Isaiah’s Vineyard Song Devo - Isaiah 5:1-7; 11:1-5

 November 19th, 2023

Devotional

“Isaiah’s Vineyard Song”

Isaiah 5:1-7; 11:1-5

Monday: “My Beloved had a Vineyard” - Isaiah 5: 1-2

  Isaiah is a prophet who weaves together challenges, warnings, and a vision of hope. I today’s passage he starts this love song about a beloved that had a vineyard. And not just any vineyard, but one that was in the perfect location. The land had been cleared of any obstacles. Only the best vines are planted. Nothing was done carelessly.

And yet.

And yet, the fruit was completely rotten. We aren’t talking about one or two sour grapes, we are talking about the entirely of the harvest ruined. 

It may be tempting to read this as a fluke. Maybe something that was beyond both the Beloved and the crop’s control happened. But that is not what Isaiah is trying to say. The fruit is rotten because that is what it is. It will continue to produce rotten crop year after year, if not tended to in a radical way. 

This week I was visiting someone who loves plants. Her windowsill is covered with them. But because she doesn’t move around as well as she once did, she let someone else tend her beloved plant and they cross planted things together in the same pot that, if left unattended, will kill each other. So what does she do? Does she just let this happen or does she do the hard, diligent work of separating the plants into separate pots?

The same is true of the Beloved in this passage from Isaiah. What is he to do? What is at stake if the vineyard is left to continually produce rotten fruit?

  How would you react if you were the one who owned the vineyard in this passage of scripture?

Prayer: Most Holy, Lord, we like to think that we have all of the answers, yet, as we approach this text we ask that you use it to create a wellspring of humility within us. May you use it to search us and make known the places we have even hidden from our very selves, we pray. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Judge” - Isaiah 5: 3-4

In a question that is meant to be rehortical, God as the people of Jerusalem and Judah what more he, as the keeper of the vineyard, was to do? In fact, God goes as far as to say to judge between him and his vineyard. God had done everything and anything to make sure that the vineyard would produce good grapes, good fruit. Yet, the exact opposite had happened. 

The prophet is laying the groundwork for the metaphor of the vineyard as the people of Israel. God had done everything for them. He breathed his very life into them. He started over with Noah and his family. He created the nation of Israel, fulfilling his promise to their ancestor Abraham. He reduced the people from Egypt and lead them into the promised land. He gave them success. 

And they produced bad fruit. 

Once again, not a bad grape here or there, but the entirety of Israel had hearts that were not focused on God and their lives were not producing fruit for his glory.

In what ways can we deceive ourselves into thinking that we are producing good fruit, when it is really not God-honoring fruit at all?

Prayer:  Lord, all too often we trying to make you fit into our expectations instead of asking you what your expectations are for us. May we be people who produce good fruit that points to you, your grace, truth, and mercy, and lifts up your Kingdom. Amen. 

Wednesday: “Remove and Break” - Isaiah 5: 5-6

  What comes next can be hard for us to reconcile with our idea of a loving God. Why would he start all over again with the vineyard? Is that really necessary?

For those of you who have small children in your life - what happens if you let children continue to behave however they would like? They won’t learn. They won’t grow up to be adults who know how to function in the world. 

So it is with the people of Israel. What they may interpret as being an overly agressive punishment, God sees as necessary in order to form them to be the people who carry the name of God out into the world. 

What is the purpose of punishment?

Prayer: Lord, we do not like being shaped by punishment, even when it is necessary. Allow us to submit fully to you in a way that transforms our lives, we pray. Amen. 

Thursday: “Justice and Righteousness” - Isaiah 5:7

  Why did God expect his people to act with justice and righteousness? Think back to when the Israelite are working their way towards the Promise Land. At one point Moses stops to go up and speak with God, where he is given the Ten Commandments. The point of those Commandments wasn’t to have them use them to shape everyone else. No, they were given to set them apart. To have them act differently. To have them marked as the people of God.

And before the people entered the Promise Land the law was read again. 

In fact, again and again, at major points in their history the entirety of the law is read to the people of Israel to remind them whose they are, who they are living for, who they represent in this world. Not themselves, but God. 

In similar ways, think about the criticism that can be lobbied at Christians when we do not live with holiness in this world. Even those who do not believe, will expect better of us, because they know that our faith has us representing the Kingdom of God in this world. 

  Why does it hurt so much when Christians misbehave?

Prayer: Lord, breakthrough our hearts and into our lives in a way that we cannot help but share for the sake of your Kingdom. Amen. 

Friday: “Spirit of the Lord” - Isaiah 11: 1-5

As hard as Isaiah’s teaching in chapter 5 is to wrestle with, it is not the entirety of the message that God has given him for the people. In fact, Isaiah is one of the major prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures - with sixty-six chapters.

Even in today’s passage, we can feel something shifting, bringing for a sense of hope and anticipation. It does not, however, mean that the image of what’s to come will be as the people expect or come without a cost. 

Instead, we find God saying that a new leader will be raised up who has the spirit of the Lord resting upon him. And all that the people were lacking in righteousness and justice - it will be foundational to who he is and how he will lead the people. 

This promise of the coming King doesn’t just show that God will not forsake his people. It also is a reminder that the gifts that God gives us, such as knowledge, as not for our own sake, rather they are to build up the Kingdom. 

God is doing a transformative work in Israel in this passage of Isaiah. But it also stands as a reminder of the transformative work God has done in our lives in and through Jesus Christ. 

  How would you define “hope”?

Prayer: God, you are the source of all love and truth. Yet, sometimes we pretend that the truth is within us. Forgive us, O Lord, for our arrogance and allow us to humbly submit it your way. Amen. 

Sabbath. Study. Serve.

 Sabbath, Study, Serve 

Taking the Sermon Into Our Week 

Scripture of the Week: Isaiah 5:1-7 and Isaiah 11:1-5

From the Sermon:

The idea of still seeing God’s fingerprints in the rubble is the ___________________ that Isaiah is trying to convey to people who quite frankly, didn’t want to hear it, as he was sent out as a messenger from God.

God did all of that work and the crop failed. Which leads us, and the people Isaiah is speaking to, to ask “_____?”

The problem is that God needed to be more ___________; it’s that the people of God were ______________.

The problem isn’t that God wasn’t __________; it’s that the people are not living into that _______.

God is trying to _____________________.

An image of ______ of what could be starts to emerge. In the rebuilding of the vine year, a future with ______ is coming!

Reflection Questions:

If a particular plant is not producing, what do we do? How does this relate to the metaphor of the vineyard we find in Isaiah?

What do these text reveal to you?

Prayer:

Lord, in the places where we have failed to birth fruit, forgive us. For the places we have not reflected your love, heal us. For the times we only see the ruin and rubble, let us step into your hope we pray. Amen. 

Sabbath. Study. Serve.

 Sabbath, Study, Serve 

Taking the Sermon Into Our Week 

              Scripture of the Week: 2 Samuel 5:1-5; 6:1-5; Psalm 150       

From the Sermon:

This is not the first time that David has been ________________________.

It takes ______ anointing before David becomes the king that God intended him to be.

David’s first response is to ____________________.

The Psalmist understood that type of ______.

How we praise God isn’t about what other people will think about our praise, its simply about _____________________________________________ in our lives in whatever way the Spirit moves us.

Reflection Questions:

How do you typically respond when you have to wait for something?

What leads you to naturally praise God?

What can we learn about praise from David’s and the Psalmist’s examples?

What do you need to let go of our set aside in order to be attentive to praising God alone?

Prayer:

Lord, free us to praise you for your faithfulness and to praise you simply for who you are! Amen. 

Sabbath. Study. Serve.

 Sabbath, Study, Serve 

Taking the Sermon Into Our Week

Scripture of the Week: Ruth 1: 1-17 and 4: 13-17

       

From the Sermon:

Naomi saw the entire shape of her family change - into ___________________________.

Naomi does the only thing that she can think to do - __________________________.

Naomi was caught up in the midst of ___________.

In Ruth we find someone who is __________________________ in the midst of their deep suffering. 

Ruth and Orpah were both willing ____________ Naomi.

Ruth promised _____________ Naomi.

Reflection Questions:

Who do you know who is grieving? How are you being called to accompany them in their grief?

What has made you felt supported as you have grieved in your life?

How do you react when someone is hurting and blames God for what they have experienced?

What prevents us from crying with one another?

How can we create space, as the church, for each other to grieve?

Prayer:

Lord, help us to be a community that loves one another in the midst of heartache and grief, we pray. Amen. 

Hear, O Israel Devotional - Deuteronomy 5:1-21; 6:4-9

 October 8th, 2023

Devotional

“Hear, O Israel” 

          Deuteronomy 5:1-21; 6:4-9

Monday: “Said to Them” - Deuteronomy 5: 1-5

  When we think of where the great stories of faith in the Bible are written we think of places like Esther, Ruth, Genesis, the Gospels and Acts. Rarely do we think about the book of Deutoronmy, which we usually equate with telling us all the rules. In fact, when folks approach me to ask for a plan to read the Bible from cover to cover, I often tell them not to read it straight through because inevitably people get captivated by the stories of Genesis and Exodus, but then come the laws found in Numbers and Leviticus, and folks rarely make it Deuteronomy. But this particular book in the bible - the last of the five that every young boy in ancient Israel had to learn, is unique, for its a mix of both rules and stories about why the rules matter.

I know that tends to make people nervous when we start to talk about expectations in Church. Let me be clear - God gave us basic rules or ways of living for our benefit, not for God’s. Its sort of like the rules we each had growing up in our homes. Think back - what was the purpose of those rules? For your protection! For creating the best possible environment to grow up in. So it was with the ten commandments, they were the basic rules of this new society, made of God’s chosen people, for their protection.

When you hear the word “rules” what comes to mind?

Prayer: God of love and light, we confess that even as we age, we do not always accept the rules that we are given. Teach us the importance of your commands in a way that touches our hearts and lives, we pray. Amen. 

Tuesday: “You Shall” - Deuteronomy 5: 6-11

In today’s scripture we encounter the story anew that is first found in the book of Exodus - the giving of the ten commandments. Let’s set the scene. The Israelites had been held captive for years as slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. God came to Moses, who once resided in Egypt as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, out in the wilderness and told him to command Pharaoh to let God’s people go. Let the people that were Moses birth family go. After a less than successful time presenting that message to Pharaoh, Moses did eventually though the acts and grace of God, lead the Israelites to freedom… sort of. It wasn’t quite the freedom that folks envisioned, which they made known both to Moses and God, which led them to wander in the wilderness for forty years before they finally reached the promised land.

Part of that wandering, was taking out of them their old expectations of the way things should be. To introduce them to a new pattern of life, a new way of living, as God’s people set free from the bondage of slavery. So God met Moses on the top of Mount Horab and gave to him the basic laws that would govern their way of being. Which is where we pick up in this morning’s scripture. These were the laws that would be an outward sign of their inward covenant with God. Never before had God made such a laid out covenant with the people, remember that before the covenant was made before God and Abraham and was basically, I will be your God and you will be my people. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars. I will make a nation out of you. That type of covenant is very one sided - God is doing all of the work. There weren’t really many rules surrounding it, and as a result the people wandered. To the point that at the beginning of the book of Exodus, the people had forgotten their story as God’s people. 

How are the Ten Commandments connected to the saving work of God?

Prayer:  Lord, sometimes we swing to the extreme - becoming so hyper-fixated on the rules themselves that we forget why you gave them to us in the first place. Remind us of how the rules we live by fit into the story of your faithfulness throughout time, we pray. Amen. 

Wednesday: “Observe the Sabbath” - Deuteronomy 5: 12-15

Before the law was even given, God boldly told them their story. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Before they were living under Pharaoh’s laws - that was their story, but now, now they were living under the law that marked them as God’s chosen people. In fact, the first four commandments, speak directly to their relationship with God. You shall have no other gods before me. You will not worship idols. You will not misuse the name of the Lord. You will set aside the day of Sabbath, the day of rest, to worship God. It is only after God gives the basic parameters around the people’s relationship to the Holy Lord, the Lord who led them out of slavery and made them a people of freedom, that they are even given the commandments that relate to how they treat each other as fellow pilgrims on this journey.

There are multiple hymns in our hymnal that talk about story. The one that kept ringing through my mind while writing this sermon was “I love to tell the story. T’will be my theme in glory. I love to tell the story of Jesus and his love.” While I appreciate the hymn writers words, I think there are two ways that we misuse them. First, we have forgotten our story so we don’t know exactly what to tell. The Jewish people know their story, they retell it every Passover when they repeat the words from generation to generation around the table, proclaiming “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

  We, as Christians, have a story just as powerful to tell about being rescued from our slavery to sin and death. Being set free from that bondage by the love of Jesus Christ. Only we seem to forget the love of Jesus part. I am an avid church sign reader - but I often find myself getting upset at the signs, signs that are supposed to tell our story, the story of Christ love, instead often find witty ways to tell people they are breaking the law of God. Now don’t get me wrong, if we learn anything from this passage of scripture it is that the law of God is important, but it is important because it re-orients people to the new life they are living in the freedom given to them by God. And it reminds them of their story - that they once were slaves under someone else’s rule, but now are the people of God. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the law that we try to make it into our story instead of using it as a powerful reminder of who we are under God’s rule.

What message are you sharing about Christ with your words and your life?

Prayer: Lord, sometimes we use rules as weapons against others, trying to prove our own righteousness and to knock others down. Free us of this desire and allow us to live solely out of our love for you. Amen. 

Thursday: “Neither Shall” - Deuteronomy 5: 16-21

The second way the hymn noted yesterday can lead us astray is by misrepresenting the idea that we are only going to need to proclaim our story in heaven. No! We have a story to tell now. A story to testify to about who God is and how Christ’s love has changed us and continues to change us each and every day! Pastor James Moore in his book the Power of Story, reminds us that we learn about the power and love of Christ through story. The stories of the scripture and the stories that we tell each other. We proclaim that story with our actions! We have the power to attract or repel people form the story, folks. And that has eternal consequences, so we certainly can’t wait to tell the story until we get to Heaven. It’s not a story that is meant to be contained! 

  Moore tells the story of how it was raining one day, and he, a new pastor in town, saw a little girl who fell off her bike, which was loaded with groceries. He asked if he could help her, and they loaded the bike and the sopping wet grocery bags into his car and he drove her home. The mother was so appreciative until she found out that he was the new pastor. Her husband had been deeply hurt by pastors in the past, and as a result, he refused to let pastors in his home. In fact, when the dad came home he threw Rev. Moore out. But wouldn’t you know, he showed up in church the next Sunday, and then again the next. When the dad was asked why he showed up, he replied “You were kind to my little girl - that got my attention”. Its our actions that get people’s attention enough that we can share our story - God’s story - not throwing the law at them.  

Who led you to know the love of God? 

Prayer: Lord, thank you for all of the ways that your story is proclaimed in and through us. Use us this day to touch someone’s life for your Kingdom, we pray. Amen. 

Friday: “Hear, O Israel” - Deuteronomy 6: 4-9

God doesn’t just leave the people with the law or a list of rules. God leaves them by telling them to have the commandments written on their hearts. It’s like God is saying, you are mine, and have that mark of identity written on your hearts and proclaimed with your lips. 

I often listen to Klove, the Christian music station, when I’m driving around Philipsburg. One of the songs that keeps play proclaims: “Hello, my name is child of the One True King.” What a bold proclamation of our story, our identity. The identity that is deeply written on our hearts. The identity that gives us hope and proclaims life abundant. Not life from the law, but life the law of God gives us boundaries to protect. May we go froth form this place and tell our story. The story of God’s love that brought us to the place of freedom.  

How has God changed your life?

Prayer: God of all power and authority, help us to be people rooted in you who share our faith from generation to generation, because of your goodness and grace. Amen.