Mountains — more than huge rocks…

Today’s reading took me to thoughts of biblical mountains and how God used them as metaphors. I soon realized this was too large a topic for devotions but did find a few helpful thoughts. First, a modern definition: a mountain is a metaphor for the challenges it poses to overcome fear, endure hardships, negotiate difficult terrains and crevices, and clawing up the tough stuff to reach the summit.

Sometimes the more than 300 uses of this word in the Bible suggest just that. Life with God is a challenge that begins with Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son on a mountain, and speaks of the challenge to the OT saints to serve God on His mountain. It also is repeated as their failures are described. There are stories about deities, heroes, and relationships between mortals and their gods, the true God or their idols.

In our culture, many Christians will call a special time with God a “mountain top” experience. This is not common in Scripture yet it is suggested.

The most interesting and helpful look at mountains was how one biblical scholar looked at the use of them in the NT, specifically in the first Gospel. He gave them five titles that related to what was happening in the life of Jesus Christ and that also relate to our idea that a mountain is a challenge or marks a place of victory.

He called the first one the “Mountain of Initiation-Ordeal” where Jesus was tempted in the wilderness and overcame the suggestions of Satan designed to lead Him into sin.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil… Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ” (Matthew 4:1–12)

The second one is the “Mountain of Instruction.” This includes His magnificent message called the Sermon on the Mount where “Great crowds followed him… and seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them… And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.” (Matthew 4:25–8:1)

The third is the “Mountain of Healing” when Jesus “went up on the mountain and sat down there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:29–31)

The fourth is the “Mountain of Epiphany” which is about a revelation, this time the Lord leading
Peter and James and John his brother up a high mountain and He was transfigured before them. They were both amazed and terrified as they heard a voice from the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Matthew 17:1–8)

The last is the “Mountain of Commissioning” to which Jesus directed his eleven disciples, some worshiping and some doubting, and said to them: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16–20)

There are other mountains in Matthew and the NT yet these are reminders of how God is working in my life so I will be like Jesus. I can expect testing, taking and giving instruction, opportunities to touch the lives of others, amazing revelations from Him and being told what He wants me to do. Some are challenges and others are another metaphor, the mountain being a high place of deep communion and partnership with Him.

PRAY: Lord, I’m facing several mountains. Some are challenges to grow and learn, to help others and to tell them about You. You also take me up a mountain to pray and listen to You, to experience this high place of delight, a mountain I’d like to stay on, yet must heed the call to come down knowing that even in the low places I can still look up to You and be blessed. Thank You for using mountains to clarify truth.

 

What about preaching?

Radio, television, and in our many moves across North America, we have attended many churches, enough to give me a sense of two kinds of preaching. The first is common and everyone knows it; it is the person in the pulpit telling everyone how they should live. Some do it nicely, some with a lot of yelling, but either way, many people do not like it. One reason is that no one likes to be told that they are wrong.

The second kind of preaching follows more along the line of what this word means in the Bible — ‘to announce’ or ‘to publicly proclaim divine truth.’ This preaching is sometimes accompanied by urging listeners to respond, but not always.

Obvious to me, the best preaching and the most effective is that which speaks of what God has done and is doing. I believe this because I’ve realized my own way is either wrong or doesn’t work very well, and I need to trust God. Hearing of His grace and power builds my faith and makes trusting Him easier, even logical.

The Bible urges readers to ‘preach’ the good news about God. If taken to mean ‘announcing divine truth’ or telling others the good news about Jesus, this can take several forms. Here are two of them:

Teaching others what He has taught me:

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:16–20)

Sharing my personal experience with God:

“And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:39–43)

Preaching is often associated with a job description for a church leader. I don’t have that position. However, I can still share with others what God has taught me, and share what I’ve witnessed of His actions in my life and in the lives of others. I can proclaim the wonderful news that Jesus died for our sins, rose from the dead, and promises new life for those who believe.

Through the years, I once was attracted to that preaching that tells me what to do — because I wanted to please God and thought I could do it. It took some time to realize that obedience also involves relying on Him. To do that, I need to be continually reminded of His great love, power, and grace. When that happened, I began to resist that “do this” kind of preaching and wanted to hear more of the “God does this” preaching.

About that time, we had just moved two times and experienced three growing, vibrant churches. They were three different denominations, but had one thing in common — the preaching was about the wonder of God. No finger-shaking, no admonitions of “you must do this.” Obedience became a joy instead of a duty, and these three churches were bursting at the seams!

I don’t like to be preached at, but good preaching is never a bad thing. God uses it:

“For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:21–25)

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I know if preaching becomes more about what I’m supposed to do and less about what You have done, I get discouraged and want to give up. This is because I already know that without You, I can do nothing. I also know that in my human forgetfulness and tendency to go my own way, the good news of Your power and grace needs to be preached to me often. Because that is true, then others certainly must benefit from the same kind of ‘preaching’ also. Certainly, they don’t need me to tell them how to live!