Apprenticing Under The Master (for 95 years! – Anniversary Sunday)
February 12, 2006
Mark 9:2-13
The Transfiguration – “No One Except Jesus”
95 Years!
Wow!
This church began as a prayer meeting in a house on Ellis Ave in 1908. On February 12th in 1911 Swansea Baptist Church had its first Sunday service– the average attendance was 12 people to a service.
We have much to honour and celebrate in our 95 years of history, there are a few things that we have repented from, and we may find some more, but there is much to rejoice in.
I’m not going to give an overview of the church history today – we did that in November as part of the visioning process, but today we are going to return to the Gospel of Mark as a way to learn how we should view our history, and how we should move into the future as a church.
Read passage
Jesus takes the inner circle of the twelve with him up the mountain. I’m always amazed at the quietness of Jesus. If I was trying to start a new religion, and I was going to be transfigured into my heavenly glory and meet with Moses and Elijah, I think I would do it at the temple in front of thousands – just to make a big splash! But Jesus take his three closest friends up the mountain with him. Peter was likely the source of Mark’s account in the Gospel: he relates the experience himself in his 2nd letter to the churches when he says “For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came from the Majesty Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.” 2 Peter 1:16-18
James died without writing anything (Acts 12:2), John doesn’t relate this story in his gospel or letter, except to say: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” – John 1:14
Mark tries to describe what happened to Jesus – his clothes shone whiter than they had ever seen clothes before, and Moses and Elijah showed up.
Moses is the man that God used to redeem the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. He is the author of the first five books of the Bible and the giver of God’s law to the people. Elijah was one of the great prophets of God’s people – you can find his stories in the book of 1 Kings 17 – 2 Kings 2
So representatives of the Law and the Prophets have come to speak with Jesus!
Mark doesn’t tell us what they are discussing, but Luke tells us that they spoke about Jesus’ departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. They were talking about the cross.
Peter sees this wondrous sight, and he blurts out, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah!” I love the line that qualifies what Peter says: “He did not know what to say.” “I didn’t know what to say, so I said this…”
Peter should have abided by that old saying “It is better to remain silent and to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
It is actually difficult to figure out just what Peter was getting at.(I’m not sure that he knew what he was getting at!) The word that he uses that is translated “shelters” could be simple tents, or tabernacles, or others have translated it as “shrines” or “memorials”
If Peter wanted to show some form of religious honor to all three, but building a little shrine, God the Father has something to say about it. A cloud envelops the men, just like the cloud that enveloped the mountain when God gave Moses the 10 commandments. A voice comes out of the cloud that says, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
The next minute the disciples were looking around, rubbing their eyes, seeing nothing but Jesus, only Jesus.
I think that Peter was right to want to honour Moses and Elijah – they were representatives of the Law of God and the Prophets of God – both amazing men of God. The problem was that Peter put Jesus on the same level as the others. He might have been thinking that he was really showing his master honour, even flattering him, by placing him on a level with Moses and Elijah, but the truth is that he is far and above these two. They were servants of God, Jesus is the Son of God!
This is what the writer to the Hebrews says about Jesus and Moses:
And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are bound for heaven, think about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s Messenger and High Priest. For he was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses served faithfully and was entrusted with God’s entire house. But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a fine house deserves more praise than the house itself. For every house has a builder, but God is the one who made everything.
Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house, but only as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. But Christ, the faithful Son, was in charge of the entire household. And we are God’s household, if we keep up our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ. That is why the Holy Spirit says,
"Today you must listen to his voice. – Hebrews 3:1-7
John the Baptist, who Jesus points out as the one who comes before him in the spirit of Elijah, says of Jesus, “I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thongs of his sandals.
God the Father makes this dramatic statement: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!” And then the disciples see only Jesus standing before them. Moses and Elijah are important, to be honoured, but they are not the divine Son of God.
As well celebrate 95 years of History, there is much to be honoured at Runnymede. The commitment to the word, the openness to innovation, the openness to the work of the Holy Spirit. These are great things to honour. There are great personalities to honour as well: pastors of the past, great saints who have served in this place, missionaries that went out from here. It is important to honour these people. There are great times to honour – the “glory days” for you the glory days might have been 40 years ago, or 20 years ago, or 10 years ago, or something we did last year, last month, or last week. All of these times should be honoured, all of these things should be remembered and treasured. But at some point, the cloud of Glory descends and God says, This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!” And then the cloud dissipates and we see only Jesus standing before us.
No matter about all the good things, people, and good times we’ve had in the past, what matters right now is that we see Jesus, and we listen to him. We need to listen to Jesus right now, we need to see what he is doing right now and join him.
Remember the quote I read from Bono last week?
Here it is again:
“A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord’s blessing. I was saying, you know, I have a new song, look after it…. I have a family, please look after them…. I have this crazy idea...
And this wise man said: stop.
He said, stop asking God to bless what you’re doing.
Get involved in what God is doing - because it’s already blessed.
Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing.
And that is what he’s calling us to do.”
– Bono of U2 speaking at the President of the USA’s Prayer Breakfast www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.display&issue=060203
We need to learn what Jesus is doing right now and listen to him, and join him.
Remember those bracelets that used to say W.W.J.D? What Would Jesus Do? Kids and other used to where them to help them make decisions in their life.
Some one said that they should say W.I.J.D? What Is Jesus Doing? What is Jesus doing? Lets find out, so we can go and join him! “We serve a risen Savior! He is in the world today…” (Alfred H. Ackley)
If we learn to listen to him today, and join him in what he is doing, maybe people will be honouring us in 95 years, and remembering that they too need to Listen to the Son of God!
Now it might not be that Peter was wanting to create three shrines to these great men. It might be that he was just saying, “whoa, this is good. … Let’s camp out! We’ve got Moses, Elijah, & Jesus. Let’s stay here a while and hang out with these guys”
If that was Peter’s idea, God also rejects that, After the Father affirms his love and purpose for his Son, what do they do? They walk down from the mountain. They get to the bottom of the mountain and a crowd has gathered. There is a boy there who has been tormented by an evil spirit that kept him from talking, and throws him into fits that threaten his very life. Jesus casts the Spirit out, free the boy to live in health for God.
Peter, James and John were not called to camp out with the Law, the Prophets and the Son, there were called to walk with Jesus.
We too, are able to honour our history, but we are not supposed to camp out with is, to stay there until the good times become stale and lose their flavour. We are to walk with Jesus. We must always be asking, where is Jesus walking today, and as individuals, and as a community, get up and walk with him.
Where Jesus was walking to in this story was to the cross. That’s what he and Moses and Elijah were talking about – his “exodus,” the original said. In two chapters, Jesus would enter Jerusalem triumphally 5 and five short days later, he would die on a cross. Just as Moses lead the people through the Red Sea to freedom on the other side, Jesus leads us through death to resurrection life on the other side.
One thing that we can be sure of, when we are walking with Jesus, his direction will always be one of leading people to the cross to be freed from slavery to sin and to self.
As we head towards our centennial year as a church in five years, and as we head towards (I hope) at least another 95 years unless Jesus returns. We must remember this – Honour the past, but do not honour it over Jesus. Listen to Him, he is the Son of God. Enjoy the past, but do not enjoy it so much that you are stuck in it. Keep walking with him.
We’re into another Olympics & I’m going to end with an athletic passage. The Christian life is often compared to a race.
After the writer to the Hebrews spends Chapter 11 honouring the great saints of the faith, he goes on from there in chapter 12 to say this: “Do you see what this means--all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running--and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed--that exhilarating finish in and with God--he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
Hebrews 12:1-3 - The Message
Keep your eyes on Jesus – he is the prize.
Read the Gospels – The first four books of the New Testament – Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow – the types of things that he did in the Gospel are the types of things he is doing today
Listen as you pray – learn to hear his voice through the Holy Spirit
