Just Taking up Space

[Christsfreeservant]

Monday, December 20, 2010, 7:35 a.m. – My husband shared with me the story from Luke 13 about the fig tree, which was under the topic of this passage, “Repent or Perish.”

“But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

The fig tree in this passage of scripture, and in others, is a depiction of “Israel,” which today is the church, i.e. only true believers in Jesus Christ are God’s people. We are God’s vineyard that he has planted on this earth to bear fruit for Him and for His kingdom. He has given us plenty of time to bear fruit. The man taking care of the vineyard is truly Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit, though God has also chosen human shepherds to care for his vineyard, as well. The man asking for one more year thus could be a picture of Jesus’ grace in giving us more time or it could be a picture of the compassion of those in Christ Jesus who are crying out to God for revival in the church and are asking God for more time in order for the vineyard, i.e. the church, to be fruit bearing before God brings his final judgment on the earth.

The man (God) who planted the vineyard asked the question, “Why should it use up the soil?” I believe that is a picture of much of today’s church where believers in Jesus Christ are just “using up the soil” but are not being fruit bearing disciples of Jesus Christ. And, I believe the “digging around it” and the “fertilizer” is going to involve a process of revival which includes hardships, trials, tribulations, etc. in order to bring God’s people back into a right relationship with Him. If a person has cancer, part of that healing process involves digging the cancer out and applying treatments to see that the cancer does not return. To get the church back to where it needs to be in relationship with Jesus Christ as fruit-bearing disciples, this kind of digging out of the cancer, i.e. heart surgery is what is needed. And, then the wound needs to be treated with the truth of God’s word for healing to take place.

A friend asked my husband and me to study 2 Peter 1 this week, taking it one phrase at a time, so we have begun that process. Beginning with verse 3:

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I saw immediately how this portion of 2 Peter 1 went right along with the story of the fig tree. When we believe in Jesus Christ and we repent of our sin, digging takes place as we must allow Jesus to eradicate (to destroy or get rid of something completely, so that it can never recur or return) from our lives our past sins. Sometimes, over the course of time, old sin habits begin to creep their way back into our lives for various reasons, partly which is because we are not doing the things described here in vv. 3-11 of 2 Peter 1. If we are not doing these things, then we are vulnerable to fall again into a pattern of sin and to forget that we have been cleansed from sin, not just from the ultimate penalty of sin but cleansed from bondage to and the control of sin over our lives. [Eradicate: definition from Encarta.]

Yet, if we do these things, they serve as fertilizer to our souls in helping us to grow spiritually, to be fruit-bearing disciples, to escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires, and to be effective and productive in our understanding of who Jesus is, what his word teaches us, and in the application of his truths to our daily lives.

Prophecy of Scripture
12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Immediately the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart as I read these words. I recalled how he has given understanding of the application of his word to today and how he is revealing to many of us that we are living on borrowed time, i.e. we are nearing the end of time as we know it. Peter, in realizing the shortness of his time left on the earth (in the tent of his body) recognized that he needed to make every effort to see that after he left this earth that he would leave something behind that would always be a reminder to Jesus’ followers as to the truth of Jesus’ teachings concerning how we are to live out our daily lives. This is called leaving a legacy, i.e. something that is handed down to those we leave behind.

I see that this passage of scripture describes many ways in which we can leave behind us a legacy that will help future generations to live righteously before God. The first and foremost is that we have faith in Jesus Christ and that added to that faith are the qualities of goodness, knowledge (understanding), self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. Second to that is that we share the truths of God’s word, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the pattern for godly living described in God’s word with the people in our lives so that when we are gone, they will be reminded of the things we have taught them by our lives as well as by the words that we have spoken.

When I read in v. 19, “And we have the word of the prophets made more certain…” what immediately came to mind is that the words the prophets spoke concerning the final days on the earth are now being made more certain through current world events as we are seeing more prophecy of scripture being played out before us on the world stage day by day. The Lord spoke in scripture of the necessity of us recognizing the signs of the times and of not being deceived via the great deception of the last days, so when v. 19 said, “…and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,” I could not help but think of these warnings all through scripture to pay attention, to wake from our slumber, to watch and wait, and to not be deceived. We need to be paying attention, not only to our own lives and in making sure we are living holy lives, but we also need to be watching and listening to what is going on in our world so that we can see how the words of the prophets are being made more certain as The Day approaches, so that we are moved in our spirits to be fruit-bearing disciples of Jesus Christ instead of just taking up space.

The Lord put this song in my mind this afternoon. This is the prayer of my heart:

Constantly Abiding / Anne S. Murphy

There’s a peace in my heart that the world never gave,
A peace it cannot take away;
Though the trials of life may surround like a cloud,
I’ve a peace that has come here to stay!

All the world seemed to sing of a Savior and King,
When peace sweetly came to my heart;
Troubles all fled away and my night turned to day,
Blessèd Jesus, how glorious Thou art!

This treasure I have in a temple of clay,
While here on His footstool I roam;
But He’s coming to take me some glorious day,
Over there to my heavenly home!

Constantly abiding, Jesus is mine;
Constantly abiding, rapture divine;
He never leaves me lonely, whispers, O so kind:
“I will never leave thee,” Jesus is mine.

 

[godisreal36]

The road to heaven is rocky and narrow. Thanks for the many words that you wrote. I was blessed.

 

[Christsfreeservant]

The road to heaven is rocky and narrow. Thanks for the many words that you wrote. I was blessed.

Godisreal - Praise the Lord that this blessed your heart! I take no credit. I write what the Lord teaches me each day from my times with him in prayer and in his word and I share what he teaches me as my testimony and witness for him and for the edification of the Body of Christ. The road to heaven is definitely narrow and the Bible tells us much what Jesus means by the word "narrow" when the Bible tells us that our response to God's grace must be repentance, faith and obedience to his commands.

 

[wayfaring man]

Meaty OP,

Like to add -

Strait and narrow... not straight and narrow.

Straight means like in a straight line, without bends or curves.

Strait means restrictive in such a way that it requires sacrifice and involves affliction.

Remember the camel and the eye of the needle.

wm

 

[godisreal36]

It's harder for a rich man to go to heaven than it is for a camel to jump through the eye of a needle. And the road to heaven is narrow and rocky and few find it. Yet very few are rich, hmm....

 

[Christsfreeservant]

Meaty OP,

Like to add -

Strait and narrow... not straight and narrow.

Straight means like in a straight line, without bends or curves.

Strait means restrictive in such a way that it requires sacrifice and involves affliction.

Remember the camel and the eye of the needle.

wm

Wayfaring man - thank you for that input. I was unfamiliar with the word "strait" as I think that is used more in the KJV of the Bible and I primarily read the NIV, because it is in today's English and I can more easily understand what I am reading. Anyway, I was curious as to what the word "strait" meant as opposed to the word "straight", so I did a word search in the dictionary and a bible search, as well. What I learned from my search is that "strait" and "narrow" are pretty much saying the same thing, whereas "straight" has an entirely different context. By reading and understanding the definition of "straight" and looking at its context Biblically, I reached the conclusion that I really did mean "straight and narrow" and this is why:

Strait – means a “passage, channel, canal (MS Word Thesaurus); a narrow body of water that joins two larger bodies of water; a situation that is difficult or involves hardship; narrow or with very little room; very strict or severe” – Encarta.

Straight – “extending or proceeding in one single direction, without bends, curves, irregularities, or deviations; level, even, or properly positioned; accurate or correct; honest, fair, and upright; not straying from agreed or published principles or policies; following one after another, without interruption; not diluted or mixed with any other drink; without bending, curving, or diverging from a course; without delay or detour; without any attempt to deceive or soften the truth” – Encarta Dictionary.

Bible search on word “straight” in NIV - BibleGateway.com - Keyword Search: straight

We need both this "straight" and "narrow/strait" in order to live the Christian life as God would have us to live it.

Thanks so much for making me aware of the distinction, because I had not realized that before!! You learn something new every day, hopefully.

 

[wayfaring man]

Hi Sue,

You're welcome in The Lord.

Straight does fit in some ways... as in -

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. <-----> Hebrews 12:12+13

straight -
G3717
&#959;&#787;&#961;&#952;&#959;&#769;&#962;
orthos
or-thos'
Probably from the base of G3735; right (as rising), that is, (perpendicularly) erect (figuratively honest), or (horizontally) level or direct: - straight, upright.

But when Jesus was describing the way, and the gate that few find the will or strength to follow, and enter through unto eternal life. The two different words written in the original Greek are as follows.

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it. <-----> Matthew 7:14

[ Note that "strait" is used to describe "the gate"; while "narrow" is in reference to "the way".]

strait -

G4728
&#963;&#964;&#949;&#957;&#959;&#769;&#962;
stenos
sten-os'
Probably from the base of G2476; narrow (from obstacles standing close about): - strait.

narrow -

G2346
&#952;&#955;&#953;&#769;&#946;&#969;
thlibo&#772;
thlee'-bo
Akin to the base of G5147; to crowd (literally or figuratively): - afflict, narrow, throng, suffer tribulation, trouble.

See how the Greek word "stenos" describes "obstacles standing close about"; which would make going in a straight line very difficult. Hence the "gate" is "strait" or "narrow" due to being obstacle laden.

Ever see the kind of "gate" in a fence that contains livestock which requires one to step dexterously and zig zag through a narrow opening, so that none can walk straight through ?

And the way is narrow -"thlibo" - in the sense that it involves some trouble, or suffering. Which indicates it is not very smooth or level, perhaps even mountainous.

So by going back to the Greek we can see a distinction which the English didn't make as clear.

Using Strong's which is keyed to The King James, via e-sword, has proven to be excellent in providing greater detail and distinction when studying Scripture.

e-sword can be downloaded for free @ e-Sword - the Sword of the LORD with an electronic edge

Thinking on this "word study" also brings a couple of verses to mind -

Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. <-----> Isaiah 62:10

Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. <-----> Romans 14:13

May we be as helpful, and not as hindrances - when it comes to finding and following the narrow way which leads to and through the strait gate !

In Jesus' Name. Amen.

wm

 

[godisreal36]

Doesn't the bible say something about God making our path straight? Could this refer to the Gate as being straight? Idk, it just popped into my head when i read the thing about the gate being straight and the way narrow. Possibly this could confirm what wayfaring man says. What is the gate? is it faith or something else? The gate, is it not faith in Jesus? I think so but I'm not sure. Maybe the gate is god making us to walk in his statutes, but then again only faith makes us right in God's sight, maybe the gate is faith in Jesus regardless of whether we seem to walk God's statutes or not.