GROUNDED DEEPLY

Psalm 1:3 “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper”

I have always been fascinated with trees. Being from Alabama originally, the pine trees were very prevelant near my home. (I hate pine trees because of their needles.) As a kid we would build our play fort in some big ditch. We would place branches over the ditch and cover the branches with pine straw. But outside of that, I couldn’t see any worth to the pine tree.

In Psalm 1:1-4 there is a contrast between the righteous man and the ungodly man. The righteous man bears fruit and prospers in his life. On the other hand, the ungodly are like chaff which is blown away when the winds come. What makes the difference? What’s the key? I believe the key is the root system.

The street by our home in Germany led from our village down the mountain to the oldest city in Germany, Trier. It was a busy thoroughfare, especially in the morning and afternoon. I awoke one morning to an unusual sound – quiet. I was surprised and didn’t know the reason for all this serenity. During the night we had some very high winds. I felt the window shaking and the wind whistling but didn’t think much about it. The winds had been so severe that the forest looked like a war had taken place. Miles of the road had been blocked. This was no isolated occurance, because devastation had taken place in many others parts of Germany.

After the road was opened we took a ride down the mountain to see what had happened. And what I saw was a very vivid illustration of the concept before us in this blog.

Trees were everywhere and I began to see a pattern – the trees, even though they had reached high into the air, had very shallow root systems. After World War II the Germans had planted trees that would grow very quickly. They achieved their goal and the forest had once again become very beautiful with no evidence whatsoever of the war that had almost destroyed the countryside. But now the German government had the same dilemma again.

The root system is very important, not only to the tree but also in our lives. If we are not grounded deeply, we’ll be blown about when the winds come. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:14, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;”

Some believers never waver. They go on year after year walking with the Lord and serving Him. Other believers, or maybe so-called believers, fall by the wayside because of their lack of a deep root system.

Your root system determines your nourishment. It also determines your strength and stability. What is the root system of a child God? What is it that gives you strength and stability when the winds of this world blow upon us? It is the precious inerrant, infallible Word of God. We find the key to the righteous man in Psalm 1:2, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”

In His instructions to Joshua as he is taking the leadership of the nation of Israel, God said in Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success.”

Meditation upon and obedience to the Word of God is the root system which stabilizes the child of God when winds of testings come. Let’s not be “chaff” but a tree which stands no matter what comes our way.

PROBLEMS vs OPPORTUNITY

There are times when I think I’m the only one who has ever gone through a certain problem or trial. The truth is, I have gone through very little compared to what many people have faced. I know of no one who has not had problems in their life. I'm reminded of what we read in Job 5:7,”Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”

I have served in quite a few different churches in a variety of positions. In each one of those churches there are certain things that I remember. I served in one church in the state of Florida which was made up of mostly people from Tennessee and Georgia. That might be unusual unless you understood that church was close to the space center. People from Tennessee and Georgia had migrated to Florida to obtain work at Cape Canaveral. The military church I pastored in Germany had five sets of twins at the same time. Both these circumstances were very unusual, but not nearly as unusual as one church of which I read this week.

Dr. John Piper writes about a time in his church in which he had one baby born blind, another with a diseased heart and another who lived only one day. I have been in churches where these problems came in the life of a church family, but not all in such a short amount of time. It would be very easy for us to make a quick judgment as to why these things have happened. We might want to say there was sin in the church. We might come to the conclusion that Satan was attacking the church.

It's very interesting to see how Dr. Piper responded to these circumstances in his church. In a letter written to one of those families he said, “Is the Lord saying, ‘I have a gift for your community’? This is not one or two or three couples burdens’. This is a gift and call for the whole church.”

One of the things that demonstrates maturity or immaturity is how we handle a problem. We either react to a problem are we respond to a problem. A reaction is a work of the flesh and a response is the fruit of the Spirit. I believe this is true not only in the live of an individual but also in the life of a church.

Sometimes problems comes into our lives and we feel overwhelmed. There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. We might even ask, where is God?

One of my favorite stories is found in II Kings 6. Elisha is being pursued by the enemy. The army against him is great and the great prophet tries to reassure his servant that God is at work. Elisha tells him there are more on their side than on the side of the enemy but the servant can’t see it. Then in II Kings 6:17 we read, “And Elisha prayed and said LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. . .”

Dr. John Piper could see the hand of God at work in the lives of those dear couples and in the life of his church also. He knew that nothing was impossible with God. He also knew that his congregation had a great opportunity, a gift and a call. They had an opportunity to practice kingdom living. Notice how he puts it, “It seems to me that this life is a proving ground for the kingdom to come. Some are asked to devote 40 or 50 years to caring for a handicapped child instead of breezing through life without pain. Others are asked to be blind all their lives.”

John Piper understood that life does have problems. We too have problems but in most cases are not what many others face. I like what Paul wrote in II Corinthians 4:17, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;”

Let’s not complain or question God! Let’s respond correctly at all times, even when problems come. Let’s use our problems as opportunities of growth in our personal lives and in our churches.

COMPASSION or CALLOUSNESS?

Galatians 6:2 “Bear ye one another's burdens, . . .”

Recently an individual was sharing what they perceived as a lack of love and concern on the part of a pastor for his people. As I look back on that conversation I had to evaluate my own life as a pastor. When my people were going through deep waters, what kind of concern did I have for them at that time. Was my heart moved? Did I weep with them? Did I demonstrate love? What kind of a pastor was I?

In his book entitled, A Godward life p299, John piper prayed, “O Lord, please let me be a pastor who preaches and leads and loves in a way that makes the impossibilities of life possible for your people by a miracle of sustaining grace. Help me to know the weight and pain of this life and not to be breezy when the mountains have fallen into the sea. Help me to have the aroma of Christ’s sufferings about me. Prevent shallowness and callousness to pain. O Lord, make me and my people a burden-bearing people.”

As I was reading that paragraph it was easy to think about some pastors who might demonstrate a lack of love and concern for their people. You see, I’m no longer a pastor. It’s no longer my responsibility. Then all of a sudden I got to the last sentence of Dr. Piper’s prayer and it hit me right between the eyes. He’s right! All of us, whether we are involved in occupational ministry or laymen in the congregation, we are to have the “aroma of Christ’s sufferings” permeating our lives day by day. We are to have the compassion Jesus had when he saw the needs of the multitude (Mt 9:36).

Why are there pastors with no concern for their people? Why do we laymen not weep when others weep? Why do we believers have so much callousness? I believe, in many cases, we are too preoccupied with our own agendas, desires and problems. We feel we are more important than others. We have a self-centered mentality. We have become complacent and calloused.

God help us all; pastors and laymen, to bear one another’s burdens! Notice what we read in Romans 15:1 “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” I’m not going to go into a long message on the word “bear,” but simply say that it has the idea of “bearing with, being indulgent or to endure patiently.” And be sure to notice the end of verse 1, “and not to please ourselves.” Again, I say that’s the problem – more concerned with our own selves than we are others.

Pray that I will be a compassionate, caring Christian!