WHAT THE FARM LABORERS CAN DO AND WHAT THEY CANNOT DO – Charles Spurgeon
WHAT THE FARM LABORERS CAN DO AND WHAT THEY CANNOT DO
“And He said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed into the ground and should sleep and rise night and day and the seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how. For the earth brings forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” Mark 4:26-29.
Introduction: The Kingdom of God and Human Agency
Last Lord’s-Day morning, our subject was the laborers upon God’s farm and their great Master. We tried to show how far human agency was necessary in the work of the Gospel. We also saw how thoroughly all holy results depend upon God, for neither he that sows nor he that waters is anything, but God who gives the increase. We have much the same subject this morning, but this time it goes a little deeper and shows more fully how far the laborer can go and how far he cannot go—where man may enter with holy industry and where no human work can possibly intrude. Our subject will mainly be the measure and limit of human instrumentality in the Kingdom of Grace. If we shall be taught of the Spirit of God, we shall find this Scripture to be full of instruction on the matter.
The Parable and Its Unique Teaching
It is remarkable that the parable before us is peculiar to Mark. No other Evangelist has recorded it, but we do not think any the less of it on that account. If it had been told to us four times, we would have been glad to hear the repetition and would have given it fourfold attention. As it is told us but once, we will give the more earnest heed to a voice that speaks once and for all. We are glad that the Holy Spirit led Mark to reserve this pearl out of the many excellent things which our Lord said that have been lost. John tells us that if a record of all the works which Jesus did could have been preserved, they would have made a library so large that scarcely the world, itself, could have contained all the books. Many of the things that Jesus said floated about, no doubt, for a time and were gradually forgotten. We have to be thankful to the Spirit of God for perpetuating this choice similitude by the hand of His servant Mark. Preserved in the amber of Inspiration, this choice instruction is of priceless value.
Here is a lesson for sowers—for the laborers upon the farm of God. It is a parable for all who are concerned in the Kingdom of God. It will be of little value to those who are in the Kingdom of Darkness, for they are not bid to sow the good Seed. “Unto the wicked God says, what have you to do to declare My statutes?” But all who are loyal subjects to King Jesus—all who are commissioned to scatter Seed for the Royal Husbandman—will be glad to know how the Kingdom advances—glad to know how the harvest is preparing for Him whom they serve. Listen, then, you that sow beside all waters—you that with holy diligence seek to fill the garners of your God—listen, and may the Spirit of God speak into your ears as you are able to hear it!
I. What We Can Do and What We Cannot Do
Our first lesson from the parable is what we can do and what we cannot do. “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground.” This, the gracious worker can do. “And the seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how.” This is what he cannot do—it belongs to a higher power. Man can neither make the Seed of God spring nor grow—he is out of the field in that respect and may go home—“to sleep, and rise night and day.” Seed once sown is beyond human jurisdiction and is under Divine care. Yet before long, the worker comes in again—“When the fruit is brought forth, immediately he puts in the sickle.” We can reap in due season, and it is both our duty and privilege to do so.
You see, then, that there is a place for the worker at the beginning, and although there is no room for him in the middle passage, yet another opportunity is given him farther on when that which he sowed has actually yielded fruit. Notice, then, that we can sow. Any man who has received the knowledge of the Grace of God in his heart can teach others. I include under the term “man,” all who know the Lord, be they male or female. We cannot all teach alike, for all have not the same gifts—to one is given one talent, and to another ten. Neither have we all the same opportunities, for one lives in obscurity and another has far-reaching influence. Yet there is not within the family of God an infant hand which may not drop its own tiny Seed into the ground! There is not a man among us who needs to stand idle in the marketplace, for work suitable to his strength is waiting for him. There is not a saved woman who is not left a holy task. Let her do it and win the approving word, “She has done what she could.”
Something of sacred service is within the reach of everyone’s capacity, whether it be the mother in the family, the nurse girl with the infant, the boy in the school, the workman at the bench, or the nurse at the bedside. Those with the smallest range of opportunities can, nevertheless, do something for Christ and His cause. The precious Seed of the Word of God is small as a grain of mustard seed and may be carried by the feeblest hand where it shall multiply a hundred-fold! We need never quarrel with God because we cannot do everything if He only permits us to do this one thing, for sowing the good Seed is a work which will need all our wit, our strength, our love, and our care.
The Role of the Sower in the Kingdom of God
Holy Seed sowing may well be adopted as our highest pursuit and is no inferior objective for the noblest life that can be led! You will need heavenly teaching that you may carefully select the Wheat and keep it free from the darnel of error. We must even winnow out of it our own thoughts and opinions, for these may not be according to the mind of God. Men are not saved by our word, but by God’s Word. We are bound to see that we know the Gospel and teach the whole of it. To different men, we must, with discretion, bring forward that part of the Word of God which will best bear upon their consciences—for much may depend upon the Word being in season and not a chance sentence thrown out at random.
We shall have enough to do if we look well to the seed basket, lest, perhaps, we should sow tares as well as wheat, or should cast good Seed wantonly, where it can only feed evil birds. Having selected the Seed, we shall have plenty of work if we go forth and sow it broadcast everywhere, for every day brings its opportunity and every company furnishes its occasion. “In the morning sow your seed, in the evening withhold not your hand.” “Sow beside all waters.” Imitate the sower in the parable, who was not so penny-wise that he would only cast the seed where, according to his judgment, all was good soil, but who, feeling that he had other work for his judgment besides the selecting of the soil, threw the seed right and left as he went on his way, and denied not a handful even to thorny and rocky soils! You, dear fellow workers, will have enough to do if, at all times and in all places, as prudence and zeal suggest, you spread abroad the living Word of the living Lord!
II. What We Cannot Do
Let us now think of what we cannot do. You cannot, after the Seed has left your hands, cause it to put forth life. I am sure you cannot make it grow, for you do not know how it grows. The text says, “And the seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how.” That which is beyond the range of our knowledge is certainly beyond the reach of our power! Can you make a seed germinate? You may place it under circumstances of damp and heat which will cause it to swell and break forth with a shoot, but the germination itself is beyond you. How is it done? We know not. After the germ has been put forth, can you make it further grow and develop its life into leaf and stem? No, that too, is out of your power. And when the green, grassy blade has been succeeded by the ear, can you ripen it? It will be ripened, but can you do it? You know you cannot! You can have no finger in the actual process, though you may promote the conditions under which it is produced. Life is a mystery; growth is a mystery; ripening is a mystery—and these three mysteries are as fountains sealed against all intrusion.
How is it that there is within the ripe seed the preparations for another sowing and another growth? What is this vital principle, this secret reproducing energy? Do you know anything about this? The philosopher may say that he can explain life and growth. And straightway he will, according to the ordinary process of philosophy, bamboozle you with terms which are less understandable than the ordinary talk of infants! And then he will say, “There is the whole matter! It is as clear as possible.” He cloaks his ignorance with learned jargon and then calls it wisdom! To this day it still remains true of the growth of the most common seeds—“He knows not how.” The scientific man may talk about chemical combinations and physical permutations and he may proceed to quote analogies from this and that—but still, the growth of the seed remains a secret—it springs, “He knows not how.”
Certainly this is true of the rise and progress of the Word of God in the heart. It enters the soul and roots itself you know not how. Naturally, men hate the Word, but it enters and it changes the heart so that they come to love it, but we know not how. Their whole nature is renewed, so that instead of producing sin, it yields repentance, faith, and love—but we know not how! How it is that the Spirit of God deals with the mind of man. How He creates the new heart and the right spirit. How we are begotten again unto a lively hope. How we are born of the Spirit, we cannot tell! The Holy Spirit enters into us. We hear not His voice, we see not His light, we feel not His touch—yet He works an effectual work upon us which we are not long in perceiving. We know that the work of the Spirit is a new creation, a resurrection, a quickening from the dead—but all these words are only covers to our utter ignorance of the mode of His work, with which it is not in our power to meddle. We do not know how He performs His miracles of love and, not knowing how He works, we may be quite sure that we cannot take the work out of His hands! We cannot create, we cannot quicken, we cannot transform, we cannot regenerate, we cannot save!
III. What We May Expect and What We May Not Expect
The third lesson from the parable is what we may expect and what we may not expect. According to this parable, we may expect to see fruit. The husbandman casts his seed into the ground and the seed springs and grows, and he may expect a harvest. I wish I could say a word to stir up the expectations of Christian workers, for I fear that many work without faith. If you have a garden or a field and you sow seed in it, you would be very greatly surprised and grieved if it did not come up at all. But many Christian people seem quite content to work on and on and they never reckon upon results so much as to look expectantly for them. This is a pitiful kind of working—pulling up empty buckets by the years together. Surely I must either see a result for my labor and be glad, or else, failing to see it, I must be ready to break my heart if I am a true servant of the great Master. We ought to expect results! If we had expected more, we should have seen more, but a lack of expectation has been a great cause of failure in God’s workers.
But we may not expect to see all the Seed of God which we sow spring up the moment we sow it. Sometimes, glory be to God, we have but to deliver the Word and straightway men are converted—the reaper overtakes the sower, in such instances—but it is not always so. Some sowers have been diligent for years upon certain plots of ground and apparently all has been in vain, till at last the harvest has come, a harvest which, speaking after the manner of men, had never been reaped if they had not persevered to the end! This world, as I believe, is to be converted to Christ—but not today, nor tomorrow—perhaps not for many an age. But the sowing of the centuries is not being lost, it is all working on towards the grand ultimatum. A crop of mushrooms may soon be produced, but a forest of oaks will not reward the planter till generations of his children have molded into the dust. It is ours to sow and to hope for quick reaping—but still we ought to remember, “the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain,” and so must we.
We are to expect results, but not to be dispirited if we see them not today or on the morrow. We are also to expect to see the good Seed grow, but not always after our fashion. We are, nearly all of us, like children, for there are still not many fathers, and like children, we are apt to be impatient. Your little boy sowed mustard and cress yesterday in his little garden. This afternoon Master Johnny will be turning over the ground to see if the seed is growing! There is no probability that his mustard and cress will come to anything, for he will not leave it alone long enough for it to grow! So is it with hasty workers—they must see the result of the Gospel directly, or else they will leave off and distrust the blessed Word of God!
IV. What Sleep Workers May Take and What They May Not Take
The last head is what sleep workers may take and what they may not take, for it is said of this sowing man that he sleeps and rises night and day and the seed springs and grows up, he knows not how. They say a farmer’s trade is a good one because it is going on while he is in bed and asleep. And surely ours is a good trade, too, when we serve our Master by sowing good Seed, for it is growing even while we are asleep! But how may a good workman for Christ lawfully go to sleep? I answer, first, he may sleep the sleep of restfulness born of confidence. You are afraid the kingdom of Christ will not come, are you? Who asked you to tremble for the Ark of the Lord? Afraid for the Infinite Jehovah that His purposes will fail? Shame on you! Your anxiety dishonors your God! You degrade Him by a suspicion of His failing. Shall Omnipotence be defeated? You had better sleep than wake to play the part of Uzzah. Rest patiently, God’s will will be done and His Kingdom will come and His chosen will be saved and Christ shall see of the travail of His soul! Take the sweet sleep which God gives to His beloved, the sleep of perfect confidence such as Jesus slept in the back part of the boat when it was tossed with tempest. The cause of God never was in jeopardy and never will be! The Seed sown is insured by Omnipotence and must produce its harvest. In patience possess your soul and wait till the harvest comes, for the pleasure of the Lord must prosper in the hands of Jesus.
Also take that sleep which leads to a happy waking of joyful expectancy. Get up in the morning and feel that the Lord is ruling all things for the accomplishment of His own purpose. Look for it! If you do not sleep, you certainly will not wake up in the morning refreshed and ready for more work! If it were possible for you to sit up all night and eat the bread of carefulness, you would be unfit to attend to the service which your Master appoints for the morning! Therefore take your rest and be at peace and work with calm dignity, for the matter is safe in the Lord’s hands. Take your rest because you have consciously resigned the work into God’s hands. After you have spoken the Word, resort to God in prayer and commit it into God’s hands—and then do not fret about it. It cannot be in better keeping—leave it there.
But do not sleep the sleep of unwatchfulness. The farmer sows his seed, but he does not, therefore, forget it! He has to mend his fences to keep the cattle out. It may be he has to drive away birds, to remove weeds, or to prevent floods. While he is not sitting down to watch the growth, he has plenty else to do. He never sleeps the sleep of indifference or even of inaction, for each season has its demand upon him. He has sown one field, but he has another to sow. He has sown, but he has, also, by God’s Grace, to reap. And when reaping is done, he has something else to do. He is never done, for in one part or other of the farm, he is needed! His sleep is but an interlude that gives him strength to continue in his occupations. Consider that the parable teaches us that we have not to intrude into the domain of God, but with regard to the secret working of the Truth of God upon man’s mind we are to take our rest and go on our way, serving our day and generation according to the will of God.
I want you, dear Brothers and Sisters, to come to that point this morning. “Lord, this is Your work. Lord, You can do Your own work. Lord, do Your own work—we entreat and beseech You to do it. Lord, help us to do our work, both at the beginning of the chapter and at the end of the chapter, confident that You will not fail in the middle of the chapter, but that You will do Your work. Help us to exercise faith in You and to go about our labor in the confidence that You are with us and we are workers together with You.”
Up, Brothers and Sisters, to the mountain, to the brow of Carmel, this afternoon! Get up there and pray that God will send a shower of heavenly rain by His Spirit. Up, Elijah! Put your head between your knees and cry till you are certain that the cloud, though it is little at first, as a man’s hand, will cover all the earth and water the land with blessing! Up and pray that God would sweep away all the doubts which, like locusts, devour the Church today. Pray that He will keep away all love of sin and all rejection of Christ, that at this hour, even at this hour, God may glorify Himself by the feeble hands of His sower while he scatters the Seed of God! I beg your prayers, my dear and faithful Friends, this afternoon and this evening, that the Words of the Lord may be divinely victorious! I stand back that God may work and then come forward that God may work through me—and to Him be praise forever! Amen.