A new friend of mine recently remarked, “When you encourage someone, you fight for them.” As I was preparing the rows for winter , busy pulling out weeds, closing up the water wells and gathering rocks around each trunk base, Ben’s words provided an “aha!” moment.
Fighting against weeds encourages the vine. Keeping the roots free and clear of any other plant with regular attention to detail will keep the rows clear of unwanted ground cover, reduce the incidence of disease contagion, and aid the vine in claiming its rightful place. In essence, my actions have encouraged good by removing evil and things that cause evil. The principle in Romans 12:9 has been activated, “Love must be sincere; hate what is evil, cling to what is good.”
This type of battle, in which the manager never gives up, is evidence of his love for the vine. When he removes from me either wicked people (those who do evil) or wicked thoughts and desires (things that cause evil and promote sin), he is encouraging me to grow. So then, this is also true; when you fight for someone, you are, in fact, encouraging them. In our vineyard, ground level battles benefit the vine encouraging the depth and spread of the roots, a principle we find working in Ephesians 3:17, 18.
At Weaver’s hill the rows are weeded but the aisle is not. Strategically focusing weed removal attention on ground close to the vine provides the garden with the symbiotic relationship of weeds to crop just as good and evil …to a degree…co-exist here on earth. Jesus says, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” So too, I am protecting these vines from evil weeds – those that would introduce and propagate disease, those whose agenda it is to conquer vine space and replace them, those who would damage their heart, their life, their existence.
Let’s say that because I love the vines, that I establish a law that governs vineyard care. Having been through a couple seasons, I decide that one law should be directed at the ground around each vine and read something like: No thorn bushes or invasive vegetation of any variety shall reside within two feet of any vine. Now what?
Thorns and invaders do not care about my law and they grow wherever they like. So when the heavy first rains let up and sunshine warms the rows there they are! They continue there unless I enforce the law so the law is amended: “No thorn bushes or invasive vegetation of any variety shall reside within two feet of any vine. Any weeds found shall be removed at regular intervals from around each vine. Furthermore, diseased plants of any variety within the scope of the whole vineyard shall be removed immediately without pity or hesitation by the vineyard manager or those he assigns in a timely manner.” Now action can be taken to ensure protection of the vine.
God removes two types of weeds from his kingdom – those who do evil and things that cause sin(Matthew 13:41). Logical questions begin to flood my mind. What is sin? What is this wrongdoing? How shall we avoid it? Do these rules for living apply to everyone or specific groups or only at specific times… specific places? Must we obey the 10 commandments in Exodus 20 or its revision in Exodus 34? Shall we take as a creed the to-do list of Ezekiel 18 or the abridged version in Micah 6? Is Jesus’ new law of love the only rule to follow or shall we adhere to the decision of the council at Antioch where they were first called Christians? Do we make up our own list and expect everyone around us to hold diligently to our personal reasoning. Whose list of wrongs or rights is the right one for each person right now? (Tired of thinking through it yet?)
As we saw earlier, all wrongdoing is sin (1 John 5). Also, everything that does not come from faith is sin (Romans 14:23) and all lawlessness is sin (1 John 3:4).
What are those things which cause us to be faithless and lawless? James 1:13-15 answers, “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
DESIRE. Evil desire. What do you long for? Why do you crave it? Answer that and you will have your answer to the question, “What causes sin?” Are you attracted to “wrong” things? That attraction or group of longings becomes a set of weeds around your vine that, for your benefit, must be removed.
For the next set, let’s go to the end and see what “sinners” (those who do evil) look like. People banished from the kingdom listed in Revelation 22 and condemned to die the second death are:
- Those who practice magic arts (in essence, those who rebel against the power of God),
- The sexually immoral (those enacting wrongs against their own bodies ),
- Murderers (those who act on the blatant disregard for life’s value in others),
- Idolaters ( those who actively misdirect and skew understanding of the LORD and any worship due him )
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struggling wildly for their place...
Everyone who loves and practices falsehood (an affront to God’s core nature which is Truth).
Can we love plants in our garden without weeding them? Yes. But over time the garden will lack purpose and eventually loose any semblance to a garden at all being tangled in a maze of aggressive interlopers.
Can I encourage my new and insightful friend, Ben? I pray that God will make it so. Encouragement takes effort and it’s worth fighting for. Fighting to encourage good qualities in Ben – absolutely priceless. …Ben is marrying my daughter in two weeks. Can I rid his life of all evil? No. I weed my vineyard but it is the LORD of Heaven and earth who removes evil weeds from his people, his vineyard.
Have a good heart, my friend. The battle belongs to the LORD. It is the Lord of heaven and earth who removes evil from our lives for his glory at the time of his choosing. It is his to do and he will do it. Trust him. (Avoir un bon couer, mon ami. La bataille appartient à l’Éternel. Il est le Seigneur du ciel et la terre qui supprime le mal de nos vies pour sa gloire au moment de son choix.)
Adventures of Janey Grapeseed 