Luke 9:20 Transfiguration
How many of you want your lives transformed?
- Changed into a life more like Christ’s?
- One that demonstrates His love and power?
I suggest that that is possible
- But it depends on how you answer this question
- Who do you say Jesus is?
In Luke 9:20-26
- Jesus asked the disciples “Who do you say I am?
- He had already asked them, “Who do the people say I am?”
- But what really mattered to Him
- Was what the disciples understood about His identity
- “Who do you say I am?”
- That is the same question we as disciples of Christ must answer
- Who is Jesus Christ?
- Now Peter responded to answer that question
- “You are God’s Messiah.” Or “You are the Son of the Living God.”
- “You are the anointed One, sent by God”
- We all have come to know Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ
- The One sent to bring us salvation and new life
- It is important also to see that right after Peter answered that question
- Declaring Jesus as the Christ
- That Jesus told them in vs 22
- “The Son of Man has to undergo great suffering, and to be rejected by the elders, chief priests and doctors of the Law, to be put to death and to be raised again on the third day.”
- He told them, “Yes, I am the Messiah and I must die.”
- “My purpose is to suffer and die and be raised again to life.”
- That is the truth of the Gospel
- That brings us to salvation by faith
- It gets us into the gate
- And when we see that about Jesus
- We find new life and salvation
- But that alone will not get us very far down the road of maturity in Christ
- In our walk with Christ
- We need to know more, and to see more
- To grow in our understanding and faith
- As believers
You see Jesus moving the disciples one more step forward
- In their understanding who He is
- They were at the point of understanding
- That He was God’s Messiah
- But He wanted them to understand what that meant
- He told them more about the Messiah
- About what He was about to do and what was about to happen
- He would suffer and die and rise again
- He moved them, stretched their understanding
- He revealed to them more about who He is
- And that is what He wants to do for us
Shortly after this conversation
- In fact 8 days later
- He took three disciples
- Peter, James and John
- Up into the hills to pray
- There these three had an experience
- That moved them from a confession
- Of Jesus as the Christ
- To seeing Him as He was before He came to earth from heaven
Read with me Luke 9:28-36
28 Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
29 And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.
30 And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah,
31 who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
32 Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him.
33 And as these were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- not realizing what he was saying.
34 While he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.
35 Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!"
36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.
NASU
- These three saw Jesus transfigured
- And they heard God speak from the cloud
- “This is my Son in Whom I am well pleased”
When was the last time Christ was transfigured before you?
- You know we grow comfortable with Him as we know Him
- And Jesus wants to come
- And shatter that box we have built around Him
- And reveal Himself freshly to us
- The result of this is new revealing
- Our perception or understanding is changed
- But more importantly we are fundamentally changed as well
Jesus Christ seeks to readjust our vision of Him
- Adjust the way we see Him
- The more we are willing to receive
- The more He is willing to reveal to us
- He wants us to see Him in His glory
- He wants us to get a better glimpse of Him
- So we can see how awesome and wonderful He is
- But we can only grasp this in small portions at a time
- Our problem is we take what we know of Him
- And put a frame around it or put it in a box
- And try to contain it so we can understand it
- Or to control it
- But you cannot contain Christ
- And you surely cannot control Him
Jesus took only three disciples to the mountain with Him
- These three were the same three
- Who saw Him raise a girl from the dead (Luke 8:49-56)
- They were the three nearest to Him in the garden before He was crucified
- The question is why them?
- The answer is they were more willing to receive of Him
Look at Matthew 13: 12,16-17
“For the man who has will be given more, till he has enough and to spare; and the man who has not will forfeit even what he has.” Vs 12
- If you take little from God
- You will receive little
- You will atrophy
- Grow weak and sloppy in the spirit
- You will grow content and loose your focus in spiritual things
- You will stop growing in the strength and wisdom and power and image of Christ
- And you will become spiritually soft and weak and cease to see the wonders of God
- These three were able to be with Christ
- To go with Him because they were more willing to receive
- What He wanted to show them
Look at verses 16-17 “But happy are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear!”
- The Lord wants us to see and to hear
- He is waiting for us to come individually and collectively
- To Him and say, “Lord, I want to know You, Who you really are.”
- “Lord I want to see who You are. I want Your reality to be revealed to me.”
You see this is an important point
- It is critical that you grasp this
- It is important because we are the product of whom we think He is
- Who we see Him to be
- We only reach the point in our faith
- That matches our understanding of who Jesus is
Our prayer must be
- “Show me the reality of Christ and give me the courage to allow You to adjust my life to that reality.”
- We need to allow God to reveal more of Jesus Christ to us
- To deepen our understanding of who He is
- And then to allow Him to adjust our lives
- To change the way we live
- And the way we act, think, believe
- To reflect the reality of Christ
Christ wants to reveal Himself in all His glory
- In His transfigured person
- Just like He did for Peter, James and John
- But we have to desire, deeply desire,
- To see Him, to know Him that way
- To be willing to be changed as we see Him in a new way
- To have our character readjusted
- As our vision of Him is enlarged and given depth
Listen to Col 2:2-3 where Paul writes
“I want them to continue in good heart and in the unity of love, and to come to the full wealth of conviction which understanding brings, and grasp God’s secret. That secret is Christ himself; in him lie hidden all God’s treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
- Paul wants us to know the full riches of complete understanding
- He wants us to come to know the hidden treasures of wisdom
- He wants us to know Christ
- Not just as a Savior
- But to know Him deeply, personally and intimately
- To know, experientially, and with understanding
- To recognize who He is
- Based on our relationship and participation with Him
- You see our knowledge presently
- Is fragmentary and incomplete
- We know only a little about Him
- But we are called to know Him completely
- And in this knowledge
- We will learn that He not only can save us
- But He will meet all of our emotional and mental needs
- He will provide for all our needs of assurance of love and security
- We will find out the depths and heights and breadths of His love
- And we will learn that He will never leave us or forsake us
- That in all the situations and circumstances of our lives
- He is there with love and security
- We learn that the words we read in the Bible
- Express spiritual realities
- That we can live our lives on
- With full confidence in Christ to fulfill them
- And even more we will also find hidden treasures
- The mystery of who He is
You see things you can never otherwise see
- But only if you push past your fears
- Let me tell this
- When seekers or believers are asked
- Why they are reluctant to surrender to Christ
- They almost always
- Say something like
- “I am afraid of what He will ask me to do.”
- “I am afraid He will ask me to do something I can’t or don’t want to do.”
- But if you are not willing to push past your fears,
- You will never see Him transfigured
- You will be left with that last vision of Him you had
- Too many Christians
- Stop at seeing Jesus as their Savior
- They never see Him as Lord or as Conqueror
- Because they are afraid of what He might ask
- Where He might take them
Paul tells us we have in Christ the security we need and the love we need
- Christ will always lead us
- And will be there at every step
- He will always love us and lead us in His love
- He may ask hard things
- But He will provide the means to do them all
- Because He loves us and He protects us
Who do you want to see?
- Do you want to see Jesus? To see Him transfigured in His glory?
- Or do you want to hold to the same old safe perception and understanding?
- Are you hungry to see Him face-to-face?
- Do you cry out inside, “Lord, show me?”
IF so then be prepared
- To readjust your vision
- Christ may choose to rearrange your surroundings
- He may lead you to change or readjust your activities, interests
- He may rearrange your job, circumstances
- He will do whatever needs to be done
- To bring your life into line with His character
- And His purpose for you
- You will gain a new perspective of who saved you
- And He will pull you out of your comfort zone
- And lead you out of your element
- To the place He can teach you of Himself
- But He will assure you of your security in Him
- And of His love for you
- He will be there in power and grace
He will lead you out to the edge of you experience and understanding
- He will place you in new situations
- To teach you to trust Him and to see Him as more than you did before
- He will readjust your surroundings
- And show you more of His character, His person, His love, grace, power…
No matter how our earthly perception is readjusted
- We need to understand
- The eternal reality still exceeds any earthly revelation
- No matter how much more we see Him transfigured
- There is much, much more unseen
- Our understanding of Him cannot grasp the fullness of Christ
- It will remain a mystery we will explore and celebrate for eternity
- Whenever you think you have Christ figured out
- Watch out!
- Your understanding is about to be challenged
- And your vision enlarged
Look again at Luke 9:29 “…as He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became dazzling white.”
- His appearance changed
- The fullness of the Godhead shone through
- Suddenly Jesus lowered the physical and stood there in His Godness
- There was a greater revelation of His glory
- At that moment He appeared as He was before He became a man
- And as He would appear at His return
- Full of glory
Luke 9:30 says, “Suddenly there were two men talking with him; these were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, the destiny he was to fulfill in Jerusalem. Meanwhile Peter and his companions had been in a deep sleep; but when they awoke, they saw his glory and the two men who stood beside him.”
- James, John and Peter slept as they would when Jesus asked them to pray in the garden
- Before He was taken to be crucified
- Here they are with Jesus to pray
- And they fall asleep
- How much are we like them?
And as they awoke they see Jesus in His glory
- Radiant, shining
- And two men are with Him
- They did not need to ask who these men were
- They knew who they were
- Moses and Elijah both had divinely appointed departures
- They were taken by God personally
- Moses was buried by God (Deut 34:1, 4-6, 10)
- Elijah was taken up by God
- And here they are discussing Jesus’ divinely appointed departure
- His death on the cross
And how did Peter respond to this revelation of Jesus in glory?
- What does he want to do?
- Look at verse 33-36
“And as they were moving away from Jesus, Peter said to him, “\’Master, how good it is that we are here! Shall we make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah?’; but he spoke without knowing what he was saying. The words were still on his lips, when there came a cloud which cast a shadow over them; they were afraid as they entered the cloud, and from it came a voice: ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was alone. The disciples kept silent and at that time told nobody anything of what they had seen.”
Peter awakes and sees Jesus in a way he had never seen Him before
- And before he realizes what is occurring
- He speaks out
- We do not know what Jesus was saying
- Because we hear Peter speak
- He wants to capture this wonderful experience forever
- He wants to fix this experience and keep it
- He wants to enjoy it and preserve it
- He wants to built monuments there to make it permanent
But meeting places with Christ are not locations where we built tabernacles and stay
- Peter said, “It would be good to stay here…”
- It would have been constitutionally good
- But it would not have been beneficial
- You see Peter was saying, “Now Lord, this is a set up I can live with.”
- This is ideal
- I could get used to living here with you and Moses and Elijah
- What an experience
- That had to be the most significant religious experience Peter or other disciples had had up to that time
- They were on a mountaintop
- Physically and spiritually
- And what did Peter want to do?
- He wanted it to go on, to live in it
- And it would have been a good thing
- If they could have stayed there
- And fellowshipped with Jesus, Moses and Elijah
- They would have had everything they desired spiritually
- But his good idea would not have been good for everybody else
- Jesus, Moses and Elijah were talking about Jesus’ departure
- His death
- He had told the disciples just 8 days earlier
- He would suffer and die
- And here on this mountaintop He is discussing it with Moses and Elijah
- But Peter was missing that
- You see often when we encounter God
- We want to stay there
- Rather than learn how to live in the world
- We think we can live in the presence of God
- But not down in the valley
- We miss the purpose why God reveals Himself to us in these mountaintop experiences
- He wants to show us more of Himself
- So we can go back into our daily lives
- And reveal more of Him to others
- So we can serve Him in some way
- To further His purpose and see others benefited
- A mountaintop experience is seldom just for us
- But is a time of renewal, refreshing and equipping
- So we can go down to the valley
- To fight the good fight
- And run the race well
- It is so we can have our lives readjusted
- To conform more to His character
- And live closer to His intention fo us
- He wants us to live the mountaintop in the valley of life as well
- He wants us to live out what we saw on our mountain in the valley
- So that others can also see what we saw and know Jesus the same way
It is also important to note that Christ ordinarily reveals Himself to us in private
- So He can reveal Himself through us in public
- To do so otherwise is to try to live by the ego
- God does not want front men, but servants
- We must let Him in to our lives
- To do the very private and painful work in our lives
- We must make room on our schedules to allow Him to work
- We must provide opportunity for Him to work
If we were to hire a contractor to remodel our houses
- We would give him time and freedom to work
- We would live around the inconvenience and mess of his work
- In order to get the finished product
- Yet how much do we allow God the freedom to work in our lives?
- Do we give Him the opportunity to remodel, readjust us to suit His plans?
- How often do you get alone with Him?
- How often do you read and meditate on His Word?
- How often do you seek Him, to be with Him alone?
- The answer will determine how much He is able to accomplish in your life
- How much He is able to remake you in His image
My dad had bladder cancer and spent months before and after surgery
- Literally on his back
- He told me that when you are unable to do anything but lay there
- You have plenty of time to think
- I believe God will sometimes “put us on our backs” figuratively
- To do whatever it takes to get our attention
- So He can do the remodeling He wants to make
- To readjust our lives and surroundings
- So we can be about what He wants to do and be what He wants us to be
- We have a choice
- Do we give Him the time and attention willingly or unwillingly?
- God will accomplish His plans
The other alternative is be by-passed by God
- To have Him work around you
- And to leave you to yourself
- The opportunity for knowing Him better
- For seeing His glory revealed to you and through you
- Would be lost forever
- And your life would be without much eternal value
- That has to be the saddest of all fates
- To choose not to move from your comfort zone
- And to refuse God the opportunity and freedom to work in you
Who do you say Jesus is?
- Are you ready and willing to see Him transfigured?
- Are you willing to have your life readjusted and surrounding changed?
- Go and seek Him
- Give Him your time and heart
- Take Him at His word and let Him work
- Freely in you
- To take you as you are to where He wants you to be
Let’s pray
Invitation
