Isaiah 2:1-5
Romans13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44

Isaiah was right about a lot of things, and we heard about some of those things this morning. He tells us that God’s house will be the place where everyone wants to go (and by the way, by the term “God’s house”, he doesn’t mean the church building – people still won’t want to go to church, but that is a subject for another sermon). Everyone will want to go there because God will solve all our disputes and teach us all to be peaceful. That sounds great – who would not want that?
Unfortunately, another thing Isaiah tells us this morning is that Gods house will be on the highest mountain. We can look at that as a logistical problem, because high mountains are difficult to scale. Or we can look at it as a source of hope, because God is in us and we are God’s house, so we will be big and majestic. Both ways of looking at it show us the grace of God, because only God can get us up that mountain, and only God can grow us into that mountain.
We can’t make it up the mountain by ourselves, but God won’t force us to go, either. We are the ones who need to show God that we want his help by taking the first step. We will fall on the way, of course. And then we need to get up and take another step so that God can help us go further. One of the ways we take the steps up the mountain is by avoiding potholes in the road. That is what Paul is talking about in our second reading this morning when he says: “Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” That doesn’t mean we treat all the fun things in the world as bad – it means we treat them as good gifts of God by not abusing them by making everything about us and our wants. It means we share and do things in moderation and not try to substitute things and experiences for God.
We don’t always live like that, though. Maybe it is more true to say that we rarely live like that. That is why we can make it up the mountain and become that mountain only by the grace of God. God makes the way; we fall off the path. We admit we need help; God helps us back up. God shows us the way; we fall off the path. We admit we need help; God shows us the way. It goes on and on at least until we die, and who knows how much longer after that.
All of that takes perseverance, faith ,and constancy, but it is worth it, because the closer we are to that mountaintop, the more our disputes will be solved, and the more we learn peace. The more we grow into that mountain, the more we can teach people how to beat their spears into pruning hooks, because we will be doing it ourselves.
Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord. We have made one step by being here, another step by listening to the scriptures, another step by praying, and we will soon take another one by being fed by God at God’s table. We will fall later – count on it. God will pick us up and take us further – count on it. But right now, let’s keep going a little further. We will learn peace, we will grow.   AMEN