Proverbs 27:18,  Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.

I do not have a fig tree nor do I keep a fig tree..

I have tried to keep a fig tree but my fig tree keeping efforts were not successful.

Some of you remember Angie Williams.

Nancy and I kept her in our home for 11 years at the request of Mr. Williams, her father.

I don't know if our Angie keeping efforts were successful either but Mr. Williams along with giving us Angie to keep gave me three fig trees to keep.

These fig trees were imported from Mississippi and he promised that they would produce the tastiest figs this side of the Mississippi River.

But those fig trees did not know what they were in for by coming to the Opager's anti-fig tree farm.

They did not know that they were to be put into Santa Rosa County soil and that they were to be kept by a boy from the city.

They found out early on that I am not a keeper of fig trees.

I know that clearly because I no longer have those fig trees.

They are long gone from my care or better, lack of care.

Those fig trees did not stay with me long.

Those fig trees did not receive the fig tree keeping attention to which they had God given rights to expect if they were to produce figs.

Even the fig tree operates by the principle of sowing and reaping.

They will not bear fruit unless they are treated in the right way.

They are to be kept correctly if they are expected to bear fruit.

I think my fig trees just got up and left one night disgusted at the lack of keeping that they were experiencing at my home.

So I, nor my family, never ate the fruit of those fig trees and by my not eating the fruit of those fig trees I verified the fact that I was not a keeper of fig trees.

Those fig trees told me the word of God.  If any would not work, neither should he eat.

Our proverb tells us that labor is so designed by God as to be rewarded.

Conversely we can conclude that without labor there should not be reward.

1 Corinthians 9:9,10,  For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

The oxen's labor is to be rewarded.

Even the oxen ought to have hope while he is treading out the corn that some of the corn is left for him.

And he that plows ought to expect some result from the plowing.

There ought to be a hope, an expectation of reward from the labor involved in plowing.

The Bible is clear in this. God's economy is constructed so that labor is rewarded.

Ecclesiastics 5:12 tells us that,  The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

God even rewards labor with sweet sleep which may be much more valuable than the figs of a well kept fig tree.

For us to go against this principle of sowing and reaping is to go against God's economy.

We are not to reward those capable of labor who do not labor.

When we do that we deny them God prepared rewards for labor.

Paul in II Thessalonians reminds us:  that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

This is not an admonition from a mean and hard heart.

This is an admonition from a heart of love, a heart of concern for the non-laboring.

The sleep of a labouring man is sweet. Would you deny a man of sweet sleep?

God uses the principle of the fig tree to introduce the same principle in servant-master relations.

Keep a fig tree and you will be rewarded.

Wait on your master and you shall be honored.

Sowing and reaping in nature is God's principle but the same principle applies to all of God's creation.

God is consistent and his principles that we learn in nature are the same principles that he applies to us.

The principle of labor being rewarded, the principle of a laborer being worthy of his hire.

God pays good wages to the laborer.

In pays in figs to the fig tree keeper.

He pays in wool to the shepherd.

He pays in corn and wheat to the farmer

And he pays in honor to the servant who waits on his master.

Masters, listen to the word of God.

You are to honor the servant who waits on you.

Servants, listen to the word of God.

Servants you are to faithfully wait on your master.

Responsibilities for both in order to honor God's economy.

Both have a part.

Does not Christ do the same.

He pays in fruit to those who wait on Him, to those who abide in Christ.

Abiding in Christ is waiting on Christ.

Waiting on Christ is waiting on your Master.

Does the Master do nothing for the waiting or abiding servant?

Does the Master honor this principle of sowing and reaping?

Yes, of course! He is the creator.

He honors his creative principles in everything.

The Master honors the servant with the fruit of the Spirit that is gathered unto life eternal to those who wait on him, to those who abide in him as we read in:

John 4:36,  And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

All of God's creation labors and God rewards all of his creation with fruit of those labors.

That is a principle of God and we who are made in his image are obligated to live our lives by that principle.

Proverbs 27:18,  Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.

An important principle with God is, that work has its rewards. Keeping a fig tree indicates a continuous work, a faithful work.

God has made the fig tree to bear fruit for the use of those who labor in its behalf, those who perform faithful service by keeping it.

The husbandman of the fig tree gets rewarded by eating the fruit of the fig tree.

This is a principle that is true in this world and it will be true in the kingdom and it will be true in eternity.

In like manner this verse reminds us that the faithful servant that waits on his master shall also be rewarded.

A good servant is a good waiter. A good servant watches his master closely to see what the need is and responds quickly.

He does not even need to be called.

He is there when the need is first made known or he anticipates the need and reacts before being called.

And rewards are real for the servant. The servant knows that the master will reward him for faithful service.

This is right. God has so ordained this. We ought to respond to this. The anticipation of rewards ought to affect our life.

God wants us to look through eyes of faith at the rewards he has laid up for us for faithful service.

There is no shame in this. Perhaps we think that this is not a fit thought for the Christian. Perhaps we think that it is selfish, that it is greedy.

Is not looking for heavenly rewards an act of faith? Anything that you look for beyond this life is believing God.

Is it not good to believe God? Without faith it is impossible to please him!

God promises us rewards and it is right and good to believe God's promises.

Jesus said, If any man serve me, him will my Father honor.

Then picture in your mind's eye the fulfillment of Luke 12:37,  Blessed are those servants, whom the lord, when he cometh, shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth to serve them.

Is this a picture of the Lord rewarding his people by serving them at the marriage supper of the Lamb?

Jesus Christ certainly has the heart for that. He desires to reward his people and we ought not to be ashamed to think about the rewards that await faithful service.