S6 E8 - 2000 Year Old Trees

We are planning a trip out west next month, and the highlight will be two very special national parks with 2000 year old trees we are showing the kids. How have they survived this long? Because of how their roots grow and interlock with one another, they never stand alone but stand strong together. 

How are we to survive life's storms and the challenges to our faith? Not only must we be rooted in our faith in Christ, but we must remember that we don't stand alone. We stand stronger together, interwoven through love and faith in Jesus. 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Transcript

What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day? 

What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me? 

 Welcome back to season 6 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. In our next few moments together, we hope to learn some of the most important lessons from some of the simplest things in life. Thank you for taking this journey with me.

Thank you all so much for your patience with the delay in the podcast. The last two weeks have been an ongoing battle with the flu in our household. Last week all three children and myself were down with it, and my wife rolled up her sleeves and took care of us all. Well, now it’s her turn. My wife is struggling with a strong case of the flu, so now it’s been our turn to care for her. Hopefully next week all of us will be fully recovered and well on our way to a healthy home. While we’ve had some forced down time, it has allowed us to work on an upcoming trip that we have planned in the month of April. I have the honor of getting to speak for a church in Southern California at the end of next month, so while we are on the west coast we are also going to have a family vacation with just us and the kids. Of course we’re going to hit Disney for one day, and probably spend some time on the beach for another, but the majority of our vacation is going to be spent showing the kids some of the most magnificent sites in the state of California: Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park. 

If you have never ventured to that part of the country, I mean it when I say that you really don’t know what a tree can be until you do. We have spent some time teaching our kids at home about where we are going to visit and what is so special about these places, and one of the key points of interest have been the massive Saquoia trees. These silent giants can grow on average anywhere from 160 feet to 280 feet tall, with the tallest trees standing even above 300 feet! But they are not only tall, but their girth is unmatched. At their base, these trees can be as thick as even 30 feet in diameter! Did I mention that they are huge? There is one tree in particular that is thought to be the largest tree by volume on earth – called General Sherman tree. The tree’s bark itself is 2 feet thick – something that I cannot even fathom. And these trees, they are old, and I mean really old. They are some of the oldest living organisms on earth, with the majority being 2000 years old, and a few even exceeding 3000 years old. 

As I was telling Ava that these trees were being planted at the same time Jesus walked on this earth, she was shocked that they could survive that long and wanted to know how. So, I explained it to her: it’s all about the roots. Sequoia trees don’t actually have the deepest roots considering their size, only going down 6-12 feet. However, what they do have is a strong interlocking root system. The roots spread out to nearly 100 feet side to side, interlocking with the roots of other neighboring trees. This massive underground web of roots gives these trees immense strength, able to survive high winds, snow, floods, and other natural disasters. Entire civilizations across the world have risen and fallen, but yet these trees still stand strong for thousands of years. 

It should not surprise us that mighty old trees have a great amount to teach us about our spiritual walk, since the Scriptures themselves use trees frequently as a teaching tool (consider Psalm 1, for example). But there is something very specific to these Sequoias that we need to zero in on, and that is the root system. 

In this life we are going to undergo our own spiritual floods, winters, and storms – the likes that would cause many to topple under the pressure. Even Jesus reminded us in John 16:33, “You will have suffering in this world.” How then are we supposed to stand strong? How are we to survive persecution, temptation, and other challenges while growing stronger in our faith and not failing in it? To start, we must be rooted in our faith in order to stand. We read in Colossians 2:6-7, “So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.” Just as a tree without strong roots is liable to fall at the slightest provocation, so the Christian that is not firmly rooted and established in faith is likely to do the same. It is why Jesus warns of the seed sown among the rocky soil that had no root and therefore withered and died under the sun’s scorching heat and the wind. If we are to strand strong in our faith, we must be rooted and established in our faith. Our spiritual convictions cannot be casual, convenient, and come-and-go. They must be truly convictions, rooted in the Lord himself as our Lord in all things. It must be faith that does not only believe, but a faith that obeys and walks worthy of the calling to which we’ve been called. If we are to stand firm in trial, we must stand firm in faith. 

And yet, the Lord knew that even the strongest of faith would still struggle and fall if they stood alone. This brings us to the primary point of this episode – our need for one another. Just as these grand Sequoias have stood the test of time because they do not stand alone, but stand together, so Christians are to do the same. We read in Hebrews 10:23-25, “Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” How are we to hold fast without wavering? How is it that we are to stand strong in our faith? The Hebrew author tells us it is by standing together. Just as the roots of the Sequoia weave and interlock with one another, so we as Christians are interwoven with one another through love and our shared faith. The truth is that we need each other, and Jesus knew this, which is why he established the church. We needed a spiritual family, someone to help to hold us up to keep us from collapsing when we are weak and struggling, and in like manner we do the same for others when they are weak and we are strong. The church displays the ancient wisdom of Solomon from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm? And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.” 

My friends, the church is also 2000 years old – after having been established on that day of Pentecost. It has stood the test of time throughout the ages. Entire nations and civilizations have come and gone, but the kingdom of God continues to endure. Even through trials, even through persecutions, the kingdom of God remains. Why? Because it is rooted in Christ, and because his people are bound together through him. For those that think they can get along without the rest of God’s people, that they “don’t need the church” – you are rejecting the very thing that Jesus shed his blood to purchase and establish, and the very thing that he knew you needed to stand firm. A lone tree cannot survive, just as a lone Christian will not survive. We need each other, and we are stronger together. 

This has been season 6 episode 8 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast – and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together! A new episode is dropped each Friday of the week. If you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, give us a good rating, and tune in next week. Even more important, share the spiritual truths that we learned today with someone else. And more than anything my friends, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.