Olives and Grapes, Oil and Wine: Rejoicing in Tribulation

"I would suggest to you, then, three steps to joy. First, to have oil and wine you must have olives and grapes. The unsaved man can have no true joy because he has no fruit from which joy can be produced. Be sure, therefore, that you are rooted and grounded in Christ so that the Holy Spirit may bring forth His fruit. If you are unsaved, you can have no joy because you have nothing but thorns and thistles. Crush them and you get thorn juice and thistle milk which never make the face shine or the heart rejoice. The unsaved can have the wildness of revelry and the froth of mirth, but never the shining of gladness and the depths of joy. These come only from God's oil and wine; and these, in turn, are pressed only from God's olives and grapes."

"You answer me that you are certain on this score. You know that you are saved and even take some pride in the olives and grapes in the garden of your life. You have digged in the earth and pruned the trees and vines; you have watered them with care and have even gathered fruit. I recognize the truth of what you say. You are, in comparison with the wild trees and weedy fields of your unsaved neighbors, a fruitful bough and a fertile garden."

"You are correct in believing that neither oil nor wine can be produced without the fruit which you have grown; but you seem unaware that no small skill is demanded to make oil and wine, and that such skill must be accompanied by patient labor and wise attention to details. Stop pointing to your work for the Lord, as though the presence of fruit could give you the oil of the shining face or the wine of the gladdened heart. The second step to possession of the oil and wine is to become dissatisfied with mere production of olives and grapes. If you are satisfied with grapes, you will never know the wine of joy."

"The third and final step to fullness of joy is for olives and grapes to be crushed. For this the Lord has many different processes. In all vintage countries proprietors of great vineyards have their own secrets for making wines. Connoisseurs tell the difference between the products of one vineyard and another by their tastes. Soil, sun, method of preparation, all enter into the final product."

"So the Lord works in all of us to bring forth a particular brand of joy that He and we may share. Each of us will have a new name, which no man knows saving him that receives it (Revelation2:17); to that end our Lord now works, first growing choice olives and grapes within us, and then pressing them out so that there may be oil and wine and our lives may be shining and glad for Him."

"In the measure that we welcome infirmities and tribulations, we shall glory in them and realize afresh the power of Christ to transmute the suffering into glory and distill joy from pain. Shall we not be willing to glory in tribulation if it produces joy, and opens a fountain of blessing to others?"

"For this the Lord works in our lives, and we are confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in us will keep on perfecting it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). He will grow His fruit - olives and grapes - and He will press out His oil and His wine. He will give us the shining face and a heart so filled with His joy that nothing else in the world - no, not even the work of the Lord - can charm us like the knowledge that we are the sons of His oil, sons of His joy, and that we shall be occupied with Him and His joy forever."

"It is evident that this type of living is miraculous, for it is not natural for us to undergo suffering and endure it patiently. It is natural to whine and sigh and cry in adversity. The worldling often lives such a life of failure, and, alas, too many Christians settle down to the same level. Nevertheless, provision has been made for us to glory in tribulation, if we will appropriate the resources that are ours for moment-by-moment living in Christ."

"The Christian does not go out of his way to seek trouble. But when the crushing load of life comes down on him, the true believer faces it with calmness and equanimity, knowing that God means it for good and that out of it will come rejoicing and the possibility of glorying afresh in God."

Barnhouse, Donald Grey. God's River Romans 5:1-11 Expositions of Bible Doctrines Epistles to the Romans.Philadelphia: The Evangelical Foundation, inc., 1959. 75-76