The Wonder & Work of the Way

We have changed the Mark series a little bit.

We had, I think, 14 messages to go.

So, what we've done is we've changed it up the next three weeks, Lord willing.

We're going to do a different message morning and night, and we'll finish the series of Mark, which will take, I think, about 40 messages still, in six more.

So, a different message morning and night, today being one of them, and yeah, we'll finish this Gospel of Mark in the next three weeks.

Again, apologies.

Normally, I'm looking that way, but I look this way.

Don't use videos all the time as introductions, but this one is worth watching.

Please watch this video for a sec.

Anode Jordan already blasting his way around the bend.

Pearson putting up a good challenge on the outside, but there's no doubt about it.

What a display of strengthing from the young Briton.

This is absolutely phenomenal.

And he's just easing up.

What's happened here?

What has gone on there?

That was an absolute disaster, Phil Minchell.

He has eased up far, far, far too early, and half the field swept past him before the finish line.

This is going to be a lesson learned the very, very hard way after what...

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9, Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?

Run in such a way as to get the prize.

When Jesus took Peter, James and John up on the mountain top, and he was transfigured before them in this glorious white light, and when Peter said in a nervous way, he was frightened, we find out, he said, this is good.

I see Elijah and Moses.

Let me make some dwellings, some shelters for you, Moses and Elijah, because he thought it was all over.

He thought the race had been run.

It was time to set up Messianic Headquarters, but there was a long way to go.

Do you follow?

Peter, like the guy in the race, he was pulling up way too early.

The Transfiguration teaches us about the wonder and the work of the way.

And I appreciate, I like my alliteration, but I think over time today, we'll find that there's some real power in those three words.

It teaches us about the wonder and the work of the way.

After six days, verse two, Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain where they were all alone.

Mountaintops are where you tend to meet with God, aren't they?

They certainly, biblically, is the typical, the classic way that God meets with his people.

Mountaintops are where we experience wonder, aren't they?

A mountaintop experience.

We get a recalibration.

We get some perspective on life.

They're typically amazing places.

So Jesus takes Peter, James and John to the mountaintop.

I don't know if you've noticed, but in Mark's Gospel, the greater the revelation, the smaller the group of people get to see it.

Typically, that's what happens.

You have three here in the transfiguration.

When Jesus rises from the dead, there are three women.

The greater the revelation in Mark, the smaller the number.

Peter, James and John are frequently identified, as we know, in this inner circle.

Jesus called them first in Mark chapter 1.

He took the three of these guys to see Jairus' daughter raised from the dead.

And later on, which we've already looked at in the last two chapters, he takes these three with him in Gethsemane to continue to pray with him.

And that's the way he functioned.

He spent time with a group of like probably 150, and then 70, and 12, and he had this small group of three.

And even John, he had a special relationship with.

So, Wonder tended to be experienced in small groups, often amongst the disciples.

So, the text says he was transfigured before them.

His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.

And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

You would have to be a keen student of the Bible to notice this.

So, if you have, well done.

Mark doesn't give chronological pointers.

He just tends to say immediately or now.

Whereas, say, John's Gospel says, it was the time of the Passover.

Do you remember that stuff?

It was the time of the Feast of the Tabernacles.

John's very keen to let us know where things are happening in a chronological order.

But Mark doesn't do that, but he does here.

He unusually says, after six days, he's getting people to remember Moses from Exodus 24, verse 15 and 18, verse 5.

When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it.

This is 15.

And the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai.

For six days, the cloud covered the mountain.

And on the seventh day, the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.

And if you look at chapter 24 of Exodus and chapter 34, you see them sort of match up perfectly, going up the mountain to meet with God, the transfiguration and the time when Moses did it, and he met with God.

And it's because Jesus is the great Moses deliverer.

That's what Mark wants us to pick up.

So in the same way that Moses was the deliverer of Israel, Jesus is the deliverer of Israel and the world of all life.

And in the same way Moses was the giver of the law, Jesus gave the sermon on the mountain.

He gives the new law and fully it by the spirit.

Elijah was one of the great prophets.

Jesus is a greater prophet.

So as I mentioned before, Peter thinks the finish line has come.

Malachi said Elijah will come before the great unveiling of the glory of the Lord.

And so Peter is like, OK, Malachi said Elijah would come.

There's Elijah.

And I can see Jesus is being glorified.

And so again, as I said, Messianic Headquarters ready to set up.

And that's what verse five tells us.

Peter says to Jesus, Rabbi, it's good for us to be here.

Let us put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.

He didn't know what to say.

They were so frightened.

It's incredible events happening.

Jesus is transfigured to something no one's ever seen.

And Peter's trying his best, but he's just frightened.

And then verse seven, When a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud, saying, This is my son, whom I love, listen to him.

So the imprimatur of the father, he says, This is my son.

You've heard of Moses and you've heard him teach, and you've heard of Elijah and what he did, then nothing compared to this one, who is greater than Moses, greater than Elijah, listen to him, the son of God.

Suddenly, when they looked around, no longer anyone is there except Jesus.

And as they're coming down the mountain, Jesus gave orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the son of man had risen from the dead.

And they apparently actually listened to him, which not many people did, about being silent.

They kept the matters to themselves, discussing what rising from the dead meant.

By this stage, Jesus has told them once that he will die, it was just in this previous chapter, and he would rise again.

Now, he says two more times, I'm going to die, they will mock me, spit on me, they will try me, and then they're going to kill me, but I'm going to rise again.

He has that promise two more times.

And then finally, verse 11, excuse me, I'm so sorry about my voice, but they asked him, why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?

Jesus replied, to be sure, Elijah does come first, in John the Baptist, and restores all things.

Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?

But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.

And Jesus is referring to John the Baptist.

So, the Transfiguration, it teaches us about the wonder and the work of the way.

Can you think of any other reason why Mark says, after six days?

After six days?

These chapters in Mark's Gospel are a pivot point.

They're very significant.

It's the point, and Ben preached on it last week in Chapter 8, where he's been doing the miraculous.

He's been teaching people about the Kingdom of God.

He's been telling storms to be still, and demons to leave, and feeding 5,000, and amazing things.

But then there's this pivot point where he says, I'm going to go to a cross.

I'm going to die.

And there's this idea in Mark's Gospel that about Chapter 8, he sets his face on the uphill journey towards Jerusalem.

And he doesn't flinch, and he goes to the cross, which is physically an uphill journey.

And before this happens in Chapter 8, there's this declaration question.

Do you remember?

Matthew 16 does it, and it's here in Mark Chapter 8, where Jesus asks Peter and the disciples, who do you say that I am?

Who do people say I am?

And Peter gets it right.

He says, you're the Messiah.

You're the Christ.

You're the saviour of the world.

And in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says, yes, this is true.

And it wasn't revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

And on this revelation, I can build my church.

And this is what happens in the version of Chapter 8, verse 31, in Mark.

He began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law.

And that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

He spoke plainly about this and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter.

Get behind me, Satan, he said.

You don't have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.

So Peter got it right.

But again, he wants to cut the corner, doesn't he?

He can't get in his mind that Jesus has to go to a cross.

Can you think of the reason why Mark says after six days?

After six days, he's setting up the idea of the Passion Week.

The Passion Week where Jesus spends six days moving towards the cross.

He has the temple clearing, the clearing of the temple.

He has so many battles with the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.

He goes and washes the disciples' feet, John 13.

He has the Last Supper, Gethsemane.

Finally, he's killed on the Friday.

There's the quiet Saturday, the six days, and it leads up to the seventh day, which we know is Resurrection Sunday.

The Transfiguration is Mark's telling of a beautiful, and take this the right way, a beautiful hologram of the story of the gospel.

Six days, after six days, this moment, an insight into who Jesus really is, a moment of wonder.

In a short period of time, he will go through the true, horrific six days of the Passion.

But it will finally end with the Resurrection Sunday.

And here, in, I think, a beautiful way, there is this picture, a condensed picture, of the wonder and the work of the way.

There is a cross to be carried for Jesus, but he will rise from the dead.

And there is pain now, and yet we are given this picture of the transfiguration, a hopeful snippet of resurrection glory, the wonder and the work of the way.

Peter forgets quickly, doesn't he?

You noticed that?

Do you forget quickly?

I always...

No, but I forget the glory of God.

I forget the grace of God.

I guess the power...

I forget the power of God, and I very quickly don't sit in judgment on Peter.

But Peter forgets quickly.

He's already heard...

He's already told Jesus, I know who you are, but you don't have to go to the cross.

And Jesus rebukes him and says, I do have to go to the cross, get behind me, Satan.

The very next chapter, he's on the mountaintop and the transfiguration happens, and Peter's like, you don't need a cross again.

No need for a cross, let's get it ready.

Messianic headquarters.

He forgets.

The story of Jesus is a story of a way, isn't it?

The word way is hodos, road, pathway.

It's a windy pathway for three years.

If you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus, you know that you've put your faith in what he'd accomplished on the cross and in the resurrection, and the Spirit of God has filled you.

You're guided with the Word of God and the Spirit on this windy pathway.

It's called the apprentice way of Jesus.

And there are challenges along the way.

There is work to be done along the way.

So, it's a reminder, the transfiguration is a reminder to us of what will happen to Jesus.

He is going to go to a cross, have a suffering, weak passion six days, but then he will rise again.

He will be glorified.

But, there is this section of text which is unsettling just before the transfiguration in chapter 8 verse 34, where Mark writes, he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.

Now, of course, this is Ben's message last Sunday night.

I thought it was Jesus who went to the cross.

And of course, it was.

Jesus went to the cross and it's all in his sufficient sacrifice that we can be saved.

And yet, there is this very important teaching that says, we have to carry our cross.

And in fact, in Luke's version, Luke 9, he says to them, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily.

And follow me.

Who has a really well thought through theology of daily cross carrying?

How many things did Jesus say do this daily?

I've just been struck this week as I've...

first of all, when Ben was preaching on it last week about carrying your cross.

And then this week I was looking at it thinking, gee, I think we sort of neglect talking enough about that.

Help me out.

Is there anything else that Jesus says do this daily?

Pray?

Is that the Lord's prayer?

It says daily?

Give us this day, yeah.

So, provision.

Anything else?

That's a good point.

Yeah, forgive.

And I think that's a very good point, because isn't that what he means by carry across?

He's saying, I'm going to go to a cross.

You don't understand it yet, but I'm going to go to a cross.

But if you follow me, you're going to have to carry across.

And I think what he's really talking about is, at least, forgiveness.

Isn't he?

I'm asking you a genuine question here this morning.

What does it mean to carry across daily?

The cross of Christ is the focal point, the epicentre of reconciliation in the universe.

Amen?

That is what the cross primarily does.

It fixes the relationship between humanity and God, the Father, by faith in Christ.

So, we are called to live a life of forgiving love in carrying our cross.

And I think also it is surely the idea of submission to the will of God.

When Jesus went to the cross, he said, not my will, but yours be done.

It was hard.

He didn't really want to go there just at the end, but he said, I'm going to do the right thing.

And so, there is certainly a sense that as followers of Jesus on this way, there is a submitting of our will, which I would put to you is a work, not a work that earns salvation, but that appropriates that which has been won for us in Christ, amen?

Yes?

Not to earn salvation, but there is a work to be done that involves cross carrying.

And it's what Paul talks about in Colossians 3.

What does it mean when he says, put to death therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature?

Put it on the cross.

When you get on the cross, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.

You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must rid yourselves of all these things.

Anger, rage, malice, slander.

Sometimes we want to be angry, don't we?

Because we've been offended.

But to put them to death is to carry our cross.

Amen.

It's to say, no longer I that lives, but Christ who lives in me.

I'm going to submit today the slander, the filthy language from your lips.

Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self.

It's been crucified.

And have put on a new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator.

I want to put it to us that the Christian life, I think, is beautifully summarized in this simple idea of seven days that is encapsulated in the transfiguration.

Six days, passion, and then the glorious resurrection.

Six days of the work of cross carrying for us.

And then our own reminder of the transfiguration, of our own resurrection, of our own eternal life, and completely righteous status that we have ourselves before God.

Can you see that the transfiguration is a reminder?

I think I've got the Wonder & Work of the Way just as a picture.

Those six circles and then the open circle.

I want to encourage us in a very simple way this week, to think about the wonder and work of the way.

Because we need wonder.

We need to have moments that are akin to the transfiguration.

We need to have moments.

When do you have those moments?

Because if it's all work, even Jesus didn't have just all work, right?

He had these moments where I believe He was being reminded Himself in the transfiguration when the Father gave Him that gift and gave the inner three that gift and has given us the gift.

There is hope even in the now and not yet.

We haven't got to the end of the run of the race, but there's wonder to be experienced.

And part of that wonder is experienced on a Sunday, isn't it?

Anyone feel wonder, experience wonder here sometimes?

Does anyone know who Carl Boeberg is?

Come on, someone, if you're over 60, 70.

Carl Boeberg.

Wow, sorry, Carl.

Carl Boeberg wrote, How Great Thou Art.

Sorry, Carl, don't you reckon?

Wow.

When I in awesome wonder, what's Carl doing?

He's having a transfiguration moment on a mountain top.

When I in awesome, I won't sing.

When I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the glorious creation.

He had a mountain top transfiguration style experience, and he's been encouraging the church ever since through that song.

I want us to consider how do we find wonder?

Because there's plenty of proof that Christianity is work.

It feels like a lot of work a lot of the time, doesn't it?

Or is it just me, like, put to death?

We struggle with stuff in life.

We make mistakes.

We sort of give our hearts affection to things that are unhelpful.

And we have to cut that off and put that to death.

We have to put it back on the cross.

Do you remember that story?

It's a preacher's illustration where a guy has got a crucifix, like a typical Catholic crucifix, and there's Jesus on the cross and he's wearing it.

And a guy comes up and says, Brother, don't you know Christ has risen from the grave?

You know the answer.

And he says, that's not Christ, that's me.

It's to remind me that I've got to get on the cross every day.

It's not a bad illustration, is it?

Carry your cross, not to earn salvation, but to say, no longer I that lives, Lord, Galatians 2.20, but Christ who lives in me and the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

It's no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.

How are you going to find wonder today or this week?

Is it in a session skin diving or bush walking or dropping some food off to someone doing a good deed of showing God's love?

We need these transfiguration, mountaintop moments and we also need the encouragement to keep putting in the work, amen?

To put in the work of dying daily.

That Christ might live in me.

And of course, this is the beautiful message of Christianity, that without dying, you don't find life.

But the more we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, we see also what it says in Hebrews, that for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He went to the cross for the joy he could see on the other side.

And that's what we need, don't we, brothers and sisters?

To go to that cross daily, because we know there is life on the other side of it.

Finding our life in Christ.

There is love-drenched wonder on the way of the master.

Amen?

Let me say that again.

There is love-drenched wonder.

We need, in our weeks, to find places where we feel drenched in the love of God.

Amen?

You've got to find it.

If you don't, it's a burden.

It's just a burden.

But Jesus needed to have a transfiguration.

The disciples needed to see him and go, whoa, whoa, you're different.

We're not there yet, but we're gonna make it.

We're gonna get there to this resurrection that you're talking about.

And we're in the now and not yet also, even though we have all the history and all the hindsight and a fully canonised Bible, it's all finished.

But in our hearts, we still doubt.

And so we need this interplay, this grace interplay of the wonder of God's love and the work of cross carrying.

There is love-drenched wonder on the way of the master, and there is love-drenched cross carrying work of self-denial there too.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?

Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Do you have rhythms in your life now, where you are regularly finding the wonder that you need to feel the work of the way?

Of course, this is why many of us are doing these devotions, and considering the ideas of a rule of life, thinking about Sabbath where you rest and delight and recharge in God's grace and love, and yet go back out into a busy week and a mysterious hard week that we don't understand what God is doing, but we find wonder and work as a gracious rhythm.

I hope you're finding that.

I think that's the journey we're on as a church.

Lord God, we thank you for this wonderful passage, the transfiguration of our Lord Jesus.

And first of all, we want to give you all the glory, Lord Jesus, for being the only one who could be transfigured, because you are the only son of God.

And we give you all the praise this morning that you didn't just get transfigured, but you got resurrected because you did go to the cross.

You went all the way to the finish line.

And you ran the race that was prepared for you to run so that you could save us and redeem for yourself for people that are your very own, eager to do what is good.

We thank you, Lord, for the wonder of this table that we're about to celebrate around.

And we honour you for the work that you did to make it happen in Jesus' name.

Amen.

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