A Word for the Church: The Thorny Vine

Y'all, I'm almost done with the book of John. Two more blog posts to go until we wrap up studying this Gospel. I have been incredibly blessed and challenged by the Word as I've gone through it, and I hope you've had a similar experience. 

This morning, I'm taking a one-day break from John because of some things I've heard from the Holy Spirit over the last week. Tomorrow, we'll return to regularly-scheduled programming.

First, let me tell you a story that you already know and will recognize here in a minute. 

Once upon a time, there was a Proud King who ruled over a lot of Proud People. A Deceptive Merchant entered the kingdom one day and made his way to the palace. He explained to the Proud Servants that he dealt in Fine Cloth, the finest in the land. And if the Proud King had any pride at all, he would meet with the Deceptive Merchant and view the Fine Cloth.

The Proud King listened as his Proud Servants told him of the Deceptive Merchant and his Fine Cloth, and he agreed to meet the man. When the Deceptive Merchant was brought into the presence of the Proud King, the Deceptive Merchant unrolled his bolt of Fine Cloth...

Only it was invisible! 

The Deceptive Merchant explained to the Proud King. "Only those who are most excellent and worthy are able to see the Fine Cloth, Proud King. Therefore, I am certain you are in awe over the magnificent colors I lay before you." And he held high the invisible bolt of Fine Cloth.

The Proud King glanced at his Proud Servants. What would they say if he admitted that he could not see the Fine Cloth? He would lose his Proud Standing in front of his Proud Servants, who would certainly tell all, and his Proud People would know they had no Proud King. 

So the Proud King swallowed hard and nodded. "It is very Fine Cloth." He picked up an invisible corner of the cloth and rubbed it between his fingers. "Is it not, Proud Servants?"

And all the Proud Servants, who did not wish to appear anything less than excellent or worthy, agreed heartily. "Most fine, Proud King," they said.

Now a parade was upcoming, a ceremonious occasion that was designed to show off to all the Proud People in the Proud Kingdom that their Proud King was most excellent and worthy. The Deceptive Merchant had heard of this parade, and so, through various manipulations, he convinced the Proud King to purchase the Fine Cloth, and he proceeded to make a kingly outfit from the invisible material.

He fit and measured the Proud King, draping him in the invisible cloth, while all the Proud Servants oohed and ahhed over the Fine Cloth and exclaimed how very fine the Fine Cloth was.

At last, the Proud King was completely draped in the Fine Cloth and ready to go. He stepped outside of his palace to the cheering crowds, who had already been told of the Deceptive Merchant and his marvelously Fine Cloth.

And so it was that the Proud King marched down the cobblestone street in invisible Fine Cloth, while the Proud People cheered and shouted how excellent and worthy was the Proud King.

Until...

A Humble Little Girl called out through the cheering masses. "But he's not wearing anything at all!"

Gasps arose from the Proud Crowd. The Proud Mother hushed her Humble Daughter. "But he is. It is very fine cloth. So beautiful, and colorful, and..."

"But the king is naked!" the Humble Girl insisted.

This statement of truth resounded through the suddenly quiet street, and then -- as it washed over the Proud Crowd -- the Proud People very quickly became Humiliated People, and the Proud King a quite Humiliated King. His Proud Servants, quite Humiliated themselves, swiftly covered him with real and visible cloth, and the entire kingdom realized that Pride was perhaps the greatest blindfold of them all.

What's the point of telling us The Emperor's New Clothes, Tamara? Getting there.

Over this past week, the Lord has given me two clear visions with a common element running between both of them.

In the first vision, I found myself in my church parking lot. On the east side of the lot, I could see sharp spikes sticking out of the ground. Near the spikes, a row of excavators lined up and began digging a deep trench. As they dug deep, they hit something, and immediately, the excavators broke. Their engines died, and they were still. As I moved closer, I looked down into the trench they were working on, and there I saw an enormously thick and twisted vine the size of a tree trunk, complete with razor sharp thorns jutting off of it. It was metallic and gray and looked like it was made of wrought iron.

Moving on to the second vision: I sat on a beach opposite the Lord. He sat crisscross applesauce (can you tell I work with Kindergartners?) at the water's edge, and the surf would wash up and around us now and then. In His hands, He held a globe, and He would reach inside it now and then and pull out mud-crusted jewels. He plopped them down onto a mound of sand and muck beside Him, and then reached in for more. His fingernails were crusted with the dirt. Now and then, He would reach for a jewel and scrape at it with His fingernails, ridding it of some compacted dirt, before rinsing it in the surf.

Suddenly, behind me, a loud popping sound made me swivel around, and there behind me, that wrought-iron, deeply rooted vine I had seen in the first vision came flying out of the ground. Neither end of the vine came free from the sand, but the vine popped free of the sand along the beach almost as far as I could see, tossing up sand as it flew into the air. 

The visions troubled me. Each time I closed my eyes or began to pray, they came back. So I asked the Lord what it all meant. As I prayed for answers, for clarity and clarification, I was back on the beach with the Lord, and I saw a fist closing in on the vine, and it began to wrap around it. I thought it was the Lord's -- and my heart and mind were already heading toward allegorical images of the crown of thorns, shed blood for the redemption of sin, etc, but there the Lord stopped me short.

I followed the arm up to the shoulder and realized it was my hand squeezing the thorny vine, my blood dripping onto the sand. And I heard this: "Therefore, in order to keep me from being conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me" (2 Corinthians 12:7).

Here's my understanding: The thorny, wrought-iron vine is pride, rooted deeply in the church, beneath our observation. We haven't owned it, but we are ruled by it. It's because of this pride that we cannot hear each other, see each other, serve each other. It's because of pride that there is insidious disunity, that we are clinging to things we're not meant to cling to, that we're twisting and manipulating Scripture for our own ends. Pride backbites. Pride finger-points and blames, censures, judges. In all these things, the church is guilty, and it's buried deep. We've been at it for years. This year, our injured pride, our glorious wrapping ourselves in our invisible proud clothes has gotten intolerable.

I believe the Lord is warning us: He does not tolerate pride. We, His bride, need to return to our knees, our focus must return to the Groom. Refinement is coming, the laughter and censure of the crowd if we do not change.

Discovery is the word I heard when the vine broke free of the earth. On both sides of that vine, the ground was heaped up in a deep dividing line. 

"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit -- just as you were called to one hope when you were called -- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is over all and through all and in all" (Ephesians 4:4-6).

Pride is splitting up His church, and this should not be. We are called to unity in the Spirit. Please don't mistake me: we are not called to compromise Truth. But we are called to unity in the Spirit, and if there is one Spirit, one God and Father of all, and one body, we cannot let the body rip itself apart because of a thorny, wrought-iron vine called Pride.

Love y'all. I really do. And I'm praying for you today, yes, you. :)

 

Comments

  1. Maria just asked if I had read your blog yet today. It sent me right to the blog and wow. Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. and Prov 11:2 Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. May the church be purified by fire so that we come out pure as gold.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, and amen! "For our God is a consuming fire." And "Consider it PURE JOY, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." May we be humble as Christ as humble -- "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross" -- and in that humility, may the wisdom of Christ shine through! Thanks for that word. :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts