Wisdom as Mixed Her Wine

(Prov. 9: 1, 2, 5, Ps. 46: 4)

 Wisdom has mingled, or mixed, her wine.  Something about the old KJV word mingled gives a different picture then the simple word mixed.  For me personally, it has a greater weight.  In our modern culture, mixing is done by throwing stuff in a blender.  The Lord is more thoughtful, caring, kind.  He is not mechanical.  It doesn’t mean we won’t feel the change and know the process.  It may still hurt and result in loss but we know that any loss is for His best in our lives, individually and corporately.

The Lord has a distinct purpose in how He brings His life into a situation.  The people that He chooses, the ingredients He brings together to make us something of our lives together that He can pour out into the earth and bring His life to many, even to the creation itself.  We focus upon what He is doing now, teaching now, speaking now.  That is important but I am increasingly moved to remember the past, to consider the good wine He poured out through the lives of His bondservants before us.

He began with those 12 and sat at a table with them at a momentous meal.  Consider what was happening.  Jesus presented the new covenant that had been spoken by Jeremiah.  He took the cup at the end of the meal.  Now, in context, for the ones present, this was a Passover meal.  They had done this many times before.  A reverent attitude was present but they had no idea, no consciousness, of the magnitude of it all.  “This is the new covenant in my blood,” Jesus said.  Recently, a brother leading a service had a long table set out up front.  We went up at and sat in His presence. It was awesome and tender.

A cup of wine.  We need to receive from all the streams of living wine.  Some have gone long before us.  The truths recovered during the period we call the Reformation are sometimes lost in the shuffle of the prophetic words of the month.  What some dismiss as “old” is newer than the “new” word.  A revelation of the new covenant will bring us to see, like Paul did, that that cup, that blood, is the blood of the eternal covenant.  A covenant sealed from before the foundation of creation.  Fixed, immutable, secured by the living God for all mankind.  Receive the new wine the gift of His Son continually flowing to and through us.

All the hidden riches of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ.  It says ALL.  The One by whom, for whom, and through whom, all things were created; He understands every detail of us and of our lives.  We run here and there for help.  To be sure, in many counselors we find wisdom.  We are here to help one another.  But many run outside, away from the truth, because they cannot face themselves.  Run to Him, and do not refuse wise counsel.  We all have done it somewhere along the line.  Then, hopefully, we see the mess we are in and return to Him.  Stick close to Him, and as our friend Brother Lawrence penned long ago, ask Jesus to keep you closer.  He sticks closer than any other.  He is always near.  To share a line from a Hillsong hymn, “my ever present help, speaking truth when I can’t find it.”  Listen to the still small voice of wisdom and follow it.

One Wine, A Variety of Vessels

(John 15, I Cor. 12-14)

 The Lord prompted me to visit the local wine shop which I frequent and know the owner and his staff.  I have had wonderful conversations there.  On this particular day it was quiet and I surveyed the variety of red wines on the shelves.  Quickly, I was receiving a message about the variety of grapes and their earthly sources.  The very grapes themselves are all different by a natural heritage.  And they hailed from different countries; Germany, Italy, France, South Africa, Argentina, even America (?!).  We have all grown in a particular environment, natural and spiritual, as children maturing into adulthood.  It gives us a natural identity, the person we are, the vessel through which the Spirit will touch others with the life of Christ.  As the wine bottles are different shapes and sizes, so are we as members of His one, glorious body.

As we have written, we are all grapes in His vineyard, and then in His winepress.  We are reminded of John the Baptist’s words, His winnowing fork is in His hand and He will thoroughly purge His floor.  As our brother Graham Cooke often mentions, we are continually in process.  Another sister, Elaine Tavalocci, has noted how often we find ourselves in transition.  So we are continually processed to be poured out by the Master of the vineyard.  He knows which one of us will bring the drink needed.  The shepherd used oil and wine for healing of the sheep’s wounds.  How often, I have seen Him bring me to someone, or someone to me to provide a help.  He knows which one of us, His vessels, with our particular natural identity, and particular gift of His life can meet a specific person’s need.

We have a common identity in Him, yet each of us is unique.  And each of us is uniquely loved by Him.  Don’t resist the winnowings, the prunings, the pressings.  Count it all joy.  It is His mighty hand humbling us to be a greater servant than we have been before.  As I looked at the bottles of wine, they each had a distinct label, a distinct identity.  At different times, we are drawn to different people and ministries.  They satisfy a need in us.  We need to be careful not to so cleave to some and be critical of others.  As the Corinthians were provided an attitude adjustment, away from the I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, or even the super-spiritual, I am of Christ syndrome, we need to recognize the variety among the members of Christ.

I have seen for myself, in striving to be spiritual, I have wanted to ignore the fact that I am human.  The perfection He brings us to is a maturity that is a deeper dependence on Him.  Jesus said apart from the Father He did nothing.  And in the same way, apart from Him, the true vine we can do nothing.  We grow as people still carrying this earthly body and real needs, physical, emotional, and otherwise.  Some of what we need is supplied by other believers, other members of His body.  We grow and mature through our relationships.  We cannot deny our parents, yet we must love Him more.  We cannot ignore where we were born or our natural heritage, but we pursue heaven’s culture.

I have lately chewed on Jesus’ words to Peter after that man’s confession of Him as the Christ.  He said Simon Bar Jonah, Simon son of John.  He was saying you, Peter, are of human flesh and blood and God has revealed this to you.  Peter did not yet get that level of dependence on God for understanding and learned the lesson through a painful process.  He was being pressed, and crushed to become the man who would deliver that message on the day of Pentecost.  He was made into the vessel that would pour out great joy with new wine.  He himself became the message and the wine.  As He, Jesus, is so are we becoming while in this world.  That is in one of John’s letters.  Go check it out.