by Jeanne Page
Chapter Five
The King’s Vineyard
It is only when you taste and see that the Lord is good, that you can share Living Bread with others.
I have a list: (1) wash, dry and iron the tablecloths and napkins (2) polish the silver (3) buy the turkey (4) defrost the turkey (5) bake the pies (6) peel the potatoes (7) set the table (8) cook the turkey!, etc. etc. etc.! There are so many details to remember in planning that once-a-year Thanksgiving meal. And we pray that all of the preparation will result in our family and guests being fully satiated with good food and fellowship.
How much more preparation should go into a meal for The King feasting in His garden. Even in our poverty have we offered Him the last of our oil and grain, a small but precious cake prepared with our own hands…the best of our fruit for His enjoyment? And do we come prepared to feast on all that He has prepared for us, both in spiritual nourishment and in fellowship? Every prayerful encounter with our King is an opportunity to consume the Bread of Life, to commune with Him, to strengthen our hearts and souls so we may tell others, “Come and taste that the Lord is good.”
The Servant Girl was humbled by her opportunity to join The Son as He feasted in His garden…and even more humbled that the simple fruits of her hands should satisfy Him.
If you will be the branch that abides in the Vine, you can rest, for the life giving sap that flows from the vine and through the branch will produce the juiciest of fruits.
When I was a little girl, I had a goldfish. I can remember sitting with my nose pressed up against the glass of that bowl watching the light reflect off of the golden scales and the feathery tail swaying in gentle ripples. The little fish was simply living its life oblivious to the fact that it was immersed in life sustaining water.
Recently, God blessed me with one full day of deep awareness of Him. I was like that goldfish swimming in the bowl. I walked through my house keenly aware of His life-sustaining presence all around me. I was totally immersed in His omnipresence just as surely as that fish was immersed in water. I didn’t want to leave the house for fear I would lose that awareness. But I imagined myself carrying that goldfish bowl and pouring its contents into the ocean, and reasoned that the fish would still be completely surrounded by water. If I poured myself out of my bowl, and left my house, I would still be completely immersed in His presence, and I was. I came away from that day with a new understanding of what it means to live every moment of my life abiding in Him.
As my relationship with the Holy Spirit has deepened, I have also become keenly aware of Him abiding in me. As I read and memorize scripture His Words abide in my heart. But even more than that…Jesus, the Word made flesh, abides in me through His Holy Spirit.
Jesus uses the vine and the branch to teach us about abiding and the blessings of prayer we receive because of it. At times He will choose to give us a vision for where He will take us in life, and a strong desire that propels us towards that vision. Often times, though, He will choose to reveal His will and His purpose for our lives one step at a time. And if we are abiding and praying, fruit will be the result.
Outside of my window stands a beautiful plum tree, thick with leaves—but it is a non-fruit bearing tree. I can enjoy the beauty of this tree without the responsibility that comes with fruit. If there were plums on it each summer I’d have to watch carefully for surely all the bugs and birds of the air would help themselves to my fruit. And when the fruit was ready to be harvested there would be a day of gathering the plums, washing, preparing, putting away, and yes…enjoying the fruits of my labor! I think it’s easy at times to be glad that there is no fruit, for then there is no responsibility. But oh the blessings we miss!
Sometimes our lives are like that. We sit back, content that there is no evidence of fruit in our lives, because it’s just easier that way. Life gets more complicated when there is fruit, but oh the blessings we miss if we don’t allow ourselves to be used by God!
What a comfort these words are, then, “…it shall be done unto you.” We have the promise that if we abide in Him and His words abide in us, “it shall be done unto you.” Fruitfulness is a natural result of abiding. His purpose in us will be fulfilled. We don’t have to worry about it, for He will surely do His work through us. All of our own attempts to do the work will fail, and Spurgeon warns us of trying ‘home made schemes.’ We are called to abide…He’ll do the rest.
Spurgeon explains it this way: "Beloved, you all know that there is no possibility of bringing forth any fruit unless we are in Christ and unless we abide in Christ. We must bear fruit, or we shall certainly perish—and we cannot have fruit unless we have Christ. We must be knit to Christ, vitally one with Him, just as a branch is really, after a living fashion, one with the stem! It would be no use to tie a branch to the stem of the vine—that would not cause it to bring forth fruit. It must be joined to it in a living union and so must you and I be livingly joined to Christ! We must be inserted into Him as the graft is placed in the incision made in the tree into which it is to be grafted. Then there must be a knitting of the two together, a vital junction, a union of life and a flowing of the sap, or else there cannot be any bearing of fruit. Again, I say, what a serious thing this makes our life to be! How earnest should be our questioning of ourselves! And so may there be about this matter. Let each one of us ask, “Am I bearing fruit? I am not unless I am vitally united to Christ. I have openly professed that I am in Christ, but am I bringing forth fruit to His honor and glory?”"
To bear the richest of fruits, you must be willing to be a bleeding vine, willing to endure severe pruning.
Some years ago I was quite immersed in the world of roses. I had over 30 bushes in my yard and fed them to the point where they produced a dazzling array of colorful blooms--a fragrant rainbow of delight! It always broke my heart to cut away a branch sprinkled with tiny buds--each with the promise of becoming a glorious rose. But I knew the bush was only capable of supporting a limited number of flowers. I could leave the buds and have tiny, underdeveloped blossoms to choose from, or I could cut away those buds that were draining the food from the main bush, so that the ones that remained could become truly spectacular. Rose bushes also have stems we called "suckers" that suddenly sprout from the main branches and did exactly that: sucked all the nutrition from the bush without producing any blooms. These had to be removed immediately. Wild branches needed to be sliced off, too, to keep the bush growing in such a way as to promote even more growth. Suckers, healthy but wild branches, dozens of tiny rosebuds…all had to be cut away.
Spurgeon explains the cutting that we must often endure: “(Some) of us seldom know many months together of health, but have often had to suffer sorely in body; this ought to make us fruitful, for there is much increase from the tillage of affliction. Has not the Master obtained the richest of all fruit from bleeding vines? Do not his heaviest bunches come from those which have been sharply cut and pruned down to the ground? Choice flavours, dainty juices and delicious aromas come mostly from the use of the keen-edged knife of trial. Some of us are at our best for fruit-bearing when in other respects we are at our worst."
Oh this is a hard lesson to learn--to experience firsthand! But just as I knew severe pruning would bring amazing results to my roses, we can find hope and comfort in knowing that the pruning we go through as we abide in Jesus will have spectacular results as well. He will truly be glorified!
