Let us turn once again to God's
Word in that portion of Scripture we were considering this morning
in the second epistle of Paul to Timothy. And there in chapter
2 and verses 3 to 6, I'll read the portion again, 2 Timothy
2, 3 to 6. Thou therefore endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him
who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for
masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully. The
husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits
And I said that in this passage we have this threefold figure
of the Christian minister. It's part of the instruction
that the Apostle Paul is giving to young Timothy. And of course
together with the epistle to Titus we count these three letters
as pastoral epistles. They principally concern the
matter of that work of the ministry and so he's using these figures
this threefold figure he speaks of the ministry as a soldier
as an athlete and also as a husbandman but I said this morning there
is a wide replication there's a sense in which these truths
bear some relationship not just to the ministry of the word but
to those who are recipients of that word that's being ministered
and what we did this morning was to consider what he says
here at verse 5 concerning the athlete he's very much speaking
in terms of what he would be familiar with the games we think
of the olympic games of course and the origins of that in in
Greece, the Grecian games. This is what Paul would have
been familiar with in the ancient world. He says, if a man also
strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive
lawfully. There were those various parts
of the games. There was racing and wrestling
and boxing and all sorts of sports. And there were various rules
that had to be attended to, adhered to. He says when he writes in
1 Corinthians chapter 9 at verse 24 following, Know ye not that
they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?
So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for
mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible
crown, but we are incorruptible. I therefore so run not as uncertainty,
so fight I not as one that beateth the air. He makes a spiritual
application out of the Apostle himself and he's a pattern to
all believers. And Timothy and Titus also. how
these men are to conduct themselves and give themselves to their
work just as those who were engaged in those ancient Olympic games
would give themselves that they might obtain the rewards. This is what he's saying and
we find him using similar words time and again in his epistles.
I press toward the marquises for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. And we refer to those words at
the beginning of Hebrews 12, seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. the author
and finisher of our fight. He's thinking of now in the arena,
in the games, those who had previously been engaged in competition would
be watching the others who were now taking their turn. Surrounded
with this great cloud of witnesses and of course in the context
there In Hebrews 12 we are to see it in terms of what has been
said previously in chapter 11 about those men and women of
faith. That's the great crowd of witnesses,
all those who've gone before, those great saints of the Old
Testament. We're surrounded by this great
crowd of witnesses as we run the race that He set before us. We're thinking this morning of
verse 5 and particularly I try to say something with regards
to the lawful striving that is being spoken of in this particular
verse. The man is not crowned except
he strive lawfully, it says. He must strive according to the
rules. Now, I mentioned two principal
rules. negative or positive there are
certainly sinful strivings sinful strivings and these are to be
avoided as he says in verse 14 of these things put them in remembrance
charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words
to no profit but to the subverting of the hearers and then remember
again towards the end of the chapter he says verse 23 foolish
and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender strifes
and the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto
all men apt to teach patience in meekness instructing those
that oppose themselves if God for adventure will give them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth Unnecessary is that striving
about words, that tendency to want to make another man an offender
for a word. Just performing certain mental
gymnastics, as it were, in the mind, trying to catch someone
else out. No big words of ready talkers, no dry doctrine will
suffice. Broken hearts and humble walkers,
these are dear in Jesus' eyes. or there is a truth, we're to
contend for the truth. But how we are to do it, of course,
in a loving and a gracious manner. And we're to avoid unnecessary
striving. There's that rule then as to
what we should not do, but there's also the positive. There is that
spiritual striving that is to be pursued There's that wrestling. Did they have wrestling matches
in the ancient games? I believe they did. Well, the
believer is to wrestle. He's wrestling not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. He's wrestling in prayers with
his God, day and night. These are something then of those
things that we were seeking to speak of this morning. Well,
I want us now to turn to the following verse, to look at verse
6 where he speaks of the husbandman, the man who is labouring in the
fields. The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the
fruit, he says. consider what I say and the Lord
give the understanding in all things. We do well then to consider
what the apostle is saying in this verse, verse 6. And as we come to consider this
particular text tonight, The subject I want us to look at
then, the theme as it were, is that of the figure of the husbandman. The figure of the husbandman,
and dealing with some two points. Firstly, the labouring of the
husbandman, and then the partaking. We see these two things quite
clearly in the words of verse 6, the husbandman that laboureth.
must be first partaker of the fruits. And so following that
simple two-fold division. First of all, the labouring. Now, I remind you that it is
so evident that the Apostle is principally addressing
himself to this young man, Timothy. and seeking to encourage him
in that work to which he had been called just as the apostle
Paul had been called to be an apostle as he says in the opening
verse of the book an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of
God so Timothy had also been called to exercise a ministry
and look at how he speaks to this young man in the opening
words of the second chapter Thou therefore, my son, be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou
hast heard of me among many witnesses the same, commit thou to faithful
men, who shall be able to teach others also." He's very much
concerned to address himself to this work of ministry. What does the work involve? Well,
it involves the study of the Scriptures of truth, the careful
examination, what we call the exegesis of that Word of God
to bring out the correct meaning of what is being said in these
inspired words. Verse 15, he says, Study to show
thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the Word of truth. And The language that
he uses is so pregnant, so full of meaning. He uses words that
would suggest arduous labour. The man has to exert himself.
He says here, a workman. A workman that needeth not to
be the change and the word that we have as workmen it's the word
that's used normally for a man labouring in the fields a man
labouring in the fields it's that word that we had in the
reading we read there in chapter 20 of Matthew concerning a man
who goes to the market to hire labourers. Remember the language
of the Lord Jesus? He says, The kingdom of heaven
is like unto a man that is a householder which went out early in the morning
to hire labourers, workmen, in his vineyards. And when he had
agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into
his vineyard. And it's the same word that he
uses with regards to the work that Timothy is to be engaged
in, is to be like a man laboring, laboring in the fields. It's
hard work, it's work that will cause a great deal of, or require
a great deal of exertion. He's got to give himself carefully
to these particular words. And The same word is also used
in the previous epistle in chapter 5 of 1 Timothy, where it's rendered in verse
18 as labra. The scripture saith, Thou shalt
not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the labra is
worthy of his reward, just as in the parable that the Lord
tells They had agreed a certain price and each was to receive
their payment at the end of the day. They received what they
had agreed. The labourer is worthy of his
rewards. But it's interesting there, in
that 5th chapter of 1st Timothy, he speaks of the labourer in
verse 18. In the previous 17th verse, he
says, Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double
honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. Now, the word labour, in verse
17 of that chapter, is really a different word to what we have
in verse 18 as labourer. They're quite distinct different
words. I know we've got the same word
basically here in our English Bible, but they are two different
words. This is why, you see, it's the the task of the man who is laboring
in the word of God to rightly divide the word, and to bring
out such distinctions as are being made there. That word in
verse 17, it's not so much emphasizing the arduous aspect of his work,
but the consequence of giving him over to that work, he'll
grow weary. He'll grow weary, the effort. the toil involved will take its
toll upon his body. He is to be a labourer, in the
word, even to the detriment of his own strength, even to the
point of exertion. And isn't there a sense in which
what we read at the end of Ecclesiastes, remember in Ecclesiastes the
book of the preacher, and there in chapter 12 and verse 9 we're
told moreover because the preacher was wise he still taught the
people knowledge he gave good heed and sought out and set in
order many proverbs the preacher sought to find out acceptable
words and that which was written was upright even words of truth
here is the man the preacher laboring, as it were, in word,
laboring in doctrine and laboring even to the point of weariness. And this man, this laboring man
is not only to attend to God's Word in that diligent and persevering
fashion, but he's also to labor in prayers. In Acts chapter 6,
where there's some dispute over the distribution of funds to
the widows, and it seems then the sole functionaries in the
New Testament Church were the apostles, and so we see in Acts
6 how they saw it necessary to appoint some to a different office,
the office of the deacon, and to attend to this distribution.
And what do the apostles say? We will give ourselves continually
to prayer, and to the ministry of the words. Oh, is the man
to labour in his study of the word of God? Well, there is something
that takes priority over that, is to labour primarily in prayer,
continually to prayer. That's put first. And to the
ministry of the words. There is to be a labouring then. And this is the image that we
have, of course, in the text tonight. The husbandman that
laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. It's the very
opposite to what we read in the book of Proverbs. We read there,
of course, of the sluggard. Proverbs 20, verse 4, the sluggard
will not plough by reason of the cold therefore shall he beg
in harvest and have nothing and remember how Solomon goes on
to speak of his observations in Proverbs 24 verse 30 I went
by the field of the slothful and by the vineyard of the man
void of understanding, and though it was all grown over with thorns
and nettles, and covered the face thereof, then I saw and
considered it well. Yet a little sleep, a little
slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. So shall
thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an
armed man." All the words then of the wise man there in the
book of Proverbs. how God's people are to be marked
by this diligence. Now, once upon a time, people
used to talk about the Protestant work ethic. One of the great
blessings that came as a result of the Protestant Reformation,
and all that followed that, and all the prosperity that came,
because when people came to the Word of God, they saw the importance
of diligence, perseverance, work. The Protestant work ethic. and
those nations that had been so favoured at the time of the Reformation
were the neighbours that very much began to prosper under the
good and gracious hand of God. Now, God's people are to be diligent
then. The minister to be diligent in
his reading, his study, his preparation, diligent in his praying, but
that's true of all the people of God, we should all be diligent.
What sort of hearers are we to be? How are we to hear the Word
of God? Well, remember how Paul, in a
sense, rebukes the church at Corinth, though it was such a
highly favoured church, a church with quite remarkable gifts,
but Paul rebukes them. What does he say there in 1 Corinthians
3, and I brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you
with milk and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able
to bear it, neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal."
Or they were not those who were growing and mature and could
receive that further instruction and establishment. They were
carnal. There were so many things wrong amongst them, envying,
strives, divisions, he says. You're carnal. And so they were
not able to profit as they ought to profit under the Word of God. They were having to receive milk
as little babes instead of the strong meat of the Word of God. How important it is that we are
those who are diligent I think sometimes today so many
of those who profess the Lord's name seem to have an appetite
that's so vitiated. They don't want the great doctrines
of the Word of God. They can't be troubled to apply
themselves and their minds to an understanding of those great
truths. And so as a consequence of course they're not growing
in grace as they ought, growing in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. But God, God will make
his word a fruitful word. God is able to do all things,
we know that. Interesting to see how Paul reasons
with those in the church at Corinth. In that third chapter, doesn't
he go on, 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. Then he goes on, We are labourers
together with God. Ye are God's husbandry. Who are
we? God's husbandry. And is the Lord
attending to us? It is the Lord making us those
who are diligent and fruitful in our hearing of the word of
His truth. Here then we see something of
the labour, the labour of the husbandman, as this particular
figure is used. But as I said in the second place,
we have the partaking, the husbandman that laboureth must be first
partaker of the fruits. Now what is the significance
of this? Well, I understand it. In this sense, the minister is
not only to labour in the word intellectually, he's not only
to engage his mind, but he must also feed upon it, experimentally. it must enter into his very soul
and so too with those who are hearing as I said this morning
like people like priests if we're those who are really hearing
the word of God it won't just be a matter of assimilating it
with our minds and understanding it there'll be that that affects
us in the very depths of our being This is the husband, when you
see, he must partake, he must partake of these things. In order
to feed others, surely he must know something of the saving
power of that truth that he's handling. The Kingdom of God
is not in word only, it's in power. When Paul writes to the
Thessalonians, he reminds them how his gospel came to them.
It didn't come just in word only, but in power. and in the Holy
Ghost and in much assurance how Paul was assured of those things
that he was declaring he had proved the truth of them in his
own heart he knew those things the Lord God had revealed them
so clearly to him I like this sentence from one of the letters
of William Huntington he says the preacher is a taster for
the people of God The preacher is a taster. He only gives to others what
he has tasted and fed on himself. He knows, therefore, the worth
of those precious truths. You see, real experimental preaching
is not just a man standing in the pulpit and mentioning a number
of anecdotes. I know it's interesting. It's
good sometimes when the man might relate something of himself and
something of his own experiences. That's not improper, of course,
but it's more than just telling stories, experimental preaching. It's declaring what God's Word
is and the benefit and the blessing that comes from the Word of God.
And it's interesting because We have at least three examples
in scripture of that very truth. When we think in the Old Testament
of the ministry of the prophets and when we think in the New
Testament of the preaching of the apostles. We have two examples
here in the Old Testament we read concerning Ezekiel and Jeremiah
and the way in which God's word first came to them in order that
they might then convey that word to the people. The language that
we have at the end of Ezekiel chapter 2. And there in verse 9 and the
following verses. He tells us, doesn't he, in those
opening chapters of how he was called to be the Lord's prophet,
the Lord's mouthpiece. And to take that word unto the
people in chapter 2 verse 9 behold a
hand was sent unto me he says and lo a roll of a book was therein
and he spread it before me so he goes on moreover he said unto
me son of man eat that thou findest eat this roll Remember, it was
a scroll, that's what they would have, it wasn't a book as we
would have it today, bound, you know, a perfect bound book with
nice covers, or a paperback book even. It was a scroll, it was
written on both sides. And this scroll is presented
to him and he is told, Son of Man, eat that thou findest. Eat
this roll and go speak to the house of Israel. He has to first
partake of the roll, it's the Word of God coming to him, and
then having received that Word of God and eating it, partaking
of it, feeding upon it, he is to go and to speak unto the house
of Yisroel. And he says, So I opened my mouth,
and he caused me to eat that roll. Then did I eat it, and
it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. and then he goes to
speak the word of God, but it struck me, it struck me what
he actually says I opened my mouth and he caused me to eat
it how the Lord has to apply his word, you see the Lord causes
him to eat it it's almost as if he cannot eat it of himself,
it's the Lord who must do it, the Lord must bring his word
and impress that word on the very soul of a man like Ezekiel
before he can go and speak the Word of God, and speak that Word
so faithfully. And it's not just Ezekiel, as
I said, we see the same really in the ministry of Jeremiah.
In Jeremiah 15, 16 he says, Thy words were found, and I did eat
them. And Thy word was unto me the
joy and rejoicing of mine heart. For I am called by Thy name,
O Lord God of hosts. how Jeremiah receives the word and the word is sweet and yet
though it comes with a certain sweetness he has to he has to
proclaim bitter things he's ministering at the time of the destruction
of Jerusalem by the Babylonians he witnesses these things we
have his book of lamentations of course he's lamenting over
the sea, the utter destruction. The temple raised to the ground,
the people carried away into exile. He himself, of course,
goes into Egypt. Thy words were found and I did
eat them. Oh, that's how he was able to
exercise his ministry. And then we have also a remarkable
example, don't we, in the New Testament, when we think of the
Apostle John, the last of the Apostles, of course. An old man,
exiled on the Isle of Patmos, cut off from all fellowship with
the Lord's people. And it's the Lord's Day, the
first day of the week, the Christian Sabbath, and he's in the Spirit. How we need to be in the Spirit
on the Lord's Day if we're going to ever profit from the Word
of God? If the Lord God must cause His equal to eat the roll,
how we need the Spirit to come and cause us to receive the Word
of Truth? There must be that application.
We can't take these things to ourselves. The Lord must apply
His Word to us. And there is John, who receives
that remarkable revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which
God showed to him, the opening words of the book. But then what do we read later?
In Revelation 10 verse 9, John says, I went unto the angel and
said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take
it, and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it
shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little
book out of the angel's hands, and ate it up, and it was in
my mouth sweet as honey. And as soon as I had eaten it,
my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must
prophesy again before many people, or he could only prophesy, he
could only speak the words of God's truth as he himself was
partaking of the little book it became part and parcel of
him he ate it, he digested it, it entered into his system he
was full of it and he has to speak the word of God This is
not a truth, friends, with regards to all of us. If God's word would
do us any good, we've got to partake of it. In that spiritual
sense, that experimental sense. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good, says the psalmist. Blessed is the man that trusts
in Him. If we really, those who are trusting
in the Lord, if we've got real faith, we're those who have tasted,
we've partaken of the little book. That's the Word of God,
we've partaken of that. And so we can say with the psalmist
in another place, come and hear all ye that fear God and I will
declare what ye have done for my soul. We've done something
in our soul, in our heart, Out of the heart, out of the
soul are the issues of life. God's Word has got to be more
than something that's floating around in our minds. Can we honestly
say today it's meat and it's drink to us? We're partakers
of it. Oh, and that's what we labour
towards. We labour that we might be partakers. We want to be diligent. labourers, hearers of the Word
of God and readers of the Word of God and feeders upon the Word
of God, the husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the
fruits. You see, in order for God's Word to do good in our souls
we must not only hear the Word but we must feed on that very
Word of God. There must be such a feeding
upon Him who is everywhere in Scripture. When you come to the
Word of God, and I trust that you seek to read it daily, and
carefully, and prayerfully. That's how we're to read the
Word of God. And what are we looking for? I remember reading, I can't remember
if it was in the experience of John Warburton or in the account
of William Gadsby but when Warburton first heard William Gadsby preach
he thought he was such a strange clownish sort of a man. There
he was, he wasn't dressed like a proper parson it says, he wasn't
all in black, I think he had a red neckerchief He'd just gone
up into the North. He'd come up from Warwickshire.
He'd gone up begging on behalf of his own church. They needed
money to do some improvements and he'd gone on a preaching
tour. He'd gone up into Lancashire and he was preaching. But he
was a rather rustic figure. And there was John Warburton
hearing him and he thought, what a clownish man this is. This
is going to be an interesting experience. I suppose in those
days, you see, people would go into church and chapel sometimes
for a little bit of entertainment. Of course, we live in a world
now that's full of entertainment, so only those who are touched
in their hearts seem to want to come at any time and hear
a sermon. But there was John Warburton, and Gadsby opened
the word and he made a remark similar to this he said he was
going he announced his text and he said I'm going to ransack
the Bible to show you what's in this text and in ransacking
we're going to find that the Lord Jesus Christ is here it's
everywhere in scripture and that really went home to John Warburton
oh he listened so carefully to that man who was ransacking The
Word of God. Is that how we come? We want
to find the Lord Jesus Christ. He's here. He's here in the words. And we should be those, surely,
who have that desire that we might feed upon Christ, to know
that blessed union, that communion with Christ. He's the bread of
life, isn't he? You know the passage. You know
the passage. I turn to those words that we find in the 6th
of John. where Christ speaks of himself,
I am the bread of life, all these great I am statements scattered
throughout John's gospel. Christ the great Jehovah, oh
he is Jehovah Jesus, he's the Lord, he's the I am. And what
does he say here in this sixth chapter, as he declares himself
to be the bread of life that's come down from heaven. Verily, Verily I say unto you,
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood,
ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. He that eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. That's the union, you see. All
we are partakers of the Lord Jesus Christ. But to feed, to
feed upon Him, we must find Him. And to find Him, we must seek
Him. That's what we have to do. We have to seek Him. We have
to find Him. We have to feed upon Him. Paul says, ye shall
seek me and find me when ye shall search after me with all your
hearts. What is it to seek after Him
with all your hearts? That's labour. Oh, that's labouring
to find Him. The husbandman that laboureth,
you see, he is first partaker of the fruits. Oh, we have to
labour then in prayer that God's Word will indeed become the very
sustenance that supports our spiritual life with those who
are then feeding upon the Lord Jesus. The harvest is truly plentiful,
says Christ. The labourers are few. We have
to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would thrust forth labourers
into his harvest field. or the fields white unto harvest,
do we believe that? Or do we pray that the Lord would
yet send forth His words, His truth, that there might be such
a ministry of the Word of God in our day, in our generation?
Sometimes we maybe read of times of old, we think of the Great
Awakening in the 18th century when the Lord did raise up such
remarkable ministers of His truth. and we often speak of a man like
Whitfield and his preaching and others of course with him and
not just confined to the to the parish church or to the chapel
but the field preaching and the multitudes that came under conviction
of sin or that we might yet labour in prayer that the Lord would
come and visit us again in such a fashion and so own and bless
his word and make it something real in our own souls, meat and
drink to our souls. Oh, the Lord be pleased then
to bless His truth to us tonight. Amen.