THE TREE OF LIFE TEACHING MINISTRY
Pastor/Teacher, Dr. Maurice H. Sykes
THE CHRISTIAN, THE TREE.
Genesis 3:9 "And the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" In a practical application---Adam, where are you now, morally? Or, Adam, where is our relationship at, now? Or, Adam, how do you now measure up to the Word that I taught to you? The Lord, in His grace, came looking for Adam in order that that Adam would be confronted with his own failure, because without confrontation there is no resolution. The Lord wanted Adam to examine himself to see if he was living in harmony with the Word. (2 Cor. 13:5.) Since Adam failed to examine himself, the Lord then took the initiative. When a believer measures himself rightly, it will cause him to see himself as God sees him, and then he can make right decisions. Adam and the Woman were cut down by their own bad decisions, then attempted to solve the problem. But natural solutions can not solve spiritual problems. The solution is always, The Word of God.
This brings us to a great Spiritual Truth:
A CHRISTIAN, LIKE A TREE, MEASURES BEST AFTER HE HAS BEEN CUT DOWN.
There are certain types of trees that measure over 100 feet high. Did you every wonder just how trees are measured? A tree is easier to measure after it has been cut down. Once cut down, all of the tree, inside and out, can be rightly seen and measured. When a tree is cut down it can be tested for strength, or how much life it has in it. Our lives as Christians are similar in many ways, often a believer's life is measured or evaluated by simple observation. The godly elderly ladies in the church who would always assess a new minister through their discerning ways always amused me. And even though a new minister would look good, smell good and sound good, these godly women would say, "he has to come down sometime...then we'll see what he's all about." What they were saying is that the minister may have all the external things going for him, but they believed he was a counterfeit, and time would reveal his true character.
We all have friends or know of people who are really doing quite well. They're standing tall, nice appearance, have material goods and it would appear that things are going good for them...SO IT APPEARS! They measure up pretty good in our sight and it appears that they are strong in the Lord. But remember our Spiritual Truth: A CHRISTIAN, LIKE A TREE, MEASURES BEST AFTER HE HAS BEEN CUT DOWN.
There are two basic principles that can be used as the measuring rod for believers:
1. What is the Christian like in their own home?
2. How does the Christian respond to adversity and offenses?
When our walk in life is going good, we are relatively happy, we have much of what we need, bills are paid, the car is fine, the children are calm and life is just groovy. When life is going groovy it's very easy to praise the Lord, come to church joyful, be a friend to others and go forward in the Word of God. But that is not the time to evaluate or measure ourselves. When the kingdom of darkness targets you and me and havoc breaks out in the home, on the job, children who get out of control, spouses at each other---when trouble comes on every side, then we will be measured! When the details of life seem to be overwhelming, be it personal tragedy, natural disasters, very serious home problems, we see the examples of being cut down. The issue then becomes, how do we respond?
"And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Tim. 3:12) "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you." (1 Peter 4:12) "In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33b)
Since persecution, fiery ordeals, tests and tribulation are part of the Christian way of life, how we respond to these things is the true evaluator of who we really are. The Christian way of life will either show us to be approved by God or we will be revealed as profane---having little if any godly character. A CHRISTIAN, LIKE A TREE, MEASURES BEST AFTER HE HAS BEEN CUT DOWN. There is only one measuring rod---the Word of God/Bible doctrine. (2 Cor.13:5)
Ask yourself: How do I respond to the offenses of life, the hurts, the calamities, the unfair treatment, the undeserved and deserved suffering? How do I measure up now that I'm under attack? Will I respond wisely or will I panic, and lose the battle? With doctrine in your soul and your willingness to apply it, the Bible teaches that you can measure up-you can stand. How? "...and stand you will, for the Lord is able to cause you to stand." (Rom 14:4)
To be cut down manifests itself in many ways. More examples: You have a personal tragedy in your family, the loss of a wife, husband or child. Cut down. Your spouse, without any warning whatsoever, decides to divorce you, Cut down. You are accused, though you are totally innocent. Cut down. You get fired from your job. Cut down. You learn that your child has turned to drugs or alcohol, homosexuality or other lifestyles against the word of God. Cut down. Your child decides that they hate you so much that they run away from home. Cut down. Under pressure you give in to alcohol or drug addiction. Cut down. You learn that the person that you love has married someone else. Cut down. Physical illness attacks your body. Cut down.
Now you've been a believer who has pursued the Lord Jesus Christ through the Word/Bible doctrine, the crisis hits you and cuts you down. How will you respond? And make no mistake, all of us will be cut down at some point in our lives. Believers and unbelievers suffer! Believers have access to recovery by the Spirit of God. However, the central issue is that once we get cut down how will we measure up? Spiritual Truth: For the Christian, adversity is always an excellent measuring rod, because we do measure best when under pressure or when we are cut down.
A CHRISTIAN, LIKE A TREE, MEASURES BEST AFTER HE HAS BEEN CUT DOWN. Be reminded of the wayward son who struck out into the world with all his wealth (Luke 15:11-20.) Here we have a believer who was raised by a godly father and who taught him principles about life that ultimately caused him to return to The Word. Luke 15 teaches that when he had squandered all of his money and was starving to death, that was the point at which he would find out what he was made of. When we make bad decisions and when we are hit with adversity, that's when we must be confident about Who we believe, What we believe and Why we believe it. The wayward son came to himself (was revived after he turned back to The Word), and he made one of the greatest confessions in Scripture: "I have sinned against heaven and in your sight." Luke 15:18 He rebounded and then acted on what he believed---he returned to God first, in his mind, then acted in faith and returned home to his earthly father. What's the deal here? All sin is against God and this young man knew that. He was well taught, and he applied The Word to his circumstance. This young man measured best, after he was cut down. Being cut down was a part of God's plan for his life. He had to go through this process in order to grow. Then we have the greatest confirmation of our principle, the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. Christ, in His humanity, hurt as you and I do. He had great sorrows just seeing the people who were as lost sheep with no shepherd to guide them. He had no where to lay His head, He was offended by His own family and His disciples deserted Him at the moment of truth. From the attack in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11) to being brutalized before He was nailed to His Cross, Jesus was cut down. But He measured up to the standards of God: He forgave all the perpetrators who literally disrespected Him and caused Him great anguish, pain and suffering. He forgave. The Lord Jesus Christ, like a tree, measured best after He was cut down.
Our challenge, as believers in Christ, is to respond wisely to the details of life as well as to the hurts and offenses of life. So then, this question: just how do you measure up? Do you turn to The Word/Bible doctrine that is in your soul or do you turn to people and their opinions? (and people have a lot of opinions that will usually cause additional hurt to you.) Are you matured enough to trust the power of God? Are you matured enough to recognize that "the battle is the Lord's?" The principle will not leave our lives until we are taken out of time----A CHRISTIAN, LIKE A TREE, MEASURES BEST AFTER HE HAS BEEN CUT DOWN.
In closing this session, let me express something to you. Years ago when my 21 year old wife and 4 year old son were murdered and my 18 year old committed suicide, obviously I was cut down! At the time I was an unbeliever with no answers, no understanding, no hope, no desire to live. Truly, a dead man walking who went into depression for 16 years until I was rescued by hearing THE AUTHORITY OF THE WORD OF GOD. I gave my life to the Lord, went into continual Bible study, was taught Bible doctrine (and I keep myself accountable to Bible doctrine). I ended up in God's plan for my life (pastor/teacher) and doors of more adversity and great, great blessings entered my life. I have a doctorate degree and also teach in Boulden Seminary of Wilmington, Delaware. I was elected as General Secretary of Education for a Methodist denomination. God surrounded me with soundly, Word- rooted believers in Christ, a dedicated Pastor/Teacher and friend (Robert R. McLaughlin, of Grace Bible Church in Massachusetts), and new family life. God has opened doors for me to communicate His Word to many other ministers and congregations. (Right now you may be thinking that this is self-exaltation. Dead wrong!) Here's the deal:
After I had been cut down, and cut down again and cut down again, I failed the tests miserably. Totally blew it. Didn't know how to respond. I was a walking wreck, I hit rock bottom, from the "top of the rock" to welfare. BUT GOD, IN GRACE RESCUED ME. ALL THAT I AM AND ALL THAT I HAVE IS HIS! IN SPITE OF MY FAILURES AFTER BEING CUT DOWN AGAIN-AND -AGAIN, GOD WAS GRACIOUS TO ME. WHEN HIS KINDNESS AND LOVE SOUGHT ME I BEGAN TO HEAR THE AUTHORITY OF THE WORD. BIBLE DOCTRINE, THE MIND OF CHRIST, GOD'S WISDOM SUSTAINS ME...AND YOU! NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU ARE. GOD SUSTAINS YOU. THAT IS HIS GRACE!
If I measure well now in any way, it's purely because of the grace of God. I am convinced that by what the Lord Jesus Christ declared: "It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." John 6:63. Here's the deal my friends: IT'S ALL GOD, IT'S ALL GRACE! How do you measure up after being cut down?
---SykesWord Ministries