The Vineyard of the Lord

Prayer

The Failed Vineyard

Some of you may remember my friend, Britt Davis, who served as a pastor at a church here in Hurricane years ago. Since then he’s been living in Kilgore, Texas, where in recent years he bought an old elementary school, has refurbished parts of it, and has turned it into his own winery and restaurant, specializing in pairing food and wines.

Now Britt doesn’t actually make the wine himself. Rather, he buys either grapes or leftover “juice” some larger wineries, and then has someone who mixes and bottles the wines to his specifications.

So Britt decided that even though he doesn’t actually grow his own grapes, that he should plant a vineyard on the property, so it would showcase that it is a winery. And in order to do that, he had to some serious testing of the soil because the type of soil he has there. That, along with the East Texas climate, will determine what type of grapes he can grow there, what vines he will have to use. He can’t just grow any grapes there, only select varieties.

If you’ve ever had a chance to visit a winery - or a craft brewery or distillery, it’s impressive the study and intent that’s put into making those beverages. There’s a tremendous amount of craftsmanship, of care put into making them.

We’re going to come back to this idea of a vineyard, as it’s central to what we’re going to talk about this morning. But before we do, I want to give our usual quick recap, so we’re keeping track of where we are in the story of the Old Testament. Over the last couple of weeks we made our way back into 2 Kings looking at two major events:

The first being the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC, when Hoshea was king. Israel was destroyed by the powerful Assyrian empire under the reign of Shalmaneser.

The second event, which we looked at last week, which took place around 701 BC, was the Assyrian empire under the rule of Sennacherib coming against the southern kingdom of Judah, destroying much of it. Bet Hezekiah and the people, making a final stand in the capital city of Jerusalem, pled to the Lord God for mercy, and the Lord rescued them from the Assyrians.

As we did last summer, we’re now going to pivot for a bit and move to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah is one of the four major prophets (along with Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel). The Bible also includes what we know as the twelve minor prophets - we’ve looked at a few of those already, Jonah, Amos and Hosea.

But we’re talking about Isaiah because he is the first prophet we find whom God sends during this time period, and the first one we see sent to the kingdom of Judah.

So, on to Isaiah, 1:1, The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. So, you can see that Isaiah was active as a prophet for a long time, under the reigns of four different kings of Judah - Uzziah (Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz (evil king) and Hezekiah. And we saw that last week, the Lord sent word to Hezekiah through Isaiah.

As we see in most of the writings of the prophets, they are words of warning from the Lord through his prophets, to his people (as well as to other nations, including Egypt, Assyria, Babylon - because all nations are under God’s sovereignty. He is the ruler over all kingdoms). Warnings here in Isaiah are spoken primarily against people of Judah. I want to start us in Isaiah 5, where the Lord paints a picture of the Israelites’ unfaithfulness using the image of what we began with, a vineyard.

Isaiah 5:1-2, I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.

Begins with the prophet, spokesperson, singing a song, really, a parable, about the “one I love.” Makes clear that the loved one does everything possible to make the vineyard he plants a fertile one. He choses a place with good soil. He carefully prepares it, digging it up, clearing out all the stones. He chooses the very best of vines. Then he provides protection for it, a watchtower (and as we’ll see later, a hedge).

And anticipating a good crop of grapes, he cuts out a winepress. But the good crop never comes. The grapes he expected don’t arrive - instead, the vineyard bears bad fruit. The grapes are no good, useless.

So the loved one pleads his case, Isaiah 5:3-6, “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? 5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. 6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”

So the loved one comes to the people of Judah, the dwellers in Jerusalem, and asks them to judge. Show me, if you can, what I did wrong? What else could I have done to make the vineyard grow good grapes? And if I didn’t do anything wrong, why did the vineyard not produce good grapes?

Conclusion is clear - issue isn’t with the vineyard owner, he did everything possible to have a healthy, thriving vineyard. The problem is with vineyard. So, there’s only one thing left to do - destroy it. He tells them what he’s going to do: take away the protection, quit caring for it, stop providing all the vines need. And the fact that one of the things he’s going to do is command the clouds not to rain on it gives us a clue as to who the vineyard owner is.

Finally, we get the conclusion, Isaiah 5:7, The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

The mystery is revealed - the vineyard owner, the loved one, is the Lord Almighty and the vineyard is his people, both Israel and Judah (the very ones he asked to judge!). His people are the vineyard that he delighted in - he loved them, he cared for them, he protected them, he provided for them. He did everything possible to enable them to bear good fruit.

And in spite of everything the Lord did, they bore bad fruit. Instead of justice and righteousness, they bore bloodshed and cries of distress. Instead of good, the Lord got only evil from his people.

We Are the Vineyard of the Lord

We could dwell on all the failures of the Israelites - there’s no shortage of that expressed in the book of Isaiah, but I want to go a different direction this morning. There are two things we can take from this passage, as well as other places in Scripture where we see the analogy of a vineyard used.

First thing is made explicit in Psalm 80, another place Israel is described as the vineyard of the Lord, vv. 8-11, You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. 11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea, its shoots as far as the River.

Passage goes on to ask why God allowed the destruction of his vineyard, much like he promised in Isaiah 5. And like Isaiah 5, we see here all the care and provision the Lord provided for his people, his vineyard, taking it out of Egypt, planting it in the ground that he had cleared, covering it with his shade, his protection.

But the part I want to zero in on is God transplanting his vine out of Egypt. Because this speaks to how intentional God is about where he plants his people. Beginning with calling Abraham out of his homeland to go to the land of Canaan, which he promises to give him and his descendants. God then plants Abraham’s family (his descendants, Jacob and his twelve sons) in Egypt for hundreds of year, where they grow into a nation. And where they are enslaved.

Then, as we went through the story of God’s people, he transplants them. Taking them out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and plants them in the land of Canaan. Here’s the point: God plants us where he wants us to be. And as the saying goes, grow where you’re planted. We are to grow, to bear good fruit, wherever God plants us.

God planted the Israelites in Egypt to grow them from one family to an entire nation. And notably, he planted them for the sake of Egypt as well, to save many lives - it’s under Joseph’s leadership in Egypt that they survive the seven years of famine. God plants the Israelites in Egypt to humble them, to prepare them to be his people, who know what it is to be dispossessed, treated unjustly - and at the same time, chosen and saved by God.

Then God planted them in the wilderness, so to speak, to teach the Israelites to depend solely on him. As Jesus himself quoted from Deuteronomy, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” It’s the word of the Lord, what he promises, that’s what we are to trust for life.

Finally, the Lord plants his people in the land of Canaan. There, they were to redeem the land, redeem it from the Canaanites and all the evil they engaged in. God’s purpose is to redeem the land by cultivating in it a people faithful to him, a nation who live in obedience to his word, his commands, and by doing so, be a blessing to all other nations. But as we saw, the Israelites did not bear the fruit God intended when he planted them there.

In the same way, we should trust that God has planted us where he wants us. In the community we’re in. In the neighborhoods we live in. He planted us in the family we are a part of. None of this is by accident. Now, that may change, as it did with the Israelites, but our duty is to seek to grow and bear God’s good fruit where he currently has us planted.

So the question is, how can I bear fruit here? How can I be a person who brings God’s goodness, a taste of his kingdom, where he currently has planted me? This is what Jesus meant by saying that we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world.

The goal here is for us to have this mindset, that where I am, God has planted me for his good purposes. And planted us, as a church, for his good purposes. How can I, can we, bear the goodness, beauty and truth of Jesus in my family? In this neighborhood? My school? Where I work? To have this mindset when it comes to what’s known as “the third spaces”. Group or organization you might be involved with. A gym, a hobby, a regular activity you do where you’re around the same group of people. God’s planted you there as well.

Second main idea is to trust that not only has God planted us where he wants us in order to bear good fruit, but he has provided us with all we need to bear good fruit.

Main point of Isaiah 5 was that the loved one, the Lord, did everything he could for his people, the vineyard, so that they would bear good fruit. He even brought his case before them to judge where he might have gone wrong, but it’s clear the blame lies with the vineyard, with his people.

In the same way, God provides us with all we need to bear good fruit. And as John 15 reminds us, what he provides is himself. John 15:5 - I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Jesus invites us to continually abide in him, to make our home in him. This, this is what - or, rather, who, we need in order to bear good fruit. We need Jesus and what he can give us, what he alone can provide for us.

We spent a lot of time talking about exactly this in our Spiritual Formation Group this past Wednesday evening, talking about the reality of what it means that we have a soul. Our soul is the deepest part of who we are, our founding life form, what animates us, God’s life in us. It is our connection to God. It’s what coordinates all the other aspects of who we are - our hearts, our minds, our bodies.

And our souls have deep longings. Deep needs that must be met, hungers that hit us at the deepest level. The Longing to be loved, to be wanted, to be made holy, to live a life of purpose, to be forgiven - guilt-free, to own our own story. And if those longings aren’t met, or we are harmed in significant ways (victimized, abused, go unloved), our souls will be unwell. We will never be able to bear good fruit, rather, we will bear the fruit of disdain, envy, greed, anxiety, because we will seek to meet the longings of our soul in ways that can never meet them.

Because only Jesus is big enough to meet the deepest needs of our soul. We read this quote from John Ortberg, I want to share it again: The soul’s infinite capacity to desire is the mirror image of God’s infinite capacity to give...The unlimited need of the soul matches the unlimited grace of God. The very things we must deeply need to bear good fruit, to be all God made us to be - are provided by God himself. He gives them. He gives them in Jesus. In Jesus I am wanted. In Jesus I am loved. In Jesus I am connected to God. In Jesus I am forgiven. In Jesus I am alive and empowered to adventure. In Jesus I am holy.

This is why we must abide in Jesus. Because it is only in him that we can receive all that God will freely and fully provide us so that we can be the vineyard he made us to be. So we can bear wonderful fruit in this name. Right where he planted us to be.

Spiritual Practices - As always, how do we put into practice what Jesus is teaching us, lived obedience to Jesus?

To put into practice the reality that it is God who planted us right where he wants us to be, to grow where we are planted. We put it into practice by engaging in the two types of prayers we’ve talked about before: Listening prayer - asking the Lord, Where are you at work (in me, in my family, in my neighborhood, school, etc.)? Then taking the time to listen, to be attentive to where you see God at work. Second prayer, Missionary prayer - Lord, how can I join in? What good work do you have for me here? You planted me, here, Lord, how can I bear your good fruit in this place?

To put into practice looking to Jesus as the one who provides all that we need to bear good fruit - Always, always, discipline of solitude. To make it a priority to send time alone with Jesus daily, to abide in him, reading Scripture, praying, silence. Do so with a posture of openness, readiness to receive gifts of grace our soul so deeply needs - his love, his holiness, his desire for us, his call.

Closing Prayer - Time of Reflection