Psalm
30; Exodus 24:15-18; Mark 9:2-9
Virtually every religion has regarded the mountains
as a sacred place.
·
It is as if the Mountains are a symbolic link
o
Between Heaven
and Earth,
o
Between the Divine
and the Human Race.
However, for those of us who live in the flat lands
of the Kansas, it may not be so obvious to us as this may be to others.
There is something special about a mountain that
lifts one's mind beyond the ordinary no matter how you look at it.
A mountain on the horizon cannot help
·
But move you to think of the splendor
·
And of power of the nature,
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And that of God, Himself.
It puts things into perspective
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And can be symbolic of Strength
o
And Reassurance.
·
If you stand at the bottom, or even part way up,
o
Mountains themselves are a sign of huge challenge,
·
Which calls for Persistence
and Demands
o
The Best Effort
we can muster up.
And then from the top!
From the top of a mountain, you gain a landscape view
that is so incredible!
·
It is no wonder that mountains
·
Are associate with all of these roles in so many Religions.
Did you know that One of the earliest names for God,
·
Which was revealed to Abraham in Genesis 17,
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It is (El-shal-dI) el Shaddai,
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Which is Traditionally or normally translated to:
o
"God Almighty,"
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But when it is literally translated, it means:
o
"God, the one of the mountains."
A Mountain is a natural image for
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God's power,
·
As well as for human stability or firmness.
Psalm 30:7 says: "By your favor, O Lord,
you had established me as a strong mountain" (Psalm. 30:7).
Of course, no matter how beautiful a mountain is, it
can also be a Huge Obstacle as well!
Something that is in the way of success.
However, according to Zechariah 4:7, that is If we
are within the Grace of God, Nothing, but I mean not even a mighty mountain,
will stand in (zer-a-bable’s) way. Zerubbabel’s way. (Zechariah. 4:7)
But God says He will remove all such barriers when His
Redemption is complete: "Every mountain and hill shall be made low"
(Isaiah 40:4).
But how does the image of the mountain
·
Fit into the idea of a or within Our Christian Journey?
·
How does it fit in Our lifetime of following Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior?
One of the most obvious way would have to be that it
reminds us, that life most certainly and will always have its ups and downs.
The journey of a Christian disciple,
·
Being followers of Jesus Christ,
·
Is most certainly not a walk along a level path,
o
Let alone the ease of a downhill slide.
It is a journey that demands commitment and
effort.
There is a Long-Living-Tradition within the
Protestant Christian teaching,
·
That it fears within the written literature
o
The use of such a style of writing called Image-Writing,
o
For An example of this type of writing could be
§
“Scaling a Mountain”
§
Or “Descending a Mountain,”
§
Or “Descending a Ladder”.
But the purpose of such writing is so that
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The disciples of Jesus Christ (that is you and me)
·
May advance in our Spiritual Walk
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And even succeed in growing closer to Christ.
The fear is if we use this type of Image-Writing,
·
It will or could put unwanted Importance upon
o
The Human Effort and Therefore
o
Constructing an Artificial Plan of:
1.
“First you do this
2.
And then you do this
3.
And then you do that”,
All for the purpose of moving or advancing forward to
the next higher level of spiritual growth.
I don’t know about you but I personally feel
·
That following Image-Writing can truly lead to a secure and close relationship with God.
·
Mainly because if we fear Image-Writing, thinking that anything associated with it, will lead us into
building or following a “Worked Based” Faith rather than a Faith Based Faith.
o
Then we error
in miscalculating the importance of our own individuality.
If there is one thing that the Bible makes very clear
·
It is that God has created us As Individuals with
different
o
Interests,
o
Abilities,
o
And strengths,
o
And that God works in a variety of ways
§
To be in relationship with so many different types
of people.
There is no one model of the Church,
·
No one right way to Pray,
·
And no one
correct method, to follow, so that we can to fit into our so widely different
Spiritual Journeys.
With Using Image-Writing in
with the Ascending
the Mountain
·
It Reminds us of two very important things:
First, that Christian discipleship takes
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Effort,
·
Foresight,
o
And Discipline,
Such as is practiced by a skilled mountain climber.
·
And Secondly, that we should NEVER
be
o
Content to stay where we are Within our relationship with God, But rather we should constantly be striving for a
higher level.
John Wesley referred to this as
"Going on to
perfection."
This is the same point that the Apostle Paul makes by using one of his favorite metaphors.
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Athletes train and train and train…
Now this might have sprung up from what must have
been a common sight
·
Within the Greek cities where Paul ministered.
He spoke of the runner:
“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these
things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess
that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
No dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,
but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what
lies ahead.
I press on to reach the end of the race and received the
heavenly prize for which God through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
Philippians 3:12-14
He spoke of the boxer:
“All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do
it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So, I
run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my
body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that
after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:25-27
This note of training,
·
Of discipline,
·
Of striving
to be stronger
·
And working
to be better
o
Every day.
·
This is at the heart of nearly all Christian
theology.
o
Even within the great Reformation.
But there is this training,
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It is Not Running the Race
·
But rather the Physical and Mental Work-Out that leads
up to the race,
·
This act of preparation which was most certainly at
the hearts of both John Wesley and Saint
Paul,
·
This very thing, it Is so often overlooked
·
Or avoided within our Modern American Protestant Churches.
It seems that our Protestant Churches of today
·
Are more committed
·
Or they Are sold out on
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Preaching a Gospel of Spiritual Comfort And Easy Success.
But - if the Mountain is
·
A sign of God's Strength
·
As well as the sign of our need to exercise discipline in following Jesus,
·
It is also a sign of God's Great Love and of His Mercy.
Indeed - It is the place where we have "Mountain-Top
experiences,"
·
You know, Those moments of Revelation,
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When Life suddenly appears clearer,
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When things take their place, Everything falls into
place.
o
It is like having a panoramic view from a mountain
peak.
It was on a Mountain
that God Mysteriously Spoke to
Moses,
·
Revealing not just His - God's name,
·
But God's Will
for all of His people
·
And the role
this Shepherd, Moses, was to play within God's plan.
It was on a Mountain
that God gave the people of Israel
·
The great
gift of the LAW,
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Those ten lines of Words which would lead them
o
In the paths of Righteousness and not only a Way of Life,
but Life, Itself.
It was from a Mountain
that Jesus spoke those words
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That stands in such Bold contrast to the
o
World's way of looking at
things:
Blessed are:
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The poor in spirit,
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Those who mourn,
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The meek,
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Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
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The merciful,
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The pure in heart,
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And The peacemakers. Matthew 5
And it was on a Mountain-Top
where
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Peter, James, and John
o
Heard perhaps the most astonishing
o
And most Grace-Filled
Teaching of all time:
o
"This is my Son,
o
“The Beloved;
o
“Listen to him!" (Mark 9:7).
These "Mountain-Top" experiences
·
In the Bible stand in stark contrast
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To what we often think of as "Peak" experiences
o
In-so-far as they combine
o
The Affective and the Educated,
o
And the Emotional
and the Rational.
Here are two
of what I would call the most Familiar Mountain incidents in the life of Moses.
In Exodus
3, we find Moses being
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Attracted to,
·
Engrossed by,
·
And Called to
o
And By a bush that burns without burning up.
o
Actually, on Fire!
§
Never Spreading!
§
But also Never Consuming!
And then, to top it All Off, God Speaks!
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From within, God Speaks!
What do you think Moses
·
Was thinking of
·
And how do you think he felt
·
At that very moment?
o
Flabbergasted?
o
Overwhelmed?
o
What about feeling unworthy?
o
Feeling dirty and sinful?
o
What about being Ashamed?
But here is the thing,
By the end of that encounter on that "Mountain-Top of God"
Moses had been taught:
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The Divine
Name of God,
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He received
a commission for his task with the people of Israel,
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And he had been
given a sign that God would accompany him.
This experience was both:
·
Deeply moving
·
And Crystal Clear.
He knew what he had to do!
In Exodus
19 and 20, Moses was again
·
On a Mountain but this time the Mountain was
engulfed by "smoke (that) went up like the smoke of a kiln,
while the whole mountain shook violently," (Exodus
19:18)
·
And it was accompanied by trumpet blasts.
Can you visualize this?
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Smoke streaming up into the sky!
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The mountain shook violently like as if it was going to erupt!
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And then you have Trumpet Blasts that you could actually hear
over the sounds of the earth blowing up!
Incredible!
And then Moses came down and he carried 2 rock
tablets which were written by God’s Hand Himself.
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These laws could not only be expressed within words
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But also, they could be understood
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And obeyed.
In these examples, as-well-as many other
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Peak emotional experiences recorded within the
Bible,
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Whether they did or they didn’t happen on a mountain,
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They all have an overwhelming sense of emotion which
is tied
o
To the deep understanding of the Commandments and Will
of God.
This is why Israel had a different understanding of
the LAW than I believe we have today.
·
They understood the LAW to be God's Greatest Gift.
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It was never a burden to them.
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See, if we follow the LAW,
o
It frees us all to become
§
The person that God has created us to be.
It releases us from our nagging, troublesome doubts
about how we should behave.
However, Today - There is a problem in many
Protestant Churches.
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And that problem is that we too often divorce these
two aspects of God's grace:
o
The emotional release.
o
And the intellectual knowledge
§
Which our journey with Christ provides.
It seems as if we have put these two aspects of
God’s Grace
·
Into an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) boxing ring to see
which one comes out alive.
We have some Churches who stress the
·
Emotion of the mountaintop experience
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But they do very little to encourage
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The Growth in the knowledge of Scripture and Doctrine,
o
Let-alone provide service to God and others.
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Everything is on the "feeling" level and every
service is a Big or Huge "Celebration."
But On the other hand, we also have Churches
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Which do an excellent job of
·
Teaching Scripture and Doctrine
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But they produce believers who seem to
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Be emotionless if not downright mean.
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They have no Heart for others
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And everyone else is unequal to them.
Clearly the Scriptural Image of the mountaintop
experience does
·
Show us that Our Human Limitations,
o
Our constant need to
o
Categorize and
o
Label everything,
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Has gotten the best of us.
God after all, has created both lobes of our brain,
and He still calls us to, as He says in Mark 12:30;
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
And with all your soul,
And with all your mind,
And with all your strength" (Mark 12:30).
There is one more very important thing of which the
image of the Mountain reminds us:
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People do not live on Mountaintops.
o
They Climb there;
o
They are Inspired there;
o
They are Instructed there;
o
And then they Must go back down.
And, if you will recall what Moses found
·
When he took the tablets down the first time,
o
It doesn’t take you long to realize that
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What's waiting at the foot of the mountain
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Isn't always so good.
Who hasn't attended experience an all inspiring and meaningful
worship
·
And then had a fight in the car with someone on the
way home?
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Or been picked up at church camp or from a retreat
o
With experiencing a Spiritual High
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Only to have your parents or your spouse
§
Go over the never-ending list of all of the undone
chores waiting for you at home.
Many, Many Times, are we not like Peter on that Wonderful Day of Jesus’ Transfiguration?
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We want to Live in that Hight:
"It is good for us to be here;
Let us make three dwellings,
one for you,
one for Moses,
and one for Elijah."
(Mark 9:5).
Let's stay for a while;
Let's keep the party going.
Don’t we all know at least one person,
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Who spends virtually all of their time within the
Church walls or in Church Activities?
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It seems that there is always
o
One more committee,
o
One more special service,
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One more campus Christian group
§
That they sign up for.
Kind of like the never ending “Professional
Student”.
They pitch their tent and stay on their mountaintop.
Do you see anything bad in that?
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What type of life do they have?
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Do their relationships suffer?
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Do they have a relationship with someone outside of
the Church Walls?
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Is there any Outreach Connection within them?
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Do they serve anyone beyond the wall of the Church?
In the Gospel stories of the transfiguration,
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Did you notice that Jesus didn’t even try to answer
Peter's suggestion?
Mountaintops are wonderful places,
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To Visit
·
But they are not where we live.
OK – Now Then.
After we have spent a little time here today,
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Uncovering some of what it means,
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How we feel,
·
And what happens to us when we are on the Mountain -Top.
How does this fit within your idea of
And within
your Christian Journey
or Walk?
Does it bring to mind the Disciplines that are needed?
What about the Efforts of those Disciplines which
are so often needed in your journey following The Lord?
Do you see the Mountain-Tops as a sign of God’s
Great Love and Mercy?
Do you see the Mountain-Tops as a place where God
powers your emotions and your understanding in the “Mountain-Top Experiences?
Do you agree, the Mountain-Tops are there for you to
visit but you are to live down in the valleys and in the plains?
Do you understand, that if you retreat to the Mountain-Tops
too often, Always looking for that Spiritual High, For those Religious Chills
and Thrills, By you doing this, you are most certainly increasing the chance of
having The Lord ask you,
“What Are You Doing Here”?
“Why are you not following Me
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Among the Poor,
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The Hopeless,
·
And the Hungry?”
You need to be Ready and You need to be Listening, For
when Jesus summons you to the journey,
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He will say, “Follow Me”
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And then He will go down from the mountain and into
the world.
