Live a Fruitful Life!

20th Sunday after Pentecost, 10/26/14
Isaiah 5:1-7


Live a Fruitful Life!
I. That’s what the Lord enables.
II. That’s what the Lord expects.


Every day we receive countless unsolicited encouragements for our lives. Some of them revolve around our health. Avoid eating too much sugar. Practice portion control. Get more exercise. Drink three glasses of water each day. Have your blood pressure checked. Take all medications as prescribed. Get at least 7 hours of sleep. We know we’re supposed to do those things. We’ve heard those encouragements over and over again.

Other encouragements are financial in nature. Save for retirement. Pay off credit card debt. Lower the interest rate on your mortgage.

Still other unsolicited encouragements are relational. Don’t let them take advantage of you. Don’t say too much until you know that you can trust her absolutely. Don’t think he’s going to change once you marry him. We know! We know! We’ve heard those all before.

But how about this one? Be fruitful (and I’m not talking about having many children). Do we even think in those terms? When is the last time you began your day by making the commitment to be fruitful? Maybe never. We don’t tend to think in those terms.

But it’s apparent from today’s worship focus and our scripture readings that our God does and he wants us to do the same. Specifically, he’s looking for our faith in Jesus to produce fruits; in other words, outward evidence that faith in Jesus lives in us.

In this morning’s sermon text from Isaiah 5, the Lord relates what happened when he searched for fruits of faith among the people of Israel some 700 years before Jesus was born. He didn’t find any. In fact, he found just the opposite. “He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.”

I’m sure you’re willing as one of God’s children to resolve that’s not going to happen among us. So live a fruitful life! Let’s see how that happens and why it’s so important as we delve into the words of this song.

Part I.

Have you ever managed people? If so, you know it’s your daily responsibility to get the most out of the people you’re managing. But that doesn’t mean you work them to death. It means you make sure you have the best people for each position. It means you supply them with the knowledge they need to do their job. It means you make sure they have the best environment possible so that they can succeed, so that they can produce what you’re looking for.

We hear many of those same things about the owner of the vineyard here in Isaiah 5, and yet it’s clear he does so much more. Our text opens with these words, “I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard.” From the way this song unfolds, it’s easy to tell that the owner of the vineyard is God. So who is the one he loves? It’s himself—the Lord. But isn’t being in love with yourself unattractive, even sinful? Indeed it is, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. Instead, what we have here is the same thing we hear about in the New Testament when God the Father refers to Jesus as the Son whom he loves. And that truth speaks volumes about what the Lord is doing here as the owner of this vineyard. This is the God who is love. This is the God who loves the whole world so much that he sent his Son into the world to sacrifice him for the sins of the world. Unlike a manager at work, our God is moved by holy, perfect love for us.

In his love for us look again at what he has done for us. The Lord describes it in the careful, arduous efforts to make his people the best possible. He not only dug up the ground, he cleared it of stone—no easy task by hand in the rocky soil of the Holy Land. He was careful to use only choice vines. He even built a watchtower in it so that he could guard it from any animals or humans that intended to damage it. In fact, he went to the extreme of hewing out a winepress right on the spot. As far as ancient vineyards go, this was the finest.

We know from what the Lord says later that the vineyard represents the house of Israel; in other words, his chosen Old Testament people. So what do these careful details indicate? The Lord is clearly stating that he spared nothing when it came to forming the Jews to be his people. They had every advantage. He used his almighty power to protect them time and time again. He revealed his visible glory to them. They had his written word. They had the priesthood, the festivals, the system of sacrifices. He sent them his prophets. None of the other nations in the world had any of these advantages.

With that being the case, you would think his Old Testament people would be producing record crops of fruits every day. You would think that when the people of other nations looked at the Israelites, they would see all sorts of evidence of their connection with the one true God. You would think they could readily tell the difference their faith made in their lives. But you’d be wrong.

You see, fruits of faith result from faith. The people to whom the Lord spoke these words had long ago rejected him in unbelief. That’s what’s so sad about this song. They couldn’t produce fruits of faith because they had no faith.

Your faith is the result of God’s powerful, saving work in you. So live like it! Live a fruitful life. That’s what the Lord enables you to do.

So, if you’re one of God’s children—and, indeed you are by faith in Jesus—then you have the power to live like a child of God. God enables you to produce the fruits of faith he’s looking for. In fact, he enables you to produce them in abundance. So, how’s that going for you? Honestly, if your experience is anything like mine, not so well at times. My little fits of rage and the way I talk to and about other people are not fruits of my faith; they’re fruits of my sinful nature. Same thing for my disrespect, my discontent, and my lousy disposition. At times I’m irreverent of people I should revere and irritable for no reason. Those are not the things God is looking for in my life. How about yours? What’s does he see day after day? Fruits abounding or barely any at all? Again, God enables us to produce fruit. And he does that when we drop to our knees before him with all our rotten fruit and confess what sinful vines we have been. And then God does what he wants to do for us—he cleanses us with the blood of Jesus. He removes our sins and guilt. He empowers us to be his children and to live like it once again. Live a fruitful life! That’s what the Lord enables.

Part II.

When someone does something wonderful for you, do you wonder what they want you to do for them in return? Only if you don’t completely trust them. Only if you’re uncertain of their pure love for you.

The Lord described his tremendous acts of grace and power for his people in making them his people. He wanted to have a saving, spiritual relationship with them. But he didn’t do it to see what he could get out of it. He wasn’t seeing if they would return the favor. God doesn’t need any favors from us.

But he is looking for fruits of faith. In fact, he expects it. And he’s so serious about it, he warns us about failing to produce fruit. Listen to what he says, “When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” Not a pretty picture. Rather frightening. His words are full of judgment against those who don’t produce the fruits he expects.

So what should we do? Listen to these words of your loving Savior, Jesus, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). That might be your confirmation verse. When your pastor spoke those words over your head on the day of your confirmation, he was encouraging you to keep closely connected to Jesus all your life. That happens in one way and only one way—through the gospel in God’s word and sacrament. As we hear his word and receive his Holy Supper he is keeping us connected to him, enabling us to produce the fruits that he expects. Those fruits of faith bring glory to him and they bring blessings to our loved ones and neighbors. When we produce fruits of faith we bring blessings to others. And the greatest of those blessings is that we draw others to Christ by the way that we live.

Live a fruitful life! That’s what the Lord expects.

Are there areas of your life in which the Lord is not finding the fruits that he expects? At work? At home? At school? With your acquaintances? In your church life? It’s that way with each one of us. And where we find that to be true of ourselves, then it’s time to do a little pruning. Cut off the sinful attitudes. Severe the sinful activities. Cut away at the parts of your life that don’t reflect that you are a child of God. And then be fruitful! Get closer to your Savior. Build up your relationship with him. That can be as simple as starting your day with a short devotion sent to you on your computer or mobile device. Better yet, read a chapter or two of your Bible. Make sure you’re in worship and receiving the Lord’s Supper. And then watch as your faith, which has been strengthened by the Holy Spirit through word and sacrament, produces the fruits that the Lord expects. Live a fruitful life! May God make it so. Amen.