We are told that the works that Jesus does if we’re believers in Him, that the works that He does, we will do too and greater works because He is going to His Father. But you know what? You will not do that unless you have been to the mountaintop like He was. Back up we must go. Back up. Because you know what happens? You try to dive into these duties. You’ve got all these things to do. Oh, well, it says I need to work with my hands, and it says I need to walk in a certain way, and it says I need to be doing these certain different things and I need to control my mouth and I need to use it a certain way, and I need to be involved in singing and I need to love my husband and love my wife and submit to my husband and I’ve got children, and I shouldn’t do this and I shouldn’t do that and all this instruction.
I’ll tell you what, you lose sight of the mountaintop, you lose sight of the glory up there, you know what’s going to happen? You will become like Martha just distracted and disturbed and agitated by all manner of different things. And there’s Mary. “Martha, Martha…” You see, we can be distracted from what really matters. You’re anxious and troubled about many things, one thing is necessary. Is it necessary to come down? You better believe it. But it is necessary to sit at His feet? That is the thing that is needful to charge you to live this life, to prepare you to live this life and all our activities and all our responsibilities and all the work that lies before us.
And there is work! We must work while it’s day! But we need men and women who fight to get back to the mountaintop, and that means you have to make decisions in your life to make certain that you get there. You need to put the cell phone down, the iPad down, the computer down, turn off the TV, turn off the movie, turn off this world and go back there. We need to go back there. And then come down, and go back there and then come down.
That is absolutely essential. The mountaintop calls us. May God help us not to be content with a bunch of religious activity. It’s on the mountaintop that Moses beheld His glory. And it’s on the mountaintop that as He communed with the Lord that glow came to be upon his face.
And don’t think that has nothing to do with the New Testament believer because the Apostle Paul looked at that very example and said let me tell you something, that is what it is to be a Christian. That is exactly what it is to be a Christian. What happens? What happens when we see the glory? What happens when we go back face to face with God? What happens? I’ll tell you what happens. The same thing that happened to Moses will happen to us. This is what 2 Corinthians 3 is all about. The glory gets on us. God burns into our hearts and upon our faces the image of the Son of God. And when we go down from the mountain and out into the world, what happens? The world sees the glory. “We all” – you see, the veil has been taken off. What does that mean? Nothing stands in the way anymore. Do you realize what that means, Christian? It means that you are one of the select few on the face of the earth that has had the veil taken off. Which means God has put you in a place to be emblazoned by His glory if you will but expose yourself to it. The veil is gone. “We all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord…” He’s been talking about Moses being exposed to the glory and having that glory on his face. “We are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” We come down from the mountain.
And you know what? The onlooking world will see the glory. The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ etched into us. Into our character, into our person. Look, there’s something. When you hear, when I was saying to you that this is Christ in the Song of Solomon: “Come away.” “Come away.” And you hear that and it sounded sweet. But you see, you don’t want to stop there. You actually do want to go away with Him. And then come down. Go to the Mount of Transfiguration. See the glory break through so that you see He’s way beyond just a mere man. Behold the glory. It’s being like Christ that turns the world upside down. The thing is if we try to go on to chapter 4, 5, and 6 of Ephesians and we lose sight of that term: “therefore,” and forget its significance in the fact that it joins what went before with what’s coming after, then you know what? You know what will happen? You try to be dutiful and you try to do and you try to work without the image of Christ being emblazoned into your soul, you know what you’ll be? You’ll just be hollow religionists. It’s a form of godliness, but it lacks the power. The power comes from a close intimacy with Christ.
Excerpt from the full sermon, “Onward!“.
