It's About The Fruit, Duh!
- The Bald Believer
- Jul 10, 2020
- 3 min read
Psalm 80:7–13
7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, And cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. 8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: Thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. 9 Thou preparedst room before it, And didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. 10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, And the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. 11 She sent out her boughs unto the sea, And her branches unto the river. 12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, So that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? 13 The boar out of the wood doth waste it, And the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
Why would someone plant a vineyard?
For the fruit, duh!
The planter wants grapes, bunches of plump, juicy, sweet tasting grapes.
In today’s reading the psalmist compares Israel to a vineyard. He points out that God had taken the nation out of Egypt and planted it.
Psalm 80:8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: Thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
He blessed and cared for his vineyard and allowed it to prosper and grow but then he allowed all that labor to seemingly go to waste and be destroyed. He asks a question worth researching.
Psalm 80:12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, So that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?
Why go to all that effort of planting and caring for a vineyard only to allow it’s hedges to be torn down? Why let a vineyard go to waste?
I believe the prophet Isaiah has the answer.
Isaiah 5:1–2 1Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, And planted it with the choicest vine, And built a tower in the midst of it, And also made a winepress therein: And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, And it brought forth wild grapes.
Why would God allow that vineyard to be removed and all that effort go to waste?
It wasn’t producing fruit, at least not good fruit. Instead of sweet grapes it produced sour.
Why would someone plant a vineyard? For the grapes, duh!
Why should someone continue to invest time and resources in a vineyard that produces bad fruit? DUH, He shouldn’t!
Our Lord Jesus compared himself and his people to a vineyard.
John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
He told us that he is not satisfied with us not bearing the intended fruit. He has said that he would prune and take away the fruitless branches.
John 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
He warned that he will eventually remove the branches that do not produce good fruit.
John 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
But how can I bear fruit? How can I remain productive and bring some return from all of his investment? Thankfully, he told us the answer to that question.
John 15:4–5 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
How can we bear fruit? Abiding is the answer. We must stay close to Christ and allow his life to flow through us. Grow close to Jesus through prayer and his word and watch the fruit produce!
Why would someone plant a vineyard? For the Fruit, duh!
Why would someone remove a vineyard despite lots of investment? It isn’t producing fruit, duh!
If the vineyard could ponder, why wouldn’t the vineyard not want to produce, remain profitable and worth continued investment?
I can’t answer that question, because it is a rhetorical question, duh!
There is no good reason to not produce.
So, let’s stay close to Christ and give our Master some return on investment, duh!
For a funny story in relation to this topic follow this link. (Warning, if you are the super stuffy type then you might get offended)
Here are my readings
7/10/20
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