A Compassionate Christ | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 

³¹ Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

³² So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 

³³ But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 

³⁴ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So, he began teaching them many things.

 

⁵³ When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 

⁵⁴ As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus.

⁵⁵ They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 

⁵⁶ And wherever he went—into villages, towns, or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

 

 

Compassion is an interesting word, it wasn't until preparing for this message that I learned passion comes from a word that means "to suffer", and that the com prefix means "with”, so compassion means to suffer with someone. There are some things that I know I suffer for, that I am passionate about. Family, health, things that I feel need justice. I am sure there are some things we are compassionate about, things that stir our spirits. However, true compassion will drive action, we won't just feel some way about it, we will do something.

 

In looking at compassion, we find ourselves in the Gospel of Mark again, this story is in all four gospels. The lectionary reading for the week leaves out Jesus feeding the 5000 and walking on water and only lists the scriptures before and after those events. It is easy to think the scriptures read are not important but there are lessons to learn from these as well, we can get a whole bunch from the beginning and the end and save talking about the miracles for another day. Earlier in the chapter, Jesus went home, couldn't do many miracles because people there were more concerned about the Jesus they knew back then and not the miracle worker in front of them now. Then Jesus sent his disciples out to heal the sick, sometime during this time Jesus hears that John the Baptist has been killed by Herod, who threw a big party for his birthday. John the Baptist spoke truth to power, and it cost him his life. Because of John the Baptist, I am always leery of a so-called prophet that wants to get buddy-buddy with politicians just to further their aims. I am not saying don't work with them, I work with politicians all the time to help the community, I do it to help the community, not make myself famous. John the Baptist spoke truth to power and so shall I.

 

In the text the Apostles, the disciples, the sent ones are coming back to Jesus after being sent out, Jesus told them to go around preaching repentance and if someone did not accept them, shake the dust off their feet and keep it moving. The disciples went out to the people, they did not stay inside somewhere and wait for the people to come to them, and when they were done, the disciples had fruit in their ministry. I wonder what state the church would be in if we had more people willing to go out instead of waiting for everything to come to them?

 

Now the disciples are back telling Jesus what they have done. Jesus and his disciples are traveling the countryside, casting out demons and healing the sick. Everything is so busy that the disciples aren't even able to rest and get a bite to eat. Jesus calls the apostles to hop into a boat with him and go away to a deserted place across the Sea of Galilee to enjoy some rest. Jesus tells them to get away for a bit and rest a while. Rest is good, and rest is especially good when you earned it. Jesus saw that the disciples had a need and he met it.

 

But their plans are quickly derailed. The desperately needy people of the region see where Jesus is heading and hurry on ahead of him. When his boat hits the ground, there is a huge crowd waiting for him. Although Jesus is weary, he somehow avoids being annoyed that his much-deserved day off is being interrupted. He isn’t irritated that these people are unable to help themselves. He isn’t even frustrated that the need all around him is so enormous.

 

People began to see and hear the work Jesus and the disciples were doing and the word spread, people were beating Jesus and the disciples to the towns they were going to. Large crowds gathering at these places and Jesus had compassion for them and began to teach the people and heal them. Jesus saw them as sheep without a shepherd and had compassion for them. Shepherds feed their sheep, shepherds, protect their sheep, shepherds clean their sheep. The people needed a shepherd, Jesus saw the need and he met it.

 

Jesus went to Gennesaret, which is important because that is not where they set sail, Jesus and the disciples were getting in the boat headed for Bethsaida but ended up in Gennesaret. Gennesaret was a place where no one spoke Aramaic, this was not a comfortable cozy place for ministry, even so, Jesus and the Disciples still did kingdom work there. We may not always be in the most ideal situations where everything is going to go as we planned it, but God can still get the glory and the work of the kingdom can still be done.

 

Christianity is about proclaiming the Gospel and helping people in need. A compassionate Jesus was willing to help his disciples, a compassionate Jesus was willing to help people from towns and villages that spoke his language, a compassionate Jesus was willing to help people who didn't speak his language. Christ's compassion helped him to act, not just feel for the people from afar. This was only a glimpse of Christ's compassion because we would see Christ's compassion on full display at Calvary, aka Golgotha, aka the place of the skull, when Jesus would willingly give himself up for all of us to have access to eternal life.

 

Where could we be if we went out to the people instead of waiting for them to come to us? Where could we be if we allowed our compassion to drive us to act instead of waiting for someone else to do it? Where would we be if we didn't wait for the perfect opportunity, in the perfect place, at the perfect time to do something for God?

 

It's Actually Pretty Simple

We can make a lot of things too complicated in an effort to solve them, the Colossian Church included. Paul had to tell them it is pretty simple...Jesus. Lets get back to focusing on the basics.

The Press

The Press- Philippians 3:12-14

I like to study words and it intrigues me, when a word is used as slang, but those using it for slang are actually using it in its proper definition unknowingly. I remember a scene from The Wire; a character called Monk was giving out money to the kids in the neighborhood so they could purchase school clothes and a young man named Michael wouldn’t take the money out of pride. Michael’s walked away and Michael’s friend Randy asked if he could have Michael’s share. Michael’s other friend Namond told Randy not to press. It was slang for being bothersome, but the slang was the actual definition. When someone is obsessed with someone else, others will say that person is pressed. I like that word press, some definitions include:

a :  a crowd or crowded condition :  throng

b :  a thronging or crowding forward or together

a :  an action of pressing or pushing :  pressure

b :  an aggressive pressuring defense employed in basketball often over the entire court area

To move or cause to move into a position of contact with something by exerting continuous physical force.

That is what the Apostle Paul is speaking on in the text, a continual force, pressing toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call, or in the King James Version the mark for the prize of the high calling, takes continual force. Tony Robins says that repetition is the mother of skill, and when we press toward the mark we need to do it repeatedly.

At the beginning of chapter 3, Paul says rejoice in the Lord, he says it again in chapter 4 rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice. Now scholars like to argue over the proper use of the Greek for that verse because the word can be used to mean rejoice, and so, and finally, to me I don’t want to spend that much time worrying about it, because I think whether it is the beginning, middle, or end, we need to rejoice in the Lord and praise him anyhow.

Psalm 34

Praise for Deliverance from Trouble

¹ I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

David wrote that while in a foreign land, his own people wanted to kill him so he sought refuge with the Philistines, well David had killed Goliath so he wasn’t going to get much refuge there, played crazy to get away from them. If David could bless the Lord at all times while 2 different kings wanted him dead, surely we could rejoice in the Lord always.

Back in the Philippians Paul says he has reason to boast, he was circumcised on the 8^th day, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews, Paul knew the law because he was a Pharisee, and persecutor of the church, righteous when it came to the law, blameless. If anyone had something to brag about it was Paul, good family, good education, good reputation, but when he compared it all to Christ it meant nothing, it was worthless.

That word rubbish in verse 8 does not adequately describe what the Apostle Paul was saying in the Greek. I would suspect because it is in the Bible, and would be read in church during worship that the translators would want to tone it down a bit. The Greek word skubalon, meant more than trash, it was actually dung, fecal matter, but not the biological terms the vulgar terms we would use when describing those things. All his education, all of his bloodline and professional status meant nothing when it came to Christ. All of his accolades were “rubbish” and discarded that he might gain Christ. What to do we worship? You can tell what you worship by looking at your bank account and credit card statements, seeing where the money goes to most. Looking at our calendar, seeing where we spend the majority of our time. What are we willing to sacrifice or lay aside to get closer to Jesus?

The good thing is we can get closer to Jesus by faith, in verse 9 there is some discussion among the scholars about what is going on here. The church at Philippi was one that was mixed, meaning there were some Hebrew believers, and there were Gentile believers and the scholars believe that the Hebrew believers might have thought that they were better than the Gentiles. I mean I could see that, I could see some saints, a church, or even a denomination, caught up in their methods, to the point that they would not work well with other new members and visitors, I can see the Hebrew people being used to doing something a particular way and then going against the influx of new people on the scene. The seasoned saints had done a whole lot of things under the law prior to Jesus coming, now these Gentiles didn’t have to jump through the same hoops to get to Jesus, so they got treated bad. Paul was saying the righteousness didn’t come on our own through the law but through faith.

Paul wanted to become like Christ, and in all the work he did, he still was working toward that goal. Nobody is perfect, but we work towards perfection when we try to be like Christ. Paul in all his accolades said he had not obtained or reached the goal but he pressed, he pressed to make it his own because Christ Jesus had made him his own. You cannot be perfect on your own but you can be perfect in Christ Jesus. You can’t be perfect on your own, but you can be perfect with some help. Just like the football coach that says the individual players are not perfect, but if they all work hard together and press toward the goal they can be perfect. Press toward perfection. I said earlier that when you press you exert continual force you do something repeatedly. One thing I learned from playing sports in school is the value of practicing and conditioning. Take the 100 meter dash, they said during a 100 meter dash, a sprinter may only run at their top speed for 30-35 meters, the rest of the race is building up to that top speed, trying to maintain it, then trying to keep it together as they slow down. The continual training is what helps the runner get to their top speed before their top speed before the competition, the continual training is what helps them maintain the top speed for 35 meters instead of 30, the continual training is what helps the runner keep their form once they start getting tired, what you see on race night is 6-8 weeks of preparation and conditioning.

The same is true with Christianity, this is not just a Sunday experience for an hour and a half, this is a way of life. The continual prayer and fasting is what will keep us having a peace that passes all understanding,

1 Thessalonians 5:17New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

¹⁷ pray without ceasing,

Philippians 4:6-7New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

⁶ Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Not vain and repetitive prayer, but you must do something often if you expect to see some results, I can’t go to the gym work out one time, and then wonder why I am not losing any weight. I must bench press repetitively, shoulder press repetitively, leg press repetitively, and then over time, I will start to see some results.

When we press toward the mark, we also can’t be reminded of our past, our past is there for us to relearn it, not to relive it. Going back to the athletes, the best athletes I know have short memories, they don’t get caught up in their mistakes because that would mess with their confidence, the keep moving forward leaving the past in the past.

 

2 Corinthians 5:17King James Version (KJV)

¹⁷ Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Paul is telling us to press forward, don’t quit, we are closer than we think we are, closer than we have been before. We just have to keep trying, and learn from our mistakes.

Thomas Edison famed inventor, had 10,000 failed inventions, but we remember the things he invented that worked.

He is quoted “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
― Thomas A. Edison

And some of these “failures” went on to be ideas that others made work,

Edison tried to invent a voice recorder but it didn’t work, someone thought to press on with that idea, He tried to invent an electric pen that made multiple copies of handwritten documents, somebody pressed on with that idea.

Edison invented a talking doll for kids, but if you dropped the doll it would stop working, then the voice would get weak if you used it too much, but somebody pressed on and made working talking dolls.

Edison came out with a home service club, you join it, and they sent 20 records in the mail to you a month, didn’t work, he also was the first to put projectors in people’s houses to watch movies at home, all these things and more people pressed on with ideas and made them work.

Steve Jobs got fired from the company he started, he worked harder, pressed on came back and brought Apple to world dominance.

What I’m saying is, whatever idea God put in you, don’t quit, keep going, the work is for you to be better than the competition at that one moment. The word used for Goal in the Greek is about achievement, maturity, the accomplishment of the goal, it is more about the end and working towards it, than your win loss record when you get their. At the end of the season, the champion is the champion regardless of what their seasonal record was. If they make the playoffs and keep pressing toward the goal they win.

We press on because Jesus didn’t quit, didn’t quit in the garden of Gethsemane, didn’t quit when they took him, didn’t quit when the whipped him with a cat of nine tails, didn’t quit on the way to Calvary, didn’t quit on the cross, didn’t quit in the grave, didn’t quit when he rose again, and didn’t quit because he is coming back again!

Doing More With Less – (Matthew 14:13-21)

 (Photo taken from Google Image Search)
Sermon Audio can be found here: http://goo.gl/zJhc6B

            I like this text; it is one of the passages regarding Jesus that is in all four gospels. Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:1-13. I have a bit of a fascination with the phrase “doing more with less” whether I hear it being used as a cliché to justify mass layoffs without the expectation of a reduction in production, or if it someone truly capable of getting more out of something than the average person is able to do. I think about our armed services veterans deployed in the field with M.R.E.s or meals ready to eat. The MRE contains:

Main course (entree)

Side dish

Dessert or snack (often commercial candy, fortified pastry, or HOOAH! Bar)

Crackers or bread

Spread of cheese, peanut butter, or jelly

Powdered beverage mix: fruit flavored drink, cocoa, instant coffee or tea, sport drink, or dairy shake.

Utensils (usually just a plastic spoon)

Flameless ration heater (FRH)

Beverage mixing bag

Accessory pack:

Xylitol chewing gum

Water-resistant matchbook

Napkin / toilet paper

Moist towelette

Seasonings, including salt, pepper, sugar, creamer, and/or Tabasco sauce

The MRE is designed for soldiers in combat out in the field who can’t just take a break to go back to the cafeteria or mess hall for food. Because the MRE is designed for lightweight packaging and has a shelf life of 3 years, they usually don’t taste too good. That being said, savvy veterans come up with little tricks to make the taste of the food more desirable. They will do things like mix the creamer and sugar with the crackers to make it taste like a sugar cookie. In 2011, the website www.supportourtroops.org put an effort together to send spices for the soldiers, oregano, garlic, red pepper, parmesan and other spices in little packets in an effort to help with the flavoring, trying to make more with less.

Another example I think of is prison; the food in prison I hear is not that great either. Archbishop Ashe spoke of his time in jail before he passed that he would rather eat food people threw away than jail food. I also heard an interview with boxer Bernard Hopkins and he spoke on his time in prison in a New York Times article:

“Not surprisingly, Hopkins hated the food in prison, all the powdered eggs, yeast and starch. The menu was posted at the beginning of each week, so he learned how to work around the worst meals, smuggling leftovers to his cell or drinking water to fill his stomach. He traded cartons of cigarettes and cases of cups of noodles for more desirable food. He could subsist on meals, sometimes for days, of peanut butter and bread. “You learn how to survive, buddy,” Hopkins said. “You learn how to make an oven out of batteries and aluminum foil and a shoebox. You become a farmer’s market, an entrepreneur.[1]

Bernard Hopkins made more with less, he is now out and as a champion professional boxer he doesn’t have to do that anymore unless he wants to.

I like to see people do more with less and that is what happens in the text that we read, Jesus does more with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread then most of us could have done with a team of chefs.

Rest-

First thing I noticed about Jesus in text was that he rested, in the 13^th chapter Jesus is teaching in synagogues and doing mighty works. Until he was rejected in his own hometown of Nazareth, Jesus went on to say that “a prophet is not without honor except in is own country, and in his own house,” and then he left, at the beginning of chapter 14 Jesus gets word that John the Baptist, his cousin has been beheaded as a birthday gift for the daughter of Herodias. Jesus had been working, he heard some bad news, and so he went away to rest. We ought to rest more, our body needs it, we can be so much more productive people if spend some more time resting. But notice I said Jesus did some work first, don’t use this as a reason to perpetually rest.

We often hear the term multitasking doing multiple things at the same time, but studies have shown that multitasking is actually not productive at all.

According to a published report:

More than one task splits the brain

Whenever you need to pay attention, an area toward the front of the brain called the prefrontal cortex springs to action. This area, which spans the left and right sides of the brain, is part of the brain’s motivational system. It helps to focus your attention on a goal and coordinates messages with other brain systems to carry out the task. 

While the right and left sides of the prefrontal cortex work together when focused on a single task, the sides work independently when people attempt to perform two tasks at once. Scientists at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) in Paris discovered this when they asked study participants to complete two tasks at the same time while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). When the scientists told the group they would receive a larger reward for accurately completing one of the two tasks, they found that nerve cell activity increased in only one side of the prefrontal cortex. However, when the greater reward was associated with the other task, the other side became more active. The findings suggest that when there are two concurrent goals, the brain divides in half, says INSERM neuroscientist Etienne Koechlin, who led the study.[2]

So even if you think you are doing both tasks well, you still are really focusing on the one you think is more important or gives you more to gain. The article goes on to say that you don’t get better at multitasking with practice, in fact gets harder with age and people who multitask have a harder time ignoring external distractions. Multitasking defeats the purpose, rest.

Do what you love

Second thing I noticed when people are doing more with less is that they are doing what they love. In the text Jesus was resting, he wanted some time away he just heard some bad news, but the Bible says that he saw the great multitude and was moved with compassion for them. When you do what you love it seems easier to work, sometimes it doesn’t even feel like work. That compassion of Jesus is shown by how he tends to the multitudes needs by healing their sick. That word for compassion in the Greek also means to move. Jesus didn’t just say “I love you, be blessed” he did something, it also means deep as in dealing with the anatomy the inward parts. Not a superficial feeling but something that is deep on the inside of us. When you have compassion or love for what you do, the troubles of it don’t seem so bad. I am so glad that Jesus loves us.

Ephesians 2:4-5

New King James Version (NKJV)

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

1 John 4:9-11

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

 

1 Corinthians 13 

New King James Version (NKJV)

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.

⁴ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part.¹⁰ But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

¹³ And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Prioritize

The third thing I noticed about the text and those who do more with less is that they prioritize. The disciples wanted to send the multitude home, Jesus wanted them to stay the priority was the work being done, not going home to shop for food. I also noticed in some of the other gospel texts, when the disciples say how much it would cost to feed the multitudes, no one ever says they don’t have the money, only that it would cost a lot. Decisions in the texts, right or wrong, were decisions made based on priorities. When you have the right priorities you will be able to get a lot more accomplished.

Ask yourself, what are your priorities? If you have some trouble answering the question, look in your checkbook, which will help you figure it out, check out a bank statement online or paper copy, whatever you see the most going to, I would be willing to bet that is a priority. If not money, look at what you spend the most time doing, where you spend your time and treasure will tell you what you consider a priority. Only what you do for Christ will last

Know where your help comes from

The text says that Jesus took the bread, looked to the heavens and blessed it. He knew where his help came from, notice also that the boy is not mentioned anymore after he hands over the food. You turn your problems over to the Lord and you don’t have to handle them anymore.

Psalm 121 New King James Version (NKJV)

A Song of Ascents.

121 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
² My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
⁸ The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Psalm 54:4New King James Version (NKJV)

⁴ Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who uphold my life.

Romans 8:31-39

New King James Version (NKJV)

God’s Everlasting Love

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”^[a]

³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

---

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/sports/surviving-the-bernard-hopkins-way.html

[2] http://www.brainfacts.org/sensing-thinking-behaving/awareness-and-attention/articles/2013/the-multitasking-mind/

The Tipping Point (Matthew 17:1-9)

The Tipping Point (Matthew 17:1-9)

I fancy myself a student of business, I ought to be, I have 2 degrees in the subject, but in business, and in other subjects there is something called the tipping point. A tipping point is defined as “the point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change.” When water is heated to 99 degrees Fahrenheit, you don’t see much going on with the water, but add one more degree, you see the water boil. That single degree of additional heat could be considered the tipping point. 

The Battle of Britain in World War II was a tipping point, it was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, Germany failed to destroy Britain’s air defenses in that battle and gave Germany their first major defeat, showed that they were vulnerable, and that the allied forces could win the war, the battle of Britain was a tipping point. There have been several television shows that aired on television, got cancelled, but so many people watched the syndicated reruns, that the shows would be brought back with new episodes. The reruns would generate enough interest, a tipping point to get them back into popularity. The story of the Transfiguration, in my humble opinion is a tipping point; it is an event that happens after many other events that gets us heading towards the cross, and the Passion of our Lord and savior. What happens on that mountain sets us toward events of things to come.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, often called the gospel of the church, because it is favorable to the church. Jesus only explicitly talks about the church twice and you find them in the Gospel according to Matthew. In this gospel the disciples “get it” they understand what Jesus is saying, they comprehend what he is talking about all the time. Matthew is where we find Jesus fulfilling a lot of the prophecies of the Messiah from the Hebrew Scriptures, and that is why we hear of this transfiguration of Jesus. This event happens in the three synoptic gospels Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke 9:28-36 and the transfiguration is referred to in 2^nd Peter 1:1-18. This is a tipping point, or turning point in the ministry of Jesus.

The text says that Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John, Jesus was a man of the people, sometimes he was with the multitude, sometimes he was with the twelve, but some other times he was with Peter, James, and John. Yes we ought to be Christians in community, but even Jesus had to get away with his inner circle from time to time. Furthermore sometimes-even Jesus would need to be alone with just him and the Father. Here Jesus is not with the multitude, or the 70, not with the twelve, it is just Jesus, Peter, James, and John. The Gospel according to Mark points out those four together often, but this is the first time we see it in Matthew. Who we keep close to us is very important. Many people believe that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with or the average of our five closest friends. Because of that I will be looking to spend some time with Bill Gates, Bob Johnson, Our nation’s President  (Barrack Obama), Michael Jordan, and Warren Buffet. Who we spend our time with is important, so is what we spend our time on.

That term transfigured literally means metamorphosed in the Greek, and we use metamorphosis often, we use it to describe a change. There are plenty of organisms that go through metamorphosis in their respective life cycles; tadpoles become frogs, some fish change from saltwater to freshwater, caterpillars become butterflies. The thing about metamorphosis that we may not understand is in our mind, that is the exact same organism, but biologically, parts, or almost the entire first animal had to die to go through the change and give you what you see in its changed state. The same thing is true about us in this walk with Christ, in order to get some real change, we have to do more than go to a conference, or listen to a song about change, some things in us have to die, we cannot be the same after experiencing Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NRSV)

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. ¹⁷ So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Jesus was changed when he was transfigured, the radiance and brightness that shined like the sun.

They show Jesus in the text with Moses and Elijah, that is important, Matthew thought about who was going to be reading and hearing this, the church, the more organized, those who were looking for Jesus to fulfill the prophecy, this is here to let you know, not only is Jesus in line with the prophets, but he is the fulfillment of the prophets. Just like the prophets Moses and Elijah, who were originally rejected by the people, then vindicated later by God, Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected and will become the chief cornerstone.

Then a voice came from the cloud and said, This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” Where have we heard that before? Matthew 3:17, Matthew is about tying up loose ends in my opinion. Mark got right to the point, Matthew wants to stay and tarry a little while, Matthew likes to unpack the story of Jesus a little more he was telling the story of Jesus to those who knew a little something about scripture and would be looking to see some things from Jesus that spoke to their soul. Not only that, but with Matthew the way you start is the way you finish. If you didn’t hear God the first time telling you about his son, let me tell you again. We look at this differently then they did, we already know Jesus is the Son of God, but during their time, the disciples, and the people of the scripture, they are still learning.

While they are still learning, they are caught up in the glory of God; they are overcome fear the text says. But even in being overcome by fear, this is why I love Jesus; the text says Jesus came to them. If Jesus can come to them, then I think it is ok to think that Jesus may come to me. Who am I that he is mindful of me, who am that He might touch me and speak to me, and that I can form a relationship with him. Who am I that Jesus would think that much of me, I don’t deserve it but yet he did it just for me. We serve a God, a risen savior that is willing to come to us.

After the transfiguration, they came down the mountain; Jesus told them “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” Jesus knew what was coming, he knew that he had to show his passion. He knew that he had to go through some pain

Isaiah 53:5-7 (NKJV)

⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

He knew he had to be whipped all night long, he had to be whipped with a cat of nine tails just for you and me, he had to pierced in his side, be given gall for food and vinegar for drink. They had to cast lots (gamble) for his clothes, had to wear a crown of thorns, and carry a cross to Golgotha, the place of the skull, or Calvary, he knew he had to get on that cross, but not just him, our sins had to get on that cross too, and he had to die. He had to die, so that we could avoid death, hell and the grave, he did all that for us. For you and for me, but most importantly he got up, three days later he got up with all power in his hand, so that whosoever believes in him will not have death but everlasting life. The transfiguration was the tipping point, the tipping point that took us towards victory on the cross.

What are we here for? (Ephesians 1:11-23)

What are we here for? That is the big question, one often posed when big philosophical questions about the meaning of life, and when asking not so philosophical questions about the purpose of a meeting. For our time together, I want to talk a little bit about why the Church at Ephesus, and the church in general is here. The church at Ephesus seems to be at peace, but there is a battle going on, not the flesh and blood kind. The spiritual kind for Ephesians 6:12 says: 

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Ephesians is here to tell us we have won the battle through Christ. My seminary professors drilled it into me that Christ is not a person, Christ is a title, and that Jesus became the Christ after rising from the dead. After suffering on that old rugged cross. 

The cross was a humiliating item used to dispose of the common criminal. The cross was not for necklaces, expensive jewelry, or a decorative item for your wall during these biblical times. The sign of the cross is meant to shame, to embarrass, but Jesus took something meant to be bad and make it good. So much so, that the author of this Book is able to write it from jail in chains.  And in writing in chains, he talks about setting our hope on Christ. That is a good thing to hope for Amen, Christ will never leave you nor forsake you. Christ will be there for you thick and thin, good times and bad, Jesus is a true friend indeed. 

Reason 1 Possessions 

Full Definition of INHERITANCE

1

a :  the act of inheriting property

b :  the reception of genetic qualities by transmission from parent to offspring

c :  the acquisition of a possession, condition, or trait from past generations

2

:  something that is or may be inherited

3

a :  tradition

b :  a valuable possession that is a common heritage from nature

4 :  possession

What are we possessing, through Christ suffering, death, and resurrection? We get possession to spiritual blessings, the Holy Spirit, and salvation.  You know, I have been hearing a few things about salvation. I hear a lot of things regarding what man says about salvation, but I would rather go to the Word and see what it says about salvation. What does the Bible say about salvation?

Romans 10:1-17

New King James Version (NKJV)

10 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”(that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’”(that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”(that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,

Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We possess salvation as Christians, and it is our duty to share the Gospel with all mankind. Then there is that word pledge: 

pledge

  noun \ˈplej\

: a serious promise or agreement

: a promise to give money

: something that you leave with another person as a way to show that you will keep your promise

The Holy Spirit is that something left with us to show that God will keep His promise. 

Numbers 23:19

New King James Version (NKJV)

19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

God does not go back on His word, and the Holy Spirit is here as a pledge to remind us of what God says, and will do. That is what we can take comfort in.

Reason 2 prayer

Even though he commends them on their faith and love, he still prays for them to grow in it. “ I have heard of your Faith in the Lord Jesus and your love. 

The prayer is continual. 

Philippians 4:6

New King James Version (NKJV)

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

1 Thessalonians 5:15-18

New King James Version (NKJV)

15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Ephesians 6:18

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

I can’t go to the gym one time and declare that I am in shape, I can’t cook one meal and demand you all start calling me Chef Simpson, everything requires work, so should our faith walk. They have books out on business and personal success about something called the 10,000-hour rule, the point of the rule is that people say to be good at any given task; it takes 10,000 hours of practice. 

They say that once you have practiced something for that long, music, athletics, public speaking or preaching, practicing medicine, practicing law, singing, advanced mathematics, what ever you chose as a profession, around 10,000 or 5 years at 8 hours a day, your mind and body begin to groove together in accomplishing the task, everything is not a blur, the game slows down for you so you are able to function well at a particular task. Some argue, that if you are genetically gifted, or predisposed to particular skill set it may take 8000 hours, or 5000 hours. T The point that is being made is that it takes practice; it takes time to grow at any given thing. You cannot just roll out of bed, start something new, then get mad that its not working to your satisfaction the next week. Success leaves clues, and success takes time. So we could all spend a little more time praying, but not just praying, studying, worshiping, fasting, giving, and every other thing that could be classified as Christian behavior, and not just on Sunday.

Reason 3 His Power

The last point is power let the church say Power. God has put everything under His feet, everything, your problems, you sickness, your disease, everything. It may not be done the way you want it to be done, but God will take care of it in due time. If everything was done the way you wanted it to be done, what would be the purpose of God? And he not only rules this age, but the ages to come. He has put all things under his feet. 

1 Corinthians 15:25-26

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

When one uses the term “head and shoulders above the rest.” That person or that thing is clearly superior to anything else you can put up against it. Some would even say there is no competition. If there is no competition when something is head and shoulders above the rest, how much greater is our God if everything is under his feet? When Christ rose from the dead, the ultimate victory was proclaimed, the power was proclaimed. This also made Christ the head of the Church, for now and forever. Just like when we sing the end of the Gloria Patri, world without end, Amen, Amen. Christ is in charge and this thing is not going to end. The final victory has already been proclaimed we just need to realize it, take our possessions, keep praying, and realize the power.