Christ's Love for His Vineyard
(No. 2785)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JUNE 29, 1902.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A THURSDAY EVENING, DURING THE
SUMMER OF 1860.
"My vineyard, which is Mine, is before Me: you, O Solomon, must have a
thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred." Song of
Solomon 8:12.
You are aware that these Canticles are responsive songs–that one
sentence is uttered by Solomon and the next by Solyma, his spouse. We
believe that in this "Song of Songs, which is Solomon's," we also hear
Christ speaking to His Church, His bride, and the Church responding to
His words of love in tones which His love has suggested to her. The
fact that it is a responsive song sometimes renders it the more
difficult to understand because it is not easy, in every case, to
discover whether it is Solomon or Solyma–Christ or His Church–who is
speaking. The first sentence in our text is just of that character. It
may be Christ who says, "My vineyard, which is Mine, is before Me." Or
it may be His Church, who is saying, "My vineyard, which is mine, is
before me." With regard to the latter part of the verse, we have no
difficulty, for we can see, upon the very face of it, that it is
addressed by the spouse, the bride, to her Divine Bridegroom, to whom
she says "You, O Solomon, must have a thousand."
I. Let us look at the first sentence: "My vineyard, which is Mine, is
before Me." We have no difficulty in understanding that this vineyard
is Christ's Church. She is not compared to a grove of trees–even of
fruit-bearing trees–because there are many trees which are valuable,
not only for their fruit, but also for their timber. And should they
bring forth no fruit, they would still be of some value. Not so is it
with the members of Christ's Church–they are like the vine, for the
vine, if it brings forth no fruit, is fit for nothing, it cumbers the
ground. The Lord said to the Prophet Ezekiel, "What is the vine tree
more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the
forest? Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? Or will men take a
pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? Behold, it is cast into the fire
for fuel: the fire devours both the ends of it, and the midst of it is
burned. Is it meet for any work?" No, if it is fruitless, it is
useless. It must bear fruit, or it is of no value whatever. Hence the
Church is always compared to a vineyard because if she does not bring
forth fruit to the Lord Jesus Christ, she is less useful even than an
ordinary mercantile and commercial community. That mercantile
community, or corporate body instituted for wise purposes, may further
some useful design, but the Church is of no use whatever unless she
brings forth the fruits of holiness and of gratitude to her Lord, her
Divine Vinedresser. Better that she be not called a church at all than
that she should pretend to be the Church of Christ and yet bring forth
no fruit to His praise.
So we have no difficulty in understanding that the vineyard mentioned
in the text is Christ's Church because it is so significantly a symbol
of the body of Believers banded together in love to their Savior–and
known by the name of "the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ." We must,
therefore, consider the opening sentence of our text as being, first,
THE WORDS OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. And here you see at once two
things–first, that Christ claims a special property in His Church and,
secondly, that He has special regard and care for her–"My vineyard,
which is Mne, is before Me."
The Master here, then, claims a special property in His Church. Twice
does He mention that claim–"My vineyard, which is Mine," as if He
meant to assert His rights and to maintain them against all comers,
being ready to defend them in Heaven's High Court of Chancery, or
before all the hosts of His enemies who might seek to snatch His
inheritance from
Him. "Whatever is not Mine," says the Divine Lover, "My Church is. She
is so Mine that if I gave up Lebanon, if I should renounce Bashan and
give up all the rest of My possessions, I must retain Zion, My
vineyard, My best-beloved." We know that the Church is Christ's by
special bonds–not simply by creation. It is true that the Lord Jesus
has created all His people, but then He does not claim them merely upon
that ground–because all men are His by creation. No, the very devils
in Hell are His in that sense and, therefore, He does not claim His
Church simply by the right of being her Creator. Nor does He claim her
merely by the prerogatives of Providence, for, in that sense, the
cattle on a thousand hills are His and the lions of the forest and the
young ravens which cry to Him, for He supplies their needs. All things
are His by Providence, from the stars of Heaven down to the gnat in the
summer's air, or the worm that conceals itself in the grass at
eventide. But our Lord Jesus claims His Church by a far higher title
than that of creation or Providence. Nor is the Church His merely by
right of conquest. It is true that He has fought for His people and
that they may be considered as the spoils that He has taken in war. He
has rescued His people from the hand of him that was stronger than
they–all of them, as He shall take them with Him into Heaven, may be
looked upon as signs and wonders, trophies of what His strong arm has
done in delivering them from their mighty and malignant foes. But,
Beloved, Christ claims His Church by a better title even than this!
First, He claims the Church as His own by His Father's gift. You know
that the Church is the property of all the three Persons of the holy
and blessed Trinity. She is the Father's property by election. She is
the Son's property by donation, passing from the hand of the Father to
that of the Mediator. And, then, the Church is the Spirit's by His
indwelling and inhabitation–so that all three of the Divine Persons
have a right to the Church for some special office which they exercise
towards her. So Christ claims His Church as His Father's gift, a
love-token, a reward, a sign of the Father's favor and regard towards
Him. He looks on His people as being dear, not only for their own
sakes, but for the sake of Him who gave them to His Son, to be His
forever and ever. They are His, then, by donation and, as such, since
the Father gave them to Him, they are very, very precious in His sight!
Next, Christ's Church is His by purchase. There are some who say that
all men are Christ's by purchase. But, Beloved, you and I do not
believe in a sham redemption which does not redeem! We do not believe
in a universal redemption which extends even to those who were in Hell
before the Savior died and which includes the fallen angels as well as
unrepentant men. We believe in an effectual redemption and can never
agree with those who would teach us that Christ's blood was shed in
vain. The Good Shepherd laid down His life for His sheep. Christ loved
His Church and gave Himself for it. He bought His own people with His
blood. He purchased not the world's wide wilderness, but the "spot
enclosed by Grace," the vineyard which His own right hand has planted!
Dear, then, to the heart of Jesus is every vine, and every cluster of
grapes in this vineyard, because He bought the whole of it with His
blood! As Naboth, when asked to sell his vineyard to Ahab, answered the
king, "The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my
fathers unto you," and kept it even at the cost of his life! And do you
think that our Lord Jesus will ever part with His vineyard which is not
only His by inheritance from His Father, but also His by purchase–"not
with corruptible things, as silver and gold"– but with His own most
precious blood? On every leaf in that vineyard, His blood has fallen.
The red juice that flows so freely from the clusters, when pressed, is
but His blood in another form! If the soil of the vineyard is rich, it
is because He has enriched it with His blood. If the vines bring forth
plenteously, it is because of the care He has taken with them.
More than this, the Church is Christ's by one other tie, which,
perhaps, makes it still dearer to Him. She is His bride, His spouse.
Now, whatever a man may not have a right to, he certainly has a right
to his own wife! Whatever legal quibbles may be raised about a piece of
earth, about a man's title to his freehold property, to his own wife he
certainly has a clear right and title. And Jesus looks into the eyes of
His spouse, when He has redeemed her out of the hand of the enemy, and
taken her unto Himself–when He has placed the jewels of His Grace
about her neck, in her ears and on her hands, when He has adorned her
with the robe of His own righteousness and made her beautiful in His
beauty–He looks at her and He says, "You are Mine; you are Mine; and
no one else can claim you. My spouse, you are no harlot, you shall not
play the part of an adulteress with many lovers, for you are Mine, and
no one but Myself can claim you. None but Myself shall partake of your
embraces, none but Myself shall receive of the love of your heart."
By these three ties, then, O Church of Christ, you are His special
property–and by each of these you are endeared to Him! Jesus sees in
you, O Church of God, the mark of His Father's love-gift! He sees, too,
the evidence of His own loving purchase and His espousal of you unto
Himself, to be His forever and ever.
But we must pass on to notice that in the first sentence of our text,
we are not only told about Christ's special right to His Church, but
also about His special care and observation of her–"My vineyard, which
is Mine, is before Me."
The Church is "before" Christ in the sense that He so loves her that He
never has her out of His Presence. The vineyard is so dear to the
Vinedresser that He never leaves it! He may sometimes hide Himself
among the vines, but He is always close at hand, watching how they
progress and delighting Himself with their fragrance and fruitfulness.
The Bridegroom is never absent from His spouse, for He loves her too
much to be separated from her. Is it not a sweet thought that Believers
are always under the eyes of Christ? He would not be happy unless He
had them continually before Him. His Church may be willing to endure
His absence for a while, but He loves her so much that He cannot bear
to be away from her. She may grow so cold towards Him that His absence
may seem, to her, to be but a small matter, but the decay of her love
is not a little matter to Him. His love is strong as death and His
jealousy is cruel as the grave, so He cannot bear to have her out of
His sight even for a minute. He will always pour upon her the beams of
His love and always fix upon her the affection of His whole heart.
The expression, "My vineyard, which is Mine, is before Me," may also
mean that Jesus is always caring for it, as well as always loving it.
There is never a moment when Christ ceases to care for His vineyard. He
Himself said, "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment:
lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." What? Water it every
moment? Keep it night and day? Yes, He will never neglect it. His word
to His Church is, "Lo, I am with you always"–not merely for half a
day, or for an hour in the day, leaving His ministers to care for them
at other times–but, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of
the world." Jesus still walks among the golden candlesticks. He does
not light the candles and then leave them to burn by themselves–He
walks among them and so keeps them from going out. "My vineyard, which
is Mine, is before Me." Christ is always in His Church, always caring
for His Church, always bidding His Providence assist her agencies,
always upholding her in her hours of trial, leading her into all Truth,
instructing her sons and daughters, and making all her members "meet to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."
There is also in this expression, not only the sense of love and care,
but also of knowledge–"My vineyard, which is Mine, is before Me."
Christ knows every vine in the vineyard and He knows all the fruit that
is on each vine, and how much there was last year and how much there
will be in years to come. Before there was a vine in that vineyard,
Christ knew how many plants would be planted, where they would be
planted, of what sort they would be and how much fruit they would bring
forth. He did not find out by degrees what His inheritance was to
be–He knew all about it long before the worlds were formed! There is
nothing in His Church that is new to Him–He foreknew, and foresaw, and
foreordained every single particle of mold that lies in that vineyard,
every stone that is in its walls and every vine growing within them!
Yes, and every leaf. Yes, and every particle of blight or mildew that
falls upon a leaf–all has been settled and ordained, or foreknown and
prepared for by the great Proprietor.
"My vineyard, which is Mine, is before Me." There is a sweet thought
here for all who love the Savior. You, as His Church, and each one of
you who are His people, are especially preserved by Him. Then, "why do
you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord and
my judgment is passed over from my God?" I tell you, Soul, that He sees
you as much as if there were no others for His eyes to look upon! And
He cares for you as infinitely and with as undivided a heart as if you
were the only soul that He ever bought with His blood! If you were His
only elect one, His only redeemed one, His only loved one, He could not
deal with you more tenderly and more lovingly than He is dealing with
you now! If you are Christ's, you are never behind His back–you are
always before Him. He can always see you, though you cannot always see
Him. When the eyes of your faith is dim, the eyes of His care is not.
When your heart seems dead and cold, His heart is still hot with
Infinite affection–and when you say, "My God has ceased to be
gracious," you belie Him and slander Him! He is really manifesting His
graciousness in another fashion. He has changed the manifestation of
His purpose of love and mercy, but His purpose is the same as ever–to
drench you with floods of mercy, to wash you with streams of Grace and
to fertilize you till you shall be like that Eshcol "branch with one
cluster of grapes," which was so large and weighty that "they bore it
between two upon a staff!" No, more–till the great Vinedresser shall
make of you such a vine as earth has scarcely seen as yet, and shall,
therefore, have to transplant you to a better vineyard, even to the
hill-top of Glory!
I think, then, if we regard the first sentence as the language of
Christ, it is very sweet to hear Him say, "My vineyard, which is Mine,
is before Me." My Brothers and Sisters, the deacons and elders of the
church must always take comfort
from this thought. If there is anything in the church that grieves us,
we must feel, "It is His vineyard, not ours. It is before Him, so He
will know what to do with it." I am sure, dear Brothers, we would lay
down our tasks if we had not our Master with us. I would not dare to be
a minister and you would not dare to be church officers unless we felt
that it was before Him. In your different districts, let the sick, the
sorrowful, the backsliding all be carried before your God–and let all
the members feel that although we are but feeble creatures to be the
leaders of so great a host, yet that the church may grow and increase
until we are not only fifteen hundred, but 15,000 if the Lord
wills–and that the church would then be just as carefully looked after
as it is now, for it would still be before Him! He who is the
Vinedresser is just as able to care for His vines when they are most
numerous as if there were only one–and that one had the whole of His
attention!
II. Now, very briefly, I want you to regard this first sentence of our
text as THE LANGUAGE OF THE CHURCH
ITSELF.
According to the 11th verse, "Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon. He
let out the vineyard unto keepers– everyone, for the fruit thereof,
was to bring a thousand pieces of silver." So, dear Brothers and
Sisters, everyone of us whom the Lord has brought to Himself, has a
part of His vineyard to keep for Him. We do not sing, with Wesley–
"A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify,
A never-dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky,"
because we do not believe anything of the kind! We leave the work of
saving our souls in higher hands than our own– but after our souls are
saved, then we have a charge to keep and that charge is to publish the
name and fame of Jesus to the utmost of our power–to seek to bring
others under the sound of the Gospel–and to tell them what they must
do to be saved.
There are a great many people who seem to forget that they have a
vineyard of their own to keep. Or else if they remember it, they cannot
say, "My vineyard, which is mine, is before me," for they go about
gazing on other people's vineyards instead of keeping their eyes fixed
upon their own. They say, "Look at So-and-So's vineyard. I don't think
he trims his vines in the new style." I usually notice that those
persons who have such wonderful plans of their own and who are always
finding fault with other people's plans, never do anything except find
fault. I like the deacons and elders of the church, and the teachers in
the Sunday school to have no other plan than this–to do all the good
they can and to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. When they are
doing that, let other people not interfere with them, but themselves do
all the good that they can. It is always well when a man has his work
before him, knows what he is going to do and then goes straight at it.
There are far too many people gadding about to see what others are
doing and to find out their plans and methods of working. Let me tell
you, Brothers and Sisters, that the best way to succeed is to have no
plan but this– "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your
might." When I see the members of a church laying down a multiplicity
of rules, I know that they are getting themselves into a multiplicity
of troubles. If they will but leave rules and regulations to come up
when they are needed, they will find them when they need them. Let
every man who has the Spirit of God within him, set about the work
which he is called to do. Let him attend to the portion of the vineyard
which is before him and try to get his thousand pieces of silver out of
his own portion–and not out of another's. There is always a set of
grumblers about who think they could preach better and manage Sunday
schools better than anybody else. They are the people who generally do
nothing at all.
I sometimes receive anonymous letters asking me to amend my style in
this way or the other. I know where they come from–they are either
from people who are very idle, to whom the penny post gives occupation
for their idle hours–or from those who think they can bring themselves
to our notice by their communications. I usually thrust all such
letters into the fire. Now, if these people, instead of wasting their
time in that way, would write a letter with good sound Gospel teaching
in it to some poor sinner who wants to know the way of salvation. Or
if, instead of wasting their pennies upon me–for I think I can do
better without their advice than with it–they would bestow them upon
some poor crossing-sweeper, they would do more good! It is always the
grumbling souls who are the idle souls–but the men who get the
thousand pieces of silver out of their vineyard have their own work so
constantly before them that they have no leisure to look upon the work
of other people with the view of finding fault with it! They know right
well that they have no right to interfere between other men and their
Master and that, to their own Master, each one must stand or fall.
I pray that this church, and every member of it, may always be able to
say, in the words of our text, "My vineyard, which is mine, is before
me." I am not responsible for my brother, but I am responsible for
myself. I will always keep my own work before my eyes. I will go about
it and do what I have to do just as if there were nobody else in the
world to do anything. I will work as hard as if I were the only
Christian alive and, at the same time, I will always comfort myself
with the thought that my feeble labors are not all that are being
rendered to the Master, but that there are more than seventy thousand
who have not bowed the knee to Baal and who are serving the one living
and true God! I will, while I am working, wish to every other worker
greater success than I have myself. If I see any prospering more than I
am, I will bless God for it, but I will still say, "My vineyard, which
is mine, is before me." However well my neighbor is getting on, that is
no reason why I should slacken my efforts–and however badly another
may succeed, that is no reason why I should neglect my own duty in
order to chide him. "My vineyard, which is mine, is before me."
The next time you are tempted to complain of some Brother or Sister,
check yourself and say, "It is my vineyard which is before me. There
are some ugly thistles in it and some great nettles over there in the
corner. I have not trimmed my vines this summer. I have not taken the
little foxes which spoil the vines, but, from now on I will attend more
diligently to 'my vineyard, which is mine."' A blessed way of keeping
from finding fault with other people is to look well to your own
vineyard.
III. I will now turn to the second part of our text which is THE
LANGUAGE OF THE CHURCH TO HER GREAT PROPRIETOR LORD. "You, O Solomon,
must have a thousand"–"must have a thousand." Whatever others have,
our Lord must have Solomon's portion–"and those that keep the fruit
thereof two hundred." So, then, in the first place, the fruit of the
vineyard belongs to Christ, but, in the second place, both Christ and
His Church agree to reward the keepers of the vineyard and to let them
have their two hundred.
First, then, all the fruit of the vineyard belongs to Christ and He
must have it. Dwell on that word, "must," and let each one of you feel
the blessed necessity. There are some churches where if they have any
fruit, they keep it to themselves. The Word has free course and is
glorified–sinners are saved, saints are comforted–and then they take
the honor and glory to themselves. Other churches there are which give
all the glory to the minister. The work succeeds well, everything
prospers and then the keeper of the vineyard has the thousand pieces of
silver. There are other churches which give all the glory to the rich
people in their midst. "Everything will go well," they say, "while the
squire attends with us, while Mr. So-and-So is one of our deacons and
Mr. So-and-So is so generous a subscriber to our funds." So that,
there, also, the thousand pieces of silver are given to man. Ah, but
that must not be, Brothers and Sisters. Stand back you intruders! We
dare not give you so much as a farthing's worth of the fruit of this
vineyard! The vineyard is Christ's. He purchased it with His own life's
blood, so the fruit is all His and He must have it all–none of it must
be given to anyone else. Open wide your hand, O thief, and give up the
fruit you have taken unto yourself! We demand it of you imperatively!
Give it all up, Sir, for Jesus Christ must have it all, even as Solomon
had the thousand pieces of silver.
But, Brothers and Sisters, it sometimes happens that in a church there
is no glory at all. The church is so badly off, the congregation is so
small, there is such an absence of zeal and so very feeble has the
spirit of prayer become, that there is no glory to be given to anyone!
What shall we say to such a church as that? "Brethren, do not rest
satisfied with such a state of things as that. Do not say, 'Solomon
must be content with a hundred.' No, He must have His thousand." I want
all the members of this church to feel that our Solomon, our Lord Jesus
Christ, must have His thousand pieces of silver! We must not allow one
year to go below the mark of the previous one. If Christ received Glory
through us last year, He must have as much or more Glory through us
this year. If we had a revival in years gone by, we must have a revival
now. If Solomon had a thousand pieces of silver from us once, we must
never let our tribute to Him be any less. Souls must still be brought
to the Savior, even should–
"The wide world esteem it strange, Gaze and admire, and hate the
change."
The ministry must still be powerful, the Prayer Meetings must continue
to be full of faith and fervor, the members must keep on striving
together in love for the extension of Christ's Kingdom. His Kingdom
must come and His will must be done on earth as it is in Heaven! We
will not put in an, "if," or a, "perhaps"–it must be so and we will
not be satisfied unless it is. "You, O Solomon, must have a thousand."
Suppose, my Brothers and Sisters, in looking back upon the past year,
we find that we have not had as much of the Master's Presence, and have
not done as much for Him as in years gone by? Shall we say that we will
make it up next year? Oh, no! That will not do! Our Solomon must have
His thousand this year! Shall He have less than the stipulated rental
for His vineyard? Shall I contribute less, today, to my Lord's honor
than I did yesterday? Shall I be less zealous, less useful, less
laborious? Shall the minister preach less than he did? Shall the elders
visit less than they used to do? Will you, church members, pray less
and serve Christ less? If you love Him less, you will do so. But,
Brothers and Sisters, I trust that you do notlove Him less and I am
sure that you owe Him more–you are plunging deeper and deeper into
debt to Him every day! He is continually revealing to you more and more
of the heights and depths, and lengths and breadths of His love that
passes knowledge! He is always leading you further and yet still
further into the mysteries of His Kingdom and teaching you to know
Himself which is much more than knowing mere doctrine.
So I ask you–Can you love Him less than you did in the years gone by?
Will you pray to Him less earnestly and praise Him less fervently? No,
Brothers and Sisters, I think that as Christians we shall unanimously
cry, "As we come nearer to You, O Lord, make us more fruitful! And as
years increase upon us, let it not be said that we do less for our
Master at 50 than we did at twenty-five." Let not people be able to say
concerning any of us, "He ran well–what hindered him?" Let not the
Spirit of God have to chide any of us and say, "You have left your
first love." Let us insist upon it that as we began, so we will
continue, or, rather, that we will not simply go on as we began, but
that we will seek to go "from strength to strength" until everyone of
us shall appear in Zion before our God! I charge you, O you daughters
of Jerusalem, by the undiminished beauty and the undivided love of your
Lord, that you love Him no less than you did in the day of your
espousal to Him! O you keepers of the vineyard, my Brothers in the
ministry, and you who go out from this church to preach the Word of
God–if you gave Him glory last year. If you loved the souls of men. If
you knew how to wrestle with the Angel of the Covenant in months gone
by–you must do the same now! You must not do less than you used to do!
You must not preach less earnestly, you must not pray less
fervently–but rather you must love Him more and serve Him better! May
the Spirit of God enable you to do so!
But, alas, there are some of you who never give our King Solomon
anything! Perhaps you are the people of God–at least you profess to be
so–but what are you doing for Him? I do not think there are many
members of my own church of whom I have cause to complain, but there
may be some. Perhaps you have been converted for years, yet you do not
know that you were ever the means of bringing a soul to Jesus. You say
that you love the Savior, but what are you doing for Him? It is not
doing anything for Him merely to come here on the Sabbath or on
week-nights, to listen to His Word– there are other and better ways of
showing your love to the Savior than by simply coming to hear another
man talk to you about Him. Oh, if I have one idle member in the church
who talks of loving Christ, but does nothing for Him, I would look that
member in the face if I knew which one it was and I would say that
faith without works is dead–that the love which does not show itself
in practical piety is a pretended love, a painted flame–and not the
gift of Heaven!
I feel that I must also say that if we are all doing something for
Christ, we are none of us doing enough for Him. I feel, sometimes,
Beloved, as if I wished that I had a thousand tongues with which to
tell the story of His Grace–and as if I longed that each day were a
year and each year a century in which I could keep on telling of His
love! Often, when the sermon is over, I chide myself because I seem to
have spoken so coldly of the theme that demands a tongue of fire. I
have painted so badly that lovely face which, if you could but see it,
would so captivate your hearts that you would never want to see
anything else. Yet I can honestly say, from my very heart, that I
desire to give my Lord and Master His thousand pieces of silver–
"I'll praise my Maker with my breath, And when my voice is lost in
death, Praise shall employ my nobler powers."
I cannot stop preaching, Brothers and Sisters, and you cannot cease
praying–we cannot, any of us, if we truly love our Lord, give up
working for Him! I am sure that if we should live to be so very old,
and so very feeble, that we could hardly get outside our own door, we
would still try to serve Him to the very last–we would find some means
of praising Him even on our dying bed.
Now I will conclude with a few remarks upon the last words of the
text–"and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred," which means
that the keepers of the vineyard are to receive a reward. Christ's
ministers are to receive the love,
regard and esteem of His people for His sake. Joseph Irons put this
thought very prettily. I forget His exact words, but they are to the
effect that Christ's ministers really do get their two hundred. They
have 100 while they are preaching, in their own enjoyment of the
sweetness of the mystery which they open up to others–and then they
have another hundred in the success of their ministry–in the joy of
seeing sinners saved, harlots reclaimed and drunks converted. Our
Master is a blessed Paymaster, for He pays us while we are doing His
work, in the work itself! He pays us when the work is done and then He
says that He has only begun to pay us, for, when the whole of our work
is over, here, we shall enter into His joy and receive the fullness of
our reward!
I may, perhaps, have some members of country churches present who are
not kind to their minister. I can speak plainly upon this point because
my people are almost too kind to me. But I say to members of other
churches–Take care of your minister, for you will never get a blessing
unless you are kind to him whom God has set over you. If your minister
does not have his two hundred–that is, if he has not your love and
respect, and if you do not give him sufficient wages to keep him above
his needs–you cannot expect the Spirit of God to work with you. I
believe there are scores of churches in which no good is ever done for
this very reason. God says, "You starve My minister, so I will starve
you. You find fault with him and quarrel with him–then I will find
fault with you and quarrel with you. There shall be no blessing upon
you–you shall be like Gilboa–there shall be neither dew nor rain upon
you."
I sometimes hear sad stories of what is done in some churches to the
minister of Christ. He is looked upon as the drudge and slave of the
community. Some self-important, pompous man lords it over both pastor
and people–and that poor man, even when he is preaching the
everlasting Gospel, often has to wonder how he will get his next coat
in which he is to appear in the pulpit. The one he has is nearly out at
the elbows, but, if he were to hint that another is needed, he would
receive notice to go elsewhere. They would tell him that he was a mere
hireling, looking for loaves and fishes–as if there were either loaves
or fishes to be gotten out of such people as they are! I have often
heard it remarked that the minister has a certain sum paid to him, but
the great mass of the people never think, "He is our pastor. We must
try to cheer his heart and make glad his spirit." This state of things
ought not to be and until it is altered, the Lord will have a quarrel
with those who act thus!
I will say no more upon that point, but repeat that our great Solomon
must have His thousand. The minister will cry, even though he is
starving, "Solomon must have His thousand." I was once travelling
through Hertfordshire and stayed the night at a certain place and the
minister said to me, "Will you preach here this evening, Sir?" "Yes," I
replied, "I should like an opportunity of talking to your people if you
will give them notice." I went into the minister's house and I found
that they only gave him 13 shillings a week and I saw that his coat was
threadbare. When I went into the pulpit, I thought," I will give these
people something"–and I did, too, I can assure you! And after that, I
gave him something and they gave him something–and we just managed to
contribute together enough to get him a new suit of livery, as he
called it–and I do not think that Brother has been quite as low down
in the depths of poverty as he was then!
There are scores of places in the country where ministers are treated
as that poor man was, but it ought not to be so. The minister of Christ
must have some regard, some esteem, some honor in his church, but,
after all, our Lord Jesus Christ must have His thousand. My own people
may take home to themselves the first part of my discourse, but you big
farmer deacons must take the latter part to yourselves. Don't you go to
sleep tonight until you have thought, "What can we do for that poor
dear man who is to preach for us next Sunday?" As for my own members,
you can think about the first part. Let it be your joy to know that the
vineyard is Christ's vineyard and that it always lies before Him–and
let each one of you seek to give to Jesus His thousand pieces of
silver–all the honor, the glory, the praise, the love and the service
that you can render to Him from the beginning of the year to the end!
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM47.
Verses 1-5. O clap your hands, all you people; shout unto God with the
voice of triumph. For the LORD most high is terrible; He is a great
King over all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us, and the
nations under our feet He shall choose our inheritance for us, the
excellency of Jacob whom He loved. Selah. God is gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet
One of our sacred poets has written–
"All His work and warfare done, He into His Heaven is gone, And beside
His Father's Throne, Now is pleading for His own"
–but, not merely is He "beside His Father's Throne," He is with Him
sitting upon the throne–and waiting until His foes are made His
footstool.
6-9. Sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises unto our King,
sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth: sing you praises
with understanding. God reigns over the heathen: God sits upon the
Throne of His holiness. The princes of the people are gathered
together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the
earth belong unto God: He is greatly exalted. There are some in these
days who have, according to their own confession, cast off the God of
Abraham. They do not believe in the Jehovah who is revealed in the Old
Testament–they are like those of whom Moses said, "They sacrificed to
new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not." But as for
us, we still delight to sing–
"The God of Abraham praise Who reigns enthroned above Ancient of
everlasting days, And God oflove! Jehovah, great I AM! By earth and
Heaven confess. I bow, and bless the sacred name Forever blest!"
"But the God of Abraham is very stern," says someone. Assuredly He is!
He is terrible in the majesty of His justice! Yet we worship and adore
Him for that very reason. No effeminate deity such as modern thought
has invented, has even an atom of our admiration, much less of our
adoration! But the glorious God of the Sinai thunders who is equally
terrible as the God of Justice on Calvary–this God, who, nevertheless,
is Love, our hearts adore and worship!