God’s Tender Love
God – the Good Vine Dresser
Sermon for October 2, 2005
1. Good Morning. Let us pray. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
2. Opening Comments: Last week when many of the men were on
retreat at St. Alphonsus God gave a “rhema” word – a word from heaven - to those who remained in
Rochester but I believe that He also gave me a “rhema
experience” that resonates perfectly with His rhema
word to the Church on Sunday.
Let me show you what I mean . . . In today’s Scripture readings the words “vine” and “vineyard” occur again and again. God is pictured as the “Vine Dresser” – the one who plants and cares for his vines. He both nurtures and prunes His vineyard.
It’s in the Epistle reading that I want to focus this morning because it tells us what our response, as the vine, should be to our sovereign Vine Dresser. It tells the vine how to cooperate with the vine dresser!
3. Men’s Retreat Story: I want to begin by telling you about my “rhema” experience at the retreat last Sunday.
Nineteen of us went to St. Alphonsus - you have heard about the multiple cuts and bruises some of us received while playing a particularly grand game of contact football! – I was the enthusiastic line’s man! Ha!
The Retreat turned out to be a wonderful time of learning and of bonding for our men – both with each other and with our other brothers in at least 4 other C.E.C. churches.
Well imagine a number of us
sitting on the porch of the St. Alphonsus Retreat
House and it’s about 1am Sunday morning.
None of us are too aware of the time as we discuss all sorts of issues
with varying degrees of theological content.
Finally it’s time to go to bed but one of the men wants time just with
me so we begin to walk down the long and winding road amidst a dense forest to
the
Now you need to know that it was pitch black but for the slight illumination of a half moon that was almost totally lost as we entered the dark forest.
I felt like I was walking into the dark and it hit me that what my friend and I were doing was a perfect reflection of what we were talking about – that life is in some sense walking into the dark but knowing that God - the good Vine Dresser’s hands are above us, in front of us, behind us and under us. We can truly relax but O how hard that is for most if not all of us!
So we kept talking and walking
deeper and deeper into the darkness as we journeyed towards to
Finally we reached the shore of
the
But soon it was time to return and as we turned to go back up the dark hill I was struck by what I saw – pitch blackness! - a wall of blackness! How can we possibly return – there was no visible pathway. But we both began to walk up the hill trusting that somehow we would find a way.
Now I want you to understand what was happening to us. God – the Vine Dresser, was with us but I must confess that I felt a little disoriented but trusted that somehow we would find our way back without getting too lost!
Just as we were entering the deep darkness of the forest we both suddenly noticed a glimmer of light far ahead of us – faint but clearly approaching! Then suddenly a set of headlights appeared. Within a minute a car pulled up beside us and I said, “Did you come to rescue us?” And a voice I immediately recognized said, “No, we just wanted to see where this road led.”
Now do you think it’s possible that God Himself arranged for this man and his friend to get the urge to explore a road at 1:30am in the morning - at the same time that we were entering the darkness?
What do you think I was thinking around about this time?
Yes, I saw God’s fingerprints all over it. This was not simple serendipity. It’s wasn’t a result of chance! Come on – it was 1:30am in the morning and any self respecting person was sound asleep in their warm bed – but not so our nocturnal angel and his friend! God had dispatched them to bring us safely home!
Do you believe this? I do! You see I really do believe that our God is a
Good Shepherd – a Good Vine Dresser – that He really does care for His flock –
His vineyard!
Do you ever experience that sense that somehow God is overseeing your life
and is sovereignly arranging circumstances to ensure
your good care?
Yes, there are times that the car doesn’t come immediately – but God
will always be there with us – even at the darkest moments. He promises never to leave us nor forsake
us! In the book of Hebrews we read:
Heb. 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never
will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
What was God
showing us? That He is with us and will
guide us safely home!
Now how
does this rhema “experience,” as it were, fit with the one He gave the rest of us last Sunday
in Church through Fr. Mark?
4. God’s Rhema word to TCC. Let me tell you what God said to those of us
who remained at TCC last Sunday.
Fr. Mark after commenting on Luke chapter 5 gave the following “Rhema” word to us:
“This
is a word to those who have toiled long and hard. Jesus told Simon to cast out his nets. Simon replies but we have toiled long and
hard and have caught nothing? Because
of our faithfulness he will bless us.
He is telling us that it is time to cast out nets. It’s time to act. He’s going to fill our nets. We’re not to be afraid, for from now on we
will catch men. We will be astonished at
the catch!”
Fr. Mark went
on,
“Even as we are speaking today an evangelistic anointing is being placed
on this church. God is calling us to
act. There’s a golden horseshoe
running from
Cast
your nets! Align your hearts to His
will!”
Ah! Cast out your nets! Align your hearts with God’s will!
But how do we do this? How do we align our hearts with God’s
will? . . . So that we look for the head
lights . . . so that we reach out to the person God is calling into His
Kingdom?
God has another rhema word
for us in today’s Epistle reading!
5.
Please
turn with me to Philippians 4 verses 6 through 9. These verses tell us how to align our hearts
with God’s will for us!
Please listen now as I read Phil 4:6-9:
Phil. 4:6 Don’t be anxious about anything, - LOOK FOR THE
LIGHT – LOOK FOR HIS COMING!
DON’T BE
ANXIOUS! Don’t worry about catching
fish! God Himself will show you what to
do and when to do it as He did Simon and James and John!
Paul tell us “Don’t be anxious
about anything, but
in everything, in what???? “In EVERYTHING!” by prayer
and petition, with thanksgiving, with what???? “with thanksgiving” present your requests to God. 7 And
then rest in the peace of God, which transcends which flies far overhead, all
understanding, this peace will guard; will watch over; will protect (froure÷w
– frureo - to watch over – to protect) your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus.
And now follows what I believe is some of the best advice St. Paul ever gave to his disciples TO HELP THEM ALIGN THEIR HEARTS WITH GOD’S WILL!
Please listen very carefully as I read it - verse 8:
8 Finally, brothers – do you want to know how to align your hearts
with My will then listen very very carefully - whatever is true
or honest or genuine, whatever is noble or honorable, whatever is right or
just, whatever is pure and therefore without defect, whatever is lovely or
pleasing, whatever is admirable or worthy of approval —if anything is excellent
or praiseworthy—think or ponder about
such things (logi÷zomai - to think about, to reason about, to ponder) 9
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the
God of peace will be with you – Your
hearts with be aligned to His will!
WHAT IS GOD TELLING US HERE? IF YOU REALLY WANT TO ALIGN YOUR HEARTS WITH
MY WILL THEN TRUST ME – DON’T BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING AND LOOK FOR ME IN WHAT
IS HONEST, AND NOBLE AND RIGHT AND PURE AND LOVELY AND WORTHY – FOR THIS IS
WHERE MY WILL IS HAVING IT’S WAY!
6. What does all of this mean in practical terms?
It means that God has given us an evangelistic anointing so now we must completely align our hearts with God’s will by focusing on what is honest and noble and just and pure and lovely and worthy and admirable!
It’s not going to be “No
thank you!” but more like “You know I was looking for a Church just the other
day,” or “Yes, I’d love to come!”
As we focus our hearts and minds on what is honest and noble and just and pure and lovely and admirable – guess what happens?
We become what we say we are – we become Christians – infinitely attractive to the people of this world
whose focus is leading them into isolation and loneliness!
But they can be
captivated by the signs of heaven – by honesty, nobility, justice, purity, by
all that is admirable. They can be
captivated by such heavenly signs!
God has given us an evangelistic
anointing but He is also telling us through this morning’s scripture
readings that our responsibility is
to enter into this anointing by focusing our attention on what is most honest and noble and just
and pure and lovely and admirable! As
our hearts and minds remain in all that is good God will most assuredly bless
us!
As we reach out for His anointing by doing
this He will meet us with that anointing and we will see His blessings fall
upon us!
Let us pray. . .