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.
Think of all the men who go to work everyday to build a high-rise tower. Normally I think about all of the men standing high up in the girders, bolting them all together like the metal erector sets that we had when we were children. Some of them are contractors, while others are bricklayers and carpenters, who steadily work day by day on the building project. Sometimes they can take many years to complete, as they slowly grow taller and taller. Some of these workers don’t even leave the site, and are camped out in construction trailers and RVs. Many of them might forsake their families for a week at a time and come home on the weekends for a quick reunion and to provide the family with financial assistance. But on Monday, they forsake them once again, because their main focus in life is building that tower, and it becomes more important than even their wife and their own children.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
In order to complete any building project, you must keep on task until it is finished. This will require being able to forsake others, in order to do the things that must be done. In order to preach the gospel, Jesus must be greater in our lives than anything or anyone. You must be capable of forsaking others so that you can keep focused on building upon the foundation of Christ, and labouring for the Lord.
Luke 14:26-33 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. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. 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? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
This passage basically teaches us that Jesus must be our first and greatest love, above and beyond all others or anything else in this world. We can forsake many different relationships in our lives, but it doesn’t always mean permanently. Consider these examples for a moment. Children forsake their parents each year to head off to college. There are many men who forsake their wife and their families in order to go off to work everyday. Others will forsake their wife and family in order to go deer hunting for a week! In each of these examples, something else became greater than being with their wife and children. They didn’t forsake them completely, but rather, for a certain period of time.
When you become married, you have a scriptural obligation to provide for the sexual needs of a wife. You are not supposed to deny your spouse a sexual relationship with yourself because that would violate scriptural teachings, and might lead her into a place of temptation and sin.
1 Corinthians 7:3-5 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
Sometimes when people get married they really have no sexual desires at all which is great if they can live like that, but not everybody is the same. At one time, I knew a man who worked in Antarctica for many months, but he and his wife and family seemed to get along very well. Sexuality is normally a very small part of marriage anyway, in comparison to the things that you do with the rest of your day. As a married man you must also provide your children with a place to stay and basic needs such as food and clothes. This is also a scriptural requirement. But whether it’s a wife, your family, relatives, neighbors or anything else in this world, Jesus must be first in everything, being capable of forsaking all others for Him. After all, this is the essence of the first commandment.
Matthew 22:36-38 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
The word forsake means to leave or depart from something. Some people are so attached to others that they are incapable of leaving them in order to preach God’s Word, and this is one of the reasons why the laborers are few.
Matthew 9:37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
Remember that the Apostles walked away from their jobs in order to become fishers of Men. Moses forsook all the treasures of Egypt in order to follow and serve the Lord Jesus. Some people are incapable of doing this simply because the things concerning Christ Jesus are not first in their hearts.
Luke 9:57-62 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Many men will forsake their families in order to go on a business trip for the weekend. Up here in our neck of the woods there are all kinds of men who will leave their families in a heartbeat, just to go fish walleye for a week! If people are capable of leaving others to do these types of things, it makes me wonder why they are incapable of forsaking them in order to further the cause of Christ Jesus. But whatever you love the most, will be on the top of your to-do list everyday. Scriptures are clear that we are to love others including your own family members, but love for them must never be greater than our love for Jesus and our service to the gospel Christ.
Matthew 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
The only way that you will have fruit until life eternal, is if you start planting seeds today. The desire for a Spiritual crop must dwarf any other desire in our life, and it must be our first and main concern. In order to do this, you will need to hug your family goodbye each day, and head out into the field to plow. Like construction workers who are completely focused on their project, Christ must be first and before all others, if you are ever going to finish….
……Building a Tower
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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