Sermon Cloud

Matthew 17:1-9 shake hands
As I was studying this passage this week, I came across this gem of insight from one biblical scholar, "For modern readers, the story of the transfiguration of Jesus is one of the most difficult in the entire New Testament." I don't remember what that book cost, but it was well worth it.
So let me just voice what you were all thinking as I read this passage, it's weird. It sounds like something out of the X-Files or something. Jesus goes up on a mountain, two dead guys show up and Peter wants to build some camping shelters.
I studied hard this week but I'm still not exactly sure what all is happening in this story. In fact, I spent this week wondering "was it really such a good idea to preach through the entire book of Matthew." But one of the core beliefs of Christ-followers is that God speaks through all of scripture. Which is why we're walking through the entire book.
We can get what Matthew is communicating here by looking at the symbols in thi story. And two very important symbols are Moses and Elijah. These guys were the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln for the Jewish people. The greatest leaders in their country's history. In fact, if you go to Israel, you'd see their faces on the Mount Rushmore just outside Jerusalem.
Not exactly,
What's interesting is that Moses had a story similar to this one. We can read it in the second book of the Bible, Exodus, the 24th chapter. Just like Jesus here, Moses spends six days up on a mountain, with three other guys, God speaks to him from a cloud and after being in God's presence, his face shines.
And Moses wasn't just up there playing cards with God and watching the Super Bowl, God was giving to Moses the Torah. We talked about this a few weeks ago. The Torah was part of the Jewish Bible, our OT. Torah means the way. God was prepping Moses how to teach the people to live rightly. To live Torah was to live right. To honor God. To be at peace with your Creator and those around you. Moses first brought God's message to the people of God.
Elijah was an important dude, too. He lived several centuries after Moses. Elijah was a roaming preacher. Elijah walked throughout the nation of Israel (the descendants o those who first heard Moses' message), telling the people that they weren't living by Torah. And they'd better repent, get right with God or they were going to wish they had. And to drive home his point, God did some amazing miracles through Elijah. At one point, Elijah said it wasn't going to rain for 3 years. And that's exactly what happened. 3 years later, Elijah prayed and God sent the rain.
For some strange reason, Elijah didn't have a lot of friends. It might've been the rain things. It might've been because he lived in caves and probably didn't take many baths. And he was constantly running for his life because the Israelite Kings wanted to shut him up by killing him. He was never actually murdered but he was always on the run. But by Jesus' time, Elijah was considered a hero. A good guy. Moses and Elijah were legendary.
And this story is meant to show us the similarities between Jesus and Moses/ Elijah. Just like Moses, Jesus was teaching people how to live in a way that honors God. Just like Elijah, powerful people didn't like Jesus' message. Which is what got Jesus crucified. His preaching hit too close to home.
Matthew is using the symbols of Moses and Elijah to show us that Jesus is an important guy. It might benefit you to listen to him. You want to know how to honor God and live rightly, then follow Jesus' teachings.
That's what we're about as a church. Mission Statement slide (the one that says "authentic community of Christ-followers). It's about following Jesus. And we can't do it alone. We need each other. There's so much stuff in the world around us that tempts us to walk away from our commitment to Jesus. We need each other.
There's something else going on here that applies to us as well.
A couple weeks ago we looked at the story of Jesus calling his disciples. Jesus found them on the Sea of Galilee fishing. And when Jesus said, "come, follow me" they left the family business behind and followed Jesus. We talked about how when a Rabbi like Jesus told a person to come follow me, he was saying "I believe that you can be like me." These fisherman had never had a rabbi believe in them like that before. They were so inspired by Jesus' faith in them that they left their nets in the boats and followed Jesus.
And we also talked about how a gospel writer uses the title disciples he wasn't just talking about the followers of Jesus back then but he's also referring to the followers of Jesus now. Those of us here now that have given our lives to Christ. Just like the first disciples, Jesus believes we can be like him. What God does in Jesus' life, he can also do in us. Following me?
In this story, Jesus is being Transformed. Which is why we started worship with that Transformers clip. There really was a point to that. Vs. 3 The original word is "metamorphoomia" Where we get the word "metamorphosis." Or the word, "Megatron." It means a complete transformation. Peter, James and John only see it for a moment but Jesus is transformed. They get a glimpse that while Jesus is human, he's more than human. They see his divinity. They see that Jesus is God in human flesh. He is God and man together. Jesus is transformed.
As his followers, we can be like Jesus. So we also can be transformed. We also can be more than human? You see what's happening here?
Now I don't mean we become exactly like Jesus. We won't be creating another universe anytime soon. But we can be transformed to be more than human.
Think about it, when someone says "I'm only human." What are they saying? I'm not perfect, I'm going to screw up. I can't help but do the same crap over and over and over. While we're gonna make mistakes it is possible for us to rise above the same-old screw ups, the same old sins. The things we do even though we know they break God's heart. We can be transformed from "same-old, same-old" into something new and better. Something that's more than just human. More than just ordinary.
There's another book in the Bible called Hebrews. There are a lot of theories about who wrote the book, but no one really knows. Some think it might have been written by a woman. I like that theory, partly because it makes uptight Christians really mad. But listen to what the author of Hebrews says about Jesus' transformation and our transformation.
Hebrews 2:9-13 Holy is another word for "transformed" for "more than human." Jesus was transformed, so we can be transformed. This matters because some of us are still trying to do it on our own. Trying to fix our own problems, trying to control everything on our own. To quote Dr. Phil, I'd just ask, "how's that working for you?"
Does anyone here need transformed? Is anyone ready for a different type of life than the one you're living now?
If you're there, you need to notice some things about the metamorphosis in this passage.
First of all, you Get away vs. 1. To parody Southwest Airlines, sometimes you need to get away. Jesus takes Peter, James and John up onto the mountain. Far away from everyday life. Sometimes to make a break from destructive patterns in our lives, we have to step out of the ordinary. Go spend some time alone with God, alone with a close friend, maybe with a counselor. We get out of whatever is normal, so we can experience something new.
That's why we're committed to worshipping together as community on a Sunday morning. We step out of everyday life to be together in the presence of God. To worship him, listen to him. Out of the ordinary to hear from God. What would it look like for you get away?
Secondly you Listen. Or you shut-up, but I didn't think I wanted that on the screen. Look at Peter in verse 4. Peter's heart is right, he wants to find a way to honor Jesus. But he's so overwhelmed by what he's seeing that he doesn't know what to say. This translation says Peter "blurted out." He's talking to hear himself talk. To try to cover up his amazement.
Sometimes we need to just shut our pie-hole and listen. "God, what are you trying to say to me?" We've got a strategy this year for listening to God's voice. It's our SOAP plan. Weekly Whether it's 5 minutes or an hour, I encourage you to make it a regular habit to get away by yourself to listen to God through scripture.
Listen to what the voice of God commands in verse 5b. SOAP is one of the ways we're listening.
Thirdly, we Don't stay on the mountain. Not only is Peter just running his mouth but he's also trying to hold onto the moment. "Let's build a shelter here. A safe place where we can hang out." When we go back down the mountain, things are going to be difficult again. Let's just stay here where it's safe.
That's the easy thing to do, but we can't stay on the mountain. Even though it's scary to go back down.
Which means we need to hear from Jesus when he says Don't be afraid vs. 6-7 Some of us need to hear the voice of Jesus saying "do not be afraid." You may be considering whatever change you know needs to happen in your life but you're scared. Where you're at right now may not be right, but at least it's known. At least it's familiar. Safe. Jesus says to you, "Don't be afraid. I know what's best for you. I'll take care of you. I promise to go with you every step of the way."
The disciples responded to Jesus' voice, they looked up. (the next observation, vs. 8) And we read that they saw Only Jesus. I've been stuck on this all week. I've been praying the phrase only Jesus for this church. He's all we need. Jesus death on the cross was enough to wipe out whatever screw-ups are hiding in our past. His victory at the empty tomb means he has the power to keep you from going back into that lifestyle. If Jesus can conquer death, he can conquer anything. Hebrews 2:14-18
All we need is Jesus...
Finally, we experience transformation when we choose to experience Death.
The missionary Paul is one of the greatest leaders in all of church history. He wrote a huge chunk of our Bible. Started churches all across the Roman Empire. He'd go into a city, began telling people about Jesus, people would believe in Christ and he'd start a church. He preached in the famous city of Athens, before all the greek philosophers. He preached before Roman kings and governors. He even preached in the capital city of Rome.
In one town, God worked through Paul to heal a crippled man. Word of the miracle spread through town. Eventually this huge crowd gathered around Paul and started worshipping him. They believed he was a greek god in human form. Paul freaked out, "what are you doing? I'm just a man like you." When the crowd thought they'd been duped, they turned on Paul. Stoned him and then drug his body out through the city gates. They thought he was dead and just left his body. But he wasn't dead. He got back up. And went right back into town. Paul was intense. He was constantly being whipped, thrown in jail, standing trial. He was eventually executed. All because of his commitment to Christ.
But Paul's story didn't start with preaching and starting churches. The first time we read about Paul in the Bible he's giving official approval for the first public execution of a Christian. He had Stephen murdered simply because he believed in Jesus. Paul's life mission was to eliminate Christians. He'd go from town to town, house to house, hunting down people who believed in Jesus and executing them, right in front of their kids. Christians were terrified of Paul.
One day Paul was riding his horse to the town of Damascus. With a small army. Going to root out some more Christians. But God decided to throw a wrench in Paul's plans.
A bright light suddenly appeared before Paul, blinding him and throwing him off his horse. A voice came from the light saying, "Paul, what are you doing?"
"Who are you?"
"I am Jesus, the one you're persecuting." That day Jesus Christ grabbed a hold of Paul's life and transformed him from a Christian-killer to someone who spread the message of Jesus all throughout the Roman empire. He was transformed.
In the 2nd chapter of a letter to the church he started in the city of Galatia, Paul wrote these words Galatians 2:20.
Folks, that's where transformation happens. It happens when we say "I'm done being in control. I'm done having to do it all myself. I'm willing to die to me being in control, so Jesus can take over in my place."
Jesus died and came back to life so we could die to our old way of life and be given a new life in return.
Are you willing to do it? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to let Jesus transform you?
prayer

What in your life needs transformed (hold for one minute)
Are you willing to let Jesus transform you?