started. Rather than placing God first in their heart, the love for others will become greater in their life, resulting in them walking off on their duties, and……
……. Forsaking the Plow
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤️
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