"Mountain Moments, Timeless Truths, Part 2"

Romans 1:16

¹⁶I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

      Dear Friends in Christ,  

   One of the great things about vacationing in the mountains is the wildlife you sometimes get to see. And Marilyn and I have had some pretty interesting experiences in that regard.  My favorite one took place years ago when we were hiking with our 2 daughters in the Grand Tetons just north of Yellowstone National Park and we saw this mother moose and her little one drinking out of a nearby stream.  So since it was lunchtime, I suggested that we have a seat and enjoy that scene while we ate.  Little did I know, however, that that mother moose would be as interested in us as we were in it.  So while we were eating, it slowly ambled over to where we were and poked its head through the brush that we thought was concealing us and got within about 10 feet of us before it made its way back to its baby again.  I got to tell you that having a close encounter like that with a moose in its natural habitat can really get your heart to pounding.

   But probably not nearly as much as having a close encounter with a bear.  So this is something that we were constantly warned about on the trails we hiked a few weeks ago in Montana and Canada.  In fact, just about every trail had a sign that said we were entering grizzly country and this particular one even stated that we shouldn’t go in this area because bears had been spotted there.  So what do you do to keep the bears away?  Well, the simplest thing you can do is make noise.  Talking to one another is helpful.  Or they suggest that every once in a while you might want to shout, “Hey, bear!” especially if you’re rounding a curve because the last thing you want to do is surprise a bear.  Or you can do what my wife was so good at doing.  You can sing.  She even developed her own song called “Hey, Bear” sung to the tune of the old Beatles’ song “Hey, Jude.”  But as she sang and as we found ourselves immersed in the beauty of God’s creation, I found myself going over the words of perhaps the most popular hymn of all time, “How Great Thou Art,” especially the 2^nd stanza, which I’m embarrassed to say I had difficulty remembering, but all of which finally came back to me: “When through the woods, and forest glades I wander, And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees; When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur And hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.”

   Well, as I stated last week in my sermon, while we walked through those forest glades and looked down from lofty mountain grandeur, God spoke to me not in an audible voice but in that soft gentle whisper that he has used so many times on our vacations to teach me significant lessons that I in turn like to pass on to you.  Last week we looked at the first 3 of those lessons which were: Expect the unexpected.  Don’t believe everything you hear or read.  And follow in the footsteps of the trailblazer.  This morning we want to conclude this “Mountain Moments, Timeless Truths” 2-part series by looking at 3 more lessons, starting with this one: What begins as a novelty can become a nuisance and lead to a knockout.  Obviously that demands some explanation, right?  Well, the novelty I’m specifically referring to here was the snow that we ran into on some of our trails.  Here’s a picture of the first little snow patch we encountered and it was a novelty.  I mean, walking in snow in June is something that just doesn’t happen here in Illinois.  But on several of our trails that snow became a real nuisance, especially the trail to Ptarmigan Lake, which was completely snow covered.  We hiked it for about a mile, much of which was uphill, so it was probably the most physically demanding trail we took and it eventually got the best of us, especially when dark and ominous clouds began to appear, bringing with them the threat of rain or worse yet more snow.  So on that particular trail the snow won.  It knocked us out.  It prevented us from completing the trail.

   Well, the same thing can happen in our everyday lives with the little distractions and temptations that come our way.  For example, what harm can it do to look at that pop-up ad on your computer that very subtly leads you to a pornographic site?  And what’s the big deal if you look at just a few of the pictures on that site?  It’s a novelty, right?  It’s something you’ve never done before.  But eventually that novelty becomes a nuisance as you find yourself wanting to do it more and more.  And if you give in to that temptation, then eventually that novelty-become-nuisance can lead to a knockout as you become addicted to those sites and it begins to negatively impact your marriage.

   Or we see this progression happen so often with teenagers as they go out on a Friday night with some of their friends and somebody breaks out a 12 pack of beer or a bottle of whiskey.  And though you’ve never drunk alcohol before, you don’t want to feel out of place so you do as everyone else is doing.  And you get this little buzz that makes you feel different than you’ve ever felt before.  It’s a novelty and it’s something that you feel is worth doing again.  But over the course of time that novelty becomes a nuisance as you find yourself craving that feeling more and more until finally it leads to a knockout as your desire for alcohol becomes an all-consuming need that your body just has to have to make it through the day.

   Well, in the Bible we see 2 ways of dealing with temptation.  The first I’ll call the David way.  When he saw a beautiful woman named Bathsheba taking a bath in the privacy of her own home, David went from powerful tyrant to peeping Tom.  He allowed himself to indulge in that lustful attraction, that novelty, until finally he just had to have what he saw.  And to make a long story short, it became a real nuisance for him, especially when Bathsheba turned up pregnant, and it ultimately led to a knockout as David got caught in his sin and experienced some pretty heavy duty consequences that hounded him for the rest of his life.

   The 2^nd way to deal with temptation is the Joseph way.  After Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, he ended up in the Egyptian household of a man named Potiphar who had a beautiful wife who had eyes for the young and handsome Joseph.  And though she tried every day and every way to seduce him, Joseph stood his ground against that temptation and ultimately overcame it with these words: “How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”   

   So when those novelties of temptation present themselves to you follow the example of Joseph rather than David lest they become a nuisance that leads to a knockout.  Then the 5^th lesson God taught me on this vacation was this: Be a part of the fellowship of the unashamed.  The one trail that I wanted to take more than any other was the trail to Iceberg Lake because this is one of the most photographed areas of Glacier National Park.  So we started out on the trail and did very well at first, encountering some snowy patches along the way.  But then we came to this one.  And I know it’s a bit hard to see in this picture, but this snowy area was on a very steep hillside and one slip would have meant a long tumble down the mountain.  So we debated whether or not to do it and finally decided it was not worth the risk.

   Well, over the next few days we met a number of other hikers who had made it to Iceberg Lake and asked us if we had.  Now we could have very easily made up all kinds of excuses as to why we didn’t make it there, but I thought why do that.  Why be ashamed of the truth?  So we just told people that we didn’t want to take the risk of crossing that steep snowfield and you know what?  Not a single person thought ill or badly of us.  They completely understood, even those who did take the risk.

   Well, that got me to thinking about a poster that Jan Maske of our congregation gave me some years ago entitled “The Fellowship of the Unashamed,” based upon the words of our text for today where the Apostle Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”  Listen, as I share with you the words on that poster and as I also invite you to become a part of this particular Fellowship of the Unashamed:

I am a part of the fellowship of the Unashamed. I have Holy Spirit Power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until He returns, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My colors will be clear for "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." (Romans 1:16)  Oh that we would all share that kind of commitment, that kind of passion, that kind of devotion for the Savior who gave his all for us!

   And that really leads right in to the final timeless truth that God taught me during the mountain moments of our vacation and that was this: Persevere to the end because it will be worth it.  Though this is the final point of my series, this was something that God showed me the first day in Glacier when Marilyn and I did an 11.35 mile hike to Cracker Lake.  The scenery on this trail was incredible as most of the way we found ourselves sandwiched between towering mountain peaks.  But eventually we ran into some pretty snowy areas and since this was our first day, we didn’t quite know what to expect, what we were getting ourselves into.  And though there were a few times I was tempted to turn back, we persevered and I am so glad we did because eventually we hiked out of all that snow and ended up at this beautiful mountain lake that you see on the screen.

   And so it is with the Christian life.  There are times when we struggle with our faith.  There are times when we battle temptation.  There are times when the road gets rough and we have no idea what lies ahead of us.  Nobody understood that better than the Apostle Paul who in 2 Cor. 11 gives us this incredible litany of hardships that he encountered as a result of his commitment to Christ.  He says: “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.  Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.”

   Yet through all of those trials and tribulations, Paul persisted and persevered in his faith because he knew that in the end it would all be worth it, not because he had somehow earned it, but because Jesus had purchased and won it for him through his perseverance that took him from heaven to earth to the cross and the empty tomb and back to heaven again.  So as Paul found himself sitting in a Roman prison cell knowing that at any moment guards could come through that door and escort him to his execution, he was moved to write in what was probably his last epistle, his 2^nd letter to Timothy: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

            Amen.