Sermon: Life Aglow With Praise

Life Aglow With Praise

February 25, 2001

Sermon by Rev. Laurel Bobb

We have a very famous and important person here at worship today. In fact he’s so famous I don’t even need to tell you who he is, but I hope you will make him feel welcome. Our Gospel for today begins eight days after Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ and Jesus telling them that he will suffer and theirdiscipleship implies carrying a cross. The significance of the number of days being eight is that there were seven days of creation and this is symbolizing a new creation--a new age. With Jesus there was a chance for a fresh start; things wouldn’t go on as they had in the past. To highlight this Jesus took his inner circle of disciples, Peter, James, and John up to the mountain to pray.

In Scripture exciting and important things happen on mountains; this instance is no exception. As Jesus was praying something happened and for once the disciples were in on it. They understood that Jesus was some very important person on par with Moses and Elijah the big two of the Jewish faith. Our lesson doesn’t tell us how they knew it was Moses and Elijah; perhaps it was from their conversation, but they knew. They also saw that Jesus had an "in" with them.

The disciples were speechless--all except for Peter, who seemed to always want to say something even when silence would be more appropriate. So Peter suggests a building program. He wanted to have something stable. He wanted to contain that experience. In a sense he wanted to put "God in a box" as Herb Brokering put it.

But then he was shaking in his sandals because right after he said this a cloud came--and not just any cloud. You may remember the cloud that led Israel through the wilderness. It symbolized God’s glory. This cloud surrounded them. They were in the presence of the living God and they were terrified. That is the natural inclination of a sinful humanity in the presence of a holy God. Even encountering someone who has been in the presence of God causes us to tremble; that’s why Moses had to wear the veil when he came down from Mt. Sinai. The people couldn’t bear even the reflection of God’s glory.

As if the cloud overshadowing them weren’t enough, a voice came out of the cloud and proclaimed Jesus as God’s chosen one. The voice also said to listen to him. Then the cloud disappeared, and with it Moses and Elijah. Finally Peter was so awestruck that he kept silent. In fact he was probably wondering if he really saw what he saw. They told no one. Who would have believed a few fishermen anyhow?

But life has to go on so the next day they went down from the mountain and it was business as usual. There were healings to do, miracles to perform, sermons to preach. In fact they were barely down from the mountain when a whole crowd of people showed up. Jesus heard that his disciples had been inept students and couldn’t accomplish this healing themselves.

So Jesus steps in and proves that he is the Chosen one. He has the power of God in him. He is more powerful than the strongest demon. The crowd’s reaction is astonishment at the greatness of God.

Have you ever been astonished at the greatness of God? I think too often we have made God into something like white bread--you’re glad you have it, but there’s not much substance to it. We tend to focus on God as a loving being and forget that God is holy--totally other, awe-inspiring, a hater of sin, taking vengeance on his own sinless son for our sakes. We have wanted to have God in a box because a God in a box is one we can control. We can take God out on Sundays or whenever it is convenient, admire him, maybe even worship him, but we can always put him back into the box come Monday morning (or Sunday afternoon) if we choose.

The problem with that is it’s a lie. We don’t have a namby-pamby kind of God. We can’t put God in a box, because the whole universe is too small to contain our great God.

Yet we do have a God who became incarnate and gave of himself for the love of us. Imagine that! The very Creator of the Universe humbled himself and took on human form with the sole intent of becoming a sacrifice for our sin, so that he could stand to have us in his presence. That is an awesome concept. Not only that, but God remains with us.

Furthermore, Christ promises to be present with us through his Holy Spirit. He is here today. He is the famous, very important person I was talking about at the outset of my message. There could be no more consequential or regal person here.

If we were truly convinced of his presence, how might that change our participation in worship? Would we prepare ourselves better before we came? Would we leave our homes early to be sure and get a good seat? Would we skip out before the service was over because we have someplace to go or sleep in because we were out late the night before? Would we sing the liturgy or hymns half-heartedly, or be focused rather on who was here or what we were going to do this coming week instead of on the Scripture reading or sermon? Would we pray more fervently and come looking for answers to our prayers? We want to experience Christ’s presence as we come here.

We would certainly never want anyone here at St. Stephen to be in the same situation this little boy was, "After attending church with his father one Sunday morning, before getting into bed that evening a little boy kneeled at his bedside and prayed, ‘Dear God, we had a good time at church today, but I wish you had been there.’" [Michael P. Green, ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House,1989. Illustrations for Biblical Preaching. p. 407.] God is here. The question is are we?

Our 50-Day Spiritual Adventure topic for today is to worship with genuine enthusiasm. Let’s remind ourselves that Christ is truly present here, and let’s worship accordingly. We have every right to get hepped up about our great God. Our worship should remind people of cheering at a sporting event. Certainly God is more important than the home team! Then let’s put a little life into our worship. I’ve often heard Lutherans referred to as the "frozen chosen." Well at least they give us credit for being chosen, but our religious expression didn’t start out frozen. It started out with tunes from German drinking songs, because those were the ones people knew and sang with gusto.

We need to get some of that kind of ardor back into the church. We can learn a lesson from this Jewish man: "The story is told of a fashionable family who lived near a church whose members worshiped with lusty enthusiasm. They drew up a petition to present to city council stating that he church was disturbing the peace. Thinking that everyone would be quick to sign if a neighboring Jew signed, they took it to him first. His reply was, ‘Gentlemen, I cannot sign it. If I believed, as these Christians, that my Messiah had come, I would shout it from the housetop and on every street in this city, with all the enthusiasm I could command, and nobody would stop me!’" [Adventure Implementation Manual, p. B 35]

If only we would feel that way and let our lives show it! I think some did last week when I heard the young people who had been at the youth quake out in the parking lot cheering for God. Let’s not be ashamed to get excited about the great things God has done for us.

On the other hand, we also need to get back some of the sense of awe in God’s presence. It’s not just like going to the local coffee house to meet with friends enjoy some fellowship and wait for something to happen. We need to come with a genuine reverence for God. How might we show that? We might come early to meditate and pray.

Then we need to remember that worship isn’t just for Sundays, but that our whole lives are to be fragrant offerings to God. Praise is characteristic of Christians. As we worship God, our faces should take on a glow similar to that Moses experienced in God’s presence. People should be able to tell that there is something different about us. The difference is that Christ is in our lives, taking upon himself our worries and fears, leading us along his pathways, and giving us a purpose in life. People like that have reason to celebrate, so let’s do it. Let’s practice a cheer. On the count of three we’ll all yell, "Praise the Lord!" 1, 2, 3, "Praise the Lord!" Now go and live out that praise in your daily lives.

Back from Whence I Came