Becoming a Tree Planted: Preparing for the Year Ahead | Rev. Elisha Satvinder

As a reflective thought today, okay, and overall, so we all know we are at the, if you want to use the word CP, we are right at the border of a new year. I must apologize right away. I’m going to end up doing this quite a bit today, so I’m so sorry. Today is the 27th. Is it the 27th? 28th? 29th? Oh God, okay, 29th.

Okay, in two days’ time, we’ll be saying “Happy New Year,” right? We’ll be singing that happy New Year song—the new year is coming. So we are literally right at the edge of a new year. I would like us to take today, as I speak, just a bit of a reflective posture, okay? A reflective posture of our own spiritual growth, our own life, as we prepare our hearts to let our roots go into the streams of God and let us live the God-kind of life. It’s challenging, but it’s very rewarding.

The image of a tree planted by the streams is not just a metaphor, if I can use this word—it’s a blueprint of life. It’s a blueprint of life, okay? God desires that we grow deep roots, bear fruit, and glorify Him through our pursuit of His presence. I just want to comment on this thought here. When you plant, okay, some of you have been to a farm, some of you have little gardens maybe at home or little pots, whatever it may be, you plant something with the hope of reaping something later, right?

Anyone of you plant hoping that the seed will die? Let me plant you now; please die. You would need psychiatric help, yeah? So when we plant a seed or we go to the nursery, we get this little plant, and we plant it and water it daily. We take out the weeds, we watch for pests—we do whatever is possible. Why? In our minds, we have the end product. Now true to Malaysian hearts, if today you plant a durian tree, you’re hoping in five years’ time you can eat your Musang King, right? Oh, come on, yeah, right? You plant it, and there is a hope, there is a desire that it is going to grow and bear fruit.

Now, if God is the vine and we are the branches, and God says, “You are the planting, you are my planting, you are a tree planted,” do you think God has a picture or a desire of what you and I will look like each year? Those of you in school, when you go to school next year—well, with our system so messed up, I still think January is the beginning of the year—you have the year kind of planned out, isn’t it? You think of what’s going to happen, how it’s going to happen, my exam, my breaks, whatever. Your work—you’re thinking towards something, whether you’re going to get a promotion, your business—you always have something in mind of what it’s going to look like later.

What is God’s desire? That we grow deep roots, bear lasting fruit. Can you imagine a fruit always rots on its branch? You look at it and say, “What’s wrong with this tree?” Lasting fruit that glorifies Him through our pursuit of His presence. Growing is never all about us. Growing is always about honoring God and being a blessing to others. So a seed planted begins to grow, takes root, becomes mature, and begins to bear the desired fruit.

So I want us to focus on three things today—three reflective thoughts, but each one has a singular focus. Like I said, the fruit of the Spirit doesn’t say “fruits” of the Spirit. So my first thought is going to be the singularity of our pursuit. The second thing is the necessity of us having spiritual disciplines. And the third is the goal—that we bear fruit. All right? So the first one is a singular pathway to God.

John 15:5, again: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Meaning I cannot bear the God-kind of fruit apart from Him. I can bear a lot of other kinds of fruit. I can be the most successful person in a company, and I can be the best in what I do, but I may never have the God-kind of fruit. That must be clear in our minds, yeah?

So John 15:5—the fruit of the Spirit that we read in Galatians and spiritual disciplines. If you ever want to read something that’s a bit interesting, Richard Foster wrote “The Celebration of Discipline.” It talks about 12 disciplines: meditation, prayer, fasting, studying the word, simplicity (which I think a lot of us can do with), solitude, submission, service, confession. Again, when we hear this, we think, “Oh, I’ve heard it.” No, actually, it’s something that really works for our lives: worship, guidance, celebration. When those disciplines are broken down, you will see four of them deal with the inner life, four deal with your outward actions, and the last four deal with how we work in community, okay?

So when we look at the fruit of the Spirit and we think of spiritual disciplines, everything is singular. It’s singular. The fruit of the Spirit, like I said before, are never a list of separate virtues, no. They are manifestations of one life—my life, your life—singular, connected to God. Similarly, the disciplines—prayer, fasting, worship, whatever it may be—are more than something disconnected from that singular focus. They are not different pathways; there is one clear journey deeper into God’s presence.

Have you ever—you’ve probably seen it on TV, and some of you probably have gone to a live orchestra, a symphony orchestra, yeah? Some are brilliant, the way they play, isn’t it? Each instrument in that symphony plays something different, right? Each of them plays something different, but when they blend their sound together, it is one beautiful sound, isn’t it? Similarly, the fruit of the Spirit and spiritual disciplines—they’re all various things, dealing with different parts of our lives. But when done in tandem together, there is this beautiful harmony of God working in our lives.

And then what happens? Imagine when everybody does that—whatever the pace, the level is—something significant takes place in the community of people. Something takes place, something happens. Sometimes, as people, we call it, “Oh, it’s revival.” Yeah, it’s a place of repentance, seeking God, but it’s also a place where we say our lives need to be submitted to God. Our lives must be submitted to God in all these different areas.

So imagine that. Spiritual disciplines, fruit of the Spirit—they come together. They compose, if I could say this, one beautiful song for Jesus. One orchestra, many people, one tune. So in the year coming—2025—don’t have fragmented pursuits. We can be very fragmented in our pursuits in our own life—very fragmented in abiding in Christ. We’re very fragmented. What are the areas that I’ve allowed busyness and other things to pull me away from this singular pathway of knowing God? Only we can answer that question for ourselves, right?

So during this week, I’ve been writing down and breaking it down for myself, and I realized which are the areas that I really got distracted, overreacted, discouraged, disappointed, whatever it is. And I said, “Oh yeah, these things did distract me, didn’t they, from that pursuit? I need to work on it next year. I need to work on it better.”

The second thought I want us to look at is deep roots through spiritual disciplines. Psalm 1:3 says, “That person—that person that does verse one and two—is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.”

Now, spiritual disciplines are the roots that anchor us to the living water of God’s presence. Sometimes we say, “Oh, this is not happening in my life. That’s not happening in my life.” Have we heard this, or have we said it? “When God does this, then I will…” We do it in our relationships as well. “When you are nice to me…” And sometimes in our homes, we can have people who disrupt the harmony very often, isn’t it? Why? They’re not in the singular motion. They’re on a bend for themselves.

“When God does this for me—if God does this for me—then I will…” It doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t. Can you imagine telling your boss, “When you pay me, then I will work”? I also want that job—tell me where! Tell me where I can go and get it! Tell me where I can go and find that job, right? “You give me money first, then I’ll work.” No, you work, and you show me your worth, and then I’ll give it to you.

So same thing, our dynamic and our personal walk with God—you know, if God does that, and God is waiting for us to let our roots down in that stream and say, “Now walk in my pathway, that you may bear fruit.”

“Wait till my kids get married. Wait till I finish studying. Wait till I do this, till I get that house, till I get…” You know what? We are bargaining, but we are never ever letting our roots down, building our spiritual disciplines, and saying, “God, I want to live a life that honors You.”

“Until I get better, until this…” Come on, this is God we’re talking about! This is God we are talking about. So spiritual disciplines are the roots that anchor us to the living water of God’s presence. We want God’s presence, but we will never let our roots down. We want God’s presence, but we will never pursue Him and seek Him. That doesn’t work. These spiritual disciplines are not an end in themselves, no, but they are a means to transform our lives. A means to transform our lives into Christlikeness.

Without deep roots, the storms of life will uproot us. We will fail to bear roots. You know the farm—we have a lot of different plants and different things. We have, sometimes, really strong winds—it’s crazy. On the few times, we realize which trees stand. They look so good, but the root is so shallow. It came off.

And our lives can do that. You know, we can look really good on the outside—you know, work is going well, everything is going well—but one storm, out. Why? Because it was all the other things that I pursued except God. Except Him. So that happens to us, all right?

So imagine, okay—how many of you walked around KLCC Twin Towers? Come on, lying spirit! How many of you—like, how many of you, come on—how many of you walked around? You walked around it? Walked, yeah, walked around it. What if they tell you one day, when you’re going up to the 52nd floor, “Actually, the foundation is 2 feet deep only.” And then you see this raging storm coming. Tell me, what are you going to do? Are you going to sit there and say, “I trust in God,” or are you going to say, “If you die, run!” Why? Because I think this building is going to come down.

Now that tower is so high and being held there simply because the foundation is really deep and solid. The question is: What kind of a life do I want to build in God? What kind of a life am I building? We see the visible height, but we cannot see the depth of that foundation. The taller the building, the deeper the foundation. So, our own lives—the depth of our spiritual disciplines determines the strength of our walk with God.

Let me say that again. Again, the depth of our spiritual disciplines determines the strength of our walk in God. I honor God through all that I do. And that, as I honor Him in my life, it’s because I’m pursuing Him, isn’t it?

Can you take a moment and reflect on your own spiritual roots? How are they doing? How are our spiritual roots doing? Are there disciplines that we are neglecting? It’s the end of the year. I’m sorry, it’s not a “hurrah, hurrah” message. Why? Because God is interested in your life flourishing. I’m interested in you becoming a better person, amen? So we check our health. End of the year, beginning of the year—everybody wants to go for a medical checkup. Hey, let’s do a spiritual checkup!

So those days, they used to call it “checkup from the neck up.” You know, how’s your language? What are you hearing? What are you seeing? What are you thinking? You know, check up from the neck up—you know, look at that.

All right. So, if I neglected spiritual disciplines, prayer can become routine. Routine. Uh, why read the Bible? Why study the Bible? “Aiya, let Pastor preach lah, just no—we are all believers. The Bible is written for all of us, amen? God spoke to all of us truth. Nobody says they have a great edge to the scripture. No. All of us are supposed to pursue the Bible diligently, amen? All of us are supposed to pursue the Word of God. You’re supposed to grow. You are supposed to pursue the Lord for yourself.”

Can you imagine—I know this is a bit of a far-fetched illustration—you want to know this girl, you want to know this boy, you ask your best friend to go and tackle them for you. “Hey, you go, you go!” I want to know God. I’m not having somebody else run for God. I’m running for God—to God, yeah? Isn’t it? I’m running to God. Why am I getting somebody else to do that for me? Why can’t I say, “No lah, I scared. I’m afraid lah, you know. Not now.” No, come on! Now is the time. Now is the season. It’s one year closer to the return of the Lord.

So, I don’t ask somebody else to go and pursue the person for me now. So think about it. Don’t let all this become an obligation. In the coming year, commit—and we’ll be working through that in January, okay? Commit to digging deeper, not for the sake of performance, but to remain steadfast in God.

And my final thought: bearing fruit that lasts. Galatians 5: But the fruit (remember, singular) of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (which is also patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

So, what is God’s ultimate goal? God’s ultimate goal for us is to bear fruit. So, if we think of 2025, we want to sow the seeds. We want to bear the fruit, amen? Come on, church, amen? We need to do that. We have to be so singular in our pursuit. Yes, pursue your education. Please don’t make excuses, “I’ve got to pray; I don’t have to sit for exams, Mommy.” No, excuse me! God expects you to also work hard there, you know? Go to work, work hard, do the right thing—but pursue God.

God’s ultimate goal is for us to bear fruit—not merely in abundance, but fruit that reflects His character. A tree does not consume its own fruit. Have you seen a tree? All of a sudden, you see a branch wrapping around that fruit and making the fruit disappear. It’s not a Disney movie, ah? Consuming the fruit? We’re supposed to grow through good actions.

A tree never consumes its own fruit. Its purpose—how many of us love fruit here? You don’t love fruit? Come on! I love, man—different kinds of fruits, isn’t it? Malaysia is blessed, isn’t it? Malaysia is blessed with the amount of fruits that we have. Oh, man, we are blessed! Anybody doesn’t like durian here? Can I pray for you?

I mean, when the tree begins to have that seed, that little flower coming, you are anticipating something, isn’t it? Then it starts growing, and you realize, wow! And then you start counting the weeks and the months, and you say, “When is it going to be ready?” So, you go to some places. Now instead of the fruit falling down and the monkey taking it away or somebody else taking it away, they tie strings to it, isn’t it? So they can go and, hey, detect where the fruit has fallen. When the fruit is ripe, who enjoys that fruit?

When the fruit is ripe, who enjoys that fruit? The tree? It’s no trick question. Does the tree eat the fruit? No. The person who comes and looks at the tree and consumes the fruit. The fruit that we bear is not for ourselves. It’s for others. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.” Think of that, dear friends. The fruit that we bear is not for ourselves; it’s for others.

So think of that. It’s to nourish others. If I am living a life—please hear this—if I casually come to church, I’m not going to give, I’m not going to be involved, I’m not… you have dead fruit. Maybe no fruit. “Hey, but you know, company-wise, I’m doing great.” Good for you. You fail in the house of God. It sounds harsh, but that’s the truth. You fail in the house of God. We bear fruit— inward life, outward life, community life.

We reflect, we think about it, we ask ourselves hard questions: Hey, how’s my fruit life doing? Am I consuming my own fruit? Is the fruit dying on the tree? Or do I even grow any fruit from my life? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control—you know, all of this. What honors God?

Steve Jobs said this: “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do it.” Let me say that again: “The people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do it.” So, similarly, the fruit of the Spirit—our fruit, though small at first—has the potential to change lives around us, our own lives, and give us maturity in God.

Yeah, we can think of so many people, isn’t it? Yeah, one, of course, comes to mind, which all of us know—she’s become an icon for the few generations to come: Mother Teresa, isn’t it? How beautifully a life lived. How selfless. Yeah, selfless life. We think of so many people.

Church, what is the area that we need to push further? What are some parts of the fruit we know, hey, you know what, ah, it’s been too long—I actually have no fruit to show. I actually have no fruit. So this is the reflection we take at the last Sunday of the year, all right? So examine the fruit of your life. Examine: Are you nourishing others with love, joy, peace? Or do you take people’s peace away? You provoke people all the time. Do you? No, you think about it—really. Or is bitterness, impatience, selfishness creeping in? Already there?

So, 2025, let us pursue God wholeheartedly, huh, to live that way. Yeah? So I want to close with one scripture—the last scripture. Jeremiah. Becoming a tree planted. 2025. Becoming a tree planted. Can I go back to the scripture? Jeremiah 17. He said, “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

You know something amazing when you look at it? In the midst of challenges, you don’t compromise your character. You don’t compromise your character. Many times, it’s always the external. If things are—this is a challenge—things can be so good in life that I really think I don’t need to do anything in church or I don’t need to do anything for God. It’s enough. And the people we hang around with could be telling us the same thing because all of them are doing well in this. No, you know, church, you just have to do… Oh, please listen to the Word of God, not to the word of those people.

On the other hand, it could be, “Things are not going well. Al-see-us!” No, that’s wrong. That’s wrong. That’s not right. Even when there is drought—naturally, in drought, a tree will die, isn’t it? But we are trees planted in the presence of God, in His river. The drought should not affect us. Conditions around shouldn’t affect us.

So as we close this year and we’re coming to the table of the Lord, I want us to reflect. Where we have to make things right before God, make it right. The biggest challenge is going and making it right with people that you have wronged. Are there areas in our life where the roots have withered? They are rotting, and our fruit has failed, never came. Let us step into the new year with a singular focus—to be like a tree planted by streams of water, rooted in Christ, growing through spiritual disciplines, and bearing fruit that glorifies God.

I want to leave you with three questions here and a prayer—three questions to reflect. Where are your roots planted? Are we connected to the living water of God’s word and presence, or is it something else? Where are your roots planted? I will post this as well in the church. Where are your roots planted?

The second question is: What fruit have you borne this year? What fruit has your life reflected? Any fruit of the Spirit? What fruit have you borne this year?

The third: Will you be serious about deepening your pursuit of God—His presence and His word—and reaching one more person for Jesus this year? Church, can we reach one person for the Lord? Come on, can we reach one person for the Lord? But that would take you—your effort as you pursue God. You’ve got to pursue the person in prayer, in relationship, in friendship, investing time, and saying, “Hey, your life matters to God.” And there’s one fruit that I want to bear—to see myself multiply in another person. One more person.

One more person. Can I invite you to stand, please?

I’m going to read this prayer, and then I’m going to invite us all to pray it out, okay? My prayer this year, friends, is this:

Lord, as I reflect on this past year, I ask for Your forgiveness.
I ask for Your forgiveness where I have fallen short—and there are many places, Lord, I have fallen short.
Help me to pursue You with a singular focus, to grow deep roots through Your Word and Spirit, and to bear fruit that glorifies You.
As I step into the year ahead, make me a tree planted by streams of living water, unwavering and faithful.