Amazed at God's Greatness | Luke 9:37-50

Amazed at God's Greatness | Luke 9:37-50

Dr Nathan Young

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Preparing for Great Responsibility

This morning for our scripture and the sermon, we're going to be in Luke chapter 9. We're continuing in this chapter. This is now the fourth message that I've preached out of this chapter to try to highlight how Jesus was preparing his disciples.

It's not unlike, but it's also not exactly like, when someone is preparing you for something big in terms of responsibility. Probably the first large thing that I got trained for was earning my driving license. And the same is probably true for you that, whatever your age, you looked forward to driving a car by yourself with both excitement and trepidation. There was the excitement that you would now have the freedom to go where you wanted, when you wanted, and you could get there in style depending on your family or your circumstances.

But the truth is, in spite of all the preparation and all the practice and all the driving instruction that you received, when the day finally came for you to get the keys to the car and make your first solo journey, there was also a hint of anxiety. There was the fear of what's going to happen. I don't have that co-pilot telling me to do this and not do that. What if I encounter some weird thing in traffic that I've never encountered before? What if I lose control of this car and all of its power? And we can rightly have a sense of both awe and fear about that responsibility that had been given to us.

If you can't relate to driving, then certainly when you got your first major job, and you were trained and shown what to do, and then suddenly you were left alone to actually do the job, you wondered: Am I going to live up to their expectations? Will I be able to do all the things that they've asked of me? Will I be able to perform at the level that they expect of me? And while you were both exhilarated to get this new job and the rewards that came with it, you also quietly wondered if you're up to the task.

Well, those emotions, whether it's relating to taking your first solo journey in a car or having your first big responsibility at work, are some of the things that are running through the disciples' own minds. They're excited that they're with Jesus, the great teacher and master, the one who's taught with authority in such a way that people are drawn to him. They're amazed at his teaching. They're also just bowled over that they get to walk with Jesus and watch him perform miracle after miracle after miracle. It seems like every day, multiple times a day, someone was coming to Jesus to ask for a healing or a demon to be cast out or perhaps even a dead person to be raised again.

And now Jesus in chapter nine is telling the disciples, "You men have the same responsibility."

The Disciples' Mixed Response

I'm giving you my power and my authority to go out and proclaim the kingdom of God. Well, the disciples were no doubt excited, but they were also anxious. They were wondering, "How are we going to do this? What's this going to look like? And will we be able to meet Jesus' expectations?"

And so far, the early reports are mixed because Jesus has sent them out at the beginning of chapter 9 in their initial mission, and they've come back with some successes, but then they are faltering. As Jesus predicts his own death and he reveals to them his deity, they begin to have problems. And those problems are juxtaposed right next to their successes. It's not unlike our own experience when we are on the high of walking with Christ and being in his presence and then we feel the low of wondering if we are even a Christian.

Here, the disciples in chapter 9, beginning in verse number 37, have just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration and they experience a sudden low. Follow along as I read from chapter 9, verse 37 through 50.

"The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man in the crowd called out, 'Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him, and suddenly he screams, and it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.'

'You unbelieving and perverse generation,' Jesus replied, 'how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.' Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at his greatness.

While everyone was marveling at all Jesus did, he said to his disciples, 'Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.' But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it. An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, 'Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you who is greatest.'

'Master,' said John, 'we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he's not one of us.' 'Do not stop him,' Jesus said, 'for whoever is not against you is for you.'"

As Luke records these events, there are parallel passages in Matthew and Mark's gospel. And in those passages, there are different emphases. Luke's emphasis is on the disciples and how they respond to Jesus' revelation of his deity, his authority, and his power. And the disciples' response is mixed. On the one hand, they're excited to be in the presence of Jesus. And on the other hand, they're powerless to do what he has called them to do.

And in this passage, we see Jesus amazing everyone at the greatness of God. And he wants the disciples to understand his own greatness so that they can lean on that for their ministry to accomplish his mission. In this chapter, Jesus demonstrates and shows them over and over again that without his power and authority at work in their lives, their own preaching would be powerless and their ability to heal diseases and cast out demons would be of no effect. No matter how hard they may try, neither their enthusiasm nor their effort would be enough to propel them forward. So instead of self-reliance or dependence on their past successes, the disciples would need an ongoing faith in Almighty God. So Jesus brought them to the point of their need and showed them again that they were not capable of doing the ministry that he called them to without dependence on God.

Displaying the Greatness of God

So Jesus amazes his disciples and all of us with his greatness. And he does this first in this passage by displaying the greatness of God. Jesus displays the greatness of God.

It says the next day to begin this section, which is the day after the transfiguration, where Jesus has literally transformed in front of Peter, James, and John, showing them his full deity. Now they have come down from the mountain where a large crowd has gathered, and this group of people were eagerly waiting for Jesus, some desperate to see Jesus because the disciples left behind were proving to be ineffective. The nine disciples who did not go up on the mountain were left at the foot of the mountain trying to manage the crowds, trying to help people that were sick and possessed with demons, but they were struggling to keep up with the demand and they were struggling to do the work that God had assigned them.

Maybe while Jesus, Peter, James, and John were on the mountain, they had observed the presence of God pass over the Mount of Transfiguration in the same way that the Israelites had seen God's presence over Mount Sinai. Or maybe the people at the foot of the mountain just were desperate to get close to Jesus. Whatever the case, there were throngs of people all calling out and trying to get his attention.

And there was one man in particular in verse number 38 that called out from the crowd and he was able to get through. In spite of all the noise and all the chaos of people clamoring to be near Jesus, this man was able to get Jesus' attention with his urgent plea. It rose above all the others. I can't help but think of the woman who had the issue of blood, who crawled through a crowd to touch Jesus and Jesus noticed her. Now we have a man whose son is demon-possessed and he's been able to get through the crowd and raise his voice in a way that Jesus acknowledged him.

And here's what he said, verse 38: "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child." Luke does not identify this man or his son as he did in some cases, but instead he's simply giving us a picture of a desperate father who merely wanted Jesus to look at his son. Notice the father is not demanding that Jesus heal his son or cast out the demon. He puts no expectations on Jesus. He simply humbly comes before him and asks Jesus to have enough compassion to look at his son.

This was the third parent who had come to Jesus desperate about their child. Jesus had already restored a widow's son who was dead when they encountered one another in a funeral procession, and Jesus raised the son to life. Then there was Jairus, who had his daughter was dying, and when Jesus went into their home, he appeared to be dead, but Jesus brought her back. And now this desperate father was calling out, asking Jesus for help, saying, "Please look and see if there's not anything that you can do." Even if no one else had been able to help this demon-afflicted son, the father believed Jesus would be able to help him. He was desperate.

And why? Because there was an evil spirit tormenting his only child, it says in 38 and 39. When this evil spirit seized control of his son's body, it was terrifying because the boy would suddenly scream, which was the indication that bad things were about to happen. He wasn't squealing with delight or screaming in pain. He was screaming in abject fear because his body was being taken over by a demon. And then he would convulse uncontrollably and foam at the mouth, demonstrating he had no power over himself. This demon was violently destroying this young man and publicly humiliating him. He was aiming to destroy the man's son just like Legion had tried to do with another man a couple chapters ago.

Some have tried to reduce this to simply say that the young man had epilepsy and that he was having some kind of seizure. So they have only a medical explanation for this young man's symptoms. But I would say that is not the case. Luke himself was a physician. He would understand medical conditions and needs, but he describes this not in terms of epilepsy, but in terms of demon affliction. This young man was being tormented by an evil spirit, and the father was desperate to do whatever he could to free his son from this oppression.

So he begged Jesus' disciples. Apparently, before he had come to Jesus, while Jesus was up on the Mount of Transfiguration, he was with the disciples in the crowd asking them to drive this demon out. But it says in verse number 40, they could not do it. The other disciples had failed to exercise the authority that Jesus had delegated to them. He had given all of them the power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, verse number one from this chapter, but the disciples faltered and revealed their faithlessness. In response to this desperate father's pleas, Jesus laments about everyone in the crowd.

He says, "You unbelieving and perverse generation." And then he asks them a rhetorical question, "How long shall I stay and put up with you?" Jesus did not chastise his nine disciples specifically and call them to the front and shame them. But he grieved over all of Israel, calling them a perverse, a crooked generation. Their doubts and unbeliefs were preventing them from believing in Jesus' divine power and strength.

Sure, they were interested in Jesus the teacher, thus this man calls him a teacher. And sure, they were interested in him as a healer, but they were missing the fact that he was none other than the Son of God. So Jesus, in spite of his lament and his sorrow for this generation, calls for the young boy and he says, "Bring him here."

And while the boy was coming, the demon grasped for his last ounce of control over this young man. He threw him to the ground and he started another convulsing fit in verse number 41. The demon overpowered this boy's body for the final time, aiming to display his might and challenge Jesus' authority for all to see.

But verse number 42 says, Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. The father had asked Jesus to simply look at his son, and now Jesus called the boy forward and spoke a rebuke over the demon that afflicted him. It doesn't say Jesus had to touch him. There was no magical ceremony. There was no exorcism. There was just simply Jesus rebuking the demon and the demon left the boy.

After Jesus cast this demon out, it says everyone was amazed at the greatness of God in verse number 43. Everyone was amazed at God's majesty because of what Jesus had done. This was the same amazement that Peter, James, and John experienced when they saw Jesus transfigured on the mount. Now everyone was marveling over the greatness of God displayed in the person of Jesus as he cast the demon out of this boy.

We see in this section that the only right response to the work of God is to wonder at his majesty and to recognize him as God and he alone. Many times people focus on what God does and they miss who God is. They worship God's works instead of worshiping God himself. The crowd in this instance observed Jesus cast out of a demon out of a boy and they marveled at the greatness of God. Even though they were a crooked and wicked generation, they acknowledged that Jesus had to be divine, that what he did here was something supernatural beyond the ordinary ability of people.

The disciples showed where ordinary ability faltered, and Jesus showed where the power of God succeeded. The crowd recognized the majesty of God and they were worshiping. They were worshiping because they were in awe over his presence and his work.

As today is Father's Day, some of you have probably fathers received cards or coffee mugs or t-shirts that say things like this: "World's greatest dad," or "Number one dad," or "Best dad ever." I've gotten a few of those things. And with all those shirts and mugs and things going around, it's really hard to tell which one of us is the best.

But with jesting aside, this passage challenges fathers to direct their children to the greatness of God instead of their own greatness. As much as this dad wanted to rescue his son and deliver him from the demon, and as many times as he tried to do exactly that, he was powerless. But this father introduced his son to the power of Christ and his son was healed.

As fathers, the way to be the greatest dad is not to be the coolest. It's not to be the best athlete or the smartest person. It's not even to be the most fun dad, but the way to be the greatest dad is to be a dad who has this kind of passion and intensity to introduce our children to God.

Young children in their innocence marvel at their dad's knowledge and strength. They genuinely believe that their dad can answer every question, and they ask a lot of questions. Those of you who were up here for the commissioning, just wait until those sweet children can talk. They will also believe that their dad is a superhero, that he is the strongest, the fastest, the most capable man on earth.

And while this adoration for their dads will fade with age, it is a hint at something far, far greater. This admiration that children naturally have for their dads points to the fact that we have an even greater father. And that father is in heaven. And he loves us more than any human father can love us. He genuinely knows all things because he is omniscient. He genuinely has all the strength because he is omnipotent. And he wants to deploy his knowledge and strength for our care and our good.

While you may not be afflicted by a demon and your child may not be afflicted by a demon, you still have the opportunity to come to Jesus and to ask him to save your child and your children.

In our culture, so many fathers are obsessed with providing a comfortable life for their children and giving them opportunities that they themselves did not have. And while those things are not bad per se, they're not what's best. What's best is that we introduce our children to Jesus from an early age and we show them our dependence on Jesus. And like the crowd, we marvel at his greatness. We wonder and we worship an incredible God. Don't make the mistake of letting your children wonder and worship something much less.

Earlier this week, I was listening to a podcast where they were talking about the industry of holding kids back in the eighth grade. And you might guess, but with all the changes in college sports now with image, name, and likeness, and all the money that's being thrown at college athletes, there are now private schools being developed to hold children back in the eighth grade so they can become better and more competitive athletes in high school. That way they can maximize their child's opportunity to get money to attend college and, hopefully, even beyond that, to get more money to play professionally.

Many families are making incredible sacrifices, including their family dynamics, so their kids can be devoted to their sport, all with the hope that they will win the lottery and strike it rich by becoming well-paid athletes. While there's nothing wrong with sport in itself, I would say don't settle for so little. Don't settle for mere money when you have the majesty of God and you can introduce your child to the God of eternity.

Sports will pass away. Most professional athletes only make it four or five years, even great ones. Now, granted, there are exceptions, and we love to point to people like Chipper Jones, who played almost 20 years with the Braves. But they are the exception. Most people are like shooting stars, and at the end of it all, many of them have broken lives and broken bodies.

As we come to worship, we can bring our children into the presence of God, and that is far, far more important. And as we do that, we want to wonder and be amazed by God's greatness. And we want our children to experience that as well. Imagine the relief of this boy when the seizure stopped, and his foaming at the mouth ceased, and he was able to stand on his own two feet and look at his dad in his right mind and say, "What just happened to me? This is incredible."

It was incredible because his dad had the right perspective on God. Jesus was displaying the greatness of God, and this father was pursuing the greatness of God. But in the midst of this, the story takes an unusual twist because at the height of Jesus displaying God's greatness, he also foretells future suffering. And that's my second point this morning: that Jesus foretells future suffering.

Foretelling Future Suffering

It says beginning in the second half of verse 43 that while everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he told his disciples about his mission a second time. There's a stark contrast here between the crowd's euphoria, their marveling at God's greatness, and now we see Jesus' sobriety about his mission. This must have shocked the disciples. They too were probably reveling in what had just happened, looking at Jesus in wonder and amazement.

But Jesus did not want his closest followers to lose sight of his future suffering and pending death. He had already told them in verse number 22 that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and must be killed on the third day and raised to life. Now he says to the disciples, "Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men."

Jesus' second prediction repeats his title, the Son of Man. This is a reference to Jesus' full sinless humanity. And the Son of Man would soon suffer at the hands of men. In other words, the righteous Jesus Christ, who lived among sinful human beings, would be given over to his enemies and crucified for their sins. Not crucified for any wrong that he had done, but crucified because of all the wrongs they had done.

Jesus was now exhorting his disciples to hear these words and take them to heart. Their experience would not always be the mountaintop of transfiguration or the height of healing and seeing people respond so eagerly. Jesus knew that his disciples were still confused about his mission of suffering and death. It says in verse number 45, they did not understand what this meant. How could Jesus yield his divine power and authority to human enemies?

The disciples did not understand how a crowd that was currently raising their hands in worship and celebrating God's greatness would use the same hands to persecute Jesus to the point of death. How was this possible? Luke clarified that this was all hidden from them so that they would not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask Jesus about it. In other words, all the implications of Jesus' deity and his suffering were hidden in plain sight until God would give his disciples fuller understanding after his death and resurrection. For now, they would hear his words and they would ponder them, but they would not fully understand them.

At different times, every believer experiences the frustration of not recognizing what God is doing and having to wait until the future to understand it. We sometimes joke, "Don't ask God for patience because he'll give it to you." And that is certainly true. I've also heard it said that God never procrastinates, he's always on time. But to us, it feels like he's trying our patience and that he is procrastinating. But God is using these life lessons to teach us to trust him.

Sometimes God grants us an understanding fairly quickly, and we can make sense of our life and frame it in his sovereignty. But many times God teaches us this in the distant future—that's only in looking back a few years from now, or perhaps even in eternity, that we will fully understand. Ultimately, though, God uses our lack of understanding so we will learn to walk by faith and not by sight, Paul says, and that we will not lean on our own understanding, Solomon says in Proverbs. We usually do not know what God is doing, but he wants us to trust him in faith.

He has his reasons for concealing his divine purposes. Sometimes it has to do with his timing. As it did for the disciples here, it was not yet time for him to die, but he was preparing them for his soon death. But at other times, God withholds his knowledge because it's too heavy for us to bear. And it's an act of his merciful kindness that he keeps us blissfully ignorant. If we knew the future, we might lose heart and give up.

Anyone who's played youth sports has probably experienced a level of confusion and frustration over their coach's instructions and drills. "What is he talking about? This does not make sense," we might wonder when asked to do a drill. "Why is he making me do this? I don't understand. Or how in the world is this going to help me in a real game? I just want to play ball and the coach is getting in the way." And yet, successful players and successful teams learn to trust their coaches, and those crazy drills and those unclear instructions suddenly become crystal clear in the moment of competition.

Jesus foretold his future suffering so his disciples could one day make sense of his death and resurrection. He didn't pause here for a lengthy explanation. He gave them enough information to move them forward. He was preparing them for the time when he would no longer be with them. They would gather in the upper room and talk about his life and remember his teaching, including this.

Then they would run to his empty tomb and then they would fully understand his power over life and death. And it would all start to make sense.

Imagine the disciples here are too scared to even ask questions among themselves about why Jesus was bringing this up and what it could possibly mean. But in that moment of understanding, it emboldened them to carry the gospel forward to the point of their own deaths.

Jesus doesn't reveal everything that you and I want to know when we want to know it. But he gives us enough. He shows us that he is trustworthy and that we can follow him with all of our lives.

Although we live in a culture and society that wants to measure everything and that celebrates metrics and dashboards for performance, Jesus simply calls us to trust him. The metric and the dashboard is: Are we listening to him? Are we intaking from his word? Are we sensitive to his spirit? And are we obeying what he says for us to do?

Jesus doesn't give us all the answers because we're not prepared for all of the answers. But he gives us enough that we can take the next step.

Again, with it being Father's Day, what a great example for fathers to live that for their children, to show them that obedience to God is far more important than obedience to a boss, or obedience to a dollar, or obedience to an ambition, but obedience to an almighty God, one who is worthy of worship, one who is full of majesty and glory. He is the one that we ought to trust and follow.

Well, Jesus is displaying the greatness of God, even foretelling his future suffering. But wouldn't you know it, there's a problem. And the problem reveals itself in the disciples. And that is the third thing I want you to see this morning from our passage.

Correcting Human Arrogance

And that is that. Jesus corrects human arrogance. While Jesus is showing the greatness of God by casting out a demon and even predicting the future that he would be handed over to men who would torture him and kill him, human arrogance rears its ugly head. It says, an argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest, verse number 46.

The disciples had not only failed to understand Jesus' mission of suffering, but now they were consumed by their own pride. They were passionately arguing among themselves about each man's status and who would hold the highest position. Perhaps their self-centered pride explains why the disciples did not understand Jesus' mission. They were not listening to his words about suffering, but they were considering how they could be elevated and celebrated as Jesus' greatest followers.

While Jesus was focused on his future, they were openly debating who would be the greatest disciple then and there. Jesus foretold of his rejection at the hands of men, while the men closest to him were fighting over their rank and importance. Their arrogance stood in stark contrast to Jesus' humility.

So to deal with their argument, Jesus gave them a word picture, an object lesson. It says in verse number 47 that he took a little child and he had the child stand behind him. Some would speculate, perhaps this is the child who just had the demon cast out of him. I don't think that has to be the case. It's interesting to think of it that way.

But Jesus called a child from among many children that were in this crowd. And this child did not pick Jesus as much as Jesus chose him. And there he stood beside Jesus.

And Jesus, because he knew what the disciples were thinking, did not argue with them. He did not settle their debate. He did not give them the score and say who was in the lead or who would be the greatest. Instead, he challenged them with this little child. He brought the child forward rather than Peter, James, or John, or any of the other disciples. And he stood this child in a position of honor beside himself. And then he said these words to them in verse 47 and 48.

The Least are Greatest

"Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you who is the greatest."

Jesus absolutely silenced the disciples' argument with a humble, unassuming child. He invited the child to join him, and then he said that this child was representative of the kind of people that Jesus welcomed. Jesus was not looking for pride of place, but he was looking for those from a low position.

Similarly, he had called all of the disciples, all 12 of them, from their former ways of life as mere teenagers. We sometimes think of them as men in their mid to late 20s, but they were probably men between the ages of 13 and 17. And he simply said to them, "Follow me."

Jesus did not promise his disciples titles, position, power, or influence. Instead, it was the exact opposite. He told them in verses 23 and 24, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and follow me, for whoever wants to save their life will lose it." Jesus was teaching the disciples the most important lesson of all: that the greatest in his kingdom were the least on the earth, and that the greatest on earth were not even a part of his kingdom.

R.C. Sproll observes this about this passage. He says, "We measure greatness in this world by power, wealth, achievement, and talent. However," he continues, "greatness in God's kingdom is measured by service, obedience, and humility."

Every human being bears the image of God and deserves respect. Even children are welcome in the presence of God and among his people. It is one thing to be an ambassador for Christ to the great and powerful, the pastor to presidents, as some have been called. But it is another thing to give our time to a child who's not that great in the sight of the world or anyone else. Nevertheless, every child is important and has value in God's sight.

So what Jesus is saying is that when we take time for a child, someone who's unnoticeable, it's as though we were taking notice of God himself. This not only motivates us to minister to children and their families, but it motivates us to minister to the least people in society, the people who are overlooked, neglected, and forgotten, because those are the people that Jesus sees and loves.

Our world pursues status such as titles, positions, degrees, and corner offices. I still love the line in the office sitcom about Dwight Schrute saying he was the "Assistant to the Regional Manager." But whatever title one may argue about, all of those things fade away in eternity. We certainly try to wear power suits and power ties and other things to project our status and our accomplishments. But Jesus gives us an even greater calling. He calls us to lay down our lives, to sacrifice, and to serve with humility. So instead of being consumed by our pride and self-promotion, God wants us to give our lives away in humble service.

Sadly, the disciples did not understand what Jesus meant about humility and true greatness. In the middle of an object lesson with a child, as Jesus is teaching them, we see John suddenly interrupting in verse number 49. And he comes to Jesus saying, "Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he's not one of us."

It's almost as if John is being recorded here as, "Never mind that thing about the child. Let's get back on the topic. I mean, the crowd was gathered because of demon possession, and there's another person out there who is casting out demons. What should we do about it?" It's ironic that the disciples were first arguing about their own status and now they're trying to exclude other people from ministry.

Avoiding Religious Rivalry

Jesus, with this child still by his side, tells John and the other disciples that they're wrong, that they have the wrong focus. He says, "Do not stop this man, for whoever is not against you is for you." The man driving out demons was doing this in Jesus' name, not in his own name for his own power or his own privilege. He was doing it to promote Christ, and he was not opposed to Jesus or the disciples. This man was on their side, Jesus is saying, and he should be allowed to cast out demons and proclaim the kingdom of God in Jesus' name.

The disciples closest to Jesus were not supposed to consider themselves exclusive ministers of Christ. Instead, every believer has the ability to minister in Jesus' name and should be encouraged to do so. In chapter 10, Jesus is going to commission 72 others to go out in his name, and there will be more beyond them. What Jesus does not tolerate is rivalry or competition between believers or churches. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ and declares the gospel should be welcomed and appreciated.

Yet far too many Christians are overly critical of other believers with whom we disagree on this or that point of doctrine or this or that practice in the church. We act as though we have an exclusive claim on the truth and that our practices must be the best practices. But in this section, Jesus is saying, "Don't interfere with other Christians if they're not interfering with the ministry of the gospel." In other words, if they are not against you, they are for you. If they're promoting Jesus, you're promoting Jesus.

And as we think about that in this context, we have the disciples who were supposed to be promoting Jesus. But perhaps the reason they were not able to cast out the demons themselves is because they were promoting themselves. They were saying, "Yeah, we're among that close inner circle of guys who travel with Jesus, who eat with Jesus, who ask him questions and talk to him. Come, ask us whatever you want. Let us do a miracle for you." And perhaps with mixed motives that were ultimately shown to be self-serving, they were powerless because, rather than pointing to Jesus, they were using Jesus to point to them.

In our own context, it's easy to do the same. It's easy to talk about being faithful to the gospel. It's easy to talk about how much we care about doctrine and how we are particular about practices. But sometimes we can get it inverted and make it about ourselves. I'm old enough and I've traveled in enough church networks to see this played out over and over again.

When I was in seminary earning my master's degree a long time ago, starting in another century, my daughter likes to point out in the 1990s, there were groups of people that I went to seminary with who talked about there needed to be biblical churches in every community. And if you had the chance to talk and ask, "Well, what do you mean by a biblical church?" Really, "biblical church" was code for a particular kind of church that looked a lot like their churches. And I would ask, "Well, aren't there faithful churches in... a lot of communities? I mean, what about this church and that church?" And I would name different denominations. And I went to a Baptist seminary and they would say, "Well, but we're talking about faithful biblical churches, churches that are faithful to the word of God." And I would push back and say, "Are you saying they're not faithful to the word of God?" And then those would turn into some interesting arguments, and some people would just walk away because they knew I was going to keep pressing them.

But as I have ministered over many years, I've seen that evolve from "biblical churches" to other groups will say, "Well, we need to have Baptist churches in every community," or "We need to make sure there is a Presbyterian church in every community," or "We need to make sure there is, fill in the adjectives, that there's a homeschooling-friendly church in each community, that there's a public school-friendly church in every community, that there's a healthy church in every community," and on and on the adjectives go.

While all of those things are helpful, and I pray that all different kinds of churches can be used to advance the gospel, what we don't need is tribalism that condemns other churches. Now, are there errant churches that deviate from the gospel? Yes. Are there people that don't have the gospel right that we need to call out? Yes. But we need to spend far more time declaring the gospel ourselves and highlighting others that are doing that. That's why we take time in our services to pray for other churches and other ministries. That's why we can celebrate that Pastor Dan and Rachel and their kids are going to Calvary Baptist in Lynchburg because we're all on the same team declaring the same Christ and we're one in him. It's not about building our network or our brand for the sake of the kingdom. It's Christ's kingdom and Christ's network and Christ's churches.

So we want to make much about Jesus. When we struggle as a church, sometimes the struggle is because of the suffering call to follow Jesus that he laid out here when he predicted it. But sometimes churches struggle simply because they cannot get out of their own way.

And I want us to be a church that gets out of our own way because we're following God's way, that we're submitting ourselves to the greatness of God, that we marvel over his majesty and his glory, that we embrace the call to suffer with Christ as we declare this glorious truth.

And as we do that, it will put us in our place and it will confront our arrogance and humble us. That's why I gave Dan the book, Leading with a Limp. Because it is in our greatest weakness that we see God's greatest strength. And Jesus prepared the disciples by saying, "Look to me, not yourselves, because I am the one you are declaring."

Marveling at God's Majesty

And the message is true for us: that Jesus amazes us with God's greatness because we declare him, not ourselves.

Let's pray. God, as we commit this to you, we ask that you would help us to marvel at your majesty. Help us to be overwhelmed at your greatness and see your incredible power and strength.

And then, God, help us to humble ourselves under that, not seeing ourselves as co-equals with you, that we are somehow jockeying for position to be the greatest church member at Milton Community Church or the greatest Christian in North Atlanta or beyond.

But instead, God, help us to identify like the Apostle Paul and say that we are the chief of sinners, that we are the worst sinner, one who is not even worthy to be called a son or daughter of Christ. And yet, that is precisely the kind of people you save and the people you commission to share your word.

So help us to be bold to share the gospel with our children. Help us to point them to God's greatness. And then, God, help us to be faithful to point our community to Jesus Christ. And help us to celebrate where other Christians and churches are faithfully doing that, so that more and more worshipers can be gathered under the throne of grace.

And we pray this in Jesus' mighty and powerful name. Amen.

Christ Revealed | Luke 9:28-36

Christ Revealed | Luke 9:28-36

Dr Nathan Young

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Introduction to Luke 9

This morning, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9, where we're going to return to the passage that I started last week, where Jesus is predicting his own death in the midst of identifying himself.

And I said last week that Jesus told his disciples where he was going to send them, how he was going to send them, and who was sending them.

And in the transfiguration that begins in verse number 28, we see Jesus clearly revealed in all of his deity as the Son of God.

And this is a comfort to the disciples, and it will be a guiding light to them as they reflect on this later, after Jesus has been crucified and raised again from the dead.

The Transfiguration Account

But before we get to all of that, let's read beginning of verse 28 through verse 36.

So Luke chapter 9, verse 28: About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John, and James with him, and he went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.

Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men that were standing with him. 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.

While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered 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." When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

Identifying the Sender

Here we have Jesus in all of his glory revealed to the disciples so that they would know exactly who was sending them. They were not being sent by a mere man, but they were being sent by the Son of God revealed in his majesty. So far, Luke in this chapter has been equipping the disciples for the ministry that was before them. Jesus was telling them in advance what they were called to do, how they would do it, where they would go, and who was directing them in all of their work.

And yet, the disciples still had questions and they still had misunderstandings. They recognized that Jesus was an incredible teacher. It says earlier in Luke's gospel that he taught as one who had authority. He was different than the human rabbis because his teaching cut to the heart. They also saw that Jesus was one who would perform miracles. He was able to heal the sick, to raise people from the dead, and to restore their physical abilities when they were unable to do things. All of these pointed to the fact that Jesus was unique, but they still didn't fully understand that he was God.

Rumors were going about Palestine and Galilee as Jesus was traveling that perhaps Elijah or Moses or even John the Baptist had returned from the dead. So Jesus pointedly asked these men, "But what about you? Who do you say that I am?" And Peter had quickly answered in verse number 20, "That you are the Christ." You are God's chosen one, the anointed Messiah of Israel. And while that was true, it was a simplistic summary of who Jesus was, because Peter assumed that Jesus, being Messiah, had come as a political savior. But Jesus had come for more than politics. He had come to set prisoners free from the captivity of their sin.

And here we have Jesus clarifying his identity as it's revealed through the Transfiguration. A few years ago, one of our church members took a job with an organization that does disaster relief. And in the midst of his job, he's been able to travel all over the United States doing different projects, helping people that have faced tragedy. Many times it's tornado or floods that rip through an area, and he and his team are sent to help the people that are affected by those natural disasters.

Well, once when this young man came back from one of his disaster relief projects, I was having lunch with him and he was talking to me about the most recent thing that they had done. He had been in Kentucky where there had been terrible floods a few years ago and they were rebuilding people's houses. And as Josh shared the story of what was going on in Kentucky, he talked about a guy who came and helped them on one of their projects. The guy's name was Frank, and Frank was very engaging. He was fun. He was willing to lend a hand anywhere that they needed him. And other people seemed to pay special attention to Frank. Josh wasn't quite sure what to make of him, but he was a fun guy. He was easy to talk to. He was a hard worker. And Josh really enjoyed him.

And then at the end of Josh telling me this story, he pulled out his phone and he showed me a picture of their team with Frank. Well, it turns out Frank was Franklin Graham, the director of Operation Christmas Child and Samaritan's Purse. Frank had joined their team with no fanfare, no attention that, "Hey, the director and leader of the whole organization is going to work on this one little team." But here was Frank serving alongside Josh and making an impact in Kentucky. Josh's perspective changed when he understood exactly who Frank was. And it wasn't that he suddenly thought he walks on holy ground and he's somehow other than the rest of us. But he admired his humility. He admired his willingness to do the work that he was calling so many other people around the country to do. And in a way, Frank's identity transformed in front of our friend Josh.

Well, as Jesus is ministering to the disciples, he's walking among them in much the same way. I don't want to reduce Jesus or the Transfiguration to Franklin Graham on a work crew for Samaritan's Purse. But the idea is that as Jesus was walking and living with the disciples, they didn't fully understand who he was and what the significance of his calling and mission were. And as he began to unpack and reveal to them why he had come, that he had come, in fact, to die, to give his life as a sacrifice, the disciples couldn't quite see it yet. They didn't have the picture of their team standing with Jesus fully formed in their minds.

At this point, they were, like others, enamored with Jesus. They were enthralled by him. They were captivated by all the things that he was doing. They recognized that the prophets and the law had foretold of a Messiah, but they didn't fully understand that it was this Messiah, Jesus who is from Nazareth, had come and he was the Christ who would deliver Israel from their sins.

Revealing His Deity

So in the Transfiguration, we have Jesus preparing his disciples for their mission in advance. And he does this along three lines.

The first thing I want you to notice in the Transfiguration is that Jesus reveals his deity on the mountain. Luke reports that after about eight days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him, and they went on a mountain to pray. Now, some scholars pick at this and say, "But the other gospels say there were six days. Luke says there's eight. Which is it?" Well, they could be accounted in different ways. The point is, a week later, whether you count the Sabbath and the day of the Transfiguration as Luke does, or whether you just count the regular days of the week, Jesus drew these disciples aside and took them to pray.

As he took them to pray, he was going to confirm again his identity, but in this case, revealing his deity. Although many people had already speculated that Jesus may have been Moses or Elijah or John the Baptist, the disciples would come to witness a meeting between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. God the Father was going to use this supernatural encounter to confirm Jesus' identity as the Son of God. Jesus was not simply a carpenter's son from Nazareth, but he was the eternal Son of God from heaven.

On this mountain, it says Jesus prayed. As on other occasions, Jesus withdrew from the crowds, taking his disciples with him in order to commune with his heavenly Father. This time, however, it says in verse 29, as he was praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Jesus' appearance here became blindingly bright like Moses' appearance when he had first received the law of God on Sinai.

The transfiguration is revealing Jesus' full deity. His physical appearance was changing from an ordinary carpenter and a traveling preacher. Now he appeared as the eternal Son of God in his full deity. His face glowed with the radiance of God's glory. His clothes now shined with the purity of God's holiness. And after his transfiguration, Jesus' human appearance revealed his divine nature.

This is not to say, like some old pieces of art, that Jesus received a halo that went above his head, that he traveled around like a ghost with bright light surrounding him. But it is to say that when people encountered Jesus from this time forward, they encountered the living God and they recognized that there was something other about him. There was something transcendent about him.

Well, in the midst of this incredible transformation, there were two men who suddenly appeared. And these men were, in fact, Luke says, Moses and Elijah. They also appeared in glorious splendor and they were talking with Jesus, verse 30. Many people had mistaken Jesus for these two men, but now they were alongside Jesus and clearly distinct from him.

Moses and Elijah appeared on the mountain in the presence of Peter, James, and John, and they represented God's covenant faithfulness to Israel. We have Israel's lawgiver, Moses, and one of their best prophets, Elijah. Moses represented the law of God while Elijah personified all of God's messengers. The law is what revealed the perfect holiness and righteousness of God. And this law required obedience and faithfulness of his people. The prophets, for their part, spoke God's words, and they called God's people to repentance from their disobedience and to persevere in the law that God had given through Moses. Both the law and the prophets would ultimately point God's people to Christ. They foretold and predicted a coming Messiah that would supplant them.

You see, God graciously used Moses and Elijah to preserve God's people. He chose Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and to give the Ten Commandments which became or were known as the Mosaic law or code. Then God used Elijah to boldly confront false worship and corrupt leaders to call God's people back to the law of God. And both of these men had trembled in the presence of God. God had graciously revealed himself to them and they were changed by his presence.

You may remember, we read it in this passage when Rick read from Exodus that Moses was affected by being in the presence of God. It says he entered into a cloud, but it appeared to everyone else looking at the mountain that it was a flame of fire. And when Moses came down from that mountain, his face glowed with the glory of God. Both Elijah and Moses, as they neared the end of their earthly lives, had a unique encounter with God. God took Moses up to the mountain to see the promised land that he would not be able to walk on. And it says Moses died and God buried him and no one was able to find his body. Elijah was walking with God when he was swept up in a whirlwind with a chariot of fire to heaven. Both men had been laid to rest by God in the sense that God had handled the end of their earthly ministry. As they went into the eternal presence of God, Moses, it says, died, but God buried him.

Elijah, it says, did not die, but he continued walking with God. An incredible encounter. Now here on this mountain in first-century Palestine, Jesus was meeting with these two men, Moses and Elijah. And he was showing through this meeting that he had come to fulfill the law and the prophets. While many had mistaken Jesus' identity, Moses and Elijah were meeting with Jesus to reveal his deity. They were appearing alongside Israel's promised Messiah to demonstrate their own submission to Christ. The law and the prophets pointed people to God through Christ. They did not overtake him.

Luke will say this later in chapter 24, verse 44, when he records Jesus saying this to his disciples: "This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms." Jesus was telling his disciples after the resurrection that all of scripture points to him. Here at the Transfiguration, prior to his death and resurrection, Moses and Elijah are doing the same thing. They're pointing the disciples to Christ.

When we come before the Son of God, his presence changes us. We become more and more like our Savior. We start to think like our Savior. We start to talk like our Savior. We start to love like our Savior. We worship like our Savior. We obey like our Savior. And ultimately, we give our lives away like our Savior. The Spirit of God transforms us into God's image with ever-increasing glory. This is what Moses and Elijah did with their lives. They gave their lives to God. They became more and more like God and they pointed others to God.

The apostle Paul summarizes the same idea like this in 2 Corinthians 3:18: "And we all who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." Paul is saying as we walk with Jesus, we become like Jesus. We show his glory in our changed lives.

Have you ever noticed how families look alike and act alike? Husbands and wives who come from different parents with different family dynamics grow closer together in appearance and mannerisms. Have you ever observed the sweet older couple that they just look like perhaps their brother and sister when in fact they're married? Their mannerisms have blended together. The things that they laugh at, the jokes they find funny, the decisions they make, even where they have differences, they've learned to work through those, but they have blended together. They reflect each other. Then if a couple like this has children, their sons and their daughters bear their parents' image and they behave like other people in their family.

When Crystal, Miles, and Madeline and I lived in Scotland, we lived a long way away from our family. And Miles and Madeline were able, through the blessings of technology, to speak to their grandparents on phone and over FaceTime every week. Yet both Miles and Madeline, even though they weren't in the presence of their grandparents, were demonstrating incredible characteristics that were a lot like them. Miles, for his part, acted like Crystal's dad in uncanny ways. Madeline mirrored my mom. And none of this was scripted. We didn't say, "This is how your pawpaw acts and this is how your grandma acts." They just had it in their DNA.

The point is this: if our families influence our behavior, then our relationship with God ought to affect the way we live. Moses and Elijah obeyed God. They gave their lives to him. And now they were in his presence on the mountain conversing about what was coming next. Even when other people disobeyed, they remained faithful. It's not to say that these brothers did not sin. They certainly did. Moses' sin cost him the ability to go into the promised land. And yet, both of these men, even in their sin, demonstrated lives of repentance. And other people noticed the presence of God on their countenances. They did not have halos on their heads either. And they did not look like heavenly angels, but their attitudes and their actions reflected their savior.

Now here they are in the presence of Christ, confirming his deity, showing Peter, James, and John that Jesus is who he says he is. He's not simply a political messiah, but he is the savior of the world. So while they are on this mountain and Jesus is revealing his deity.

Anticipating His Death

The second thing that this passage shows us is that Jesus also anticipates his death. Jesus anticipates his death. As the Son of God, he came to die as a sacrifice. He didn't simply come to gather influence and power, to gather prestige and to crush the Romans. No, Jesus came to give his life as an offering.

Moses and Elijah appearing on the mountain are conversing with Jesus. And it says they were speaking about his departure which he was about to bring fulfillment at Jerusalem, verse 31. Jesus was talking to these two men about his pending exodus. The word translated departure there can also be understood as an exodus. That is similar to God liberating his people from Egyptian captivity and taking them on the exodus to the promised land. Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah about his plan to liberate sinners from their sin, to bring people who were enslaved in their selfishness to the freedom that comes through forgiveness.

And as he's musing about this and talking about it with these men, notice that his disciples were half asleep. With all this going around, seeing men from Old Testament days, Peter, James, and John are tired. It says in verse number 33 that they were very sleepy. Ironically, earlier in this section of Luke's gospel, it was Jesus who was asleep on the back of the boat. But he was asleep during a deadly storm when the disciples came and woke him and said, "Master, save us." And Jesus got up and spoke, and the winds and the waves obeyed his voice.

Now it's the disciples who are asleep. But there's nothing incredibly life-threatening going on in the sense of a boat about to capsize or sink. Instead, they are nearly asleep during one of the most important meetings of their lives so far. But they did become awakened. And it says in verse 33 that when they were fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men that were standing with him.

The disciples were alert from their slumber, they recognized Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. How they recognized Moses and Elijah, we don't know exactly. It's not like they had photographs or a video that they could refer to. But how these men presented and carried themselves reflect the glory of God and their unique identities. They recognized them. And Peter offered immediately, it says, to erect three shelters, one for each of them. Perhaps Peter had in mind the festival of shelters that celebrated Israel's exodus all those years ago. I don't think that's the case because Luke says in verse number 33, parenthetically, "but Peter did not know what he was saying."

Perhaps Peter merely wanted Jesus, Moses, and Elijah to stay with the disciples longer and for the three of them to rule over Israel and to crush Rome. But that was not Jesus' mission. And as previously noted in verse number 20, Peter had misunderstood Jesus' mission. Like many Jews in his day, he was expecting a Messiah to deliver the nation from Rome's political oppression. And when Peter saw Moses and Elijah alongside Jesus, he probably thought, "They're here. It's happening. Now is when Jesus is going to take control."

But Peter did not understand the violent death that Jesus was preparing to suffer on a Roman cross. This is why Jesus had already warned them and prepared them that whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. Verse number 24. The idea is that Jesus had come to give his life, not to preserve it. And the need for shelters was non-existent because Jesus would leave this mountain to carry out his exodus, to carry out his death and resurrection.

Moses had led Israel out of the bondage, out of bondage from Egypt and into freedom. Elijah had delivered them from the bondage to false gods. And Jesus would soon die to set sinners free from their bondage to sin and death. Peter and the other disciples recognized Jesus' deity, but they wanted him to display his authority without suffering, and they certainly didn't want Jesus to go through with death. They would be distraught and confused, as we'll see later in Luke's gospel.

Old Testament witnesses such as Moses and Elijah stand out in the history of Israel. It's significant that they appear here with Christ. These great men of old serve as knowledgeable and experienced guides who pointed the way to Jesus. They foretold, Moses spoke of one who was greater than him that would come. And Elijah also pointed the way to Christ. But these men were only witnesses. And what they represent is only partial.

The law reveals our disobedience. It shows us where we violate God's righteousness. And the law requires a perfect law keeper that is ultimately none other than Christ. The prophets, for their part, expose our idolatry. They show where we, like Israel, are prone to wander from God and his faithfulness, prone to follow our own ambition, our own desires, and our own solutions. And the prophets, in contrast to our idolatry, exalt God's covenant faithfulness. Both Moses and Elijah point us to our need for something greater, not only than them, but greater than us, greater than our ability to save ourselves.

We need none other than Jesus. In our postmodern culture, we are constantly looking for spiritual heroes. Perhaps to overcome or compensate for our own sins and shortcomings, we want to be associated with the spiritual success of other people. We latch on to influencers, even Christian influencers, and we elevate them to celebrity status.

Yet Jesus does not give anyone a booth alongside him. He stands alone as our Lord and Savior. He doesn't say, "Submit to Moses and Elijah first and then me." He calls people to follow him because Moses and Elijah are pointing us to him. They're not saying, "Come to me and do it my way." They're saying, "Follow Christ as I'm showing you Christ."

Rather than seek spiritual heroes, we need to find our identity in our Savior. We need to recognize that Jesus' deity gives us hope for our humanity, and Jesus' death gives us eternal life in heaven. Therefore, we must be anchored to Christ and follow him.

He is indeed, as Peter says in verse number 33, our master. That is, he is our Lord, the one who commands authority over us, as well as the one commanding authority over Moses and Elijah. Well, Jesus is revealing his deity and anticipating his death.

Receiving Father's Affirmation

And then, number three in this passage, the transfiguration shows us that Jesus receives his father's affirmation. Jesus didn't need Peter's boasts in order to feel successful or in order to achieve his purposes. But Jesus received his father's affirmation to prove his deity and to validate the reason for his death.

So now in the presence of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, Peter continues speaking. And we don't know exactly what he said because Luke doesn't record it. But it says in verse number 34 that a cloud suddenly appeared and covered them. God the Father was descending on this mountain in a cloud of glory. The cloud was surrounding them, all six of them: Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James, and John.

And now the disciples, it says, were afraid as they entered into this cloud. These men who were half asleep, who have now woken up to recognize they're in a supernatural meeting, are suddenly astonished and worried as they go into the cloud. When God the Father makes his presence known, the disciples feared his mighty power. They recalled that God had led Israel out of Egypt with a cloud and a pillar of fire. They remembered that God passed before Moses and Elijah in a cloud, not revealing his face to them. And they realized that God descended on the tabernacle in the form of a cloud.

Now the disciples were in the glorious presence of God, and they were with God the Father and God the Son. God the Father was coming to affirm his Son, Jesus Christ. And the voice of the Father said, "This is my Son whom I have chosen. Listen to him." The Father called Jesus my Son. Our statement of faith says this: "The eternal triune God reveals himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being."

Here we have God the Father recognizing his Son, and Jesus Christ is in fact the eternal Son of God. Jesus is of the same nature as God. The author of Hebrews makes this clear. He says in Hebrews 1, the Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being. Jesus is God's Son in the sense that he is God incarnate in human form. He is God's Son who was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary, as Luke reported in chapter 1.

God chose Christ to redeem fallen human beings before the foundation of the world. Paul says it like this in Colossians chapter 1: "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Christ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross." The Father sent Jesus to do his will, and that will involved going to the cross to die as an atonement for our sin. And as Jesus did this, it was a part of God's eternal plan. That is why he says that he chose Christ to do this.

Given Jesus' unique identity as the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, God now told his disciples, "Listen to him," verse number 35. God speaks to his people through his son. And his sheep, John tells us, "Hear Jesus' voice," John chapter 10. The people of God are called to listen intently to Jesus' words and to faithfully obey all of his commands.

After the voice of God affirmed Jesus' identity as the Son of God, Peter, James, and John found that Jesus was alone. And there they stood beholding their savior in all of his glory, intent now to hear every word that he spoke. Moses and Elijah had departed from the mountain. Just as they mysteriously appeared, they have now mysteriously disappeared. It's because what they represented in the law and the prophets had effectively pointed people to Christ. They had revealed Jesus and here he was. They were not equal to Christ and their purpose was now complete. Jesus came to fulfill the righteous demands of the law and to complete the predictions of the prophets.

After their meeting with Jesus, it says the disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen. Later, after Jesus' death and resurrection, would they understand what had happened, that they had been in the presence of the majesty and glory of the eternal Son of God? It's not to say they didn't have a sense of it here. They were beginning to understand that Jesus was far more than just a family friend or relative, that he was more than an incredibly powerful teacher and miracle worker. They saw that he was God. And the transfiguration was revealing the full deity and majesty of Christ. And his resurrection would later prove his divine power and authority over life, death, and sin. Our culture values feelings more than thoughts.

The Discipline of Scripture

It emphasizes being authentic rather than being disciplined. Walking with God, however, requires us to listen to God's word. The word of God must inform the Christian life and guide our behavior. When we submit ourselves to the scriptures, God transforms us into the image and likeness of God.

Regular Bible reading is an important spiritual discipline. So many times we neglect to read the Bible because we just don't make time for it. We don't discipline ourselves to listen to what God has said. If you're struggling with Bible reading and saying, "I don't know what translation to use," or "I can't make sense when I read it," I would love to talk to you about that, or any of our elders or deacons would love to talk to you. Perhaps your discipleship hour teacher would be happy to talk to you about that.

Or maybe you say, "I just get a start and then I get stuck. I don't know how to keep myself going." Again, we would love to help you find a plan that will give you a pace to read God's word so that you'll stick with it. I've challenged my own kids over the years and most recently with different Bible reading assignments, so to speak. They're not assignments in a school sense where I make them write papers and take tests, but I ask them, "Are you reading? What are you reading? How's it going?" And one of the assignments that I have given them is to simply read the book of Proverbs and to read a proverb a day throughout the month and to work your way through slowly and steadily.

In our current climate, we have more than just the printed words, which I think are the best, but we can also listen to audio versions of the scripture. We can, in our car or in our earphones as we're jogging or whatever we may be doing, we can hear the word of God as it is read to us. In all of these ways, we should be allowing the word of God to permeate our hearts and minds and let it start to change us from the inside out as the word of God starts to make us more and more like our Savior.

I don't know about you, but I have noticed over the years that believers who are faithful to read the scripture are changed by the scripture. It's not just that they have an encyclopedia-like knowledge of the Bible or that they can do the quickest Bible drills and find all of the hard references. But it's that they have imbibed what the Word of God says. The Puritans, for their part, were masters of meditating on the scripture. I would commend Puritan works to you because you'll see in Puritan writings that they can write pages and pages about a single line from a verse because they've meditated on it. They've let it capture their heart and their mind.

We need more of that in our time. Too many of us are distracted by our devices. We only take the Bible in snippets. Rather than our daily bread, one of my friends said we have a daily crouton or a daily crumb. We need instead to let the word of Christ dwell richly in us, as Paul wrote to the Colossians. It's no wonder that churches are powerless because they don't depend on the power of God's word. Churches trying to do it in their own strength can accomplish some things. They can be social entrepreneurs. They can have social enterprise, but they will not have the power of God.

For our church to experience the power of God, to move forward in evangelism, and to bring God more glory, we must listen to God. As we hear him, he will direct our steps. He will guide us to go. And Jesus has already prepared us in advance to do his mission. Just as he called the disciples and prepared them, sending them out two by two back in verse three and four of this chapter, God has sent us to our families, to our friends and our acquaintances to carry the good news of the gospel. As we embrace this mission, we do so as those who have heard from God, those who are being transformed to look more like God, and those who will give our lives away doing it, just as Christ gave his life for us.

Let's pray. Father, as we approach you now, we are marveling at what happened in this passage. We marvel because we think, "If I could just be in the presence of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, if I could just receive direct revelation, if they would call me or send me an email or drop me a text or message me on socials." And yet, God, you have spoken to us. You have given us your authoritative word, the scriptures, and all of them point to you as Jesus told the disciples after his resurrection. So God, help us to be faithful to invest in reading the scripture, in studying the scripture, in learning the scripture, and in living the scripture. And God, would we be a church that when people come to visit, they say, "There's something different here."

There's something about the countenances of the people here. There's something about the spirit and the way that they worship and the way that they talk of Christ.

And God, help that to come naturally from our relationship with you. We cannot manufacture that, or wish that, or somehow fake it. But instead, you do that naturally as we submit to you.

So just as your disciples followed you, we pray that we would be faithful to follow you as well. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Announced in Advance | Luke 9:18-36

Announced in Advance | Luke 9:18-36

Dr Nathan Young

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Introduction to Luke 9

This morning, I would invite you to turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 9. We're going to be looking in the middle section of this chapter this morning.

As I began Luke chapter 9 last week, I pointed out that Jesus had been demonstrating the kingdom values that he preached in the Sermon on the Mount by going out to the people and working among them, preaching his kingdom and performing miracles.

Beginning in chapter 9, Jesus gives that same task to his disciples. And he has not only shown them what to do by doing it himself, but he now tells them how they are going to do it as well.

He told them in verse number three: "To go, prepare for the journey. Take nothing with you: no staff, no bag, no bread, no extra money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. And if people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them."

Jesus gave his 12 closest followers marching orders for what they were called to do as his representatives.

Understanding the Who and How

But now, beginning in verse number 18, Jesus is going to clarify who they're representing and how. They will do that. So first he gave them the what. We sometimes say, especially in our American context, we want to know why before anything else. But Jesus gave them the what. Now he's going to remind them of the who and tell them how this will be done.

All of us can remember a time when we started something new. Maybe it was your first significant job. As important as your first job was when you were a child or teenager, I'm talking about the job that after you finished your college education or some level of preparation or certification and you finally got the big job that you were hoping to get. There was the anticipation of, what is this job going to be like? How exactly am I going to do the job? Who will I be reporting to? And what kind of culture is going to be in this company? How will I fit into it?

You may remember what it was like getting ready that first morning and heading in and wondering how it was all going to sort itself out. Were you going to be able to keep up with the assignments? Would you understand the assignments? Would you be able to complete the assignments? You had so many questions. You simply did not know what you did not know.

For some of you, looking back on that time seems so distant because you're immersed in a career where you have developed so many habits and so many patterns that you don't even realize you take them for granted because you've done them for so long. But at the very beginning, you had many questions. You wondered who was going to shape your career. You also wondered how your career was going to work out.

And boys and girls and teenagers, if you can't relate to that—and I hope you can't because you're not in a career yet—you can think about it in terms of the school that you're attending. Whether you think about whether it's home school, public school, or Christian school, the next grade level that you'll begin this fall, you may wonder, "I'm starting elementary school. I'm starting middle school. I'm starting high school. What is it going to be like as I go into this next grade? Who are my teachers going to be? What are the assignments going to be like? How am I going to get it done? How am I going to fit in?"

So whether we're an adult in a career or a child in the middle of our education, we all can feel the uncertainty of what's next. Jesus' disciples in this section, in the middle of chapter nine, are in that transition where they've been given the what. They know they're getting a promotion, so to speak, of a new assignment. But they're still wrestling with who and how it will all come together.

So let me read beginning in verse 18 through verse 36. But this morning for this sermon, in case you're nervous, I'm just going to cover verses 18 through 27.

The Question of Identity

But I want to read the whole section. Once, when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life."

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say that I am?" Peter answered, "God's Messiah."

Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law. And he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."

Then Jesus said to them all, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet forfeit their very soul? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the Holy Angels. Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom."

About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John, and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment of Jerusalem.

Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who were standing with him. 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.

While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered 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." When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. And the disciples kept this to themselves. He did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen. Amen.

So we have in this passage Jesus continuing to instruct his disciples and prepare them for the mission that he would assign them after his departure. But in this moment, he's not departing yet. He's beginning the process that will lead him to Jerusalem, where he will offer himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Yet in this moment, Jesus is preparing them by warning them or announcing to them in advance what he is preparing to do and what their role will be after that.

Jesus Confirms His Identity

Jesus wants the disciples to go, taking nothing with them for the journey of representing Jesus, but knowing who it is that they're serving. So Jesus spends some time in this section confirming his identity. And that's my first point this morning, and that is that Jesus confirms his identity.

Jesus confirms his identity after their initial effort to get away from the burgeoning crowds had failed. Jesus ended up feeding 5,000 men plus women and children in the countryside of Bethsaida. Now, sometime later, we don't know how many days have elapsed, but he is gathering with his disciples for prayer and they finally have some privacy. He says in verse 18, "Once when Jesus was praying in private with his disciples and they were with him, he asked them, 'Who do the crowds say that I am?'"

Jesus' private prayers revealed that he was totally dependent on God the Father, and he relied on the Father to give him strength for his public ministry. Jesus was modeling throughout how he wanted the disciples to live their own lives, that they too would pray and continue in this pattern of dependence. In this case, after Jesus prayed, he asked the disciples who they thought that he actually was.

Jesus knew already in advance without having to ask what the disciples thought. He also knew what the crowds were saying about him. He knew what Herod had thought about him when Herod thought perhaps John the Baptist has come back to life. So Jesus did not need the disciples to give him a scouting report or to conduct an opinion poll and find out what the numbers were, what it was looking like in terms of people's response to him or thoughts about him. No, Jesus was asking the disciples what other people believed about him so he could inquire about their own beliefs. They talked to others or they talked about others so Jesus could talk to them.

And the disciples answered his question very directly. They knew what the score was. They were hearing what people were saying about Jesus. So they said to him, "Some people think you're John the Baptist. Others say that you're Elijah. And yet others think that you're a prophet from long ago."

The disciples understood very well that people saw religious significance in Jesus. They believed that he was a prophet like John, Elijah, or one of the others. And they also thought that perhaps he had returned from the dead, though he was living and ministering at that time. They understood that Jesus had religious authority, but they did not recognize him as God.

Ultimately, though, Jesus wanted to know what his disciples believed. So he asked them a follow-up question. After they gave their answer about all the other people, he said, "But what about you? Who do you say that I am?" (Verse 20).

The disciples had accurately reported about other people's opinions and their speculations about Jesus' identity. Luke doesn't record for us Jesus responding or saying anything biting on those ideas. Instead, he directs the question to them. He wants to know what they believe about him. After all, these men are on the precipice of going out as his representatives. So they need to know who he really is.

Without discussion or deliberation, Luke reports that Peter simply answered, "God's Messiah, the Christ." Luke doesn't say in this context whether Peter was confident or cautious about his answer, but he hung it out there as Peter normally does. He spoke on behalf of the other disciples, giving the right answer that Jesus was the promised one, the one who had been anointed by God the Father to come and to rescue the world from sins.

So Peter was affirming Jesus' true identity, but Peter probably didn't understand the significance of what he said. God the Father had already revealed Jesus' identity to Peter. Matthew tells us that in his gospel. But Peter did not understand exactly what it meant that he was the Christ or the Messiah. He probably expected Jesus, like other people of Israel, to deliver them from Roman oppression. They thought that a Messiah would come that would restore Israel to political prominence, even independence, and their own authority. The one that the Old Testament scriptures foretold meant far more than what Peter understood.

Though he gave the correct answer, there were far more implications to his answer. And Jesus would go on to clarify this beginning in verse number 21. What I want us to see from this first section where Jesus is confirming his identity is he wants his followers to know who he is so we can believe in him.

People, especially non-Christians, have strong opinions about Jesus Christ and whether or not they believe in him. Even individuals who have never read the Bible usually have an opinionated comment or two about Jesus. Some of them simply use the name Jesus Christ as a curse word. Others consider him a historical figure. A few think that Jesus was a great religious teacher. But most ignore him and think that he's just historical fiction. He's an amalgam of what the hierarchy has constructed to gain control over people. Those are all curious ideas, but none are what Jesus actually is.

It's not enough to merely know other people's opinions and some of these that I've shared. Being a follower of Jesus involves knowing what we believe about Jesus for ourselves. That means, boys and girls, you need to come to the place where you understand who Jesus is and how you should respond to him. It's not enough to say, "Well, my mom and dad believe in Jesus. My mom and dad bring me to church. Therefore, I must be a Christian." No, boys and girls, I would say you need to wrestle with Jesus yourself. You need to understand that Jesus is the Son of God that came to save you, not just your parents.

Similarly, if you're an unbelieving spouse who's married to a Christian, you must decide what you believe about Jesus. It's not enough to simply say, "Well, that's for my husband" or "my wife," but you need to reckon with who Christ is for you. In fact, all of us must do that. It's not enough to simply have an opinion about Jesus or say, "Well, this is what other people say about Jesus." Christ's question, "Who do you say that I am?" applies to us all.

When we first believe in Jesus, we accept him as our Lord and Savior. He is our master, which is to say he is our God. He is the authority over our lives. And he is our Messiah, the one who rescues us. We believe very simply at the beginning of the Christian faith that Jesus forgives our sins. We may not understand how. We don't understand all the details. We can't give a list of all the Bible verses, but we know enough to know that we have broken God's moral law and we need to be pardoned. And Jesus offers that pardon. It's called forgiveness. He restores us so we can have a right relationship with God.

Initially, God gives us childlike faith and then we grow in our understanding of Christ and the application of the gospel. That's why, boys and girls, you can believe that Jesus is your savior and your parents can believe that too. And as you grow older, you'll come to understand more about what that means. You'll come to appreciate the depth of your sin and the magnitude of Christ's forgiveness as you walk with him over many years.

We don't need a certificate from a Sunday school class or a seminary degree in order to become a Christian. We simply need childlike faith in Jesus. I'm not saying that Peter was a child, but he had a simplistic view of Christ, but it was enough. And his view of Jesus was that Jesus was the promised one that the Old Testament foretold.

To illustrate this, think about when you get into a car. I would say most of us drove here today. Maybe one or two of us walked here, but most got in a car and drove. And when we got in the car, we believed that the car would transport us from our house to the church. Only a few of us probably understand how an internal combustion engine works or how a variable speed transmission manages the engine's power. A driver and the passengers only need to know that the car can take them from one place to another. A driver and the passengers put their faith in the engineers who designed the car and the mechanics who service the car and keep it running.

Believing in Jesus Christ works in a similar way. We only need to know that Jesus saves us from our sins to become a Christian, confessing that we are sinners and that we need a savior. Some people out there, however, insist that they need to know everything about the Bible. They need to understand all Christian doctrine. Have a perspective on church history. Understand atheism and responses to atheism. Delve into apologetics where they can defend the faith before they can really become Christians. Childlike faith, however, believes Jesus and grows in our knowledge of him over time.

Peter and the other disciples needed to know who they were following, and as they followed him, he showed them more of himself. Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, beginning in verse number 16: "So from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer." Continuing in verse 21, Paul says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

The point Paul is making is similar, that we cannot view Jesus from simply an unbelieving point of view. We must view Jesus from a position of faith in Jesus. We don't regard him as the world. We regard him as followers. And when we do that, we see that Jesus dealt with our sin. And that is enough. Once we understand that, we accept that and we believe that for ourselves, we become Christians and we start the journey of faith and we grow more and more like our Savior.

Back to the illustration, I said, do you remember when you started your first significant job, or children and teenagers when you started a new grade level, and you wondered what it would be like and how it would go?

As you entered into that new area with new people and new responsibilities, you started to grow into your own role in the organization. You found your place on a team and teammates. You found your responsibilities as they were assigned and as they were changed and adjusted and even as they grew.

As you grew into the role in all of that, Jesus is preparing the disciples the same way. He's saying they don't have to know everything to get going, but they need to know one main thing. And that one main thing is that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the one who had come to save people from their sins. And now they would go out and they would represent Jesus.

So we see Jesus here confirming his identity. And the second thing I want you to see, beginning in verse number 21, is that Jesus clarifies his mission.

Jesus Clarifies His Mission

Jesus clarifies his mission. So he's given them the who. Now he's going to give them the how of what they were expected to do. Jesus understood that the disciples did not fully know what his identity meant or how they were going to work for his mission. Therefore, Jesus, it says in verse 21, strictly warned them not to tell anyone.

Jesus was not giving the disciples a gag order because he wanted to remain unknown, or he was trying to do things in secret. No, he was warning them not to tell anyone because at this point, they might misrepresent his mission. Jesus was not going to be a political savior of Israel. He was going to be Isaiah's suffering servant that was foretold by the ancient prophet.

That's why Jesus clarified his mission for the disciples in verse number 22 by saying, "the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law. And he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."

This had already been happening in Jesus' ministry, that as he traveled around Galilee preaching and ministering miracles, the skeptics, the cynics, and the opponents was this group of people. It was the elders, the chief priests, the teachers of the law that were standing back going, "Hmm. Not sure about that. Hmm. Is that really what the scriptures say? Are you really the Messiah or are you an imposter?"

These individuals not only questioned who Jesus were, but they would come to oppose him, reject him, and even kill him. Jesus is telling his disciples in advance that he came to suffer, not to conquer. He came to be rejected, not accepted; to be killed, not spared; and ultimately rise from the dead rather than be silenced.

Once Jesus clarified his God-given mission, which was a mission of suffering, he also clarified the disciples' mission.

The Call to Self-Denial

Verse number 23, he said to them all what their new assignment would be. They would be more than Jesus' assistants as he traveled, preached, and performed miracles. They themselves would join in Jesus' suffering, and ultimately they would give their lives to advance his mission.

Becoming a disciple, Jesus says here, involves self-denial, death to self, and following Jesus. He says in verse number 23 that you would deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. The values of Jesus' kingdom turn the values of the world upside down. By default, every one of us strives against every obstacle to indulge our desires.

Think about a toddler when they're playing with toys. What do they do when they see a toy they want? There's no restraint. They go for it. They lunge, they grab, they pinch, they pull, they do whatever is necessary to get the object of their desire. Adults are far more sophisticated than toddlers, but think about how much energy is invested in pursuing what we want and all the lengths that we'll go to do it. And probably the biggest skill that we have as adults is our rationalization that the end justifies the means.

This is a value that God wants to turn upside down, that instead of pursuing our own selfish desires, he says we would deny ourselves because we live for something greater, Christ and his mission. He goes on to say that taking up our cross, which is death to ourselves, is the idea that we recognize that we are dying to our flesh and to this world. It's not to say that we are living dead people, though you could say that, but it's to say that we're living for eternal life, not just the life we have now. We're not trying to get our best life now, as some have written. But instead, we're trying to follow Christ and the act of his life, which is an act of laying our lives down as a sacrifice, not as martyrs who are punishing ourselves, but as those who recognize this life gives way to eternal life.

And this is why we would follow him in verse number 23. We follow Jesus showing that we are obedient to someone who has authority over us. We're not free agent Christians doing our own thing in our own way, but instead we work under the authority of Christ. And as we do all of this, we're resisting the values of the world.

This is why Jesus goes on to say in verse 23 and 24, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it. And whoever loses their life for me will save it. Being a disciple means self-denial, death to self, and submission to Christ. We should not grasp after the world, but give ourselves fully to Christ's mission.

After all, Jesus warns the disciples in the next verse: What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet forfeit their very soul? We may achieve success by the world's standards. We may accumulate multi-generational wealth. We may even achieve celebrity status for ourselves. But all of it is worthless if we're not in a right relationship with God, if we lose our souls. Jesus did not come to deliver Israel from Rome and simply gain political power. He came to save his disciples and all who would follow him, including us. He came to save us from ourselves, from our sinfulness.

Upper and middle-class Americans like us spend most of our time and energy striving. We're striving to earn and keep what the world values the most. We're striving for education and career, for health, for wealth, and for family. None of these values are inherently wrong, but Jesus gives us something greater to live for. He calls us to surrender our own agendas and our own lives, our own self-centeredness to join his mission.

This is why Jesus says in verse number 26, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Jesus does not leave room for half-hearted disciples. Being a Christian is not simply a ticket to heaven while you do other things. It's not simply insurance that you don't go to hell. But being a disciple of Christ means giving your life to him and following him completely.

Jesus does not accept "denos." So a "deno" is a disciple in name only. Jesus expects people who are all in and follow him. He calls us to be bold followers who accept his identity and his mission as our own. The Life Application Study Bible, which I have given to teenagers for years, says this in its note.

Living for Eternal Life

If this present life is the most important thing to you, you will do everything you can to protect it. You will not want to do anything that might endanger your safety, health, or comfort. By contrast, if following Jesus is the most important thing, you may find yourself in unsafe, unhealthy, and uncomfortable places. If we're willing to follow Jesus, then we will see that this present life is temporary and it will one day give way to eternal life.

So how does Jesus want us to follow him? He wants us to follow him in a way that recognizes we don't live for ourselves. We live for him, and that is far, far more important. Yet we live in a world that wants to protect image, that wants to project certain images. We want people to think one thing about us or another, and sometimes we can be obsessed.

I was reading in the Wall Street Journal last week about Bill Gates. According to the Wall Street Journal, Bill Gates now has a significant image problem. According to the article, he was once ranked the world's most admired man. He spent decades creating an image of being calm, approachable, thoughtful, and generous. This was to counterbalance the reputation that he had when he was the CEO of Microsoft, where he was not always viewed that way. Now Bill Gates Foundation has over $89 billion that are earmarked for global health initiatives. And there are two teams of professionals who oversee his image and his projects.

But Bill Gates, the philanthropist, is quickly losing his reputation. Revelations of his association with the late Jeffrey Epstein and others are undermining the image that he has worked so hard to present. Even his vast wealth and his celebrity status and his team of professionals cannot spare him from scrutiny and scandal. Now Mr. Gates is doing everything he can to save his reputation and spare his legacy.

Followers of Jesus live for far more than this passing world or a legacy that we may leave behind. We live a life for Christ to invite others to follow Jesus. We live for Christ and his kingdom, which transcends us. And this is why Jesus told his disciples in verse number 27, "Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." Most of the disciples that were with Jesus in this moment would die martyrs' deaths, just as Jesus would die. But all of them would in fact see his kingdom because they would see his resurrection power initiate his kingdom on this earth.

Jesus is comforting his disciples about the cost. He's told them who he is and how they will minister by giving their lives away, but he's assuring them that the cost will be worth it. That even though they will taste death, they will ultimately be in his kingdom. It will be worth it. Jesus was clarifying his mission so the disciples could put their hope in him and align their lives with his values.

Jesus does not want any of his followers to worry about our status in this world. We don't need professionals like Bill Gates has to present an image of us being one thing when we have Christ where we find our identity. No, we are living our lives now in light of God's eternal kingdom. Jesus wants us to give our lives completely to him as living sacrifices, Paul says in Romans 12, and we can fulfill his mission to take the gospel to the nations.

Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him. The Apostle Paul says it like this in 2 Corinthians 5: "If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone and the new is here. All of this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us."

Paul is saying exactly what Jesus taught the disciples because Paul had learned as well that Paul's life was not his own. Paul's life was found in Christ. Paul knew, like the disciples, who he worked for and how he wanted him to work so that he could accomplish the mission of spreading the gospel and strengthening churches.

As God has called each one of us, he wants us first to become followers of Jesus, to know that he is not only the Messiah, but that he is your Messiah and my Messiah. And then he also wants us to embrace his mission and follow him wherever he will go. It has been said that millennials and Gen Z care more about mission than people older than them. I don't think that's exactly true. But the point that's being made is young adults entering into their first jobs are looking for purpose. They want to know why, what's the big picture, how does this all fit together? And what part do I have in it? I don't think those are illegitimate. I think those can be helpful. They can be motivating. And Jesus is giving that kind of motivation here by telling the disciples, know who you're living for, how you are living, and where that will take you.

Living for the Gospel

Jesus is going to show them his authority beginning with the transfiguration in verse number 28, and we'll cover that next Sunday. The point that I want you to see from it now is that the disciples were in the presence of the Son of God. Jesus appeared to them and the Father confirmed his identity to clarify their mission.

And we have the same mission and response today. So, what are you living for? Who are you living for? And how are you living? Are you living for the mission of the gospel or for something lesser? Are you living for yourself or for Christ? And are you living in a way that shows your commitment to Christ? Or does your life reveal that you're committed to your education, your career, your health, your wealth, or your family?

God wants us to live in such a way that we are announcing and advancing the gospel and showing people Jesus. So, whether you're a boy or girl, a teenager or an adult, you can live knowing who Jesus is and carrying his message forward.

In just a moment, we're going to receive the elements of communion to be reminded of this message about Jesus, to be shown that Jesus gave his life and his blood so that we could have eternal life. And now we have the opportunity to respond to Christ by offering our lives to extend this message.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us as we come to the communion table. We pray that we would come as those who recognize who you are, that you are our Savior. You have dealt with our sins. You've given us your righteousness.

And then, Father, help us to come as those who are eager to go, knowing that the way we will go, the how, is by laying our own lives down, making sure that we give our lives as living sacrifices, which is reasonable as an act of worship for you. And God, we pray that you would help us do this well. And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.