The Vinedresser
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
If you visit the Geneva region of Switzerland in the summertime, you will see the lower slopes of the mountains covered in grapevines, packed with grapes. It is a pleasure to be there when the first harvest of grapes is brought into the local caves. You can buy bunches of beautiful sweet grapes and also watch them being pressed before they are stored for winemaking. It is a joy to stand by the press with glass in hand to drink the juice as it flows out. There is no better taste of summer in the Alps!
In Galatians 5:22-23 Paul uses the metaphor of fruit to describe the life of the Lord Jesus Christ reproduced by the Holy Spirit in our lives as a result of walking in fellowship with the Lord Jesus. Paul tightly packs these extraordinary characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit into two verses of Scripture, like a bunch of grapes. The Lord Jesus uses grapes as an illustration of the fruit of the Spirit when, in John 15, He says:
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:1-5).
D.L. Moody commented as follows on the Fruit of the Spirit:
“Love is the first thing … Someone has said that all the other eight can be put in terms of love. Joy is love exulting; peace is love in repose; long-suffering is love on trial; gentleness is love in society; goodness is love in action; faith is love on the battlefield; meekness is love at school; and temperance is love in training.”*
But if you visited Switzerland in the wintertime, you would see the same slopes covered with individual grapevines that have neither leaves nor fruit. They look barren and lifeless. Sometimes we can be tempted to feel like those branches look: failing and fruitless. But there is a person who never thinks about these plants in this way – the vinedresser, who works skilfully, patiently and tirelessly on each branch, preparing them to be fruitful. He knows they have life in the vine. And he knows they are capable, in the words of the Lord Jesus, of producing fruit, more fruit and finally much fruit (John 15:1-5).
The vinedressers on the Jura slopes of Switzerland care deeply for their vines. But they are not connected to their plants as we are to our vinedresser. Our Vinedresser is not a paid expert. He is our Father; the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We often consider the grace of the Lord Jesus in stooping from glory into this world to become our Saviour. We often think of the Holy Spirit stooping down from heaven to be in us and with us. But how often do we think of the Father stooping down? He does this with all the gentleness and wisdom of His heart of love to make us like Jesus, His glorious Son. Never allow Satan to diminish the value God has placed on you. We cost the blood of His own Son. The Father cherishes our lives, and despite all our shortcomings, failure and wilfulness, He never ceases to act in all the patience of His marvellous grace and loving heart towards us, to make us fruitful until the day He brings us home.
* Day by Day with D L Moody, selected by Emma Moody Fitt (granddaughter); Chicago: Moody Press 1977
