2.02.05. Rooted in love
V. ROOTED IN LOVE.
“Rooted and grounded in love.” — Ephesians 3:17. ON bended knees and with bursting heart the Apostle of the Gentiles, from his prison at Rome, pleads with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus in behalf of his beloved brethren at Ephesus, that they may be “ rooted and grounded in love.”
These two distinct conceptions are very frequently united in the Scriptures. (For examples of this union, see Psalms 144:12; and 1 Corinthians 3:19.) Two cognate conceptions — one borrowed from the processes of nature, and the other from human art — are employed to indicate at once the life, the growth, the strength, and the stability of a Christian’s hope. A tree and a tower are the material objects which are used here as alphabetic letters to express a spiritual thought. More particularly, as a tree depends for life and growth upon its roots being embedded in a genial soil, and a tower depends for strength and stability upon its foundation, the apostle desires, by aid of these conceptions, to express and illustrate the corresponding features of the Christian life. If disciples are compared to living trees, love is the soil they grow in; if they are compared to a building, love is the foundation on which it stands secure.
Dropping from view now the second of these associated conceptions, we shall confine our regard to the first. A believing man, pleading with God in behalf of fellowbelievers, prays that they may “ be rooted in love.” The picture, thus limited, contains only two objects.
These are the ground that sustains the tree, and the tree that grows in the ground. The ground in which the tree grows represents the love that faith feeds on; the tree that grows on that ground represents the faith that leans and feeds on love.
I. The soil in which the living tree is planted: it is love. A question rises here at the outset which must be settled ere we can advance a step with the exposition, —
What is the love in which the trees of righteousness are rooted? Whether is it God’s love to man, or man’s love to God and to his brother? The question admits of an answer at once easily intelligible and demonstrably true. The love in which the roots of faith strike down for nourishment is not human but divine. It is not even that grace which is sovereign and divine in its origin, but residing and acting in a renewed human heart: it is the attribute, and even the nature, of Deity, for “ God is love.” The soil which bears and nourishes the new life of man is the love of God in the gift of his Son. The analogy introduced absolutely demands that the text should be so understood. To explain it otherwise would destroy the consistency of the analogy, and distort the spiritual lesson which it is employed to teach. It would be, in effect, to turn the parable upside down. When Paul prays that the Ephesian Christians may be rooted, he obviously thinks of them as living plants. Whatever the soil may be in which the plant grows, it must be something distinct from the plant itself. It introduces an inextricable confusion of ideas to think of believers as trees rooted in their own love — an emotion that has its abode and its exercise within their own hearts. The roots of a man’s faith and hope must penetrate, not inward into the love he exercises, but outward into the love which is exercised towards him. The roots of a tree grow, not into the tree itself, but into an independent soil, which at once supports its weight and nourishes its life. In like manner a Christian’s faith does not lean and live upon anything within himself; it goes out and draws all its support from God’s love to sinners in the gospel of his Son. The same result may be obtained by looking to the twin analogy of an edifice resting on its foundation. The term “ grounded “ refers specifically to the foundation on which a building rests. “ Foundationed,” if there were such a word in our language, would be a more exact and literal translation. The two analogies here imitated in one clause are obviously parallel throughout their whole length. The foundation on which a house stands is something external to the house itself; and so the soil in which a tree grows is something external to the tree. Love, on the spiritual side of the comparison, corresponds both to the ground which sustains a tree and the rock which sustains a building. That love, in both cases, is demonstrably something completely distinct from the soul that leans on it. The love which satisfies a soul is not emotion that springs within itself. *’ God is love.” Behold the Rock of Ages on which the building stands; behold the generous soil which satisfies these towering trees of righteousness! But the question may be decided more shortly, if not more surely, by a direct appeal to the written Word. In the Epistle to the Colossians, where the same apostle about the same time is discoursing on the same theme to a sister Church, occurs an expression which, being precisely parallel and yet not completely identical, brings out the significance of our text in the manner of an algebraic equation. “ As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him; rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith “(Colossians 2:6-7). No one can fail to perceive the identity of the two associated conceptions as they occur in the two epistles. In both letters alike, a tree rooted and a building founded are brought together in the same order, for the purpose of setting forth the spiritual life and steadfastness of believers.
Obviously the apostle meant to express to the Colossian Christians the self -same idea by the term “rooted” that he had already conveyed thereby to those at Ephesus; but while in the’ one epistle he writes “ rooted in love,” in the other he writes “ rooted in him,” — that is, in Christ. Here is demonstration that the love in which faith find’s its sustenance is God’s love in the covenant to his own; for Christ, the unspeakable gift, is the issue and embodiment of that love. In Paul’s mind — that is, in the mind of the Spirit — “Christ” and the love which faith lives on are identical. The terms are used alternately and indifferently to signify the same thing. To be rooted in him manifestly means to be rooted in the love wherewith he first loved us.
Having determined the first point, — that the soil in which faith’s roots can freely grow is found in God, not in man, — we must now weigh well what attribute or manifestation of God it is that permits and invites the confidence of the fallen. The justice of God does not afford a soil on which the hope of sinners can thrive. “ Our God is a consuming fire; “ and as often as the straining hopes of men stretch forth in the direction of the judgment-seat, they are driven back in dismay. As well might you expect the tender roots of a living plant to strike kindly down into hot ashes, as expect the trust of a guilty soul to go into the righteousness of God for support. No; there is nothing on this side but a fearful looking for of judgment to devour.
Neither can human hopes grow in a mixture of mercy and justice such as men, in ignorance of the gospel, when conscience is uneasy, may mingle for themselves. You may indeed find some who for a time seem to grow in such a mixture; but the roots never go deep, and the hold is never secure. In the plant so nourished there is no freshness of life, no blossom of joy, no fruit of righteousness. If the unclean conscience, apart from the blood of sprinkling, qualify the divine justice with a proportion of imaginary tenderness, and qualify the tenderness in turn with a proportion of avenging wrath, the result will be a miserable halting between two.
There is only one place in which righteousness and peace can meet without mutually destroying each other, and that is in the cross of Christ the Substitute. In Christ, but not elsewhere, God is at once just, and the justifier of the sinful who believe.
Disturbed by an accusing conscience, and not perceiving the way of righteous peace through the death of Christ, the sinful strive to make matters right for the judgment seat; but, striving unlawfully, never succeed. They throw into their conceptions of God as much unappeased anger as serves to destroy all the pleasure of their religion, and as much softness for sin as serves to extract all its power. Their God is not very kind, and therefore they have no pleasure in his company; their (?od is not very just, and therefore they take liberties with his law. Thus “the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
It is not in divine justice, nor in a spurious compound of justice and indulgence, that human souls can securely place their hope for eternity. If ever an immortal spirit is rooted at all, it must be in love — in love that is infinite — the love of God in the gift of his Son. “ In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; and ye are complete in him.” Those that are rooted in him live and bring forth fruits of righteousness. These are not plants growing for a few days on rocky ground. They may plunge their roots down as far as their faculties and their lives extend, they will never meet any obstacle to check and repel their confidence. God is love; and they cannot by their penetrating pass through that and strike a barren rock beyond. “ Happy are the people that are in such a case; yea, happy are they whose God is the Lord.”
II. The plant that is rooted in the ground represents a believer getting all his support and all his sustenance from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Under this head, the first point that occurs is the very obvious one, that before any measure of growth can be obtained there must be life. Of what avail would richness of soil be to rows of dead branches? A withered branch draws no sap from the most fertile ground. Faith fastens on God’s revealed love in the covenant, and satisfies itself from this inexhaustible treasury; but who and what first creates faith? The living will, by the instincts of nature, seek convenient food; but how shall the dead be restored to life? Let it be granted that faith, appropriating God’s love, sustains the living, the question remains, Who quickens the dead? In the last resource, an answer to this question must be sought in the sovereignty of God and the ministry of the Spirit; but we must beware of so regarding God’s part in it as to miss or neglect our own. “ Live “ is the first thing in the Spirit’s ministry; but “ Believe” is the first thing in the duty of man. To God’s eye, looking downward from his own eternity, the order of events is. Live, that you may believe; but to our eye, as we stand on earth and look upwards, the order of events is, Believe, that you may live. Our part is not to produce life, but to exercise trust.
Honour God by referring the origin of life to his sovereign grace and power; but obey God by believing in Jesus Christ whom he has sent. Let us neither intrude into his province nor neglect our own. His command is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;” “His commandments are not grievous.” If we in simplicity render this service, we shall find to our joy in that day that his work was perfect before we responded to his call. Here we may well appropriate to ourselves the advice which the neighbours gave to the blind man when Jesus was passing by: “ Be of good comfort; rise, he calleth thee.” The fact that he calls us should be sufficient warrant for us to come.
O Spirit, breathe upon the dead bones, that they may live, — upon the dead branches, that they may grow! But even when the plant is living, many obstacles may intervene to prevent it from fredy pushing down its roots and drinking up the richness of the soil. Stones of stumbling lie in the way of the living root, and hinder its growth. “ An enemy hath done this.” Desponding thoughts, of various shape and source, may mar the peace and stunt the growth of a disciple, but they cannot quench his life. The natural history of faith’s life on earth will be an interesting study, when the day shall reveal all its windings — all its days of drooping, and all its days of growth.
Sometimes the history of vegetable life, concealed for generations, is afterwards thrown open. When a forest tree, that has outlived several generations of its owners, is at last thrown down by a tempest, and its roots all exposed to the inspection of the passer-by, many secret passages of its early history are at length revealed. Each bend of those gnarled roots has a tale to tell, — of various efforts and disappointments, and conflicts and victories. Here, in the centre of the circular mass, the main stem was pointing perpendicularly downward when the tree was young, perhaps a century ago; but ere it had gone far in that direction, it had struck against a stone. The fibre, then young and pliable, had sensitively turned as soon as it felt the obstacle, and grew for a little upward, as if retracing its steps. Then it had bent to one side and crept along the surface of the stone, intending, so to speak, to turn its flank and plunge into the deep earth beyond its outmost edge. Once or twice in its horizontal course it came to hollows in the stone, and ever instinctively seeking downward, penetrated to the bottom of each; but finding no opening, it came always up again, and pursued its course on the horizontal line. But, long ere it reached the margin of the great rock, it found a rent, narrow, indeed, but thorough. Into this minute opening it thrust a needlelike point. It succeeded in pushing that pioneer through.
Tasting thereby of the rich soil below, it thence drew new strength for itself. Strong now in that acquired strength, it increased its bulk and rent the rock asunder. You may now see the two halves of the cleaved rock hanging on the mighty root that rent them. Now the victor has overcome its adversaries, and makes a show of them openly. It holds the remnants of its ancient enemy aloft as trophies of its victory.
It is thus that a living soul struggles against all obstructions, and either round them or through them penetrates into the unlimited love of God as it is in Christ. There the life satisfies itself and becomes strong. This man is more than conqueror through Him that loved him. A soul has been quickened by the Spirit. The new life ha 5 begun; the new tastes are felt; the appetites of the new nature are stirring. Why am I thus? This thirsty soul now longs for God, and strikes out for satisfying in the direction of his covenant. But something comes in the way. Through the wiles of the devil a great rock of offence is cast right in between that sinner and the Saviour’s love. In one case, the stumbling-block is the doctrine of election: If I am not among the chosen number, I need not try. In another case, it is the sin against the Holy Ghost: If I have committed the unpardonable sin, I need not strive, for God will not hear me. In another case, it is such a view of his own sins as leads him morbidly to think that while there may be pardon for others, there can be none for him. Ah! this quickened soul, in the beginnings of life, while the intelligence is yet feeble like an infant’s mind, when feeling for the love of God in Christ to Kve upon, often strikes upon a stone. This is not God; this is not love. Thus the root finds so many stones, and these so close together, that it cannot reach the rich ground underneath for nourishment; but the root, true to its nature, never gives up. It strives without ceasing to reach its object. Worming its way along the surface of the obstruction, to find a passage round it — fretted and frightened, and thrown back often, but never despairing, never slackening — it holds on, until at length between these opposing rocks it reaches and tastes the sap of the unlimited soil beneath. Then it becomes strong enough to throw the obstruction aside, and expatiate at will in its element. When the saved are drawn at length from the ground in which the new life secretly grew, and all the history of their redemption revealed in the better land, themselves and others will read with interest the record of the struggle, and the final victory. It will then be seen that every hindrance which the tempter threw in faith’s way only exercised and so strengthened faith. They who have had the hardest conflict in throwing obstacles aside that they might freely draw from redeeming love in Christ, draw most freely from that love when they reach it: as that woman who had pined many years in disease, and spent all her means on other physicians, drew proportionally a larger draught from the fountain when she touched its lip at last. As if surprised and delighted with the suddenness, the eagerness, and the largeness of her demand upon his healing power, the Lord stood and looked round and cried, “ Who touched me? “ So, I suppose, yet in his glory, Jesus has occasion from time to time to say in glad surprise to surrounding angels, Some one has touched me, when a sinner who has long tried, and been long kept back by stones of stumbling, at last gets the lip of thirsty faith laid upon the fountain of living water.
“Fear not, little flock; it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom:” fear not, little roots; the stones which lie in your way are many and hard, but when you work past them or through them, there is love infinite and eternal, all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, in Christ, that you may live upon and luxuriate in. Have you been brought through fire and water? Then all the more sweet will the “ large place “ be when at length you reach it. Seek, and ye shall find.
Many things go to increase the fruit-bearing, but all are subordinate to this, — the free plunging of the living root into the rich, unobstructed ground. Pruning, and watering, and weeding will do nothing for the tree if its roots have struck a rock. In like manner, the main requisite to a productive Christian life is the liberty that the soul enjoys to spread itself to the full extent of its capacity into the love of God in Christ. It is the receiving that produces the doing. The law of grace is not, Give freely, and you shall in return freely receive: the law of grace is the opposite, — “ Freely ye have received, freely give.” This analogy suggests many practical lessons; but it is not necessary even to enumerate them, for they spring spontaneously before the reader’s eye as soon as he has apprehended the main features of the similitude. The storm, for example, that shakes the living tree, ordinarily serves but to compel its roots to take a deeper hold, and make it stronger to bear the next onset. So afflictions exercise and strengthen faith.
Again-a needful lesson in an age of many words and little tendency to silence — the roots grow best when they are least meddled with. The child who pulls up his young tree two or three times every day in order to show his companions its roots, will soon have nothing but a dead stem to show. Encourage by all means the meek confession of a convert’s hope, but do not lay open all the spiritual experience of a novice to satisfy the curiosity of some passing Talkative.
Once more, we have had fathers of our flesh who did not give us a stone when we asked for bread. The more we counted on their love the better pleased they were.
Let us beware of mistaking and distrusting the Father of our spirits. Alas! if our roots were exposed, they would tell a tale of constraint and suspicion. How often even a disciple refuses to plunge openly into offered love, and draws back &s if he expected a repulse. It was Jesus who said, “ The Father ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”