Ever since Alex Haley’s novel, Roots, hit the bookstands in the mid-70s, there has been an increasing number of people interested in their heritage. Many people buy computers and get on the internet primarily to keep track of their family tree.
Parish secretaries are often called upon to do research for people investigating their family heritage. It is clear that many persons have been motivated to search through history in an attempt to find their roots. As one newspaper columnist wrote, "The once fabled rootless Americans are realizing that the people who formed the foundations of their heritage are important. And more than that, they are enjoying their quest, for there is satisfaction and security in finding one’s roots."
Finding our roots, unveiling the people of our past, is a process that helps us discover who we are by looking at where we came from. But it’s only the beginning. Even more telling is the question of where we have set our roots for daily life. What motivates our day-to-day existence? Or I could put the question to you in this way, "What’s the biggest thing in your life?" What’s most important to you?
Some might answer, "My home and family, everything revolves around them." Or someone else, "My country, first, last and always." Some might even say, "My work, my work means everything to me; without that, I’d be lost." Others might answer, "My youth. The important thing in my life right now is the fact that I’m young." Many would simply reply, "Health and happiness." Don’t we say, "If you’ve got your health, you’ve got just about everything?" And we all want to be happy.
These are certainly important facts of life, the foliage which enhances our daily living. Then we must ask, "What if these things go?" What happens when your home, your family is crushed by news of a fatal illness or shattered by the death of a loved one? What if you lose your job? Or if your income no longer pays the bills? What if you wake up one day and realize that you’re not just getting older but that you’re getting old!" For our youth goes, too. The springtime of life so quickly turns to autumn, and then to winter. In a society that idolizes youth, it’s tough to accept the fact that our youth is literally wasting away.
Health and happiness? There may be some people in church this morning whose health is gone; it may never come back. Perhaps some of you are worshiping today because you are looking for healing, or your burden is too heavy to bear alone so you have come looking for a word of encouragement. For others, an increasing number of problems have cast a pall over your life, and you wish that someone would listen to you and try to understand. You are not very happy and you’re not so sure you ever will be again. Life is so uncertain.
In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Dr. Victor Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist, tells how he survived three unimaginably grim years in Nazi concentration camps. His wife, his brother, his mother and father, all were killed in similar camps. He, himself, was stripped of all his possessions, all his clothing, his watch, his rings, even his glasses. Then they shaved all the hair off his body and he was utterly naked. Now, you see, the question he had to face was, "Does my life have meaning now?" Family gone; all possessions gone; position in the community, gone; all dignity, gone; possession only what he called, "My ridiculously naked life." Now does my being have roots? Is there any reason to continue living?
Well, what is it that gives meaning to a person’s life? Their job? Their family? Their friends? What do you think? Or haven’t you thought about it lately?
If the things in which our lives are rooted can be so easily swept away, does that mean that we are "done in?" Or, in some more tragic sense, that we are "done for?" For all of these things will go. Then what does that suggest to you? Does it say, as it did to one lady interviewed on the television show, 20/20, that you must save all your prescription drugs and when the going gets rough, swallow them with alcohol, creating a lethal cocktail? Is that the answer?
One day, Jesus took with him the leadership of the disciples, Peter, James and John so that they might have some time to pray together. Before long Jesus would be crucified, and not long after that he would ascend to be at the right hand of God. The disciples would then be called upon to leave father and mother and family. They would be required to leave their occupations behind, and all their possessions. They would have to endure persecution and hardship; they would grow old before their time.
How could Jesus ask his disciples to do that sort of thing? To give up everything which formed the foundations of their lives? And if they accepted that challenge, where would they find the motivation for living? Where would their roots need to dig in so that they could be sustained, and draw nourishment and strength for the struggles that lay ahead?
The Bible says, "And as (Jesus) was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white. And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah." Suddenly Peter, James, and John are given a glimpse of a reality which they never knew existed. They are overwhelmed. Was it a dream? It is too glorious for a dream. Then they hear a voice saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" Listen to him. And when the voice had spoken, they looked up ... and saw Jesus only.
Now what if Jesus was preparing his disciples for their ministry, preparing them by illustrating in this vivid way, that there are unseen realities which are far greater than the things we call "the facts of life." What if our Lord chose this method to imprint indelibly on the disciples’ minds that even the greatest wonder of this world is but a dim shadow of the glory which is to come. And what if the voice was the voice of God, and they were being taught that the greatest reality of all was Jesus Christ - only Jesus. So if they were going to make it in this world, if they were going to discover what life was meant to be, they would have to set their roots in him.
And what if that which was true for the disciples is also true for you and me? What if that which we cannot see, things like faith and hope and love, are most important to life? What if that which we often consider last is the greatest reality of all - I’m talking about God. And what if the most fundamental fact of life is really this: The Lord God omnipotent reigns! That the greatest and most important truth about every life is that it be rooted in Jesus Christ as Savior!
I suggest that nothing else will do. We need more than just a little help in this world. For the great challenges of life, your resources and mind are not adequate, to say the least. We need more than a few religious "Band-Aids" to patch up our brokenness. No ritual "first-aid" treatments can heal the grief-bruised and the soul-sick. We need God! We need God.
If we are really honest with ourselves we must admit that we are not self-sufficient. Our life is given to us on a daily bases; it is something sustained by simple things like air and food, and how easily it ends: a maladjustment of body chemistry, a too-long hesitation in the patient pumping of the heart. Our life is fragile and what is worse we often sabotage it by our own actions. It is not helpful to have holier-than-thou people point out our sins, much less to be scolded by them. Because many of us know all too well, the misery of being forsaken by the would-be gods we mistook for the Lord our God.
Simply to be told that our idols are sand which can be easily washed away is not enough, because we need to know where to set our roots. If we are dislodged, we will seek almost anything for a sense of security, even if it does not offer a solution but is only a rest area, a place to catch our breath and calm our anxiety for a bit. Our hearts rebel against being rootless and they will be attached to something, our hearts will be attached to someting. Well, let it be God!
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the ground into which we are to sink our roots to draw the proper nourishment for life. Being thus faith-fed, our lives can blossom and flourish to the glory of God. And knowing that we are grounded in eternity, we can have confidence that the source of our joy will always be present to sustain us. So we put no ultimate trust, no ultimate love, no ultimate confidence in anything or anyone but Jesus Christ. Everything else is tentative - everything else is tentative!
Now I realize that that kind of theology is not popular. We’d kind of like our religion to provide a little inspiration, a little relief from this harried world. We want religion to emphasize God bringing out the best that is in us. We want to hear the message that we are really pretty good, accenting the positive, patting us on the back. The Bible keeps turning the thing around saying that faith means reckless abandonment of one’s self to God, so that God may be all in all. That involves a transfiguration of life, and it’s a little like asking someone to burn down his home.
One thing is sure, if it happens, it isn’t going to take place just because someone made up their mind to do it. If it happens at all, it will happen because in the gospel you and I encounter Christ in such a way that we grow to depend upon him and to love him.
A funny thing happened to God on his way to earth. Nobody recognized him. They didn’t think of looking in a manger, a stable, much less on a cross. To do what Jesus did for you and me reveals a love that is just a little frightening, but which also gives us a great deal of security. Now there’s something to dig your roots into, something upon which to anchor your life.
The spiritual terrain of our planet Earth is not favorable for developing a depth which enables us to endure the storms and stresses of life with serenity and confidence. The superficial soils of selfishness and pleasure create a root system which skims the surface of life. Our energies are consumed in growing impressive foliage and flowers which represent all kinds of activities and trivial pursuits. But the taproot of our lives is not driven down to the depths of God. Thus we find ourselves vulnerable and unsure because our foundations are so easily shaken. You and I need to give this critical business of grounding our life at least as much time and energy as we give to the business of planning the ways in which we intend our life should blossom.
That’s why we have come together, to remind each other that we have been redeemed, bought back - not with silver and gold, not with money - but with the precious body and blood of the Son of God. Therefore being redeemed by him, means that our faith and our hope, the very roots of our existence, are in God, a God in whom, "we live and move and have our being." If we do not see our Lord through the eyes of faith, we are not going to see anything else in this life clearly either.
Where have you set the roots of your life? What is the most important thing for you? If it isn’t God, then what is it? What will shape and form your life if it is not God? Some of the possibilities might surprise you: what you had for breakfast and how it agreed with you. How other people treat you, especially certain people. What people say about you. How you feel. The intensity of your desires or the weight of your burdens. Who you are with. What kind of a day it is. Too often it is things like these that design our daily lives, and yet we talk about how free we are. We are not free at all until our life is rooted in Christ and our life flows forth from him.
One pastor, in talking about biblical faith, said, "The thing about Godly faith is that it is not a burden laid upon us, but rather a crown that governs us and lifts us up forever." Lifts us up above pettiness, and worry, and fear ... and death, too. So that even when our homes and families go - and they will go, our possessions, our country, our youth, our health and our happiness - nothing will have substantially changed because our roots are still firmly embedded in the eternal fact of Jesus Christ. And our Lord says because you and I are rooted in him we will be exalted. But even that will not matter. Because the important thing, the truly important thing will not even be you or me - but that we are with Christ and that we are safe, and whole and loved ... forever! Amen.