The Little Foxes That Spoil the Vine - Part 2
Song
of Solomon 1:6 KJV . . . they
made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not
kept.
The utterance of the Shulamite in
this verse proves to us the perils that exist in the confines of the Christian
life. There are responsibilities that we
have but often do not live up to them because of neglect.
Neglected vineyards makes for a wearying journey that is filled with doubt,
discouragement, and a knowledge that our spiritual walk could be on a much
higher plain. This vineyard keeper is
voicing a sorrowful confession of how things really are as she looks about the
disarray of the vineyard.
How many times on our knees in
prayer have we confessed the very same thing to the Lord? We have confessed about the faulty, shoddy
spiritual work that has been accomplished because of the condition of our own
soul. We know what it is like to have
wanted to speak words of faith and hope into someone’s torn up life only to
discover the emptiness of our own soul.
In moments like this often lips often outrun our devotion. Truth is declared but it is somewhat empty of
passion. We have told of the love of
Christ with the deep-seated knowledge that we have not yet attained to what we
are speaking of.
We can only be reminded of the
stark condition of the sluggard’s vineyard that is laid out in the Proverbs for us:
Proverbs
24:30-34 KJV I went by the field of the
slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; [31] And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and
nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken
down. [32] Then I saw, and
considered it well: I looked upon it, and received
instruction. [33] Yet a little
sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: [34] So
shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed
man.
The condition of this vineyard was a
likely picture of this man’s soul. The
ground no longer grew grapes that could provide an income for him but instead
was overtaken with thorns and nettles.
Every piece of ground will yield something whether it is weeds, thorns,
and nettles or good fruit and good crops.
The difference in these two outcomes rests solely on the keeper of the
vineyard. Your own soul, your family,
and your church are all going to produce some kind of crop it depends in great
measure whether we are willing to invest in the spiritual opportunities that
are afforded to us. If you leave it
alone then nothing good will come from it but if you are willing to work
diligently at it, you will be amazed at the work God does with our own
efforts.
The Proverb also gives us a picture
of a wall that had been broken down. We
see that the keeper of the vineyard was lazy, had no understanding, valued
sleep and leisure more than his treasure, and he ended up being robbed by his
low level of vigilance. When walls get
torn down through neglect there are boundaries that are erased and protection
disappears. The erosion of the land can
take place when the walls are removed.
All of these conditions work against the production of a positive
spiritual direction in life.
Broken down walls are places the
little foxes came through and destroyed the crop. It only took one season to do it but that one
season was enough. Walls of doctrine,
principle, prayer, character, corporate worship and reading the Word of God are
things that sustain the crop in our soul, our families, and our churches.
HOW VINEYARDS
ARE KEPT
We have seen how the lazy man
attends to his vineyard and it leads to the ruin of it. Now we have to consider some things to look
to take care of our own vineyards and we will notice that the overall arching
purpose of keeping a vineyard is the condition of our own soul. If the care of our own soul is attended to;
our families and our churches will ultimately take care of themselves.
The Condition
of the Soil
The keeper of a physical vineyard
always knows the condition of the soil that he is working with. If the soil is too light or too heavy, too
moist or too dry, too acid or too alkaline, too poor or too rich, there are
things which can be done to make it more ideal for whatever he is trying to
grow. Once the diagnosis of the soil is
determined the keeper then sets about to correct whatever deficiencies that are
present.
It may require that rocks are dug
out, irrigation or drainage ditches added; lime added, topsoil brought in, and
fertilizer to be broadcast. If there are
problems with erosion, he may have to plant grasses or shrubs along the border
of the vineyard to protect the soil. If
there is a problem with erosion being created by wind, he may have to put up
some windbreaks to keep the soil from being blown into ridges. If the conditions are favorable, he may even
have to plant a covering of grass so it will anchor in the soil so the vineyard
can prosper.
If the keeper discovers that his
soil is too shallow, he may have to resort to plowing deeper so that the
topsoil can be mixed with the deeper unused soil. In the process of this deeper plowing the
keeper has the opportunity to mix in organic material, fertilizer, and other
things that will help it to be more prosperous.
One of the more prominent parables
of the Lord was that of the sower, the seed, and the soils. The sower had to contend with four different
types of soil. The emphasis of the
parable is not on the character of the sower, the quality of the seed but the
condition of the soil.
Mark
4:1-9 KJV And he began again to teach
by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he
entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea
on the land. [2] And he taught them many
things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, [3] Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to
sow: [4] And it came to pass, as
he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured
it up. [5] And some fell on stony
ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it
had no depth of earth: [6]
But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it
withered away. [7] And some fell among
thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. [8] And other fell on good ground, and did yield
fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some
sixty, and some an hundred. [9]
And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
The character of the hearer has a
great impact on the effect of how the Word will work. In care of our soul, it is very important
that we give ourselves to state of profitable hearing. It is very rare, in fact almost never, that
we have heard anyone address us as to how to receive the Word of God. Some may lament the fact that great preaching
has fallen away but we have to also note that for great preaching to take
place, great hearing has to accommodate it.
In listening to sermons and Bible studies, I think that we can improve
the soil if we actively do some of these things.
·
First, meditate on God’s Word every day. We
are a Bible rich society but I have come
to discover that just because they are everywhere does not necessarily
translate into us reading them. You really
can’t expect to be hungry for the Word on Sunday if you have not been reading
it during the week. Richard Baxter said,
“Read and meditate on the Holy Scriptures much in private, and then you will be
the better able to understand what is preached on it in public.”
·
Second, pray throughout the week.
Prayer is very crucial to help us to hunger for the Word. If you will ask God to give you the ability
to hear and pursue the Word, He will!
Ask the Lord to turn the lights on in your mind and the Bible will
explode in your life. Suddenly what your
pastor is preaching will begin to fall into place and you will begin to see
what real spiritual life is all about.
·
Third, confess your sin. For
those who think they are not sinning, let me follow you around for about a
week. If you are not praying, you are
sinning. If you are not evangelizing,
you are sinning. What about those
websites, movies, books, or conversations that you are actively involved in
that are not encouraging Godly and clean living? What about you’re comments on Facebook or the
forums that you are a part of? Are all
of those Facebook polling questions that provide a characterization of you
something that God would be pleased with? When you plow through Romans 6, 7,
and 8, you will immediately discover that the American culture is constantly
pulling at us and it is deadly to our spiritual life. All of those things obstruct our vision of
God and His Word. That is sin and it
calls for repentance.
·
Fourth, reduce your media intake. I
am constantly fighting over this very lonely battlefield. I often think I am a lone voice crying out
against this. The average American
watches TV just over 4 hours a day. But
we can’t stand sermons over 30 minutes!
That speaks to our priorities!
Ken Ramey writes in his book, Expository
Listening, “After TV watching and going to the movies and surfing the
Internet all week long, you come to church and have to sit and listen to a
lengthy sermon that requires a great deal of concentration and exertion you
aren’t used to. You’re expected to go
from being a passive viewer to an aggressive listener literally
overnight.” A final quote from Jay
Adams: “Many today drift into church
with their minds turned off, slouch in the pew, and expect the preacher to do
the rest. Examine yourself, brother or
sister: have you been guilty of becoming
a Sunday morning version of the couch potato?”
·
Fifth, be consistent with church
attendance. Haphazard church attendance is an Achilles
heel for many Christians in our times.
They do not even realize what they have missed after they start having
sporadic patterns of attending church.
When we assemble together for a time of fellowship and encouragement it
helps all of us (Hebrews 10:23-25). When
I was growing up, my parents attended church every time the doors were open, so
this habit became ingrained into my life and it has continued to reward great
benefits to me. When you are regularly
attending church, God has the ability to pick up where you left off from the
last time. Not only do I feel that
weekends are important for corporate worship, I am also a strong advocate of
coming to mid-week services.
·
Sixth, fight off distractions.
There are a thousand and one distractions that one can find attractive
in the course of a worship service. You
can watch people, you can look at the sanctuary, you can day-dream, and the sky
is the limit as to what distractions you can pay attention to. Most of us have been in a class before whose
intent it was to prep us for taking a final or a board examination. Nobody had to tell you to get focused and pay
attention because you were fearful of failing the test. It’s funny but sad how we can put much more
effort in paying attention for some earthly examination we want to pass but pay
little attention to the words that can help us to gain eternal life. You can fight off distractions by making eye
contact with the preacher. You can
mentally follow along with what he is saying and you can physically follow
along in your Bible. Don’t give in to
laziness by leaving your Bible at home, take it to church! By the way, sermons are not for
entertainment, they are for instruction in righteousness and sometimes the Word
will confront where you are living and it will convict you. If you are living low, the tendency is to get
angry with the preacher but if you are living high, spiritually speaking, you
will embrace the biblical message and determine to do better after you repent
and confess your sin to God.
Great hearing is indispensable to great
preaching. It is also indispensable to
the cultivation of good soil in the life of the hearer. We must guard against preventing the truth to
gain an access to our soul. We need to
avoid the shallow impulsiveness of emotionalism that responds quickly and
immediately with feelings but the will never gets involved in the matter. Feelings are fleeting but it is necessary for
the will to be involved for those who are going to bear a cross. We have to be careful that our response is
not soon choked out by the things that men around us deem to be important.
To Be Continued. . .
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