Being Rooted In Christ Series

Inevitably when we talk about being holy, I hear responses like, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace,” or “we all make mistakes.” That may be true but it’s a copout. The Scripture affirm over and over again that as believers in Christ haven’t just been saved by grace, we have been transformed by grace. We are new creations in Christ. The old is gone, the new has come. Our lives should be different once we have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. God has begun a transformation in us when we believed in Christ and he wants to continue that work to its completion. It is not always an instantaneous change, but rather it is a lifelong process. A process the Bible calls sanctification.

In order for our character and actions to reflect God or Jesus, Paul tells us we must send our roots deeply in Christ. So if you’ve been wondering why there is a tree on platform this morning, now you know. It is our reminder that it is our choice on whether we will push our roots deeper in Christ if we are going to grow up spiritually.

Being Planted

When we become a Christian and give our hearts to Jesus Christ, when we believe the good news that Jesus died and rose from the dead for us. We are planted as new saplings in his orchard. We’re small and spindly with shallow roots in the ground. We’re saved, we’re going to heaven, but we are infants. Belief is just a beginning point. Being a Christian does not necessarily make you change your ways, or become a different person. Belief doesn’t automatically make you more loving, kind, and gentle, and have more joy because you are just a sapling drawing a small amount of nourishment from God because of our shallow roots, you are still a babe in Christ, you’re still using a sippy cup. When we are a sapling we sometimes continue to act like the world because we have not matured.

Growth

A tree is designed intended to grow just as we are physically when we are born. But in order for a tree to grow above ground, it must grow below ground. Its roots need to shoot down. Dale tells me a mature (deciduous) tree will have a root system equal to what we see above ground. If we don’t have deep roots like that sapling we are in a precarious position. A sapling with shallow roots is more susceptible to extreme weather (drought or torrential rains and storms), disease, and pests. The same is true for us, when we are saplings in Christ we are more susceptible when bad things happen. When the storms come into our life; death of a loved one, health problems, financial difficulties, family issues, or the disease of temptations come our way, and we are not deeply rooted in Christ what’s going to happen? It’s going to be a difficult road because we will doubt God.

In order for us to experience all the fulfillment of what God wants to give us we need to keep growing spiritually. In order for our outward/visible lives to be changed the inward part has to be changed first. Imagine the outward part of our lives is like the visible part of a tree, the trunk, the branches, the leaves, and the inward invisible spiritual part of our lives is like the roots of the tree. God is saying to us, I want to grow to be full, I want you to reflect my character, but in order for that to happen the inward part of our life must grow first, our heart, our soul.