When the Tree is Green

“For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when the tree is dry?” Luke 23:31

These are the words Jesus speaks right before he is crucified. He is speaking to the Daughters of Jerusalem who are weeping over the cruelty being brought upon Jesus. He foretells of a day it will better to have a barren womb than to give birth.

Now that we have this uplifting and inspiring moment defined, lets deal with depth of the statement Christ makes. The reality is that when we see tough times we never imagine tougher days. When things are not going the way we want them to go, we rarely consider how far they may go. Jesus is foretelling of a day in which humanity has such little regard for God and the things of God that it will be even worse than the day he was crucified.

I think this statement has powerful implications in our lives spiritually and practically. If men will do these types of things in a season in which the tree is green…meaning the tree is alive and bearing fruit…if men are evil in those days how much more evil will they be in the days of drought?

Let’s apply it to our lives a little.

For example…
If a man is a jerk when your love is new and fresh, he will not be a servant husband when your relationship is old and in a drought.
If a person cannot be obedient to God with their finances when they are blessed and have plenty, they will never be faithful in times of trouble.
If a person is too busy to be faithful to serve God when life is good and the blessings of family abound, they be unfaithful to God when times are hard.
If you don’t have time to spend with the Lord when the schedule is full because you have great opportunities, a lack of opportunity will not cause greater faithfulness.
If your run up piles of debt when you make little, you will not be a wise steward when you make much.

Basically, I am challenged by the fact that most often today the excuses (or reasons) I hear from people about why they believe they have little time, talent, and resources to be faithfully serve God with is because of all the blessings in their life.

They are too busy at work….or too busy with the family….or too busy buying new things…etc.

Well if we are unfaithful when the tree is green, how unfaithful will we be when the tree is dry?

Don’t allow the blessings of God in your life to cause a drought in your life.

The Crowd’s Place

The "crowd" is treated very differently by different churches and church leaders. The priority the crowd should take in decision making and Church activity is an active and ongoing debate. Most church leaders even struggle to define the crowd.

Crowds are fickle. They come and go. They arrive and they depart. May people desire to be an anonymous member of the crowd while others are starving for the day someone knows their name. Some people that attend church want to stay in the crowd so that no one in the church will know how they really live their life. While others in the crowd are desperate for someone to know about their life, to know their story, and to help them write a new one.

In my Scripture reading this morning I read a parable of Jesus in which he teaches strongly against the religious leaders and even foreshadows his own death at their hands. After this interaction the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were angry with Jesus for teaching against them. Mark 12:12 says, "Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away."

This little verse speaks volumes to the religious leaders of our days. It speaks volumes to me as a church leader. How often do we walk away from something because we fear the crowd? How often does the desire to appease and maintain the crowd in our church prevent us from speaking Truth? How often does it prevent us from creating times of worship that are deep and meaningful for every believer in attendance?

Is the fear of the crowd driving you? One of the axioms of our day in church is this truth, "What you reach them with you must keep them with."

If you reach them with creativity without content, you cannot keep them with content.
If you reach them with secular music without spiritual reason, you cannot keep them with spiritual reasoning.
If you reach them with love, you cannot keep them with condemnation.
If you reach them with passion, you cannot keep them with guilt.
If you reach them with guilt, you cannot keep them with love.

Do you get it?

Are you driven by the fear of the crowd?

The fear of losing them.
The fear of turning them away.
How about the fear of them never showing up in the first place?

I have dealt much in my ministry with the fear of the crowd. I remember early on in church planting being in constant fear a crowd would never show up. Honestly, some might say it still has not, but I believe one has. Actually many have.

But I still wonder, how often do we fail to do what is right (to us) because of fear of the crowd?

There is no truth too ancient, no song too old, no practice too difficult, no Word too timely, no grace too small, no standard too high, no message too difficult, no act of compassion too costly to prevent us from doing that which is right.

That must be our standard. If the fear of the crowd drives you, the Holy Spirit does not lead you.

Love the crowd, but never fear it.
Reach and teach the crowd, but do not appease it.
Beseech the crowd and belove the crowd, but never, ever bow to it.

(If you want to see why the crowd is so important read on further in Mark 12 in verses 28-34. How much did Jesus value the soul of this one man who stepped in closer out of the crowd?)

Reality Check

The beginning of Matthew is something many readers skim over quickly to get to the good stuff. It is after all, a genealogy, a simple list of names listing fathers and sons. We realize it has some significance but as we simply look at the "big" names in the list we often fail to see the message behind Matthew's opening facts.

Yes, Matthew wanted everyone to know the reality of Jesus' genealogy so they could understand that he was the long promised Messiah, a descendant of the patriarch Abraham, and indeed a son of King David. Yet if you read carefully and look into the facts that Matthew decides are notable enough to point out, you will see a pattern in his teaching.

The genealogy is a total of 42 generations. It is broken into 3 groups of 14 which he points out and states why that is significant. It is important because we need to remember where we have come from and it has not all been good. The genealogy begins with Abraham, a man of faith and obedience. He was given a promise and he lived it out, he doubted and tried to make his own route to the promise, but in the end, he was faithful. It began with a promise. The next major point in the genealogy is King David. David represents the height of this family. It reminds the people of their rise to prominence in the world. The third spot is the lowest point in the history of this family. It is the Babylonian Exile. A time in which this family that became a great nation was humbled as a result of years and generations of disobedience and idolatry. The fourth point and stopping place in this list is the fulfillment of that promise. In Jesus Christ, the promise that Abraham's family would be a blessing to all people became true.

Do you see the importance in this information? Jesus' family was not perfect. It was a family that had risen and fallen. They had both succeeded and failed. They had walked in both righteousness and unrighteousness.

I think if you take just a little more time and see the things Matthew decides to give commentary to, you will discover this honesty and openness continues. He speaks of Salmon's wife Rahab, who had been a prostitute and foreigner before honoring God in Jericho. The next woman pointed out (which is not the norm in a Jewish genealogy, it is built around the men) is Ruth. This was a woman of great faith and honor, yet she had also been a foreigner.

The next commentary is very telling. It is about David and his son Solomon. Solomon was the son of Bathsheba who had been Uriah's wife. The family's dirty laundry is put front and center. David had committed adultery with this woman and had her husband murdered to cover it up. "Thanks, Matthew, for bringing out the worst in us to the world to know."

Then we move further down to here the exile mentioned. This, too all the original readers, was a reminder of the lowest point in the history of its family and nation.

What, however, was Matthew's purpose in sharing this information with the world?

His purpose was to remind us that we all rise and fall…we all fail and succeed…all of our families have done both good and bad…as have we.

Failure, however, is not the end of God's promises in our lives. We fail to experience God's promises in our lives when our faith in the One who has made that promise fails. God's promises are not dependent on our faith, but our experience of them and relationship to them is.

Perhaps today you feel stuck in some ups and downs, peaks and valleys, failures and success. Perhaps you feel stuck in the never ending ebb and flow of life and you are losing the purpose behind it.

Don't give up. God has a great plan for you and for those that will follow you. Be faithful with this day. Quit being obsessed with what might be written in your genealogy because of your past and wonder what might be said because of your future. God loves you and has plans for you. These plans will prosper you. You will find your hope and your future there in those promises.

So make a bold move and set a new direction for your genealogy.

(Another side note to leaders and teachers, people learn more when you share the realities of such ups and downs in life instead of pretending they don't exist in your life. The reality is that authenticity is model of Scripture…find some…and share your story without fear.)

The Resolution Rundown

It is January 12, 2011. That means most people who have set resolutions for the New Year are starting to feel the rundown a little. If it has not happened yet, it is coming. The resolution rundown is simply when our old habits and ways begin to rundown the new ones we are trying to embrace. It is when the first smell of freshly baked pizza hits the nose of the newly disciplined healthy eater. Or when the alarm clock goes off entirely too early after a late night ball game for the newly committed early morning Bible reader. Or when the temperature is below freezing and the bed is toasty when it is time to go for the run. Our old ways like to run down our new ones.

It is in that exact moment that the defining word for resolution must be true of us. That word is, of course, resolve. Resolve means "to come to a definite or earnest decision about." The decision seemed definite and earnest when you wrote it down on January 1. You were definite about and earnest in your desire, but reality is writing down a New Year's resolution requires zero resolve. It requires desire and hope, but not resolve. It is on January 12 or 13 or 29 or February 8 that the resolution one wrote down on January 1 requires resolve.

So, I want to share a little Scripture passage I like about resolve. It is found in Daniel 1:6-20. Verse 8 really stands out to me. First you need to know these young men were in bondage and exile in a foreign country that had completely different standards, beliefs, and customs than theirs. Also, as Jews much of their standards, customs, and beliefs were not simply a cultural thing, they were religious convictions. Daniel also had to have a plan. His resolve was not enough. Living out a standard that was different than the culture and setting he found himself in required him to do more than just commit. Daniel had to have a plan to live it out.

So here are a few principles for beating the resolution rundown…

1. Resolve what you believe instead of believe what you resolve.
Resolutions are rundown, not by a lack of desire for change, but because of a lack of conviction behind the change. Conviction causes change.

2. Plan what you will do instead of what you will not do.
Daniel had a plan in mind concerning what he would eat not just what he would not eat. Life is not lived in the "I will nots" it is lived in the "I wills."

3. Don't expect the world to change because you are changing.
The most difficult moments in change are when we have to do what is different and out of the norm…like ordering a salad at a burger joint.

4. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
You will be surprised how often other people want to see you reach your resolution even if they do not share the same conviction.

5. Pray.

I hope these principles help you…now I better get home and run or my resolution will officially be rundown.