The Fallen Tree || State Road Church Of The Nazarene

So growing up my my family heated our home with

a wood -burning stove in fact they stayed with

that until I went to college and my brother went

to college and Ironically when we both went to

college they put it in a furnace So I I think

that there might be something to that but growing

up that meant that we spent most of our Saturdays

especially in the fall and early winter doing

the same thing cut Carrie split, stack, repeat.

But this Saturday was a little bit different

because my grandfather was in town and he was

ready to lend us a hand with our cut, carry,

split, stack routine. And we had been kind of

eyeballing this dead tree that was just a couple

miles from our house and it was right in the

middle of this deep, it was kind of in the middle

in the heart of this stand of timber. So there

was really only one direction that we could cause

it to fall that would be the right one There

was one shot one angle and we of course completely

missed it So the tree ends up wedged in another

tree high up in the top branches almost like

it was trapped there Then my grandfather who

was never one to be outdone by gravity Decided

that it was time to tie a rope around his waist

the other end of the rope around a chainsaw And

he began to shimmy up the tree. No harness, no

helmet, just raw grit and old school streak of

recklessness and stupidity. So he ends up about

30 feet up off the ground, and he starts lobbing

branches off like a wild man. Just with something

to watch. There's branches falling down around

him. It's this chaotic storm. And even as a kid,

I remember thinking to myself, this will not

end well. So and then crack The sound of surrender

the final limbs gave way and the tree Began to

fall so my grandfather did the only thing that

he could with the time that he had He took the

chainsaw and chucked it away from him now mind

you he's still tied to it But he chucks the chainsaw

you can kind of see it jerk in his waist as it

falls to the ground and he wraps his arms around

the tree, and it was a large tree, but he wraps

his arms and his legs around the tree and he

rides it all the way to the ground like some

wild lumberjack cowboy. It was loud, it was dramatic,

it was unforgettable, and what struck me about

that later was how that single fallen tree drew

all the attention that day. The crash echoed,

the chaos was forever burned into our memory.

But all about that, there was something else

that was still going on. Quietly, steadily, unnoticed,

the rest of the forest was still growing. There's

an old Italian proverb that says this, a tree

that falls makes more noise than a forest that

grows. So think about that for a little bit a

tree that falls makes more noise Than a forest

that grows that single line captures how? Many

of us live when a tree falls. It's loud it crashes

it breaks it demands attention We hear it we

try to run as far away from that as we possibly

can Hopefully it's in the right direction if

you know what I mean because there again you

might be running in the wrong direction, but

we try to run away from it as fast as we can.

We feel it. We not only feel it on the outside,

but we feel it on the inside because our heart

beats faster. And all the while something else

is happening quietly, steadily, and invisibly.

The forest is still growing. Roots stretch deep.

Life spreads wide. The forest doesn't need to

be loud to be alive. This proverb invites us

to consider what we pay attention to. So I think

the question for us today is this, do we only

notice what's broken, what's fallen, or loud?

Or do we see what's quietly, redemptively, and

faithfully growing? I'll be the first to admit

that this is often a challenging task. And it's

easy for us to get sucked into all of the things

that are loud and vie for our attention. Elijah

knew something about these loud moments too.

So it's one of those that I hope they have on

Blu -ray when I get to heaven. So, I mean, you

know the story well. He has this showdown on

top of Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal.

Fire falls from heaven. The entire nation's watching.

The false prophets are defeated. You would think

that victory would have left Elijah feeling very

strong, but it didn't. Because there was this

woman by the name of Jezebel and Jezebel was

loud and Jezebel decided that she was going to

threaten Elijah's life So just like a tree that

would be falling Elijah does the exact same thing.

He runs for his life He eventually finds a cave

and he's gonna hide in it. He's afraid he's depleted.

He's undone God shows up and says hey, I want

you to come out from the cave I want you to stand

on the side of the mountain because he's about

to pass by So then the Bible tells us that there

was a mighty rushing wind that tore through the

rocks, but then the Bible says the Lord wasn't

in the wind. Then there was an earthquake, and

the Bible says still the Lord wasn't in the earthquake.

And then there was a fire, and then the Bible

says that he wasn't in the fire either. Finally,

a still small voice, just a gentle whisper, God

shows up, and that's how he speaks to Elijah.

God was not in the loud things that were going

on. He was in the quiet and in the hidden. Elijah

didn't find God in the chaos or the noise but

in the silence and maybe that's the lesson for

us. Roots don't grow in the spotlight. Life takes

hold underground. Often the process of growth

is much slower than we'd all like it to be, right?

So we would all like to grow and it just does

not happen nearly as fast as we would like. The

fallen tree represents those loud moments of

loss and pain in crisis, the parts of life that

seem to collapse around us without warning. And

we all have them. Things like a sudden death,

a diagnosis, a shattered relationship, a deep

betrayal, a season of burnout or spiritual exhaustion.

And if you can't think of one in your own life,

You do understand that we don't have to look

very far to find people who are experiencing

that, because we live in a world surrounded by

fallen trees. Job knew what it was like to be

surrounded by fallen trees. If you have your

Bible there with you, you can turn with me to

a couple passages in Job. The first one is Job

Job 1:13–19

chapter 1 verses 13 through 19. I won't read

it all to you, but this is what's going on in

Job chapter 1 verses 13 through 19. So this is

Job 1:13–19

how the story really begins. Job the passage

starts off and says that Job was a righteous

man and there's this conversation between God

and Satan and and Satan basically says this he's

like hey Job's faithful to you because you're

really good to him and if you were to take your

hand off of him even just for a moment that that

Job would curse you and He wouldn't follow you

anymore and God's like yeah, that's just not

job. So Satan's allowed to kind of do his number

on job And so really it starts to unfold in verse

13 and all these messengers start lining up and

they're coming with all of these kinds of heartbreaking

news. The first messenger shows up and he says,

hey Joe Blitzen, all of your livestock, they're

now dead. Like everything that you own as far

as livestock, every one of them are dead. And

before he can finish saying that, there's another

servant... He's waiting to give another message

to Job and the second one says hey Joe not only

is that guy true He's telling you the truth,

but all of your servants have been murdered And

before he can get that out of his mouth The next

servant is like hey I've got some message for

him too and this message is that fire has fallen

from heaven and Your children have all been lost

fallen tree after fallen tree Each time before

one even finishes speaking the other one has

already arrived. The noise is deafening The trauma

is layered. The fall is Relentless the Hebrew

word that's used throughout Job's story to describe

this kind of disaster is raw Say that you'll

just feel smart raw. In fact, I think it's even

up on the screen Maybe maybe not raw. So if we

were to transliterate it into English, it would

be RA AH, Ra 'ah. So the word Ra 'ah means several

things. It's used as evil. So like this isn't

just a bad day. There's something evil going

on here. That's different than just having a

bad day, right? So I mean when you think about

evil, there's willful intent involved. So this

isn't just that things are falling apart, but

that somebody's doing this on purpose. It also

means trouble or calamity. But here's the thing

about the word Ra 'al as it's used throughout

the Old Testament. It's more than just all of

that. It points to moral and existential anguish.

His pain wasn't just about those circumstances.

It was a soul deep crushing kind of pain. Well,

all doesn't just mean that it's bad news. It's

the kind of trouble that makes you question your

place in the world Have you had one of those

things that happen to you? You're like what in

the world am I doing here? This doesn't make

any sense. That's what's going on with him and

the same is true for us, too When our own trees

fall, we don't just feel the loss we feel disoriented

We feel unmoored and at times we even feel spiritually

abandoned. The noise of suffering can drown out

the quieter truths that we once believed. If

only we were able to remind ourselves in those

moments that a tree that falls makes more noise

than a forest that grows. While we have to deal

with the noise, it doesn't last forever. So here's

the the revelation in all of that The fallen

tree is not the end and sometimes The fallen

tree is actually the beginning of deeper growth

Now I don't want you to hear me say that and

and think that and I in any way and minimizing

the pain of the fallen tree Because I'm not I

think that it would be irresponsible to do that.

I'm not minimizing that at all, but the reality

is that often in those fallen trees, because

God's still faithful even in those moments, that

it can be the beginning of something good, that

God can cause growth to happen in us even in

those moments. When a tree falls in the forest

it isn't wasted, it becomes soil for the next

generation of life. If that makes sense, go like

this. So you've seen that played out. So it feeds

other things that are about to take place. It

clears the canopy of sunlight so that the sunlight

can reach the ground in ways that it didn't before,

and it makes room for new things to flourish.

So have you ever watched as a tree fell in your

life? In the moment it was incredibly painful.

You question why, and sometime down the road

God brings something new into your life that

would not have been possible if the tree was

still standing. Have you watched this happen?

So I've been on the fence about this, about how

much of this I want to share with you, but I

directed or was a part of preteen camp at least

on our district for 32 consecutive years. I didn't

do it so that I could say I was a part of our

camp for 32 years. That's not why I did it. I

would say that I almost kind of called to camp,

and I just believe in what happens at camp. I

mean if you just look at it from a stats point

of view. So if we had students who were in church

every week of the year, which doesn't happen

anymore by the way. So there was a time like

if you said you were an average if you went if

you were a regular church attender what you meant

by that is that you attended church at least

46 Sundays of the year. That's what you meant

by that. And today when somebody says I'm a regular

church attender it means that they attend about

20 times a year. That's just what the stats are.

So if you're above 20 times a year, I mean you're

like exceptional, but 20 times a year. So if

we had children here for 20 times a year and

we had them for a full hour, which we don't,

but if we did that would be 20 hours of time

that we can invest in a child's life. So how

many hours do we have them when they're at camp?

Considering that they come on Monday, They're

there the rest of the day Monday. They're there

all day Tuesday all day Wednesday all day Thursday

and half a day on Friday How many hours do we

have to invest in them? How many of you think

it's a lot more than 20 So here's the point So

we're given an opportunity to invest far more

time into a student's life Then we would have

an entire year if they were at church And there's

also just something about seeing that lived out

in people's lives. I believe in camp. I always

have. And I don't want to go into all the details

with it, but through circumstances that were

not my own choosing, that 32 -year time of being

involved in children's camps came to an end.

And it was a tree that fell. And it was painful.

If you asked Anita about it, it was painful for

her. It was painful for me. I think it was more

painful for me, but we don't need to get into

all of that. But I can't tell you that it was

a little painful for her. It was painful for

me. But here's the reality. If that tree hadn't

fallen, I wouldn't have been able to direct teen

camp this year. And when Jeremy, who was going

to direct teen camp, when he would have called

and said, hey Phil, is there any way that you

could direct this camp this year? The answer

would have been, Have you lost your mind? No,

I can't direct that camp. I've got my own to

direct I'm not gonna be able to help you direct

yours. You're gonna have to come up with another

option But here's the point that I want you to

see in all of that So even though that that tree

that fell was painful and it's not something

that I would have chosen on my own Yet God was

up to something good in the midst of it, right?

And God was allowing something new to be done

in a place that once I mean, it just looked like

it was a fallen tree. It was just something that

was gonna be painful. Does that make sense? And

I think that God's up to that in our lives more

often than we sometimes realize. That where it

looks like it's just a fallen tree, it could

be the beginning of something that God's doing

that's new. So spiritually the same thing happens.

Through Job's life, though it seemed to be destroyed,

God was still working. His pain wasn't proof

of God's absence, but it was proof that God was

about to bring restoration into his life. Job

Job 42:10–17

chapter 42 verses 10 through 17. You can't turn

there. I'm just going to give you one verse that's

there. So this is Job chapter 42 verse 10 and

Job 42:10

this is the English standard version. This is

what it says, and the Lord restored the fortunes

of Job when he prayed for his friends and the

Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Just one simple verse. Filled with profound truth,

but here it is The Lord restored the fortunes

of Job and here's the thing that I want you to

notice first one when he prayed for his friends

It's so important The Lord restored the fortune

of Job When he prayed for his friends and the

Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before

So three observations that I want to point out

about that simple First one is this. Restoration

comes after intercession. In fact, that's easy

enough. Say it with me. Restoration comes after

intercession. So Job's turning point wasn't just

after his suffering ended. It was after he prayed

for others, even the ones who had misunderstood

and mistreated him. There's deep power in forgiving

and interceding for others Things didn't turn

around for Job Until he started praying for other

people The second one is this It's that phrase

that says it was twice as much as he had before

The Hebrew word for restored is the word shove

Now don't do it to the person beside you, but

it's that word shove Don't shove them. It's not

nice. But the Hebrew word shove means to return,

to bring back, to make whole again. It's more

than just getting stuff back. It's a spiritual

and relational restoration. Job wasn't just repaired.

He was renewed. God didn't just return Job's

life to normal. He doubled it. So a lot of times

when we think about the painful things, when

we think about the trees that fall in our life,

what we want is to get back to normal. And the

reality is, we don't ever get back to normal.

So the reality is that we just have to find what

the new normal is going to be. And the thing

that's amazing about this passage is, and I get

all of that, I talk about that all the time,

especially in the context of trauma and crisis,

I get that, I understand that, but Job's example

is not just that he got back to normal, but that

he had twice as much as he did before he went

into this entire thing. If you read through the

entire passage there in Job chapter 42, you'll

Job 42 · chapter mention

read about that he had twice as many sons and

daughters, he had twice the number of livestock,

and it goes through and details all of those

things. God literally gave him back twice what

he had lost. Here's the third thing that I want

you to see. It's the quiet truth behind the noise

of suffering. While Job's story is filled with

loud laments and debates and loss, The final

act is quiet. It's restoration through humility,

prayer, and grace. And here's the thing that

I want you to catch in all of that. So if you

read through the entire book, Job goes through

a ton of stuff. I mean just a ton of stuff. But

in the midst of it, God never once stopped working.

God was faithful to keep working through the

entire thing. We just didn't hear the forest

growing over the sound of the fall of the tree.

It's easy for us to do we hear all of that noise

and it's easy for us just to get caught up in

that So here's the good news the big fancy word

that we would say is here's the gospel Which

just means the good news So like when people

when we share the gospel with people it should

be good news because that's what it means So

if we share the gospel with them, and it's nothing

but bad news. That's not the gospel right Are

you if you're with me go like this? The gospel

means the good news and if it's not good news,

it's not the gospel. So here's the good news

Jesus entered our world of fallen trees He endured

the greatest fall of all the cross and from it,

but the greatest growth the resurrection Not

just his but yours That's pretty incredible.

When Jesus stood at Lazarus' tomb, he didn't

ignore the pain. He didn't say things like, well,

just focus on the good. This is one of my pet

peeves, so this one's painful for me to even

say. But he didn't say things like, well, I guess

heaven needed another angel. Let me just stop

here for a second. until you don't ever say that

to someone, okay? Don't ever say that or anything

like it. Don't ever say anything like that. If

you don't know what to say, say nothing. Just

stand there and say nothing. It's better to show

up. Don't say silly things like that. That is

terrible theology. And you make God out to be

a monster. And God's not a monster. Don't say

things like, heaven needed another angel. That's

terrible theology. Terrible. God didn't need

another angel. It doesn't work like that Okay,

your loved one doesn't become an angel. That's

a terrible theology. I'm sorry. Okay, I'm done.

I'll feel better now He didn't say any of those

silly things Do you know what he did do? He wept

It's John 11 .35. It's the shortest verse in

the Bible. So if you ever need to know a verse

in the Bible, like if you need to quote a verse

in the Bible, I would strongly encourage John

11 .35. Jesus wept. I mean, there it is. Two

words. And you're absolutely right. Shortest

verse in the Bible. Jesus wept. So the word that's

used there is decryo. D -A -K -R -O is how we

would put it in English. Decryo. And decryo means

to shed quiet personal tears. It's very different

than loud public wailing. It's intimate, compassionate,

real. Here's the thing that I want you to see

in that. Jesus was fully present with the pain

and yet fully confident in the resurrection to

come. And he holds those two in tension. It's

not that he didn't engage with the pain or that

he's just like, you know, think on the positive.

No, he fully embraced the pain. He fully has

his brain and his heart around the pain and at

the same time He balanced it with the fact that

while I am fully gonna come in contact and grip

with the pain I fully am going to embrace the

fact that this isn't the end that the resurrection

is going to happen in Romans 8 28 Paul reminds

us and we know that in all things God works together

for good for those who love him who have been

called according to his purpose the Greek word

there is synergy Oh It's where we get the word

synergy. So the word works that synergy Oh So

God works. What does that mean? That means he

works in cooperation. He works together with

he partners with us. It's Synergy, so that's

what he does in the painful things of our life.

He cooperates he works with them He rolls up

his sleeves and gets involved. He doesn't just

say you know what that really sucks I'm sorry

that you're having a bad day. That's not the

God that we serve He rolls up his sleeves and

gets involved. He partners with us in our pain

He's present with us in our pain He fully is

he's in there in the pain with us and yet he

holds intention the fact that it's not the end

That even though it's painful and it's difficult.

It's not the final word That he's up to something

good even in the midst of it. God does not stand

at a distance Sounds like a terrible song with

terrible theology. From a distance, it's terrible

theology. That's not the God that we serve. He's

not passive at all. He's actively partnering

with us in our pain to bring something beautiful

from it. The cross, I think, demonstrates that

most clearly. A tree fell, it was loud, but from

that tree came life, salvation, resurrection,

and eternal hope. So what do we do with all of

this? a couple things, four of them. Here are

the things that I think we need to do with this.

First, we need to care for the fallen tree. What

do I mean by that? We're not called to ignore

suffering. Romans 12 -15 says this, mourn with

those who mourn. Job cried, Jesus cried, we can

cry too. I'm not talking about ignoring the pain.

I'm not talking about putting a candy coating

on it. It's okay for us to take care of the fallen

tree. Being people of hope doesn't mean that

we pretend everything's fine. It means that we

hold grief and faith together, fully present

in the pain and fully convinced of the resurrection.

That's what it means to be people of faith. That

we fully hold the pain, but we fully hold on

to the fact that this isn't the final word. Number

two, we focus on the growing forest. Don't let

your crash be your whole story. You know, you've

heard the expression, right? Don't miss the forest

for the trees. And it's easy for us to do that,

right? We miss the forest for the trees. So this

one tree that's falling, we give all of our attention

to that and we miss the fact that the rest of

the forest is growing. So ask God to give us

eyes that are open to the forest, the quiet places

that He's working, places like renewing strength.

renewing character and deepening compassion and

causing spiritual growth. Paul says in 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 4:16–18

chapter 4 verses 16 through 18 says this, though

outwardly we're wasting away, inwardly we're

being renewed day by day. So the Greek word used

there, I'm a biblical language nerd but you already

knew that, the Greek word that's used there is

anacanu. If you want to feel smart you can say

that, anacanu. word that's used there for, he's

making, he's making things new. The word that

is, that word anakenu means to make new again

and again and again and again and again and again

and again. Sometimes I often think that we think

of it as like a one and done, like it's a quick

one -time fix. That's not the word that's used

there at all. That day by day he's... making

it new. He's working. He's bringing about those

things over and over again. It's an ongoing work.

Number three, we need to trust in the quiet work

of the Spirit. It's like the mustard seed in

Mark 4. It's 30 through 32. The kingdom starts

small and grows slowly. Here's that passage.

With what can we compare the kingdom of God or

what parable shall we use for it? It's like a

grain of mustard seed. which when sown on the

ground is the smallest of all the seeds of the

earth, yet when it is sown it grows." That's

the word I want you to notice, grows. It grows

until it becomes larger than all the garden plants

and puts out large branches so that the birds

of the air can make their nest in it. The word

grows in verse 32. The Greek word that's used

there is a present tense verb, meaning that the

growth is active, continual, and unstoppable.

So like this, the seed gets sown, And once it

gets sown, God's work continues on and on and

on and on and on and on, and it's unstoppable.

It doesn't matter what happens, the seed will

continue to grow because God will be faithful

to do that. God's doing something right now in

your life, even if it's still beneath the surface.

Even if you can't see it right now, God's up

to something good in your life right now. The

last one. Live with resurrection hope. Here's

what I mean by that. Be someone who helps others

see the forest. Speak life. Speak growth. Speak

God's quiet work over loud pain. Those are the

four things that I wanted to point out that we

can do with the trees that fall. The old Italian

proverb, a tree that falls makes more noise than

a forest that grows. I think it's true, but noise

isn't the same thing as truth. The fallen tree

is real and painful, but it's not final. So here's

what I want to encourage you to do with me today.

Lift up your head, let your hope rise, and let

your heart believe again. God's not just rebuilding

what was lost. He's renewing you day by day.

He's not just watching over the ruins He's partnering

with you in your pain And even when you cannot

see it You can trust that the forest is still

growing So today we're gonna sing a song in just

a second. I'm not sure which one that'll be but

Anyways, we'll figure it out together But I do

want to give an invitation to all who are here

and to all who are watching online either right

now or throughout the week. So today, here's

the invitation. If you're standing in the aftermath

of something that's fallen, it could be a relationship,

a dream, a season of your life, I want you to

know this, that you're not alone. If the noise

of grief or fear has drowned out your hope, if

you're wondering where God is in the silence,

the invitation is for you. And here's the invitation.

Come Come to the God who meets us not just in

the fire and power but the still small voice

Come to the one who brings beauty from ashes

who takes was broken and plants new life Come

and lay down the weight of what's fallen and

open up your heart to what's quietly steadily

and faithfully growing The forest is still growing

Will you trust him with what you cannot see?

We say yes to the whisper that still small voice

We say yes to the mustard seed that once it gets

sown into our life That it continues to grow

and grow and grow and is unstoppable. Will you

say yes to that? We say yes to the quiet unstoppable

work of God