Beautiful on the Mountains

Serving the Most High God is the greatest privilege we as his creation can perform. And yet life is hard, ministry is exhausting, and our bodies and emotions have their limits. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah was despondent and exhausted. He had been faithful in his service to God. He had been a part of incredible miracles. He prayed and saw fire fall from heaven! When the evil queen Jezebel threatened his life however, he was afraid and he fled. The Bible describes its heroes in very believable human ways. One minute we are on fire for God and the next minute it is almost like we’ve forgotten a life’s worth of lessons in following Jesus. 

Elijah needed to rest, refresh, and be reminded of God’s power and goodness. Elijah felt alone but he was not alone. Elijah felt like the situation was hopeless, but God was about to restore his hope:

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 

¹⁰ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

God spoke to Elijah in a gentle whisper, shared with him his plan to destroy his enemies, and reminded him that he was not alone in ministry. There were still 7,000 that remained faithful to the Lord. This has been an emotional and exhausting last few weeks for all of us, but I want to encourage you that God is at work. 

On Monday and Tuesday Juan and Niko with the Cru missionaries, Veronika, Bekah, and Gaby, to share the love of Christ and gain interest in starting a Christian club on campus. They had dozens of great conversations, but one stood out. Read this text from Veronika:

Super encouraged by our time meeting students today! The last student Niko, Gaby and I talked to was named Ben, he’s actually listened to sermons from your church Scott! Because someone who goes to your church met him outside of a 1-800 got junk thing then mentioned he goes to Western Hills & that y’all stream church online. He’s not a Christian but sounds like he’s seeking! Niko and him exchanged contact info.

This encouraged me so much. Think of all the pieces that God used to reach into Ben’s life. Juan and Niko were faithful in sharing. Chen and the tech team were faithful to put a quality recording online. I was faithful in my teaching, and one of you was faithful to talk to a young man named Ben and simply invite him. This is a modern day example of “Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gives the increase.” Pray for Ben and keep being faithful to do your part. God is at work. 

Luke 2:20 “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

 The post-Christmas let down is real. Months of preparation, gift buying, and planning all culminate on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and then it just feels like it’s over too soon. Family leaves, the weight gain stays, and if we are not careful discouragement can set in. But I have good news! Christmas isn’t over. In ancient times, Advent was a somber, reflective time to prepare for Christ’s coming. The waiting ended with the celebration of the Christ child, and the Feast of Christmas commenced. For twelve days Christians would celebrate all that it meant for Christ to come into the world and Christmas culminated with Epiphany, the day we remember Christ being revealed to the Gentile Magi or “Three Kings.” 

You don’t have to keep your decorations up or keep listening to carols if you don’t want to, but we should not be quick to move on from remembering what a gift Jesus was to this world. Yes we have to go back to work and get back on track with our healthy eating habits, but we need to be like the shepherds, the magi, and the other characters of the Christmas story that keep celebrating and sharing the good news of Christ means for this fallen world.

“Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’” Psalm 126:2

The story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho is one of the most well-known stories in the Old Testament. We know that Rahab the harlot was a woman of great faith and was used of God to hide the Hebrew spies. But we don’t always remember why she became a woman of faith. Pay close attention to the reasons she shared with the spies as to why she risked everything to save them:

⁸ Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof ⁹ and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. ¹⁰ We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. ¹¹ When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below” (Joshua 2:8-11).

Notice that she heard of the great things that God had done for God’s people and that caused her to believe in Yahweh. She was motived by God’s goodness to Israel to place her faith and actions in the God of Israel. When the people of Jericho’s courage failed, she actually found courage and was saved. 

God uses his love, care, and provision for his people and their resulting praise and thanksgiving to cause those that don’t yet know God’s salvation to hear and be drawn to God. So don’t be shy to vocalize your thanksgiving. Also, don’t be shy about your needs and requests. Tell you friends what you are praying for and then rejoice with them when God answers. This is one of the easiest ways to share your faith. Let God do the work and then give him credit for it. How has God blessed you this year? Who can you share that with? What are the burdens of your heart that you are praying over? Who can you share that with? 

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

I’m always surprised by suffering. I’m not sure why, but I expect good things to happen to me and am caught off guard by the “fiery ordeals.” I forget that Jesus was a man of sorrows. I don’t think this meant that Jesus walked around in a bad mood all the time, but rather that the arch of Jesus’s life was bent toward suffering. He was born to die. He was sent into the world as God’s Lamb and the Lamb was meant for sacrifice. 

Peter wants the suffering Christians of his day and ours to see our sufferings as connected to our identity in Christ. Our suffering is a “participation” in the sufferings of Christ. When we suffer as Christians we should count it as an honor. Our salvation from sin came through the suffering of Jesus and perhaps our suffering with Jesus, will lead to others knowing the source of their salvation. We should be ready and count it an honor to suffer for and with Jesus. 

Growing up there were a number of U.S. Senators who had been wounded in combat. One such Senator was Daniel Inouye. Inouye was a Japanese American whose parents had immigrated to Hawaii. He was a senior in High School when Pearl Harbor was bombed. He sought to enlist in the U.S. Army but was initially banned because all Japanese Americans were deemed “enemy aliens.”  When later the Army created a Nisei combat unit, Inouye joined. During the battle in Italy, Inouye was struck by a German grenade that led to the amputation of his right arm. He was reported to have ordered his fellow soldiers who had stopped to tend to him back to their positions yelling, “Nobody called off the war!”

Once I heard Senator Inouye’s story I had new respect for the empty sleeve that hung from his shoulder. It signified a connection to a sacrifice from which I had benefited undeservedly. Our society honors those who gave themselves for our nation. How much more should we not only honor our Savior who gave himself for us, but count it an honor when we also suffer for the name of Christ? The suffering of Christ came to an end. His humiliation preceded his exaltation. So, it is with the followers of Christ. We may be humiliated now, we may suffer now, we may be filled with sorrow now, but that will soon be turned to joy. Christ is returning. Our pain is limited. Our joy, glory, and honor will be unlimited. Live your life in a way that shows the honor of being a follower of Jesus. 

1 Peter 4:7 “The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.”

Prayer keeps our mind engaged with spiritual matters. We wake up in the morning with a million things on our minds. My mind can flit between a dozen things in a mere moment: family, sports, bills, groceries, things that need fixing, aching body parts and back again. It takes concentration and intention to focus on spiritual things. Because we are in the final stages of God’s redemptive plan on earth we need to be focused. Perhaps Peter’s past mistakes informed his admonition here. Peter is like a father who remembered the mistakes of his youth when instead of praying with Jesus, he dozed off and then dozed off again. He doesn’t want us, his readers, to make the same mistakes he made. He wants us to keep track of the time and to pray. 

Peter did not know when Jesus was coming back, but he knew that it could be at any time. There was nothing preventing Jesus’s return and Christians needed to be busy and ready. I don’t think Peter would have been surprised if Jesus had returned in his lifetime, but I don’t think he’d be surprised that two thousand years later we are still waiting. In Peter’s second letter he wrote:

“⁸ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8-9).

Jesus is never late. He arrives precisely as he has planned. Peter understood that while we are told to wait and watch, Jesus’ has his purpose and plan. The Lord is patient and is working through his people to bring people to repentance. He sent prophet after prophet for 800 years to the children of Israel before he allowed the Babylonians to wipe out Jerusalem and take Judah into captivity.  The Lord’s patience is because of his desire to save, “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation” (2 Peter 3:15). 

When times are tough, I really want to see my Savior’s face. When times are good, I can easily drift. Peter reminds us that in the good times and bad we need to stay focused. The return of Christ is near so be ready, but every day that the Lord tarries, we see God’s patience in bringing sinners to himself. Let us encourage each other to be sober minded, clear headed, and engaged in the hard ministry of prayer so that when the Lord returns for us he will find us faithful. 

1 Peter 4:4 “They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you.”

Humility and integrity are crucial characteristics of believers. As Christians we must know who we are and live what we know. We should be humble because we know the sinful thoughts, actions, and attitudes that Christ rescued us from. Peter reminded the believers of this in verse 3, “you have spent enough time in the past doing what the pagans choose to do…” Christ rescued us from that life—we did not rescue ourselves. When we see the brokenness of the world around us, the Christian is moved with pity and humility because we know that except for Christ that is where we would be.

We must also live with integrity. We must live what we know. As soon as we separate ourselves from the mainstream, we are inviting attention. It is uncomfortable to have all eyes on us. It would be easier to go with the flow, but we are no longer part of this world’s kingdom. We belong to Christ. If we say we are Christ’s, we must live like we are Christ’s. Living in the world but not living of the world will make us stand out in ways that invite scrutiny. If we live with integrity, we may incite some to test our integrity through abuse.

One of the enemy’s chief tactics is confuse people with the mistaken idea that majority makes right. If everyone is doing it, it must not be wrong. You hear phrases like, “popular consensus,” “mainstream,” and “right side of history,” which make us feel like if we don’t agree with the majority then we must by default be wrong. When the lost are confronted with ideas and behaviors that make them question the safety of their position they may lash out. When the Holy Spirit confronts their sinfulness through the contrasting light of a believer’s righteous life, the natural response is to attack.

This is where it is crucial that we have humility and integrity. We must not take on superior airs but remember that the only difference between us and them is that we were rescued. We must patiently endure the trial, because God may be using this to bring them to repentance. We must act in integrity, because the authenticity of our faith may be being tested to see if what we are claiming is real.

Does your life hold up to scrutiny? Do your neighbors, family members, and children see that you are growing in your walk with Christ? How do you respond when you are attacked for not going along with the sinful ways of the culture? Do you respond with the attitude of Christ? Do you have humility and gentleness that might win the lost or do you respond with the pride and defensiveness that the world would expect? If not, confess and commit that to Christ.

Let us remember the sufferings of Christ and the holiness of Christ and arm ourselves with the same attitude as Christ, no matter the cost.