LIKE A TREE

[SW326] 5/12/2018 message notes by 

Pastor Susan J. Wynn ©2018

Like a Tree

Text: Psalm 1

Are you like a tree, transplanted by the Lord to the banks of streams of living water? Blessed are you, if you are His tree!

What the Lord’s trees are like — 

Visible from afar

Standing above their surroundings

Always in position

Never thirsty

Vigorous (full of His life)

Bearing fruit that gives life

Never falling, never failing, never withering

Verse 1

To ask the Lord to make you like a tree is to be blessed by the Lord! So, how do you become His tree? 

The writer of this Psalm tells us the “how” of the time in which he lived. But now, because of Christ’s coming and death and resurrection and ascension and glorification, there is more to the “how!” 

Then, it was by believing in God, and doing your best to obey Him. Now that Christ has come, it is to be reconciled with God by believing into Jesus Christ and asking Him to forgive your sins. Then, you obey Jesus’ command to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

The difference? The Father gives what He has promised — a new, pure heart that loves to obey Him! Hallelujah!

When you are the Lord’s tree, you do not walk in the counsel (advice) of the wicked, those who oppose and disobey God the Father and God the Son. You walk with the Lord! Your counsel, your wisdom comes from God, and not from man (John 16:13 and forward).  

Nor do you stand (dwell) in the path (way) of sinners. You hate sin like God hates sin. And when you are filled with His Spirit, sin no longer dwells in you, because your sin nature has been crucified (Galatians 5:24)!

You speak the glorious gospel to sinners, and tell them of the great love of God for the world, that He would send His Son, so that if they will believe into Him, they will not perish but will have everlasting life!

Nor do you sit (dwell) in the seat of scoffers — those who scorn and mock the Lord, thereby sitting in judgment of Him, as if they sat in the judgment seat. But it is the Lord who will judge.

There is an exclamation point here, to close Verse 1! These are the first conditions by which you become like a tree of the Lord!

Verse 2

When you are the Lord’s tree, your delight is in the law of the Lord. You take pleasure and joy in obeying God’s Word. You love to obey the Lord. 

Indeed, you have delighted in (wrapped yourself around) the Lord (Psalm 37:4). Therefore, your desires are His desires, and He and you are greatly pleased as you watch Him fulfill them!

And because you delight in the law of the Lord, you meditate on it day and night. Your Bible is not on the shelf, but in your lap, and you read it with great delight! It is a gift that you endlessly open! 

Through it, He speaks to you continually. Even when you are not reading it, you are speaking it, and absorbing what He has taught you, pondering it in your spirit, throughout each day. 

To you, it is a love letter from your Father and His Son. You read it over and over, savoring every word.

Verse 3

So, having met the conditions — ones which you cannot work in yourself, but the Lord will work in you — you are like a tree, firmly planted (transplanted) by the Lord, beside channels of water (His living water)! 

Because you are firmly transplanted by Him, you are always in position to do His work. You are steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord (1Corinthians 15:58)! You are an oak of righteousness, the planting of the Lord (Isaiah 61:3), that He may be glorified!

Just as trees are visible from afar, and tower above the vegetation around them, you are visible from afar, not because you are anything, but because the One who planted you is in you! 

Just as trees bear fruit that provides sustenance and life, you yield fruit in your season. When is your season? It begins when you are filled with Him so His fruit is in you. Then you continually produce the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Because you are a tree of the Lord, transplanted by Him beside the stream of His living water, you are always vigorous and never thirsty, so none of your leaves wither (fall away), because His supply is continuous! From the NIV —

Jeremiah 17:7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,

whose confidence is in Him. 

⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water 

that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

and never fails to bear fruit.”

And all which you do will prosper (the original Hebrew-to-English). You will send His life out from yourself to others, as you share the gospel of Jesus Christ. It will push forward out of you and toward them. It will break out from you,  and powerfully move toward them.

Verse 4

But it is not that way with those who refuse the Lord and scoff at Him. They are not steadfastly transplanted, but blow away like chaff, the discarded shell of the wheat. They are driven away by the wind.

Verse 5

Why are they driven away? Because they have disobeyed, refused, rejected and scoffed at the Lord. So, they will not stand (rise) in the judgment that is coming. They will fall away and perish when the Lord judges them, for it was their decision to reject Him. 

He does not desire that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance (2Peter 3:9). But they have rejected Him.

So, such ones are not able to stand and be part of the assembly of those who are right in God’s eyes, unless they turn to Him.

Verse 6

For the Lord discerns the road of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish (be destroyed). He sees you just as clearly He sees me, and He sees which road you and I have chosen to take.

How is it with you? 

Do you reject Him and scoff at Him, as I did for 42 years? I testify that it is not too late to turn to Him and ask Him to forgive you. He surely forgave me, when I humbled myself before Him, repented, and believed into Jesus Christ! And when I asked Him to fill me with His Spirit, He did!

If you are a Christian, have you asked Him to make you a tree? 

Are you firmly transplanted by Him? Are you always in position to do His work?

Are you steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord? 

Are you  an oak of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified (Isaiah 61:3)? Are you visible from afar?

Do you bear the fruit of the Spirit? Are you filled with His Holy Spirit so you continuously yield His fruit?

Are you always full of His life, vigorous and never thirsty? Do you receive His continuous supply?

Does all that you do prosper? Do you send His life out from yourself to others, as you proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ? Does it push forward out of you and toward them? Does it break out from you,  and powerfully move toward them?

If not, beloved, cry out for Him to make you like a tree! Ask Him to fill you with His Spirit, O believer! You cannot make yourself a tree that partakes of His living water, you cannot transplant yourself. He transplants you! He will make you what you cannot make yourself, when you ask Him to fill you with His Spirit. Ask Him to do it today!

So be it, Lord Jesus. Amen.