FOUNDATIONS FOR PEACE

Luke 9:28-36
2/9-11/2013
Transfiguration Sunday
Pastor Don Sutton

Podcast: Download (Duration: 16:19 — 7.5MB)

Luke 9:28-36
28) About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29) As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30) Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31) appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32) Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33) As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.) 34)While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35) A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36) When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.

Introduction
In April of 2000 CBS aired a movie about a dysfunctional family with a control-freak father who insists that his wife and his three teenaged daughters accompany him on a weekend trip to the mountains. Flying in their private plane, they crash in a remote mountain area. With the dad barely surviving the disaster, it is up to the mom and the kids to take charge of the situation. Huddling in a tumbledown cabin, the family struggles to survive the elements–and an avalanche– forgetting their differences and working together as a team. The fact that they succeed in doing so and survive, results in the title -Miracle on a Mountain.

Today, however, we don’t depend on CBS for a plot. We look to passages from Luke 9 recounting the Transfiguration of Jesus – truly A Miracle on a Mountain. Then and there … Jesus is glorified
…. Moses and Elijah appear …. God the Father speaks.

1. Jesus is glorified
A.) In the Transfiguration Jesus is glorified. Luke reports, “28) About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29) As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.” Matthew reports that Jesus face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light. What an overwhelming sight that must have been! One minute Jesus looked the way he always looked. The next minute he looks entirely different, not reflecting a light from somewhere else, but radiating a light from within himself. The divine was shining through the human. The Son of God was manifesting himself through the son of Mary. The form of the servant was pulled aside and God was glowing through.

B1) Even though the glory of God is being revealed on that mountain we are told, “Peter and his companions were very sleepy.” But Luke continues, “But when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33) As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ (He did not know what he was saying.)” Peter is so overwhelmed by this glimpse of glory, he wanted time to stop. He wanted to preserve this marvelous moment and to continue to behold this glory.

2) Doesn’t this miracle tell us something about the glory that awaits us in eternity? It is grand and it is glorious. There is much about what awaits us in eternity that we don’t know. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor 2:9).” Things will not be the same there as here. John wrote in revelation, “The old order of things will be remembered no more.” Our bodies will not be the same. Paul emphasized this to the Philippians, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Paul emphasized to the Romans, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

When things look down, keep in mind what is ahead. When you feel defeated, remember the glory that awaits you in eternity.

We are reminded of this as we see Jesus glorified – a miracle on a mountain.

2. Moses & Elijah Appear
A1) This miracle wasn’t the only miracle on a mountain -“Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.” These two had lived and left the earth long before this mountaintop experience. Moses had died and had been buried east of the Jordan River 14 centuries before. Elijah, without dying, had been taken to heaven in a whirlwind accompanied by chariots of fire. Both Moses and Elijah had had mountaintop experiences before. On Mt. Sinai God had called Moses to serve him and on the same mountain God gave Moses his law. On Mt. Carmel Elijah defended God’s law he showed down the prophets of the false god Baal. In Moses and Elijah we have the “law and the prophets” represented. It is as if God is saying, “You see, the whole Old Testament ultimately points ahead to Jesus and the fact that he is the Messiah who would save all people.”

B1) Jesus Moses and Elijah discussed this. Luke recorded, “They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” This departure, literally “exodus,” was a reference to his suffering and death. Eight days before this Jesus had told his disciples, The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day rise again (Lk. 9:22).”

2) As the Old Testament prophecies foretold, and Moses and Elijah knew, Jesus had to die for the sins of the world. That was why Jesus came to this world – to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. If he didn’t do this, he couldn’t return to glory. If he didn’t do this, we would have no hope of eternal glory.

3) We would forever be excluded from the glory of God and consigned to an eternity of grief with the devil. The sinfulness with which we are born would bring this consequence because as Paul wrote, “We were by nature objects of wrath (Eph 2:3).” In addition, one sin makes us deserving of this same consequence. James wrote, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” One withheld worship of God, one misspent dime, one tweet when you should be paying attention, one wasted moment – one sin – that’s all it takes to make us unworthy of God. Through Paul, God reminds us, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

4) But through the same apostle God assures us, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree (Gal 3:13).” Christ went to that cross. He hung on that tree. He went from the miracles on the mountain to experience what it is like to be in the depths of hell as he was separated from his heavenly Father when he cried out in grief, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” He suffered the grief you and I should suffer. He died the death we should die – not only physical but eternal. Now, as Isaiah wrote, “By his wounds we are healed (Is 53).” As a result we are forgiven and the crown of life awaits us.
It’s a miracle and amazing that the Son of God would do this. It was also a miracle that Moses and Elijah appeared on that mountain to discuss Jesus’ departure via the cross, then the tomb, from the tomb to the skies to glory at the right hand of God the Father.

3. God the Father Speaks
A) The third miracle on the mountain was God the Father speaking about his Son. Knowing what his Son will go through and knowing how the disciples will be tempted to question the identity of Jesus as he experiences his passion, God assures Jesus of his love. “While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” It’s as if God is saying, “Son, be assured that as you experience all kinds of grief, you are my chosen one.” Or, “My sons, as you see my Son suffering and dying, he’s the Messiah and this is part of the plan.”

B) As we go through the grief of time because of the effects of sin, God is with us to help us endure. God reminds us concerning those troubles, “These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (1Pe 1:7).” God assures us, “My grace is sufficient for you, my strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Co12:9).” “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express (Ro8:26).”

C1) But when God the Father spoke, he said of his Son, “Listen to him.” As Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world, he is also the source of truth, peace, joy and purpose. In a time when people are listening to voices from everywhere – the media, the ministers of false teaching, and the masters of humanism, materialism and hedonism – they are hearing messages that make messes of lives. If these messages we hear and take to heart, messes are what we will have in our lives.

2) What we need is to listen to Jesus. He tells us that life not about seeking treasures here that last only a while, but on having treasure in heaven that last for eternity. Jesus tells us that life is not about making a name for ourselves, but for making his name known among the nations. Life is not about the pursuit of pleasure, but taking pleasure in pursuing a Godly life to God’s glory. Jesus tells us that what is godly is good and what is ungodly is bad. He assures us Christians that even when in weakness and ignorance we have been bad, because of him God sees us as being good and loves us. Jesus tells us that even when we feel all alone, we are never really along – he’s with us. Jesus says that when we think we can’t, we can because with him all things are possible. Jesus says that even though we die, yet shall we live.

Listen to Jesus and enjoy his love. Listen to Jesus and have peace. Listen to Jesus and have joy. Listen to Jesus and have light. Listen to Jesus and live.

Hebrews 13:5,6
January 26-28, 2013
3rd Weekend after Ephiphany
Pastor Don Sutton

Podcast: Download (Duration: 20:55 — 9.6MB)

Hebrews 13:5-6
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

Introduction
Chapter 13 is the closing chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews and like other closing chapters of some New Testament letters it can be said that “it contains everything but the kitchen sink” when it comes to the sanctified lives of Christians – “Love one another. Welcome strangers. Remember those in prison. Honor marriage. Remember your leaders. Watch out for false teachers. Praise Jesus as your High Priest and through him praise God. Share with one another. Obey your leaders. Pray. Find power in God’s peace.”

Right in the middle of all this is our text that I some up in this way, “DON’T LOVE MONEY, BUT BE CONTENT.” Now if I do an “alliterative partectomy,” as I am often inclined to do, I see the Lord giving us …a prohibition …a prescription …and … a promise.

…a prohibition
A principle we need to be clear on is everything and everyone belongs to God. The Psalmist wrote, “The earth is the Lords and everything in it (Ps 24:1).” The things we have an call our own are loans from the Lord that he gives us to first of all 1) to give – to him to show he is our priority, to our family to care for them, and to others who are in need; secondly,, 2) to save for as God says in Proverbs, “Go to the ant, you sluggard and consider its ways; it has no commander, no overseer or no ruler, yet it stores it possessions in summer and gathers it food at harvest (6:6)”; thirdly, 3) to pay debt – “If you own debt pay debt (Rom 12)”; and finally, 4) to spend for our enjoyment for St. Paul described God as “who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment (1 Tim. 6:17).”

While God gives us material things to manage well and use wisely, he does not want us to love or worship money or material things. “Keep yourselves free from the Lord of money…”

“No problem,” we say. “I am a Christian and I would never love money. That’s idolatry!” But consider to whom God is sending this letter – Jewish CHIRSTIANS. If God gives this prohibition there must be the possibility that a Christian might be tempted to love money and material things. I suspect that when it happens among Christians while it could happen suddenly and dramatically, it most likely happens so subtly that we don’t even realize it.

Let me give you some examples. Age wise I am now somewhat closer to 100 than I am to 1. This means that someday in the not-too-distant future, I may want to retire. So the question comes up, “How are ‘me and the Missus’ going to support ourselves?” There’s Social Security and Medicare …maybe. There’s a modest WELS pension. So we’re faithfully setting aside significant amounts of savings to make up for all the years we were raising kids and sending them to school. But the concern comes up, “Will we have enough?” So I wonder about how our savings are doing. When the stock market goes up, I like the gains I see. When it goes down, I lament the losses I feel. It’s real easy to cross a line from laying aside the dollars to loving them.

A lot of families probably wish they had more money because it seems like incomes do not always meet expenses. The distance from wishing for more dollars to loving them is not great. Many students probably wish they had more money to cover tuition, debts and other costs. Farmers and business people look at their profit-to- debt ratio and may wish the same. In every case there’s a fine line between seeing the need for more money and falling in love with it. Or, we look at others around us and see what we have, so in jealousy we yearn for more and for the money to make it happen, and the love of money can easily sneak in. With those who have it, the danger is that they start to fear losing it and love it, or seeing the power and possessions money can bring, so they love it.

So God says, “Don’t go there!” But we have, haven’t we, more than we realize? When we do, we sin.

Why does God give us such a prohibition? First of all, God is not glorified as the First Commandment reminds us. Jesus put it this way, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot love God and money (Matt 6).” Then there is the fact that those who love money never have enough – “Whoever loves money never has money enough, whoever loves income is never satisfied with his income (Eccl. 5:10).” There is also the trouble that the love of money causes. Paul wrote, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap, and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into destruction and ruin (1 Tim 6).” This ruin may be loss of health, loss of freedom, loss of family, loss faith and loss of forever with Jesus. The final reason for God’s telling us to not love money and material things is their fleeting nature – they are treasures that moth and rust destroy and that thieves can break in and steal (Matt 6).

So God, out of zeal to be the only God in our lives and love that does not want to see us lost God gives us this prohibition, “Don’t love money!”

…prescription
From the prohibition the Lord takes us to a prescription. In health a prescription is a remedy that the doctor prescribes and a pharmacist provides. God prescribes, “Be content with what you have.” To be content is to be satisfied. It’s having the attitude, “I have enough.” It’s being content to be content.

The Lord emphasizes this same thing elsewhere in the Bible, “Better a little with the fear of God than great wealth with turmoil (Prov. 15:16).” In 1 Timothy 6 Paul wrote, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” In other words, having the godliness and love of God that come to us from Jesus through faith in him, we know that God cares for us so we can be content. So Paul continued, “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” So if we have the basics in life – food, clothes, and a place to live – we have reason to be content. (If you don’t, then please tell us and we will help you.)

However, the problem is that contentment is not part of human DNA. But discontent, greed, envy, jealousy and covetousness are.

So how do we get contentment? Do some soul-searching – “Do I love money? Am I dissatisfied with my standard of living? Do I desire more?” If we can answer “Yes” then we have a problem – a sin problem. Acknowledge it. Confess it to God. Turn from it. Leave it behind. Then turn to the grace, the undeserved love of God.

Just a few verses later in Hebrews 13 God says, “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever… (v. 20, 21).” What God prescribes – contentment – he produces with the power of his peace Jesus. Jesus removed the cruse of our sin with his suffering and death, and provided the holiness we need to be at peace with God. When we focus on this love of God and what it means – God loved me so much he gave his son, gave himself to save me, living, dying and rising again for my forgiveness and eternal life – it gives power to cope with the trials of life and to be content. We know God loves us, has forgiven us, is with us and provides for us in the way and amount that’s best.

St. Paul wrote, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength (Phil. 4).”

So this love of God leaves me to conclude, “If he so loves me, will he not care for me? Does he not know the level of blessing best for me? Does he not set the standard of living best suited for me?” Such conclusions bring contentment. So God prescribes and provides contentment.

…promises
What he prescribes and provides, he reinforces with his promises in our text.

The first is God’s promise, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” In the English there is the repetition of “never.” However in Greek this verse basically has this pattern – “not …not …nor …not… not.” God is giving extra emphasis to his promise not to leave.

This was a promise made originally to Joshua when he was about to succeed Moses as the human leader of the nation of Israel – 600,000 fighting men plus elderly men, women and children – several million total. God promised to be with and bless Joshua. He promises the same to you – “never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” God also applies this to the Jewish Christians. But it applies to us too.

The second promise is a quote from Psalm 118, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” This was a thanksgiving hymn that the Israelites said and sang to the Lord out of thanks for his delivering them whether from the Egyptians and other enemies, or in view of David’s victories over enemies, or the return from exile and rebuilding of the temple and Jerusalem’s city walls. With God on their side, they could be confident and content. The same is true for us.

Doesn’t this remind you of those words of Palm 121, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth?”

When needs arise and troubles come, God may be testing us – “Will they turn to me? Will they trust me? Will they pray to me?” But with the power and promises of God behind us, be confident. Don’t love money but be content with what you have. Be content to be content. Amen.