Threshing - the Lord's Method — T. Austin-Sparks

He always brings back to my remembrance an incident, I have often referred to the Tolley Alexander mission, and on one occasion while the meetings were going on at the Albert Hall, Dr. Tolley and Mr. Alexander were held up in the traffic, didn't arrive on time, everybody was there, place crowded, Mr. Harkness at the piano, waiting, waiting anxious, and then Mr. Harkness got up and said, I think we'd better be singing, what shall we sing?

Words were hardly out of his mouth before the booming voice of Mr. Alexander at the far door shouted, Thirty-Nine! And in a trice the piano was going and it was, there's another friend like the lowly Jesus.

The Lord’s Threshing Floor and Spiritual Understanding

So we pray. The crises are threshing floors in the Word of God, following on that idea this morning, taking Isaiah's understanding in the 28th chapter of his prophecies, 28th chapter of Isaiah, at verse 23,.

Give ye ear and hear my voice, hearken and hear my speech. Doth the ploughman plough continually to sow? Doth he continually open and break the clods of his ground, when he hath made plain the face thereof?

Doth he not cast abroad the fidgets, and scatter the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows, and the barley in the pointed place, and the spelt in the border thereof? For his God doth instruct him aright, and doth teach him.

For the fidgets are not threshed with a sharp threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin. The fidgets are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with aright bread corn is ground.

For he will not ever be threshing it, and though the wheels of his cart and his horses scatter it, he doth not grind it. This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, in wisdom.

Chapter 29, verse 14. I will proceed to do a marvellous work among the people, even a marvellous work and a wonder. The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

24. They also that err in wisdom, in spirit, shall come to understanding, and they that murmur. This is one fragment from the book of the Acts, chapter 14, verse 22, 21 and 22. And when they had preached the gospel to the city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, exalting them to continue in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.

Of Isaiah, related to spiritual understanding, in one particular, that is, as to the meaning of the ways of the Lord with his people. You look into chapters, you will see that this particular fragment, containing this parable, has to do with the faithful company of the Lord's children, who in the midst of many unfaithful, were suffering for their faithfulness.

And that is always a difficult thing to understand, suffering for faithfulness to the Lord. It's very testing. Because of this perplexity, the presence of such suffering, his servant, this word and this meaning in general of the parable is simply this, men apply to their natural or their acquired wisdom.

God’s Wisdom Behind Natural Processes

Wisdom either born of instinct or of experience, should be done with this and that, when it should be done, how it should be done. But they often fail to recognize two things. Firstly, that the wisdom by which they are so acting has come from God.

This also cometh from the Lord. And the other thing is that behind the very things that they are doing, expressing their wisdom, their knowledge, by experience, by training, behind what they are doing, because it is God-given wisdom, there's a spiritual meaning.

They do many things through the spiritual meaning of the things they are doing. I've often felt and sometimes said that I wish that all the experts in the different realms of knowledge and science could see through their expert knowledge to the spiritual interpretation.

There's a lot we should have if all the botanists could give us the spiritual meaning of things in that realm, and all the physicians could give us the spiritual meaning of things in that realm. But that is just what is being said here, that behind things that are done in nature, and in this case, the agriculturalists, there are spiritual meanings.

The Ploughing of God Has a Beginning and an End

We can get at those very quickly, it will take us no time. The ploughman ploughed continually to sow. The answer of common sense is no, of course he doesn't. He would be a madman if he ploughed and then went ploughing all through the year, did nothing else, kept ploughing, or harrowing.

He's ploughed ground, does he do that? It's a job that has got to be done. Breaking up, the turning over, the exposing to the elements, it's something necessary, essential, but it's not indefinite, continuous.

It's something to be done, but it's something done, which has its time, its place, its beginning, and its end. Well, anybody knows that much about farming, even I do. The Lord is speaking, saying to his faithful people who are feeling as though they're under the plough and the harrow, their experience is like that.

Souls are being cut into their soul. They're being turned up and turned over, laid bare, exposed. The Lord says, even to faithful people, this is necessary. We are looking ahead to a harvest. The essential aspect of the work, take this comfort, that's not going on forever.

Under the hand of the Lord, it is periodic and it is timed. It comes into the individual life of the child of God. It comes into the life of a company of the Lord's people, and as history shows, it comes into the experience of the whole church from time to time down through the centuries.

Seems that the action of God once more is cutting deep and overturning and breaking up hard way towards some. The word of the Lord is, my dear people, remember this, I am the man with a hand on the plough who has this whole thing in hand, and this won't go on forever.

It won't go on forever. It's something necessary. Everybody will agree with it in nature. We agree with it surely in grace. It's something necessary as it's time limit, and when that phase is accomplished, the Lord stops that.

Says, now that's done. We've got that far. We can get on with the next thing. I must leave you to interpret and apply the parable. It may be personal. It may be local. It may be general. That's where it begins.

Different Measures of Spiritual Growth

When he has done that, then the parable goes on with the seed, and as you notice, there are four kinds of seed mentioned here, and it is a very interesting thing, if you could detect it, which is very difficult to do in our translation, that the verbs chosen are definitely and specifically to the kind of seed.

Fitches, or the anise of the New Testament, or the fennel of today, all the same, the smallest of them all, so minute that one grain could hardly be seen, that's one thing. Becoming, also very small, very small but a little larger, and the verbs used in these, you notice, fitches like that, scattered like that.

As for becoming, another verb is used. It is distributed more carefully. It's something more than the other, distributed, and then when you come to the barley and the wheat, it is dropped into holes. It is planted.

It is given this more particular care of where it is put. It's not just broadcast, it's planted. Now probably you can see something through that, the Lord's people vary. I don't think that the parable is intended to discriminate in values.

Everything has its own value and everything has its own worth, own significance. It's all a part of the great harvest. But supposing we look at the fitches and the coming, not as something of less importance, but perhaps those who are smaller, in the immature, shall we say the child, I think they comprise by far the larger number of the Lord's people.

Scattered abroad, they are just, they are the Lord's children. When I say just, I don't mean to take away value at all. They are the Lord's people in general, scattered over the earth, the world is the field, scattered like that, and because they have not come yet to a point of greater maturity, or to the phase where something more is to be realized, the Lord deals with them in his own gracious way.

The Lord Deals with His People According to Their Measure

Notice what follows. How? The fitches and the coming are dealt with in one way. The wheat and the barley are dealt with in quite another way. Through the little fitches and coming, no cartwheel is taken, no threshing machine.

It only just needs the gentle tap of the rod. So easily, so easily is the work done with these, that the harder dealings of the threshing floor are not called for. They are but children. Now isn't this true of the Christian life?

Sometimes you wonder why so many people get away so easily. So many Christians get off with it so lightly. The Lord doesn't seem to deal with them as he deals with others, perhaps you. Well all right, their time hasn't come, because all parables break down you know, you can't change pitches into wheat.

But here is where all parables have their limitations. Within a certain realm, a certain general realm, where there is the intrinsic value to the Lord, the Lord's dealings for the time being are apparently very light and easy going.

It's just the staff, it's just the rod, it's just a pull up here and there without anything very drastic. That's what it's being said here, the Lord deals with people according to their measure. According to their measure.

At a certain stage their measure is this, and the Lord deals with them accordingly. That's what he's saying here. Immediately the question of greater measure and greater value comes into view. Seems to me sometimes that comes into view very early.

Sometimes it seems to take much longer. Be that as it may, as soon as greater values like wheat and barley come into view, the handling of the Lord is very much more drastic. Bread, corn is, if it's a question of the value of bread, then those who are going to be bread, all the people of God are going to have very drastic handling by the Lord.

Handling you in that way, using the flail on you, hammering. I say it to you, I say it to you, it is a hopeful sign. The Lord is meaning something more of value in your life, for others, for others. Many young Christians don't understand when we speak to the Lord's more mature people about the difficulties and the sufferings of the Christian life, and they think that we are a bit morbid and making the Christian life something complicated and hard.

If there are such young people, such young Christians here this morning, just listen, you're the Lord's. The Lord will deal with you appropriately to where you are spiritually. He'll not be too hard on you.

He may be very gentle with you. He may just correct you with the rod, quite likely, because so far you are just in that category of the fitches and the coming. But remember this, it may not always be like that.

Suffering as Preparation for Greater Service

The Lord who wants the most and who is set, whose heart is set upon for his people, his people should receive through your ministry, individually or collectively, if it's going to be like that, to satisfy that desire of his heart, you're going to have a difficult time.

You're going through the threshing floor. You're going to know the bruising. And if the Lord is not able to do that, and he has to keep us on the elementary basis, the easygoing basis, we're all having a very happy time, and the Lord very rarely does anything corrective and dispringent.

It is not a compliment to our spiritual life. It may just be saying that he's not able to do all that he would do if he could in this great need of bread, great need of bread. So if he really does turn his calf wheel upon us, if the hoofs of the horses, if the flail gets to work, it's because it's bread corn.

It's bread corn. It's something by which he's going to serve himself in the interest of others. Then briefly, very briefly and imperfectly is Isaiah's parable. Now if you look, you will see how that worked out with this company.

The Faithful Remnant and the Cost of Spiritual Usefulness

Suffering remnant. Suffering not because of their own unfaithfulness, but the unfaithfulness of the nation as a whole. Lord's hand being dealt with, disciplined, it was that remnant which was the Lord's key to the whole later situation.

You know that from your Old Testament. Always been like that. The key to the situation for all the Lord's people is a remnant, a company who suffer together with him and who allow themselves to go through the discipline that is necessary.

Now take the parable, see what the Lord is saying, perhaps for you, had a harder time than many people and you don't understand it. You perhaps said, is this necessary to the Christian life? Look at all these other Christians, but they don't have my difficulties and troubles.

Yes, well the parable explains it. The whole point of this parable is spiritual understanding. Spiritual understanding. Don't you understand? Don't you understand? The Lord deals with his people in different ways.

Yes, they are his people, but so far they cannot just serve him in the way in which he wants to be served and so he's dealing with them quite gently in their category, in their measure. But you may be chosen to something more.

The Cost of Being Mightily Used by the Lord

Something more. You know friends, the idea has been very common in Christianity that it's a great and wonderful thing to be mightily used of the Lord. Oh, it's wonderful. Oh, to be mightily used of the Lord.

Oh, to be a great evangelist. Oh, to be a great teacher. Oh, to be a great Christian worker. Great thing. Let me tell you, entirely false conception. The truth is, the truth is, that those who serve the Lord most truly go through the deep balance kept.

Like that. Balances are truly kept by God. Extra suffering, extra usefulness, little usefulness. That's how God keeps his balances. That is what is here implicit in this story. You may be having a more or less easy time.

I don't want to dishearten you by saying it may not always be so, but if you really want to be a greater use of the Lord, remember it may be by a deeper discipline of the Lord. And if you are having a particularly difficult time, most likely it's because the Lord is going to meet need more through you.