Matthew 5:1-2 – Climbing Companions
Deep within a forest, a little turtle began to climb a tree. After hours of effort, he reached the top, jumped into the air waving his front legs and crashed to the ground. After recovering, he slowly climbed the tree again, jumped, and fell to the ground. The turtle tried again and again, while a couple of birds sitting on a branch watched his sad efforts. Finally, the female bird turned to her mate. "Dear," she chirped, "I think it’s time to tell him he’s adopted."
Today we are looking at climbers. Let’s read just 2 verses of scripture, Matthew 5:1-2. Of course the passage goes on through the next 3 chapters to give us the Sermon on the Mount.
I’d like to read these 2 verses from the paraphrase of the Bible called The Message: “When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said.”
I like the phrase “climbing companions”. Jesus’ disciples, only 12 of them, climbed with Him up a mountain, and He taught them there. You will notice that the very best and most famous sermon ever preached, only 12 people initially heard it. It’s been shared millions and billions of times since then, but the very 1st people to hear it were very few. Only a few got the best Jesus offered.
It’s been no different through the centuries. Jesus reserves His very best for those who are His serious disciples. Jesus saves His very best teachings and truth for His climbing companions. Today I’d like to encourage you with some stories of Jesus’ climbing companions over the years. These are people who got the best teachings, who got the best insights, who saw God move in such ways most of us don’t see.
Bill and Gloria Gaither are climbing companions. In the late 1960s, while expecting their third child, they were going through a traumatic time in their lives. Bill was recovering his strength from a bout with mononucleosis. They, along with their church, were the objects of accusation and belittlement. Gloria was experiencing a time of torment, including fear of the future and of bringing children into such a crazy, mixed-up world.
As Gloria sat alone in a darkened living room, tormented, and fearful, the Lord sent a calm and peaceful rest to her. The power of the resurrection of Christ seemed to affirm itself in their lives once again. Gloria remembers the realization that it was life conquering death in the regularity of my day. The joy seemed to overcome and take precedent over frightening human circumstances. And the words of the soon-to-be-written song took effect: “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.” Bill and Gloria climbed with Jesus.
Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, was a climbing companion, though it wasn’t always that way. Like many young people he rebelled against his upbringing. He was raised in Scotland in a very strict Calvinist home. As a college student he quickly got rid of his rigid upbringing, which he called "the deadliest gag and wet blanket that can be laid on a man," and called himself a "youthful atheist."
As he became older, however, he began to have "doubts about his doubts." He came to see that for all its claim to wisdom, the world had no satisfying answers to the deepest questions of life. Later Robert Louis Stevenson would write, "There is a God who is manifest for those who care to look for him." Still later he would describe his own religious outlook as a "cast iron faith." RLS climbed with Jesus.
Horatio Spafford was a climbing companion. He had been a successful attorney in Chicago. He was also the father of four daughters, an active member of the Presbyterian Church, and a loyal friend and supporter of D. L. Moody.
When Mr. Moody and his music associate, Ira Sankey, left for Great Britain for an evangelistic campaign, Spafford decided to lift the spirits of his family by taking them on a vacation to Europe. He also planned to assist in the Moody/Sankey meetings there.
In November, 1873, Spafford was detained by urgent business, but he sent his wife and four daughters as scheduled on the S.S. Ville du Havre, planning to join them soon.
Halfway across the Atlantic, the ship was struck by an English vessel, and sank in 12 minutes. All four of the Spafford daughters - Tanetta, Maggie, Annie and Bessie - were among the 226 who drowned.
Mrs. Spafford was among the few who were miraculously saved.
Later, Horatio Spafford stood hour after hour on the deck of the ship carrying him to rejoin his sorrowing wife in Cardiff, Wales. When the ship passed the approximate place where his precious daughters had drowned, Spafford received sustaining comfort from God that enabled him to write the words of this hymn: ’When sorrows like sea billows roll ... It is well with my soul.” Horatio Spafford climbed with Jesus.
George Mueller was a climbing companion. One day he began praying for five of his friends. After many months, one of them came to the Lord. Ten years later, two others were converted. It took 25 years before the fourth man was saved. Mueller persevered in prayer until his death for the fifth friend, and throughout those 52 years he never gave up hoping that he would accept Christ! His faith was rewarded, for soon after Mueller’s funeral the last one was saved. George Mueller climbed with Jesus.
William Wilberforce was a climbing companion. He was a British member of parliament who led the charge for many years to abolish slavery in Great Britain. He fought and fought to no avail. After a while, he decided that he was going to give up and move on to another issue.
John Wesley heard about Wilberforce’s decision from his deathbed, and sent for him. Wesley gave younger William a note that encouraged him to keep on. It said: “Unless the divine power has raised you up… I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that (abominable practice of slavery), which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? Oh, be not weary of well-doing. Go on in the name of God, and in the power of His might.”
A couple days later, Wesley died. For 45 more years, Wilberforce fought the parliament on slavery, and three days before he died, he saw slavery abolished in England. Wiliam Wilberforce climbed with Jesus.
Eric Liddell was a climbing companion. He was a Scottish athlete who showed great promise to be an Olympic athlete. However his dream was to be a missionary to China, where he was born. He said to his wife, “Jenny, God has made me for a purpose - for China; but he has also made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure.”
His faith led him not to run in the 100-meter run in the 1924 Olympics because it fell on a Sunday. Even though the 100-meter was his best run, his conscience would not allow him, and he preached in a church that day. He did, however, go on to take the bronze medal in the 200-meter run. Even more than that, in the 400-meter run, he was five meters ahead of his nearest rival. Eric had won the gold in 47.6 seconds, which was a world record.
However, the 1924 Paris Olympics were not the ultimate race, and gold was not the only prize. His whole life was a race: a race for the kingdom of heaven. He sailed two years later to China as a missionary and was still running his race for God when he died on February 21, 1945 of a brain tumor and typhoid in a Japanese prison camp. But his everlasting reward was found in the presence of Jesus. Eric Liddell climbed with Jesus.
Perpetua was a climbing companion. At age 22, Perpetua was a noblewoman who lived with her husband, her infant son, and her slave, Felicitas, in Carthage in North Africa). Around A.D. 200, North Africa was home to a vibrant Christian community, and Perpetua was a new believer.
But the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus believed Christianity undermined patriotism to the empire, so he determined to persecute Christians, focusing his attention on North Africa. Among the first to be arrested were five Christians taking classes to prepare for baptism, one of whom was Perpetua. Her father tried to talk her out of her faith, but Perpetua could not be swayed.
Time and again he tried to convince her to relent in her faith, but she would not. As a pagan, he realized there was an easy way for Perpetua to save herself: simply deny she was a Christian.
"Father do you see this vase here?" she replied. "Could it be called by any other name than what it is?"
"No," he replied.
"Well, neither can I be called anything other than what I am, a Christian."
Time and again the father walked out of the prison dejected.
The day of the hearing arrived. The governor Hilarianus, probably wanting to avoid executing a mother still nursing a child, added, "Have pity on your father’s gray head; have pity on your infant son. Offer the sacrifice for the welfare of the emperors."
"I will not."
"Are you a Christian, then?" asked the governor.
"Yes, I am," Perpetua replied. Perpetua and her friends were condemned to die in the arena. Perpetua, her friends, and Felicitas (who also had been arrested) were dressed in belted tunics before they entered the stadium. Wild beasts and gladiators roamed the arena floor, and in the stands, crowds roared to see blood.
Immediately a wild heifer charged the group. Perpetua was tossed into the air and onto her back. She sat up, adjusted her ripped tunic, and walked over to help Felicitas. Next a leopard was let loose, and it wasn’t long before it attacked and mauled the Christians.
Still, the crowd was impatient, and began screaming for the deaths of the Christians. Perpetua and her friends were lined up, and one by one, slain by a gladiator’s sword. Perpetua climbed with Jesus.
One more climbing companion. I got this e-mail from a friend. I’d like to share it with you. “But on a more positive note… somewhere in this warped, confused, overtired mind of mine I did come to my senses at 1 am while I was driving. I was tired, the roads were terrible & yes the deer & fox love to come out in the wee hours of the morning. So I decided to talk to my best friend (Jesus) to keep me awake. I actually hadn’t had a chance to talk to Him quite some time - I’ve been so busy. At 1 this morning I did a reality check on myself. What would I do if I had come face to face with Jesus at that very moment & He was too busy to talk with me? WOW!! That woke me up pretty fast. So I spent the next hour & a half asking for forgiveness for being so self indulged & selfish... I thanked Jesus for allowing me to love Him & for Him loving me. I asked Him to give me a new perspective on my priorities, to give me a complete & refreshed filling of His Holy Spirit. I asked Him to drain me dry & then fill me whole, to how He would want me to be, not what I perceived myself as. Before I knew it, I was pulling into the hospital when I realized that our conversation was coming to an end. Suddenly I became very sad. Then it hit me, I didn’t need a cell, a home phone, a PDA, a computer, an e-mail address, hydro, a car, a calling card or even a fax to talk to my best friend. I didn’t have to be sad because
Jesus wasn’t leaving - He’s with me Forever - He Lives Within My Heart.
This person has climbed with Jesus. So keep climbing. You’ll get the good stuff. Follow Jesus up the mountain. Be His climbing companion.
