The trees belong to the church

There is a quote attributed to some monk you may know called Martin, though scholars agree he wouldn’t have said it, that goes something like this: “What would I do if the world was ending tomorrow? I would plant a tree.”

It doesn’t matter who said it. The point is this: a tree is an investment in the future. To believe that planting a tree is a good course of action, that it will be productive and that the tree will grow, flourish and clean the air, is to believe that the world will not end next week, next month, or next year. Otherwise, there would be no point in planting trees. Indeed, if the trees will not grow, and the dawn brings destruction, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (Is 22:13b).

Consider a cathedral, or any great feat of architecture in the ancient world. The very tiles and beams are testimony to their belief that their efforts would not be wasted, that there was a future on the Earth that made decades-long construction worthwhile.

At this point, the reader who has studied history may say, ‘but consider this: the ancient Egyptians didn’t believe in your God, they weren’t in your church, yet they also invested in the future’. This is true, but that is why we mention consistency.

As it happens, most worldviews and world religions have an optimistic view of the future. Most believe that their God will win. That their philosophy will eventually dominate. Even the socialists believe that, and they’ve had time after time to prove themselves wrong! In fact, the reason that the Taliban have just retaken Afghanistan is that they have an optimistic eschatology. They believe that the world will one day all be under submission to the god of the Qur’an. The actions of (what we call ‘extremist’) Muslims in fact demonstrate faithfulness to their prophet and their authoritative texts. They are willing to put their money, their lives, their women and their children where their mouth is, because they believe their texts, and their actions accord with their beliefs.

So, there are worldviews with optimistic eschatology, some of those have adherents whose actions accord with such optimism, but only one worldview has also truth that warrants such belief.

It is the self-revelation of the Triune God of the 66 books of God-breathed Scripture alone that gives the Christian the warranted confidence to say, ‘I will plant these trees and make investment in the future, because Christ wins, because my body is not destroyed but raised, because the wealth and glory of the nations will be redeemed for his glory, because the gospel will spread through all the nations and win them over, and because we still have a long way to go, and my great-great-grandchildren will need a garden in which to read Scripture and sing Psalms.

Nothing in this life is ordinary, or insignificant, or outside of Christ’s Lordship. Everything we do should be consistent with what we believe. Mr and Mrs Christian should do all things to the glory of God, and with their eyes set high to highest heaven, and far to the distant reaches of time. It may well be that the saints of 2021 will one day be grouped in with Augustine, Jan Hus and Tyndale as being all part of the early church.

In that day, may there be a house of timeless beauty built for the saints to gather for Sunday worship, and may there be one in every state, every neighbourhood and every suburb. May there be forests of trees, standing for centuries, with rings to attest their planting in the year of our Lord 2021. May we eat good food, drink clean water and be prosperous and multiply, filling God’s creation with his Image-bearers. May we not fear the false eschatologies of man, whether Islamic, eco-fascist, climate-alarmist, cyclical or the so-called ‘heat death of the universe’.

So plant a tree, and thank God for the trees. Thank God for trees that will be planted in twelve-hundred years time or four thousand year time, if the Lord should tarry. Above all things don’t give way to fear and resignation. The story is not over. Nor will it end badly. No, it will end with the hero slaying the dragon and getting the girl, and the trees will all clap their leaves in praise, even the very ones you planted.