The Planting of a Cypress Tree

Connection Fellowship
4th Anniversary Celebration
Sunday, March 29, 2009
The Planting of a Cypress Tree
Isaiah 55:6-13
INTRODUCTION
Thanks, Dana, for investing your life and ministry with us today. We are honored you would come today. We are honored that all of you came to share this day with us. This is a very special day. I tend to be a very driven person who likes to get to the next task. But I am learning the importance of remembering what God has done. Near the end of the service, we will see a presentation to help celebrate the past four years.
But before that, I want to share with you something that God has been doing in my heart for the past few months in regard to the church. Not only for this corporate body, but for us individually and for the body of Christ in general. Last week, we finished our series in Psalms by talking about our greatest personal desire…which should be God Himself.
But what is God’s desire for us? We talk about ‘making disciples’ as being God’s call on our lives. We believe that this is captured in our vision of ‘Connecting the World to Christ…on person at a time.” But what impact can it have on a whole community? Our text this morning gives a brief prescription, but then paints a beautiful picture of what that can look like as we join together…as a community of believers…pursuing our greatest desire…God Himself…and making Him known to others.

TEXT
6 Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. 12 “For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13 “Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, And it will be a memorial to the Lord, For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.”
The prophet, Isaiah, speaks to the Jewish people who have been in captivity for over 50 years. It was not all bad. They had been allowed to obtain property and even own businesses. But now they had to make a choice to either stay in Babylon or go home to Jerusalem and start over. They could stay where they had become comfortable in this land of pagans…or return to God’s promised land as God’s promised people. Many were having trouble with the decision, so Isaiah exhorts them with a spiritual prescription and then paints a picture of what could be.
UNDERSTANDING
First, they were comfortable where they were…in captivity. We can often convince ourselves that we are O.K. being O.K. But Isaiah says [v. 1] to seek God…with great desire… while He may be found. God was near, He would hear, and would come through on His promises to His people. But they were reluctant to call on their heavenly Father.
As a college student, I occasionally needed help. I knew that my Dad could provide it. However, I knew that if I called or went home, I would have to live under my Father’s rules. The Jews were not surprised with the next step of the prescription: Live right…think right! And even if you haven’t been living right or thinking right, God is ready to forgive.
God tells them, through Isaiah, that what He has for them is so much greater than they could ever think or envision. We so often try to put God into the box of our limited ‘thinking’ and our limited ‘methods’. He reminds them He is God and they are not. He is God and we are not!
He goes on to tell them that the Word of God is not like our human effort that often gets wasted on fruitless endeavors. No, God’s Word never fails to accomplish its purpose. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul reminds of the same thing…but goes on to tell us that it is not only effective, but that it is also sufficient for every area of life. I shared with someone this week that as I listened to their circumstance, all I knew to tell them was what God’s Word said. It would work when human advice falls so short. It’s the only thing in life that always works.
In v. 12, Isaiah begins painting a glorious picture of what could happen if the prescription were followed. He says they would experience great joy. Then he begins to speak about nature’s response to their decision to follow God and live by His Word. This was a bit puzzling to me. But then I read it in the context of Genesis when Adam lived in the garden with his wife and all of nature seemed to be working with him. When he turned to his own way, nature started working against him. When we get in line with God plan…we get in line for God’s blessing.
Then look what he says will happen. He says that I CYPRESS will come up instead of thorns. Could we all agree that everywhere we go in culture there is desert and thorns? Our culture is full of dry places with annoying briars that rip us up…no matter how thick our skin is. But when we seek God and follow His prescription, a Cypress tree grows.
As I considered the Cypress tree this week, I found a few things out. First, a Cypress can grow almost anywhere…on a rocky cliff, in a swamp, in a field, or in conjunction with a forest. Second, they almost always have roots exposed above the ground.
As we consider allowing God to plant us as a Cypress tree, we realize that if we followed the prescription, this beautiful tree can grow where God has placed us. And as some of the roots are exposed, we cannot hide that it is the root of Jesus Christ and the Truth of His Word to which we are grounded and through which we receive our nourishment.
When this tree begins to grow and becomes stable in its foundation, it will provide shade to many who will gather beneath it or pass under its branches. And as it continues to expand both upward and downward, the language here says that it will transform the dry desert in which it has been planted…and it will be a banner for the name of God who planted it and caused it to grow where nothing else would.

CONCLUSION
We are left with these questions:

Are we too comfortable in this culture that holds many captive? Or will we allow God to plant us as a Cypress Tree in this community that will transform the desert of our culture and replace the thorns that are tearing up and destroying the lives of people all around us?

And if we desire to be that beautiful Cypress Tree in the desert that becomes a banner and a testimony to the name and grace of God, will we follow the prescription of seeking God diligently, of living and thinking righteously, and by speaking and living by the Word of God that has the ability to change a life…and a community into an oasis of hope?


May each of us individually and corporately be the people (and the church) through whom God will grow a cypress that will transform this dessert of sin, emptiness and thirst into an oasis of righteousness, refreshment, and restoration. But this starts with responding to God’s invitation to come and seek Him while He is near. And He is near…listening for you to call upon Him. Would you do that this morning?

Whatever you need it (for salvation, for God’s intervention in your life, or for Him to prune you into the strong shade tree you need to be) call on Him now.