I love Sunday morning worship. I love when the saints gather together. I love the fellowship, the worship, the encouragement, and the proclamation of God’s word. Sometimes, worship is so good that I don’t want to go home.
That’s what happens in our text. Mark 9 records one of the greatest worship services in history. Moses and Elijah appear on the Mount of Transfiguration to meet with Jesus. He gives Peter, James, and John a glimpse of his eternal glory. The disciples had a literal mountaintop experience. The worship was so good that Peter suggested that they never go home. He wanted to build three tabernacles so they all could stay on the mountaintop as long as possible.
But Jesus knew that staying on the mountain wasn’t going to fulfill God’s mission to reconcile the world to himself. So he leads Peter, James and John down from the mountain and into the valley. Because Jesus knows that there’s work in the valley.
Authentic worship should encourage us to go out and reach others with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Each week we ought to enter the church to worship and then depart to serve. After worship is over, the real work begins, the work of reaching our neighbors with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But many of us are like Peter. We love the glory of worship so much that we want to call a holy huddle and stay on the mountaintop with Jesus. But Jesus knows that if we want to share in his mountaintop glory, we must be willing to follow him and serve the suffering in the valley.
So let’s break the huddle and follow Jesus into the valley. There are real people with real problems in the valley, and they need disciples who have spent time with Jesus to minister to them.
Prayer Prompt: Lord, forgive us for trying to avoid the very things you have called and created us to do. Empower us by your Spirit to engage our communities with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Adron Robinson is pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Country Club Hills and president of the Illinois Baptist State Association.