Tag Archives: Useless

Chapter-a-Day

Made for More

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Made for More (CaD Ezk 15) – Wayfarer

“Son of man, how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest? Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful?”
Ezekiel 15:2-3 (NIV)

I come from a family of carpenters and craftsmen. My father has my great-grandfather’s tool box. My grandfather told us that his father began by making wooden dowels by hand that were used as fasteners before metal nails and screws were widely available. It is believed that he worked his way up to building boats and ships before he came to the States. He worked as a carpenter before starting his own Hardware Store.

For the record, I did not inherit those genes. Though I have spent a lifetime around my father who can still make just about anything out of available scraps of wood that happen to be lying around. And, I’ve watched my brother, a luthier, turn different types of wood into fine handmade guitars.

In today’s chapter, God gives Ezekiel a prophetic metaphor in which God’s people in Jerusalem are compared to a vine. It’s interesting to note that both Isaiah (5:1-6) and Ezekiel’s contemporary, Jeremiah (2:21), also use the same vine metaphor. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah describe God’s disappointment with His “vineyard” not producing good fruit. Ezekiel, on the other hand, expresses that the vine is utterly useless. To his point, my father could not use the wood of the vine to craft a frame for his stained-glass, nor could my brother make a guitar out of it. Therefore, if the vine is fruitless it is useless except to be used as fuel on a fire.

When Jesus arrived on the scene, He takes the metaphor of the vine to another level. He tells us that He is “the True Vine” and as His disciple, I am a branch on that Vine. The goal is the same as it ever was: to bear the good fruit of God’s Spirit which is love in all of its facets. Jesus then talks of me being pruned along the life-cycle in order to produce more pure, deep, and abundant love. I only become useless if I produce no fruit and am cut-off from the Vine. Then, Jesus says, the outcome is the same that Zeke proclaims: the burn pile.

The truth on which the vine metaphor is established is that I was made with a purpose, just as God called His people with a purpose. I’m not useless. I’m called to be a life-giving organism producing the fruit of love and bringing God’s Kingdom to earth through that love. When I remain connected to the True Vine, I allow the Living Water from the root structure to flow through my branch and leaves spreading all of the vital nutrients of Word, prayer, relationship, and witness to have its life-giving, fruit-producing effect. The prophetic warning only comes if and when I fail to interact with the Vine. Then I will slowly, day-by-day, decision-by-decision, step-by-step, spiritually dry-up. My leaves wither. There is no joy, or peace, or love.

As I head into a new work week, I am thankful for purpose. I was lovingly made. I am grafted into a True Vine. I am called to produce the fruit of God’s Spirit, and thus bring God’s Kingdom to every one, every day.

Yesterday, Wendy and I spent time in worship with our local gathering of Jesus’ followers. We sang a song that welled up in my head and heart as I meditated on these things. I share it with you as I head into my day. May I always be mindful that I was made for more.

I wasn’t made to be tending a grave
I was called by name
Born and raised back to life again
I was made for more
So why would I make a bed in my shame
When a fountain of grace is running my way
I know I am Yours
And I was made for more

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Trials, Gold, and Dross

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So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the Lord, the God of Israel.
Ezra 6:21 (NIV)

On Sunday, after I gave the message among our local gathering of Jesus’ followers, Wendy and I were having our normal lunch date together. Wendy had given the message the previous Sunday. She shared the story of her journey through infertility. This past Sunday I spoke about secrets and my own experience with secrets that kept me spiritually imprisoned.

There was a common theme in our messages. We both slogged our way through long stretches of trial and difficulty, and we both experienced previously unknown depths of joy and freedom at the other end of our respective valleys.

As we dined and debriefed, we discussed a few of the things that some religious people cling to as if of vital importance. Things such as church membership and adherence to a particular denominational institution. For the two of us, such trappings hold very little importance. To a certain extent, I realized that our journeys and struggles through hard spiritual terrain had refined our perspectives on what it means to be followers of Jesus. Membership certificates and institutional inclusion are of very little importance to us compared to the more tangible daily realities of our own personal, daily spiritual trek among our community of Jesus’ followers.

In today’s chapter, the returned exiles complete their construction of the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. There is a very small distinction in today’s chapter that is easily lost on a casual reader. The returned exiles are referred to as “Israelites.” When Jerusalem was besieged and the exile began, they were the nation of Judah. For hundreds of years prior to the exile, the tribes of Israel were separated in a bloody civil war. “Israel” was the northern kingdom. “Judah” was the southern kingdom. Now, upon return from their exile and the restoration of the Temple, they were simply “Israelites” along with Gentiles, like Ruth, who had chosen to follow their faith.

I couldn’t help but think that the experience of exile over 70 years changed some things for those who went through it. Old conflicts and prejudices fell by the wayside. Those who returned had a renewed understanding of what was truly important and what things simply didn’t matter all that much in the eternal perspective. That’s what exilic experiences and the spiritual struggle through valleys of pain, grief, and trouble will do for a person. It refines things. I’m reminded of Peter’s words to fellow believers scattered across the Roman Empire experiencing dreadful persecution:

May the thought of this cause you to jump for joy, even though lately you’ve had to put up with the grief of many trials. But these only reveal the sterling core of your faith, which is far more valuable than gold that perishes, for even gold is refined by fire. Your authentic faith will result in even more praise, glory, and honor when Jesus the Anointed One is revealed.
1 Peter 1:6-7 (TPT)

In the process of refining metal, which Peter uses as a metaphor, the gold remains while the “dross” (literally “scum on molten metal”) is removed as useless and worthless.

In the quiet this morning I find myself pondering those things that my trials have refined and revealed to be the gold of eternal importance and those things that my trials have revealed to be worthless scum in the grand scheme of things.

Chapter-a-Day

Oak and Vine

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In January of 2012 we had an unusually warm week and the dead vine in our backyard had enough life in it to sprout a single bloom.
In January of 2012 we had an unusually warm week and the dead vine in our backyard had enough life in it to sprout a single bloom.

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest?”
Ezekiel 15:1-2 (NIV)

I have written on occasion about the majestic old oak tree that stood sentinel outside our house in Pella. During our decade living there, Old Man Oak would occasionally drop a branch on the driveway. The branches were heavy and the solid wood would have been useful for any number of projects had I been a wood worker inclined to make something useful from the fallen limb.

In the backyard of the same house was a climbing vine that would perennially climb a trellis set between our and our neighbor’s yard. It was gorgeous in the summer when it wove its way up the framework of the arbor and blossomed in fiery orange blooms. In the autumn, however, the vines died and became ugly brown sinews that had to be painstakingly cut and pulled from the trellis. The remnants of the vine were dead, ugly, tangled, and absolutely useless for anything other than nature’s own recycling system.

That is exactly the word picture Ezekiel makes about the people of Jerusalem in today’s chapter. God’s people had once been a fruitful vine but had grown spiritually lifeless, tangled up in idolatry, and useless. As such, the result was to be thrown on the burn pile – a prophetic word picture of the coming Babylonian siege of Jerusalem and its destruction.

I’m reminded this morning of Jesus’ own take on the same metaphor:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:5-8 (NIV)

Today, I’m find myself a little introspective. Ezekiel’s prophecy and Jesus’ metaphor begs the question: “What good am I? Am I fruitful? Am I useful? Is there Life in the limbs of my existence, my labor, and my relationships?”