CROWN OF LIFE EV. LUTHERAN CHURCH

Pastor John C. Schneidervin

Transfiguration Sunday March 2, 2003

Matthew 17:1-9

Lord Jesus, It Is Good For Us To Be Here!

1. To Behold Your Glory

2. To Listen To Your Word

Text: Matthew 17:1-9

1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of

James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was

transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes

became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses

and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

4 Peter said to Jesus, ³Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I

will put up three shelters ‹one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.²

5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice

from the cloud said, ³This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well

pleased. Listen to him!² 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown

to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. ³Get up,² he

said. ³Don¹t be afraid.² 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except

Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them,

³Don¹t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised

from the dead.²

Sermon:

How many different places could you be on a Sunday morning rather than being

here? You could be home sleeping late, or browsing through the Sunday

paper, or puttering around the house to complete those odd jobs you have

been wanting to do. You could be going out for breakfast or meeting friends

for a Sunday brunch. You could be driving somewhere to see a home show,

sporting event, or something else. You could be out on the golf course or

fishing on your favorite lake. On any given Sunday you could be almost

anywhere. But you are here. Do you know what the true Christian and our

Lord says about being here rather than some place else? Psalm 84:10 says:

³Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.² One day being

here is better than being somewhere else for 3 years. Indeed, it is good

for us to be here!

We have the opportunity to reflect on this as we hear Matthew¹s account of

Jesus¹ transfiguration. Based on his account we can say: ³Lord Jesus, It Is

God For Us To Be Here! To Behold Your Glory. To Listen To Your Word.²

Verse 1 of Matthew¹s account tells us: ³After six days Jesus took with him

Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain

by themselves.² Jesus¹ transfiguration took place 6 days after Jesus had

begun to prepare his disciples for his coming suffering and death in

Jerusalem. Jesus brought his three closest disciples to the mountain to see

his divine glory as the Son of God. Their seeing his glory would reassure

them during the dark hours when they would see him betrayed, arrested,

tried, and put to death by the Jewish rulers and the Romans.

On what mountain this event took place we do not know. The mountain is

unimportant. What happened on the mountain is important. Verse 2 states:

³There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and

his clothes became as white as the light.²

The Greek word for ³transfigured² is the word from which our English word

³metamorphosis² is derived. It means to be changed and transformed, as a

caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly. Jesus¹ body was transformed

from its normal human appearance to a radiant body that displayed his true

divine glory. He had been keeping his divine glory under wraps throughout

his earthly life. On the mountain Jesus took off the wraps and allowed his

divine glory to shine through. He gave his disciples a preview of the

heavenly glory and the glory he would bestow on us who believe in him.

Should you ever wonder what you will be like in heaven, look at Jesus on the

Mount of Transfiguration. His face shone like the sun. His clothes

radiated a blinding light of glory. This is what we will be like.

In that glorified state verse 3 tells us, ³Just then there appeared before

them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.² Moses had died on Mount Nebo

about 1,400 years before Jesus was born. According to the writer Jude the

archangel Michael had to dispute with Satan for Moses¹ body, which

apparently Michael afterwards carried to heaven. From heaven the living

Moses came to speak with Jesus. With Moses was the prophet Elijah. He had

been taken bodily into heaven by a whirlwind. Their appearance on the

mountain confirmed there is a life everlasting after death and an eternal

life with God in heaven. On this we have set our hope through faith in

Jesus.

These two glorified men from heaven appeared on the mountain to talk with

Jesus. We know from the Gospel of Luke that they spoke with Jesus about his

coming suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. They were

strengthening Jesus for the ordeal he would go through to enter into eternal

glory.

When the three disciples saw Moses and Elijah, verse 4 tells us that Peter

said to Jesus, ³Lord, it is good for us to be here.² Indeed it was good for

them to be there. They were permitted to see Jesus¹ divine glory, which

verified he is the Son of God, their Savior, and they were given a foretaste

of heaven.

Today we can say it is good for us to be here! Here we are able to behold

Jesus¹ glory through his gospel. It assures us he is the Son of God, our

Savior. We have sinned. At times we have put being home in bed or doing

something else before being here in worship to honor the Lord our God. Too

often we have put other things before the Lord. We have not loved him above

all. We have not obeyed all his commandments. Our sins have lost us the

right to a life with God. Hell and suffering is all we deserve. So it is

good for us to be here to see Jesus¹ glory in his gospel that assures us he

is the Son of God who delivered us from the guilt of our sins and

everlasting punishment in hell to live forever in the glory of heaven. It

is good for us to be here to gain a foretaste of the heavenly glory that is

now ours. Like the disciples, we will be with Jesus in heavenly glory and

be glorified with him. Like Moses and Elijah, we will live eternally with

God in heavenly glory. So it is good for us to be here to have this faith

and hope strengthened.

Seeing the glory of Jesus and having a foretaste of the heavenly glory was

so wonderful that Peter did not want it to end. Emotionally overcome by

what he saw he blurted out according to verse 4, ³If you wish, I will put up

three shelters ‹one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.² Verse 5

tells us that while Peter was speaking, ³A bright cloud enveloped them, and

a voice from the cloud said, ³This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am

well pleased. Listen to him!²

The bright cloud was the glory of the heavenly Father. For the sake of the

disciples the Father declared that Jesus was his Son, the Son of God, whom

he loved. The Father had declared at Jesus¹ baptism that he was well

pleased with Jesus, putting his stamp of approval on all that Jesus had done

in his life from the time of his birth to his baptism. On the mountain the

Father again said he was well pleased with Jesus, putting his stamp of

approval on Jesus¹ ministry and all that he had said and done from the time

of his baptism to his being transfigured. The Father was most pleased with

all that Jesus had preached and taught, for it was the Father¹s own message

and the truth the Father wanted the people to hear.

The Father gave the disciples a most important command. They should listen

to Jesus. Jesus spoke the truth. He had the words of eternal life. The

disciples should listen to what Jesus said, so they would know what to

believe for their salvation and how to live as the Father¹s holy people.

This command of the Father applies to us today. We also should listen to

Jesus, for he speaks the truth to us through his inspired Word. From him we

hear the words of God for eternal life. It is good for us to be here,

therefore, so we can listen to Jesus.

At another time Jesus said, ³My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and

they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.²

Jesus¹ sheep, those who believe in him, listen to his voice. They follow

Jesus as their good Shepherd who gives them eternal life. It is good for us

to be here, so we can listen to his voice as he speaks to us through his

Word. Then we will follow him by faith and have eternal life.

Jesus¹ voice has spoken to us the gospel of God¹s grace for eternal life.

Jesus has told us that is not the one who tries to make himself righteous

before God but the one who believes in him who will be saved. All of

Scripture tells us the same truth. There is no way we can save ourselves by

being righteous, for we are sinners who have broken all of God¹s

commandments and God demands that we be holy and perfect like he is.

Therefore, Galatians 3:10, 11 tells us: ³All who rely on observing the law

are under a curse, for it is written: ŒCursed is everyone who does not

continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.¹ Clearly no one

is justified (that is declared righteous) before God by the law, because

ŒThe righteous will live by faith.¹² Since we are not declared righteous

and made an heir of eternal life by what we do, Jesus¹ apostle Paul wrote in

Titus 3:5, ³God saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but

because of his mercy.² By God¹s grace are we saved through faith, and this

not from ourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one

can boast.² Speaking the Word of God to us, Jesus has told us in John 6:40,

³For my Father¹s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in

him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.² So

it is good for us to be here to listen to him teach us the way to be saved.

It is good for us to be here to listen to Jesus. We dare not listen to

others. The Sunday Morning Adult Bible Class has been studying what all the

different Protestant churches say. We have seen that one church after

another in various ways is not saying what Jesus and the Word of God says.

We must listen to Jesus and not to them, because we love the truth Jesus¹

speaks and hate every false teaching, and because their false teachings can

weaken and destroy our faith, causing us to lose our eternal life.

It is good for us to be here to listen to Jesus. Here is a haven where his

truth is proclaimed and heard. The world around us speaks from its

spiritual darkness and knows not the truth. Since we are in the world, the

world and what it stands for can influence us and lead us astray. We must

not be influenced by what the world says. We must remember that we are in

the world but that we are not a part of the world. We must listen to Jesus,

for his Word leads us to eternal life.

It was good for the disciples to be on the Mount of Transfiguration to

behold Jesus¹ glory and to be encouraged to listen to Jesus¹ word. It is

good for us to be here each week to behold Jesus¹ glory and to listen to him

that we may be saved for eternal life. Remember, ³Better is one day in

(God¹s) courts than a thousand elsewhere.² Amen.