Roots, Foundations and Olive Groves

Romans 11:17 - ...and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree...

Yesterday a new friend and I went to an olive grove in the Phoenix area. We took a little tour and listened as the young woman told us about the trees, types of olives and how these olives were gathered between October and December and then processed.

My thoughts took me back to Israel where we saw the olive trees that were thousands of years old in the Garden of Gethsemane. These could have been the very same trees that Jesus saw when He was there. Gethsemane, I come to find out, means oil press. Throughout the day my mind kept going back to olive trees and the pressing of olives. If you recall, Christ went to Gethsemane to pray for what He knew was about to happen to Him. He prayed to His Father that "if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done"(Luke 22:42). He was being pressed, so much so that blood drops came from His brow. And of course, it was the Father's will that prevailed and Jesus died for our sins. 

This is a reminder of who I am in Christ. Although I've written about olive trees and those who are in Christ, I can't help but put my thoughts down again.

In an act of totally unselfish sacrifice, without murmur, without regret, Jesus was willing to die for our sins. He took that cup of suffering. He did it without trying to defend Himself, like we always do when we are wrongfully accused. He just did it...because He would rather have died than to live without us, as a song goes. He died for the sins of all mankind. His life was pressed.

So what does this have to do with olive trees? We would not be able to partake in this unfathomable love Jesus has for us if we didn't believe in Him. Okay, so what does that mean? When one is a follower of Christ he is called a Christian. Yet Jesus was a Jew...

So...the olive trees. There are two types: the natural olive tree, which would be Israel and the Jews and the wild olive tree, which is anyone else. We are grafted into the natural tree through our relationship with Jesus Christ. The natural olive tree's roots are well established, because the root is God. Through Christ we become part of that very strong root system...that firm Foundation that is Christ and become a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree.

As it is told in Romans 11, the Jews were likened to a natural olive tree. However, they were in so much rebellion against God that He needed to prune it of the unproductive shoots. He then needed to bring in another people so He grafted in a wild olive shoot. That wild olive shoot became Christianity, those who would believe in Christ as Savior when the Jews would not accept Him as their Messiah. These people were to carry on His work by leading others to this Man called Jesus. These men and women were nourished by the root that was Jesus. They made this tree productive once again. When we are in right relationship with Him, through Christ, we are nurtured. If we do not share in this relationship with Christ, we wither and die.

We also become grafted, as it were, into the Jewish heritage; our roots are in Judaism. If we are people who look at Israel and the Jews in a negative light, we cannot call ourselves Christians. If it were not for a Jewish King of kings and Lord of lords named Jesus, we would not be able to partake of the wondrous gift He has offered to us. 

We are all considered wild olive trees when we come into this relationship with Christ. It is and always has been God's plan that we all be part of this natural olive tree, with well-established roots...the roots of our Christianity...being one in Christ that we might not be separated any longer from God. We need to be completely aware, however, that it is not about us or our religion; it's not about what good works we can do or how good we can be to please God; it's not about which church we belong to because all churches and denominations are manmade. It's all about Him and and what He has done for us...and what He offers us freely. It's all about who we are in Him.

Once in Christ our lives are not our own. We shouldn't grow the same way once we've been grafted in and with a root who is Christ. Our lives will show this difference. Just as olives go through processing, so must we. We are separated from our pits...the stony heart...and we are crushed and squeezed until so our hearts become purer and we become the person God chose for us to be from the beginning of time. The pure oil might be thought of as the Holy Spirit and when we are in Christ it is His Spirit that fills us and causes us to change. 

We must give up the person we were. We were that wild olive branch, growing as we desired. We are now grafted, if we know Jesus personally, and we are to allow a new nature to emanate from us. We should have more faith, more trust in the Lord, and know where our hope now is. We will, as is told in Hebrews, know rest...which is the presence of God in our lives despite our circumstances. When we know Christ we are part of the natural heritage and grafted into the natural olive tree, where we are in the presence of God, in our rest, and know the hope of our eternal calling.

Although we may share the privilege now of being part of this natural tree, we should not consider ourselves better. We are, after all, only grafted in. If we do not produce fruit, we can be cut off just like the Jews were. God has made provision to bring them back...of this I am sure because His Word tells us as much. Until then, we must remain rooted and grounded in His Word and maintain our own trust in Him.

Romans 11:18 - ...remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.