Trees and authentic Christianity (Part 1)

I love trees. I love planting them. I love big trees. New Zealand has some massive Kauri trees with trunks bigger than a house. Auckland NZ has a volcanic mountain called One Tree Hill, because it had one lone Pine tree growing on its apex – until someone cut it down. They had to plant another one.

They say a Douglas fir takes 70 years to reach maturity, but only 4 minutes to cut it down. There is a lesson there, but the best spiritual lesson from the Douglas Fir is regarding its greatest enemy. It is a beetle that usually only attacks weak sickly trees. That is because when it bores into a healthy tree that is full of sap, the tree secretes a heavy flow of resin that is so powerful that it pushes the beetle back out the way it came in!

Throughout the Bible trees are used to represent people. In the very first psalm, spiritually healthy people are likened to trees planted by rivers of water.(Ps 1:3) This water of life provides us with the ‘sap’ of the Holy Spirit that is a defense against invading sin. A healthy Douglas fir is full of sap and can resist the beetle that would destroy it, so a healthy Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit, which is their best defence against sin.

I once read of a small community that had a gigantic Oak tree in the middle of the town square. It was the pride of the towns people. It had been there long before any of them were born and undoubtedly it would outlive them all.

One day a storm with strong winds cracked it in half and revealed a trunk full of disease. What had been a symbol of strength on the outside had been weak and vulnerable on the inside. For years it had fooled its admirers.

It is a haunting story, because it speaks to us personally about the need for authentic spirituality that is more than external. I believe the greatest challenge facing the church is the disease eating away its power and integrity. That disease is inauthentic Christianity. In our pulpits and our pews there are too many inconsistent Christians.

The western church has few external problems. We have money, buildings, schools, colleges, heaps of resources from which we pander ourselves and for outreach. We enjoy political freedoms – although I see a change brewing on that score. I pastored a large church in western Victoria decades ago and noted from the treasures report that we spent $3,500 watering the grass and $2,500 on soul winning programs. The problem of the western church is not external, but internals. Churches that don’t ‘fish’, fight.

A peasant once applied for membership in the Russian communist party. At his interview he was asked, “If you had two cars, would you give one to the party?” to which he answered “Yes.” Again the question was posed, “If you had two tractors, or two houses would you give one to the state?” To which he again answered, “Yes!” Again, the interviewer asked, “If you had two cows would you give one to the state?” to which the farmer answered, “No!” When asked why he simply said, “Because I have two cows.”

There’s another story I heard of an attorney who wanted to buy a horse. He went out into the country and found a fine-looking animal. He asked the farmer if he could buy it, to which the farmer agreed if the city man could catch it. That didn’t seem unreasonable, so the lawyer and his two sons spent 3 hours in the yard trying to put a bridle on the horse.

Now the farmer was an honest man and so he said, “There are two things I need to tell you about this horse before I take your money. Firstly, he’s awful hard to catch.” Well, the lawyer already knew that. “Secondly, once he’s caught, he’s not worth a bucket of beans.”

We are all selling ourselves to people all the time or trying to. We are particular about the display. We want to look good, sound right and make the right actions. This is one of the personal issues I have with public prayer. I ask myself if I am really addressing God as I do in private, or whether I am just saying the right words to those in my presence.

A young lawyer rented a new office. His first customer came in and he continued to have a conversation on the phone about an amalgamation deal worth $3million and how he would handle it personally. He was even going to bring in Rogers from Melbourne. Finally, when he finished his conversation, he introduced himself to the new prospect who simple said, “I’m here to hook up the phone.”

If we are honest like the farmer, we would admit that despite how good we look on the outside, things are not always the same on the inside. Of course, we do everything in our power to hide it. We don’t want anyone to guess that we have a temper or that we are not as calm as we look on the outside. But do good deeds change a person? The lips may express a poverty of soul that the heart does not acknowledge. While speaking to God of poverty of spirit, the heart may be swelling with the conceit of its own superior humility and exalted righteousness. In one way only can a true knowledge of self be obtained. We must behold Christ. Ten looks at the wound are worth one look at the physician. More on this tomorrow.