Following Jesus

Please turn in the word of God to Mark 9. Mark 9. I was asked whether I was going to continue the subject I began two weeks ago, but that is not the case. Instead, I want to address something that was on my mind as I thought near the tail end of camp that may be fitting for the young people, for the staff, and hopefully for all here this evening. So turn to Mark nine.

It was quite something to partner with Dr. Pollock in reading Cat in the Hat. One line each, alternating. Someone said you should turn that into a podcast. What kind of podcast that would be, I don’t know. Great American Literature read by Northern Irish accents. I don’t know. That was a good time.

It’s my privilege to meet with the staff each morning, Monday through Friday, as those who have—when the young men, young ladies are with Mrs. Mooney and Dr. Pollock—to have the staff with me to lead in devotions and prayer with them, and it’s always a wonderful time. We’re committing the day to God, and I’m very thankful for that opportunity, the privilege to do that. We have good people. I was talking to Dr. Pollock and just saying how critical it is to have people in position that you trust, that you really trust. You give them any instruction, you give them any direction, you know they will carry it out. And we were both just remarking on that in relation to cabin counselors, activity staff, everyone who helps contribute to leading in what is a very busy and intense week. So we’re very thankful, and God has been very gracious to us in that regard.

Mark 9, I’m going to read one verse. I will pull in from the surrounding area, but Mark 9 verse 9:

“And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.”

Just got to focus our thoughts on that opening statement: they came down from the mountain. That’s what it feels like after a week in which you are exposed to the Word of God three, four times a day—that you’ve been on a mountaintop. I mean, who does that? Who has the privilege of sitting under the Word privately, with counselors, being taught in the morning, being taught in the evening? Three, four, maybe even five times exposed to the word. Who gets that privilege? And so it is a mountaintop experience. It is a week where campers tend to lament the fact that it’s going to be another 51 weeks before they can get to that experience again.

But there’s something for us to learn. I trust the Lord will help us to learn it here tonight. Let’s pray.

Lord, we ask for grace now. Help us around Thy Word. We’re so thankful for answers to prayer. We thank Thee for those who were counseled, counseled from the Word and feeling the impact of that within their own heart. Others seeking counsel from those in the cabins, Dr. Pollock, myself, maybe others as well. We thank Thee for those we were able to open the word with and instruct further. We pray that Thou will continue to bless what has been done. Do preserve the camp insofar as it is unto edification, insofar it is an instrument in the hand of the triune God. We plead that Thou wilt preserve it and Thou wilt use it.

We do thank Thee for our staff. God, it is very touching, it is very encouraging to work with people of the same spirit and to sense a collective desire to see the Lord move. Our primary goal is to see something spiritual accomplished in the lives of the young people. Preserve that, yea, even intensify it. Take us further in coming years, if you tarry. So bless us now around the word. May it be instructive and helpful. Give the Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Meeting with the Lord is memorable. Many can remember the time when the Lord dealt with them in awakening them to their sin, showing them the beauties and the glories and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. But in addition to that, many of us can recall times when God deals with us as His people and moves upon our heart in such a way that we can’t ever forget what was done on that occasion. Sadly, however, we may get discouraged. And even though we have lodged in our minds a memory of something significant, yet we look at that time and that experience and think it will never return. And it seems like a waste that God would so move upon my heart and deal with my life and it to be but a memory with no weight and no significance.

So I want to consider here tonight, with the Lord’s help, following Jesus down the mountain. Following Jesus down the mountain. They came down from the mountain. Peter, James, John went with the Lord Jesus down from that mount of transfiguration.

A few things I want you to consider with me, with the Lord’s help. We’re going to see the benefit of the mountain—you need to understand that—the brokenness in the valley, and the business of the Christian.

The Benefit of the Mountain

In the opening verses of Mark 9, we’re given one account here by Mark—Matthew also addresses it—this experience of the Mount of Transfiguration. And we read in verse 2 that “after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.”

There’s a few things about the mountain experience, benefits to believers who are taken by the Lord into an experience akin to this. First, it’s where the glory of Christ is seen. You see that in verse 2. Indeed, in verse 3, “his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.” The glory of Christ was seen.

Peter, James, and John saw Christ in a way they had not seen Him before. They had walked with Him, they had been with Him, they had seen Him perform all miracles that you can imagine, great power displayed, great authority over creation, over disease, and yet here they see Him in a way that is fresh and new. He is transfigured before them. They see the glory of Christ.

Now I know the theological significance, I understand that it’s pointing to the glory of Christ in a yet future day. I get all of that, but it does give us a little insight into something and there’s a certain application in terms of the believer having an experience in which they see Christ with fresh eyes and behold something of the glory of Him in a way that is new.

Recently we were looking at that, weren’t we? The two on the road to Emmaus—Luke 24—and needed the scales to be removed from their eyes to see Christ. The desire of the Greeks coming to Philip and telling him, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” The ministry of John the Baptist summarized in language, “Behold the Lamb of God.” And many other statements could be taken from Scripture that focus upon the need for man to see Christ, not just to see Him in the sense that we know He’s there, we believe He’s real. That is true of many.

Every believer here rests, trusts in Christ, but there’s a need to see Him in His greater glory. When John writes in John 1:14, he remarks there, “we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” We beheld His glory. We saw. We saw.

Others saw physically Jesus incarnate, Son of God made flesh, living among men, working among men. They saw Him, but they didn’t behold His glory. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,” and “we beheld his glory.”

The Lord is pleased to come down, and it’s right to pray for it. We were praying for it, that young people would see the glory of Christ, and I believe some of them did.

We go up the mountain, we see the glory of Christ, it’s also where the voice of God is heard. If you look at verse 7, “there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.”

There’s a voice that comes, and it comes with a purpose, it comes with an intent, it comes with an objective. God speaks. “This is my beloved son.” He witnesses. He testifies to his son. He points the way. He shows the way. He says, “this one.” And he says, “hear him.” The objective of that, of course, then, is that men would not just hear in the sense of they can discern and understand and they’re in the presence of him when he speaks. That’s not what’s in mind. “Hear him” is a call to obey. The voice of God comes on the mountain to encourage us to obedience.

I believe some of the young people felt that too. That meeting with the Lord this week and hearing His word, they were called to fresh obedience. They felt the pressure. They felt the Spirit working in their heart. They sensed the conviction of sin. Their own lives were being addressed, hidden from the view of others. God dealing in the soul there on the mountaintop of camp this year. They heard from the Lord.

It’s where the glory of Christ is seen. It’s where the voice of God is heard, but also it’s not for everyone at the same time. It’s not for everyone at the same time. The Lord was very specific in taking Peter and James and John. Sometimes when God deals with the soul, the question might be asked, why does He not deal with all? Are there campers going home without something of this kind of experience? Yes, I believe so. They had a good time. They enjoyed it. They were informed. They were instructed. In some way, they were blessed. But they perhaps missed out on this kind of testimony: “We were with him in the holy mount.” That’s what Peter said. “We were with him in the holy mount. We were with him.” I will never forget it.

God has seasons in which to deal with His people. He will call aside just a few, perhaps, to give them an experience they never forget. It’s the right time in their life. It’s the moment when they need to hear from Him in a particular way. And if you, young person, had an experience like that, be encouraged. The Lord appointed this, this camp, this time. It wasn’t going to be the same for everyone. But if you can say, “He had a word for me,” and know that He took you apart. He got you alone. He addressed your need. And now you have this memory. He took me into a mountain. He met with me. This is the benefit of the mountain.

The Brokenness in the Valley

But also, the brokenness in the valley. The brokenness in the valley. When you read on in this narrative, of course, they come down the mountain. That’s the whole point. Hinging there in verse 9, “they came down from the mountain.” And the experience is completely different. It’s not the same. Jesus is still there. But the experience is very different. They come down into the brokenness of the valley, of the plains, of the surrounding area, around that mountain.

First of all, we might see in this brokenness, there are people suffering under the curse. Verse 17, “one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; and wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.”

There are people suffering under the curse. This man remarks on his son being of a dumb spirit, he’s being torn by that spirit, foaming, all sorts of awful expressions of being under this wicked spirit. And it’s a heartbreaking sight. His child is enslaved. He is pleading, he comes looking for Jesus, cannot find Him, turns to the disciples, they are unable to help, and there he is broken with nowhere to go and nothing he can do.

And this is similar, this is similar to what is in the world. The Lord takes you up, deals with your heart and brings you back down from the mountain and immediately you see evidence of the curse everywhere. Brokenness. Just open your eyes. There’s brokenness everywhere. There are people suffering under the curse. The Lord leads you down the mountain. He leads you out of camp and into the rest of the year, and you’re to look and see a fallen people, a people under this experience of the fall. You’re to see them. As we’ll see in just a moment, there’s something you can do for them.

There are people suffering under the curse. There are also people struggling to believe. In verse 24, “the father himself cries out and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

There are people around who want help. They have tears in their eyes. They’re desperate. They’re at wit’s end. They’ve tried everything. Nothing has worked. They sought out answers in every corner to no avail. And they’re struggling to believe. They just want to believe that the Lord could do something, could change the circumstances, could give relief. This father is so desirous. There’s this little flicker of hope in his heart. There’s an element in which he believes that the Lord has the answer, that’s why he took himself to find Him in the first place, but he also is riddled with unbelief.

And in some way, the disciples have contributed to that unbelief. Perhaps he was more hopeful as he made his way to find Jesus. And when he failed to find Him, and he finds the disciples, and he sees their attempt to try and bring deliverance, his heart sinks further than it was before. And sometimes that’s true of us as the church. The world looks on, crying out for help. They’re longing for intervention. They want Christians to come alongside and do something for them. When Christians try their best, they meet with them, they pray over them, they open the word to them, they give them good literature, they try to encourage in whatever way they can, and yet they become even more discouraged because they’re looking in the wrong direction.

There is brokenness all around, young person, and to all of us. Brokenness everywhere. People suffering under the curse, people struggling to believe. Which brings us then to the third point.

The Business of the Christian

The business of the Christian. You have something that you are to do, having been taken up the mount. And though Jesus has brought you down from that mount experience, there is a business that you are to be about.

First of all, you are to put Christ before others. Look at verse 25. What’s the point? Jesus was the answer. And this is the whole business of the Christian. The business of the Christian. Jesus lives, dies, rises from the dead, ascends, and before he ascends he says, “you’re my witnesses.” They’re told that the Spirit will be given to them in order to make much of Jesus Christ.

And so we are given this business, we come down the mountain, we’re in this fallen world, in this broken world, and our job, your job, your job, is to put Christ before others. That’s what they need. If they look to you for help, if they try to find answers in you, they’re going to end up exactly like this father who placed his hope in the disciples and found that that was wanting. They need Christ.

And so we’re reminded by Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:5, “we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.” If you saw His glory you would understand why He alone is the answer. He takes you up the mount and you have a fresh understanding. Look at His glory! How beautiful He is! How glorious in His person and in His work. And with that vision, your vision filled with the glory of Christ, your heart touched by His presence, hearing from God and His Word, submitting to His will, you come down the mountain to put Christ before others, but also to seek God on behalf of others.

Verse 29. When the disciples come privately, in verse 28, they of course have this question, “why could not we cast him out?” “And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”

The power for ministry, the enablement you require in order to put Christ before others is one that is birthed in prayer. Young person, you need to be praying. You need to be in the presence of God. You need to be hearing from God. You need to be seeking the Lord. You need to be in touch with the one that the world needs, in proximity with the one that the world needs. So in prayer, concentrated, focused prayer, God will give you power. Why would you not?

Isn’t it interesting how this whole thing kind of bookends? What are they doing up the mountain? They’re up the mountain to behold something. They’re up the mountain to be cut off from the world, from the distractions of the world, from their business and responsibilities. Peter, James, and John are taken away from all the noise and the bustle to go into a place where they’re closing in with Christ. It’s them and Him.

And at the end of the narrative, in the midst of the problem, they come down the mountain, they’re told, that’s where you need to be in prayer. Getting into the closet, as Jesus calls it, in the place of prayer, that’s where you find the ability to minister. We seek God on behalf of others. We pray for them.

You’re going to see that brokenness all around you. You’re going to see it in your family. You’re going to see it in your neighbors. Sometimes you’re going to see it in those in the church. And you’re to put Christ before them and seek God on behalf of them.

Application

So, let me summarize the application. We come down the mountain with Jesus, and there are a few things for each of us to remember.

First, don’t chase the feeling, follow the person. Don’t chase the feeling. You had a feeling at camp, it felt great. The Lord met with you. Don’t chase the feeling, follow the person. The person has brought you down the mountain. Come with him. Stay beside him. The goal of Christ was not to merely stimulate emotion in Peter and James and John. It was to prepare them for ministry. Don’t chase the feeling, follow the person.

Two, accept the wisdom of the valley. Accept the wisdom of the valley. He is bringing you down, comes behind you for another year. And he brings you down the mountain and you’re gonna face temptation, discouragement, distraction, all that time, four or five times under the means of grace, the word of God being taught to you, four or five times a day. That’s probably not going to be tomorrow for you. Nor will it be Tuesday and the rest of the days. It’s not going to be that. You have jobs, chores, responsibilities, distractions, and on and on it goes. You lack the peer pressure of an environment which has scheduled out your day and says, “This is where you’re going to be at such and such a time. And this is what we’re going to do.”

But the Lord brings you down the valley in His wisdom. He is intending for you to carry on a work that He wants you to do.

Thirdly, maintain the flame of private devotion. Maintain the flame of private devotion. What you gained up the mountain will only be maintained or sustained and preserved in the secret place. If you neglect secret prayer, forget about it. It’ll be gone by noon tomorrow. Maintain the flame of private devotion. That’s where it ends. This whole narrative ends with, “you can’t do this work but by prayer and fasting.” You can’t do this work without having an intimate and dedicated communion with God, even at times going to abstaining from the natural use of food that we are to take and receive with joy and thanksgiving. To walk away from that, abstain from that in order to seek the Lord. Maintain the flame of private devotion.

Four, be positive about the public means of grace. What you experienced on the mountain is very much inextricably linked to the fact that you’re under the word four or five times a day. There’s no denying that. Camp would not have been the same. You would not have that mountaintop experience and that testimony of God dealing with you if we had just—if we’d just take out all the experience of being under the Word. So what does that tell you? How important it is to be under the Word. Yes, private, but also public. And to do so optimistically.

Campers come looking to hear the Word on every occasion. They’re punctual, they were engaged, all of that has been rehearsed already tonight. Seeing young people, I love this, there’s nothing that does—I say this, I don’t mean to be suggesting to you you need to change anything about your habits, but there’s something about a young person, or any person for that matter, sitting on the edge of the pew or the seat and leaning into the Word. There’s something about it. Leaning in, hanging on, expecting to hear something from God. I sat at the back every time, and I just scanned my eyes over and prayed for them, and seeing some of them leaning into the Word did my soul good.

But you must come to church with the same posture and expectation and desire, and I know you’re stuck with me, right? I get it. You don’t get the variety of a different voice every night, all the other environment, I know, okay, it’s kind of mundane. But if you say to yourself, “No, this matters. This is a privilege.” Don’t diminish the value of the means of grace here in this place. God will meet with you. He will continue to help you and encourage you.

Finally, look for needs in the valley God wants you to meet. Look for needs in the valley God wants you to meet. There’s a father near you who’s desperate, a sibling, a classmate, a neighbor, a friend, some fellow person in the church, and you know there’s problems going on, you know it. You hear, this is the thing, you young people, you hear things, you hear your peers saying things I don’t hear. You hear things that their very parents don’t hear. And in that language, at times, you can discern a drift. They’re drifting. They’re talking in ways that are not spiritual, not encouraging. You can sense early signs that they’re complaining, they’re murmuring, they’re criticizing parents or whatever else is going on. And you hear there’s just a spirit that is carnal and worldly.

And the Lord is taking you to camp to be encouraged and to meet with Him, and you come back down into real life and into the mundane, and you’re to look for these people. You have a word for them. Or you can just say, “You know, I’m praying for you.” You can make a difference, young person. You can make a difference.

We’re not to spend our lives on the mountain. Jesus brings us down again because there’s a work that needs to be done. There’s business for every Christian and a world that is broken that requires your ministry to it. Camp’s wonderful. But 52 weeks of camp, it’s like Thanksgiving dinner every time. And it soon gets old, especially for those maybe in the cabins with no air conditioning and not the most comfortable mattresses.

The Lord brings us back down to do a work. I look at each of the young people in this church. I am so hopeful for you. I harbor such hope for you. And God will use you. He will. Come down the mountain. Find the thing that God wants you to do. And He will help you.

Let’s bow together in prayer.

Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord. Oh, to be lost in Thee. Your life is but a vapor that appears for a little time, then vanishes away. Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

Lord, receive our thanks for answer to prayer. Receive our thanks for dealing with young people this past week. We ask that it might be lasting. We thank Thee for those we spoke with who already are wrestling with the will of God for their lives. Young men wondering whether God would have them preach the Word. If it be Thy will, preserve that interest, indeed intensify it. Others, O God, who have so much potential to contribute in the church of Jesus Christ, I pray that Thou wilt do a work in each of them. I pray that Thou will accomplish mighty deeds through them that exceed what I even know to pray for them.

We thank Thee that Thou hast used the weak. Thy strength is made perfect in weakness. May young people abandon any sense that they need to be strong. May they learn that the recognition of their weakness creates the very opportunity for them to experience the power of God in them and through them.

Bless us, O God. We thank Thee for the week that lies ahead. Open up opportunities for us. Give us doors of service. Grant us a joyful spirit and continue, O God, to advance all that we endeavor to do in this place, our sister congregations, and in Thy church in general. Bless our time of fellowship, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of all the people of God, now and evermore. Amen.