Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Old Testament Lesson just read, from Isaiah 5. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- It is really hard for us to get a proper perspective on things. We encounter and confront all kinds of challenges and difficulties in life, and have numerous responsibilities. We think of all these things as being within our control, things that we have to get done, get accomplished, and determine the outcome of. Others around us also place this burden and responsibility upon us and hold us accountable.
- Then we look at what has been done, what we have been able to accomplish, and we consider that what we have has come to us by the sweat of our brow – our skill, our determination, and our hard work. As a result, we tend not to see God’s blessing, or perhaps to discount God’s hand in what we are able to do and accomplish.
- This makes it impossible for us to lead “A FRUITFUL LIFE,” for without grasping and understanding God’s great love for us and His blessings we have no proper sense of our dependency upon Him and our obligations to Him. Without a sense of what is owed to God we consider ourselves free to pretty much do whatever we want. Many people think that they have the right to live however they see fit since it was their toil and labor that got them what they have.
- In our text, the prophet Isaiah contemplates this problem – which was rife and prevalent in Israel. He speaks for God in inquiring as to the status of the fruit coming from His vineyard – which is identified as “the house of Israel,” the Old Testament Church. And the same concern and inquiry is also applicable to us today – the New Testament Church, God’s “vineyard” in the world today! We see in our text that:
I. A Truly Fruitful Life Begins With Recognizing God’s Goodness And Grace
A. We Must First Understand And Acknowledge That God Gives Us All Things
Text: “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.”
B. The Good Things That God Gives To Us Includes Not Only All Earthly Blessings, But Also His Gracious Love And Mercy In Christ Jesus
1. For we have no proper righteousness personally, of our own making
Epistle: Phil. 3:4-9 “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law.”
2. But God has given us the righteousness of Christ, a perfect righteousness, through faith in Christ, as His gift to us – and this is the vineyard, the kingdom of God
Epistle: Phil. 3:9 “Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”
Statement: Rather than thinking that all depends on us, we must first recognize that all comes from God. He put us in His vineyard. He made sure we have fertile soil, arable and fully prepared to be productive. Even when we brought forth “wild grapes,” and we might think “sour grapes,” He provided us with forgiveness and salvation in His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus. He has given us “righteousness,” and through the gift of faith He has given us eternal life.
Application: Now what should come from this – if we recognize everything that God has done for us in Christ? Gratitude, thankfulness, humility, repentance, joyful faith and trust in God’s goodness, mercy, and love, and behavior that does not flow from doubt, or from a sense of privilege and entitlement. Then we will not have pride to think that God owes us, and that we have merits stored up so that we can do what we want. Rather, living in a keen recognition of His love and blessings, we will consider how best to thank and honor God in how we live. And this is especially true when we remember His gracious mercy, forgiveness, and love.
Transition: And this is what Isaiah is driving at in our text, and what God wants us to consider, for:
II. This Vineyard, The Kingdom Of God, Has Its Own Proper Fruit
A. That Fruit Is Not Continued Commitment To Sin And Violence
Text: “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!”
B. The Fruit Cannot Be Self-Righteousness And Arrogance
Text: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish.”
C. But Rather The Fruit Is Zeal In Christ, Eagerness To Be Like Him
1. So that He is the priority of our lives
Epistle: Phil. 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I might attain the resurrection of the dead.”
2. So that everything else becomes rubbish
Epistle Phil. 3:8 “I count them as rubbish.”
3. And so we press on to perfection
Epistle: Phil. 3:12 “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Statement: This is the truly “FRUITFUL LIFE” that God has planted us in His vineyard to produce. It is a life of love, God’s love for us, and a corresponding love for God – prioritizing His will. It begins with His goodness and kindness, it continues in our humble repentance and gratitude, and this moves and compels not violence and outcry – perish such thinking – but yields the fruit of peacefulness, joy, true goodness, kindness, and love.
Application: It is a question that God well knows the answer to: “When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?” We should know the answer as well – and confess our sin in humility and repentance. Then we can return to the loving provision He has made for our fruitfulness – His gracious mercy and forgiveness.
The alternative is not good: “I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.” But this is not God’s will for us!
Conclusion: So let us allow His Word to continue pruning and hoeing us, and His love to continue fertilizing our hearts – so that we grow in our zeal to lead “A FRUITFUL LIFE.” God grant it to us all in abundance, Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.