Trees in the Park
By Pastor Jim May
Don’t you just love to have the time to take a walk in the park and see all of God’s creation in a peaceful setting? There’s just something about it that calms the spirit and helps us to realize just how big and loving our God truly is.
One of the things that I like to look at in the park is all of the different kinds of trees. I’m not a horticulturist, but I do like plants. Just don’t put their lives in my hands because there’s not a green thumb anywhere and they will surely die. I even have trouble keeping silk flowers from wilting sometimes.
But today I want to turn to the Book of Mark to read about one of the miracles that Jesus performed while he ministered on the earth bodily. Everywhere that Jesus went, miracles were happening.
When I think of that, I wonder if Jesus really is in many of our churches anymore.
Jesus said in John 14:12-15, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments."
There are some qualifiers here for seeing the miracles of God in our midst.
The first is that we must truly believe on Jesus and his power to perform miracles. Believing on Jesus means more than just a head knowledge, but a heart conviction and an absolute faith and trust in Him. It also means that we desire to be like him; to be with him; and to be a true disciple both in word and in deed.
The second qualifier to see miracles happen is that we ask for them in Jesus’ name. That name is above every name and at the mention of Jesus’ name every demonic power of hell must come to attention and bow, every sickness and disease must leave and all of creation must bow in honor because of the awesome power of Jesus’ name.
But understand that miracles are not wrought just to make things easier for man. Whether we see or we are blind – we can still give God glory. Whether we have a withered hand or a normal hand – we can still give God glory. There are times when we bring more glory to God and become more like Jesus when we are suffering affliction, than when we are well. God’s glory comes from an obedient servant, who like Job of old, will serve the Lord faithfully in the midst of adversity, just as he did in times of blessing.
I wondered why God did not always choose to heal the sick or raise every saint from the bed of affliction. You see, we don’t always know God’s plan. All we can see is what’s happening right here and right now. We know not what the future holds.
Can God heal? Absolutely – he is all powerful, and if he chooses to heal, healing will come. But sometimes God chooses not to heal. God is sovereign and he only allows those things into your life that will bring good to you in the end.
From the beginning man’s sin brought death into this world. Death doesn’t come easily for anyone, but for some it is a great relief. When the time approaches for the soul to be reunited with its Creator, the process of growing old and sickly must come to pass, unless God chooses otherwise. We have to remember that God wants all of his children to be with him. It is his great love for you and I that often allows those things to come upon us which will ultimately lead to our laying this old body down and going home to be with the Lord.
So, with that in mind, let us realize that sometimes God just simply chooses not to heal, not to deliver us from a dread disease, and not to make us whole again, because it’s getting nearer to the time when we are appointed to make that final trip to our Heavenly home.
It’s is a fact that we all want to go to Heaven, but none of us wants to die to get there. There are only two people recorded in the Bible who bypassed the grave on their way to Heaven and even they will return again to fulfill God’s Word.
Paul tells us in Hebrews 9:27, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:"
For the Word of God to not fail, every man must die and then face the judgment. Since Enoch and Elijah were translated, or taken away bodily from this world into Heaven, I believe that they must return again to face death before the end of time. That’s why I believe that they are going to be the two witnesses of the Book of Revelation. Other’s believe differently, and that’s okay with me. It won’t matter to me who they are because I’ll be in Heaven when they come back anyway.
Another reason that God may choose not to heal is that he knows our heart and our propensity to forget him. There are times when I am convinced that God allows afflictions to remain in our lives as a constant reminder that we need him. How many times have I seen people cry out to God for mercy and when mercy comes, they get back into their normal routine and forget him? That doesn’t bring glory to God, but the blessing are consumed upon their on lusts. But for the mercy and longsuffering of our Lord, those same people would face the wrath of God for willful disobedience and perhaps even greater afflictions would come upon them. It’s an absolutely loving and merciful God that doesn’t treat men the way that they treat him.
If God was as lackadaisical toward us as we sometimes are toward him, where would we be? If God were to forget to care for us, or to provide our needs as we are to forget to pray, or to worship him, I shudder to think of what would happen to us.
The third qualifier to see miracles in our midst is that we must live in obedience to God’s commandments. This isn’t speaking of just the 10 Commandments, but every law of God found in the Word of God. Of course we cannot obey the law. We will always fall short of that goal. So the law must be fulfilled for us through the Blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, if we live in obedience to the call of God upon our lives and to the conviction power of the Holy Ghost, striving to allow the Word and the Spirit to cleanse us from all sin, and fully trusting only in the Blood of Jesus for our righteousness, then we can say that we are living in obedience.
That kind of obedience requires much more than just a quick glance or a surface knowledge of Jesus, but a deep, heartfelt commitment to serving Him as our Lord and Master.
All of these things must be in proper order: Believing in the power of God to heal; trusting in God’s mercy and grace; willing to give God all of the glory regardless of whether he heals or not; living in obedience to his Word; and then allowing God’ s will to be done.
With that in mind, let us look at where Jesus heals a blind man.
Mark 8:23-25, "And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly."
This whole passage is an analogy of what happens in the heart of a man when Jesus saves his soul and he is born again by the Holy Spirit.
Why did Jesus spit into the man’s eyes? Whether he literally spit on his eyes, or spit on his hands and rubbed it in the blind man’s eyes I don’t know. To most of us that is just a little bit past the line. It seems gross that Jesus would do such a thing. Just keep in mind that customs and manners in Bible times in the Middle East were quite different than today, just as much as they are right now.
God chooses some strange methods to bring about miracles. His ways are far above our ways and he moves in ways that we cannot understand. That’s what miracles are all about isn’t it? And the absolute greatest miracle that God could ever perform in your life is the saving of your soul by redeeming you with his own blood and washing your sins away. We could never grasp the fullness of what that means, but we must learn to accept it.
It seems gross to think of someone placing their blood upon you, but that’s just what happens in the spiritual realm. The blood of Jesus, that he shed over 2000 years ago, is still just as powerful and just as real today as it was then, and one drop of that precious blood, applied in a spiritual manner to your heart, washes all your sin away.
Whenever the Holy Spirit begins to open our spiritual eyes, he does so at a slow rate, for we cannot begin to perceive all that is there at once. God must reveal himself to us a little at a time.
Isaiah 28:10-11, "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people."
At first its just a glimmer of light and a bright ray of hope. But eventually that light will become brighter and stronger and that ray of hope will become a bright glow of the light of God that illuminates your mind, body and spirit.
The first ray of light convicts us of sin. Then it reveals our whole sin nature. Then the light comes and reveals the great price that Jesus paid for us and illuminates our understanding so we can know that Jesus is our worthy sacrifice for sin. Then, as we draw nearer, and enter in more light through study of the Word, through prayer and through the preaching of the gospel, we understand more and more. We never get it all, but every day we can get a little more understanding of God and his Word.
The thing that I find happening so many times is that people tend to go only so far and then become satisfied instead of having a true hunger for more of Jesus in their lives.
They get to the point where they “see men as trees walking”, but they never allow Jesus to lead them out, a little further into obeying him. They never allow Jesus to get them away from the din and noise of an unbelieving world. They never commit their lives to Jesus to the point that this blind man did. He couldn’t see where Jesus was taking him. He didn’t know what Jesus would do. But he did realize that Jesus was his only hope for a miracle, so he went all the way. We need to take a lesson from that.
Jesus led the blind man aside, away from the unbelieving crowd, so that they could not hinder the blind man from receiving his miracle. If you want a miracle, you have to come aside and get alone with Jesus. Get away from those who say it can’t or won’t happen; get away from sin that causes Satan to remind you of how unworthy you are; get alone with Jesus and hear only what he has to say. Only Jesus has the words of eternal life and only God can perform miracles in your life.
Sadly, if we do not do things God’s way, we may be easily enticed into believing a lie. Satan has power to perform miracles as well, and he uses that power to deceive many. People who try to shortcut God’s plan often fall into his trap. If Satan thinks that he can heal you miraculously and that will cause you to have faith in “faith healers” or trust in “satanic rituals and practices”, he will heal you in a heartbeat, but it all leads to condemnation and spiritual death.
Do you know what happens when a man or woman decides to not go all the way with Jesus, but become satisfied with just a glimmer of light? They are already beginning the slip back into their life of sin. It’s either go all the way, or don’t go at all. God doesn’t honor half-hearted commitments. That’s called lukewarm and God spits it out like lukewarm water.
People who live half-hearted lives cannot begin to perceive the fullness of God’s Word or to discern what is going on in the spiritual realm around them. They see men as trees walking, and they can’t understand how God is moving.
When they look at their “brothers and sisters in the Lord”, they don’t always see very clearly. These half-hearted believers often become critical of others and say things that are born of their own perception. When they look at you they see you as a walking tree, unable to discern your true intentions and motives. Often they judge you upon outward appearances because that’s all they can see. They haven’t had their spiritual eyesight cured to see all the truth.
Like the blind man, they will see you as something other that what you truly are. What kind of tree might they see you as?
They could judge you as an Accent Tree - one that does nothing but fill space. Is that truly you, or is it that you are active behind the scenes where no one sees the prayer and witnessing that you do. Just because someone isn’t putting their hand to the plow at the church doesn’t mean that they aren’t working in the field to win souls. I believe that the most important thing you can do is pray and that’s often done when no one but God sees it happening.
I know that some of us fit into this next category. We are considered as a “Nut Tree”. Believe me, there are a lot of nuts in the church. Squirrels could have a heyday if they could store these nuts for winter. But not everyone who acts different is a “nut”. God puts all kinds of people to together for a purpose. We need someone to liven things up a bit and make us laugh once in a while, or else we would all go “nuts”.
Then you may be perceived as an “evergreen tree” because you are always the same, no matter what’s happening. Now that’s not a bad tree to be as long as you are for real. A lot of Christians nowadays aren’t that trusting of the Lord, but they are controlled by Ritalin and Valium on some days, and other medications on other days. That’s not exactly what being an evergreen is all about. It’s about having trust in God no matter what to the point that your faith is unshakable in all circumstances.
Some of us may be called “Fast Growing Trees” because we commit our all to Christ and grow mature spiritually faster than others. That’s a good tree to be if its all not a façade.
Some of us are “Fruit Trees” because our lives are constantly bearing fruit. We can see the fruit in visitors who show up because we invite them, in works that are being done because we’ve put our shoulder to the wheel. We need a lot of “Fruit Trees”.
Regardless, when a half-hearted Christian goes for a walk in the park of God’s Kingdom, what kind of tree will you appear to be?
The important thing is for each of us to be real with God. Let’s commit our whole heart to him, allowing him to lead us into all truth.
If you are here this morning and you don’t fully understand all things about God all I can say is welcome to the club. All that any of us knows if what God has revealed to us as we walk by faith. Little by little we learn and grow. The point is that we must be growing and learning. We cannot allow ourselves to become satisfied with where we are.
The next time you step outside, or go for a walk in the park, think about the trees. What kind of tree will you be?
Are you a Mighty Oak, standing strong for the Lord always?
Are you an Ornamental Tree, only there to look good and not be of much use any other way?
Are you a Pine Tree, good for building, but a little weak in the winds of adversity? Are you a “Weeping Willow”? That can be good or bad depending whether you are always crying and griping about something, or if you are weeping for the sin that is destroying people everywhere.
Are you a “Hedge”, someone who fills in the gap for the church and stays in place as a guard against the enemies of God’s people?
I could name hundreds of trees but I think you get the point. Are you what you appear to be? Are you what you claim to be? What do others see in you?
Jesus came to make you a tree in his Kingdom. His coming was prophesied in Isaiah 61:3 that says the Messiah would come, "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified."
