MY PURPOSE? TO BEAR FRUIT. Isaiah 5:1-4.

We are here to bear fruit.

But how?  The same way trees bear fruit. They need sunlight, water, and soil.  They also need a few years—peach trees and grape vines often don’t bear fruit until year three or four.  First, they need good roots.

God explains Himself as a farmer with crops that are unsatisfying:

“The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines. He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there. He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes…. What more could I have done for my vineyard than I did?  Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield nothing but worthless grapes?”  Isaiah 5:1-4.

Jesus extended the metaphor even further:

“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He PRUNES so that it will bear even more fruit….  I am the vine. YOU ARE THE BRANCHES. If you remain in Me, you will bear much fruit, but apart from Me, you can do NOTHING” John 15:1-2,5.

It takes time before a vine is ready to bear fruit. But once the roots are established, what if you bear only “worthless grapes” or too little fruit?

Then God will prune you.  In fact, even if you bear A LOT of fruit, God promises to prune you—so you will bear even more!  “EVERY BRANCH THAT BEARS FRUIT, HE PRUNES SO THAT IT WILL BEAR EVEN MORE FRUIT” v.2.

God, help us to see ALL our struggles as YOUR PRUNING.  Thank you for caring about us and making us more fruitful. Give us courage and faith to face the pruning shears.

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QUARTERMASTER. Isaiah 6:8.

When I was eleven, I joined the Boy Scouts. my friends Chris and Paul joined too, and my brother Dennis came along as soon as he was old enough.

What red-blooded American boy wouldn’t want to join an organization that promised to take him on a camping trip in the woods every month for the next six or seven years? There would be hiking, fishing, fire-building, sight-seeing, wildlife of all kinds—I was excited.

One night I went to a patrol meeting at Jimmy Klein’s house.  It was not the whole troop, just our patrol—the Wildcats. I’m sure I was not listening too closely.  It was my first “meeting” in life and listening was a skill I had not developed.  But I heard something about someone who moved away and suddenly the Wildcats needed a new quartermaster. 

My hand shot up.

“I’ll do it.  Here I am.  Send me.”

“You?  You’re just a kid.”

“Do you even know what a quartermaster is?”

“Nope.”

“Well, it’s a lot of work.”

“So? I can do it.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

I went home excited.

“I’m the new quartermaster!”

My parents were less enthusiastic.  “Did they force that on you?”

“No way! I volunteered.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

“Yeah, that’s what they said!”

If you know my story, perhaps you can see the problem.  Work and I did not get along. 

A quartermaster is in charge of all the supplies: tents, igloos, chuck boxes, groceries, pots and pans of every shape and size. I had to take a ton of stuff home after every campout and store it in the garage.  Often after heavy storms or an otherwise dirty weekend, I had to scrub everything with soap and water, then hang it up in the garage to dry out for a day or two. Then I had to re-pack everything once it dried.  Finally, my mom and I had to buy groceries before every campout. 

Serving as quartermaster was not a lot of work.  It was an INCREDIBLE amount of work, not only for me, but for both my parents. But I never forgot that I had volunteered and sworn I could handle it.  Lazy as I was, I never considered quitting.  I had practically begged for that job—and the truth is, with my parents’ help—I became an excellent quartermaster. 

And it all started when my hand shot up:

“I’ll do it.  Here I am.  Send me.”

Isaiah had a meeting too.  He had an unscheduled meeting with God.  Isaiah reports what year it was and says, “I saw the Lord, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” When he encounters God’s holiness, Isaiah realizes that he is sinful. But the angel brings a coal, touches his lips, and removes his sin problem. Suddenly Isaiah hears God’s voice:

“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And Isaiah can’t help it.  He speaks out.  Perhaps he shouts, waving his hand in the air:

“I’ll do it.  Here I am.  Send me” Isaiah 6:8.

Was it a lot of work? Yes.  Is it easy to serve God? No.  Did God keep Isaiah busy? Yes, for the next forty years! Isaiah’s book is 66 chapters.  He is one of the MAJOR PROPHETS.  His life made a difference and he will never be forgotten.  To this day, his prophecies about the life, suffering, and death of the Messiah are some of the most amazing, most carefully studied writings in the entire Bible. (Isaiah 53 is incredible.)

So what about you? Would you volunteer?  Can you tell God, “I’ll do it.  Here I am.  Send me”?

God, remove our sins as you did Isaiah’s—then help us to volunteer for whatever you need from us.

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COME LET US REASON TOGETHER.  Isaiah 1:18; Isaiah 45.

In the book of Isaiah, God speaks frankly, in a straightforward style.  Because of translation challenges, some of the wording may seem old or “religious,” but that should be corrected.  This is God offering you a seat at His table, a good meal, and a good conversation.  Let’s paraphrase and put it in today’s English:

“Come, let us reason together.  Let’s talk.  No matter how bad your sins are, I will wash you clean” Isaiah 1:18.

And skipping ahead to today’s reading in chapter 45—

Don’t be afraid.  I have fixed you, healed you. I will be with you when you are in deep waters and huge waves. I won’t let you drown. I will be with you in the fire and I won’t let you be burned—because I am Jesus, your God.  And because you are precious in My sight, I honor you.  Do you realize that?

I HONOR you.  And I LOVE you.  You should never be afraid of anything ever again, because I am always with you…. You have your name, but from now on, you will be called by My Name.  You are connected to Me—just as children are connected to their fathers and take their fathers’ names, so you are connected to me and will be called by My name. 

I created you FOR MY GLORY.  When you make good choices, you give Me glory. I formed you, molded you, and chose everything about you. 

You were custom-made for Me.  I LOVE YOU! 43:1-7.  I formed everyone for MYSELF, for MY own purposes.  No matter who you think of—I formed them for My purpose.

“The people I formed for Myself will declare My praise” Is. 43: 21. 

I am Jesus.  There is no other God. I form light and create darkness.  I make success and I create disaster.  45:6-7.

God, thank you for speaking plainly to our fears and shame and hurts.  Help us to love You more every day.

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The Older Brother Temptation, Isaiah 1:18.

God confronts His children in the book of Isaiah.

“‘Come, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool” Isaiah 1:18.

This is not an accusation. God states it as a given: ‘sure your sins are as red as blood, but come to Me and I will wash them whiter than snow.’ These are words of forgiveness. 

But we’re not convinced our sins are as red as blood. We were never THAT bad, right? I live a good life.  I don’t cheat as much as my friends.  I give a little money to the church.  I don’t drink like him or carry grudges like her.  I try to be a good person. Pretty soon you’re thinking, ‘Sin? What sin?’

When you hear the parable of the Prodigal Son, do you relate to the older brother? He was obedient all those years—yet dad barely noticed.  Do you ever feel that way? You have served God faithfully for so long.  When is He going to give you a party? Luke 15:29.

Do you ever think, BUT I’M A GOOD PERSON!

No, you are not—and neither was the older brother. He did the right things, but his heart was WRONG. He did NOT share his father’s burden for the lost brother (do you?). Instead, he was envious of his brother. His heart was as foul as that of the Prodigal Son.

But the Prodigal’s repentance set a standard the older brother would never meet. 

Interestingly–and just like us–both brothers focused on outward actions, thus both condemned the Prodigal.

But Jesus is interested in our hearts—and some of us who live as cleanly as the older brother have nevertheless daydreamed ourselves into every kind of evil: lusts, jealousies, hatred, even murder. 

The Bible says “all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory” Romans 3:23. “What about the good things I have done?” you ask. God says your good deeds are as foul as things we flush down the toilet, Isaiah 64:6. 

The secret to spiritual growth is to OWN your sinfulness.  I don’t mean to beat yourself up over it. But you must face it honestly. Only when you see the depravity from which the Father saved you will you begin to love Him and live a life devoted to Him. As believers, we walk in grace. We refuse to feel guilty over our past. But we must also refuse to stop feeling gratitude for what Jesus did for us.  How can we “neglect so great a salvation?” Hebrews 2:3.

God, give us a heart of repentance and gratitude like the Prodigal Son’s.

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CAN A FATHER BE BOTH TENDER AND TERRIFYING? Hosea 11:8-9.

God is both.  The movie that best captures my view of my father is Mel Gibson’s THE PATRIOT.  The dad is wise and thoughtful, avoiding war, but when war comes for his sons, he takes action in a manner that is fierce to say the least. 

God hates sin and will destroy those who would destroy His children.  But God remains a God of compassion.  He is not like us—He does not lose His temper.  He always tempers His anger with love and grace.

“How can I give you up, Israel?… I have had a change of heart. My compassion is stirred! I will not vent the full fury of My anger. I will not destroy you. FOR I AM GOD AND NOT MAN, THE HOLY ONE AMONG YOU. I WILL NOT COME IN RAGE” Hosea 11:8-9.

God states the obvious—”I am God and not man”—He controls His anger, even setting it aside.  Then He speaks of the roar of a lion.  Lions are terrifying—on quiet nights their roar can be heard five miles away.  Lions are sort of the Great White Sharks of the savannah—hunting in complete silence.  Men have been pulled from tents by their heads, the lion’s top and bottom incisors meeting in the center of the man’s skull.  Imagine the size and power of those jaws.  But if the lion is your father—if you are his cub—the roar has a different meaning, and when you hear it, you come.

“The Lord… will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west,” from Egypt, from Assyria, “and I will settle them in their homes” vv.10-11.

No one can roar like God. HE IS GOD AND NOT MAN… He will not come in rage.  And when He roars, He will call you home to a place where He can protect you.

God, thank you that You are kind enough to comfort us, and strong enough to defend us. You inspire us.

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Come. Let’s Talk. Hosea 11:8-11.

In Isaiah, God says to His people, “Come, let us reason together.” That means, “Come, let’s talk. Let’s discuss your sins and my holiness, and how we can have a relationship. Even if your soul is as red as scarlet, I can make it white as snow” Isaiah 1:18.

God is merciful. He wants to forgive and restore. He invites us to come to Him in our sorrow and find mercy.

Hosea contains a similar passage. After listing Israel’s terrible sins and the terrifying judgment to come, God stops and speaks of mercy.

“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I surrender you, Israel? I have had a change of heart; My compassion is stirred! I will not vent the full fury of my anger. FOR I AM GOD AND NOT MAN, THE HOLY ONE AMONG YOU. I will not come in rage. They will follow the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west. … Then I will settle them in their homes.” Hosea 11:8-11.

Read this again—WHY does God choose compassion? Why does He withhold some of His wrath?

Because He is GOD AND NOT MAN. Men become angry and lose control, but God is stronger than men. God has compassion we will never understand.

GOD still ROARS. But what happens? When God roars, His children do not run away, but return to Him because He is their father.

Does God have to roar to get your attention? Have you allowed a weakness or a “secret sin” to take over your life? Is God roaring, crying out for you to return? Turn to Him while He is offering mercy. Don’t wait for consequences. “Seek the Lord while He may be found” (Isaiah 55:6). Get down on your knees and beg God for forgiveness. Surrender to Him your actions, beliefs, thoughts. Give Him full control of your mind and heart.

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Poisonous Lawsuits. Hosea 10:4.

In his book NARCONOMICS, economist Tom Wainwright argues that drug cartels do not necessarily have more conflicts than other businesses. But they resolve conflicts with guns because they cannot use the legal system.  In other words, drug lords murder people because when a contract for illegal drugs is breached, the seller can’t file a lawsuit against the buyer to enforce the terms of the contract.  

Our legal system is better than the shootouts of the Old West and modern drug cartels. 

Do you know what the secret to a working legal system is?  It is NOT education, wisdom, precedent, or the threat of fines or incarceration.

The power of our legal system is OBJECTIVITY. Lawyers and judges, despite their education, are not morally superior to anyone else. Their hearts may be evil, their motives impure. But because they are not personally involved in the case, they can be objective. That’s the secret.

Each party hires a surrogate to stand in as his agent—a surrogate who is not involved.  Each lawyer puts aside emotions and evaluates the case on its merits.  Then the state hires a third surrogate to stand in as the agent of the law. And he can judge between the parties and impartially apply the law to the facts because he is also OBJECTIVE.   

It is not a perfect system, but filing a lawsuit is better than taking matters into your own hands. It is better than killing each other.

“So lawsuits break out like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field” Hosea 10:4.

God says lawsuits break out when people become rebellious and no longer respect God, the king, or each other, Hosea 10:2-4. 

Our court system is a good system—it beats murder—but too many lawsuits says something about the hearts of the people. 

As a lawyer, I have advocated for both plaintiffs and defendants.  As an individual, I have been both a plaintiff and defendant—and a jury foreman.

But the best advice I can give about the courthouse is stay out of it.  Learn to FORGIVE.  Be a PEACEMAKER.  Let some things go.  Roll with the punches when possible.

“SETTLE matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still on the way” Matthew 5:25.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God” Matthew 5:9.

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Jewels in My Mouth. Hosea 8:12.

When I was learning to read, I would read everything: my parents’ novels (a sentence or two was about all I could take), newspaper articles and cereal boxes at breakfast, shampoo bottles while showering, dictionaries and encyclopedias, you name it.  I quickly realized there were some things I did not want to read, books as boring as the evening news my parents watched every night.  As I got older, I had friends who actually DID read encyclopedias and dictionaries.  I tried.  I wanted to be smart like that. But it was too boring.  I told myself I was a different breed—an “active child” as my teachers would say. No one expects an active child to read.  Thus, I found my excuse.  I could scratch reading off my list. Reading is for other kids.  Kids who are alien to me, foreign kids—kids of a different breed. 

In the book of Hosea, God complains about His people. They rebel, they worship idols, and they tell themselves God’s ways don’t apply to them.

“Though I were to write out … ten thousand points of My instruction, My words would be regarded as something strange” Hosea 8:12. 

What an interesting comment from God Himself: I could write ten thousand life hacks and my people would shrug and say, “yeah, but that won’t work for me.  I’m an active child.”

Don’t we do that?  We hear a scripture, and immediately dismiss it telling ourselves it does not apply to us. We think we are not like other people.  We tell ourselves we are alien or foreign or strange.  Or we tell ourselves God’s truths are alien or foreign or strange. 

In fact, various translations of Hosea 8:12 use those very words: people hear God’s word and tell themselves it is ‘strange’ or ‘alien’ or ‘foreign’ or ‘irrelevant’ or ‘does not apply.’  The Message paraphrase says people know about God’s words, but “pretend they can’t read it.”  (Do you do that?  Do you look at the boring parts—or not so boring parts—and just give up?)

When young Frank McCourt reads his first two lines of Shakespeare, he says “I don’t know what it means and I don’t care because … it’s like having jewels in my mouth when I say the words” (ANGELA’S ASHES). 

JEWELS IN MY MOUTH.  The Bible is one of the few works that rivals the poetry of Shakespeare.  But more importantly—whether it SOUNDS like jewels in your mouth or not—the message is more valuable than diamonds.

Stop telling yourself you are different from everyone else.  You are not. GOD WROTE THE BIBLE FOR YOU. He knows your reading ability, your exhaustion, your distractions.  But He also knows you can read it and learn it, if you will let Him help you. All it takes is sitting down and opening the book.

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God Will Fix You. Hosea 2:6-19.

Imagine being consumed, so obsessed you can’t concentrate.  Imagine being addicted.  Most have been swept up in a moment that seemed impossible to resist.  But if you go there often, it becomes every day, all the time.  It will define you, identify you: “Hello, my name is Robert, and I am an alcoholic.”

‘Alcoholic’ is hard to grasp if you have not been one.  But the Bible describes it:

“Who has sorrow, needless wounds, bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine.  Do not gaze at the wine sparkling in the cup. In the end it bites like a snake…. You will say, ‘they struck me, but I felt no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When I wake up I will search for another drink’” Proverbs 23:29-35.

God UNDERSTANDS.  He knows.  He knows the way a “small treat” becomes the monster that rules your life.  God CAN defeat the monster. 

But it is a tough journey.

To rescue Gomer from sex addiction, God lays out His treatment plan:

“I will block her way with thorns.  Enclose her with a wall… I will take back My gifts… Expose her shame… Put an end to her parties….  I will punish her….  THEN, I am going to persuade her, lead her…, speak tenderly to her.  I will return gifts to her…. I will take her to be My wife forever… in righteousness, justice, love, and compassion” Hosea 2:6-19.

Submit to God.  Give Him your sins.  Trust Him to rescue you—and expect a tough journey.  He may block your way, put up a wall, cut off your source. He may remove gifts that facilitated the sin (e.g., money). He will end the parties… and then things will turn and He will bless you with Himself, His kindness, tenderness, compassion, and gifts. And you will have a new, pure, healed life.

God, deliver us from sin!

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He is Not Only God the Father, but GOD THE HUSBAND. Hosea 3:1.

It’s easy to consider God your heavenly Father.  But can you consider Him a husband? 

The notion of being the “Bride of Christ” is difficult for men—and I’m not sure women find the idea easy to grasp either. 

Yet throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God uses marriage language to illustrate the way He loves His people.  In fact, God loved us that way FIRST—and THEN He created human marriage to help us understand the intensity of His love.  Marriage creates homes, nurtures children, and is the foundation on which society is built, but I believe in the beginning, at its core, marriage existed first in the mind of God as an illustration that would show us how deeply He loves us. 

A good marriage is a picture of God’s passion FOR you and His eternal commitment TO you. 

God used the prophet Hosea to point out how unfaithful Israel had been.  Hosea’s marriage to an unfaithful bride became a symbol of God’s marriage to His people.

“Go and marry a promiscuous wife and have children of promiscuity, for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity by abandoning the Lord” Hosea 1:2.

“Go again, show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods…” Hosea 3:1.

There are deep truths here.  Sure, God is your Father.  But a relationship with a bride is more intense and more personal than your relationship with your father. A groom longs for his bride with an energy that is difficult to control. It is a physical passion. A longing.  A hunger. God longs for you like that. 

And then there is the vulnerability that comes with nakedly sharing everything. (Imagine God being making Himself vulnerable–and of course He does; look at the cross.)

The Bible says no one can see the face of God and live. Do you know why? Because God will not remove the veil from His face until the marriage union of heaven.  Like a groom, He longs to reveal Himself, to see and be seen, but He will not engage in any pre-marital revealing: it will not happen until the right time. We will see His face in heaven—and it will be amazing.

What spouses share is intense and PRIVATE—it is for the two alone, shutting the door to everyone else.  This is another difference fom the father image. A relationship with a father includes brothers and sisters.  But a relationship with a bride is for you alone.  Marriage is not merely PRIVATE, but EXCLUSIVE, a one-on-one, totally exclusive relationship for a lifetime. 

Marriage also includes the element of choice.  Children cannot choose their fathers, and (except by adoption) fathers cannot choose their children.  But you only enter a marriage because the two of you have VOLUNTARILY chosen each other. 

Marriage is intense, passionate, private, exclusive, and voluntary.

So also, GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU IS INTENSE, PASSIONATE, PRIVATE, EXCLUSIVE, AND VOLUNTARY. 

That kind of love is different than the love between a parent and a child. Both are amazing. But it is important to remember that God considers you His bride: He LONGS for you.

“You long for the creature your hands have made” Job 14:15.

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