"I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then
neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God
that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are
one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own
labor. For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's
husbandry."--1 CORINTHIANS 3:6-9.
I SHALL begin at the end of my text, because I find it to be the easiest
way of mapping out my discourse. We shall first remark that _the church
is God's farm_: "Ye are God's husbandry." In the margin of the revised
version we read, "Ye are God's tilled ground," and that is the very
expression for me. "Ye are God's tilled ground," or farm. After we have
spoken of the farm we will next say a little upon the fact that _the
Lord employs laborers_ on his estate: and when we have looked at the
laborers--such poor fellows as they are--we will remember that _God
himself is the great worker_: "We are laborers together with God."
I. We begin by considering that THE CHURCH IS GOD'S FARM. The Lord has
made the church his own by his sovereign _choice_. He has also secured
it unto himself by _purchase_, having paid for it a price immense. "The
Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance."
Every acre of God's farm cost the Saviour a bloody sweat, yea, the blood
of his heart. He loved us, and gave himself for us: that is the price
he paid. Henceforth the church is God's freehold, and he holds the title
deeds of it. It is our joy to feel that we are not our own, we are
bought with a price. The church is God's farm by choice and purchase.
And now he has made it his by _enclosure_. It lay exposed aforetime as
part of an open common, bare and barren, covered with thorns and
thistles, and the haunt of every wild beast; for we were "by nature the
children of wrath, even as others." Divine foreknowledge surveyed the
waste, and electing love marked out its portion with a full line of
grace, and thus set us apart to be the Lord's own estate forever. In due
time effectual grace came forth with power, and separated us from the
rest of mankind, as fields are hedged and ditched to part them from the
open heath. Hath not the Lord declared that he hath chosen his vineyard
and fenced it?
"We are a garden wall'd around,
Chosen and made peculiar ground;
A little spot, enclosed by grace
Out of the world's wide wilderness."
The Lord has also made this farm evidently his own 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.
He hath ploughed it, and digged it, and fattened it, and watered it, and
planted it with all manner of flowers and fruits. It hath already
brought forth to him many a pleasant cluster, and there are brighter
times to come, when angels shall shout the harvest home, and Christ
"shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied."
This farm is preserved by the Lord's continual _protection_. Not only
did he enclose it, and cultivate it by his miraculous power, to make it
his own farm, but he continually maintains possession of it. "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 God's continual power her
hedges would soon be thrown down, and wild beasts would devour her
fields. Wicked hands are always trying to break down her walls and lay
her waste again, so that there should be no true church in the world;
but the Lord is jealous for his land, and will not allow it to be
destroyed. A church would not long remain a church if God did not
preserve it unto himself. What if God should say, "I will take away the
hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall
thereof, and it shall be trodden down"? What a wilderness it would
become. What saith he? "Go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh,
where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the
wickedness of my people Israel." Go ye to Jerusalem, where of old was
the city of his glory and the shrine of his indwelling, and what is left
there to-day? Go ye to Rome, where once Paul preached the gospel with
power: what is it now but the centre of idolatry? The Lord may remove
the candlestick, and leave a place that was bright as day to become
black as darkness itself. Hence God's farm remains a farm because he is
ever in it to prevent its returning to its former wildness. Omnipotent
power is as needful to keep the fields of the church under cultivation
as to reclaim them at the first.
Inasmuch as the church is God's own farm, _he expects to receive a
harvest from it_. The world is waste, and he looks for nothing from it;
but we are tilled land, and therefore a harvest is due from us.
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. Watered with the drops of the Saviour's bloody sweat, shall we
not bring forth a hundredfold to his praise? Kept by the eternal Spirit
of God, shall there not be produced in us fruits to his glory? The
Lord's husbandry upon us has shown a great expenditure of cost, and
labor, and thought; ought there not to be a proportionate return? Ought
not the Lord to have a harvest of obedience, a harvest of holiness, a
harvest of usefulness, a harvest of praise? Shall it not be so? I think
some churches forget that an increase is expected from every field of
the Lord's farm, for they never have a harvest or even look for one.
Farmers do not plough their lands or sow their fields for amusement;
they mean business, and plough and sow because they desire a harvest. If
this fact could but enter into the heads of some professors, surely they
would look at things in a different light; but of late it has seemed as
if we thought that God's church was not expected to produce anything,
but existed for her own comfort and personal benefit. Brethren, it must
not be so; the great Husbandman must have some reward for his husbandry.
Every field must yield its increase, and the whole estate must bring
forth to his praise. We join with the bride in the Song in saying, "My
vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have
thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred."
But I come back to the place from which I started. This farm is, by
choice, by purchase, by enclosure, by cultivation, by preservation,
entirely the Lord's. See, then, the injustice of allowing any of the
laborers 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 laborers became Hodgeites and Hobbsites,
and so parcelled out the farm among them? I think the landlord would
soon eject the lot of them. The farm belongs to its owner, and let it be
called by his name; but it is absurd to call it by the names of the men
who labor upon it. Shall insignificant nobodies rob God of his glory?
Remember how Paul put it: "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos?" "Is
Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the
name of Paul?" The entire church belongs to him who has chosen it in his
sovereignty, bought it with his blood, fenced it by his grace,
cultivated it by his wisdom, and preserved it by his power. There is but
one church on the face of the earth, and those who love the Lord should
keep this truth in mind. Paul is a laborer, Apollos is a laborer, Cephas
is a laborer; but the farm is not Paul's, not so much as a rood of it,
nor does a single parcel of land belong to Apollos, or the smallest
allotment to Cephas; for "Ye are Christ's." The fact is that in this
case the laborers belong to the land, and not the land to the laborers:
"For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas." "We
preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your
servants for Jesus' sake."
II. We have now to notice, as our second head, that THE GREAT HUSBANDMAN
EMPLOYS LABORERS. _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. In answer to the prayer,
"Give us this day our daily bread," he might have bidden the clouds drop
manna, morning by morning, at each man's door; but he sees that it is
for our good to work, and so he uses the hands of the ploughman and the
sower for our supply. God might cultivate his chosen farm, the church,
by miracle, or by angels; but in great condescension he blesses her
through her own sons and daughters. He employs us for our own good; for
we who are laborers in his fields receive much more good for ourselves
than we bestow. Labor develops our spiritual muscle and keeps us in
health. "Unto me," says Paul, "who am less than the least of all saints,
is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ."
Our great Master means that every laborer on his farm should receive
some benefit from it, for he never muzzles the mouth of the ox that
treadeth out the corn. The laborer's daily bread comes out of the soil.
Though he works not for himself, but for his Master, yet still he has
his portion of food. In the Lord's granary there is seed for the sower,
but there is also bread for the eater. However disinterestedly we may
serve God in the husbandry of his church, we are ourselves partakers of
the fruit. It is a great condescension on God's part that he uses us at
all, for we are poor tools at the best, and more hindrance than help.
The laborers employed by God are all _occupied upon needful work_.
Notice: "I have planted, Apollos watered." Who beat the big drum, or
blew his own trumpet? Nobody. 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 our God will ever pay wages to men
who only walk about his grounds to show themselves. Orators who display
their eloquence in the pulpit are more like gypsies who stray on the
farm to pick up chickens, than honest laborers who work to bring forth a
crop for their master. Many of the members of our churches 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, my
good fellows. Why stand ye all the day idle? The harvest is plenteous,
and the laborers are few. You who think yourselves more cultivated than
ordinary people, if you are indeed Christians, must not strut about and
despise those who are hard at work. If you do, I shall say, "That person
has mistaken his master; he may probably be in the employ of some
gentleman farmer, who cares more for show than profit; but our great
Lord is practical, and on his estate his laborers attend to needful
labor." When you and I preach or teach it will be well if we say to
ourselves, "What will be the use of what I am going to do? I am about
to teach a difficult subject; will it do any good? I have chosen an
abstruse point of theology; will it serve any purpose?" Brethren, a
laborer may work very hard at a whim of his own, and yet it may be all
waste labor. Some discourses do little more than show the difference
between tweedle-_dum_ and tweedle-_dee_, and what is the use of that?
Suppose we sow the fields with sawdust, or sprinkle them with
rose-water, what of that? Will God bless our moral essays, and fine
compositions, and pretty passages? Brethren, we must aim at usefulness:
we must as laborers together with God be occupied with something that is
worth doing. "I," says one, "have planted": it is well, for planting
must be done. "I," answers another, "have watered": that also is good
and necessary. See to it that ye can each bring in a solid report; but
let no man be content with the mere child's-play of oratory, or the
getting up of entertainments and such like.
On the Lord's farm _there is a division of labor_. Even Paul did not
say, "I have planted and watered." No, Paul planted. And certainly
Apollos could not say, "I have planted as well as watered." No, it was
enough for him to attend to the watering. No man has all gifts. How
foolish, then, are they who say, "I enjoy So-and-so's ministry because
he edifies the saints in doctrine; but when he was away the other Sunday
I could not profit by the preacher because he was all for the conversion
of sinners." Yes, he was planting; you have been planted a good while,
and do not need planting again; but you ought to be thankful that others
are made partakers of the benefit. One soweth and another reapeth, 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.
Observe that, on God's farm, _there is unity of purpose_ among the
laborers. Read the text. "Now 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. In England we do
not understand what is meant by watering, because the farmer could not
water all his farm; but in the East a farmer waters almost every inch of
his ground. He would have no crop if he did not use all means for
irrigating the fields. If you have ever been in Italy, Egypt, or
Palestine, you will have seen a complete system of wells, pumps, wheels,
buckets, channels, little streamlets, pipes, and so on, by which the
water is carried all over the garden to every plant, otherwise in the
extreme heat of the sun it would be dried up. Planting needs wisdom,
watering needs quite as much, and the piecing of these two works
together needs that the laborers should be of one mind. It is a bad
thing when laborers are at cross purposes, and work against each other,
and this evil is worse in the church than anywhere else. 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? Husbandry is spoiled when
foolish people undertake it, and quarrel over it; for from sowing to
reaping the work is one, and all must be done to one end. Let us pull
together all our days, for strife brings barrenness.
We are called upon to notice in our text that _all the laborers put
together are nothing at all_. "Neither is he that planteth anything,
neither he that watereth." The workmen are nothing at all without their
master. All the laborers on a farm could not manage it if they had no
one at their head, and all the preachers and Christian workers in the
world can do nothing unless God be with them. Remember that every
laborer on God's farm has derived all his qualifications from God. No
man knows how to plant or water souls except the Lord teaches him from
day to day. All these holy gifts are grants of free grace. All the
laborers work under God's direction and arrangement, or they work in
vain. They would not know when or how to do their work if their Master
did not guide them by his Spirit, without whose help they cannot even
think a good thought. All God's laborers must go to him for their seed,
or else they will scatter tares. All good seed comes out of God's
granary. If we preach, it must be the true word of God, or nothing can
come of it. More than that, all the strength that is in the laborer's
arm to sow the heavenly seed must be given by the Master. We cannot
preach except God be with us. A sermon is vain talk and dreary
word-spinning unless the Holy Spirit enlivens it. He must give us both
the preparation of the heart and the answer of the tongue, or we shall
be as men who sow the wind. When the good seed is sown the whole success
of it rests with God. If he withhold the dew and the rain the seed will
never rise from the ground; and unless he shall shine upon it the green
ear will never ripen. The human heart will remain barren, even though
Paul himself should preach, unless God the Holy Ghost shall work with
Paul and bless the word to those that hear it. Therefore, since the
increase is of God alone, put the laborers into their place. Do not make
too much of us; for when we have done all we are unprofitable servants.
Yet, though inspiration calls the laborers nothing, it says that _they
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
labor." The reward is proportionate, not to the success, but to the
labor. Many discouraged workers may be comforted by that expression. You
are not to be paid by results, but by endeavors. You may have a stiff
bit of clay to plough, or a dreary plot of land to sow, where stones,
and birds, and thorns, and travellers, and a burning sun may all be
leagued against the seed; but you are not accountable for these things;
your reward shall be according to your work. Some put a great deal of
labor into a little field, and make much out of it. Others use a great
deal of labor throughout a long life, and yet they see but small result,
for it is written, "One soweth, and another reapeth": but the reaping
man will not get all the reward, the sowing man shall receive his
portion of the joy. The laborers are nobodies, but they shall enter into
the joy of their Lord.
_Unitedly_, according to the text, _the workers have been successful_,
and that is a great part of their reward. "I have planted, Apollos
watered; but God gave the increase." Frequently brethren say in their
prayers, "A Paul may plant, an Apollos may water, but it is all in vain
unless God gives the increase." This is quite true; but another truth is
too much overlooked, namely, that when Paul plants and Apollos waters,
God does give the increase. We do not labor in vain. There would be no
increase without God; but then we are not without God: when such men as
Paul and Apollos plant and water, there is sure to be an increase; they
are the right kind of laborers, they work in a right spirit, and God is
certain to bless them. This is a great part of the laborer's wages.
III. So much upon the laborers. Now for the main point again. GOD
HIMSELF IS THE GREAT WORKER. He may use what laborers he pleases, but
the increase comes alone from him. Brethren, you know it is so in
natural things: the most skilful farmer cannot make the wheat germinate,
and grow, and ripen. He cannot even preserve a single field till harvest
time, for the farmer's enemies are many and mighty. In husbandry there's
many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip; and when the farmer thinks, good
easy man, that he shall reap his crop, there are blights and mildews
lingering about to rob him of his gains. God must give the increase. If
any man is dependent on God it is the husbandman, and through him we are
all of us dependent upon God from year to year for the food by which we
live. Even the king must live by the produce of the field. God gives the
increase in the barn and the hay-rick; and in the spiritual farm it is
even more so, for what can man do in this business? If any of you think
that it is an easy thing to win a soul I should like you to attempt it.
Suppose that without divine aid you should try to save a soul--you might
as well attempt to make a world. Why, you cannot create a fly, how can
you create a new heart and a right spirit? Regeneration is a great
mystery, it is out of your reach. "The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the
Spirit." What can you and I do in this matter? it is far beyond our
line. We can tell out the truth of God; but to apply that truth to the
heart and conscience is quite another thing. I have preached Jesus
Christ with my whole heart, and yet I know that I have never produced a
saving effect upon a single unregenerate man unless the Spirit of God
has opened the heart and placed the living seed of truth within it.
Experience teaches us this. Equally is it the Lord's work to keep the
seed alive when it springs up. We think we have converts, and we are not
long before we are disappointed in them. Many are like blossoms on our
apple trees; they are fair to look upon, but they do not come to
anything; and others are like the many little apples which fall off long
before they have come to any size. He who presides over a great church,
and feels an agony for the souls of men, will soon be convinced that if
God does not work there will be no work done: we shall see no
conversion, no sanctification, no final perseverance, no glory brought
to God, no satisfaction for the passion of the Saviour, unless the Lord
be with us. Well said our Lord, "Without me ye can do nothing."
Briefly I would draw certain practical lessons out of this important
truth: the first is, if the whole farm of the church belongs exclusively
to the great Master Worker, and the laborers are worth nothing without
him, _let this promote unity among all whom he employs_. If we are all
under one Master, do not let us quarrel. It is a miserable business when
we cannot bear to see good being done by those of a different
denomination who work in ways of their own. If a new laborer comes on
the farm, and he uses a hoe of a new shape, shall I become his enemy? If
he does his work better than I do mine, shall I be jealous? Do you not
remember reading in the Scriptures that, upon one occasion, the
disciples could not cast out a devil? This ought to have made them
humble; but to our surprise we read a few verses further on that they
saw one casting out devils in Christ's name, and they forbade him
because he followed not with their company. _They_ could not cast out
the devil themselves, and they forbade those who could. A certain band
of people are going about winning souls, but because they are not doing
it in our fashion, we do not like it. It is true they have odd ways; but
they do really save souls, and that is the main point. Instead of
cavilling, let us encourage all on Christ's side. Wisdom is justified of
her children, though some of them are far from handsome. The laborers
ought to be satisfied with the new ploughman if their Master smiles upon
him. Brother, if the great Lord has employed you, it is no business of
mine to question his choice. Can I lend you a hand? Can I show you how
to work better? Or can you show me how I can improve? This is the proper
behavior of one workman to another.
This truth, however, ought to _keep all the laborers very dependent_.
Are you going to preach, young man? "Yes, I am going to do a great deal
of good." Are you? Have you forgotten that you are nothing? "Neither is
he that planteth anything." A divine is coming brimful of the gospel to
comfort the saints. If he is not coming in strict dependence upon God,
he, too, is nothing. "Neither is he that watereth anything." Power
belongeth unto God. Man is vanity and his words are wind; to God alone
belongeth power and wisdom. If we keep our places in all lowliness our
Lord will use us; but if we exalt ourselves he will leave us to our
nothingness.
Next notice that _this fact ennobles everybody who labors in God's
husbandry_. My soul is lifted up with joy when I mark these words, "For
we are laborers together with God": mere laborers on his farm, and yet
laborers _with him_. Does the Lord work with us? We know he does by the
signs following. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," is language
for all the sons of God as well as for the great Firstborn. God is with
you, my brethren, when you are serving him with all your heart. Speaking
to your class concerning Jesus, it is God that speaks by you; picking up
that stranger on the way, and telling him of salvation by faith, Christ
is speaking through you even as he spoke with the woman at the well;
addressing the rough crowd in the open air, young man, if you are
preaching pardon through the atoning blood, it is the God of Peter who
is testifying of his Son, even as he did on the day of Pentecost.
But, lastly, _how this should drive us to our knees_. Since we are
nothing without God, let us cry mightily unto him for help in this our
holy service. Let both sower and reaper pray together, or they will
never rejoice together. If the blessing be withheld, it is because we do
not cry for it and expect it. Brother laborers, come to the mercy-seat,
and we shall yet see the reapers return from the fields bringing their
sheaves with them, though, perhaps, they went forth weeping to the
sowing. To our Father, who is the husbandman, be all glory, for ever and
ever. Amen.