Shiney and New

February 26, 2017

Stetson Memorial UMC

Sermon Series:

 “Becoming You…”

“Transformative Praise”

Adapted from Marcia McPhee’

“Who Are You?” Sermon Series

Psalm 99

Exodus 24:12; 34:29-35

Matthew 17:1-5

“Who are you” by The Who

“Shiny and New…”

Prayer that God’s Word is heard through me or in-spite of me…

Please stand for the reading of the Gospel St. Matthew, chapter 17, verses 1-5. Listen to the Word of God, His Love Letter to His beloved, you and I…

“Who are you” theme song…

Good Morning. Today is the last Sunday before we begin our Lenten journey to the cross. How appropriate that is it called Transfiguration Sunday in the church calendar. It is a celebration of when Jesus and a few of His disciples, Peter, James, and John, went up onto a mountain top. Here Jesus’ form is transfigured…transformed…right before the Disciples eyes. Now the reason why I feel that is so appropriate that we celebrate THIS Sunday just before our Lenten journey is this, In Lent we travel to the cross where our biggest transformation happens…where the biggest part of us becoming the you God wants us to be takes place…

We are at our last week of talking about how God’s promises and truths, can be very hard to understand if we don’t realize who we are in Christ Jesus. It has been interesting and enlightening journey. We have asked who are we really…how does God equip us…what are we supposed to do…? Who are we in Christ…? I continue to truly believe that we all want to become the “you” God wants us to be. What transformation has happened to you as we looked at who we are in Christ…or should I say Whose we are.

On our journey, we have discovered one fact…you and I are God’s beloved. You and I are cherished, favored, and loved by God…there is One who never reject us…flaws and all… We went to the river with Jesus and remembered our baptism and the promise found there. We are striving to live that life of acceptance and grace so that we in turn will accept others and offer them the same grace we have received.

We talked about the different names that we go by, how we are identified.

Not only are we God’s beloved we also carry Christ’s name when we call ourselves “Christ”ians…what a thought that is… God has called us to an extraordinary purpose that only you or I can fulfill. As we find our niche…we become an example for those who are looking for a better way…

We know that when we noble…act with integrity, we honor God and embody the life we are called to live…one of trustworthiness and honesty.  As we show this character trait, we can begin living relationally with those around us…creating a three-fold cord that just can’t…no won’t be broken. We have realized we need to the methodically…purposefully…compassionate with ourselves and those around us.

The final piece in the becoming who we are is that when we realize who we are…when that Truth transforms us…we proclaim to others of the transformative power found in Jesus Christ. We just can’t keep it in that we are made “shiny and new” …we shine with the Shakina of God…the brilliance of God shines through us…because of the hope…the grace…the love that God pours out into and upon our lives to be poured out onto a world in need of a tidal wave of God’s presence.

We are kind of like Moses when he came down from the mountain… Let me share with you the story from Exodus 24”:12 and 34:25-39:

12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.

33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.

Now…the people were afraid of the “glory of God” the Shakina of God, and so they stood afar from Moses…until it was explained to them…then they came near. In the world, we live in today, many are afraid of who we are because they don’t understand, or they have had a bad experience”, or they …fill in the blank. We need to share our testimony with our mouths and our lives as a way of explaining who God is so that those who are afraid will understand and come near…

My question is this, after Moses explained why he glowed and people came near, why did he have to cover his face? No one was going to be afraid of him… This is my theory…this was before the Holy Spirit was given. Moses would shine whenever he came back from talking with God. Could it be that over time the shine would kind of wear off and he wouldn’t shine again until he was with God. He didn’t want the people to know and be discouraged so he hid his face until he would shine again…be all shiny and new.

Fortunately we have the Holy Spirit within us and God has come to dwell within you and me. We can always have that Shakina of God about us…that is if we choose to have that shine upon our lives. We have hope and that is more than enough to make us shine for God. WE are transformed and it is that transformation that others see…the transformation is our witness to the world of God’s saving grace.

Now I would like to talk a little about a word that is not just a verb but a noun. The word is hope…we have hope and we hope in Hope. In proclaiming the transformation that we have in Christ, I think that one of the biggest pieces within that transformation is hope...not as the world gives it because the world is fickle...but God's hope which endures forever. When we realize who and whose we are, we totally cling to that hope because it will not disappoint us...or will it ever fail us. It is hard to hope as Christians do...we cannot see our hope but believe...the world hopes because it hopes in what is seen...The Christian hope endures and the world’s only until the next thing.... or until they get what they see...

Humanity seems to be always looking for hope. As we try to find that hope we can tend not to see it right before our eyes. Hebrews 11 is called the "Faith Hall of Fame". All of the people in this chapter have been remembered because of their great faith. But in reading this chapter, one thing keeps coming to my mind. These "hero's of faith" had one thing in common. Their hope was not in themselves but was in God.

Abraham never saw the promises of descendants too numerous to count but had faith and hope in God to fulfilled His promises. Noah built an ark to be able to escape the wrath of God. Even though there had never rain before this time, Noah believed and put his hope in God to deliver him and his family from the consuming waters. He chose to trust God and through his faith in God, he found hope.

There are so many facets to salvation. There is the grace that we receive from God within salvation. The grace freely given to us even though we don’t deserve it but it is through the blood of Jesus that we receive this incredible gift. We are chosen by God and are adopted by Him through the blood that was poured down a wooden cross on a hill for you and for me. We are delivered from sin and death through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. There is love and mercy, joy and there is HOPE…Not just your everyday hope that you feel but hope that is not defined by our circumstances but is defined by our great and loving God…through the blood of Jesus Christ.

In the world we live in we are taught to have hope in things we see. But as Beloved of God we have a hope in things unseen. It is foolishness to the world but we hope in greater things that the world just can't understand.

We have hope in eternal and not temporal trappings of this world. In whom shall you place your hope?

Who are you…who am I…who are we  I’ll tell you who we are. We are beloved, cherished, favored, flawless, loved, accepted, Name carrying, trustworthy, honest to goodness, relationally living, purposefully compassionate, transformed, children of God with an extraordinary purpose. That’s who we are and that’s what we exclaim in the name of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ. What else could we be?

Amen