On the weekend 11-12 Jan 2014 it was 43 and 41 degrees respectively. Many plants in the garden did not fare well. When I went out to water them to see if they could be revived, I noticed something interesting. The mandarin tree is much bigger than several other plants and it was quite fine. Even the leaves had not curled up. The very little plants were not doing well and some look almost dead. What makes the bigger plants survive the heat best is their deeper root system. They can draw water from deeper down in the soil and their roots can stay cooler.
I thought that this had a parallel in terms of the Christian life. Just as the more mature plants which survive the heat best, the more mature Christians survive difficult times best. The newer Christians and the ones who are immature do not fare well in times of difficulty. When bad things happen, the immature are more likely to struggle with their faith or even to fall away. In the parable of the sower Jesus said, “Some seed fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root” (Matt 13:5-6). Later on Jesus explained this part of the parable, “The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away” (Matt 13:20-21). Persecution and difficulty is to the Christian like the heat is to the garden. The question is, “How can we get deep roots so as to remain strong in the heat of persecution and difficulty?”
To begin with it matters a great deal where your roots are planted. In the song of Deborah in Judges 5 is a verse which is interesting. “From Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek came down” (Judges 5:14 NAS). Since the root of these people was in Amalek that is where they drew their heritage and their thinking from. Amalek was not to be remembered in Israel (Exo 17:14; Deut 25:19) because they opposed Israel in the wilderness (Exo 17:8-13). Roots like this could only lead to evil behaviour. On the other hand, Paul exhorts the Church in Rome to remember that the root, which is Israel, is holy (Rom 11:16). The Gentiles have been grafted into the cultivated olive tree, Israel, and so share the nourishment from the root of the olive tree. This root which nourishes the Gentiles is described in Rom 9:4-5, “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” The two kinds of roots are contrasting. The one group of people has a root in those who oppose the people of God and the other has a root which draws nourishment from the people of God. There is a choice to be made there.
Secondly, God is the one who plants or uproots. In Psalm 80:8-11, Israel is described as a vine which God brought out of Egypt and planted in the Promised Land, where it took root. His right hand has planted this root (verse 15). Jeremiah complains that even the wicked are planted by God and prosper, yet they fail to honour him (Jer 12:2). But having taken root, God can uproot people (Isa 40:24; Hosea 9:16; Mal 4:1). When a person has taken root they are able to bear fruit (2 Kings 19:30; Isa 27:6; 37:31). The sovereignty of God is a cause for thanksgiving, because whatever fruit is born is something which is a gift from him. On the other hand, we must not be complacent, because we may be uprooted by the same sovereign God. There are reasons why God uproots someone.
Isaiah 5:1-7 describes how Israel was planted as God’s vineyard, placed in fertile soil with all that it needed. Yet the vineyard failed to bear good grapes. Because of this the walls of the vineyard will be broken down and it will no longer have rain to fall on it. This is because of the lack of justice and righteousness. Instead of this Israel shed blood and caused distress (verse 7). Verse 24 tells what will become of the roots. “Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.” Surrounding verses list the ways in which the people of Israel have “spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.” The conclusion here is that we may well be planted by God in good soil, but there are choices to be made in order to bear fruit and to keep our roots strong. The word of God is to be obeyed and cherished, not disregarded. Jesus gave a similar warning in Matt 7:24-27. If a house is to stand up when the storms come, then its foundations must be sure. The foundation which makes a person stand is obedience to the words of Jesus. Failure to obey brings ruin.
Legalism will result in being uprooted by God. Matthew 15:1-20 records an interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees about the matter of ceremonial hand-washing before eating. The Pharisees opposed Jesus because his disciples did not wash according to the tradition of the elders (v 2). But Jesus responded by saying that the Pharisees considered their own traditions more important than the Word of God. He quoted a passage from Isaiah 29:13: “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” Then Jesus declared all foods clean (v 11). The Pharisees were offended by Jesus’ reply (v 12). Whether this offence was because of Jesus calling them legalistic or because he said that food does not make a person unclean it does not matter. Both of these things would have been offensive to someone who wanted to make their own laws instead of honouring God’s Law. In regard to the offence of the Pharisees, Jesus replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots” (v 13). Legalism then will cause a person to be without a strong root system, because the heavenly Father will uproot it.
The final days of Jesus’ ministry provides another example of roots which do not thrive. “In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!’” (Mark 11:20-21). The context of the withering of the fig tree was a visit by Jesus to the Temple (Mark 11:12-19). There Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers and condemned those who used the Temple as a market. Jesus did not curse the fig tree for show, but as a parable of the state of Israel, which had failed to see the Temple as a gift from God in which they could enter into relationship with the Father (v 17). For this failure the roots of the nation were withered and Israel was no longer fruitful; they did not accomplish that which God had called them to. Distorting the good gifts of God into idols and using these to your own ends will encounter the opposition of God. Roots will then become withered and your life will not produce the fruit of God.
While God will uproot the idolators, the disobedient, those who are legalistic, and those who substitute ritual for relationship, this may not take place until the consummation of the age. In the parable of the weeds In Matt 13:24-30 there is a story about a farmer who sowed seed in his field and then an enemy sowed weeds in the same field. The weeds cannot be uprooted until the end of the age, because uprooting the weeds would cause some of the wheat to be uprooted. This means that although people will be pulled up by the roots, they may continue to behave in ways which are not godly for a long time without being pulled up now. If the weeds were removed from the kingdom now then many of the righteous would become disturbed. Sometimes it is very difficult to tell whether a person is saved or not, because the righteous do not always look like the righteous and the ungodly sometimes look like the godly. Uprooting the weeds might result in great discouragement and doubts on the part of those who belong in the kingdom, because they may think of these people as losing their salvation. If one person can lose salvation then perhaps others, such as weak I, can also lose it.
There are several kinds of roots which must be avoided. Worship of idols is a root which produces bitter poison (Deut 29:18). On the other hand, repentance and turning from idols will result in God bringing healing and causing roots to be strong. The result of this is a life which flourishes and is fruitful (Hosea 14). Trusting in people and human strength instead of in the God of Israel brings a curse, but trusting in God results in a blessing. Those who are blessed this way are like a tree whose roots are planted by a stream, which flourishes in all seasons (Jer 17:5-8). There are two warnings in the New Testament about roots which are not good. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Having this kind of root can cause faith to be shipwrecked (1 Tim 6:10). Heb 12:15 warns against a root of bitterness, because this causes trouble. The roots which we allow will influence our lives in significant ways. Therefore we must take care to not allow the wrong kind of roots in our lives. The consequences of allowing the wrong kinds of roots are not trivial. That warnings exist implies that we must make a choice to pull up any root which is not good and not allow it to grow, because these roots will seriously undermine our Christian walk.
The New Testament also tells us what good roots are, in contrast to the bad roots above. We must be rooted in love.
Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge– that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Love is in contrast to the bad roots described above, that is, love stands against idolatry, bitterness, and legalism. Since God is love, all that God does is based on love. To be disciples of the Living God must involve living in love. God is the one who roots and grounds us in love. The two participles – “Having been rooted and established in love”– are perfect passives, that is, they have been done to the believer. It is God who has rooted and established us in love. This action means that those in Christ are secured in the love God has for us.
This then sets the foundation for the saints to know the love of Christ. “Having been rooted and established in love”, we will have a base for grasping the love of Christ. Once God has rooted and grounded the saints in love he is then able to give them a measure of comprehension of what that love means and what it is like. The love, then, that we are rooted and established in is the love of God for us. This is difficult to grasp because it is enormous and because sinners have cut themselves off from God’s love in their rebellion. This is why Paul does not simply assume that the church will understand the love of God, but instead prays that they will increasingly come to grips with it.
If we think about this in terms of the original gardening metaphor of having strong roots in order to survive difficulty and persecution, then two things must be said. Firstly, we must pray to be rooted in love, and secondly we must actively seek to live within the love Christ. Since the love of Christ is wide and deep and surpasses knowledge, there is forever going to be a process of trying to understand it. But striving to understand this love is vital for a strong Christian walk. Comprehension of the love of Christ can increasingly help the saints to put aside idolatry and bitterness. It can enable us to walk through difficult times. The more that love is comprehended, the more we will be able to endure, because the love of Christ is a secure foundation. This means that while being rooted and grounded in love is something done to us, we must actively seek this grounding and actively seek to comprehend the love of Christ.
Finally, and most significantly, we are rooted in Christ. “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude” (Col 2:6-7). All that has been said before can come under this heading because: Jesus is the subject and content of all the God has done in calling Israel and giving his promises to them; he is the sovereign God who plants and uproots; he is the fully obedient one who alone worships the Father without any hint of idolatry; his trust is in the Father alone and never in human strength; there is no root of bitterness in him nor love of money; Jesus is the man who lived out the grace of God and not merely the letter; his life of obedience was lived in perfect relationship with his Father; and his whole life is rooted in love. Therefore, it is fitting that we are rooted in Christ, the one who will most faithfully feed and sustain us as long as we continue to feed on him. As he said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54).
The statement “having been firmly rooted” is a perfect participle suggesting an action which has already taken place. Having been rooted in Christ there are other actions which follow from this. The other verbs in this passage – walk, being built up, established, overflowing – are present tense, which means that these are things we must continue to do. If we continue to be built up in Christ, continue to walk in him and continue to be established in the faith, according to the instruction given by the apostles, along with continuing to give thanks, then we will solidify the fact of being rooted in Christ. As each of these things is a means to become strong Christians, it is worth making comment on each one.
“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so (continue to) walk in him.” This suggests several things. Firstly, the way in which we must walk is in accordance with having received Christ as Lord, that is, walking in obedience to the Lordship of Christ. Secondly, walking in him is an action which is continuous. We must walk in him day by day. If we want to be strongly rooted in Christ and withstand the heat (difficulties and persecution) then we must not simply assume that receiving Jesus Christ is enough. Receiving Christ may be associated with a past event, but walking in him is a daily practice. It can never be a past event.
The verb “build up” is used in three other places. The only foundation on which we can build is Christ Jesus (1 Cor 3:10-14). The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as the cornerstone (Eph 2:20). We must actively build ourselves up in the faith (Jude 1:20). The conclusion here is that there is no other way of being built up other than on the foundation of Christ. We must remain in Christ. We must also actively build, that is, we must make choices which strengthen our relationship with Christ, so that we can be strong in him.
The believer must be established in the faith which he or she has been taught. This is not a personal faith as the NIV suggests but the faith. There are two groups of people with responsibility in establishing believers in the faith. The first is pastors and teachers, whose task it is to faithfully proclaim the Word of God, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). These people have been given the responsibility to teach and proclaim Christ from the scripture. Believers must be carefully taught so that there are able to stand strong. Correct thinking leads to correct actions, but ignorance of the Word of God allows the enemy to deceive God’s people and to bring discouragement. The second group of people with responsibility to establish believers in the faith are individual believers. Since Christians in Australia have free access to the Bible, we must be disciplined to read and to study the Bible so that we become people strong in the faith.
Finally, Paul instructs the Colossians to be overflowing with gratitude. Since the gospel is something which overflows or abounds with grace (Rom 5:15) and glory (2 Cor 3:9) and causes abounding hope (Rom 15:13) and comfort (2 Cor 1:5), it is fitting that it results in abounding thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is not simply appropriate because of what is offered in the gospel, it is helpful in keeping believers grounded in the truth of the gospel. This is a matter of setting the mind and heart on the right things (cf. Col 3:1-2; Phil 4:8). A story which is told by Corrie ten Boom in The Hiding Place comes to mind. Corrie and her sister have been imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp with hundreds of other women. Corrie’s sister insists that they give thanks for their circumstances, even for the fleas which were everywhere in their barracks. The fleas turned out to be a blessing in a way because they kept the guards away from the barracks and Corrie and her sister could conduct their Bible studies unhindered. It was this attitude of thanksgiving which enabled the sisters to grow and to remain strong in a situation which was extremely dire. It is an attitude of thanksgiving which can strengthen every believer through trials. Without thanksgiving we are left to dwell on all the negative, difficult and destructive circumstances of our lives.
Conclusion
So how can Christians become people with strong roots so as to withstand the heat of difficulties and persecution? Although we are planted by God and rooted in Christ through the gospel, there are choices which we can and must make in order to withstand the heat of persecution and difficulty. We must choose to be rooted in the people of God instead of in those who oppose God’s people. We must honour the God who has planted us in fertile ground and obediently bear fruit. Avoid legalism and idolatry; these are substitutes for relationship with the heavenly Father and will not provide strength when trials come. Avoid bitterness and the love of money. Instead walk in love and strive to grow in understanding of the love of Christ. Finally, live out of the reality that believers have been rooted in Christ – walk in obedience to his lordship, actively be built up in him, learn more of the faith through good teaching and disciplined Bible study, and continuously give thanks to the God of grace. All these things will provide solid and strong roots so that we may stand when the heat of the day is strongest.