One of the most common questions I get, when it comes to questions about sermons, is this – do you ever repeat sermons? The short answer is, yes, on occasion I do (although I could add that if someone asks that question it either means I do not repeat them or they are not memorable enough to notice when I do). Generally speaking, however, it is not often that I repeat my old sermons. This is, basically, for two reasons. First, I just don’t like to reuse sermons. Reusing a sermon is, to me, a bit like eating leftovers (and I don’t like leftovers). When I’m done with a sermon, I’m ready to move on to the next one, and I don’t like to look back. Second, when I do reuse a sermon, I find that by the time I do the inevitable rewriting it becomes an almost brand-new message, so why not just write a new one? When I do repeat a message, the primary reason is because of the theme, as there are some themes worth repeating, especially when the theme is encouragement.
On Sunday I will return to a message I preached five years ago, called Living Between the Mountaintop and the Valley, although not much of that version is left. The message comes from the story of the Transfiguration, as found in the gospel of Mark. Follow along with me as I read the Scripture text for this morning, which comes from Mark 9:2-19 –
2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them.
3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.
4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.
11 And they asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”
12 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?
13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”
14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them.
15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.
16 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.
17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.
18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
1. If you’re on the mountaintop, look up and give thanks.
I grew up in mountains, and I found them to be rather claustrophobic, to be quite honest. I will say, however, that when you are on a mountaintop and can look into the valley below, it is really breathtaking, and being in such a spot can make the problems of life seem far away. It can be a literal mountaintop experience.
How many of you have a special place that takes you to a mountaintop experience? I have had several over the years. One was a literal mountain near the campus where I attended college. Like others, the beach is a place for me that can also bring a mountaintop experience, especially as I watch the grandeur of God’s creation in the waves and the beauty of the endless horizon. Church, certainly, has provided me with many mountaintop experiences. I have always been drawn to church, to worship, and to the sense of God’s presence I have felt there. Sometimes that presence has been greater and sometimes it has felt less so, but it has always been there. Church has given me a place to belong. Church has been a place where I learned there was something greater than just my life. Church is where I learned about love and grace and the attributes of God that were held up as an example to me. Church camp was another place of mountaintop experiences for me. I spent a good deal of my summers, beginning in elementary school through my early college years, going to church camp. My church camp experiences were some of the most profound in my life. At the time, I appreciated how those experiences served as a source of strength and encouragement for me between summers, helping me to get through each school year, but as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to understand how they continue to be life-changing and life-shaping experiences for me. For many years, long after attending camp as a student, I worked as a counselor and director at church camps, which continued to provide me with mountaintop experiences.
On the mountain, Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Yes, it was good to be there! I hope one of the things Peter did while in that moment was to say thank you Lord! Thank you for the beauty of this moment, though it is fleeting! Thank you, for some moments of respite from the difficulties of daily life! Thank you for a glimpse, just a glimpse – but a glorious glimpse – of what we will one day experience forever!
When you are on the mountaintop, look up and give thanks! Even if it doesn’t last long, give thanks! A little bit of mountaintop can go a long way. A long way. Sometimes we need a special encounter with God. Sometimes we need those moments that lift us above the daily grind of life. Sometimes we need those moments where heaven meets earth and the divine comes right into our lives. Those moments don’t come every day in my life. Sometimes, those really moving encounters come few and far between. Sometimes those encounters come totally out of the blue and other times they come because we place ourselves in a position where they can happen. But one of those encounters is enough to provide spiritual fuel for a long time.
Peter, James, and John would certainly have their share of powerful and profound experiences with Jesus, but this one was special, and as difficult as it was for them to understand the experience, it was one that touched them in a very deep and profound way.
2. If you’re on the mountaintop, come down and offer a hand to others.
One of the moments that comes in any mountaintop experience is when you think to yourself, I could stay here forever. That’s when you know you are in the middle of a mountaintop experience. But we also know that is not to be. We cannot stay on the mountaintop forever. There comes a time when we must go back down the mountain, and one of the reasons we must go back down the mountain is because there are those in the valley who need us.
I like this passage for several reasons, one of which is the juxtaposition of a literal mountaintop experience followed immediately by an “in the valley” moment. As Jesus, Peter, James, and John came down the mountain they were greeted by a large crowd and a group of the teachers of the law who were arguing with the other disciples. How discouraging it must have been to come down from a literal mountaintop experience and run smack into the difficult realities of life! They were probably ready to turn around and run back up the mountain!
Like Peter, I wish we could spend more time on the mountaintop. On those occasions when I’ve had a mountaintop experience, I always wished it could continue on and on. But they never do. Before we know it, it’s time to go back down the mountain and back to the realities of life. And it’s not just the basic realities of life; sometimes the realities that confront us are very harsh and very difficult. Who wouldn’t want to run back up the mountain and hide away from those realities? But here is an important truth – any encounter with God that does not lead us down from our mountains, out of our buildings, and into the needs of the world around us is probably not a real encounter with God. Though Jesus often led his disciples away for moments of quiet, moments when they could pray together and when he could teach them, those moments were always followed with walking right back into life’s harsh realities.
Unfortunately, life is not one long, continuous mountaintop experience. Thankfully, neither is it one long, continuous slog through the valley. The truth is, much of our lives are lived somewhere between the mountaintop and the valley. Sometimes we are up and sometimes we are down, but much of life is lived somewhere in the middle; not quite a mountaintop experience but not the darkest of valleys. But there are always those who are in the harshness of the valley, where dysfunction and disease and conflict and loss and fear and violence and so many other problems overwhelm their lives. As wonderful as it would be to stay on the mountaintop, we have to enter the valleys because that is where many people happen to be.
There is someone, right now, who needs us to offer them a hand. That’s why we have to really work to keep our hearts and minds open, so we can sense when others are giving those little hints, those little glimpses, those slightly opened windows, those barely opened doors into their lives; to see if we will open that window further, to see if we will push that door gently open and walk into their valley.
The scene at the bottom of the mountain was not easy. There was a crowd and an argument. The father was frustrated. The other disciples were frustrated. You can even sense the frustration in Jesus’ voice, as he says, “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
It’s tough in the valley. It’s dark in the valley. It’s frustrating in the valley. People feel helpless and hopeless in the valley. And those are but a few of the reasons why we should be in the valley. Mountaintop experiences don’t last long because we were never meant to stay there for long, because we’re needed too much in the valley. Jesus gave Peter, James, and John a glimpse because they were going to need it for what was ahead of them. They had some tough times ahead of them. They had some really deep and dark valleys ahead of them. I wonder how much that glimpse on the mountain helped them in those moments. I wonder, when Peter was in prison, how often he thought about their time on the mountain. I wonder, when he was about to be crucified himself, if he thought, I know what’s ahead for me, because I’ve seen a glimpse. It was just a glimpse, but that’s all I needed.
Aren’t you grateful we do not walk through this life alone? Aren’t you grateful for the people that God has brought into your life? Can you imagine life without those people who celebrate with us in the difficult times but also walk with us through the valley, the people who will sit and weep with us, mourn with us, and love us when we feel as though we cannot continue?
Jesus surrounded himself with close friends because that is what we need in life. We need, in particular, people who will be encouragers for us. Think of Barnabas, in the book of Acts, whose name meant encourager. Imagine being known for all of history as an encourager – now there is a legacy! I could give you so many examples of people who have served as encouragers to me, but I’ll share just one this morning. In a previous congregation where I served, as the conclusion of the service, one of the members shook my hand and said, Dave, that was a really good message today. I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. Thank you for sharing it today. My first impression, honestly, was to be disappointed, because we had a music program that day and I didn’t preach. I thought she must have slept through the service and didn’t notice there was no sermon that day! Upon reflection, however, I realized it was because her habit was to say something encouraging to me every week after worship. It wasn’t that she didn’t notice I hadn’t preached; she just did what she always did, which was to offer an encouraging word to me.
3. If you’re in the valley, look up; there is hope!
The last time I preached this sermon was not here; it was actually a while back at the Diersen Center in Louisville, a women’s correctional facility where we go several times a year to lead worship. When you preach in an incarceration facility, in that environment, some themes work much better than others. In that facility, most of the women there have spent far more time in the valley than on the mountaintop, although it is possible, through faith certainly, to have mountaintop experiences in a place of incarceration. When we go there, we do our best to bring all the hope we can bring. They need hope there, and they need hope when they are released.
Sadly, the mountaintop is not where most people live on most days. As wonderful as it would be to stay on the mountaintop, none of us get to spend as much time there as we would like. On a fortunate few occasions we get to visit the mountaintop and have that beautiful mountaintop experience, but that is not where we get to stay long. Some people never make it to the mountaintop. Some people spend all of their lives struggling to be free from the valley of poverty, of disease, of violence, of loneliness, of depression and despair, of fear and so many other struggles that fill that valley.
And that is why hope is central to the message of the gospel. I remember a really difficult time in my life when I read certain passages of Scripture every day. They were a lifeline to me, because they were words of hope. One of those passages was Isaiah 40:28-31 –
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
I love that passage. And I read the 23rdpsalm day after day, and that immortal verse, yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with my, thy rod and thy staff they comfort mewas especially powerful. Even in the darkest and the deepest of valleys, there is hope! There is always hope, because if we do not have hope, we do not have anything! Hope is what so many people need. Jesus offered hope to people, and we are to be his messengers of hope.
When I was in college, my friends and I would sometimes travel to nearby Roane Mountain, where people would hang glide. I’m not sure who first had the idea to attach some very thin cloth to a very spindly aluminum frame and then jump off the side of a mountain, but it is a beautiful sight. It is also, however, a bit unnerving to watch hang gliders go off the edge of the mountain. It is a rather precipitous drop over the edge, and after leaping it was frightening as they took the plunge over the side. They would leap, and then drop. It takes your breath away to see them plunge down the side of the mountain, until the updraft catches them and suddenly, they shoot up past you. As much as it made my heart almost stop as I watched, I can’t imagine what it was like to take that leap. Sometimes, our drop from a spiritual mountaintop experience comes as quickly. Some days, it feels as though we are plunging over the side to the valley below, with nothing to stop the fall except for the valley below. But take heart! There is no valley too deep for God. There is no valley out of God’s reach. There is no valley where God is not present. The Spirit of God will catch us and lift us out of the valley, and we will find the promise of Isaiah to be true as wesoar on wings like eagles! There is hope! There is always hope!
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