Farm Labourers

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1 Corinthians 3:4-8

For while one said, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are you not carnal?…

I. THE CHURCH IS GOD'S FARM.

1. The Lord has made the Church His own.

(1) By His sovereign choice.

(2) By purchase. It is God's freehold, and He holds its title deeds.

(3) By enclosure. It lay exposed aforetime as part of an open common, covered with thorns and thistles, and the haunt of every wild beast. Hath not the Lord declared that He hath chosen His vineyard and fenced it?

(4) By cultivation. What more could He have done for His farm? He has totally changed the nature of the soil: from being barren He hath made it a fruitful land.

2. This farm is preserved by the Lord's continual protection. "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." If it were not for this her hedges would soon be thrown down, and wild beasts would devour her fields.

3. Inasmuch as the Church is God's own farm, He expects to receive a harvest from it. Barrenness suits the moorland, but to a farm it would be a great discredit. Love looks for returns of love; grace given demands gracious fruit. Ought not the Lord to have a harvest of obedience, of holiness, of usefulness, of praise?

4. See, then, the injustice of allowing any of the labourers to call even a part of the estate his own. When a great man has a large farm of his own, what would he think if Hodge the ploughman should say, "Look here, I plough this farm, and therefore it is mine: I shall call this field Hodge's Acres." "No," says Hobbs, "I reaped that land last harvest, and therefore it is mine, and I shall call it Hobbs's Field." What if all the other labourers became Hodgeites and Hobbsites, and so parcelled out the farm among them? I think the landlord would soon eject the lot. The farm belongs to its owner, and let it be called by his name. Remember how Paul put it: "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos?"

II. THE GREAT HUSBANDMAN EMPLOYS LABOURERS.

1. By human agency God ordinarily works out His designs. He can, if He pleases, by His Holy Spirit get directly at the hearts of men, but that is His business, and not ours; we have to do with such words as these: "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." The Master's commission is not, "Sit still and see the Spirit of God convert the nations"; but, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Observe God's method in supplying the race with food.

2. Our Great Master means that every labourer on His farm should receive some benefit from it, for He never muzzles the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn (ver. 8).

3. The labourers employed by God are all occupied upon needful work. Notice: "I have planted, Apollos watered." On God's farm none are kept for ornamental purposes. I have read some sermons which could only have been meant for show, for there was not a grain of gospel in them. They were ploughs with the share left out, drills with no wheat in the box, clod-crushers made of butter. I do not believe that God will ever pay wages to men who only walk about His grounds to show themselves. Many Christians live as if their only business on the farm was to pluck blackberries or gather wild flowers. They are great at finding fault with other people's ploughing and mowing; but not a hand's turn will they do themselves. Come on! Why stand ye all the day idle? The harvest is plenteous, and the labourers are few.

4. On the Lord's farm there is a division of labour. Even Paul did not say, "I have planted and watered." And Apollos could not say, "I have planted as well as watered." No man has all gifts, and therefore instead of grumbling at the honest ploughman because he did not bring a sickle with him, you ought to have prayed for him that he might have strength to plough deep and break up hard hearts.

5. On God's farm, there is unity of purpose among the labourers. "He that planteth and he that watereth are one." One Master has employed them, and though He may send them out at different times, and to different parts of the farm, yet they are all one in being used for one end, to work for one harvest. Planting needs wisdom, and so does watering, and the piecing of these two works together needs that the labourers should be of one mind. It is a bad thing when labourers are at cross purposes. How can I plant with success if my helper will not water what I have planted; or what is the use of my watering if nothing is planted?

6. All the labourers put together are nothing at all. "Neither is he that planteth anything," &c. The workmen are nothing at all without their master, and all the preachers and Christian workers in the world can do nothing unless God be with them.

7. The labourers shall be rewarded. God works our good works in us, and then rewards us for them. Here we have mention of a personal service, and a personal reward: "Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour." The reward is proportionate, not to the success, but to the labour. Many discouraged workers may be comforted by that expression. You are not to be paid by results, but by endeavours.

8. Unitedly the workers have been successful, and that is a great part of their reward. When Paul plants and Apollos waters, God does give the increase. We do not labour in vain.

III. GOD HIMSELF IS THE GREAT WORKER. He may use what labourers He pleases, but the increase comes alone from Him. You know it is so in natural things: the most skilful farmer cannot make the wheat germinate. What can you and I do in this matter? We can tell out the truth of God; but to apply that truth to the heart and conscience is quite another thing. Equally it is the Lord's work to keep the seed alive when it springs up.

IV. PRACTICAL LESSONS. If the whole farm of the Church belongs exclusively to the Great Master Worker, and the labourers are worth nothing with Him —

1. Let this promote unity among all whom He employs. If we are all under one Master, do not let us quarrel.

2. This ought to keep all the labourers very dependent. Man is vanity and his words are wind; to God alone belongeth power and wisdom.

3. This fact ennobles everybody who labours in God's husbandry. We are mere labourers on His farm, and yet labourers with Him.

4. How this should drive us to our knees.

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