MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 27:18
THE REWARD OF SERVICE
I. The reward of the servant of nature. The fig-tree may here be taken as typical of all that the earth produces for the sustenance of man. God has ordained that man shall be a co-worker with Himself in making the earth fruitful. If He gives the life to the herb or the tree, and sends the sun and the rain to quicken and nourish it, man must give his service too. It is his business to prepare the soil, to tend the God-given life, and to protect it as far as possible from all adverse influences. And this being done, some reward is certain. There will be cases of individual and occasional failure, but fruit for service is the rule in the kingdom of nature.
II. The reward of service rendered to man. Although the word servant is now obnoxious to many ears, we do well to remember the estimate which God puts upon faithful service and the important place which it holds in the world. He who served us unto death left this command on record, “Whosoever will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all” (Mark 10:44), and a little consideration will convince us that the whole of human society is knit together by service. In one sense, all true men and women, however high their position, are servants to others. The good monarch and the faithful statesman are servants to their nation as truly as men and women in more lowly stations are servants to individual masters. It is, however, doubtless to these latter that the wise man here refers, and faithful service rendered by them in their small sphere is as much esteemed by God as the service of the greater and more gifted. Those who serve “as to the Lord, and not unto men,” shall “of the Lord receive the reward of the inheritance,” says Paul (Colossians 3:22-24). Honour shall be awarded by God, not in proportion to the kind of service rendered, but in proportion to the spirit in which it is performed, and this fruit of faithful service will never fail. And, as a rule, esteem and gratitude from the earthly master will also be rendered.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
All sorts of inferiors, then, as both servants and subjects, must make this reckoning and account of their superiors and rulers, that they are unto them their peculiar charge, whereon they must attend, and the special hope of their honour and preferment. They must therefore think and say thus with themselves: Surely this is the fig-tree that I must watch and keep; this is that same olive-tree that I must look unto. I must not suffer this to be spoiled or destroyed. I must not suffer my ruler’s goods to be wasted, nor his name to be discredited, nor the gifts of God in him to decay; I must keep his favour, and I must seek his welfare, as much as in me lieth.—Muffet.