THE HUSBANDMAN AND BUILDER
Clifford Ogden
IN the first letter to the Corinthians, chapter three the latter part of verse 9, the Apostle Paul speaks of believers as being "God's husbandry; God's building". There is a dual metaphor here; what the purist might object to -- a mixed metaphor. Those who are able to study the original carefully tell us that the Apostle was not always correct in his syntax. He would begin a sentence and, carried away in spirit by the immensity of his subject, would fail to complete it. Well, thank God for his marvellous deviations!
Here we have a very helpful mixing of metaphors, not a unique instance with the Apostle. In the Ephesian and Colossian letters he has made use of this bringing together of two quite [10/11] distinct similes: Ephesians 3 verse 17 speaks of our being "rooted and grounded" (we root a tree and ground, or found, a building), and Colossians speaks of our being "rooted and built up in Him."
The Apostle Peter in his first letter makes use of the same double construction, slightly varying the allusion. He speaks of our being "living stones"; not stones separated by mortar, but stones integrated by a life that is not our own.
Let us consider the first part -- "Ye are God's husbandry" -- God's tilled field.
As a basis for our meditation, let us recall the content of the fifteenth chapter of John's Gospel -- "I am the true Vine, and my Father is the husbandman".
FRUIT, MORE FRUIT, MUCH FRUIT
The husbandman's sole occupation and objective is fruit. The wood of the vine, maybe alone among all trees, is useless for any other purpose than to bear fruit.
Three times in the chapter we have the reference to the fruit -- verse 2 "fruit"; verse 2 "more fruit"; verse 5 and again in verse 8 "much fruit".
To progress from "fruit" to "much fruit" demands the intervention of the Husbandman and His pruning knife, there is no other way. We should note that the heavenly Vinedresser does not spend His energy on fruitless branches, it is the branch that is already bearing fruit to which He directs His attention; the fruitless branch is discarded. "Every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it".
So let us take comfort. If we are in the hands of God; if we are suffering the discipline of God, or have suffered it in times past; if in some future day we are subjected to what Peter calls "the trial of our faith", let us remember that it is sons whom the Father chastens; and to be without chastening would be to bear the stigma of being bastards. The very fact that God has turned His hand upon us is the sign of His interest, and the earnest of the accomplishing of His purpose. He would have fruit and fruit in abundance.
"MY FATHER IS THE HUSBANDMAN"
Again, let us note that the heavenly husbandman is The Father: "My Father is the Husbandman". This is not some cold business concern, occupied only with profit, interested only in the proceeds, this is a family concern. The Father's interest is not in the procedure, but in the "afterward" -- the much fruit (Hebrews 12:10-11). So, when we are going through the mill, let us set our gaze where the Lord has His, on the "afterward" with its peaceable fruit of righteousness. Let us remember that He says that it is His Father with whom we have to do; and remember, too, that on the resurrection morning He gave us the assurance that He is not only His Father, but our Father.
If this be true, what will not this Husbandman lavish upon His vineyard, on this Vine upon which He has opened heaven and declared "This is my beloved Son in whom is my delight"? What loving care will be lavished upon this Vine and its branches. There is no limit to what the Father will do for us in our abiding in His Son.
Nevertheless, He is a Father, and no father is worthy of the name if he neglects his children in the matter of discipline -- child training. We live in an age when the word discipline is a dirty word. But the age is a sufficient commentary on the necessity of discipline.
