10/04/2011
Author: John Powell
God has emotions? I mean expectations and disappointments? Yes. And I think it is good for us to enter His world and see what His passion is aimed at so we can get perspective on what is important in these difficult days. For if we get the right perspective we can handle the challenges of tough times, knowing we are lined up with Him, going where He is going.
“Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!”
(Isaiah 5:1-4,7 ESV)
Isaiah calls it “my love song concerning his vineyard…” God risked His love on His people. And when we love and don’t receive love back, it hurts. It even hurts God.
“he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.”
God has real expectations. Legitimate ones. When we don’t see our expectations fulfilled, we get disappointed. What we have invested has been lost. Wasted maybe. When God pours out His grace and gives us everything we need to flourish in His vineyard and we spend it on ourselves and don’t produce, it hurts Him. It should hurt us, too.
In Mark 12:1-11, Jesus puts Himself back into this vineyard story Israel would have been familiar with. He’s the one who shows up to try to get the harvest back on track. He too is shamefully treated. Still no fruit.
But then He comes through with still more grace. In John 15 He tells us that He is the actual vine and we are the branches. The fruit bearing won’t take place in isolation from the life of the loving husbandman. He won’t just lavish on the vineyard gracious care. He actually becomes the vine through which the nutrients flow into the fruit.
And just when it seemed there was no more grace available as Isaiah 5 lamented, God comes through with another offer. This is a whole new kind of grace. That’s why Hebrews is so concerned with us if we are to set this last offer aside and ignore to bearing fruit.
We bear fruit by being channels of His grace moving though us. It is His power flowing through us that causes fruit in life and ministry.
Warren Wiersbe summarizes John 15: “The secret of living is fruit bearing … the secret of fruit bearing is abiding … the secret of abiding is obeying … and the secret of obeying is loving.”
Loving God back, allowing Him to work through us as we abide in Him is the most important thing we can do. He wants to share His kingdom and glory with us. He wants to display us to the world as His children (Rom. 8) and He wants His joy to be in us so our joy will be full. (John 15:11)
This is the most important investment we can make in these uncertain days. It has guaranteed fruit.
