Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2643
“Whoever keeps the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waits on his master shall be honored.” Proverbs 27:18.
IN Solomon’s day, every man sat under his own vine and fig tree and there was peace throughout the whole country. Then, God’s Law about dividing out the land among the people, so that every man had his own plot, was rightly observed and each one had a fig tree of his own, to which he gave his personal attention. And, in due time, having waited upon the fig tree and kept it, he ate the fruit thereof. Solomon says, in another place, “In all labor there is profit,” and it is well when men feel that it is so, for then they will be inclined to labor. A man would not long keep a fruitless fig tree. If he was quite sure that no fruit would be the result of his toil, he would leave the tree to itself, or else he would say, “Cut it down; why cumbers it the ground?”
There were some men, in Solomon’s day, who, for divers reasons, became servants to others—as there still are and always must be—and they looked for some return from their service. And the wise man here tells them that just as, “Whoever keeps the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof,” so, “he that waits on his master shall be honored.” It is a commonplace truth that those who are faithful servants ought to be honored. I wish, in these times, that matter was more often thought of and that men did honor those who are faithful to them. There are some people who permit others to minister to their comfort, but it never occurs to them to provide for the comfort of their servants. They will allow a man to spend most of his life in increasing their business and yet, when he is getting old, he is discharged and left to perish by starvation so far as they are concerned. I notice this kind of thing frequently, with very much regret—and I am not always able to make exceptions on behalf of Christian masters, for, sometimes they seem only to remember their business and to forget that they are Christians—and they act as cruelly as did that Amalekite in David’s day, who left his servant to die because he was sick. I pray that the time may come when there shall be so good an understanding between all men that Solomon’s words shall be true, “he that waits on his master shall be honored.”
I am sorry that they are not always true in that sense, now, but I am going to leave that literalmeaning of the words and apply the text to those who wait upon the Lord Jesus, having made Him to be their Master, for, most certainly, as surely as he who keeps the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof, even much more certainly shall those who wait upon our great Master in Heaven find a sweet return from their service, for they shall be honored by Him. Very simple will my talk be and you, Beloved, who are His servants, do not need anything else, I am sure.
I. The first observation is that OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IS OUR MASTER.
He said to His disciples, after He had washed their feet, “You call Me Master and Lord: and you say well; for so I am.” Is it so with you, dear Friends? Let conscience answer the question. Is Jesus Christ really Master and Lord to each one of us? It is a wonderful way in which He masters us if we are, indeed, His servants. I can never forget how, in my own case, it came to pass that I, who had been bought with His precious blood and, therefore, belonged to Him, had yet lived forgetful of His claims. He passed by and looked on me—and that very look made me go out to weep bitterly! But He did more. He laid His hand on me—it was a pierced hand and from that day I had a twist in my understanding and my judgment! Those who knew me saw that something extraordinary had happened to me which had altogether changed me. From that time I thought very little of men, and very much of One whom, until then, I had despised! Many of my former pursuits ceased to have the slightest charm for me and I had, for my one pursuit, the desire to do everything to His honor and glory! From that twist I have never been able to escape and I have never wanted to do so—from that mystic influence which He cast over me, I have never come forth and, what is more, I trust I never shall!
I know that I am describing many of you as well as myself. Oh, did He not master you from head to foot? If you are really converted, it was not the conversion of the feelings only, or the intellect only—it was the subjugation of everything within you to that sweet power of His! You were quite broken down. You had no strength to stand up against Him any longer—and the joy of it was that you had not any wish to do so! When He was about to fix the chains of His love on you, you held out your hands saying, “Here, Lord, bind my wrists.” You put forth your feet, crying, “Place the fetters here.” You asked Him to cast a chain around your heart—you made a covenant with Him and agreed to be bound all over—for that part of you which was unbound, you reckoned to be enslaved and only that which He did bind, you considered to be free! When He had so mastered us, we longed to lie forever at His feet and weep ourselves away. Or we wished to sit forever at His feet and listen to His wondrous Words and learn His blessed teaching. Yet we also wanted to run about the world on His errands—it mattered not to us where He might send us—we would not make any choice of our sphere of service! If He would but employ us, that would be all we would ask. We wanted, then, to have a dozen lives and to spend them all for Him! Yes, we remember singing—