The Vineyard

“Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?”

John 15:1  “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Psalms 80:8     You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.  You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.  The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.  It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River.  Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?  The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.  Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,  the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.  They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face!  But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!  Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!  Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Isaiah 5:1     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?

Jeremiah 12:10     Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my portion; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

Do you see the image of Christ and those who believe and those who don’t?  See the question, “What more was there to do, that I have not done? ”  Put this into context with these verses;  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”  The choice vine is Christ.  What more could He do to redeem and give people new life, eternal hope, lasting peace, courage, peace, and strength for life this side of eternity?  It seems as though we choose to live in the vineyard but want nothing to do with producing fruit worthy of the vine to which it is planted.  To live like this is a lie to ourselves.  This lie is fueled by neglect and complacency and almost total void of God’s word applied in the heart and mind of the grapes it is intended to produce.   Living this side of eternity is not a game to something to be taken lightly.  God want’s all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our soul for the purpose of humbly serving, honoring, following and obeying Him. 

Our Time

John 7:6  Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.

Ecclesiastes 3:1     For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:  a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;  a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;  a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;  a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;  a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;  a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;  a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.  What gain has the worker from his toil?  I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.  He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.  I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;  also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.  I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.

This scripture is written to teach the unsatisfying nature of worldly pleasures and attainments unless God rules the heart and life. The great lesson is “that man’s true wisdom lies in fearing God and looking forward to the judgment.” Do you see how it is describing the different seasons and facets of life. Though there are good things in life, the bad things can’t be escaped. Yet it reminds us of the  of the relentless of life and shows us the need to take full advantage of the time God has given us. Though God has given man a longing for and awareness of eternity, God has not revealed very much about His eternal work. This keeps the yearning for eternity alive in the heart of man as a yet-to-be-fulfilled longing.  We have an awareness but limited understanding, a longing to know but never quite able to grasp.  Our time this side of eternity sometimes does not seem to have purpose.  In reality our purpose is to live this side of eternity with the single purpose of humbly serving, honoring, following and obeying God.  Live happens, don’t let it happen outside of this purpose serving Him with your whole heart, mind and soul.