Blog 3, Deep Rootedness, Part 1

BLOG #3 Deep Rootedness, Part 1

First Letter From John:

     “When the winds of hard times and persecution hit, will we stand or fall?  How deep our roots go will definitely be a factor.” Dana Acker

                                               

 Note about John’s letter.

            This letter to Dana was written some time ago. Circumstances in my life were causing me a crisis of faith.  Although the letter is edited, readers should be able to gather that my trust in God and His word was being relentlessly tested. Dana encouraged me to seek “deep rootedness” in God and His word. Deep rootedness, there’s a word most church goers don’t often hear on Sunday mornings, but without it, when the winds of adversity come, will you bend or break?

            I am a sailor. This reminds me of a line from one of my favorite hymns, “Will your anchor hold in the storms of life....”  Even the title, We Have An Anchor (see Hebrews 6:19, We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast... NET Bible) tells the tempest tossed person that although the storms of life will come, everyone needs an anchor. Hopefully, your anchor is Jesus.

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Hi Dana

            Happy New Year. I pray that all is well with you both.

             ....I think one of the harder parts of this, is actually trusting God. Over the past number of months or so, the rubber-meets-the-road reality of trusting God has emerged as one of the foundational issues of my current Christian walk. I know the platitudes and the Christianese. I know what the Bible says and can even quote some of it. I've taught it, and preached it. But actually doing it....ah, there's the rub. In addition, I have found it hard to trust those who I should be able to trust.  

             I also need prayer for a good paying job.

             Are you still at the winery? How's things been with you?

 Your foxhole buddy

 

John

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Dana’s Reply:

    Hey John,

      I am so sorry for your troubles.  Because of the circumstances you are facing, losing trust is most hurtful and disillusioning.  It "leaves a mark."

      There was a time when I would say that "Unfortunately" these things happen.  No longer do I subscribe to that. I believe now that God has something much deeper and more profound in mind, and that is conforming us to the image of Christ.

        In Romans 8, Paul writes that the genuine, born again child of God has been predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ. Seeing that the word “predestinated” is used here, we must be careful to not get sidetracked, and wander off message by entering into the endless debate over Calvinist or Arminian thoughts of predestination vs free will in Christian salvation. To do so entirely misses the point I am trying to make.

       What Paul is saying, is that for the true Christian, God, from long before we were born (Psalm 139:16), has set in motion, a plan to bring about, and use the events in our lives which He knows will make each of us more like Jesus. Taking Romans 8 seriously, we walk away from that passage with the knowledge (and hopefully the encouragement or comfort) that in all of the circumstances which God allows us to experience, the good, the bad, and the ugly, He does not abandon us, we cannot be separated from His love for us, and, as I have heard Alistair Begg say repeatedly, He is working in and through all those things for His glory and for our good.

      In 1 Peter 4:12 we are exhorted not to be surprised by fiery trials. While Paul in Romans 5 tells us that tribulation produces "patience," this is not the best translation of the Greek.  The word is better understood as "deep rootedness."  When we look at the world and the exponential rise of evil which has occurred just since we have known one another, it is stunning.  Like Billy Graham has said, "If God doesn't soon judge America; He will owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology."

      Are we in the true "last days?"  That is something I cannot answer definitively, but I can say we are 2000 years closer to the real last days than when John was given the Revelation. Evil is getting worse.  The onslaught against Christianity is coming.  Many will fall away when the tomato gets thrown into the electric fan.  Of all the qualities God could build into His children other than Christlikeness, the most needed is certainly "deep rootedness."  When the winds of hard times and persecution hit, will we stand or fall?  How deep our roots go will definitely be a factor.

     If we are to reign with Christ, we will not get there by the eloquence of our sermons, the success of our Christian endeavors, or whether or not we win the predestination/free will argument.  No sir!  We reign with Him because we have suffered with Him.

      Suffering takes many forms.  Martyrdom is certainly one of the means.  Imprisonment for Christ is another.  But God in His omniscience also knows what type of suffering to allow in our lives to both make us more like Jesus, and to make our roots go deeper so that when we have "...done all to stand...stand therefore." (Ephesians 6)

     Brother, I hurt for you.  I personally know this kind of treachery and pain. And while it may not seem like much comfort now as "the rubber is in the process of hitting the road," still, the delay (in seeing some resolution) and your corresponding commitment to act like a Christian in the midst of such trying and painful dealings, is, as Brother Carr would say, "...making investments in the Bank of Heaven."  You cannot discount that, John.  You simply cannot.

      (Note: Brother Carr was the President of Valley Forge Christian College while we were students there. He is one to whom we owe a deep debt of eternal gratitude.)

      And through all the pain and frustration, if you cannot now grasp the significance of Brother Carr’s statement--that is OK. The Holy Spirit prays for us when we just can't manage it as we should (see Rom 8:26) And He burdens other's hearts to help carry that load. 

      You are approaching resolution through Scriptural means.  You have been and are now laying up treasures in Heaven, incomparable to any monetary value down here, you are being made to look more like Jesus, and even if it doesn't seem so while in the midst of the storm, He is growing your roots deeper, so that if the whip comes down in our lifetimes, you will "...stand therefore."

      The suffering and tribulation with which my family has had to deal was regarding health concerns; yours is regarding finances. But in all these things (Romans 8) God has proven faithful, and while each day I get up and go into the bathroom and look into the mirror and see me staring back at me, I know that I know that I know that one day whether I die first or Jesus comes back, that one day I will look into that mirror and it will no longer be me looking back. That old, gray, grizzled visage will be gone, and I will reflect the image of the King. Hallelujah!

     You are in the midst of the storm--nothing seems right.  But, as Brother Grazier (note: the Greek and  Romans professor at Valley Forge Christian College who had a tremendous impact on so many students through the years) used to say, it's times like these when the Holy Spirit takes the controls and prays through our inadequacies, and, as it were, puts us on auto-pilot. To paraphrase Job, "God knows the way that you take."

     I am still in the winery, busy as ever.  The depth of understanding of Biblical passages mentioning vineyards, wine, winepresses, wineskins, and the like has been profound.

     You are in our prayers.

     Love you, Brother,

     Dana