Beth Moore - Taking Root In The Family Tree - Part 3
What our premise is this weekend is about getting it deepest down. At the deepest conviction we have, way down in that soil, is that we are immeasurably loved by Jesus Christ, and not just we but I and you, immeasurably loved by Jesus Christ. Now, here is what we have on the table, and we've had it on the table since the beginning of our theme together. You and I are trying to get down to the deepest root we have in our belief system. We have, I pray all of us have some really, really, really good roots down in there.
But what we're proposing based on Ephesians chapter 3 this weekend is that what needs to be at the lowest level, the deepest root within us, that nothing else is below it; I mean, nothing's underneath it, that it goes to the deepest place and everything else is up above it has got to be that we are immeasurably loved by Christ. So I hope you were thinking about that. What is it that when you think about, what's at that bottom level? What at the deepest place, what is it that you think is probably there? What did we talk about is the clearest way to know, what fruit is being produced? Because the root is going to determine the fruit. Everybody say that again. The root is going to determine the fruit.
So we can look out here and when we think, "You know what, honestly, I can't remember the last time I've had any joy". When I'm looking at the fruit and I'm thinking how irritable I feel and how I have just constantly, constantly just wrapped with insecurity and anxiety, then I'm knowing somehow deep down in there, man, my roots are down in something that is not the immeasurable love of Christ. That's what you and I are trying to get at. So, of course, I went into my team this morning 'cause we always have prayer time before we come out and serve you, of course. And we were together and I said, "Okay, I'm dying to know. Did any of you do any thinking through the night about what is your deepest? If it's not the love of Christ, what is it? What is it"?
One of my team members said something, and I'm so glad she did because I meant to bring it up in our last session and I overlooked it in my notes. She said, "I have thought about it". And she said, "I think at the deepest point in me, my deepest conviction is I love Jesus". And see, here's where I want to shed some light on this, if the Holy Spirit would be willing to, to illuminate this to us because that's a glorious thing. We want that root down in there, that we love Jesus. That's a beautiful thing.
But you know why it can't be the deepest thing? I'm going to tell you that there are some of us in here that at times if we could articulate what's on our heart, the truth, every now and then there are some of you in here and some of us along the way that have been in it a long time then honestly do come to different points in our lives to think, "I think I love God more than he loves me. I mean, honestly I cannot imagine why all this stuff has happened".
And do you see how this goes topsy-turvy? When all of this is going to be rooted in our love for Jesus, if that's the deepest thing, listen, 1 John 4:19, "We love him because he first loved us". If you do have an authentic love for Jesus, you want to know where you got it? Same place I got it. Same place she got it. Same place everybody will ever get it. We get it from Jesus because it ain't coming any other way, any other way. The capacity we have to love Jesus is actually coming from Jesus.
Now, this you might have heard. If you've been through "Breaking Free," you've probably heard this, so forgive the redundancy here, but there'll be others that maybe this might speak to. There was a season in my life where I was just struggling with that concept and I would have a much easier time, I still have the tendency today, and I wonder how many of you would agree with this. I can easily tell you how much Jesus loves you. Easily. Easily. And I might just get you by the shoulders and go, "You've got to get this. I'll shake it into you if I have to, I'll show you every single verse I can lay my hands on in the scriptures". But there have been times in my life that I realized I could not necessarily say those same things to the mirror because, you know, I know who's lived in here. Anybody else?
Now, I felt like for a season, as God was really teaching me out of 1 John, I felt like for a season God put it on my heart that every time, 'cause I tell Jesus I love him every single day, every single day. And I felt like, that what he placed on my heart based on 1 John 4:19 is, "Beth, you know what, when you say this to me, for a while till you can get this to sink down in your belief system I want you to say it to me this way: 'I love you too, Lord. I love you, too.' Every time you say it, don't...Beth..." And now I'm say, nothing out loud, nothing out loud, I'm just saying I felt like this was the conviction in my heart.
"Don't say to me, 'I love you,' for a while without saying on the end of it, 'I love you too,' because I want you to understand something, Beth. I loved you first, which is why you can love me too". Because what's got to get deepest into our belief system is that we are loved. You know, this is what makes us healthy people. There is nothing more important than you could do for, if you're married, for your marriage; if you got a family, for your family; for your workplace, do you know that, what a pleasure it is to work with people who just believe they are well loved? Not arrogant, not full of themselves, just loved, just secure in love.
You know some insecure people and they just wear you out, and if you're a well-loved person and you know it, you get to be the most popular person in your sphere of influence because you're not wearing everybody out. Could I get anyone to say amen in the house this morning? Okay, now look at this in Matthew, okay, so we've been in Ephesians, go with me to the Matthew passage, Matthew 13. This is going to be the parable of the sower that Jesus is telling to this whole crowd, and he's telling it from the boat. Sits down in the boat and has the crowd on the beach. I love this whole thing.
And so it says in verse 3, and it's going to take us to 6, "And he told them many things in parables, saying: 'A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and birds came and devoured them. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.'" Since they had no root, they withered away. Let me tell you what's happening here because it's happened to most of us if we've been along this path for very many years. We know what it's like for us to try to grow up this way before we've grown down this way.
Let me tell you why it's such a big deal right now because, just think with me how much culture has changed. I love social media, but just think with me how dramatically it has changed our entire society here in the prosperous west and in many parts of Europe. I want you to just think through what has happened to us in our Christian lives where we have access to public platforms because what's happening is that very often we're putting ourselves out there before, we're shooting up before we have any root, and then what happens is the sun comes along, things heat up. We have our first real fight with demonic principalities and we can't even bear it, why? Because we shot up this way before we shot down that way.
I want you to take a verse down that is so important. I'm going to tell you what it says. It's Isaiah 37:31, Isaiah 37:31. I want us to adopt this if you'd be willing to, part of this verse as our motto together. "And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward". Oh, I love these six words. Listen to it again. "This remnant shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward". I like things that become rhythmic on our tongues. I like things that become easy to memorize.
So many things were written in poetry in the scriptures for the sake of memorization so they could lock it down. Remember, they were hearing most of it read. Most of them in the ancient days of our text could not read the text for themselves. It was read to them. So it was read to them in such a way that they could memorize. So much of it is given to a good way to let it sink in so we can say it back. This is one of those times, these six words. I want to hear these three and then these three. Would you say it with me: take root downward... bear fruit upward.
In God's economy, the way up is always down. This is what is so topsy-turvy to us living in the world that we're called to serve because, of course, the way up is up in the world, but not to God. He said, "You humble yourself and I will lift you up. You go down and I will pick you back up". Everything goes down to get up. And so that's how it happens with our fruit-bearing. He said, "You take root down and I'm going to bring the fruit up. That's how it's going to go".
Here's what I want to throw out to you for your meditation. So what soil are we rooted in? Because all of us, we're organic creatures. We're all planted in something. We're all for the most part, I've seen a few children in the room, but for the most part we're either young adults or adults, a few teenagers in the room, but we've lived long enough where we've got certain things that we believe. Whether or not we want to own them, these are things that we believe. We're rooted in something. All of us are rooted in something. We're trees in the metaphor that we're taking up this weekend. So the question on the table for now is, what soil are we rooted in, what soil are we rooted in?
And so here's how I think, these are things I get to test on my staff when I first have a concept rolling around. So I asked them, I said, "Okay, I've been thinking through. How would we know"? Okay, what's growing? What's growing? Now, I want you to think about this. These are some things I want to hear from you. What's growing? How we'll know what soil we're rooted in is by what is growing because something's always growing. Anybody notice that with me? We're ever-changing creatures, so something's always growing. What is it? I want to throw out a few things. This is not for any level of condemnation whatsoever, this is for identification because in a few minutes we're going to start pulling up some things and rooting down some things and we need to identify what needs to come up or we're not going to get it up.
And so this is what this part is for. So what is growing, cynicism? Reason why I throw that one out first is because, man, would that be easy in our present culture just to get cynical. Is cynicism growing? Is detachment growing? Are we getting more and more detached? Is despair growing? Are we getting more and more depressed? Are we getting snarkier and snarkier? This is where social media has not served us well. Because we're not face to face with people, we just say all manner of thing that we probably would never say to that person's face. Is our bitterness growing, getting just more and more bitter? And that's the nature of it. Bitterness is its own cancer.
So it just, if it's not stopped, it just keeps growing. Fear and terror. I listened to the most fascinating podcast a couple of days ago and it was talking about, it was, I just, I listen to all sorts of things just so that I can be informed in a lot of different ways, and it's one of those kinds of sort of like educational TV but it's on podcasts and it's all manner of specialists in this area and that that they have on. So this guy is very, very high in his field in psychiatry and trauma work. I'm trying to think. I think he's Norwegian, and he talked about the involuntary systems in us that whether or not we don't have to sit here and go, "Heart, beat. Lungs, breathe. Stomach, digest".
We don't have to tell it all of that, why? Because we have certain involuntary systems that are going on within our being at all times. And he said just to show you the power of emotion, that emotion literally can upset involuntary functions of the body. And, I mean, you and I know that, but think this through, think how profound this is. He said literally fear and living in constant fear, that if we're just like, I mean, we're just like, I mean, just like paranoia, just getting more and more paranoid, more and more anxiety, more and more worried, that the impact it is having over our involuntary system, our hearts, our digestive system, that literally, he said that outside influences of terror and fear can immediately kill your appetite, why? Because that, and that's an involuntary thing that you would be hungry, and yet it's that strong.
I say that to you because, you think it's not having an impact? It is tearing your insides up to live in fear and anxiety constantly. How long will this go on? Because somewhere rooted, if we have a lot of fear and anxiety, somewhere rooted down there is this thing that we keep telling ourselves: "Nowhere is safe. Nowhere is safe. Nowhere. Nowhere". And yet 2 Timothy chapter 4, "And I was delivered from the lion's mouth. The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever, amen". I mean, let me tell you, this world is not a safe place, but we are safe inside of Christ. I don't know any other way to say this to you. I don't mean that this is simple, I just mean that this is biblical. This gets to be what is rooted down deepest in our belief system.
So listen, the worst they can do is kill us. That's what he says. Don't be worried about those that can kill the body when you've got the one who holds your soul. Do not fear, he says over and over again, "Do not fear, I am with you. Do not fear. Do not be dismayed. Do not be discouraged. Do not be in despair". Or are some other things growing like compassion, empathy, sacrificial love, loving people really different from us? That's something that we want to be growing, is our ability to love people who are really different from us. Is our understanding growing, insight growing, humility growing, our joy growing, our patience and kindness? What's growing, if we have guts enough?
Now, you have to promise and declare before you ask her that you're not going to be mad at her when she tells you, but wouldn't it be something if we had a really good friend that we could just say, "What do you see growing"? 'Cause sometimes we don't see it for ourselves. "Am I just getting more and more fearful or am I finding some security"?
I learned something else in my research about roots. Did you know that healthy roots, when they're down in under the soil and they're in good soil, that healthy roots when they come to an obstacle like a rock or a stone, which of course is really common underground, do you know that they'll pause for a little while and then you know what they'll do? They just grow right on around it. Isn't that the most beautiful thing? They just knows. Stop for a while, hmm, push it, push it, push it. If it doesn't budge, go around it. How long are we going to stay at that stone? How long? How long? It's time now to just like, "Let's grow around it. Let's just grow around it. We'll understand someday, and for now let's just grow around it". Look at somebody and go, "Grow around it. It's just time. It's just time".
Okay, let's get to number four. Number four is this. Divine down-rooting calls for courageous uprooting. You and I are about to get some courage in the house today. Three of us are excited about our courage. I'm teasing with you. I drive my own self crazy, I do, I do, I know it's a lot. But just imagine that you've got a teacher that is not excited about the scriptures. You would be snoring by now. I know it's a lot, but it's better than just being bored half to death. It's better than being bored half to death. Divine down-rooting calls for what, girls?
You and I have got to get courageous about some uprooting, and let me tell you, one reason why I'm still really in it to win it, I have not cooled down about what I've been called to do in 30 solid years of doing it, and the reason is because the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit, praise you Lord, I beg for it and plead for it every day of my life, praise you, Lord. But also I'm still such a work in progress. I have found that when I get one thing dealt with, something starts sneaking up from the left. Anybody else besides me?
I just never do completely fix. Maybe you do, but I just never completely fix and there's always something that, "Okay, I'm going to have to look at this next. Let's deal with this. I don't know where this is coming from". But I want some things uprooted. I've come to uproot. And I want you to jot down Ecclesiastes 3:2. "There is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot". As you and I begin to talk about uprooting over these next few minutes, I want to just start with things that really weren't bad at all. Some of them were wonderful. It's just time to uproot them. Anybody know what I'm talking about?
Just things we planted 15 years ago and it's really time for those things to be pulled out because actually they're not really growing anymore, they're not really flourishing or God's just gone, "Actually, this is what we're going to do. I really want to move you over in this season. This is where I really want to focus". Well, what about when it's it's no longer working? What about when... actually, the Spirit hasn't moved afresh in that group in 4 years. Where did we lose the outreach that actually we're supposed to be bringing in women that don't know the scriptures with us that now we're supposed to take what's been implanted in us and now let's go minister that thing? Never mind all of that.
We want everything to stay exactly the same. And listen, some of you are so mad at somebody right now because they're not exactly the same as they were a year ago, and you're going to have to forgive them for moving on because we just have to keep moving. We just have to keep growing. And so wouldn't it be something, we could do a lot. We can really get in the garden this weekend. We could do a lot today by just kind of staring down and just giving our own lives a little bit of an analytical look and go, "Hmm, I am spending a lot of energy here and there's really nothing of the Spirit that's coming from it".
And if you're thinking, I want to correct a line of thinking if you're new to all this because somebody might be thinking, "Well, Beth, I don't know how I'm supposed to just live at church". Here's the beauty of life in the kingdom. It was never meant to be that people who are called by Christ, all of us have a calling on our lives, who have received Christ as our personal Savior. It was never ever his thinking that what that looked like was that everybody would surrender to vocational ministry and work for their church.
There are those he calls to pastor and to teach and to come in as ministers within a church environment; but the calling of the kingdom is that we are people of the Spirit, light of the world, that go work as a teller in your bank, that work as a teacher in that school, that are stay-at-home, hard-working moms that interact with other moms that may be homeschooling and interact in the neighborhood and do all manner of outreach in the name of Jesus. We are meant to be invasive on this globe in every conceivable way. If it's honest, ethical work, there is a way to do it in the Spirit. And we want to be empowered by him. We ought to stick out in our workplace because we're filled with the Spirit.