Because the Sunday Sermon is the culmination of our weekday readings and blogs, I thought it might be helpful if I also posted the manuscript of my Sunday Sermon for the duration of the “Encounters” Series. I don’t expect you to read it necessarily, but here it is just in case you’d like to.
Today sees the start of a new season in our Church year. Although Lent only officially starts on Wednesday, at Walmer we’re starting a Lent Sermon Series today, called “Encounters”. We will be tracking a series of encounters Jesus had with people or situations which were milestones on His way to the cross.
Today’s “encounter” happens at the top of a high mountain. First and foremost, it’s an encounter between Jesus and His heavenly Father … but it also involved a supporting cast of Moses and Elijah (or, at the very least, visions of them) … and three disciples, Peter, James and John.
I must point out that this occurred quite late in Jesus’ ministry. Starting the series at this point is like what happens when a movie (or an episode of your favourite series) opens with a scene that is actually quite close to the end. It grabs your attention. It hooks you. The hero is at death’s door … staring down the barrel of a gun … or being tortured by the KGB or Al Qaeda. Then, just as the trigger is about to be pulled, the scene switches and the text appears, “three weeks earlier” … and in an instant you’re back at the start of the story … now building up towards the scene you’ve already witnessed.
Next Sunday we will go way back to the start of the story … when Jesus’ had just been baptised and went out into the wilderness to have His calling tested. But first … just before Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem to be crucified … we witness an encounter with the Heavenly Father.
The story really begins six days before … that’s the important backdrop. In Matthew 16, Jesus taught His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things at the hands of the religious authorities, be killed, and then raised to life on the third day. That was the famous moment Peter rebuked Jesus: “Never Lord! This shall never happen to you!” Turning to Peter in that moment, Jesus replied, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Six days after this dramatic moment, Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him up a high mountain. There’s little doubt that Jesus was headed up that mountain in a Gethsemane-like moment. He was a young man full of life, zeal, passion and vision. Like every other human being, He had a God-given survival instinct. Yet He could clearly see that if He continued on the path God the Father was leading Him down, His life would end in tragedy … and soon! This hike up the mountain was Jesus retreating to a silent place to seek the face of God the Father … He was going to wrestle in prayer. And like He did weeks later in Gethsemane … He took His three closest disciples, Peter, James and John with Him … to pray with Him and for Him.
Take note that even Jesus, the Son of God desired connection with others who loved God and loved Him. Jesus, Who of all people could have done it alone, DID NOT do it alone.
Family … we need people who love us and love the LORD … to be on the journey with us. We need one another. We need to stay connected! WHO WOULD YOU TAKE WITH YOU?? If you can’t answer that, you need to figure that out … and soon!
Up that mountain, Jesus had a deep & profound encounter with God the Father. I would like us to notice, as we reflect on that encounter, that it all started with Jesus deliberately seeking out intimate communion with God the Father. And out of that pursuit of intimacy Jesus received the ministry of:
- God’s presence
- God’s purpose; and
- God’s power
And when we disciples of Jesus become deliberate about the pursuit of intimacy with God … we will also receive the ministry of: God’s presence, God’s purpose; and God’s power
1. God’s Presence
There are two moments in this encounter which speak powerfully of the presence of God:
- 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
- 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.
As Jesus prayed … seeking God atop the mountain … I believe He first had a very deeply personal, spiritual face-to-face time with God the Father. In His praying, the Father drew near and ministered to Jesus, unseen and unheard … and as a result of that intimacy the glory of God began to seep through Jesus’ pores.
Remember Jesus was fully human … but also fully divine. He is God’s Son but He is also God the Son. Yet during His earthly life … at every other moment … that glory was “veiled in flesh” (to quote the Christmas Carol). All the fullness of God dwelled in Jesus in bodily form … but the glory of that divine presence was hidden in an ordinary human being. Here in this moment, however, His encounter of deep spiritual intimacy with the Father was so powerful that the divine glory of Jesus began to manifest visibly. “His face shone like the sun” and even His clothes were as white as light.
And then, in response to Jesus’ pursuit of intimacy with Him, the Heavenly Father began to manifest His glorious presence externally. A bright cloud enveloped them all atop the mountain, and the voice of the Father came from that cloud. That bright cloud was the same cloud as had led the Israelites through the wilderness … descended on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights when the Law was given to Moses … filled the tabernacle and then later the Temple at its dedication … to such an extent that the priests could not minister. This cloud was the physical manifestation of the glorious presence of God. It was a “bright cloud” … I envisage it as a thick cloud with the fire of God’s presence lighting it from within. Glorious!!
These were signs … the radiant countenance of Jesus … and the bright cloud of God’s glory. They were signs of God’ immediate presence both IN and all-around Jesus … in response to Jesus’ pursuit of intimacy with the Father.
As disciples of Jesus, we have the immense privilege of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit (as Romans 8:11 says, “The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you”). We have the immense privilege of having access to the spiritual presence of the Father … by the Spirit through Jesus (Ephesians 2:18.).
We may never glow with the radiant glory of the Holy Spirit who lives in us … and we may never see the glory cloud of God’s presence manifested … but we can be absolutely guaranteed of this one thing: If we draw near to God with the heartfelt intention of encountering Him in honest, sincere, authentic intimacy … God will draw near to us to honour our desire. We WILL enjoy intimacy with the Father … because He always draws near to those who seek Him. We will seek Him and find Him when we seek Him with all our heart (Jeremiah 29:13). God’s presence is permanently with us … and by the Spirit permanently within us … and all He wants and needs is for us to desire and deliberately seek intimacy with Him.
That is, in my opinion, exactly what’s happening at Asbury University in Kentucky. I hope you’ve seen about that. if not, go home and Google Asbury revival and you’ll find plenty. Go to the 24-7 prayer website and you can watch a brilliant hour long Zoom call between Pete Greig and others with the student leaders and staff at Asbury. Basically what has happened there is that God has sovereignly drawn near to this student body and for the last 11 days their worship service has not stopped. People have travelled from all across the States and even the world to go and join them. But I want to say this is unlike anything I have seen. Usually we associate revival with hype and hysteria and intensity. But this is not a revival of intensity … it is a revival of intimacy. I long for that in my own life. I pray that you will long for it too. Clearly Jesus longed for it as He made His way up the mountian.
But … we must move on … to consider …
2. God’s Purpose
Why did I say earlier that out of His pursuit of intimacy Jesus received the ministry of God’s purpose? Again, two verses lead me to this conclusion:
- 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
- 5… and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’
Have you ever had a very clear sense of God calling you to do something … and then when it starts “getting real” (as they say these days) … when the going gets tough … you start to doubt whether you were right about God’s leading??
Remember, Jesus was fully human. He clearly sensed the Father’s call to keep living in perfect grace and perfect truth … even when it was so clearly leading to Him laying down His life for the world … but then Peter said what he said … and the survival instinct was so powerful … and the tempter Satan, no doubt had a field day.
Jesus was up the mountain seeking intimacy … but also, through that intimacy … seeking confirmation from God of His will.
So … as Jesus seeks this confirmation … the Father gives Jesus some kind of spiritual encounter with Moses and Elijah. I’m not sure what that was. But I do know that Moses represented the Torah … the first 5 books of the Bible. Elijah was considered the greatest Old Testament prophet and so he represented the Books of the Prophets and the Writings. What God was giving Jesus here was a profound reminder that the Law and the Prophets CLEARLY pointed to a Saviour-King who would lay down His life for the world.
Most likely, Jesus was being reminded of how every blood sacrifice in the Law of Moses pointed to Jesus’ own once-and-for-all sacrifice to make atonement for the sins of the world. One could say MOSES was confirming God’s purpose for Jesus.
Most likely, Jesus was being reminded how the great prophets of old had laid down their lives. How Elijah himself had been hunted by Ahab and Jezebel … how Jeremiah had been thrown in a muddy pit … how the great prophets like Daniel had spoken of the coming Son of Man … and how Isaiah had foreseen:
4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
One could say ELIJAH and all the prophets he represented were confirming God’s purpose for Jesus.
And then, to cap it all off, God the Father Himself spoke from the cloud of glory … affirming that Jesus was on exactly the right road: “This is My Son, whom I love; woth Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”
In no uncertain terms, the Father was telling Jesus AND His disciples that JESUS was on the RIGHT TRACK. He was confirming His purpose for Jesus beyond any shadow of a doubt.
Family, it will be different for each of us. God’s purpose AND the way God reveals and confirms that purpose at different times of our lives. But the common threads will be
- The WORD of GOD, the Bible … which will be an instrument God uses for us just as He used it for Jesus on the mountaintop … and
- The VOICE of God … that came to Jesus audibly, but which most often comes to us in personal prayer and the “still small voice” which Elijah heard and which, I’m sure, was the most common way Jesus heard God’s voice too … that still small and gentle whisper that is so close it feels like its inside our own heads.
As disciples of Jesus we are called to be proactive in pursuing intimacy with the Father … and opening up our hearts and minds to hear the whispers of His purpose for us through daily prayer and Bible reading. We neglect these to our own great loss!!! Maybe that’s why the Father was so insistent in commanding the apostles: “LISTEN TO HIM!!”
Jesus had been speaking. They, especially Peter, had not wanted to hear what He had to say. So the Father insists: LISTEN TO HIM!! This is our calling as disciples too.
But again … and finally … we must pause to consider that out of this PRESENCE and PURPOSE there also flowed great power.
3. GOD’S POWER
QUITE CORRECTLY, when the disciples saw the cloud of glory and heard God’s voice, they hit the dirt! They shachah’d – do you remember that word? They fell prostrate before the Lord.
But Jesus touched them … “Get up,” He said, “Do not be afraid”. And, strengthened by His touch, they descended the mountain.
As they descended, Jesus told them not to speak of this sacred moment until “after they have seen the Son of Man raised from the dead.” Jesus had strengthened them by His touch … but He had also been strengthened by the Father’s touch. He was ready now! he knew what lay ahead of Him … but He also knew what lay beyond … and so in the days to come … for the joy set before Him He would endure the Cross, scorning its shame.
Jesus was so empowered by His encounter with the Father that He had all the power He needed for the journey to the Cross. The disciples had the power they needed to remain faithful to every command of Jesus.
And us? Out of our pursuit of intimacy with God, we will experience God’s presence, God’s purpose … and also God’s power to obey that purpose.
But remember … it all starts with a deliberate pursuit of intimacy with the LORD. And if even Jesus … the incarnate Son of God in Whom all the Godhead dwelt physically made the effort to climb a mountain to deliberately pursue intimacy with the Father … how much more will we need to do so too??
CLOSING INVITATION
Very practically I hope you will join me in doing so during Lent …especially on Ash Wednesday, whether at 10am or 5:30pm. Both will be very intimate and gentle services of reflection and repentance. But more so … please consider fasting … or regular periods of silence and solitude this Lent … as deliberate ways of pursuing intimacy with God.
The transfiguration shows us that out of our pursuit of intimacy, God will minister to us:
- His presence
- His purpose
- His power
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