Scripture: Jeremiah 17: 5-8
Sermon: Stress-Tested
Topics: stress, roots, trees, shrubs
Preached: August 20, 2017
Rev. Mike Abma
Preamble: We turn to the prophet Jeremiah this morning.
In many ways, Jeremiah was a high-stress prophet speaking at a high-stress
time in the life of God’s people.
Jeremiah lived and spoke in a time of crisis:
* Babylon was threatening to destroy Jerusalem.
* Jerusalem refused to repent.
* Jeremiah said the city was doomed.
This is what Jeremiah says for 16 chapters.
And then here, in Jeremiah 17, he reaches into the deep wisdom of the faith life of Israel, and he retrieves poetic words that are much like Psalm 1,
words that describe the difference between the cursed and the blessed,
the faithless and the faithful,
those who look like shrubs, and those who look like trees.
Listen:
5 Thus says the Lord:
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
and make mere flesh their strength,
whose hearts turn away from the Lord.
6 They shall be like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see when relief comes.
They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
7 Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
8 They shall be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
INTRODUCTION
The University of Arizona has a large Biosphere called Biosphere 2 – basically acres and acres under glass where various ecosystems are simulated.
It is really an amazing facility.
But they were having a problem.
It was the trees in the Biosphere.
The trees would grow quickly.
They would look absolutely healthy – lush, green, sturdy.
And then, they would suddenly topple over.
What was going on?
These trees had perfect growing conditions.
But that was part of the problem.
The growing conditions were too perfect.
The water was too regular and too plentiful.
And there was no wind in the Biosphere.
It turns out wind plays a major role in the healthy growth of trees.
What the researchers in the Biosphere discovered is that trees needed these two stresses –
periodic dry spells,
and times of wind, even high wind –
in order to grow healthy and strong.
These two stresses – drought and wind – force tree roots to grow wide and deep,
allowing trees to be both stronger and more resilient.
STRESS
Stress is something we all know.
Who hasn’t felt stressed lately?
Lately we have all felt the winds of conflict coming from
North Korea and its nuclear threat.
Coming from Charlottesville, and its threat of civil and racial strife.
Coming from Barcelona and its terrorist threat.
And perhaps we have felt the winds of conflict in other places too,
places that are closer to home:
at our work,
or in our family,
or in the doubts of our own hearts.
We also know the stress of drought.
Who hasn’t lived through those dry times of life
when we simply feel like we are out of gas,
and that we do not have enough –
not enough resources,
not enough energy,
not enough confidence
not enough faith
simply not enough…
The assumption has been that these stresses in life are always bad for us,
and they will inevitably lead to problems, especially health problems.
But that assumption is being seriously challenged lately.
In a recent massive multi-year study of some 30,000 people,
researchers tracked the effects of stress on people’s lives.
What they discovered is that stress, even high levels of stress,
does not necessarily have negative effects on health and well-being.
In fact, sometimes stress has a strengthening effect.
What they discovered is that how we deal with stress
makes all the difference.[1]
SHRUB vs TREE
In many ways, this fits well with the picture we are given in our passage.
Here we have a picture of a shrub and a tree.
Notice that the shrub and the tree are both living under stressful conditions.
They are both living in the windy wilderness,
where there is too little water
and too much heat.
But the shrub shrivels, and the tree flourishes.
The shrub is barren, and the tree is fruitful.
The shrub is parched, and the tree is green and verdant.
So what is the difference?
Let’s first take a look at the shrub.
Did you notice that roots are not even mentioned for the shrub?
What is mentioned is that the shrub exists only on superficial things —
on mere human strength,
and on the superficial things and the stuff of this world
that can be seen, and measured. and counted.
The tree, on the other hand, has roots.
What I would like you to know is that these roots are both wide and deep.
ROOTS WIDE
The image here is not so much a lone tree in the wilderness.
It would be clearer if the translation was
They shall be like trees planted by water.
That gives a clearer image or picture of an oasis in the desert,
with a whole collection of trees,
a whole community of trees.
Remember when Dick Houskamp gave a Children’s Message earlier this summer?
He talked about the tall Redwood trees that grow in California.
He said that you never find a Redwood standing all by itself,
because it can’t.
A Redwood tree needs other Redwoods close by.
It is only when the roots of a whole forest of Redwoods
grow wide and intertwine with each other
that they can stand tall and strong.
Now let’s talk about us human beings.
When we are stressed, our bodies produce oxytocin.
Oxytocin does many different things,
but one of the things it does is
that it makes us crave the presence of others,
the support of others –
which we need at stressful times to help us carry on.
Study after study show us at times of stress,
we are helped by the presence of others.
Take the Backpack Study.
This is a study in which people are given a backpack that is filled with 20% of their own total weight.
Then they are sent on a hike, a climb, up a hill with a 20 degree incline.
In this study, people are sent on three different hikes: first alone, and later with strangers, and lastly with friends.
When they hiked alone, they said the backpack was heavier than it really was,
and that the hike was longer and steeper than it really was.
But with friends, they said the backpack was lighter than it really was,
and that the hike was shorter and less steep than it really was.
Roots growing wide make us stronger.[2]
There is also the Shock Study, which is similar.
In this study, people were given a mild electric shock.
They were given the shock when they were alone,
when they were holding the hand of a stranger,
and when they were holding the hand of a close friend.
Again, when alone, they reported the shock as being quite painful.
But when holding the hand of a friend,
they reported the same shock as being rather mild.
Roots growing wide and intertwining with others makes us stronger.[3]
ROOTS DEEP
Our roots must not only be wide, they must also go deep.
Study after study dealing with stress tell us
that in order to endure what comes our way,
we need a source of deep spiritual nourishment.
We need roots that go deep below the surface of this world
to things that we cannot see,
to things that we cannot measure,
to things we cannot even fully describe.
The roots that go wide
remind us that we are not alone in this world.
There are people who love us and care for us.
The roots that go deep
remind us that we are not alone in this cosmos.
There is a power, a great power,
the greatest power that there is,
that loves us, and cares for us.
He is for us and not against us.
This is the aquifer below the surface of this world
that is a living stream of water.
This living stream of water
became flesh and blood for us,
suffered and died for us,
rose and now reigns
so that we might be connected to him.
He told us,
“If you remain in me,
and I remain in you,
you will bear much fruit.” John 15:5
This is the living stream that, at times of stress,
gives us a peace that is beyond human understanding.
Romans 5:4 says:
“Suffering produces endurance,
endurance produces character
character produces hope,
and hope does not disappoint us.”
To paraphrase that using the botanical language of our passage,
we would say,
stress produces roots,
roots produce branches,
branches produce fruit,
and this fruit of the Spirit does not disappoint us.
CONCLUSION
I mentioned that our family attended a family reunion in July.
It was a gathering of about 55 people.
On Sunday we decided to have our own little church service.
My siblings, nieces and nephews, looked at me and said,
“Hey Mike, how about a sermon?”
I said, “No, I’m on vacation.
But let’s do this instead.
I will simply invite people to give a testimony about their faith —
and about how their faith has been nourished in the past
and how it is being sustained in the present.
I will start.”
I was not sure how it would go,
but after I started with a short testimony,
one family member after another came up
and talked about how God has been active in their life.
The last one to speak was my older brother,
the one with kidney cancer,
the one for whom the whole reunion was planned.
He began by saying that he once heard a sermon illustration about believers
being like the glowing coals or embers of a campfire.
As long as you kept the coals together,
the fire glowed hot and bright.
But once you removed one of the coals,
that isolated coal quickly cooled and went out.
My brother said that at the time he heard this sermon illustration
he thought it sounded a little corny,
maybe even a little simplistic.
“But now, now I need to say to you that it is one of the truest things I know.
Never under-estimate the importance of being together.
Never under-estimate the importance of
sharing the light of our faith,
sharing the glow of our hope,
and sharing the warmth of our love.”
People of God,
Send your roots out wide,
embracing, supporting, and loving one another.
Send your roots down deep,
deep into that stream of living water – Jesus Christ our Lord.
Then you will not fear when heat comes,
for your leaves will stay green.
Then, in the time of drought, you will not be anxious,
and you will not cease to bear fruit.
Amen
PRAYER
Fashion us, O Lord to be, strong and splendid as a tree.
Send our roots both deep and wide,
Let us in your love abide.
Fashion us, O Lord to be, fruitful, faithful, as a tree.
Amen
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