OLIVE SHOOTS AROUND YOUR TABLE  21 JUNE 2017  RICHARD ASHTON

We spent our entire lesson last week on Psalm 128:1.

“All you who fear GOD, how blessed you are! How happily you walk on his smooth straight road!”

We learned that God blesses those who revere Him, and walk in His ways. Those two precepts simplify a multitude of life decisions for us.

Hosea 14:9 (HCSB) from the first lesson:

“Let whoever is wise understand that these things and whoever is insightful recognize them. For the ways of the Lord are right “, a great reminder as we prepare to look a bit further into Psalm 128 this morning.

 

Psalm 128 – The Message      

  1. All you who fear GOD, how blessed you are! How happily you walk on his smooth straight road!
  2. You worked hard and deserve all you’ve got coming. Enjoy the blessing! Revel in the goodness!
  3. Your wife will bear children as a vine bears grapes, your household lush as a vineyard, the children around your table as fresh and promising as young olive shoots.
  4. Stand in awe of God’s, yes. Oh, how he blesses the one who fears GOD!
  5. Enjoy the good life in Jerusalem every day of your life.
  6. And enjoy your grandchildren. Peace to Israel!

 

The Psalms of Ascent would be incomplete without references to family since the family unit and the concept of lineage had been the backbone of the Hebrew nation since Abraham and Sarai were first promised an heir.

The illustration is, as we would expect, conditioned by Hebrew culture, in which the standard signs of happiness were a wife who had many children and children who gathered and grew around the table: fruitful vine and olive shoots.

But the meaning is still with us: “BLESSING HAS INHERENT IN IT THE POWER TO INCREASE”

The Old Covenant, versus the New Covenant scriptures.

 

Luke 22:20

In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you”

 

2 Cor. 3:6

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

 

Genesis 1:27-28. What was God’s first command to Adam and Eve?

 

 So God created mankind in his own image in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

 

 

Gods Promise to Abraham

 

Genesis 15:5

He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Genesis 17:6

I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

What is Christ called in 1 Corinthians 15:45?

So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

Which terminology does the psalmist use in Psalm 128:3 to describe the wife?

A bride adorned for her husband a mother to all and a fruitful vine

Read John 15:1-8. The True Vine and answer the following questions:

What terminology did Christ use for Himself (v. 1)?

The true vine

What did Christ call His disciples (v. 5)?

The branches

Why does God prune branches (John 15:2)?

To make us more fruitful

What must the branch do to bear fruit (v. 4)?

Remain in the vine

How is our Father glorified (v. 8)?

When we bear much fruit

John 15:16 is comprised of two sentences. Write the first sentence in your notes.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

 

The word of God is a wonderful compilation of 66 books God breathed through many human authors, resulting in one superlative theme: REDEMPTION

What do you sense Him saying personally to you right now?

As Psalm 128 promises, your fear of the Lord and willingness to walk in obedience to this command will most assuredly result in blessing – Blessing has inherent in it the power to increase.”

Read Luke 19:11-27 – Parable of the Talents. Not the Great Permission, but, the Great Commission