Rooted Together: The Church as God’s Living Forest of Renewal and Love

 

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All right, good morning everyone. Welcome. We’ve been in this series on the Church—looking at how God has not given the Church a mission, but the Church is part of God’s mission. The Church doesn’t have a mission, but God’s mission has a Church—has a people—and we are a small people that’s part of a really big story.

A story of God’s renewal, restoration, reconciliation of all things. Think about it—all things. All creation being made new. Every relationship, on a large sociopolitical scale, and on the interpersonal scale—between families and families, and people and people. God is healing and mending relationships.

The Church has been invited into this mission of healing and restoration. It’s beautiful, right?

I don’t know if you’ve heard—there was a huge fire that went through the Yellowstone National Forest several years ago. It swept through and took down huge swaths of the forest, down to the ground—scorched. But something remarkable happened.

You know, when something like that happens, you’re just like, “Oh, the beauty of a forest—it just takes years and years to rebuild.” It’s devastating. It feels like all is lost. But something incredible began to happen.

Researchers found that trees which had survived the flames—especially the oldest and most deeply rooted ones—were quietly feeding the young saplings underneath the ground. The root systems had remained intact, alive, and strong. The older trees, the elder members of the forest, kept the little ones alive until they could reach light.

Now that’s a beautiful picture of biology, right? But it’s also a parable of the Church. It’s a parable of the communion of saints, of the kind of community and connection and interdependence and support and love that the Church is designed to provide and privileged to receive.

We benefit and get to extend that kind of love and support to one another.

So in this series, we’re going to wrap it up today. I just want to re-emphasize some of the major themes that we’ve talked about. Obviously, we can’t get all of it—so you can go back. The sermons are online. There are even transcripts online. You can probably search certain words—it’s amazing. We’ve got a great website. Check it out. Review the series.

But today I just want to hit some major themes using what is called the Apostle’s Creed.

How many of you have heard the Apostle’s Creed?

All right. The Apostle’s Creed is kind of the most distilled version of a collection of orthodox doctrine, right? So the things that we believe that are absolutely foundational—doctrines that all traditions across all times essentially hold to. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant Church—like, we’re all saying, “This is what we believe. This is what makes us Christian.”

And there is a statement on the Church in the Apostles’ Creed.

So let’s review the Apostles’ Creed, in case you forget what it is. We might even be able to say it together. Would you like to say it together? We can say it together.

Notice the structure is Trinitarian—nice word. Trinity. Three persons, one God. Three persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The Creed is structured in that way. And we’ll come back to that.

So first, let’s say this together:

All: I believe in God the Father Almighty.
(creator of heaven and earth.)

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to hell.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church,

the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Beautiful truths. Things that we stake our life on. Truths that create this wild playground of belief that we can learn and explore and develop and build our lives on—this mystery that is our faith.

There’s so much we don’t understand. Each of these things, each of these declarations—we could spend a lifetime exploring the depths of it and the implications on our life, and hash it out, different nuances, right? But at the core, this is what we believe.

And in the middle—remember, in this Trinitarian structure of the Creed—we’re saying we believe in God the Father Almighty, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Remember that…

…our conception of the Church and our understanding of our life together is rooted in the nature of God. We were created by God—and God is Father, Son, Holy Spirit. God is relationship.

God is eternal love—shared eternally, selflessly, other-centered, community-creating love.

And He creates—God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit—out of His love, creates creation: people, birds, trees, forests, to share in this shared life. It’s an expansion, because love expands. Love desires to share. It’s just the nature of love. So creation is an overflow of God’s love.

We were created, along with all creation, to enjoy communion with God. To share life in the shared life of God. There’s a party going on in the Godhead, right? A party of beautiful love and support, and we’re invited to be a part of that life.

It says in 1 John 1: We’ve tasted, we’ve seen, we’ve touched, we’ve heard this life that came, and now we’re telling you so that you can share life with us as we share life with God.

So this is what it’s all about.

So that’s the first thing to remember, to review: Our life as the Church—we exist because God is relationship, God is love, and He invites us into that shared life. So we share life in the shared life of God: communion, community, commission. And the mission is to remind everyone in all creation, invite them back into communion with God—back home in communion with God.

That’s what this is all about.

And so, look at “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” Now, when we get to heaven, maybe we’ll have some good conversation around this—because the Holy Spirit gets like one line here. God the Father got a little more. Jesus got it—all right, He got the big chunk of it, which is also on purpose, right?

But here is: “I believe in the Holy Spirit.”

But then notice the connection immediately: “the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints.” The statement of the Church is intimately connected with the statement on the Spirit. Why? Because how God is present in the world is by the Spirit in the Body.

So as the Church—as the people of God—we are those who have been brought home, back into loving communion, into that relationship of the Godhead. And the Spirit fills us, and is among us, and in between us, and works through us in the world.

We’ve talked about the Church as the servant of God, the people of God, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ. We are animated and empowered and made alive by the Holy Spirit. And so we are a Spirit people.

The Church and the Spirit are intimately connected. You can’t separate. We are a people filled with the Spirit.

Now let’s walk through these phrases. 

“Holy.”

We’re the “Holy Catholic Church, communion of saints.”

Holy—what does “holy” mean? Set apart.

Wow. Nice. Good job. Ten points. Yes—set apart.

Now, sometimes we get the idea of holiness that the set-apartness creates distance. We get a deistic God: “God is holy, and therefore He is way far away and unapproachable.”

But that’s not how the holiness of God—the set-apartness—seems to work. Because God is always… He’s walking in the garden with His people, right? God is always desiring communion and closeness and intimacy.

And then right from the beginning, the fall happens, that fellowship is broken, and He says, “I will make a way. I will crush the head of the serpent. I want to be with you.” He’s sending prophets. He’s tabernacling among His people.

So this holiness is not a distance. It’s not a separation. But it’s something more. That set-apartness seems to be God’s love—like His commitment, His radical commitment to unconditional, faithful love.

And we are also—Leviticus 19:2, right from the very beginning of the story of God—He is inviting us to be holy as He is holy.

Leviticus 19:2 says, “Be holy, as I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:16 says, “Hey, you’ve heard it said: be holy as God is holy.”

And then it goes on. You can look it up—I don’t have it here—but it goes on to describe: What is this holiness? It describes a life of love in the community of faith. It says, “Therefore love one another.” Be holy as God is holy, and live a life of love.

Then Jesus gets a little more clear on this. Look at verse 48—don’t read the first part, it gives it away.

Verse 48—Jesus kind of unpacks it. He says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Now, this word “perfect” is really the word for wholeness—perfection in the sense that it’s complete, whole. Not like you never made a mistake, but be whole, be well-rounded, be complete.

And what does the completeness of God look like, that we are to share in?

Jesus says—in the Sermon on the Mount:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”

What’s a sign of a child of God? That they love their enemies—even. Wow. Not just their family, but a child of God loves their enemies, because that’s what their Father does. A child is like their Father.

“For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect—whole, complete in love—therefore, as your Father in heaven is perfect, whole, complete in love.”

There’s no one left out of God’s love. That’s His perfection. That’s His wholeness.

And so He says, be like your Father. Be perfect. Be holy as I am holy.

So the Church is a holy people—filled by the Spirit, empowered for a purpose, set apart for a purpose. And what’s that purpose?

Love. Yes. Thank you. It’s always love or Jesus. All right? Yeah, that’s always the answer—love or Jesus. Yes, we’re loving. We’re set apart. We’re to be holy.

Now, love covers a multitude of sins, right? Ta-da! Love. Be perfect in love. That takes care of a lot of sins, a lot of things that we do wrong. But if we keep our eyes on love, it takes care—it makes us whole. It makes us holy.

Catholic.

All right—Catholic. I know, whenever I say this in big groups—we do this in our church sometimes—and there’s always someone there, or a visitor, and I don’t blame you, but they’re like, “Catholic? Huh? Where am I? I thought I was in a Jesus-loving place,” or something like that.

But that’s not true—Jesus, Catholics love Jesus. I’ll say that right now. But also, this is not what that means. It’s not the capital-C Catholic Church. It’s not the Roman Catholic Church. It doesn’t mean we believe we kiss the ring of the Pope, all right?

“Catholic” has a word, it has a definition. It means universal. Really, it means the Church—if the Church is Catholic, we’re saying the Church is across time. It spans culture. It spans borders. It spans boundaries. It spans ethnicities. It spans—it’s comprehensive of all those who have followed, follow Jesus and trusted in Jesus across time, space, eternity.

Rod mentioned it when we were singing: there are people now in heaven worshiping Jesus who were just with us. They’ve been with us, and now they’re still with us—but they’re there, in the throne room of God. And there are people that lived thousands of years ago—they’re still with us. They’re part of the communion of saints.

And we worship Him.

So it’s this Catholic Church that is bigger than borders and boundaries and ethnicities—which is pretty important to remember. Because there are Christians everywhere, even in the nations that are our nation’s enemies. They’re our brothers and sisters in Christ.

So it’s an interesting dynamic. It puts the Christian in a little bit of a—what do you call it? A pickle, right? When we talk about going to war or doing these things or whatever, it’s one of those ways where there’s immediate tension. Because we share a deeper communion, a deeper connection with people that erases all of the distinctions.

So that’s “Catholic.”

The holy Catholic Church: the loving people set apart to love—across time, borders, and boundaries, everywhere.

And so then we have:

The Communion of Saints.

Communion with God. A communion with God, and communion with one another.

This is the people of God. We are those that share in the shared life of God. We are a community of people that share life with one another in the shared life of God.

That’s a lot of sharing, right?

So let’s start with communion with God.

Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing.”

So we’re going back to the forest metaphor here—the trees. Trees are deeply rooted into deep reservoirs of water. Like, there can be a drought, and if a root system is adequately sunk, it will be sustained.

So Jesus is saying that we draw life from the Spirit of God. To be a communion of saints is to be a people connected to their life source—connected to the Spirit, intimately with Him. Without a root system, without connection, we wither. But connected, we thrive and bear fruit—the fruit of love.

So as we conclude this series on the Church, let’s just remember the thing:

The one thing—a body without a head doesn’t last very long, right?

Jesus Christ is our head. Jesus Christ is our source. A branch severed from its trunk or root withers and dies. It does not flourish. And so it is vitally important that we are connected—that we remember what this is all about.

Our first love. Right? Our first love.

Don’t forget your first love. Don’t forget your first task. Don’t forget the—what?—the first priority of your creation. The why you exist: to be in communion—and your need to be in communion with God.

And Jesus has made this possible. He has connected us—firmly and securely—to the vine.

So the Church, as individuals and corporately, must be centered on Jesus. We must be connected to the vine. We must pledge allegiance to God, and to God alone.

The Church must be a people that looks to God, that prays to God, that listens to God, that enjoys God, that spends time with God, that sits with God, that walks with God. Like, our life needs to be centered around His presence—communion with Him.

Dallas Willard said:

“The primary function of the Church is not evangelism, but to be a place for the dwelling of God on the earth.”

 

Now if you think about this: We are the Church now. We will be the Church when Jesus comes back and we live in eternity in heaven.

Is evangelism needed in heaven? No.

So that act will cease. We’ll declare the good works of God, but we’ll all believe. Yay!

So communion with God is the thing that lasts forever. And this is why we evangelize—so that we can enjoy communion with God.

I think sometimes we forget—we’re doing things for God, and we forget to be with God.

We are not human doings; we are human beings. And to be with God is what we’re created for—to be connected to the vine.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of a guy named Brother Lawrence—a monk. I’ll just guess it was like, 14th century, let’s say—fact check me on that, Brother Lawrence. But he wrote a little book called Practicing the Presence of God. It’s a little teeny book.

And he was the dishwasher in his monastery. Like, he’s the guy that cleaned all the dishes after every meal. And he believed and made it his life’s work to just practice the presence of God, no matter what he was doing.

So washing dishes—he would say, “I am as much at home in the presence of God in the kitchen as in the cathedral.” That’s a famous saying of his.

To be aware and awake that God is present—like, right now, God is here. Like, God is here in this place, right now, desiring communion with you. Speaking to you. Comfort. Conviction. Enjoying you. Loving you. Desiring to be loved. Desiring communion, communication.

So right now—you sit with God, right? He’s here.

You change diapers with Jesus. You say, “Change diapers with Jesus?” You have arguments with your spouse with Jesus. You change your tire in the freezing rain with Jesus. You work with Jesus. You watch Netflix with Jesus. You rejoice with Jesus. You worry with Jesus.

God is always there.

We don’t ask God to show up—we ask that we wake up to His presence, because He’s always here.

That’s our desire. We are a communion of saints. We are a communion of those who recognize and are awake to the presence of God in our life, every moment.

So what would it look like to be more awake to the presence of Jesus? What would change? What courage would rise up in you? What comfort would rise up in you? What would that look like? How would you make space for that?

Second, we have communion with one another.

We return to the forest imagery here. Scientists used to think that trees were solitary—just giants of the botanical world, sitting alone, independent. But now we know trees are deeply communal.

They call it the “wood wide web”—a play on “world wide web.” They communicate with one another. Underneath the soil and even above, there is a connection. There is a sharing. They even communicate. They communicate about threats—of pests on the move—through the network of the trees. They’ll communicate to one another. They feed one another. They care for one another—even across species. Different kinds of trees will care for one another.

On the surface, their canopy in certain forests will only extend to the reach of the other. They won’t overtake the other. Now why would they do that? They’re very respectful—respectful of boundaries. But also, if they overcrowd each other, not enough light will get to the forest bed, and they will all suffer. They will all die.

They need the right amount of light and rain and all to get. So they’re caring for one another. Their refusal to transgress one another is for not only the good of the other tree, but for the good of themselves.

There’s this beautiful communal, interdependent care of one another in the forest. They sustain one another. They shade younger trees so they grow strong.

This reminds me of all the verses of the Church.

Romans 12:4–5:
“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

Can we intertwine our fingers here?

The Church is a people—the Church are a people. The Church is a people that is repenting of the myth of independence.

All right. We’ve been sold a lie—especially in Western American culture—that of the rugged individual, that the goal of maturity is to become independent from everyone and everything.

But no. Jesus is calling us back to interdependence—out of independence. That doesn’t mean we don’t beat ourselves, or wash our own clothes—but you know what I’m saying. We stay connected. We need each other. We need each other. We are connected.

And so we are always having to repent and believe. Repent of our independence, and believe and trust and press into our interdependence—that we are connected, like a root system of trees. We need each other.

It says in Galatians:
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you fulfill the law of Christ.”

The law of Christ is love.

When one tree is weak, the other supplies life. When one person suffers, when an unbeliever suffers, the Church surrounds them.

1 Corinthians 12:26:
“If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”

It was cool—I got to sit at the table yesterday during our summit with Thandi. And she was describing—when we talked about the joys and pains of the Church—the thing that came strong to her mind, that she was excited to share, was her personal experience of you all caring for her at the early stages of her pregnancy.

When Cody had to go and be in Florida because his mom, I think, was sick, and she said, “That meant so much.” And so that has anchored her here.

That’s one suffering—and others coming alongside.

The more mature trees, or the trees that have capacity, come alongside and feed the tree who is in need. And I’ve experienced that in this Church, and in the Church. We all have. That’s one thing we need to realize—we all need this.

We’re not just being called to provide this for people—but this is what we need. We need that root system. We need that community.

So what happens when trees stand alone?

I think of my Christmas tree. We just started—like, we were all die-hard legalistic about real Christmas trees until a couple of years ago. And I’m like, “These are getting really expensive, number one. Number two, they shed all their needles.”

So you get this beautiful tree—but that tree has been cut. It’s been severed from its root system. And it looks beautiful. It smells great. It’s lush and green and perky. You put garland on it, and lights on it, and ornaments on it. It’s like, “Man, this tree looks better than the trees in the forest. We’ve improved nature here.”

But what happens after a week?

You’ve stabbed it in its own little water bowl, but it can only sustain for a little bit. It gets brittle. It gets dry. You leave it up long enough—it’s completely shed of its needles, and it’s a fire hazard. It’s going to go up in flames.

I think a lot of us—a lot of Christians—think they can be… They think they’re a Christmas tree. “I need to detach. This place is too messy. This root system is too dysfunctional. I look better in my own house.”

You know, we put garland for a little while. It looks great. “Man, this is great. I’m all alone. I’m in my house. I’m shining. It’s great.”

But then we start to wither. The effects of being severed from the community of support and interdependent love that we were created to have begin to show.

We’re a lot like Christmas trees. We look good for a little bit—but then we start to wither.

This is a lot like a Christian without a Church.

Hebrews 10:24 says this:
“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,
but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

That’s the Day—the Day of Judgment, the Day that draws near, the return of Christ.

We need each other to spur each other on in love and good deeds. We need one another. A solitary Christian is like a tree claiming to be a forest. A Christian isn’t the Church. An individual Christian isn’t the Church—and a tree isn’t a forest.

Only when we find our identity in our relationship to one another… we need to be in communion with God and with one another. That’s how it’s been set up.

Now, I understand—let’s be honest—I understand the desire to detach from the forest. Because the forest is pretty messed up sometimes, right? Sometimes the trees pass along some fungus. They don’t do their job. It can be… there are a lot of really compelling reasons to sever yourself from the Church, from community.

To be a solitary tree, disconnected from the Church community, isn’t easy. Roots rub against each other. They crowd for light sometimes.

But let me suggest this: Could it be that the friction is where the fruitfulness is?

The friction is what produces the fruit. The tension is what produces the beauty.

Have you ever—my kids had a polishing rock thing they got. Basically, you polish rocks. They look like they’re just really jagged, rough, dirt-looking rocks. And you put them in this bucket, and then you put some solution in there. And then it just turns for, like, days. Man, it’s like loud—loud-loud-loud—for days and days and days.

And what’s happening?

They’re hitting each other. Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom.

And then, after two weeks, you open it up—and what’s there?

These beautiful, shiny, smooth rocks. And all the beauty has been pulled out—drawn to the surface where you can see it. The veins, the different levels, the colors, the different minerals they’re composed of. And it’s beautiful.

This is the Church.

The way that God has chosen to sanctify us, to beautify us, to bring out of us our created beauty—that is there, it’s always there, it doesn’t go away—it’s just covered with dirt and jagged edges.

The way He gets it off is by knocking us into one another. Boom-boom-boom.

As we hurt each other, and we forgive each other. As we support each other. As we let each other down. Boom-boom-boom. Our personalities conflict, right?

And that agent—whatever you put in there—that’s the Holy Spirit. Working in us, working between us. Making it smooth. Making all of this beauty come to life.

That is the beauty and the pain of the Church.

So let me just encourage you—stick it out. All right? Stick it out.

This is the way we become who we are meant to be in Christ.

It reminds me of Proverbs 27:17:
“As iron sharpens iron…”
—as rocks hit up against each other—
“…so one person sharpens another.”
So one person polishes another.

We come together, and God makes us who we are with one another. The friction produces the fruit in our life.

All right, so let me just close with this:

The redwoods.

Has anyone been to the redwoods—the giant forests?

I have not. But my brother has. And he drove his car through one of them. These huge, massive trees—they stand, they look like solitary giants. And you would think their roots would go as deep as they are high, to support the structure.

But it’s actually surprising—their root system is more shallow than you would expect.

Where do they get the support to maintain and sustain their tremendous height and size?

It’s because underneath, they’re all intertwined and interconnected. That forest is supporting one another. And they won’t fall.

Again: We are the Church.

The holy—set apart for love.
Catholic—across wide boundaries and borders and time.
Church—a communion of saints, sharing life and deriving our life and source and sustenance through God, and supported and loved and cared for and sanctified through one another.

And one last point:

Do you know how many species—how much life is sustained and lives and thrives—under a healthy forest canopy?

Squirrels and birds and bugs and insects and fungus and microscopic organisms—all living and thriving. Like, billions and billions of lives sustained under a healthy canopy of a forest.

So as the Church remains committed to interdependent love, rooted in Christ, we become a place where the world experiences life. Where the world experiences thriving. Where the world experiences flourishing.

The Church doesn’t have a mission. God’s mission has a Church. His mission is renewal, restoration, and thriving. New creation of all creation—of all the world, of all the universe.

And guess who is central to that coming into being?

His Spirit—at work through the Church.

So let’s remain connected. Let’s support one another.

So to conclude: What does this look like practically?

Well, the whole New Testament is about how to be the Church. And fifty times—there are fifty different “one anothers” in the New Testament.

Now, “love one another” is repeated like twenty-five times. Some of these are multiple. So we’ve got hundreds of repetitions of “love one another.”

So what does it look like to have that interdependent root system that supports one another, sustains one another, protects one another, communicates with one another, sanctifies one another?

Well, it’s in the “one anothers.” And I want you to—I’ll just kind of pass through these real quick—think about what it looks like to provide this for people, but also where your heart longs to receive some of this.

Do you long to be honored? Welcomed? Loved? Greeted?
Do you long to experience peace and kindness?

This is what you need. This is what we need.

The Church is a place where humanity comes home—to where it’s meant, always meant, to be.

So let’s—would you stand? I want to say these things together.

Because this is our reminder and commitment—both to what we are called to provide and extend, but also to that which we desperately desire and need. And so we need to be open-handed, both to give and to receive from the forest, from one another.

So let’s say these together. Ready?

All:
Love one another.
Honor one another.
Greet one another.
Welcome one another.
Show hospitality to one another.
Have fellowship with one another.
Agree with one another.
Live in harmony with one another.
Be at peace with one another.
Be kind to one another.
Forgive one another.
Bear with one another.
Bear one another’s burdens.
Comfort one another.
Care for one another.
Confess sins to one another.
Pray for one another.
Encourage one another.
Build one another up.
Exhort one another.
Instruct one another.
Teach and admonish one another.
Sing with one another.
Stir up one another to love and good works.
Do good to one another.
Serve one another.
Wash one another’s feet.
Wait for one another.
Be humble toward one another.
Submit to one another.
Speak the truth to one another.
Do not speak against one another.
Do not judge one another.
Do not provoke one another.
Do not envy one another.

Amen.

Speaker: Thank you, Jesus, for what You have done, what You are doing, what You will do. Thank You for the Church. Thank You that we are a part of it. Thank You that we receive from it. Thank You that this is something that never fails, that is our destiny forever—eternity.

In Jesus’ name, amen.