Righteous Judgment?

Righteous Judgments

Isa. 5:1-7, Phil 3:12-21, Matt.21:33-43

10/2

† In the Name of Jesus †

May the grace and peace of God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ be yours…

The Old Testament reading this morning, is one of the many songs in scripture. Verse 1 tells us so, but if we could read it in Hebrew, there is meter and rhyme, and

It would be recognizable as lyrics.

As I thought about lyrics and music, and this passage, it seemed this song could be described in the words of Bob Dylan, “why don’t you sing me another one of those somebody done somebody wrong songs”. Even more so, I saw a outline to the passage that reminded me of basic classic outline of one genre of music. This passage is the basic outline of almost every old classic country music song!

Part 1 is the description of the relationship – how despite the love of the hero/heroine, that love is drug through the mud and trampled on by the evil offender.

Part 2, is the desire for justice, or at least revenge, on the part of the offended. This may include a request for an outside neutral person to agree that the punishment fits the crime.

There is a difference of course, in that most country songs do not tell the entire story, nor are they, for the most part real. As we look at this passage, using this framework, realize we are talking about fiction, we are talking about the real wrath of God, poured out on Israel – real people, who considered themselves to be the people of God, but where pretty much playing a game with God, chasing after other gods, and returning to the Father, only when in trouble. How well that describes our world today, and sometimes even, the church.

I will try, as we go through these lyrics about a man and his orchard, I will try not to use a country “twangggg”

The Unproductive Vineyard/

Every Advantage

Romans 9:4

Poisoned

Verse one starts, as the introduction of the song. The song is about one who is the object of the singer’s love, and that person’s vineyard. Thought I may joke about country music relationships always seeming to be one-way, this relationship described is so.

Consider the work of the vineyard master. He acquires a field, a filed that He knows is a field which is fertile. It has the right location, for proper irrigation and a topsoil that is rich. He then took the time to give it every bit of work that would enable it to succeed. He removes all the rocks that would impede growth and caring for the plants. He finds the plants which show great promise for growth. He provides for the defense of the orchard, from all outsides both human and animal, and plans for the day when he will harvest the orchard, and drink of the wine taken from the grapes. He expects His work to literally bear fruit.

Knowing the end of the story, where God declares the vineyard to be His people Israel, we know what all this work is. Paul shares with us the incredible benefits and blessings Israel had, in his letter to the church in Rome.

4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. Romans 9:4-5 (ESV)

These were the people God chose to call His people. They had all the advantages. They could look at all the glorious things God had done for them in History, from the promises to Abraham, to the Red Sea, to the glory of God on Mt Sinai, and His presence guiding them through the 40 years of wandering. He gave them heroes like Joshua, Gideon, and Samuel, and kings like David, and Solomon. They had a head start on us all, for God gave them the law, exactly what He expected them to do, how to live in peace with Him, and with each other. And then, when they messed that up, he even provided a sacrificial system that would allowed them to see their sin compensated for.

And still, they treated God no better than the old hound dog is treated in country music songs. They betray Him, over and over, till by the time of Isaiah, this betrayal is constant. They are not a the wine of the vineyard owner’s dreams, they are not even palatable! They don’t even make a good vinegar! Instead of perfect grapes, the grapes are wild, the kind that no man would harvest, matter of fact, they stink as if they are rotting!

Here is the rot, found in verse 7. Where God expected to find the fruit of Justice, there is none to be found. Instead, there is the carnage of bloodshed as those given power oppressed the people, even to the extent of slaughtering them. Where God expected to find a people made righteous by His love and covenant, instead He found them screaming, as they had so many times before, as they reap the carnage their sin brings upon them.

The judgment!

His blessings removed

Does God have the Right to Judge?

We now move on to the second verse of the hymn, the call for revenge and justice:

⁵ And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. ⁶ I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Isaiah 5:5-6 (ESV)

Whereas the wrath of God will be far more direct at the return of Jesus, there is a sense of wrath here. No longer will the be God’s protection around the vineyard, they will be opened up to being trampled by whoever shall desire too. The vineyard will become wasted, God will no longer do His work among it. He will allow that which is evil to develop in its midst.

It is as if God says to Israel, you want to be on your own, go, leave, be on your own. Those challenges that you had before, that I dealt with, no longer will I be there, to defend you. Those times of suffering, no longer will the vineyard owner see them through them.

The Heart of God

If I leave the analysis of the passage to simply the framework of a country western song, then I have a problem. For in truth, we still today, have trouble trusting completely in God, and we still do not love our neighbor as we ought. Personally I read this passage, and wonder if it is meant towards me. Do I result in the kind of fruit that would allow me to replace Israel, as the last verse gospel verse speaks of?

43 ⁴³ Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

Sometimes my friends, I have to wonder.

My hope, my only hope is to look for something Luther once said. He said, very clearly, that Jesus could be found on every page of the scriptures – every page. I need to see Him, I need to know of the Father’s love as shown through Jesus – to us.

It is there, though it took me until this morning to find Him. I saw a hint of it, earlier in the week, in a look into the heart of God, that we see in verses 3 & 4,

³ And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. ⁴ What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

Is this God questioning His own actions? What more could God have done, that the nation of Israel would produce the kind of fruit he desired? What will it take, for them or for us, to be the kind of people that God calls “Holy”, that would be “righteous”.

That is where I find Christ, the perfect plant in the vineyard, that takes our place. He is the one that when the walls and hedges fall, he is the one who gets trampled, and devoured. He is the one upon whom God levels His wrath, His frustration. Christ, made to pay the price.

There is my hope, to not look to myself for my righteousness, to not look to myself for the justice of God. But to know that Christ has given me HIS righteousness. That we have been forgiven, that we have been redeemed, and that God has again found His vineyard. That the Spirit, showing us the love and glory of God, will also continue to guide our life, our growth, and the Spirit will produce the fruit from it.

THe answer to God’s question was no, He hadn’t done enough yet. But then, He knew that, for Isaiah, the entire book, is about the fact that Christ needed to come, to establish God’s people, as forgiven, as whole and complete, because of His work on the cross.

We are, in many ways not the unproductive vineyard. Think of the promise in the epistle, ¹² Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

And

²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

My friends, we too, are plants in God’s vineyard. Our fruit that comes, comes from the care, and nurture that God takes. Our lives, lived out in view of the righteousness of God, given to us in Christ, produces fruit.

No longer is this a traditional country western – somebody done somebody wrong song, it is, instead, a incredible ballad of God’s love, for us.

Realize each and every morning, as Luther once penned – your baptism, and know, that you are His people, forgiven, redeemed, loved.

In that way, with your trust in Jesus, knowing He walks with you, you shall know the peace of God, which is beyond all understanding, and is yours, in Christ Jesus, our Lord, our Savior, our God.

AMEN †