Where no Oxen are the Barn is Clean
Proverbs 14-15
SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 24:45-51
INTRODUCTION:
You will notice in the parable _________________ read that the good servant did the job of overseeing other servants and making sure everyone was fed and cared for. If you’ve ever cooked for a crowd, you know that cooking is hot, messy work. And overseeing people always gets messy. It would be easier to leave the kitchen spotless, take off, and party somewhere else.
One thing that parable tells us is that serving God will not be easy, neat, and tidy. Proverbs 14:4 makes the same point in a different way: Where no oxen are, the barn is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
This is an obscure verse I’d never noticed before. But the message is an interesting one. Basically, what we see in the Proverb is a tension between the desire for a clean barn and the need for a “filled” barn. I’ve noticed, through the years, that certain tensions are always a part of church life.
· The tension between being inclusive or exclusive is one example. Are we more like a rescue station or a country club?
· Then, there’s the tension between “inreach” and outreach. How much effort should we put into discipleship and how much into evangelism? Should we focus on getting closer to each other or on bringing in new people?
· Then there’s the tension between teaching the word of God and the importance of social outreach.
In all these cases, both are needed. The secret is to find a BALANCE that includes both.
Proverbs 14:4 illustrates the tension between keeping the church organized and tidy and keeping the church full and growing.
If you want a sweet-smelling, picturesque little show-place of a barn, you’d better not put any oxen in there! On the other hand, if you want a FULL barn, you’ll get some oxen. And you’re going to have to put up with the mess they’re going to make. Clean barns are nice looking. But if you think about it, the purpose of a barn is not to be CLEAN, but to be FILLED. The best time of the year for the farmer is at the end of harvest time when the barns are full of grain. For a farmer, that’s their big ANNUAL payday!
So what does that have to do with the Ox? Well, when Proverbs was written, the ox was the farmer’s tractor. He plowed with it, he watered his crops with it, he harvested with it, he ground his flour with it. The more oxen, the more productivity!
But on the other hand, the ox was also a source of trouble to the farmer. The ox had to be fed daily, and it took a lot of feed to satisfy the appetite of the working ox. The ox had to be sheltered from the wet and cold in order to stay healthy. He had to be penned in so he didn’t wander off and get into trouble. He had to be doctored when sick or injured; and oh, the smelly mess found in the ox stall!
Do you see the tension here? Dealing with an ox is worth all the trouble if you care about filling the barn. But if what you care about is a clean barn, then by all means, get rid of the ox!
1. Symbolism of the Ox
It’s interesting to notice that the ox has special significance in scripture.
For one thing, the ox is used as an example of what it means to be a servant. An ox was not especially beautiful or entertaining. In fact, he was awkward and smelly. But an ox was always useful.
· He pulled the plow to prepare the soil for crops
· He pulled the carts to transport the produce.
· He was used to grind grain into flour.
· He was used in drawing large amounts of water from the well
· Basically, he was used for anything too hard for a human to do.
The ox is used as a metaphor for the Messiah in Isaiah 50:6. This verse says that in the same way that the ox gives his back to hard labor, the Lord’s servant will give his back to those who beat him.
And in the book of I Corinthians, Paul twice uses the ox as a symbol for the preaching ministers. (I Cor. 5:18 & 9:9 Paul says those who preach the gospel are worthy of their hire and not to be muzzled --- like the ox who treads out grain and is allowed to eat some of it in the process. (Naturally, the Ox is not the symbol I might tend to choose to illustrate the preacher. An ox is not the brightest creature on earth … But maybe that’s part of the point Paul was making …)
Well, anyway, the ox always represents power, and productivity. Our proverb reminds us “much increase is by the strength of the ox.” The ox was the ancient equivalent to the tractor, the pick up truck, the bull-dozer, the wench, and the electric motor, all wrapped up in one package. And if that wasn’t enough in itself, the ox also represents liquid capital. A healthy ox can always be sold for a good profit.
Most important of all, the ox is used as a symbol of a savior. In the Old Testament oxen were used in sacrifices as peace and sin offerings. There’s an interesting example of this in Judges 6:25-28. Gideon was told to take his father’s oxen and do two things:
1. He was to use them to break down his father’s altar to Baal,
2. And he was to sacrifice them on a new altar, to atone for his father’s sin.
So Gideon used oxen as heavy machinery to remove idols, and then used them as sacrifices to save his own father from God’s wrath.
In this way, the Ox represents two things Christ did for us on Calvary. He broke the bonds of sin and death, and he made atonement for our sin.
The ox is used to do things humans can’t do by themselves. In a similar way, Jesus accomplished something no human can do. He paid the price for sin with his redemptive work on the cross.
2. Symbolism of the Barn
While we are dealing with the symbol of the ox, we might also want to pay attention to the symbol of the barn. The Proverb reminds us “Where no oxen are, the barn is clean.”(some versions say “crib” or “manger) If you take the BARN as a symbol of life, the tension is between aesthetics and productivity. Repeating the question, “Would you rather have your barn clean or filled? Knowing what the purpose of a barn is, --- namely --- to store a big harvest, the answer should be obvious.
· Your Life
Let’s make some personal applications to your life. Too many of us waste our time looking for a “clean barn.” We want a job that gives us fulfillment, we want a marriage that is constant romance and bliss, we want children that never make a mess, or parents that always give us what we want. But let me tell you, the “clean barn” is a myth. All families have problems. All jobs are unpleasant sometimes. Life is messy! Instead of longing for the clean barn we need to look for ways to fill the barn we’ve been given.
Do you remember Erma Bombeck’s book: The grass is greener over the septic tank? That’s really true. (I used to live in a place with septic lines. You could always tell where they were by the line of taller, greener grass over the septic line.) The point is a productive life is a messy life. You might even have to resort to accepting something that is a bit smelly and messy --- like an ox --- in order to really make progress in life.
Maybe this week we can all make a resolution to be thankful for our messy tasks – the car that needs an oil change, the dishes than need to be washed, the diapers that need to be changed. Every messy job you have to do this week proves one thing. It proves you’re alive well, and living on planet earth. Matt.24, 46-47 tells us “It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.” Part of watching for the return of Christ means completing the tasks --- big and small, clean and messy --- that the Lord has given us to do. That is the good servant, who will be ready when the Master returns.
But it will not be good for the wicked servant who mistreats the other servants and gets drunk on his master’s wine. He will be drawn and quartered, and end up in Hell --- pretty severe punishment for failing to take care of business. This Parable shows how important it is to take care of the responsibilities the Lord has given. Those jobs may seem trivial or bothersome to us. But the good and faithful servant does whatever it takes, day after day, to serve his Master. The good and faithful servant may not always have a CLEAN barn, but in the end, he’ll have a FULL barn.
· The Church
I think the barn of Proverbs 14:4 can also be a symbol of the church. It’s human nature to want the church to be a constant “sanctuary” --- a place of peace, tranquility, and beauty. We want the services to be smooth and perfect. We want the facilities to be attractive and spotless. We want the people to talk in quiet voices and always get along.
But that’s just not the way it is in a living and active congregation. Nor is it what God intends. The only way to have a neat, spic-n-span, tranquil, church is to have an empty church. Because PEOPLE (have you noticed) are MESSY.
One summer during my college years, I was an intern for a church in Kansas that had a booming children’s and youth program. While I was there, they had remodeled their parlor to make it more beautiful for the women’s group to use. Since the hall in front of it was the way kids went to their youth rooms, the kids tended to hang around and look into the room. It was pretty impressive! So the ladies decided to padlock the door. After all, they didn’t want kids to be tempted to come in and mess up their beautiful parlor.
In the years after that, I kept track of things that were going on in that church. I heard that one day someone forgot to lock that parlor door. Some kids went in and bounced around on the furniture and broke a lamp. Well, the women’s group had an emergency meeting and decided that they would pay to have a new entrance made for the children’s department. From that time on, the children entered from an outside entrance and were banned from ever stepping foot in the wing of the church where the parlor stood.
But things didn’t stop there. They also padlocked the kitchen, the office suite, and a few other parts of the church in order to protect them from those messy kids. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that within 2 years their booming children’s and youth programs had dwindled to almost nothing. The parlor was clean, tidy, beautiful … and usually empty. As it turned out, the children’s classrooms were also clean and tidy … and usually empty. In the tension between CLEAN and FILLED, clean won, and the church lost sight of its purpose.
Conclusion:
PEOPLE are the church’s business --- because PEOPLE are God’s business. Jesus died so that PEOPLE could have a relationship with Him. Messy, loud, troublesome, PEOPLE.
So as God’s servants, we enter into people business --- a business that is sometimes messy, and loud, and frustrating, unnerving, unpredictable, … did I say frustrating?
And we need patience, longsuffering staying-power, a good sense of humor, tons of grace and forgiveness, ability to like the unlikable, the Holy Spirit’s guidance --- and the Agape love of Jesus.
And who knows, maybe even an ox or two.
