Near the village of Edwinstowe in the heart of Sherwood Forest stands Major Oak. Major Oak, as you may know, is a huge oak tree approximately 16 metres in height, 3.5 metres in diameter, 23 tonnes in weight and 800-1000 years old. According to local folklore, Major Oak is where Robin Hood and his merry men found their shelter.
Another famous oak tree is Bartek Oak in Poland. Bartek Oak is only 625 years old but it out-heights and widths Major Oak in that it’s approximately 30 metres tall and has a 13.5 metre waistline – a little wide for tree-hugging. 
Bartek Oak’s crown spans 40 metres and it’s under this tree that King Casimir III was pictured holding his court.
The next oak (see ppt), The King Oak in Denmark, is estimated to be between 1,500 and 2,000 years old. It lives on an island I don’t know how to pronounce (Sjaelland) and is thought to be the oldest living organism in northern Europe.
The oldest living oak in Lithuania is Stelmuze Oak which is believed to be 1,500 years old. Stelmuze Oak is approximately 23 metres tall, as much as 3.5 metres wide and spans 13 metres at its crown. (1)
Is it any wonder that the oak tree is considered to be one of the most magnificent and significant of all trees? Oak trees were rated higher than any other tree by the Romans, Greeks, Celts, Slavs and Germanic speaking people. They are written about in poetry, sung about in songs and are even spiritual symbols for longevity, wisdom and strength. Oak trees it is said, stand the test of time. (2)
During the Day Visible from Afar,
At Night Flirting with the Stars,
O’You Grand Oak Tree.
Your Mighty Stature Sought by All,
For Matters, Thousands, Big or Small.
O’You Magnificent Oak Tree.
Don’t Mind the Lightening, Don’t Mind the Thunder,
You Will Still be Standing as a Daunting Wonder.
O’You Royal Oak Tree.
You Have Been Here Long Before,
As You Will be Here, for Many More,
O’You Mighty Oak Tree. (3)
As I’ve learnt more about oak trees this week, I have to say I’ve come to a new appreciation for Isaiah 61:1-3 and I’d like you to just listen as I read this passage to you this morning. If you’ve been with us at least once in the last six weeks you’ll know we’ve been exploring this passage along with Luke 4 which is where Jesus says He came to fulfill it. This morning I’m reading from the Amplified Bible.
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [the year of His favour] and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion – to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit—that they may be called oaks of righteousness [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
Oaks of righteousness. Lofty, strong and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice and right standing with God, that He may be glorified. As I think about this image I can’t help but contrast it with the images that go before it – the ones we’ve explored in detail over the last six weeks.
In our first sermon, Peta spoke about Jesus the I AM and how He came to give us, the I am nots abundant life. Before sin, the magnificence of God as revealed in Creation was a perfect revelation of God’s love. Since sin however our ability to see God for who He is and ourselves for who we are in Him has been destroyed and we’ve come to believe that we’re insignificant. Nobodies. We mean nothing. We are nothing. Contrast that with “lofty, strong and magnificent” oaks of righteousness!
When James spoke, he spoke about Jesus the I AM Good News and reminded us of what happens when we think we’re insignificant. When we think we’re insignificant we naturally start clamoring for significance and in Jesus’ day that meant trying to keep the law perfectly and in our day it means trying to keep up with the Jones’. When we’re not aware or we’ve forgotten that we’re “saved” by faith not works, at best we ignore, at worst we oppress the poorer, the weaker, the “anyone” who doesn’t cut the mustard. Contrast that with oaks of righteousness “distinguished for uprightness, justice and right standing with God.” (Matthew 7:21-23)
In my sermon about Jesus the I AM Healing, I shared the story of Bartimaeus, a blind beggar who was healed by Jesus on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. When Bartimaeus realised it was Jesus walking past him he started shouting and I mean shouting with the kind of desperation that you and I might shout if we too had been born blind or had a chronic or terminal illness. The kind of desperation we sometimes feel when we’re confronted by someone we love’s mortality or their lesser quality of life. (Mark 10:46-52)
This image could be compared with an image Scott spoke about when he spoke about Jesus the I AM Delivering and shared the story of the demon-possessed man who lived in a tomb. This man spent his all day every day screaming and cutting himself to pieces. He could not be subdued, Mark 5:1-18 tells us. Even when he was bound he would tear the chains that were meant to bind him apart. He would break the bonds on his feet. And that’s because the power within him was a power to destroy, not deliver.
Just last week, Peta spoke again and this time about Jesus the I AM Comforting and the story of the widow at Nain who’s only son had died. When Jesus and His disciples happened upon this woman they were walking in through the town’s gates as the funeral procession was walking out. In my mind it is far too easy to picture this image. I can hear the woman’s loss. Her loneliness. Her fear. It is no wonder Jesus was moved with compassion. (Luke 7:11-16)
These images, these people represent you and me church. They represent you and me before Jesus, without Jesus. Without “Jesus the I want to plant you as a mighty oak of righteousness!” These images of insignificance, desperation, craziness and grief, they are all images that “Jesus the I love you” came to restore. Could it be that you need to be restored - maybe again? Listen to what Shawn McDonald has to say about this . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3CZIoJZ56Y
Have you ever? (4)
Have you ever wanted to be someone else
Have you ever wanted just to be someone
Have you ever wanted to reach your dreams
Have you ever wanted life to be more than it seems
I have tasted of a love so wide
That it stops all my time
I have tasted of a love so deep
That it blows my mind
Have you ever wanted to reach up and touch the sky
Have you ever wanted to pack it up and say good-bye
Have you ever wanted someone to care
Have you ever wanted someone to be there
I have tasted of a love so wide
That it stops all my time
I have tasted of a love so deep
That it blows my mind
He is sweet, He is sweet
What you’re looking for
Is my sweet, sweet Jesus
What you’re looking for
Is my sweet Lord
Is he right? Might it be Jesus who you are looking for? Could He somehow be the answer to your current depression, sickness, oppression or grief? In what way do you need Him to encourage, heal, deliver or comfort you? Do you believe He could plant you as a Major Oak? A mighty oak of righteousness?!
If your answer is yes, I need to warn you that post-Creation, Major Oaks don’t just appear. Just like any tree starts with a seed, when Jesus plants us as an oak of righteousness, He plants us as a seed and if we want to grow, we will need what all seeds need to grow - light, water and food. I guess it comes as no surprise then that it was Jesus who said, “I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness.” (John 12:46) “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.” (7:37-38) “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.” (John 6:35) Come. Come. Can you Him say, “Come?” That’s every day. Not just today. Every day coming to the source of light and water and food. Every day walking and talking with Him. Every day spending time in His Word. That’s how we become mighty oaks of righteousness.
A second warning. This still won’t prevent disease. Even with light and water and food, trees are still vulnerable to disease and unless we’re living according to the Word we’re reading, we too will be vulnerable. “Guard your heart more than anything else,” Proverbs 4:23 says, “because the source of your life flows from it.” “Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, that yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do they prosper.” (Psalm 1:1-3) If we want to guard against disease, we’re going to have to guard against sin.
A final warning. There will still be storms. Even though we’re planted by the One who stills storms, there will still be storms for the One who stills storms to still. Did you get that? What I’m saying is that as oaks of righteousness we’re still going to have to weather storms. But how well we weather these storms will be determined by where we put our trust. “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places in the wilderness, and in uninhabited salt land. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:5-8) (5)
Do you believe it? I can promise you it’s true! No I definitely haven’t arrived but I can testify that I’m a significantly different person today than I was ten years ago. And that’s only because Jesus has been my Good News, my Healer, my Deliverer and my Comforter. It is Jesus who is enabling me how to be an evergreen, to not get anxious, to bear fruit.
I don’t know if this has also been your experience or where you’re at today. Maybe you’re a seed and you’ve realised you need to give your life to Jesus in order to become a Major Oak? Maybe you’re a sapling and you’ve realised you need to spend time with the source of light and water and food every day? Maybe there’s something coming between you and God,and you’ve realised you need to repent, to ask for forgiveness? Or maybe there’s something you simply need to trust God with?
No matter where you are on this journey, I want to encourage you to commit to the next step by showing you what’s possible with the great I AM. Take a look at these pics and see how God is enabling these people to live out the words to this song . . . (see ppt)
And now my lifesong sings (6)
I once was lost, but now I’m found
I once was lost, but now I’m found
So far away, but I’m home now
I once was lost, but now I’m found
And now my lifesong sings
I once was blind, but now I see
I once was blind, but now I see
I don’t know how, but when He touched me
I once was blind, but now I see
And now my lifesong sings
And now my lifesong sings
And now my lifesong sings
I once was dead, but now I live
I once was dead, but now I live
Now my life to You I give
Now my life to You I give
Now my life to You I give
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Let my lifesong sing to You
_ _ _ _ _
(1) http://purpleslinky.com/trivia/history/famous-oak-trees-in-the-world/
(2) http://ezinearticles.com/?Key-Facts-about-the-Oak-Tree&id=313537
(3) An Oak Tree by Zalmai Roashan (verses 1, 2, 9 and 11)
(4) Have you ever? Shawn McDonald: Live in Seattle
(5) http://www.youversion.com/contributions/46378/trees-of-righteousness
(6) And now my lifesong sings Mark Hall, Casting Crowns: Lifesong
