Rooted 1 - The Unseen Essential

We are beginning a new series this week in Second Peter. Today, we're talking about being rooted and how we grow as followers of Jesus. So, open with us to Second Peter, chapter 1, and follow along.

If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. Second Peter is right after First Peter, near the end of the Bible. If you open to the very last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, and turn to the left a few books, you will find the Second Epistle of Peter.

We're only going to read one verse today, so if we're only doing one verse, it's going to take us like three years to get through this three-chapter book. Would you stand with me? We're going to look at verse 12.

Second Peter 1, verse 12, Peter writes, "For this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth."

Father, I pray that you would speak to us as we open your Word. Would you open our hearts? God, by your Spirit, would you continue to transform us by the renewing of our minds? Lord, help us to be more like You. Help us to learn more about who You are and how You work. As we get to know You through the revelation of who You are in Your Word, may the very knowledge of who You are change the way that we live and honor You.

So, God, work in us. Teach us, we ask this in Jesus' name. And all those who agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

At the end of this week, the 2016 Olympics will begin. What is ending when that starts is a long two-year process for...

Qualifying for the Olympics, more than 10,000 athletes have been working hard for the last two years to find their place. For some of them, just making it to the opening ceremonies in Rio will be the highlight of their lives, one of the greatest experiences they have ever had. However, for a select few—306 athletes, including some from the team—they will have the opportunity to step up to the highest platform and receive the gold medal.

Sure, there will be others who receive a bronze or a silver, but that is not the focus. It is not just about getting to the Olympics or walking in the opening ceremonies; it is about standing on that platform, hearing your nation's national anthem played, seeing your flag raised, and having someone place a gold medal around your neck. These athletes have dedicated much of their lives to reaching that point, and it is an amazing achievement.

One of the things that is revealed or represented in these Olympic Games, during these 16 days of competition, is something inherent in our nature as human beings. It is part of our nature to have this drive, this innate push for competition—to win and to be number one. You do not have to be an elite athlete to want to win; I believe that every human being, at their core, has this competitive drive. Whether you are an elite athlete, a teacher, a stay-at-home parent, or whatever it is you do, we all have this drive toward competition.

Even pastors have a drive toward competition. Now, I know that when I make a statement like "every human being is competitive by nature," someone will approach me after I teach or send me an email or a message on Facebook to say, "No, no, no, Pastor, I'm not competitive." They might think they are that one in a thousand—or even one in a million—who is not competitive. But I do not buy it. I do not buy it at all. I know that competitive gene is somewhere within us all.

Inside of you, maybe it has been hidden. Perhaps it has been conditioned into you by years of losing, leading you to think, "I could never win." So, if you don't compete, you'll never lose. You just don't compete because you know you never win.

But here's how I can test this: take the most docile grandma from the pathways group, sit her at a card table with a handful of dice, and say, "We're going to play Bunko." There’s no skill in dice. You might think, "No, no, no, if you throw them at this angle..." but there’s really no skill in dice. You give those dice to the most docile grandma, and in a matter of minutes, the spirit of Usain Bolt rises to the surface. You see Michael Phelps manifested in a five-foot-tall grandma right before your eyes. This is because we are competitive by nature.

Now, you may be wondering what this has to do with Second Peter at this point. Let me enlighten you. As I said, pastors are competitive too. They want to be number one; they want to be first. I know we try very hard to put in effort, and you might think I'm pretty docile—that's the word that comes to mind when you think about me. However, even though our aim is to be moderate and spiritual, this good aim is still competitive.

Here’s how the competitiveness of a pastor sometimes manifests, especially as he prepares to teach a Bible study. It comes in getting that Bible study together, going through the Scriptures, and trying to find that truth, that gem, that no one has ever seen before. They want to be the first to ever say something original. That’s why pastors like books like Haggai, because nobody ever studies through Haggai. There’s some pay dirt there; maybe there’s something that no one has ever seen before.

In the pastor's mind, on Friday, when he’s putting together that message, he knows as he’s writing, "Find that thing no one has ever seen before." Oh, people are going to be shocked and stunned by this truth they’ve never encountered.

Ever examined this original truth before? The pastor knows that someone is going to come up after the sermon and say, "Pastor, that was amazing! I've never heard that before." He knows that after church, a group of you will go out to lunch. You will be sitting around your Double Doubles—because it's a travesty, I know, but Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays. There, you will talk about it and say, "My, my, my! Did you hear that today? I have never heard that before! I don't even think I can eat this Double Double; I'm so filled with the richness of that original sermon." That's what's going through the pastor's mind on Friday.

Now, Monday is a different story. Pastors don't think like that on Mondays; they often experience a kind of depression. They think, "Oh, no one has ever seen this before."

Now, you may ask, what does this have to do with Second Peter, chapter 1, verse 2? Well, look at it again. He says, "For this reason, Peter writing, I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them and are established in the present truth." This is basically the purpose or theme verse of this small three-chapter letter.

This letter, written by the Apostle Peter, was composed about 36 years after Jesus ascended into heaven. Jesus died, was buried, rose from the dead, and 40 days later, He ascended into heaven. This letter was written about 36 years after that event. Peter has been following Jesus for nearly 40 years of his life, serving Him during that entire time. He has seen a lot, experienced a lot, and traveled to almost the entire known world of his day, preaching the gospel and making disciples.

Now, late in his life, as he approaches the last mile of his race running for Christ, he writes these words: "I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know them and are established in the present truth." In these words, there is a change that has taken place in Peter. It may have been a change that occurred many years before he wrote this letter, but it is very clearly a change. You see, in his earlier years, Peter was very...

Competitive by nature, like the other followers of Jesus, Peter wanted to be number one. He wanted to be the greatest. This is what they argued about every single day: who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? Of course, they probably knew in the back of their minds that Jesus is the greatest; it is His kingdom. But they wanted to know who was number two, who was coming up on the silver side of that little platform. They argued and argued about who would be the greatest.

In that argument, you have to know that Peter, the guy who wrote this letter, had a bit of a competitive edge. He was one of the first followers of Jesus, one of the very first to give up everything to follow after Him. Not only was he one of the first followers, but when Jesus gave a pop quiz to His disciples, it was Peter who got the answer right. None of the other disciples answered correctly; it was Peter. He was also the one who walked on water. We won't talk about all the details of what happened in that instance, but he alone walked on water.

Peter was one of only three who were with Jesus and saw Him revealed in all of His glory on what is called the Mount of Transfiguration, as recorded in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 17. Peter, along with these other two disciples, was present when Jesus raised a young girl from the dead. He was the first to preach the first message in the first church, as recorded in Acts chapter 2. He was the first evangelist to see a mass of people come to faith in Jesus Christ and be baptized. This guy had a competitive edge. In fact, 2,000 years later, there are millions and millions of Christians who say Peter is the first pope.

So, there was this drive to be competitive, but something changed, something transformed in his life. As he neared the end of his race, he said, "For this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them and are established in the present truth." In these words from verse 12, two things stand out to me. First, Peter was no longer working for the greatness of his own status.

Reputation is important, but Peter was no longer working for the greatness of his reputation. He was focused on the growth and building up of other believers. I will not be negligent; I will not overlook this very important truth. I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are established in the present truth.

The second thing I see in this verse is that Peter was not afraid to be redundant. He was not afraid to repeat himself. He wasn't trying to be original or the first to the plate; he was simply trying to speak the truths that would build people up. He didn't have to find or unearth something that no one had ever seen before. He says, "I will remind you always of these things," even though you already know them.

I'm going to say something, and you might think, "Oh yeah, I've heard that before." Even though you're already established in the present truth, not only have you heard it before, but you understand it at the core. He says, "But I'm going to remind you again and again and again of these things," even if, at the end of it, you mock me. Isn't that how you know you've been redundant enough? When your children or someone else starts to mock you every single time you begin to say it, they might say, "I've heard it before."

For example, every time I say our vision here at Cross Connection is life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus, there are people on our leadership team who respond with, "Life in connection," as if it's just not cool to repeat yourself. Just ask Marco Rubio; he figured this out the hard way earlier this year. This is why parents of toddlers never feel cool—they're always saying the same thing over and over again: "Stop hitting your sister! Stop hitting your sister! Stop hitting your sister!" Part of that has to do with the fact that all they ever hear is something repeated.

Peter says, "I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know them and are already established in the present truth." You see, Peter knew something about human nature. Not just that we are competitive by nature, but he understood that human beings are prone to forget.

Human beings are prone to forget, and this is becoming increasingly frustrating in my life. Maybe you can identify. I love to consume information; I read book after book and article after article. I listen to all kinds of messages, teachings, conferences, and podcasts. However, here's what I'm discovering: the brain that God gave each and every one of us is an amazingly complex computer system. It has a finite amount of RAM, which stands for Random Access Memory. When it gets full, you just can't do much.

You've all experienced this on your computer before. When your RAM gets full, you're doing something, and all of a sudden, it slows down. It isn't working, and it isn't recalling things quite so well. If you haven't experienced that on a computer, you've certainly experienced it in your brain. Sometimes, as I'm reading through a book or going through some text, I find myself thinking, "Why am I even doing this? I'm only going to forget this in like 20 minutes." It's so frustrating that the recall is just not there.

There are some things we want to forget, but let me tell you, there are a lot of things that I'd really like to remember, and I just don't remember them quite as well or as quickly anymore. We are certainly prone to forget, and Peter knew this. He says in 2 Peter 1:12-15, "For this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know them and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, or on this Earth, or in this body, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off this tent. I'm going to die, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my death."

I'm going to keep saying the same thing over and over again. Even if you call me redundant, even if you say, "Oh yeah, we've heard that before," I will continue to remind you. It’s like a broken record.

There are a number of times when those who speak the things of God are considered redundant because the message simply needs to be clear. Clear messages sometimes need to be said in clear ways over and over again so that we can truly understand them.

Two thousand seven hundred years ago, there was a prophet by the name of Isaiah who faced this problem. God had given him a message for the people, and he kept speaking it repeatedly. To the point that the people of his day began to mock him, they said, "Oh, we don't like that Isaiah guy; he should be given to the children's ministry, those who have just been weaned." They criticized him because his message was line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. In the original Hebrew language, it literally states that his message is just line, line, line, line. They mocked him because his message didn't seem fresh or new; it didn't appear original.

However, we need to understand that anything you hear a preacher say that sounds new, fresh, or original is not truly unique. Every time I come across something that I think, "Oh, I've never seen this before; no one has ever seen this before," and I plan to preach it, I often find that just a few days later, I will hear someone else, like Raw Reese, saying the exact same thing on the radio.

We are starting a new series here in Second Peter. It may take us a little while to go through it verse by verse, chapter by chapter. In this passage, Peter will address things that, if you have been a churchgoer for any length of time, you might say, "Yeah, I've heard that before." Peter knows that he needs to remind us of these things because we are prone to forget. We need to revisit these concepts so that we can become rooted, allowing our roots to go deep and become strong. That is what our series is going to be called.

I'm going to give you a reminder of these things because we're prone to forget. Peter says, "I know that there's coming a day when I'm going to die. I want my discipleship legacy to be that you grow strong." He wasn't about building his reputation or his name; he wanted those people that he was going to disciple to be raised up in Christ. So, he says, "I'm willing to just say the same thing over and over again so that you would have deep roots." Roots are important.

Point number two on your outline: roots are unseen but essential. As I was thinking about this over the last several weeks, especially this week, I started to read a little bit about roots. It's a funny thing that happens as you're studying through the Scriptures; you find yourself reading all kinds of strange things that have nothing to do with the Scriptures, like scientific journals on roots. That's some really light reading.

Roots serve four major functions. Number one: absorption of water and other nutrients. Number two: anchoring the plant firmly to the ground and supporting it. Number three: the accumulation and storage of food and nutrients. Number four: vegetative reproduction and competition with other plants.

The amazing thing is that we all kind of understand the concept of roots because maybe you have a garden or a yard that you've landscaped. But they're not seen; they're under the ground. We typically buy a plant for what it looks like, the flower that it produces, the fruit that it gives off in the area. So, we don't think too much about the roots, but roots are really, really important. In fact, if you destroy the roots of a plant, you'll destroy the plant.

I learned this the hard way when we moved into our first home. There were not many things that were still alive in our yard when we moved in; we bought a foreclosed home. One of the things that was alive in the yard was this fruitless plum tree, which is kind of an enigma in the first place. There was this tree in our yard with these purple flowers all over it. When we moved in, it was one of the very few things that actually looked okay. So, when we ultimately got to the point when we were going to...

In the landscape of our yard, there came a point when we were running some irrigation, and I had to cut one of the roots to facilitate it. I figured it should be okay, but I made a mistake a few weeks later when we put a fence post not too far from it and cemented the post. Ultimately, that little action killed the tree. About six months before we moved out of the house, the tree was cut down; it never grew anymore. If you destroy the roots of a tree, you can destroy the whole thing. Roots are extremely important.

Not only that, but a tree that cannot put down deep and strong roots will never grow to its full potential. When we were getting ready to move into our new home, I walked the property with the old owner. He pointed out all the different things he had done in the yard—really awesome things. When we came to the end of the property, there was a stick sticking out of the ground down on the end of the bank, only about three feet tall. In his kind of southern accent, he said, "There's a pecan tree." I asked, "Why not?" He explained that just about 18 inches under the surface of the ground, there is hard granite. A pecan tree needs to put down a deep taproot for it to grow, so I would need to transplant it if I wanted it to grow at all. Sure enough, it wasn't really growing.

If a tree cannot put down deep roots, it will not grow to its full potential. Strong roots in a plant or tree are absolutely phenomenal. Again, when we moved into our first home, one of the other things that was still alive was a wisteria right in the middle of the front yard. We knew immediately when we saw it that we didn't want it right there in the middle. What were they thinking? So, a friend and I went out there, dug that thing out, and ultimately put it in a wheelbarrow. We took it into the backyard and planted it on the back fence line.

The amazing thing is that for the next seven years we lived there, even right up to the very end, there were little wisteria shoots coming up in our front yard for the rest of the time we were there. Why? That plant had strong roots, and it left those strong roots behind. Even though we couldn't see them, they were still there.

Here's the point: Christians, fruitful Christians, need strong roots.

Roots are essential for fruitful Christians. This is why the desire of a pastor, like myself, is to always bring some sort of fresh, original message that no one has ever heard. While this may be good for the reputation of the speaker, it may not necessarily be beneficial for the growth of the people that God has committed to them.

You see, I, along with every other pastor and really every Christian, have been given a commission by God to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that Christ commanded. It is not about my reputation; it is about the reputation of Christ. It is not about my growth and my platform, but it is about your growth as a follower of Jesus.

Therefore, the temptation for me to always come up with something new, fresh, and original, and to avoid being redundant, might actually not help you in your walk with Jesus. Peter says, "I don’t mind being redundant. I’m going to remind you of things that you’ve heard. You know this truth; you’ve already been established in it."

So, we will go through things here in this study and in other studies of different books, and you may think, "I’ve heard that before," especially if you have been around church for a while. However, sometimes it is not until we have heard something for the hundredth time, or maybe the five hundredth time, that we actually get it, apply it, and make it a part of our lives.

Peter knew that he was not commissioned to make a name for himself; he was commissioned to make disciples of Jesus. We need to recognize that as well. While there is the temptation for the pastor to always be new and avoid redundancy, there is also the temptation for the churchgoer to seek something new and avoid boredom with repetition.

The Apostle Paul spoke about this in his letter to Timothy. He said, "Listen, in the last days, there’s going to be a problem. People will heap up for themselves teachers, being led away by itching ears, trying to find something new that they have never heard before." The temptation for the churchgoer is not to stay in one place and grow, but rather to go wherever they find something that tickles their ears. As a result, they may never fully grow to maturity. The fact is, and it is a truth we have seen many times, that this approach can hinder spiritual growth.

Over is point number four: strong Christians grow where they're planted. When we were landscaping our first home, a friend of mine gave me a whole bunch of plants, and among those plants were two palm trees. They were about the same size, in ten-gallon black buckets. We found a place for one of the palm trees in our yard and planted it in our old home. The other one sat about eight feet away in the black bucket for the entire time we lived there. By the time we moved, the one that we had put into the ground was about seven or eight feet tall, while the one that was still in the pot had not grown beyond three feet tall.

When we got ready to move, we thought we might as well take it with us. Of course, we had to haul around palm trees everywhere we went, because we didn't have enough of them in San Diego County. So, we brought it to our new home about six or seven months ago. You know what I noticed this last week? The palm tree is still in the black pot, but it's dead. I kind of felt bad too; I killed it. The palm tree is dead, whereas the other identical palm is standing six or seven feet tall in the home we lived in last time.

It's such an important picture and a great illustration: you will grow where you are planted. If you keep uprooting yourself and transplanting yourself from place to place because this guy over here has something to say or this one over there has something else to say, or you're really excited about something over here, you will never grow to full fruitfulness. You will never grow to maturity.

Sadly, I have met many people over the years who are kind of like Christian potted palm trees. They never fully grow to the potential that God has for them because they don't grow where they're planted. If you are never able to put down roots and gain strength because you've been planted in one place, you will not endure the storms of life. You will not endure the dry times. You will not endure the heat when it comes, and it will come. Therefore, it's so important that we find deep roots, and those deep roots come when we're planted in one place.

A long period of time spent in one place may mean that we experience the same climate day in and day out. We receive the same water source week in and week out, which can feel redundant. However, we need to understand that God has a plan for our growth, and He has placed us in that environment for a reason.

As I was reading about roots this last week, I came across an article that cited a scientist from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, named Dillan Fiser. He stated that more than 50%, and maybe even 70%, of a tree's energy goes into its roots rather than the visible part above ground. Most of a tree's focus is on its roots, which are something we will never see.

One of the amazing points discussed in the article is that when you examine various forests around our nation and the world, you find that the strongest and healthiest trees generally have root systems that are interconnected with those of other trees beneath the surface. For instance, if you ever visit the northern part of our state and see the great, huge redwood trees, you will notice that some of them reach heights of over 200 feet. They achieve this remarkable height because of the interconnected root systems that hold them together. These roots are all interlocked and connected.

Strong trees support one another. In fact, the more scientists study the underground workings of trees and plants, the more they discover these interconnected root systems, which they have come to call neighborhoods. These trees need a neighborhood of roots to grow and maintain strength.

As Christians, if we are going to grow to maturity and full fruitfulness in Christ Jesus, we need that interconnected root system with others within the body of Christ. This is why the church, the body of Christ, is so important. We don't just want to gather together and study the Scriptures; this is like coming to the greenhouse where we provide some nutrients each Sunday. Throughout the week, it is essential to find other relationships through connect groups and the various ministries we have.

You develop that root system underneath the surface where you are interconnected with one another. The amazing thing is that these trees, which are interconnected, share resources and nutrients with one another and support one another. However, one of the interesting things I discovered while reading about this is that there is also a danger in this connection.

In southern Utah, there is a forest of aspen trees, known as quaking aspens, that covers about 100 acres. There are almost 50,000 trees in this 100-acre wood, and the remarkable thing about these 50,000 trees is that each one of them is genetically identical. They are all the same tree. Scientists believe that they are all connected to each other through the root system underneath the ground. In fact, scientists say that this one organism, this one tree, is probably the largest organism on the face of the planet.

Whatever you may believe about the creation timeline, scientists estimate that this tree, which comprises 47,000 trunks coming out of the ground, may be as much as 880,000 years old. Unfortunately, the sad fact is that scientists also say this one tree is dying. They believe it is succumbing to disease, and that disease has spread to the entire forest through the root system. This serves as a caution and a challenge to us.

Within the body of Christ, within the church, this forest is interconnected through the root system. If there is sinfulness retained in my life or in your life, you may think it is under the surface, that no one sees it, and that it is private. However, understand that this can infect and affect the entirety of the church. The Apostle Paul said it like this: sin is like leaven or yeast. A little bit of leaven or a little bit of yeast will leaven the whole lump of dough. In the same way, sin, although hidden under the surface, can have a profound impact.

Knows, but it can move like a disease through the whole of the body of Christ. I believe the author of Hebrews may have had something similar in mind when he wrote this in Hebrews 12:14: "Christians pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord."

Looking carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness spring up, causing trouble, and by this many become defiled. You see, point number six: faithful Christians or fruitful Christians need interconnected roots.

But understand this: where this connected life exists, sins of bitterness, anger, wrath, sexual immorality, and gossip can spread like a disease to the whole of the body of Christ. Therefore, we need to be on guard in our own lives. We should grow through the Word of God and by the work of the Spirit. We must allow the vine dresser, God in heaven, to come and prune our lives, removing things that hinder us so that we may bear more fruit—much fruit.

In fact, the very first Psalm, written by King David, states: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in God's law he meditates day and night."

What's the result? That man shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so; they are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Oh dear Lord, help us to be like trees planted by rivers of water. Amen.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer?

Father God, I pray that you would do a work in us, Lord. Help us to be those who are rooted, not just being transplanted from place to place, but set down deep in the ground. May we be set down deep by a river of Living Water, with Your Word pouring forth. Let us be connected to other brothers and sisters within the body, sharing nutrients and supporting one another.

God, I pray that You would do a work of pruning in our lives. If there is anything in our lives that is causing the disease of sin to remain in us, which could affect us and bring infection to others within the body, I pray, God, that You would prune that from our lives and remove it. Continue to transform us so that we may bring glory to You. Just as the prophet Isaiah said, may we be the planting of the Lord, trees of righteousness, that You would be glorified. God, make us that, I pray.

Lord, I also pray for anyone who may be here today who has not yet allowed themselves to be planted in You, connected to You. You are the vine, and we are the branches. Apart from You, we can do nothing. There may be some here today, Lord, who have not yet been plugged in. I pray that You draw them by Your Spirit, that they would put their trust in You, that they would put their faith in You, and that You would graft them into Your Lifeline, Your body, making them a part of Your body to bring forth fruit.

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