Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Is 5:1-7; Jn 15:1-8

Theme: There is judgement for God's vineyard

Doctrine: final judgement

Image: vineyard

Need: repentance

Message: repent and bear good fruit

 

*Judgement for a Vineyard*

Is 5:1-7

/I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.

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.

“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

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?

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.

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.”

The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight.

And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress./

I do not know what it is about a vineyard that has always attracted me, but I have always wanted to live on one.

There is something about the idea of waking up in the morning to seeing the sun come up over the rows and rows of grape vines stretching up the hill behind the villa.

There is something about a wine cellar lined floor to ceiling with oak barrels full of delicious, perfectly aged wine.

I think the idea is attractive somewhat because of what is usually associated with a vineyard.

A vineyard owner is looked up at with some respect, I think.

They are endowed with an air of authority on things which they may have no clue about.

Making wine seems to have a kind of magical allure, as if someone had to have special powers to grow grapes and make wine.

In some respects, I suppose this is true.

Making wine is not the easiest thing to do.

I have had friends who have tried to make their own wine, and it often turned out to taste more like vinegar than wine.

Instead of a clear fruitiness that makes your taste buds tingle, there is a sharp tanginess that makes your eyes water.

The other day I decided to have a look at what a proper vineyard might cost.

I had always thought that a decent sized vineyard should be somewhere around 10 acres.

Not much, I know, but this would be more of a hobby anyway.

Well, I looked up the Ontario Agriculture website and low and behold, they have a section on the establishment and production costs for grapes in Southern Ontario.

I began looking at the Cabernet Franc.

The ministry has a detailed outline of the costs that would be incurred to set up a vineyard.

The pre-planting year costs would be just under $4000~/acre.

This includes; 

plowing - $40~/acre

land preparation (leveling, etc.) - $700~/acre

tile drainage - $2727~/acre

The planting year costs would be just under $12 000~/acre.

This includes;

grape vines – $3025~/acre

trellis – $5126~/acre

training – $726~/acre

The next three years would cost about 4000~/acre each.

The final, and fourth year after the planting is when the harvest would begin to offset the costs and one could expect to break even that year.

This means that the total establishment costs for a 10 acre vineyard would be $273 900, and this does not include the cost of the land!

I think I'll stick to preaching, a vineyard is too expensive.

Isaiah tells us a story about a person who decides to build himself a vineyard.

/“My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside./

/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.”/

(Is 5:1b-2a)

Now, look at the effort and care that is put into the creation of this vineyard.

The owner picks out a magnificent plot of land on a south facing hillside.

Perfectly positioned to make the fullest use of the golden rays of sunlight.

He checks to make sure that the ground is fertile.

He meticulously turns the soil and picks up all the stones.

He hand selects only the choicest of vines and gently places each one in the verdant soil.

He builds a watchtower in the middle of the vineyard to watch for enemies and pests.

He digs a winepress into the side of the hill in anticipation of the rich harvest of delectable grapes which his newly created vineyard would produce.

But then, /“Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.”/

(Is 5:2b)

The owner of the vineyard is rightly enraged.

Imagine putting all of that time and money into something, only to have it flop completely.

Spending over a quarter of a million dollars on a 10 acre vineyard, waiting for four years for it to begin to produce a good crop, then going out among the rows of vines trained to the trellis, reaching under a leaf and plucking a large cluster of fruit from the vine.

The saliva fills his mouth with the anticipation as he pulls one of the grapes from the cluster, and pop it in his mouth.

Imagine the confusion he is feeling as a horrid and incredibly sour liquid bursts from the grape into his mouth.

Then, the anger and outrage begins to mount as he goes from trellis to trellis, from vine to vine, pulling off a grape and discovering the same disgusting and revolting fact about each and every one.

Listen to his scream of protest.

/“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, /

/judge between me and my vineyard.

/

/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?”/ (Is 5:3-4)

Well, you can picture the people of Jerusalem and Judah judiciously shaking there heads.

“No, you are right.”

They would say.

“There is nothing more that could have been done.

There is no real reason the crop failed.

It had everything going for it, and yet it did not produce what it was supposed to.

It sure is too bad.”

So, in a measured and decided tone, the master of the vineyard reveals his judgement for his vineyard.

/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.

/

/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.”/

(Is 5:5-6)

Here, the master of the vineyard is revealed.

There is only one person who is powerful enough to command the clouds not to rain.

There is only one person who has control over nature, and that is its creator.

The master of the vineyard is the Lord Almighty.

And /“[t]he vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight.

And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.”/

(Is 5:7)

Oh, dear.