After a recent trip, I have found a new appreciation for wine and its source….the grape. Each night of our trip, my wife and I had dinner with our friend Marti, who is an expert on fine wine. I quickly realized that wine making is extremely complex. There are many important factors: the
origin of the grape, the soil, the geography, pruning the vines,
adequate sunlight, and just enough rain fall; then comes the harvest. The grapes are picked when they are perfectly ripe and you would think they are ready for use, but no, they're ready for juice! That's right, they're crushed and the liquid is poured into bottles, corked and sealed. Then they are hidden in darkness, usually a wine cellar. Often this process takes years and then when the wine has "come of age" it is ready for use. There are no short cuts. To speed the process would create a bitter inferior wine.... seems the same process holds true in God's vineyard. Chances are you are experiencing one of the following conditions:
1. The pruning
2. The crushing
3. The splendid isolation (wine cellar)
Though all three are painful, the most difficult stage for me has been the splendid isolation. The
reason it is so difficult is because we are created for community,
Isaiah 65:8 "As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and
men say don't destroy it there is still some good in it." Notice the text says cluster, not cloister, we were created to "stick together" on the vine.
B. DEVOTIONAL TEACHING
John 15:1-4 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."
If Jesus is the true vine and Father God, the gardener, it stands to reason there is ample provision for a sweet harvest. Yet whenever I see "true" it gives the indication that there must also be false. Here's another clue: Jesus names his father as the gardener of the true vine. His father cuts off every branch in the true vine (Jesus) that is barren (or fruitless). However, every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes. Why? So that it will be even more fruitful. Wow, God's ways are not our ways. If we had a fruitful vine, we'd pick it clean. God prunes for twice the fruit! Doesn't that encourage you? This season has wreaked havoc in ones assessment of self. This is because we misinterpreted pruning as punishment. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just like "the son he loves, he scourges", if you're being purged you have been found fruitful. Listen to the words of one of my favorite poems:
"Just as the grapevine must be pruned to give it deeper roots, at times, we must be pruned to help us grow and bear more fruit; and
though sometimes it seems to us the pruning takes too long, we'll see
God's wisdom as we grow more patient, wise and strong."
Now before we move on, consider what a false vine could be and it's gardener. The world's system could be a false vine. It sustains life and yields bitter, temporal fruit, and man is its gardener. Genesis 3: 17b – 19 "cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground. For dust you are and to dust you will return." Praise God we no longer live under this curse, or off of that vine. We are in Him, abiding (living) in the true vine.
So much for the pruning, let's examine the crushing. Isaiah 53: 10-12 "yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering he will see his offspring and prolong his days. And the will of the Lord will prosper in his hands. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied. By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many. And he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong because he poured out his life unto death." Crushing always proceeds pouring, again the key phrase is "it was the Lord's will to crush him". There is no short cut in the process. If you are being crushed, you've already been pruned. On a positive note, that means you've been chosen, hand picked by the Father and you're half way through the process. In Jesus' day, wine was also called "the blood of the grape".
Like the grape, we don't know what's inside of us until we're crushed. Will we be sweet or bitter? God doesn't care for sour grapes….read on...
Isaiah 5: 1-4 "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. He looked for a crop of sweet grapes but it yielded only sour grapes. Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of ..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />....Judah...., judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I look for sweet grapes why did it yield only sour ones?"
Sometimes we become bitter (sour) towards the Lord because we are offended by him. We thought we could become like Christ without suffering. We forgot about carrying our cross, dying daily or laying down our life. Some
of us would be irreverent enough to serve wine in a box to a King, a
cheap inferior brand that takes on the characteristics of its container. In Matthew 27: 33, 34 "They came to a place called ..Golgotha.. (the place of the skull) there they offered Jesus wine vinegar for drink mixed with gall. But after tasting it, he refused to drink it." Through my deep study of the word, it is my opinion that Jesus was a Nazarite (please
do not write to me to debate this point - as I said, this is simply my
opinion based on my study and revelation on the subject). There is no actual proof in the word that Jesus actually drank
wine even though his first miracle was to change water into wine and at
the last supper the Word simply states that Jesus lifted up the cup. Therefore, if Jesus actually was a Nazarite he could not drink wine or vinegar, and gall was a powerful pain killer. He rejected them both as a Nazarite and a savior. He would have rather gone thirsty than to have broken his vow in a moment of weakness. And he had to feel all of the pain of the cross, so he rejected the gall. On a personal level, I do not have a problem with anyone enjoying a glass of wine with dinner.
If we allow ourselves to become bitter and reject suffering as part of our inheritance, we offer Jesus the same drink. Today many have walked away from him because they were offended. Dear ones, if you are being crushed, that means he plans on pouring you out, and he always saves his best wine for last. On to hiddeness..
I
Peter 3:4 "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is
not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is
in the sight of God of great price." Being hidden is lonely, humiliating, frightening and essential. Whether
it's the 7000 that God told Elijah he had hidden in his hand, or Joseph
who was hidden away in a prison dungeon or perhaps David who went from
a lonely Judean hill with sheep as his only company to hiding from a
crazy king, then living in a cave system called Adullam until he was
ready to be king. Unfortunately many people give up in this final phase of the process. Like with a good wine, this is the part of the process that produces character, seasoning and a wonderful bouquet (aroma). So allow yourself to be humbled in the sight of the Lord and he will exalt (lift) you. But remember….the opposite is also true.
Dear ones, a wine without character is worthless; always prize character above anointing alone. Stay hidden until he comes for you. He won't be a minute late. God is about to unearth his vintage, a Romans 8 people, a remnant. He has "Grape expectations" for us. He has indeed saved his best wine for last, so the world can say "Taste and see that the Lord is good". (Psalm 34:8) The world is full of sour grapes; let's offer them a sweet alternative.....
C. SCRIPTURE MEDITATION
Isaiah 65:8....
John 15: 1 – 4....
Genesis 3: 17b – 19....
Isaiah 53: 10-12....
Isaiah 5: 1-4....
Matthew 27: 33, 34....
I Peter 3:4....
Romans 8 (all)
Michael Tyrrell
The Network
www.michaeltyrrell.com