The Word of God shows us that the body of Christ communicates in many ways through its members. This communication is based on mutual respect (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14.18 i.c.w. Philippians 2:3).
1 Corinthians 12:12-14.18:
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
13 For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
14 And so the body is not made up of one part but of many. …
18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
Philippians 2:3:
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, …
Based on this, it also reveals that there are phases in which the Holy Spirit leads us into our neighbor’s field of ministry or harvest so that we may be spiritually enriched as we grow in accordance to God’s purpose.
This enrichment is like the principle found in Deuteronomy 23:24-25, where God says that when we are in our neighbor’s vineyard (Note: sphere of responsibility), we are encouraged to fill our stomachs (Note: spirit) with grapes until we are full.
The Vineyard and the Grain Field
Furthermore, it says that when we enter our neighbor’s grain field representing the area of responsibility, we are free to pluck ears of grain with our hands without using a sickle.
Deuteronomy 23:24-25:
24 If you enter your neighbour’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket.
25 If you enter your neighbour’s cornfield, you may pick the ears with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing corn.
In this context, the vineyard represents abundance and satisfaction, while the grain field is associated with a lesser amount of grain and may point to administration (cf. Philippians 4:12-13).
Philippians 4:12-13:
12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
This reveals a spiritual principle through which God invites us to receive and enjoy the ministry of other saints, which can contribute to the fullness of love, fruitfulness, and joy — as symbolized by the grapes in the vineyard.
The vine is a plant that winds upward and calls us, in Christ Jesus, to ascend in royal authority into the ‘spiritual realm of the Lion of Judah’ (cf. John 15:5 i.c.w. Revelation 5:5).
John 15:5:
5 ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Revelation 5:5:
5 Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.’
It is Jesus Christ who is the love of God the Father (cf. John 3:16a).
John 3:16a:
16a For God [Note: the Father] so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, …
Without this love (Note: Greek agāpē), we are unable to persevere before God in all that we do (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
1 Corinthians 13:1-3:
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
The Call to Internalize
Since, according to the Word of God, we are called to taste and see how good the Lord is, it reveals to us that internalizing the grapes leads to a greater potential for knowing God through His abundance, fruitfulness, joy, and love (cf. Psalm 34:8).
Psalm 34:8:
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
The vineyard and the grain field embody an interplay between satisfaction and potential, as well as between abundance and stewardship. This concerns the spiritual realm of the ‘belly’, which is located where the Spirit resides, and the hand, whose significance points to our acting in faith (cf. John 7:38 i.c.w. James 2:15-17).
John 7:38:
‘… 38 Whoever believes in me [Note: Jesus Christ], as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’
James 2:15-17:
15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.
16 If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
This spiritual ‘plucking the ears of grain’ results in one coming into possession of grain, which the Lord does not want to be used first for the pleasure of consumption, but rather for sowing in the form of righteousness, in order to enter, through the power of self-denial, into a phase of our own harvest development within the sphere of responsibility assigned by God (cf. Hosea 10:12 i.c.w. John 12:24).
Hosea 10:12:
12 Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unploughed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.
John 12:24:
24 Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
Therefore, if we are willing, as part of the body of Christ, to submit ourselves completely to the head, Jesus Christ, and to live as though our former self—or our corrupt nature—has died, we can serve in love.
Amen and Amen.
In His Wisdom,
Daniel Glimm
