The Principal Wheat

The farmer sows the principal wheat, giving chief care to what matters most. So must we in life: identify the greatest good—salvation, holiness, and Christ—and devote our minds, hearts, and actions to cultivating it above all else.

“The principal wheat.” Isaiah 28:25 The prophet mentions it as a matter of wisdom on the part of the farmer, that he knows what is the principal thing to cultivate, and makes it his chief care. The text, with the connection, runs thus: “Does not the farmer sow the principal wheat?” He does not go to the granary and take out wheat, and cummin, and barley, and rye, and scatter these about carelessly, but he estimates the value of each grain, and arranges them in his mind accordingly. He does not think that cummin and caraway, which he grows merely to flavor his meal, are of half such importance as his bread-corn; and, though rye and barley have their value, yet he does not consider even these equal to what he calls “the principal wheat.” He is a man of judgment; he arranges things; he places the most important crop in the front rank, and spends upon it the most care.

Here let us learn a lesson. Do keep things clear in your minds—not mixed and muddled by careless thought. Do not live a confused life, without care and discretion, running everything together; but sort things out, and divide and distinguish between the precious and the worthless. See what this is worth, and what the other is worth, and set your matters in rank and order, making some of them principal, and others of them secondary. I suggest to you young people especially that, in starting life, you say to yourselves, “What shall we live for? There is a principal thing for which we ought to live; what shall it be?” Have you really considered that question, or have you gone at it at random? What are you living for? What is your principal aim? Is it to be that of the old gentleman in Horace who said to his boy, “Get money; get it honestly, if you can; but, by all means, get money”? Will you be a money-maker? Shall money be your principal corn?

Or will you choose a life of pleasure—“a short life and a merry one,” as so many fools have said to their deep regret? Is it in dissipation that your life is to be spent? Are thistles to be your principal crop? Because there is a certain pleasure in looking at a Scotch thistle, do you intend to grow acres of pleasurable vice? And will you make your bed upon them when you come to die? Search and see what is worthy to be the principal object in life; and, when you have found it, then ask the Holy Spirit to help you to choose that one thing, and to give all your powers and faculties to cultivating it. The farmer, who finds that wheat ought to be his principal crop, makes it so, and directs his efforts with that end in view; learn from this to have a main object, and to give your whole mind to it.

This farmer was wise, because he counted that to be principal which was most necessary. His family could do without cummin, which was only a flavoring. Perhaps the mistress might complain, or the cook might grumble, but that did not matter so much as it would if the children cried for bread. They certainly must have wheat, for bread is the staff of life. It is bread that strengthens man’s heart, and therefore the farmer must grow wheat if he grows nothing else. What is necessary he regarded as the principal thing. Is not this simple common sense? If we were wisely to sit down and consider, should we not say, “To have my sins forgiven, to be right with God, to be holy, to be fit to live eternally in heaven, is the greatest and most necessary thing for me, and therefore I will make it the principal object of my pursuit”? A creature cannot be satisfied unless he is fulfilling the purpose for which he was created; and the purpose of every intelligent creature is first, to glorify God, and next, to enjoy God. What a joy it must be to enjoy God himself for ever and ever! Other things may be desirable, but this one thing is necessary. A sufficient income, a measure of respect among men, a degree of health—all these are the flavoring of life; but to be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation is life itself. Jesus Christ is the bread by which our soul’s best life is sustained. Oh, that we were all wise enough to feel that to be one with Christ is the one thing necessary; that to be at peace with God is the principal thing; that to be brought into harmony with the Most High is the true music of our being. Other herbs may take their place in proper order, but grace is the principal wheat, and we must cultivate it.

This farmer was wise, because he made that the principal thing which was most fit to be so. Of course, barley is useful as food, for nations have lived on barley bread, and lived healthily too; and rye has been the nourishment of millions; neither have they starved on oats and other grains.

Still, give me a piece of wheaten bread, for it is the best support for life’s journey. This farmer knew that wheat was the most suitable food for man, and so he did not put the inferior grain, which might serve as a substitute, into the prominent place; but he gave his wheat the preference. He did not say, “the principal barley,” or “the principal rye,” much less “the principal cummin,” or “the principal fitches,” but “the principal wheat.”

And what is there, brethren, that is so fit for the heart, the mind, the soul of man, as to know God and his Christ? Other mental foods, such as the fruits of knowledge and the delights of science, excellent though they may be, are inferior nourishment and unsuitable to build up the inner man.

In my God and my Saviour, I find my heaven and my all. My soul feeds on a crumb of truth about Jesus, and finds deep satisfaction in living upon it. The more we know God, and enjoy God, and become like God, and the more Christ is our daily bread, the more we perceive the fitness of all this for our new-born natures. O beloved, make that your principal object which is the fittest pursuit of an immortal mind.

“Religion is the chief concern Of mortals here below; May I its great importance learn, Its sovereign virtue know!” “More needful this than glittering wealth, Or aught the world bestows; Not reputation, food, or health, Can give us such repose.”

Moreover, this farmer was wise, because he made that the principal thing which was most profitable. Under certain circumstances, in our own country, wheat is not the most profitable crop a man can grow; but ordinarily, it is the best crop the earth yields, and therefore the text speaks of “the principal wheat.” Our grandfathers used to rely upon the wheat stack to pay their rent. They looked to their corn as the source of their strength; and though it may not be so now, it was so of old, and perhaps it may yet be so again.

In any case, the illustration holds true with regard to true religion. That is the most profitable thing.

I am told that rich men find it very hard to secure anything that yields five percent nowadays; but this blessed fear of the Lord is an extraordinarily profitable investment, for it does not yield a hundred percent, or a thousand percent, but a man begins with nothing and all things become his by faith.

Being freely forgiven of our sins, we are by overflowing grace greatly enriched, so that we count among our possessions heaven itself, Christ himself, God himself. All things are ours. Oh, what a blessed crop to sow! What a harvest comes from it! Godliness is profitable for the present life, and for the life to come. Godliness is a blessing to a man’s body—it keeps him from drunkenness and vice; and it is a blessing to his soul—it makes him gentle and pure. It is a blessing to him in every way. If I had to die like a dog, I would prefer to live like a Christian. If there were no hereafter, still, for comfort and joy, give me the life of one who strives to live like Christ. There is a practical everyday truth in the verse— “’It is religion that can give Sweetest pleasures while we live; ’It is religion must supply Solid comfort when we die.” Only that religion must not be of the common sort; it must have as its root a sincere faith in Jesus Christ. See to it. Our religion must be either everything or nothing, either first or nowhere. Make it “the principal wheat,” and it will richly repay you.

II. Secondly, the husbandman is a lesson to us because he gives this principal thing the principal place. I find that the Hebrew is rendered by some eminent scholars, "He puts the wheat into the principal place." That little handful of cummin for the wife to flavor the cakes with he grows in a corner; and the various herbs he places in their proper borders. The barley he sets in its plot, and the rye in its acre; but if there is a good bit of rich soil—the best he has—he appropriates it to the principal wheat. He gives his choicest fields to that which is to be the main means of his living.

Now, here is a lesson for you and for me. Let us give to true godliness our principal powers and abilities. Let us give to the things of God our best and most intense thought.

I pray you, do not take religion at second hand from what I tell you, or from what somebody else tells you; but think it over. Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the word of God. The thoughtful Christian is the growing Christian. Remember, the service of God deserves our first consideration and endeavor. We are poor things at our prime, but we ought to give the Lord nothing short of our best. God would not have us serve him heedlessly, but he would have us use all the brain and intellect and mind that we have in studying and practicing his word. "Acquaint now yourself with him, and be at peace" (Job 22:21). "Meditate on these things; give yourself wholly to them" (1 Timothy 4:15). If your mind is more clear and active at one time than at another, then sow the principal wheat. If you feel more fresh and more inclined to think at one time of the day than at another, let your mind then go towards the best things.

Be sure, also, to yield to this subject your most earnest love. The best field in the little estate of manhood is not the head, but the heart; sow the principal wheat there. Oh, to have true religion in the heart; to love what we know—intensely to love it; to hold it fast as with the grip of life and death—never to let it go! The Lord says, "My son, give me your heart" (Proverbs 23:26, ESV), and he will not be contented with anything less than our heart. Oh, when your zeal is most burning, and your love is most fervent, let the warmth and the fervency all go towards the Lord your God, and to the service of him who has redeemed you with his precious blood. Let the principal wheat have the principal part of your nature. Towards God and his Christ also turn your most fervent desires. When you enlarge your desire, desire Christ; when you become ambitious let your ambition be all for God. Let your hunger and your thirst be after righteousness. Let your aspirations and your longings be all towards holiness, and the things that shall make you like to Christ. Give to this principal wheat your principal desires.

Then let the Lord have the attentive respect of your life. Let the principal wheat be sown in every action. If we are truly Christians we must be as much Christians outside the church as in it. We shall try to make our eating and our drinking, and everything we do, tend to the glory of God.

Draw no line between the secular and the religious part of your conduct, but let the secular be made religious by a devout desire to glorify God in the one as much as in the other (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Let us worship God in the commonest duties of life, even as they do who stand before his throne.

So it ought to be. Let us sow the principal wheat in all the fields of our conversation, in business, in the family, among our friends, and with our children.

May we each one feel, "For me to live is Christ. I cannot live without Christ, or for anything but Christ" (Philippians 1:21, ESV). Let your whole nature yield itself to Jesus, and to none else.

We should give to this principal wheat our most earnest labors. We should spend ourselves for the spread of the gospel. A Christian man ought to lay himself out to serve Jesus. I hate to see a professing man zealous in politics and lukewarm in devotion; all on fire at a parish vestry, and chill as winter when he comes to a prayer-meeting. Some fly like eagles when they are serving the world, but they have a broken wing in the service of God. This should not be. If anything could rouse us up, and make the lion within us roar in his strength, it should be when we confront the foes of Jesus or fight in his cause. Our Lord's service is the principal wheat; let us labor most in connection with it.

This, I think, should also take possession of us so as to lead to our greatest sacrifices. The love of Christ ought to be so strong as to swallow up self, and make sacrifice our daily joy. For Christ's name's sake we should be willing to endure poverty, reproach, slander, exile, death. Nothing should be dear to a Christian in comparison with Christ. Now, I will put it to you whether it is so or no. Is the love of Jesus the principal wheat with us? Are we giving our religion the chief place or not? I am afraid some people treat religion as certain gentlemen treat an off-hand farm; they put a bailiff into it, and only give an eye to it now and then. Their minister is the bailiff, and they expect him to see to it for them. These off-hand farms are losing concerns.

Look at these half-and-half brethren. They have religion? Certainly. But they are like the man of whom the child spoke at the Sunday-school. "Is your father a Christian?" said the teacher. "Yes," said the child, "but he has not worked much at it lately." I could point out several of this sort, who are sowing their wheat very sparingly, and choosing the most barren patch to sow it in. They profess to be Christians, but religion is a tenth-rate article on their farm. Some have a large acreage for the world, and a poor little plot for Christ. They are growers of worldly pleasure and self- indulgence, and they sow a little religion by the roadside for appearance’s sake. This will not do.

God will not thus be mocked (Galatians 6:7). If we despise him and his truth we shall be lightly esteemed. O come, let us give our principal time, talent, thought, effort to that which is the chief concern of immortal spirits. May we imitate the husbandman who gives the principal wheat the principal place in his farm.

III. Let us learn a third lesson. The husbandman selects the principal seed-corn when he is sowing his wheat. When a farmer is setting aside wheat for sowing, he does not choose the tail corn and the worst of his produce, but if he is a sensible man he likes to sow the best wheat in the world.

Many farmers search the country round for a good sample of wheat for sowing, for they do not expect to get a good harvest out of bad seed. The husbandman is taught of God to put into the ground "the principal wheat." Let me learn that if I am going to sow to the Lord and be a Christian, I should sow the best kind of Christianity.

I should try to do this, first, by believing the weightiest doctrines. I would believe not this "ism," nor that, but the unadulterated truth which Jesus taught; for a holy character will only grow by the Spirit of God out of true doctrine. Falsehood breeds sin; truth begets and fosters holiness. You and I therefore ought to select our seed carefully, and cast out all error. If we are wise we shall think most of the most important truths, for I have known people attach the greatest importance to the smallest things. They fight over the fitches, and leave the wheat to the crows. As for me, those who will may dispute over vials and trumpets; I shall mainly preach the doctrine of the precious blood and the glorious truths of substitution and atonement. These doctrines are the principal wheat, and therefore these shall have my choice.

Next to that, we ought to sow the noblest examples. Many men are dwarfed because they choose a bad model to start with. They imitate dear old Mr. So-and-so till they grow wonderfully like him with the best of him left out. A minister happens to be of a gloomy turn of mind, and he preaches the deep experience of the children of God, and in consequence a band of good people think it their duty to be melancholy. Why need they fall into a ditch because their leader has splashed himself?

We should never copy any man's infirmities. To be like Paul there is no need to have weak eyes; to be like Thomas there is no necessity to doubt. If you copy any good man, there is a point at which you ought to stop short. If I must have a human model, I would prefer one of the bravest of the saints of God; but oh how much better to follow that perfect pattern which you have in Christ Jesus!

We should sow the best wheat by seeing that we have the purest spirit. Alas! how soon do spirits become soiled by self or pride, or despondency or sloth, or some earthly taint. But what a grand thing it is to live in the spirit of Christ! May we be humble, lowly, bold, self-sacrificing, pure, chaste, and holy.

And then, there is one more mode of sowing selected seed. We should endeavor to live in the closest communion with God. A dear brother prayed just now that we might have as much grace as we were capable of receiving, and that God would bring us into such a state that we might not hinder him in anything which he willed to do by us. This is a good prayer. It should be our desire to rise to the highest form of spiritual life. If you sow this principal wheat, get the best sort of it.

There is a spirit and a spirit; and there are doctrines and doctrines; the best is the best for you. O young men, if you mean to have piety, go in for it thoroughly. Do not sneak through the world as if you were ashamed of your Lord. If you are Christ's, show your colors. Rally to his banner, gather to his trumpet call, and then stand up, stand up for Jesus. If there is any manhood in you, this great cause calls for it all; exhibit it, and may the Spirit of God help you so to do.

IV. Fourthly, the husbandman grows the principal wheat with the principal care. Some critics say that the proper translation is that the husbandman plants his wheat in rows. It is said that the large crops in Palestine in olden times were due to the fact that they planted the wheat. They set it in lines so that it was not checked or suffocated by being too thick in one place, neither was there any fear of its being too thin in another. The wheat was planted, and then streams of water were turned by the foot to each particular plant. No wonder, therefore, that the land brought forth abundantly.

This is a lesson for us. We must not give a careless, half-hearted attention to the things of God.

The principal wheat requires careful cultivation—our hearts, minds, and lives must be deliberately trained for holiness. As it is written, “And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it” (Matthew 13:7). Let us avoid sowing the best of our hearts in a distracted, worldly manner, or we shall find our fruitfulness choked.

Just as the husbandman waters each row, so must we nurture every part of our spiritual life. “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown” (Matthew 13:23). The care we give to our principal wheat—our devotion to Christ, our love for God, our obedience—determines the abundance of the harvest. Do not neglect the principal; give your best thought, your deepest love, your strongest efforts, to the cultivation of your soul in Christ.

Let the principal wheat have the principal care in your life. Let your heart, mind, and conduct all be devoted to God. Sow diligently, water faithfully, guard carefully. Then you will see the blessing of a fruitful harvest, and your life will yield abundantly to God’s glory.

We should give our main attention to the most important thing. Our godliness should be carried out with care and thoughtfulness. Brothers, are we careful enough in our spiritual walk? Have you examined the depth of your profession? Why are you a member of a particular church? Because your mother was? That is some reason, but it is not enough to justify you before God. I urge you to honestly assess your standing. If any Christian minister is afraid to call you to this duty, I question him. I am not afraid. I ask you to examine everything I teach, for I do not want to be responsible for another man’s beliefs. Like the Bereans, check and see whether these things are true according to Scripture (Acts 17:11).

One of the greatest blessings for the church would be a spirit of inquiry that tests everything against the Word of God. If people speak contrary to Scripture, it is because there is no light in them. Serve God as carefully as an Eastern farmer planted his wheat, placing it in orderly rows with care and precision. You serve a precise God, so serve Him precisely. He is a jealous God, so be careful to avoid even the smallest error or form of self-worship (Exodus 20:5).

Also, water every part of your spiritual life as the farmer waters each plant. Pray for grace from above, so that no part of your faith, hope, or love ever dries up. Serve each part of your soul as a farmer serves his wheat. Make grace your main concern, for it deserves it.

With this I conclude: focus on this, because from it you can expect your main harvest. If religion is the most important thing, you can expect your main reward from it. The harvest will come in various ways. You will achieve the greatest success in life if you live wholly for God’s glory.

Success or failure depends largely on the focus of our efforts. It is useless for me to try to conduct a choir—I am not made for that—but I may succeed in preaching, because that is my calling.

Christian, if you live for the world, you will not prosper, for you are not made for it. Grace has made you unsuitable for sin. If you live for God with all your heart, you will succeed, because God made you for this purpose. Just as He made the fish for water and the birds for air, He made the believer for holiness and for serving Him. You will be out of your element, like a fish out of water or a bird in the stream, if you abandon God’s service. The Eastern farmer’s success depends on his wheat; yours depends on your devotion to God. Look to godliness for your joy. Is there any happiness like knowing you are in Christ and loved by the Lord? It is in your faith that you will find comfort on a sick and dying bed, and that time may come soon.

In the life to come, what a harvest will result from serving the Lord! What does the world give?

Only smoke. A man may make a million dollars and die—what has he gained? A man’s fame may spread across the earth, yet he dies—what remains? Living for the world is like children playing in the street for coins or shells. Life for God is real and lasting; everything else is waste. Let us remember this and dedicate ourselves to serving the Lord. May the Spirit help us to sow the “principal wheat” and live in joyful expectation of reaping a harvest, as promised: “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy” (Psalm 126:5).