Rooted—Wide Reaching Branches

I honestly don’t care about having a bigger church. What I, the other pastors at New Hope, and our elders care about is building bigger people.  

Our heart, genuinely, is to help you not fall prey to the enemy’s schemes but instead to see you grow and even thrive in your relationships, work, school, and life.  And most of all, in all those things, bring glory and honor to the God who loves you and has created you for a purpose in His Kingdom.  That’s what we want.

Richard Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline, said it this way:

“The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”

—Richard Foster

That’s what we have been talking about the last couple of weeks in this series called Rooted.  Becoming deep people.  During this conversation, Matt’s been using a lot of tree analogies.

I have this giant sycamore tree that is technically my neighbor’s tree, but in reality is both our tree, if you know what I mean.  I have a love/hate relationship with this tree. You will know exactly what I’m talking about if you have a large sycamore tree.

I hate that it drops leaves all winter and into the spring.  I hate that it sheds its bark when it gets hot out.  I’m not a fan of the millions of branches it drops on my yard in the summer and even though they were fun when we were kids, I don’t love the round seed balls that erupt into a million fuzzy seeds that make it look like someone ripped open a down pillow when I run over one with the lawn mower.

But you know what I love about this tree?  The shade!  The shade from this tree is amazing.  This tree is so big it literally shades my entire house during the hottest parts of the day in the summertime. Its shade is glorious! 

The roots on a sycamore tree go deep, and the branches go wide and spread out. That’s why you rarely see sycamores blow down in wind storms.  You’d think such a big tree would be prone to blowing down, but their branches spread out wide so that the wind tends to pass through the branches, unlike pine trees that often blow down because they have branches that are clumped closely together and act a barrier to stop the wind.  The sycamore is well-rooted and has wide branches. 

So here’s the thing: I will gladly live with the extra work this tree creates so I can enjoy its security and shade. I would not trade a tidy, leaf-free yard for what this tree provides for my house.

On the other hand, my neighbor across the street had a similar tree, but he cut it down.  He didn’t want to deal with the extra work the tree created.  But to me, the shade makes it worth the work.

The same is true when it comes to learning to follow Jesus and becoming more like Him.  I’m not gonna lie.  It’s work.  You don’t decide to follow Jesus one day, go to bed that night, put your Bible under your pillow, and wake up the next morning looking like Jesus.  That’s not the way it works.  I wish it did, but it doesn’t.  Instead, it requires intentionality, focus, and a willingness to deal with the brokenness inside us so Jesus can renew and remake us.  

It requires an investment on our part, but lots of people don’t want to make the investment.  Lots of people don’t want to confront their brokenness.  Lots of people don’t want to let go of the control they think they have of their own lives and instead pursue God’s way of thinking and living because it’s hard.

But if you do the work and make the investment, the payoff is glorious. The fruit of that work, like Matt talked about last week, is amazing.  

This is one of the paradoxes of our faith in Christ.  God loves you unconditionally.  There is nothing you can do to earn His love.  Any attempt to do good things to try and get God’s attention will fall woefully short.  Salvation is a free gift given to us when we place our faith in Christ and there nothing can can separate you from God’s love once you have received His gift of forgiveness and new life.

However, getting to know the God who sent His Son to die on the cross for you and becoming more like His Son, Jesus, requires intentionality, work, focus and investment. There are no shortcuts here.

A.W. Tozer put it this way:

The faith of Christ offers no buttons to push for quick service. The new order must wait the Lord’s own time, and that is too much for the man in a hurry. He just gives up and becomes interested in something else.

—A.W. Tozer

We all want a shortcut to growth, but growth comes from going deep, which takes time. Often, we get frustrated when we don’t feel like we are making the progress we were expecting, and so we give up.

Jesus put it this way in the Sermon on the Mount in Matt 7:

Matt 7:13-14 (CSB)—“Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it. 

There is one way to life.  That way is through Jesus, and the road you travel, when you choose to follow Jesus, is difficult sometimes.  It is so difficult that few choose to follow it, Jesus says.

In our key verse for this series, the Prophet Jeremiah says there is a result and a payoff for traveling that road.

Jer 17:5-8 (CSB)—This is what the Lord says: Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind. He makes human flesh his strength, and his heart turns from the Lord. He will be like a juniper in the Arabah; he cannot see when good comes but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives. The person who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed. He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.

When we trust God and put our confidence in Him, we can weather life’s most difficult circumstances and even thrive in hardships.  

Life will be difficult; that is a certainty, but how will we weather those storms?  Will we recognize God’s voice in the storm?  Will we know the peace that comes from His presence?  Will we find His strength when we come to the end of ours?

And will we learn to honor, glorify, and worship Him, even when life is not going the way we planned?

We must have deep roots and wide branches to stand against the Devil’s schemes and develop this sort of life.

Last week, Pastor Matt talked about developing deep roots.  What are deep roots? 

Deep roots are spiritual practices, disciplines, or habits. (they have lots of different names).

This includes some of the things you might expect:

Spending time regularly in God’s Word

Learning to pray and celebrate God’s goodness.

But also things like learning to be generous with our gifts and finances.

Learning simplicity in how we live.

And making the time to rest and allowing God to restore our souls.

These are some of the practices that can help deepen our roots.  People who invest in doing these things will become the deep people that Richard Foster refers to in his book Celebration of Discipline.

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Not only do we need deep roots but we need wide reaching branches. What are wide branches? 

Wide branches are our connections with people.  

Our relationship with God is not just a personal relationship.  I’d like to have a conversation with the guy who started referring to our relationship with Jesus as a personal relationship with Jesus because our relationship with Jesus is not meant to be just personal.  It is meant to be lived out with other people.  

I understand that having a personal relationship with Jesus means do you know Him verses do you just know about Him? But it was never intended to be only a personal relationship.

Our branches should reach to:

Our family.

As Israel is preparing to enter the promised land, God gives Moses the Law that they are to live by, God tells them this:

Deut 6:4-9 (CSB)—“Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.

Does that sound like a personal relationship or a public relationship?  Our faith should be lived in front of our family, parents, kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, and cousins so we can pass it on to those we are closest to.

Another tree grows in the Middle East.  It is called a Tamarisk Tree. (show pic) It only grows about an inch a year but can get 30 feet tall.  You can do the math there. Chances are that if you plant one of these trees, you won’t get to enjoy its shade. So, in the Middle East, it is said that when you plant a Tamarisk, you plant it for your grandchildren.

In Gen 21, it says that Abraham planted one of these trees.

Gen 21:33-34 (CSB)—Abraham planted a Tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.  And Abraham lived as an alien in the land of the Philistines for many days.

Here’s why this is significant.  God had promised Abraham that he would give his descendants this land in Beer-sheba, where he was now living as an alien.  Abraham believed God, and he planted this Tararisk tree. It was an act of faith, knowing he would not enjoy its shade, but when God fulfilled his promise, he knew his children would enjoy the shade.

We need deep roots to have wide branches that spread wide and influence future generations.

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Our wide branches should also reach to

Our Church.

We were never intended to do life on our own.  American culture has increasingly isolated us.  When we were at the Oregon Coast this last weekend, Stacey, Olivia, and I were all struck by the number of men camping alone or with only their dog.  There were quite a few.  I think that is indicative of not just our culture but even the church.

The church needs you and you need the church.

In Gal 6, Paul says this:

Gal 6:2 (CSB)—Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Carry one another’s burdens because this is what Christ did for us.  He paid a price we could never pay on our own.

Not only do we carry other people’s burdens, but this also implies that, at times, there are people who carry our burdens.  When our burden is too heavy for us to bear alone, we need people around us who are committed to us and will take time to help us, to sit with us, and to speak honestly to us.

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Finally, our branches should reach to

Our Community

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian church said this:

1 Cor 9:19-22 (CSB)—Although I am free from all and not anyone’s slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win those under the law. To those who are without the law, like one without the law—though I am not without God’s law but under the law of Christ—to win those without the law. To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some.

It is easy to think, that’s the Apostle Paul, he was some supernatural spiritual giant. But the calling that God put on Paul’s life, that calling that lead him to be all things to all people so that he may, by every possible means, save some, is the same calling that is on my life and your life if you are a follower of Jesus.

I worry that we have become so jaded by life and by the bad behavior of people that we have forgotten the value of a life.  I worry that we easily forget that the same love God has for us, He has for the those we might consider the least deserving of His love.  Because in reality, you and I are no more deserving than the least of us.

If you are a first responder here, I can’t imagine how hard it must be to not let your heart become jaded towards people.  If you are a teacher or an administrator, I can’t imagine how tired you must get of bad behavior and how that can harden your heart towards people.  Anyone, even pastors get jaded.

I have to frequently remind myself of Jesus’ words from the cross, as he surveys his accusers and torturers, he says, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

May that same love, that now lives in us, motivate us to reach out to a broken and hopeless world with the message that there is forgiveness, hope, and restoration in Jesus.

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I want to be very clear about something.  What I am not saying to you today is that if you work just a little bit harder and if you do just a little bit more, then you’ll be a better Christian.  What I am saying is that if you choose to invest in and work at following Jesus and being His disciple, then there is a result and a payoff for that investment.

You’ll begin to see the fruit of the Spirit in your life, that is the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, of God being manifest in your life.

Again, Tozer tells us this:

The Spirit-filled life is not a special, deluxe edition of Christianity. It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for His people.

—A.W. Tozer

In the beginning I said we don’t care about building a bigger church, just bigger people.  As pastors and elders at New Hope, we cannot guarantee spiritual growth for anyone, we can only provide the means and the opportunity.  That’s why we facilitate things like Men’s and Women’s Alliance, MomCo., Small Groups, I Love My City, Prayer walking, Men’s Breakfast, and now, our newest small group called Rooted.

If  you are wondering how to get started in following Jesus, this group is for you.  It will run 10 weeks and will give you the framework for building into your life, some of the things we have talked about in this series.  You can text “Rooted” to +1 (833) 477-7847 and Pastor Matt will reach out to you with the details.

If you have any questions about how to get involved in any of these other things, don’t hesitate to reach out to us for more information.  I’m hoping we are more accessible than ever with our new texting service.