WEEK 5 — Matthew 17:1–8

Today, we continue with our series title of the Kingdom. We're spending the whole year walking through the Book of Matthew. And if you've been following your guides, of which I really hope that you do, today we're going to take a significant jump. We've, for the last four weeks, have managed to get all the way to Matthew chapter four. And today we're actually going to jump all the way to Matthew chapter 17. And I want to make it clear to you why we're going to do that. Last week Wednesday was the beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday. It is the period of time where we look towards the journey towards Easter rather. And so this is called Lent. It's a moment where we pray, we, for some people, they might even fast. But also for others, it might even be a time of giving up a few things. And all of this is meant to get our hearts and our minds ready for the cross and resurrection. So what we did is that we, we're jumping from Matthew four, going all the way to Matthew chapter 17. And this is where we have the first prediction of Jesus telling people that he's going to die. And so we're going to go from Matthew chapter 17 all the way to Matthew 28 on resurrection Sunday. And then straight after that we're going to come back to Matthew five and begin to plow through the sermon on the mount, the be attitudes, and go all the way until the end of the year. And so that's why we are doing that. But I'm sure the majority of you as much as that information was helpful, what you want to know is whether or not this is our last Sunday in the building. Let me tell you, if you weren't here last week, let me kind of update what's happening. We got a letter about a week and a half ago that this venue essentially was not properly zoned for churches, which means we have to find a building. And they told us we've got one Sunday left, which is this one. Welcome to that Sunday. And so this week has been one of the most fascinating weeks in the last six years of every nation. I have never received so many calls from y'all. Like Monday Tuesday, guys were calling me. Guys who never called me. Guys I don't even know they had my number. Calling me, finding out how I'm doing. One guy called me, sort of speaking about the building, ended up confessing that he has a girlfriend. It was a mess. People were calling me. They were at the school telling they school, we need a church and it must be our church. We must have a church in this building. People emailing their friends, sending all kinds of, I mean, C-seed and so many emails. It's been crazy. It's been amazing. I've loved every moment of it. Even on the staff, you know, dreaming and thinking about what God can do. There's a part of me that is deeply excited that we might not have a venue. It really is. There's something about it that I'm like, "Lord, I can't help but sense you. I can't help but feel that there's something you want to do that we couldn't do ourselves. It's this idea of praying that God will build his church but surrendering to the way he does it. And so it's been a phenomenal week and a crazy, crazy time. But, well, further ado, we got word on Friday, just one little SMS that said we got one month extension to be in this venue. That's great. That is good news. And so those who are only hearing the news now, you'll be all right. Those who heard the news last week, I'm sure you are happy and celebrating a bit. But the way you just celebrated now is kind of why I want to talk about this sermon. I like to check out that celebration, right? It's an excitement that we've got at least another month. For some people it's a bit of a challenge because it's just another month. But you know what happens whenever these things happen? There is a part of us that as much as in the week past, we were up ready for action, excited, felt a sense of faith to trust God for something. The idea that we've got another month tends to create this settling. Like, okay, cool. You know what? At least this is enough time for competent staff members that we pay. Just want to say that just in case you think you pay me. All right. For competent staff members that we pay to work out some competent solution to this problem. And we begin to quietly settle a little bit. Whilst this week there was fire and passion, the next week we can relax. We can change up the temple. We can almost go back to normal. It is why today, I want to share this message with you and I want to title it very simply. The really bad habits of really good Christians. I want to talk to you today. I'm not talking to bad Christians today. If you want to those, take a break today. Relax, calm down. Today is not for you. If you hear, you're not saved, you still try and figure out whether you're going to do this Jesus thing. It's a good Sunday to chill and observe and criticize other Christians. I want to speak to good Christians today. Really good ones. Those of you who do right things and think you do right things. That's what I want to speak to. I want to share a message to me to you. Well, really bad habits. Really good Christians. Every Bible Matthew chapter 17. We're going to read from verse 1 to verse 8. Of the six days, Jesus took Peter, James and his brother John and let them up a high mountain by themselves. He was transfigured in front of them and his face shone like the sun. His clothes became as white as the light. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, I think it's good for us to be here. If you want, I will set up three shelters here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud covered them and a voice from the cloud said, "The last time we said this, you know what happened?" But here we go. "This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him." When the disciples heard this, they fell face down and were terrified. Jesus came up, touched them and said, "Get up. Don't be afraid." And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus alone. This is the word of the Lord. About seven days before this incident, Jesus is chilling with these disciples and he has about three conversations with them. The first one, he begins to speak to his disciples about a group of very powerful, very famous, very wealthy religious Jews called the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And here's what he says to them. He says, "Listen, I need you to be careful about the yeast or the liven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." The disciples hear what Jesus is saying, but they don't get what Jesus is saying. And so they look at each other and they begin to go, "Hey, didn't we bring bread or something?" Why is Jesus saying that we're going to end up needing the bread of the Pharisees and the Sadducees? Jesus looks at them and he says, "Guys, why do you lack so much faith about a chapter of Go?" Which I don't think he said, but about a chapter of Go, I created bread for thousands of people. Why do you lack faith? Why do you believe that what I'm talking about is that you are going to end up needing bread from the Pharisees and the Sadducees? He's like, "No, no, no. Here's what I'm talking about." He said, "Yest is like teachings." That whatever YouTube you invite, whatever person who stands behind a puppet and teaches the word, it's like yeast to the dough of your soul, be careful. Be careful of the yeast, the influence, the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. That's what I'm talking about. And the disciples go, "Ah, now we get it. My bad, my bad." Starts another conversation and he looks at everybody and says, "All right, disciples, who do people say I am out in the streets?" And guys, by part, they say you're John the Baptist, that's weird. And others put up their hands on them. They say you're Elijah. I just didn't even think you're Jeremiah. Jesus, they're all holding on. But what do you think? Peter, front-grower of the class puts up his hand. Jesus, listen. You're the Christ. You're the Messiah. You're the son of the living God. Finally, Peter gets it. Okay. Now watch what Jesus does. Matthew 16. Peter says this in front of all the disciples. And it's almost like Jesus is excited that they've got it and he says, "All right, listen. Now that you know that I'm the Messiah, now that you know I'm the son of the living God, let me tell you what needs to happen. but come in, drunk loads. That here's what's gonna happen. I am going to have to suffer and die. Peter grabs Jesus by the hand, pulls him to the side and goes, "No, no, no, you can't say that to." Because we've got a plan. You're supposed to be the king. You're going to reign. We're going to be part of your team. We're going to make sure that we take over the whole Roman Empire. Lord, you can't do this. Watch what Jesus says. Jesus looks at Peter and he says, "Get behind me Satan." Okay? "Get behind me Satan." And then he says, "You are a hindrance to me." Let me just put a comma right here. Here's what I'm saying. There are people who have ill will toward you, who will tempt you. But there are people who have good will toward you, who will be a hindrance. The enemy tempts, but sometimes good folks, really good Christian folks, will be a hindrance to the will of God in your life. Usually it says, "You are a hindrance to me." Why? It's because in your mind, I wish I could pause and tell you about this. He says, "Because you're not thinking." I wish more of us as Christians would just think. Anyway, he says, "Because you're not thinking, God's concerns, but human concerns, that there are well-meaning people who become a hindrance to your life and your purpose because they're thinking humanly." So really, like really, really good Christians like me have a really bad habit of placing ourselves at the center of our lives. Me. Maybe you don't do it, but I do. I do not know what to say about this. It gets the revelation of who the Messiah is, but when the Messiah tells him he must suffer, Peter can't accept it. Why? Because he has himself as the center of his own universe. It's a really bad habit that really good people do. So we are told that after six days then, this Jesus takes Peter, James and John, and let me just put a comma here. When is the last time you went to one of your friends and said, "You know what, what you just did now is very Satan-like." Okay? In fact, forget. Forget very Satan-like. When is the last time you spoke to one of your friends and said, "Hey, satana." And then six days later, you take that same friend and you bring them into the most sacred, self-revelation of yourself. See, here's what I struggle with this text this week, is that I realized the reason I struggle with this idea that six days later Jesus can still take Peter off the Peter has been this kind of a hindrance to him is that I don't really appreciate forgiveness. I genuinely believe I need to walk a few laps around the valley before I can be accepted into the mountain. I genuinely believe that there's a part of me in repentance after I've sinned. There's a part of me that thinks I need to delay the act of joy because I need to fill out the consequences first of what I've done so that I can feel like I've earned the ability to laugh again. Here's the problem. That's because I don't fundamentally believe that when Jesus forgives, he forgives immediate and he forgives deeply, so deeply that he's still going to take me, not all the disciples. He will still pick me out of all the twelve and take me to the highest place. How many of us, when we would have been invited by Jesus to go to the mountain place, would have said, "Not me." But somewhere in between our self-pity, we completely forget that it's a complete act of pride because you are still at the center of your life. He takes them up to the mountain and he transfigures in front of them. Transfigures, the word in the Greek translates metamorphosis. It's this idea of transformation. Normally, sometimes this transformation happens from the outside to end, but for Jesus is happening from the inside out. But notice, Jesus is not changing into something he has never been. He is revealing what the flesh has covered all along. He is revealing what incarnation has placed on, has covered him as he came on Philippians too. God, he chose to not live out the prerogatives, the benefits of his divinity, but yet he was still divine. And so as he's in transfiguration, he is almost like Clark Kent going to the mountain with friends and going, "Superman, then close the gap." So what he's doing, he reveals who he is. As I was described, he's face shines like the sun and his clothes are like white as the light. Remember, Matthew is writing to a bunch of Jews and he's trying to help the Jews understand that Jesus is the Messiah. And so Matthew continuously uses pictures from the Old Testament, very much pictures of Moses to help the Jewish people go, "Ah, this is the guy that Moses has been talking about." And so we know in the Old Testament, there's a guy by name of Moses who went up a mountain and on that mountain was with God for 40 days, 49s. And when he came down from the mountain, he didn't realize that he was shining until he finally got to the people and the people looked at him and said, "Yo, so much Vaseline." Like, "What happened?" And he realizes, "Oh my word, the glory of God has shunned on me so much that it's now reflecting off of me." And people can see it. I watch. Moses shun like the moon. He reflected the glory. Jesus shines like the sun. Get me today. Jesus is not reflecting glory. Jesus is the glory. He shines like the sun because he is the original source of the glory. You see, the problem with having you at the center of your life is that you then have to determine if you are at the center of your life, what are you reflecting? Because if you were made to be image-bearers, the center of your life must be the glory so that you can actually reflect image, the glory, but if you are at the seat of your life, the highest seat of your life, what are you reflecting? He says his clothes became as white as light and the translators, he was struggling to figure out how to translate this because if you get it in the Greek, what it's saying is that his clothes were like lightning. And we know this that clothes in the Bible don't speak of fashion, they speak of function. Jesus' clothes are now reflecting to those who are there what his function is going to be. He is going to function as light. John Hose ends up writing in John chapter 1. There is a light that came. The light shone, but the people in the place where the light was rejected the light because they loved darkness. You're not at the center and if you are, you can't reflect glory. The one who's at the center is this one who emanates the original glory whose function is to be the light that must be reflected, he must be at the center. So how will you know if you are at the center of your life except for Jesus and how do you actually deal with it? Here's what Matthew tells us as we try to figure out what to do. Let me actually go to Luke. Luke chapter 6 was 46. Jesus says these words, why do you call me Lord Lord and do not do what I say? The word Lord is a word curious in Greek it means master owner controller. The word was used a lot to refer to land onus. How many of you are land onus? You won't put up your hand because you don't want to see that you have money. Land onus. And so imagine that you are land onus with a huge estate and most likely you would have servants in your house. state. The assumption is this is that we are servants in someone's property. And then all of a sudden, when we gave our lives to Christ, the master of the property we in, we live in, changed. And the master became Jesus. And so the person we kept speaking to, "Lord, Lord was Him." See, as we're saying, "Why are you in my estate?" And when I tell you to clean the barn, you don't listen to me. Why when you claim that I'm your Lord, when you claim that I'm your landlord, and you are dwelling in my place? Why is it that when I speak to you, you still choose to do what you want to do? Put simply, why is it that we want the kingdom without the king? It's because we want his kingdom, and we want to be the king in his kingdom. I want to have access to what you've promised, but I want to be the policymaker. I want to rule, and I want to be able to call on you when I hit a rough spot so that the roles change that you serve me. And when I say the barn is dirty, you clean the barn. So in this text, notice, the way you know that you are the center of your life is that when the master tells you clean the barn, you refuse. And so the way you know that actually he is at the center of your life is that when the master tells you to do something, you do it. So watch, the way to determine your Lord is not by how you feel during worship. Like it doesn't matter if you cried. It doesn't matter if you sang on key. It doesn't matter today that you cried. It doesn't matter today that you liked worship. That you somehow sensed, oh, maybe because I'm emotional, I'm closer. No, no, no, hear me today. The reality of what you do tomorrow when you have a choice between his will and yours. That's going to help you understand who your Lord is. Please cry. There's one crying right here. Look, and you know I'll be crying too. My guys, listen, I don't want to waste your time. It doesn't matter how many roses you place on the path of hell. It's still the path. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how many beautiful things you try and decorate the road with. It doesn't matter. Just just make a choice to stop pretending and own. This is my Lord so that you can actually repent. That's okay. The grace is so abundant. But if you reject grace out of pride because you're at the center of the life, as center of your life, you missed the whole point. Hear me today. He's at the center. And if you're at the center, you struggle to say yes. Now, should be told, most of us struggle to say yes because doing God's will is not easy anyway. But what I'm talking about is when we we fail to realize we don't own this estate. We're not the master of this estate. And the master can tell me what to do. And I trust the master enough to know if I do what the master says it will be for my good. Are we good? Really, really good Christians, Baba, you as well. Really good Christians are a really bad habit of avoiding cloud interruptions. Read verse 3. Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him. Now, let me have another pause here and let's speak about ancestors and venerating ancestors. Moses and Elijah appear. I know what you're thinking, particularly if you're a black South African. Does this mean ancestors, particularly our great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother who appears to us in a dream, especially when they appear to us in a dream and they buy like a river. You know, because if they appear like in a dream and we are in town, it doesn't matter. But if they close to any water, waterfall, river, the sea, that's when we go, I might have to go home and sacrifice a cow or something. All right. When your great, great, great, great, great grandmother appears to you in a dream. Does this scripture condone? What does this transfiguration moment mean? Because here's Moses, here's Elijah. Peter can see them. What do we do? All right. Number one, Moses and Elijah are not talking to Peter. Let's start there. They're talking to Jesus. Moses represents the law in the old testament. Elijah represents the prophets in the Old Testament. We are told in the New Testament, this guy is recording, yes, yes, just just wait. Moses represents the law. Elijah represents the prophets. And the New Testament tells us that the law and the prophets point to the Messiah. Okay. When your great, great, great, great, great grandmother appears in your dream and they don't point you to Christ. Go back to bed. If in the dream they are not telling you and confirming through whatever they say that Christ is the way, more to say about this. Let me continue and I'm going to come back to some of our answers. Then Peter said, Lord, listen, it's really good that we're here. I mean, we, your boys, three of us are here. We're here. Now, listen, let me build some tents. Three of them, one for you, one for more, one for Elijah. Okay. It's good. Now, notice, part of the error that Peter's making here, he's assuming by the building of three tents, equality of the three. There's no equality between Elijah, Moses and Jesus. There's no equality. Elijah knows that. Moses knows that. Jesus knows that. Peter doesn't. He wants to create what was told in the New Testament, places tabernacles that allow what he deems to be sacred to themselves as Jewish people, allows them to house the sacredness. Now, listen, we might be engaging you about African spirituality, but please don't let our white friends be left out to try to go problems. If you want to build a tent out here for Jesus, and then you want to build another tent out here for African spirituality, then you want to build another tent out here on Western ideologies that have made you so crazily woke. To the point of this text doesn't matter anymore. I mean that you can't have more compassion than Jesus. Stop it. If Jesus says that is wrong, there's no amount of greater compassion you can have than the creator. If you become more woke than Jesus, you've got to repent. Now, put that on camera. We always blame the conservatives for feeling like they have more truth than Jesus. When they take the land and steal this and do that and they call it all in the name of God, but we are all too scared to speak to our nice little liberals of which the majority of you are. Come on now. You can't be more loving than Jesus. So why are you loving the things he's saying? Hold on now. Come on. You're in error. You're in error. I don't know why we think this thing called Christianity was never going to cost us. It's costly. There's nowhere around it. It means there's somethings I hate that I need to learn to love and somethings I love that I need to learn to hate. Notice there is never a person that must be hated. Your beautiful tent of Western ideologies that have been built out of Europeans, backyards, distant years ago. that have now inculcated our culture, even they for flat, there is no singular culture that can stand to the kingdom. Every culture needs something, every culture has something in it that must be condemned, that must be celebrated, and that must be redeemed. Every culture, I beg you, I beg you, don't move with the crowd and the fear of a world that keeps telling you if you don't conform to what they love, they won't love you. This is what I don't understand with as much woke as we have, is that I can walk into environments that tell me all is welcome until I say I don't agree. And the rules that you don't love me? Come on, now you don't love like Jesus. Guys, the tents we build, they don't match up to Jesus. They just don't. Jesus is Lord. He's Lord. While he was still speaking, suddenly, a bright cloud covered all of them. And a voice came from the cloud, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him. Okay. Who is the father telling you to listen to? He is not saying listen to Elijah. He's not saying listen to Moses, because Moses and Elijah are both saying, listen to Christ anyway. What he is saying is, I need you as Peter, who thinks that they can interrupt the conversation that's happening here. I need you to pause and listen. Listen to Jesus. Listen to Jesus about your marriage. Listen to Jesus about your sex life. Listen to Jesus about your money. Listen to Jesus about your race issues. Listen to Jesus. Listen to Jesus. There are many things that sound like Jesus, but if it's not Jesus, listen to Jesus. Sometimes the news sounds like Jesus. Sometimes books sound like Jesus, but listen to Jesus. I'm a close man. For me, what I just spoke about, like it's not a talk. My dad just honed me for this, for two, three years. My wife didn't go home for at least 10 years after we got married. Why? Because they knew what I believed. Guys, you're going to pay a cost, baby. I beg you. Like, just pay it. There's no way, I promise you, there's no way around this. There's no way around this. It is good for you and it's coming to you. Pay the cost. Okay. Lastly, the sixth. So, really good Christians, I mean, really good Christians, have the bad habit. Oh, in fact, can I finish off the point I just made by saying one thing quickly? Bless you. Okay. So, the way we avoid cloud interruptions is that we live lives that are distracted and busy. The way you receive a cloud interruption is by listening, creating time to listen to Jesus. Some of you are way too busy to be interrupted by the Spirit. You're way too distracted to be interrupted by the Spirit. Listen to Jesus. And this helps us if you feel like your life has not been interrupted by him. Here's some of the things you can do. The last part of Matthew chapter 16 tells us that Jesus has his third conversation with the disciples. And here's what he says. He says, "Then Jesus said to the disciples, "If anyone wants to follow after me, "let him deny himself, take up the cross and follow me, "for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, "and whoever loses his life, because of me, will find it." Okay. Here's the picture that Jesus is giving. This is going to help you understand if you're one of those who have built the kind of life that avoids cloud interruption. Jesus speaks using again, old Testament picture. In the Old Testament, out in the wilderness, whenever the people of Israel were following, they were following the what? The cloud, they were following the cloud. And every time the cloud moved, not only did they have to follow the cloud, but they had to pick up the tents. They own tents and the tent, the tabernacle, where the presence of God was, they had to pick up the tents, carry them and follow. The idea throughout the Bible is that maturing believers carry stuff. And so you get to the New Testament and Peter wants to build tents. Jesus says, "Ah, we don't carry tents anymore. "You're going to have to pick up your cross. "You're going to have to pick up your cross." Okay. So here's what you're going to do. You're going to pick up your cross and this is going to allow you to follow. And then he expounds on this. Here's what it means to pick up your cross. It's to deny yourself. So Jesus knows that there are desires in your heart, really good Christians' hearts, that don't want what Jesus wants for them. And he's saying, "I get that." That's fine. Now, here's an opportunity to take up your cross. Tell yourself, "No." This is what it looks like to follow me. It's to listen to the will of God being aware of the will that you want and then choosing to speak to yourself and deny what you want. If you do that, you are following. And then he expounds even further. He says, "Those of you who decide that you're going to build tents around things that you want to preserve, you're going to lose those things eternally." But those of you who are willing to let go and not have tents around those things, but instead are willing to trust me with those things. You will not just gain things, you will gain life and life eternally. Choose. Choose. If you try to save something, you're going to lose it. But if you lose it because of me, you'll find it. Like what a crazy equation for life. Okay, now we're ready for point three, point three. Really, really good Christians have a really bad habit of not seeing Jesus alone. Verse six, "When the disciples heard this, they fell, face down and were terrified. Jesus came up, touched them and said, 'Get up. Don't be afraid.' And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus alone." Why is it that I, maybe even you, struggle to see Jesus alone? Why do we all see Jesus and Korea? Jesus and money. Jesus and wife or girlfriend, boyfriend, Jesus and whatever it is. Why are we constantly opening our eyes to Jesus and realities that we can't see Him alone? Here's why, is because we don't fall down anymore with terror. Guys, when is the last time God spoke to you and it hit you so much that deep down inside? You know that feeling that starts from your stomach and it almost feels like it ends right here by your throat? And you know that God is spoken to you and there's a sense of all reverence and even fear we don't fall down anymore. We are not afraid of God anymore. I've been away this entire week, landed yesterday, ran straight here for the Saturday evening service, out in Durban. I scratched the rental car. I'm so sad. I know my way to go and drop off this rental car trying to think to myself like, "I know how I scratched it, which is absolutely dumb." But what if I told a different story? (audience laughs) Not for real. 'Cause this is gonna cost me at least about 6,000 rent and I'm gonna have to explain this to my wife. I don't wanna have to explain this to my wife. So, is there a way to get out of this? And here's what I realized. None of you are there. (audience laughs) I can do this and you all will never know. (audience laughs) But God will know and watch. It doesn't trouble me that He knows. My friends, that's what lacking the fear of God is. That's exactly what I'm talking to you about. That thing that you do alone. alone. that you're going for as long as I'm not exposed to other humans. But you know, you know, God is right there with you in the room. He's right there with you in the company. He's right there with you by the phone side. But somehow the way I view God allows me to go, I'll be okay, because I have, I don't know what it's like to fear him anymore. The fact that he's the only one that knows makes me more at peace. Can I give you another example? I'm going to tell you this story like I haven't told you already. Last week about a week and a half ago, we get a mail from the people in this venue telling us you go one week to go. The whole week people are praying. They, you know, confessing scripture, they calling me like they've never called me before. They're standing up. They, they want to fight against the city of Jobah. They're doing all these things, right? Because they received a mail from a human being. Okay. The mail from the human being says, you've got just a last couple of days before you have to leave. Okay. Good. God says to you, hey, you're in the last days. And we go, yeah, look, it's not too bad. Oh, one day is like a thousand years and thousand years like one day. All right. You know, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to, I'm going to behave. I'm going to go to church a little bit. I'm going to figure it out. Watch. You are more terrified and anxious at a person you have never seen. Human being, bleeding human being who sends an email and you stand up to attention and run to the hills. And God says, you're in the last days. You go, you know what? I think the way to respond to this is just a 10 church every week. And then like quietly do everything the same. We're not afraid of God. I'm more afraid of you if I say the wrong thing, you're going to leave. Do you think that I'm going to say the wrong thing? But what if the thing I'm saying is in this text, who do I fear? Come on now. Wait, wait, wait, don't I? We've still got another month. No one ever kept. So kept at the end of the month. That was so close. I nearly broke like six years of trying for no, no, no, no, capping. Listen, listen, listen, listen. Guys, we've we've taught ourselves a kind of theology that says God doesn't need to be feared because he's so loving. All right. So, so let's go to this very loving God, very nice Jesus, because we like the new testament Jesus. Very nice. So here what he says, Matthew 10, this is Jesus. He says, so have no fear. All right. We're starting off. This is a good, good part. So have no fear of them. He's about to send his disciples out to go proclaim preacher gospel, share about who the Messiah is. So he says, don't don't be afraid for nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be made known. First of all, that should scare some of you. Jesus is the kind of Lord that when things get revealed, he's like, Oh, I'm, I'm chilled. I got nothing to hide. That would worry me. What I tell you in the dark, say it in the light and what you hear whispered proclaim on them. House top. Next slide. And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, this is Jesus speaking. Rather fear. Exactly the same word as the fear before. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body. Okay. Throughout the scriptures, the way that the Bible teaches about fear is this. You will become fearless only if you fear the right thing. And you will become fearful if you fear the wrong thing. The Bible assumes that you must fear something. And whatever you fear will determine if you walk into life, fearless or fearful. And in this text, he says, you fear those who can kill your body. Remember a few weeks ago, we spoke about how the wrath of God, the judgment of God, especially in the Old Testament is about God handing you over to the fullness of your desires without his presence. So what are you saying? You're saying stop fearing those whom you might be handed over to to kill your body because of a gospel. Rather fear the one who can hand you over to the fullness of your desires without his presence. Fear that one. Because that one has the kind of consequences that are eternal. So go ahead and unlock the iPhone. Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? Do you fear God? Do you tremble at His word? When is the last time God spoke to you? And you had to get down on your knees and say, Lord, I don't have words, but I know that what I'm feeling inside of me, what I'm recognizing in my life is that your presence, just like David said, Lord, whatever happens, don't let your presence leave me. Let me say this. Let's say the things you've been praying for you, God, like all of them. And think about them. When you get all of them, would you still be able to recognize if the Lord left? Just I want you to think about it. Like, can we have a church service that feels good, but is presenceless? And would we be able in the midst of the service to go, just stop for a moment? Like, something is off. Normally, what we recognize is, you know, the piano player, the singer, just think about it. If the things you prayed for you, God, would you be able to recognize in on set prayer when the presence leaves? Guys, I don't know we would. Like, I don't know if we've built the kind of life that's so regularly aware of the presence that we would know when it's gone. I think we tend to determine the presence by how we feel and what we get. All right. So, so, so. One of the reasons I know we struggled to fear God is the way in which we, we interpret and see His words. Let me give you a few quotes here. One, you don't see Jesus alone. You see Him with add-ons. You don't see Jesus alone when His words are wise, but not sovereign. Okay. Like, that's wise. But it's not sovereign. All right. Next one. You don't see Jesus alone when He's teaching is a good, but not final. Like, He doesn't, like, He has a grasp of Jewish issues. He doesn't really know what we're going through as Africans. And so, you know what? These words are good, but I need to add a few things because context relief, things have changed. And we, we're less archaic than what we used to be. So, let's add some stuff on. It's His words aren't final to me. I need to add something because of context. Next one. He's thoughts are higher, but they're not consequential. Yeah, yeah, I see you. You think on a spectrum that's way different from me, but there's no consequence for me doing or not doing this thing. Next one. His ways are helpful, but they're not essential to my reality. Yeah, great. I read Matthew. This is great. But now, tell me, how do I deal with the corporate stuff tomorrow? Because this book isn't going to help me to deal with my boss, with my work, and the kind of deals I need to make. Mr. Woon, deal, make it this guy. Whoa, which scriptures do you use to make deals? What's going on? Come on now. Think about that. Do I really think this Bible can help me create a movie? Start a business? No, it's not essential to tomorrow, but it's helpful a little bit. Give me a broad. understanding of ancient literature and the heart and will of God, but come Monday, I need to put on my armor and trust myself. All right. Slend the plane. Let's want us to, we're going to read verse nine all the way to 13 as we end of here. Here's what says Matthew 17. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, don't tell anyone about the vision until the Son of man is raised from the dead. So the disciples asked him, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Elijah is coming and will restore everything he replied. But I tell you Elijah has already come and they didn't recognize him on the contrary. They did whatever they pleased to him. In the same way, the Son of man is going to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist. Please tell me you recognize that something's off here. All right. So let's read again. Verse nine. Verse nine. Jesus says to them, don't tell anyone about the vision until the Son of man is raised from the dead. They immediate responses. Can we talk about Elijah though? Okay. He just told them don't don't tell anyone until the Son of man is raised from the dead. All right. They question is, help us understand the stuff about Elijah and what the scribes say. Then they continue. Where am I? Then they continue. No, Matthew 17. There we go. And then he says, where's 13? There we go. He tells them that I tell you Elijah has already come and they didn't recognize him on the contrary. In the same way, the Son of man is going to suffer at their hands, at their hands. And then the responses that disciples understood, he's told about John. Watch. Peter, James and John have gone up the mountain. They've seen Jesus transfigured and they still don't get it. Like I know you believe if you just saw glory, you would get it. If God just appeared, if you just got that breakthrough, you would obey. Uh-uh. They see the reality of what people in the Old Testament would have died if they saw it. And even after that, they can't help but ignore what Jesus is saying and center in on what is comfortable and what they want and what they like. Um. There's a guy named is Sir Edmund Hillary. He used to scale all these mountains and he had just scaled the Mount Everest. And when he came down, the, the, um, the reporter went to him and said, listen, why do you keep doing this thing? Well, you know, why do you keep scaling these mountains? And this is what he said. It says because from up there, all the tangled lines you see below come together. Jesus takes them to the mountain so that when they look down, the entangled lines of life come together. Jesus allows you to come into experiences of glory so that you can make sense of the entangled lines in your daily life. That you don't live just in the current minute in the current issue, but you have a perspective that is broader that allows you to see even how this seemingly confusing thing in the midst of the journey makes sense. But from up there, um, how many of you have ever watched this TV series 24? Come on. Guys, outside the Bible 24 is the key. Now, read this and then go watch Jack Bauer 24. Okay. 24 is amazing series. It's about this guy called Jack Bauer is like cop like figure, former cop like figure. And he's like, he's the man. I'm trying to find a South African equivalent. But anyway, he's the man. And so around season two, season three, his sister or girlfriend has been taken by the bad guys and he's trying to get back up to go to a place that he actually doesn't know. And then eventually only Jack Bauer knows where this place is. And the story like it goes with most movies, Jack Bauer has to save Americans to save the whole world. And so there we go. So Jack Bauer is moving around and he's to save America. I need to save America. And so there he is, right? He goes in and he's about to get into this place. We know that there's like bad people everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. There's no way he can make it. Surely Jack Bauer is going to die. You feel the tension in your soul. And then you quietly realize for a moment, wait, hold on. This is season three. There are seven seasons to this thing. He can't die in season three. And so all of a sudden with all the craziness you are feeling in your soul, you kind of pause and just enjoy the rest of the movie because you know he can't die in season three. Why is because those who have an eternal perspective, deal better with the immediate crisis. That's the point he's trying to make if you revere God on the mountain, you'll be able to trust him in the valley. But if you can't revere him in the mountain, you won't be able in the valley to navigate the constant things that are pressing up against your soul. You need the mountain experience. You need the moments where it's just you listening to God, hearing his word, falling face down out of fear. And he's the only one who can say to you, do not be afraid. You need moments where all these tents you've tried to build, you submit them to Christ. You need these moments so that you can have an eternal perspective about your Monday. This is what Jesus was trying to teach the guys. Next slide. He's trying to show them the difference between the mountain of transfiguration and the hill of call, "Gotha." Watch. Give me those that slide that has a. On the mountain, they saw glory, a radiant face, white lightning garments, bright cloud, a divine voice on this high mountain that we believe is Mount Hermon. They understanding of this mountain is meant to help them for the hill of suffering, where Jesus' face is going to be disfigured. His garments are going to be bloody and stripped off of him. There will be no light but thick darkness throughout the city. There won't be divine voices, there will be mocking voices. And it won't be a mountain, it'll be a hill, shaped like a skull, "Gotha." Watch. Because the disciples didn't get the mountain of glory, they ran in the hill of suffering. They scattered in the hill of suffering. Listen, the promotion you got this week, is not for TikTok. Like I mean it. Am I saying things last day? No. I'm the dog to me. Listen, guys. Yeah, let people celebrate with you. But pause in great moments. Just pause before you post, before you feel the need for other people to know, like pause and recognize what the mountain is teaching you. Because the hill's coming. I promise you it's coming. I'm not saying that because I want the hill to come. I'm saying that because every spiritual baptism needs a spiritual battle. I promise you. I promise you. And if you miss the point of the mountain, you will run on the hill. You will run when the hill comes. I've told the story many times. I hope you don't mind me sharing it again. My wife and I buried our third child, we lost her child. We've got three kids now, but what are the ages? You know the ages of my kids? 14, 10 and five. And that gap there was not because we were resting. There are things that happen that year, all at the same time, we buried about six people, five to six people, or in a span of about a year and a half. It was terrible. It was arguably the only time in our marriage that my wife and I sat down across the table. And we said, like, I'm too stubborn to divorce you. I really am. And she said similar to me. We weren't getting each other. There's too much pain. And we didn't know. We didn't know if we're going to make it. We didn't know how it's going to work. It was like, you walk into a room and There's no icon, but it's cold. It's not because you hate each other. You just don't know what to say. There's pain, but also there's anger. And I don't always know whether you deserve it or I deserve it. But what I do know, you and I can't seem to jump over this hurdle. And it's easier to just be quiet. It's easier to create a new rhythm. We are quietly seen to have more work outside of home. I remember as we're navigating, speaking to people, allowing people to speak into our lives. I remember we called my dad and my mom. Now, my dad and my mom, things like therapy and stuff, they don't really. They're like, "Hey, what is that?" And so my dad said, my dad said, "Hey, I know you guys are morning." Now, I'm not giving this advice to you. "Okay, just put my dad said to me." And he said, he said to me and Marsh, he said, "I know you said, but stop now." He said, "Because you got these two kids who need you." Like in the pain we had forgotten the gifts, we stopped remembering that in our loss, we had already been given. It doesn't make the loss easier to deal with. No, the loss is painful, but it puts the loss in context. And you need to remember the moments where God gives. You do. You must journal them. You must write them down. You must put them somewhere. Because it's going to give context to the moments where God takes. And it seems like you've lost all you're losing. And you think God is not present. But if you just take a spanned look at your life, you would realize the gifts that prepared you for the loss. Is it easy? No. But it allows me to face suffering within the context of glory. You figure it out. And a year and a half later, we planted this church.