Text:\u00a0 Matthew 17: 1-9<\/p>\n
It was always a special time.\u00a0 We would go up to a campsite in Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico.\u00a0 There the families of our congregation would make camp.\u00a0 We ate together, played together, visited together.\u00a0 On Saturday afternoon we would have Bible study for young and old.\u00a0 And then on Sunday morning we would gather for worship 7000 feet above sea level.<\/p>\n
It was always a special time up there in the mountains.\u00a0 Under those towering Ponderosa pines worshipping our God, hearing his Word and singing his praise.\u00a0 Yet not near as special as what three men, Peter, James and John experienced long ago.\u00a0 And it wasn\u2019t so much the setting.\u00a0 Here in California, we would call that high mountain a big hill.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the setting. It was what happened there.<\/p>\n
Today through this inspired Word of God, we are privileged to witness what these three experienced long ago.\u00a0 And how important it is for us.\u00a0 For this Wednesday is Ash Wednesday.\u00a0 This Wednesday, we begin our journey to Jesus\u2019 cross in our six Midweek services. We follow Jesus as he journeys to that cross for us all.\u00a0 But before we go, we need to stand on this mountain with Jesus.\u00a0 So this morning I invite you:<\/p>\n
CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN ON THE WAY TO THE CROSS<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Recently I have been hearing mothers, fathers and widows speaking out.\u00a0 Our president has ordered that our soldiers and marines in Afghanistan be withdrawn at the end of 2014.\u00a0 Those speaking out are gold star parents and wives.\u00a0 Their loved ones died serving over there.\u00a0 They are concerned that our president does not pull out and leave Afghanistan to be gobbled up by the Taliban.\u00a0 They are concerned that our country does not squander the sacrifice of their sons and husbands.\u00a0 So I pray that our president\u00a0 can appreciate their sacrifice.\u00a0 But not just him, also us.<\/p>\n
Well today we think about another sacrifice that was about to be made.\u00a0 A sacrifice so precious, so amazing, we cannot get out our arms around it.\u00a0 This Word of God gives us a glimpse of how wide and long and high is the love of God in the Son he gave for us.<\/p>\n
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves<\/span>. After six days, Matthew writes.\u00a0 Six days before Jesus had begun to tell his disciples that he would suffer and die at the hands of his enemies and then be raised to life. These men would be caught up in that drama.\u00a0 They would see their friend, their teacher and yes their Lord ripped away from them.\u00a0 And yes, they had seen his miracles.\u00a0 They had confessed to Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.\u00a0 But on this mountain, he gave them something more.\u00a0 He gave them a glimpse of his glory.<\/p>\n There Jesus was transfigured before them.\u00a0 They saw Jesus as they never saw him before.\u00a0 His face shone with the brightness of the sun.\u00a0 Even his simple clothes became dazzling bright.\u00a0 What was happening?\u00a0 For a moment, Jesus lowered the veil of his humanity.\u00a0 For a moment Jesus revealed his divine glory as the Son, God the Son.\u00a0 And there they witnessed it.\u00a0 And so do we.\u00a0 We witness it in this Word.<\/p>\n Then think of the bright cloud that enveloped them.\u00a0 The Kabod Adonai<\/i>, the glory of the Lord.\u00a0 Think of the voice that came from that cloud.\u00a0 Think of the Word that God the Father spoke over Jesus.\u00a0 This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.\u00a0 Listen to him!<\/span><\/p>\n How blessed we are to hear those words as we follow Jesus to his cross.\u00a0 How blessed we are to witness his glory on that holy mountain.\u00a0 It tells us about the sacrifice to come.\u00a0 It tells us about this one whose face and beard would drip with blood.\u00a0 It tells about this one who would be nailed to a cross in nakedness and shame.\u00a0 He\u2019s not just another tragic victim of man\u2019s evil ways. He is the very Son of God, dearly loved by his Father in heaven.\u00a0 He is the very Son of God, the apple of his Father\u2019s eye, yet given and sacrificed for you to save you from your sin.<\/p>\n So climb the mountain on the way to the cross. Climb it and witness Jesus\u2019 glory.\u00a0 Climb it and see the One given for you.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t seem that long ago, but it is.\u00a0 I would makes those trips out east to see my mom.\u00a0 The last few years were difficult visits.\u00a0 For my mom had Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\u00a0 Her brain was wasting away with her memory and thinking abilities.\u00a0\u00a0 I think of sitting in the living room with my mom and dad.\u00a0 She sat there and kept saying. You\u2019re my husband.\u00a0 You\u2019re my son.\u00a0 Again and again.\u00a0 She was struggling to remember.\u00a0 And yes, we could laugh together but much of the time she was anxious and confused until that disease took her.<\/p>\n Yet there is something else I know as I look back.\u00a0 My mom knew Jesus, her Savior.\u00a0 It became a very simple childlike faith, yet isn\u2019t that the one our Lord commends?\u00a0 A faith that surprised me one day when mom suddenly sang the words of that song, Jesus loves me, this I know.<\/i> You see, in spite of that awful disease, my mom still knew Jesus.\u00a0 And because she did, there is something I can take from this mountain.\u00a0 There is something we all can take as we think about ta loved one who died in the Lord.\u00a0 For there Jesus gives us a glimpse of what his cross made possible for us sinners.\u00a0 Heaven.\u00a0 So climb the mountain.\u00a0 Climb it and catch a glimpse of the heaven Jesus gives. <\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3 <\/sup>Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.<\/span>\u00a0 One more amazing surprise for these three men.\u00a0 Moses \u00a0had died hundreds of years before.\u00a0 Elijah had been taken away.\u00a0 But now here they were, God\u2019s prophets of old.\u00a0 Prophet\u2019s who had pointed God\u2019s people to Christ\u2019s coming.\u00a0 And now God brought them to be with Jesus, a testimony in itself that Jesus was the One.<\/p>\n And here they were, not dead but very much alive.\u00a0 In fact, Luke tells us, they appeared in glorious splendor<\/span>.\u00a0 They appeared with the glory that is theirs in heaven.<\/p>\n This helps me as I think about my mom.\u00a0 It helps me as I think about my wife\u2019s cousin, Melanie, who suddenly died some weeks ago. It helps me to think of Moses and Elijah there on that mountain.\u00a0 For there we catch a glimpse of the heaven Jesus gives.\u00a0 There God gives us a comforting vision of those who fall asleep in Jesus.\u00a0 We miss them very much.\u00a0 But they are not dead.\u00a0 Like Moses and Elijah, they live in glorious splendor.<\/p>\n For think about what Peter said:\u00a0 Lord, it is good for us to be here.<\/span>\u00a0 Think about that.\u00a0 Just that glimpse, that little taste of heaven made Peter want that moment to go on and on.\u00a0 Lord if you wish we\u2019ll make three shelters for you and Moses and Elijah.\u00a0 Of course, we know, it could not be.\u00a0 Luke even tells us that Peter did not know what he was talking about.\u00a0 That\u2019s Peter.\u00a0 Yet Peter\u2019s words tell us how good it was.\u00a0 How good it was to bask in the glory of God\u2019s Son.\u00a0 Well that\u2019s what Jesus\u2019 cross, Jesus\u2019 sacrifice made possible.\u00a0 And not just for a moment, but forever.<\/p>\n Of course that moment was short lived.\u00a0 When Peter and the others heard the Father\u2019s voice they buried their noses in the dirt. They fell facedown to the ground, terrified<\/span>. I love what Matthew says now happened.\u00a0 7 <\/sup>But Jesus came and touched them. \u201cGet up,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t be afraid.\u00a0 No doubt people have told you that before.\u00a0 One caring soul to another.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be afraid.\u00a0 We appreciate those words.\u00a0 But Jesus\u2019 words are so much more than just kind words.\u00a0 With Jesus, we need not be afraid.\u00a0 We need not be afraid of what life brings our way, even the things that hurt.\u00a0 And like these men, with Jesus we need not be afraid of standing in the presence of God.\u00a0 For with Jesus, our sins are forgiven.\u00a0 With Jesus, God is our Father and we are his dear children.\u00a0 So listen to Jesus\u2019 words.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be afraid.\u00a0 Instead Get up and follow him<\/b>.<\/p>\n 8 <\/sup>When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus<\/span>. No one except Jesus.\u00a0 Matthew frames the picture so well for us here.\u00a0 For when it comes down to it it\u2019s all about Jesus.\u00a0 God\u2019s Word, God\u2019s plan to save us.\u00a0 Our faith.\u00a0 Our hope and our future.\u00a0 God\u2019s promises.\u00a0 It\u2019s all about Jesus, who he is and what he\u2019s done.\u00a0 So get up.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be afraid.\u00a0 Get up and follow him.<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s time for me to close.\u00a0 But before I do I\u2019d like you to think about something.\u00a0 When they came down the mountain, Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until he rose from the dead.\u00a0 Can you imagine what a struggle it must have been for those three, especially Peter who often led with his mouth.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t make sense.\u00a0 Yet for them to tell what they had seen would have interfered with Jesus\u2019 mission.\u00a0 He was descending that mountain to die of us.\u00a0 So they were to keep silent.<\/p>\n But now Jesus has risen, hasn\u2019t he?\u00a0 So unlike Peter, James and John now we are not to remain silent.\u00a0 No we are to come down from the mountain and tell. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text:\u00a0 Matthew 17: 1-9 It was always a special time.\u00a0 We would go up to a campsite in Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico.\u00a0 There the families of our congregation would make camp.\u00a0 We ate together, played together, visited together.\u00a0 On Saturday afternoon we would have Bible study for young and old.\u00a0 And then on Sunday morning we would gather […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":526,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions\/526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}