The Good Samaritan is one of Jesus’ most popular parables. Preachers often use it to encourage people to be unselfish and to be proactive in serving others. But there is more to the story than that. Jesus was doing far more than putting hypocritical religious leaders in their place. Let’s take a closer look.
"A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
"A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
"But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" (Luke 10:30-37).
The answer to Jesus’ question was obvious. But I want to show you that Jesus was teaching far more than a straightforward lesson in social responsibility. Let’s consider the context. Jesus was answering a lawyer who had asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" (verse 25).
This man was a religious lawyer, priding himself in his understanding of all 613 points of the Torah. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were the inheritors of a system that had turned obedience to God into an obstacle course, so strewn with picky dos and don’ts that it left the average person on a permanent guilt trip.
This approach contradicted what Jesus taught, and confrontation became inevitable. The lawyers, along with the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes and others in religious leadership, were constantly trying to discredit Jesus. There was a motive behind the lawyer’s apparently innocent question.
So Jesus answered wisely, "Do what is written in the law. How do you read it?" (verse 26).
The lawyer knew the answer to that. "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’" (verse 27).
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live" (verse 28).
It was a good answer, as far as it went. But you know what lawyers are like. They are trained to look for some extenuating circumstance that might in some way limit the extent of the law. The lawyer knew that the command to "love your neighbor as yourself" was difficult, in fact, impossible to fulfill. So he thought he had found a loophole.
"And who is my neighbor?" he asked Jesus. That is when Jesus gave His famous parable.
Cast and location
Jesus set His story on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, a distance of about 17 miles. Jerusalem was where the Temple was located, the center of the Levitical priesthood. The priests were the highest class of the Levites. They were supported by thousands of other Levites who served at lower levels, doing such tasks as keeping the altar fire going, lighting the incense, singing in the Temple chorus and playing musical instruments. When they were not on duty, many of these priests and temple workers lived in Jericho, which had become a "bedroom community" of Jerusalem. They often traveled this road between Jerusalem and Jericho. Travel in those days could be hazardous. One stretch of the Jericho road was known as the "Way of Blood," because so many people were robbed and killed there. This was where Jesus set the scene for His parable. People knew exactly where He was talking about.
In Jesus’ story, the first to see the victim is a priest, but rather than get involved, he passes by on the other side of the road. He is followed by a Levite, a temple-worker. The Levite does the same - he passes by. Then along comes a Samaritan. A what? Jesus would have caused a stir with that. The Jews of that time did not often hear the words "good" and "Samaritan" used in the same sentence.
The Samaritans were a mix of Jew and gentile, and the Jews did not like them. They had names for Samaritans like "half breeds" and "heathen dogs," and considered them to be spiritually defiled. But in Jesus’ story, it is this outcast who stops to help.
Not only does this Samaritan help, but he goes far beyond what most people do. He cleans the victim’s wounds with oil and wine. Then he bandages them. People didn’t carry first-aid kits back then. He likely would have had to tear up some of his own clothing to make a bandage. Next, he puts the injured man on his donkey and takes him to an inn. He takes two silver coins, a considerable amount in those days, and promises to reimburse the innkeeper for any further expense.
This is an exceptional level of assistance, especially as the victim is a total stranger and someone who is supposed to be a social enemy. But the Samaritan did not let that stand in the way.
With this deceptively simple little story, Jesus impales the lawyer on his own hook. He asks him, "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" (verse 36).
What can the expert in the law say, except, "The one who had mercy on him."
Then Jesus delivers the knockout blow. "Go and do likewise," He says (verse 37).
Remember, this "teacher of the law" was from a class of people who prided themselves on how carefully they obeyed God. For example, they would not even pronounce God’s name, considering it too holy to utter. They would even take a ritual bath to ensure purity before writing God’s name. Along with the Pharisees, they were fastidious about observing the law in every detail.
The lawyer had asked what he needed to do in order to inherit eternal life. Jesus’ answer was, in effect, "YOU HAVE TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE."
How could anyone be expected to live up to the standard of the Samaritan in this story? If that is what God expects, even the meticulous lawyer was doomed. But Jesus had chosen His words carefully. He was showing that humans cannot meet the perfect requirements of the law. Even those who fully dedicate themselves to it fall short. Jesus is the only one to fulfill the law in its deepest intent. JESUS ALONE IS THE GOOD SAMARITAN!
The robbers correspond to sin and the forces of evil, the devil and his dominion. The man who was beaten and robbed is representative of all humanity, helpless, hopeless and left to die.
The priest and the Levite represent the laws and the sacrifices of the old covenant. They are ineffective. The Good Samaritan is the only one who can help. The wine and the oil correspond to the blood Jesus shed for us so that His Spirit could dwell in us.
The inn could then represent the church, where God puts His people to be spiritually nurtured until He returns for them. Perhaps the innkeeper signifies the elders of the church.
Jesus used the lawyer’s question to show how inadequate for salvation even the best human effort is, and how wonderful and sure is His work of redemption for humanity. Jesus, and only Jesus, can rescue us from the "Way of Blood." And He did it by way of blood.
There are two kinds of Christians in the world. 1) Those who know that they have been saved, and 2) those who want to be saved but are not sure if they have been or when they will be. Virtually all Christians believe that at the very least they have an outside chance to be saved - even if that chance is a snowball's chance in a hot place.
I believe that I have been saved. The last thing Jesus said on the cross before He died was "It is finished" (John 19:30). All that needed to be done for our salvation was finished. His work, in His life and on the cross, was over. Our debt of sin had been paid for. The atonement was accomplished.
Speaking of the cross Jesus also said that ". . . I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (John 12:32). The focus and foundation of salvation is the cross of Christ. Salvation is all about Jesus Christ.
Jesus came to give us life, and those who accept Him, believe on Him, trust in Him and follow Him are given eternal life. I believe that I am saved because of what Jesus did, not what I do or ever will do. Salvation is all about Him - it's not about me.
But what about those people who say that we can never be really sure if we are saved, and that we should do all we can just to make sure? After all, what could be so bad about people doing good deeds?
A recent national survey revealed that a majority of those who claim to be Christian believe that the statement "God helps those who help themselves" is in the Bible. Wrong answer - that statement isn't in the Bible.
In terms of salvation, God helps those who cannot help themselves. That would be you, me, and everyone we know. Even your pastor. Even your grandmother who teaches Sunday school. Everyone. God helps us do what we cannot do for ourselves.
When Jesus said "It is finished," He didn't mean that He did his part, now it was up to us to do our part. Jesus didn't mean that once we completed enough good deeds, combined with all of His righteousness, together we could just manage to tip the salvation scales in heaven in our favor.
When Jesus said, "It is finished," He was not talking about His work on our behalf as being something like a down payment, and that our part would be to keep up the monthly payments until God would finally be satisfied that we are good enough.
Jesus meant what He said. In terms of salvation, and what it takes to be saved, "It is finished." The debt is paid. He paid a debt that He did not owe because we owed a debt that we could not pay. God is not obligated by anything we do, because nothing we can do will ever be enough to pay for the debt we have. Our good deeds will never be good enough. Nothing we produce gives us any leverage or bargaining power with God.
But what's so wrong about doing good deeds just to make sure that we're good enough? One of the many problems of thinking that we might not be saved because we haven't yet done enough (apart from the lack of biblical proof to support the view) is that it leads us to think that salvation depends on what we do. Such a view does not lift up Jesus Christ and direct our thoughts and attention toward Him - instead, our interest and concern is directed upon what we do. That's a hopeless situation, isn't it?
The problem with thinking that we might not be saved, that we might not "make it", that our salvation is based upon barely squeaking past the Pearly Gates when God isn't looking, or upon catching God on a good day, when He's feeling generous - the problem with this thinking is that it's not about Jesus. It's not about drawing people to the cross of Christ. It's about drawing people to stuff we do and stuff we believe.
Are works a part of salvation? The answer is "yes" and "no." "No," our works are not part of salvation. "Yes," the Bible tells us that obedience, works and fruit that is a part of the Christian life comes because of Christ who lives in us, not because of ourselves (Galatians 2:20). Yes, works are required for salvation, but only the perfect work of Christ will ever be enough to earn salvation or qualify for it. We are given salvation only because the perfect work of Christ is credited to us. We are not given salvation because of any work that we humanly produce.
We are not saved BY our works, but God saves us FOR works, that we might become His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). The question is all about who gets the credit. Who does the work that earns us salvation? In some respects we are like a fruit tree that "produces" fruit. We do not produce the fruit, but the Creator who creates us and sustains us produces the fruit. We may be a tree, but "only God can make a tree."
No stick of wood on some woodpile can simply decide to plant itself in the ground and become an apple or peach tree. Only God produces fruit. In the context of "fishing for men" Paul said, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow" (1 Corinthians 3:6).
The idea that salvation is a combination of grace plus works is one of the reasons that church-ianity is the competitive enterprise that it is - with denominations vying for the "only true" way to salvation. Of course, some churches and pastors are too clever to come out and say that they are the "only way to salvation." Instead, we hear talk about "distinctives," "more truth," "more revelation," "greater insight," "higher calling" or "deeper conversion."
What are they really saying? In case you missed it, here's the translation. "You will have a better chance to be saved - perhaps the only chance to be saved - in our church - the other churches may be sincere and nice people but they are sincerely deceived."
In marketing, promotions and advertising it's called an exaggerated truth claim. Make a claim about your product or service that is so compelling that people cannot bear to be without it. You may have to bend the truth "a little" - that's why it's called an exaggerated truth claim. Jesus said that He did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He said that His cross would draw everyone to himself. If you're looking for salvation, the cross is where you will find it. You will not find it anywhere else. Don't be fooled by performance religion that requires you to jump through legalistic hoops. Don't be deceived by those who offer some cheap imitation. There is only one piece of "real estate" worth enough to offer salvation to all who ask - and that would be the cross of Christ. The cross is the bedrock of truth, not some exaggerated truth claim.
And the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9
“We will work for food,” shouted the sign propped against the minivan parked on the side of the road. As I drove past, I could see a Dad, Mom, and three kids lounging around.
It sounds like a scene from the Third World, doesn’t it? But it‘s not. This was right here in the St. Louis suburbs on the outskirts of Ladue, Missouri, one of the wealthiest cities in the United States, and therefore one of the most affluent places in the world.
Like the priest and the Levite in the “Good Samaritan” story, I didn’t stop to help these people. I just passed them by. As I drove home on that four-lane divided highway, accompanied by many glossy, late-model domestic and foreign cars, my thoughts raced: “I should have stopped!” “Why? It‘s not your problem! What could you do?” “Well, I could have let them know I cared?” “What good would that do? They don’t want people staring at them, just because they are poor.” “I wouldn’t have stopped to stare at them!” “What would you have done then? Offered them a job? You‘re not an employer. Told them you‘d pray for them? Who made you your brother‘s keeper? What would you have done if you had stopped, anyway?” “I don’t know.”
And I still don’t.
But, my thoughts keep going back to those people. For me, whose middle-class life has been comparatively easy, the pleasant life is no more of my own making than the poverty of most of the world’s poor is of their own making. And in my mind’s eye, the faces of the poor I had seen in person or on TV on the streets of our world’s big cities keep coming back.
The really hard part is to engage with the REALITY of poverty. And it seems to me that that can only be done in person, by actually looking into the eyes of a poor person and realizing that he is just like me - just as puzzled about many things in life, just as desirous that it be worth living, just as helpless to change circumstances.
Why didn’t I take the time to look into the eyes of these people in the minivan? Why didn’t I “engage” with them? Why wasn’t I prepared to endure the pain?
One reason, I suppose, was the all-too-vivid memory of an incident about thirty years ago in San Salvador, the capital city of the country of El Salvador. My wife and I had taken the opportunity for a vacation in El Salvador. This was during the time of much unrest in the country, tourism had dwindled, and we were offered a “cheap” vacation package to the country. Figuring that it was still relatively safe to travel there, my wife and I along with my uncle decided to go.
After landing at the airport outside of the city, we were quickly hustled into a van for a trip which went through the downtown part of the city and out to the Sheraton Hotel which sat on a hill on the outskirts overlooking the city. It was a beautiful hotel with all the amenities we have come to expect in the U.S. There was good dining, a fine swimming pool and live music going all the time.
As we settled in, I could not help thinking of all the tin-walled, ramshackled “homes” we had passed by near the downtown area on our trip to the hotel. But we had scurried by them rapidly without much of a close view. But there were so many of them!
The hotel offered low cost sight-seeing trips which we decided to take advantage of. On one trip, we were taken by bus to the main river which flows from outside the city about 30 miles to the ocean. A motor-boat took us to the ocean where we spent the rest of the day lounging on a beautiful oceanfront beach which was owned by the hotel. We then returned to the hotel that evening.
On another hotel-sponsored trip, we were taken to the largest Inca ruins in El Salvador with a massive pyramid containing a sacrificial altar on its summit.
Of course, all the native people we contacted on these trips were either hotel employed or at least very tourist oriented. They had smiling faces and wanted to be accommodating.
A little before we were to leave, we tired of hotel food and decided that the area around the hotel seemed safe enough to walk through. We had spotted a Hardee’s fast-food place a few blocks from the hotel which seemed to be the only chain restaurant around. So we started a walking tour and found many fine homes to view near the hotel. As we arrived at Hardee‘s, it had a gravel parking lot with brush growing around the edges - and on the lot was a long-horned cow grazing on the border brush. We remarked to each other that they probably didn’t kill the beef until you ordered.
As we approached Hardee’s, there was a beggar covered with sores squatted in the gravel and who was swarming with flies. As we neared him, he began waving his arms in anger and disgust at us. As much as he needed money from us, when I looked into his half-blind eyes, I saw smoldering hostility there which he could not contain. He needed a handout but he couldn’t contain his resentment for our apparent “good life”.
My patience and compassion for the poor were severely shaken by this event and my wife and uncle also. Needless to say, we didn’t eat at Hardee’s and quickly fled for the safety and comfort of our air-conditioned hotel, to be waited on by Salvadorans with friendly eyes. After our return to St. Louis, we read in the paper that two weeks later the El Salvadoran Secretary-of-State had been gunned down along with his bodyguards as he left his home just two blocks from our Sheraton hotel!
Being shocked yet doing nothing may be a natural, human reaction. But the question I am asking myself, and which I am sharing with you is, “What about our “natural human reactions”?
I see my purpose in living, since being born again in union with Christ, is to daily grow in an expanding awareness of Christ living in me - with the resultant effect of showing Christ to others in my own little world. What does that mean? In real life, how does an expanding awareness manifest itself? Does it have anything to do with An awareness of looking beyond our small, comfortable world?
One way to “see” an expanding awareness in action is to ponder the first truly aware person, Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth came face-to-face with humanity in all its gritty reality - from the earthy honesty (or even frank dishonesty) of the day worker, the prostitute, or the petty thief to the smug piety of the self-righteous. In a normal day, He ran across many who were maimed by the physical and mental diseases that still scourge much of our world. And He was always moved with compassion. It is obvious that Jesus did not heal everyone that needed healing, but He chose moments of touching people in accordance with their need.
But, even though He helped and healed some people, He didn’t become one of us to merely walk the length and breadth of His native land, ministering physical healing to everyone He met. Jesus came to offer global healing - to offer wholeness to the entire human race.
Was His initial human reaction to poverty, deprivation, and need any different to our reaction? I think not. I believe that He recoiled inwardly just as we do. But His immediate response came, not from His weak humanity, but from the Spirit of love and compassion that filled every atom of His being.
Jesus was fully human, reacting inwardly just as we do to pain and poverty. His need to draw on the power of the Father within was just as great as our need for Christ within. He knew, without a shadow of doubt, that humanly He had nothing to give. So He continually exercised His union relationship by seeking His Father’s presence, and it was from that intimate relationship that Jesus drew the compassion to be His “brother’s keeper.”
Being in union with Christ means that we carry the universal, all-encompassing, reconciling love of God to everyone we engage with. We don’t pass that love on every time it is needed by someone. But because of our union with Christ, the Spirit of God is just as available to us as He was to Jesus. As we humble ourselves and come into His presence as Jesus did, we will find that our world perspective will begin to change.
While I realize that the people in the minivan were not aware of any impact they had on me - and I did nothing for them - I have been changed by them. I reacted humanly, from the flesh. Then, the Spirit of the Lord began dealing with that reaction, so that my response to the pain came from His Spirit in me.
I don’t know yet whether I will (or should) respond to similar situations in the future by getting involved. I still see the anger and resentment in the eyes of that beggar in El Salvador. How dangerous was he to me? What would have happened had we stayed around that Hardee’s? In fact, what is danger to a Christ-indwelt person?
I have read about good-Samaritans who have stopped their cars along the highway to help others and been harmed for it or even killed. How will I respond the next time? I REALLY don’t know. But there is one thing that I do know.
I know everything that happens to me (and to others) is God’s call to be aware of HIM, to engage with HIM. All of the pain and emptiness in the world can ultimately only be filled by God. Actively seeking His presence as Jesus continually did is the only way my awareness will expand, allowing His love to flow out from me to my own little world.
For me, being aware of God means my intentional pursuit of His presence through silent, listening prayer, through pondering a word or phrase of Scripture, and through spoken, thankful prayer. All three of these ways of “being with God” are important to me.
And for all of us, it is only by being aware of God that we can stop looking at the world through the human view, and see it from God’s viewpoint. Then we can grow to act as Jesus did when confronted by human need - not merely as “my brother’s keeper”, but with love and compassion as “MY BROTHER’S BROTHER!
A group of alumni ministers, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old Bible college professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in their ministries and life in general.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.When all the ministers had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is just normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself, adds no quality to the coffee in most cases, just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups, and then began eyeing each other's cups.
Now consider this: the Life of Christ within you is the coffee, and YOU are the cups. You are just tools to hold and contain the Life of Christ, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the inherent quality of the Life of Christ
You all are different qualities of cups. Some of you are as fragile as crystal. Others of you are very plain looking. Some of you may be as strong as golden chalices. Others of you may be as weak as paper cups. But sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."God brews the coffee for consumption, not the cups - enjoy your coffee.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa - Right Idea, But Wrong Foundation
800 years ago, the people of Pisa in Italy decided to build a tower. The tower was to have bells that would ring out to the surrounding countryside as witness to the glory of God.
Things began to go wrong almost at once. After three stories had been completed, the tower developed an ominous lean to the north. Construction stopped for about 100 years. Then four more stories were added, built at an angle to shift the weight away from the tilt. But this caused the tower to begin to lean the other way.
Countless architects persisted with the curious structure for another century, trying to compensate for the ever-increasing tilt. The result was that the tower continued not only to lean, but took on a slight curve like a banana.
The last story was added in 1372. Since then, generations of engineers have tried in vain to save the tower from its slow demise. World War II dictator, Benito Mussolini, ordered it to be straightened by adding hundreds of tons of concrete to the base. It only made matters worse.
The problem is the foundation. The tower is built on weak, unstable subsoil that could not support its weight. Sooner or later the tower will topple, although modern engineers have added 800 tons of lead to the base, perhaps stabilizing it for another 300 years.
Let’s hope so, because it is one of the world’s architectural treasures. But sadly, most people who see it don’t think of it as a building dedicated to reflect the glory of God. The first impulse is to laugh, and then to wonder what’s keeping it from falling down.
The Leaning Tower of Faith
Do you ever feel like your faith is a bit like that tower? Most of us have not learned to be Christians in a systematic way. It has been a bit here, a bit there, with experiences adding up and knowledge of doctrine and the Bible coming together in a haphazard way. Like the builders of the Tower of Pisa, you keep going, but you are not really confident of your foundations. You’d like to be better equipped for the Christian life, and better equipped for service.
One Solid Foundation
Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:24-27 about building on a rock foundation and not a sand foundation. For me, there is one solid foundation for the Christian life. It is this: When I accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of my life, He came to live right within me in a living union with my human spirit. I laid a new solid foundation for my life which IS that union with the indwelling Christ.
And that union is so solid that it can never be shifted or broken – the tower of my life can never lean because my foundation is greater in strength than a million tons of lead.
Jesus has promised that He will never leave me or forsake me - that my tower will never be allowed to fall, or even to tilt. Winds may come (and they will!), rains may come (and they will!), but this structure of my life will last, not for years, not for 800 centuries, but for eternity. My foundational union with the Son of God is a forever done deal.
By His foundational strength and not my weak engineering ability, my tower can be built in such a way that it can be a witness to the glory of God.
You have heard the expression “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” Have you ever really considered this saying? I thought I understood the meaning of this expression, but I never saw it as clearly as I am about to attempt to share.
I had the occasion to drive out of St. Louis southwest on Interstate 44 in the summertime. As the Interstate leaves the metropolitan St. Louis area, it passes through one of the prettiest scenic forests in the midwest. I have always said that if you want to showcase St. Louis to a visitor who has never seen the city before, coming into the area on Interstate 44 is a fine way to start a good impression.
While driving through this lovely, winding, hilly, forest area, I was caught up in the awesome majesty of God’s creation as I took in the sights of greenery that are formed by the simple beauty of the forests. Because of the way the light hit the forests and the rolling lushness of the trees collectively, I was just drawn to whisper to myself, “Thank you, God, it sure is pretty!” Many of you have probably had this same type of experience from time to time while you were driving somewhere in the country.
As the highway continued and the forest drew closer to the highway in spots, I became aware of something else. I saw more clearly that the individual trees making up these gorgeous forests were often greatly disfigured in appearance. Some were gnarled and or twisted, some half green and half dead looking. Some had hardly any leaves, while others had plenty. Some were dwarfed and some were tall, but sparse. There was also what appeared to be a lot of dead bark. But individually - whether they were thin, thick, tall or twisted - they all reached up toward the sunlight the best they could so that they might have life, and I‘m sure their roots went as deep as they were able.
I began to see a parallel between those trees, the forest, and the Body of Christ. We are a motley crew of people who in our attempts to seek the Son (like the trees attempting to seek the sun), are not necessarily beautiful or even balanced looking. Individually, we are far from the perfection of the Tree of Life. Yet, corporately, we are able to appear as a mountain of life and beauty manifesting the glory of our God.
As God looks down on His “forest”, He sees it beautiful with a covering of the righteousness of Jesus. God is not discouraged because of the discoloration or configuration of individual trees. I’ve often been discouraged because I could see how far each of us in the Body had to go to be anything like the beauty and majesty of Jesus. Yet I know that Jesus lives within each Christian and His Life will ultimately be manifested to others, somehow, someway. The Father sees Jesus in each Christian no matter how thin, thick, tall or twisted.
I sense that God is awakening me to see Christ in a new way, in the corporate Body. I have always seen Jesus as He relates to me personally - His life, death, and example for me. In many ways, it was “Jesus and I” against the world! Christianity was almost like a Body of individual believers trying to please God. I had my own way of “not seeing the forest for the trees”.
Although we should and we must seek Christ one on One and each develop our own root system to get our nourishment individually, we still represent One Body - Christ’s! It is possible to forget this in developing our awareness of Christ within.
Unfortunately, and sadly to me, most of the world also sees the conditions of each of the trees in our Christian forest - our far from powerful or perfected lives, our multitude of dividing doctrines, many hardened hearts, the hypocrisies of many of our words and actions, and our great lack of compassion. Over all the earth, except for some who seem evergreen, the forest of Christianity has a somewhat barren appearance. Many in the world see us corporately as foolish and narrow-minded, old-fashioned and hypocritical. THEY CAN’T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES. They look at the discolorations and deformities of individual trees and equate this to the life of the whole forest.
Then I felt reminded that in the sovereignty of God, there are seasons for everything. Part of the marvel of the gorgeous green forest is that it is not always like that. It too has a time for “sleeping”, if you will. During this time the forest is not a thing of beauty. In fact, it is barren in most places. The leaves of all, but the evergreens, are non-existent, because they have fallen to the ground to be “transformed”. Interestingly, by their “transforming” the dead leaves actually get blended into the earth to form, with the other dead life, necessary nutrients that later give life to the trees, which in their proper season, again bud forth with new life!
This “natural” cycle of life from death is a very spiritual principle. Within the Body of Christ itself, historically, there has been an ebb and flow of beauty and desirability. The world has at times seen a beautiful forest because most of the individual trees are beautiful. But there have been times when the Body, the Church, Christianity, has been out of season - individual trees very barren.
As our lives get changed from within by the healing counsel of the Holy Spirit creating a trust in the guidance and power of Christ, we are able to let our “old life” way of thinking die. We become aware of the new Life of a tree in the forest of God. We are able to help others with wise counsel, healing and unconditional love. We bring forth new leaves which are for the world to see arid enjoy.
Leaves have many purposes beyond giving fullness of beauty to the trees. Leaves continue the process of life to humans by what they give off - oxygen. They also provide shelter for many. Many trees also produce fruit to feed the hungry. We understand this both in the natural and spiritually. When by God’s Hand, our season comes to blossom, this is what the world will see as they observe our forest.
Every human I know, whether Christian or not, seems to love the season of Spring. Who can resist the joy of the beauty and fragrance of the miraculous “springing forth” of new life?
I believe that the Spring of God’s forest is coming in its season. God is awakening His people of this “season” from their slumber. In a world which needs beauty, needs oxygen, needs shelter, needs nourishing fruit, the “trees” of God will begin to make the “forest” of the Body of Christ look increasingly more attractive to unbelievers.
Then the world will see the forest BECAUSE OF THE TREES!
