S122301 The best Christmas tree Psalm 1:1
Beginning:
There is a story of the three trees growing side by side on a beautiful mountain. Each of the trees had great dreams of becoming very special. They wanted to be made into very beautiful and helpful things to bring glory to God.
One tree dreamed of becoming a finely crafted trunk with beautiful inlaid and carved images all over the top. The tree dreamed of golden handles, hinges and hasp so finely made they would shine in the sunlight so that everyone who saw the chest would exclaim of it’s beauty. The tree hoped the most skilled of all artisans in wood would be selected to cut, carve, size, sand and finish the box until it became the most beautiful chest in the entire world. The tree that wanted to be a beautiful box had the dream that if it could become this beautiful thing it would bring glory to God. Maybe people would see the trunk and something in it’s beauty would make them praise God.
The second tree dreamed of becoming a great ocean going vessel. The sound of wind in the sails, the ocean spray and roll of the ocean was the last dream this tree had each morning and the first dream at night. I could carry a well-trained and fit crew to ports of call in strange places with unusual sights, sounds, smells and accents. Taking people to distant places would make me the happiest tree on the mountain. I want to travel and see the beauty of the earth that God has made. I want to carry people to new places where they can tell those with no hope that one day the Messiah will come and He will save them from their sins. I want to be used by the Creator to tell everyone about His love.
The third tree had a dream also. It wanted to remain on the mountain and become the tallest tree in the world. The reason it wanted to be tall was so that it could point its branches upward toward the God who created it. This tree wanted to be a witness to the majesty of God. It hoped that when people looked at how tall and majestic it had become they would wonder at the beauty of the Creator and give Him glory for making such a fine tree.
Eventually the first tree was cut down. It was so excited because now the dream could come true and it would become the most beautiful box in the world. It was so sad when the sawing and the nailing were finished because it was not a beautiful box. It was an ugly cattle bunk. It would be used to hold cattle feed not precious jewels and artifacts. How could it ever give glory to God in a barn?
The second tree was harvested, but instead of being made into an ocean going vessel the ship builders instead turned it into a small, ugly, insignificant fishing boat for the Sea of Galilee. It would never see exotic ports of call. It would spend its life in the same dirty, smelly port with fisherman crawling in and out if it all its life. It would never become the vehicle that takes the message of the Messiah’s to the people of the world? How could it ever bring glory to God as a fishing boat?
The third tree stood longer on the mountain than the first two, but it did not get the complete wish. Eventually it was cut down and sawn into crude timbers. The third tree was devastated because it would not be able to point people to The Messiah. It was a failure.
One day in the barn fresh hay was placed in the ugly box and swaddling clothes were arranged to receive a baby. The box was amazed as shepherds, wise men and even angels proclaimed this baby was the Messiah. The box had not become what it dreamed. This was much better! Any tree could become a box, but this tree was fashioned into a manger bed in which the Messiah was laid. This tree received the highest honor that any tree had ever had. It made the first bed for the Baby Jesus.
The second tree, which had become a stinking fishing boat, was bobbing up and down in a monotonous manner. Droning waves lapped at it’s gunnels. Eventually men came and pushed the boat out from the shore. One man began to speak. His words were magic as the bounced off the water to hungry ears. He filled people with hope. This man spoke in a manner, and with authority, unprecedented in all of time. It was Jesus, and the tree that desired to be an ocean going vessel to take the message of God to the world now was the very platform God used for from which His Son spoke the words of the Father.
The third tree that wanted to point to God was formed into a cross for the execution of criminals. In darkest of depression the tree realized it had become an instrument of death. It was on this tree that The Son of God was nailed. It was on this cross that the very God that allowed the tree to grow on the mountainside was brutally crucified. The tree marveled at how he blessed his tormentors. He forgave them and said to one of the other men dying beside him that when their deaths were finished they would both go to paradise. The tree that wanted to point to God became a symbol that even to this day points to God. The cross is the single most powerful symbol to the love of God we have.
Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead--whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.
Gal. 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
Scattered through the Word of God analogy to trees are used to communicate God’s greatest lessons.
Burden of the sermon: Life is tenuous at best. It is very brief. What we do with Jesus makes all the difference.
Job 14:1 "Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.2 He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.3 Do you fix your eye on such a one? Will you bring him before you for judgment? 4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one! 5 Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.6 So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired man.7 "At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, 9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.10 But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.
Not all Old Testament writers were so pessimistic. Isaiah saw, with prophetic eyes, a glorious future God has prepared for those who love him and live by the royal law of love. In figurative language Isaiah describes what it is like to live a life that rests and is nurtured in Christ.
Isa, 65:20 "Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. 21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.
Basic Truth of the message: You can become like a mighty tree in God’s Kingdom.
Burning Question What makes a life mighty in God’s Kingdom?
Roots deeply anchored in Jesus
Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
Notice that this deeply rooted man does not set out to prosper. He does indeed prosper, but it is a secondary occurrence. This blessed man, who becomes like a tree, is blessed by being rooted in the Lord.
This song from the Jewish hymnal holds in highest value the person who loves the law of God. Jesus interpreted the royal law of the Father like this. He said, “Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.”
The person who loves God is like a tree by a stream. That person will be fruitful forever. A life lived in a way that it is not influenced by sinners becomes evergreen. Those who delight in God’s law become fruitful too.
Illustration:
Dr. Graham is a glorious example of such a man. Never in his life has the press scandalized him. His financial dealings have been impeccable. When his counterparts were being paid personally millions of dollars Dr. Graham lived on a modest income. Now in old age his leaf has not withered. His message is strong and powerful just as it was in his beginning. He dug deeply into God and God prospered him and used him to bless millions.
Life will try to uproot you. There will be the greatest temptation to cease to be evergreen and allow long periods of time to pass without producing fruit.
If you find your life being uprooted all the time it may be that you are focusing on the leaf and fruit and not on the root. Do the root and God does the fruit.
Transitional statement
When God looks for a mighty person he looks for the root. He knows that when a person is firmly rooted in God that person will produce a bountiful harvest. A mighty life lived for God has . . .
Branches producing good fruit
Luke 6:43 "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
Jesus clears this issue up forever. Good stuff comes from a good heart. Bad stuff comes from a bad heart.
Many people are more interested in fruit than root. Start with the heart. Look at what you are using for a source of strength. If it is self, it will become weary and fail. If it is evil it will never produce anything but bitterness, anger, struggles for power and self-interest.
People say our world is really messed up, and they want to give up on the human condition. Our world is in trouble, but what do you expect from a world that is rooted in self and sin.
Illustration:
Expecting good to come from a bad heart is like planting Cheerio’s hoping for a doughnut harvest. One farmer called the store where he purchased baby chickens. He said they were dying. What should he do? The person at the store asked what was he doing that may be causing the baby chickens to die so quickly? The farmer said, “I’m doing everything right. I ploughed the ground, fertilized it and planted the chickens with their heads down. Why are they dying?
I think this farmer needs a course on raising chickens, don’t you?
If your life is bearing bad fruit, your root is in the wrong source.
The definition of frustration is repeating a failed experiment expecting a different outcome. Nothing is going to change in your life until you find a different source.
Illustration:
Some people put dye on their hair. I have seen some horrible failures in this area. The emotional train wrecks, failed hair dying experiments cause, have taught me a life lesson. The lesson is-If you dye your hair with purple dye it will be purple.
No matter how many times you repeat the experiment it will always come out the same way.
When get weary of repeating a failed experiment over and over, it may be time to give Jesus a try.
Transitional Statement
Spiritual roots deeply anchored in Jesus produce branches loaded with good fruit. When this condition exists for a short amount of time another fruit is produced. The unexpected fruit is people that your life clears a way for them to find Jesus.
Strength of character that brings seekers to Jesus
Luke 19:1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
A sycamore-fig tree became a platform for a sinner to see Jesus. Strength of character in a child of God lifts people for a better view also.
In a world of average people, where nothing very extraordinary happens, a deeply rooted and abundantly fruited person is extra special. From these blessed lives come many seekers to stand around and maybe even on them to see Jesus.
Illustration:
One individual in the Bible narrative was blessed with four of these mighty oaks able to lift him up to where he could see Jesus. His friends carried him, because he was crippled. They carried him and lifted him up to the roof. They made a way through the obstacles in the way and delivered him at the feet of Jesus for a healing.
There are so many people around you that can’t see above their heads. They need a tree to climb up into to see Jesus. Will you be that tree? Can you be that tree? You can if you root deeply in Jesus and fruit abundantly to bless the world.
What do I want us to know?
The best Christmas tree is you.
What do I want you to do?
Root deeply in Jesus and become a tree planted by the water, bearing abundant fruit and standing tall so people can see the real Jesus.
Life Application:
The late columnist Mike Royko writes about a conversation he had with Slats Grobnik, a man who sold Christmas trees. Slats remembered one couple looking for a tree. The guy was skinny with a big Adam’s apple and small chin, and she was kind of pretty. But both wore clothes from the Salvation Army store. They discovered all the trees were too expensive. As they started to leave they found a Scotch pine that was okay on one side, but pretty bare on the other. Then they picked up another tree that was not much better--full on one side, scraggly on the other. They asked Slats if $3 would be okay. Slats figured neither tree would be sold, so he agreed. A few days later Slats was walking down the street and saw a beautiful tree in the couple’s apartment. It was thick and well rounded. They told him how they worked the two trees close together where the branches were thin. Then they tied the trunks together. The branches overlapped and formed a tree so thick you couldn’t see the wire. Slats described it as "a tiny forest of its own." "So that’s the secret," Slats asserts. "You take two trees that aren’t perfect – that have flaws— that might even be homely—that maybe nobody else would want. If you put them together just right, you can come up with something really beautiful."`
