Luke 9:18-36

Mark Smith preaching from Luke 9:18-36.Connect with us here:Website: citychurchdublin.ieFacebook: facebook.com/CityChurchDublin

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Luke chapter 9, verse 18. Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him, and he asked them, Who do the crowds say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist, but others say Elijah, and others that one of the prophets of old has risen. Then he said to them, But who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, The Christ of God. And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And he said to all, If any one would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. Now, about eight days after these sayings, he took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses, and one for Elijah, not knowing what he had said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him. And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone, and they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. And so reads God's word.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

We're in Luke chapter 9, uh, so you can have that open in front of us. It's an 18-verse reading, not a 52-verse reading that we had last week. So this is your first Sunday. Welcome. And we uh are in this passage and you Grace read for us. You can follow along with that. Um, I and the other parents have survived midterm. And I must ask, why is it that when you are standing uh in Lidl, that uh the queue uh opposite you is the one that is moving faster? Why is that always the case? And why is it that when you decide actually I'm gonna move into it, that it grinds to a halt? Uh is that just a law of the universe? That is certainly what what it seems. Do you know what an Irish shortcut is? An Irish shortcut is the longest distance between two points. Um, I don't know if you've ever noticed it. Well, it's going to take a shortcut, and it's taken you even longer than it than it would have, because that's what what we want. We want shortcuts. We want immediacy. We want the stuff to arrive on Amazon Prime now. We want the stuff without any delay, we want the success without any of the sacrifice. We want all of the blessings and none of the obedience. That is the dynamic of the Christian life. It's a dynamic that is woven into our world, whether it's in the lines at Lidl or in the stories that we tell ourselves, that suffering always precedes glory. It is uh this part of the story as we journey with Frodo on his ever-painful march to Mount Dune. It is part of the story as we walk with Harry into the Forbidden Forest so that he might voluntarily subject himself to the death curse. And if you don't know what either of those references are talking about, you're in the wrong church. It is true of our lives. It is true of our lives that the most meaningful things that we will ever go through, things like marriage, family, living for Jesus, are often the hardest things. Comfort very rarely brings meaning and significance to your life. Significance is often found along the path of surrender. We want the crown. But we'd rather not take the cross. Thank you very much. But in God's kingdom, and this is what Jesus is talking about in Luke chapter 9, the cross always comes before the crown. That's it. That's the big idea this morning. But don't chin out. Let's see where Jesus takes us. The cross always comes before the crown in God's kingdom. This is the path that Jesus Himself has trodden, and it is the path that he calls us to follow him along. Luke 9 holds out both cross and crown to us and says, the cross is first, but the crown is certain. The cross is first, but the crown is certain. Our passage begins, and this is our first point, with the cross that the disciples and other people expected. So we pick it up in verse 18. Now it happened that he was praying alone. You'll notice as we go through Luke's gospel, or indeed if you're reading it for yourself in one of the little books, uh, if you uh uh read it and Luke says, uh Jesus was praying alone. Jesus praying is always a preamble to oh, something's about to go down, right? So he's praying alone. It's a little linguistic clue when you're reading it. You think, okay, I need to have my attentions up, my antenna up. He's praying alone. Disciples with him, he asked them who do the crowds say that I am. They answered John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others say one of the prophets of old has risen. Then he says to them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered, the Christ of God. If you think about it, throughout Luke's gospel, people are consistently asking, who is this guy? Have you realized that that's an unusual question? Somebody might come up to you and say, Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are? But there's not, that's an insult rather than genuine confusion about who a person is. Who is this guy? And yet that's coming up all the way through Luke's gospel. In fact, we just had it in the passage uh that wasn't read for us where Herod is confused. Herod is perplexed, he doesn't really know what to do with Jesus. You have the crowds seeing Jesus performing miracles and uh and and teaching them, and their response is, who's this guy that seems to have more authority than the scribes or Pharisees? The disciples are seeing him calming storms, and they're there terrified on the boat, and they're going, Who is this guy? It's an unusual question to look at another human being and go, I have no idea who you are. So he asks the disciples, who do the crowd say that I am? And the reports are mixed, they're confused, but not negative per se. Much like our own day, if you ask people who Jesus is, was, you probably get kind of confused, probably generally positive answers, good teacher, prophet, moral leader, moral exemplar. But Jesus isn't satisfied with the conclusions of the crowd. He intensifies the question and looks at the disciples and says, Who do you say that I am? That you is emphatic, it's personal. Who do you say that Jesus is? He's pinning the disciples down. And hey, folks, heaven or hell swing on your answer to that question? Have you realized that? That's the key question. It's the key question of any of your exploring of faith, of you coming along here on a Sunday morning, that's it. Who do you, emphatic, pin down personally, who do you say Jesus is? That's it. All of eternity swings around your answer to that question. It's important to pay attention, isn't it? Peter's answer is that he is the Christ of God. Christ and Messiah are the same word. One's in Hebrew, one's in Greek, and both mean God's anointed king, God's chosen king, the one that he had promised to send of old, the king who would reign forever. And Peter is saying, You're that guy. You are the promised king. Peter is saying, you're the one who wears the crown. And again, another remarkable thing that because we've kind of grown up in the Christian West, we kind of skip on over. Jesus accepts that. Jesus accepts that answer. He's like, great, don't tell anybody. He doesn't repudiate him because no, no, you've got it wrong. He's not like, he's not like Buddha. He's like, no, no, I'm not a God. I'm just a wake. This is literally what he said. I'm a wake. Jesus accepts that um that conclusion. He doesn't deny it. He welcomes Peter's assessment. So Jesus is God's promised king. So what's next? Well, surely the next step is proclamation. Let's get the news out there. Start an Instagram live saying got a big announcement. It's going to be happening just outside of Jerusalem at 4 o'clock local time tomorrow. Tune in, guys. Peter's got it. The disciples have got it. The penalty has finally dropped. Why doesn't Jesus say, let's get the word out there, guys? It's time for time for kingdom time. Let's get the crime. Let's get back to Herod and go, you've got something of mine. Could I have it back, please? No, instead, he turns to the disciples and says, don't tell anyone. Why? Because the cross always comes before the crime. That's it. The cross always comes before the crime. And that's our second point. Jesus begins to tell them about his cross that will come before his crime. Verse 22. He strictly charged them to tell nobody, and then said, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. In a single verse, verse 22, in a single verse, Jesus completely reframes, he redefines what it means for him to be God's king. Peter's expectation, John the Baptist's expectation, that's why he's sending messages going, are you the Messiah? Because the expectation is great military geopolitical leader. And Jesus here in verse 22 utterly confounds those expectations. He knows that he's the king, he accepts that assessment from Peter. He knows that he's the king. He knows that he will have an eternal kingdom. And we know that he knows this because of the title that he uses for himself. Have a look at verse 22. Verse 22, he gives himself a title. He says, the son of man must suffer many things. The son of man is not just some generic kind of third person talking about himself. Jesus is taking a very particular title from the Old Testament, from the book of Daniel, from chapter seven. In Daniel chapter seven, Daniel is having a vision at nighttime, and in his night vision, he sees what he describes as a human being who he designates as one like a son of man. And this son of man comes before God, and God the Father gives to the Son of Man an eternal kingdom that would never end. So Jesus understands, I'm that king. I have an eternal kingdom. I am going to receive that eternal kingdom from my father. I am the Daniel 7, Son of Man. Jesus knows that that's him, but he also knows that the road to his coronation is one of suffering. He says the Son of Man must suffer. Again, it's another emphatic word. In the same way that the U is emphatic in Luke's original, so the must, this must happen. His suffering is a necessity. It is essential. You might ask yourself, what constrains this king to go to the cross? It is not that he is captured by his enemies. It is that he is captivated by love for his enemies, for you and I. Both the term Messiah and the term Son of Man are terms of glory and power. Yeah, what Jesus is saying is that the most glorious, the most powerful, will become the lowest and the weakest. The crime is not cancelled by the cross. It is achieved through it. Because Jesus knows and tells his disciples that resurrection lies on the other side of this suffering for him. And so we look in wonder and amazement and ask ourselves, why would he do that for us? But Jesus doesn't end there. He turns to his disciples and says that the cross must come before the crown for every single one of us. That it's not just Jesus will take the cross and he'll get the crown and we'll get to kind of stand on the sidelines and go, oh, well done, glad you did the well done for the cross. So glad you've got the crown. Jesus now turns it on us and says, You want to follow me? You want to come after me? You want the crown? You walk the road of the cross. And so he moves us then thirdly to our cross, which comes before our crown. Verses 23 to 27. You have been around church for any length of time. We hear stories of amazing faith in the midst of suffering missionaries in far-flung, worn-torn parts of the world who trust in Jesus at the very lowest point in their lives, in the most intense danger. And we look at them with such admiration. Isn't that challenging? Verse 23, and he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever would save his life would lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. And Jesus spells out in these verses what that looks like. He says, first of all, to deny yourself. That's not just as simple as saying no to the extra piece of chocolate cake during Lent. Or saying no to uh to that net drink, or or falling into a pit of of self-loathing and self-hatred. No, to deny yourself is to renounce self-rule. It's to renounce self-governance. It's to say my life is not my own, that I belong to another. That is what it is to deny yourself. You cannot follow Jesus and remain sovereign over your life. Have you, are you relinquishing that sovereignty, that control? Deny yourself, Jesus says. Then he says, take up your cross, secondly. This has become kind of sanitary in our minds because we wear crosses, we look at crosses all the time. We've got gold jewelry on our chest of little crosses. And so the the shock and the offense that of Jesus' words is kind of lost on us. It would be akin to walking around with a uh with a little electric chair pendant or a little noose pendant. It'd be, oh, it's it's kind of it's oh that's that's taboo, that's provocative. Why are we to do this? Jesus' words here are supposed to shock us. They are an invitation to die daily to ourselves, to reshape and reframe our priorities, to prefer the needs of others above ourselves, to live a life of service and of generosity and of love rather than of self-service and comfort and self-love. To take up your cross in ancient days was to open yourself to public ridicule and shame. And Jesus says, voluntarily enter that social awkwardness with me, for my sake. He says, Follow me. He wants this for his people? Well, again, in these verses, he gives us rationale, promises, things that we can hold on to, for why it is that we would voluntarily walk a road of suffering and shame, where we would voluntarily reshape our values, how we use our money, how we conduct our relationships, how we view our sexuality. Why would he ask this of us? He tells us first. If you lose your life, you'll save it. That's the economy of the kingdom. That's the dynamics of the kingdom. Loss is gaining. Imagine for a moment that on the palm of your hand, once the sun finally decides to make an appearance again, sorry, not Jesus, the S U-N, right? Once the sun finally makes an appearance, imagine on your hand in the springtime has alighted a beautiful butterfly. And it's just and it's its wings are just kind of opening and closing in the sunlight. And you can see its long little beak, whatever that thing is called that it drinks nectar from, somebody tell me is a is some sort of insect person, right? It was there, it's beautiful. You can imagine it. Whatever your favorite colors are, it's there in your hand, and you think this thing is so precious. I want to keep it forever. Well, sabbat. No more butterfly. You now have butterfly jam on the palm of your hand. Why? Because you've tried to keep it. That's your life. So precious. It's so beautiful. But don't you feel that? Do you feel that dynamics in the in the relationships that you enter into? You try and kind of grab onto something or someone and so tight. You end up smothering them. You end up losing that thing because it it slips like sand through your fingers. We know this, and Jesus is saying, lose your life. Open your hand and let it flourish and look at its beauty, because then you'll save it. We cling on so tightly to those things that we cannot bear to lose, and yet we end up crushing them anyway. The paradoxical promise of the kingdom is that when you hold your life loose, that is when you truly live. You realize that? So Jesus said, lose your life and you'll save it. Second rationale, second promise that he gives for taking up your cross and following him is, guys, the world is not worth your soul. Years ago, they tried to actually quantify the value of a human being, like what is uh what is the actual kind of, can you put a kind of monetary value on a human being? Because you're thinking about kind of medical costs and things like that. And they came out with some number about seven million dollars. That a human being is worth about seven million. You might think, yeah, okay, that's um, I don't really feel like I'm I'm worth that much. What's Jesus saying? The world isn't worth your soul. Absolute success without Christ is catastrophic failure. Life is not a game where the kid with the most toys at the end wins. You can win financially, you can win professionally, you can win the admiration of the crowd, you can win the perfect house, the perfect spouse, the perfect family, and still lose your soul. And Jesus says it's not worth it. Guys, most of us are young. We're starting our families, we're building our careers, we're buying our houses. You need to settle in your head now and in your heart now the rhythm of the kingdom that Jesus is telling you. It will make your life more meaningful, more significant, it'll make you happier because you will be more generous, you'll be more loving, you'll be less anxious. Do it now. Your soul is not worth exchanging for the world. The third promise is a warning. He says that shame now will lead to shame eternally. How do you gain the world? How do you avoid having to carry the cross and living a life of loss? It's in all those little moments where we just go the easier road and we've all done it. We don't stand up for Jesus the way that we should. We don't speak up for our Christian faith when we should. We walk the path of least resistance in order to avoid embarrassment. And Jesus warns us. Is that those 10,000 little moments create a pathway in your life? You know, there was a there was a kind of an informal project in the Church of England, a little bit in the Church of Ireland as well. For those of you who don't know, uh uh I'm an ordained Anglican minister, and uh, and so any criticism that I have about the level uh is kind of rocks rocks thrown from kind of within the house. Okay. But what kind of happened in the 20th century was uh this kind of feeling and idea of if we uh if we kind of train up uh good men with the gospel, and they kind of keep their head down for about 20 years, uh then they'll get into leadership positions uh in the in the system of the Church of Ireland or of the Church of England, and then they'll be able to change it. But you know what happens if you live 20 years of your life not really showing any spine, not really showing any backbone, not really showing any courage. Do you think that 20 years later, when you finally get consecrated as a bishop, that you suddenly become the most courageous, uh bravest, and most outspoken person that has ever existed in the Church of Ireland or the Church of England? Might surprise you to learn that the answer to that question is no. Because the little decisions all the way along, you think, well, I'm just gonna keep my head down, it's not gonna rock the boat here, but then don't work that way. Who knew? Turns out he did. Be careful. Shame now will lead to shame eternally. But Jesus finishes with a glorious promise. He says, the glory is coming. Why would you take up your cross? Why would you follow him? Why would you deny yourself every day? He says, the Son of Man is coming, and he's coming in glory with the Father and with the holy angels, and you will see it, and you will participate in it. So don't give up. It's worth carrying your cross because glory is coming. Remember? Cross first, glory is certain. Jesus says, My glory is coming. The kingdom I will share with you is coming. You will see it, it will be worth it. I will be yours, it will be yours. Don't be beguiled by this soul-killing world. Don't crush your life under the weight of desires and expectations that only Jesus can bear. Don't shy away from me, Jesus says, and my call to live this sort of life, because, brother, sister, the crown is coming. Jesus says in verse 27, he says, But I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. This is a strange verse, isn't it? You read it and sit here in 2026 and think to yourself, did Jesus get his timings wrong? Is there a bunch of immortal disciples living in a cave in the Middle East somewhere? Just haven't uh shuffled off this mortal coil yet because they're waiting for the kingdom? I don't think that that's what's going on. Because you stop and ask yourself, when does the kingdom of God break into our world in a glorious way? When does it happen? Let me give you the answer. When the Son of Man walks out of his grave and ascends to the right hand of his father and is given a kingdom that will have no end. Friends, do you know that there are two ages overlapping in our world right now? There's the age that we are in, the age of death, the age of tears, the age of sin, the age of calamity and disaster, the age of frustration and curse and thorns and thistles. That age has continued from Adam till today. But imagine in your mind's eye that as the Son of Man walks out of his grave, a new age pierces the old one and breaks into our world, not fully, not finally, but certainly. And it's that age that is growing and is expanding as the church grows and as more people come to follow King Jesus, more of that kingdom is breaking in. And it assures us, like first fruits, like a deposit, like a down payment, that that kingdom's where we're going, that this one is being done away with. Jesus is saying, When I am resurrected, you will see the glory of the kingdom. And so that's why you need some of you will still be alive when I ascend to the right hand of my Father and I enter into the court of the ancient of days as that Son of Man and receive a kingdom that will have no end. That is what he is saying. Jesus is not saying that some disciples will live until the final return. He is saying that they are about to see the glory of the kingdom of God. And in our last section, he gives them a glimpse of that glory eight days later on the mountain. So this is our fourth and final point. If you were tracking with it, you thought one and two passed really quick, and then three slowed down. Yeah. Four shouldn't be as long, but we'll see. Fourth is this the crown is on display. That's what's happening up the mountain. Eight days later, Jesus leads his disciples. Uh, the inner three, actually, Peter, James, and John, up onto a mountain. We're not told what. And they experience what has become known as the transfiguration and the changing of appearance of Jesus. That is, that Jesus reveals to them a glimpse of his true glory. It is as though the veil of this age, the veil of this world, is pulled back and they see Jesus as he really is for a few moments on that mountain in all of his glory. The crime is put on display. The crime is revealed to them. And what do we learn about this crime? Well, we learn, first of all, that it's a crime that's always been promised. We're told that on that mountain, Moses and Elijah are standing with Jesus, and you kind of think, well, that's weird. What's going on with that? Well, not to get too technical about it, but Moses is the one who wrote the law, the kind of first five books of the Bible, and Elijah is kind of the one who is synonymous with the prophets. He's the first of the prophets. And so what Jesus, what Jesus is symbolically communicating here is that the law and the prophets, that is, the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, are all kind of joined with me, that there's no rivalry, that we're here and they were pointing to me always. It was a promised crown. They come alongside Jesus confirming that everything that had gone before was pointing to him and to his ministry. We learn as the curtain is pulled back that that crown is a crown that will be purchased by Jesus. Luke tells us that Moses and Elijah were speaking to Jesus, and in English we read this word that they were speaking to him, verse 31, about his departure. That is his death. But the word that Luke uses is very significant. It holds a deeper resonance. Let me tell you what it is and see if you can work out what the significance is, right? Luke tells us that Moses and Elijah were talking to Jesus about his ready Exodus. Oh, do you see? They're telling him about his Exodus. Because what was the Exodus? Second book of the Bible, yeah, know that. Well done. Bible quiz, tick. Get that one for the uh for the quiz at the church weekend away. Uh but what happens in the Exodus? Why is it called the Exodus? Because it's the freedom from slavery of the people of God. What is Jesus going to do by his death and resurrection? He is going to free us from slavery. Not to Pharaoh, not to a geopolitical power, but to powers that are much worse. The power of sin over your life. Wouldn't you like that broken? The power of death. That is what Jesus sets us free from. But through his death and resurrection, he leads us, his people, in a better exodus. And just as the first brought about a new community, a new people of God. So Jesus' Exodus will give birth to this, to the church, to his people gathered from every tribe and tongue and language and nation. Thirdly, we learn here that this crown that we glimpse on the Mount of Transfiguration is a crown of present glory. Peter's not quite sure what's up, right? Because it's a big day. You're going on a hike, you walk the sugar loaf, this is not what you expect, right? Next thing he knows, he's having a picnic with Moses. So big day. One for you, and one for Moses, and one from Elijah. Where did he have the stuff? Was he going to go to Mountain Warehouse? But he said, I'm going to build a tent. Why? Is he just out of his mind? It seems odd, doesn't it? Unless we have in our mind the significance of tents in the history of the people of God. The tent in the Exodus was where the glory of God dwelt. The tabernacle, the tent. And Peter's saying, Oh, there's lots of glory on display here. Let's house it. Let's put it somewhere. So that it's because that's what you do with glory. You put it in a tent. Peter thinks that the glory that he's saying needs housing, but the glory that is revealed to him already has a home in the person of Jesus Christ. The crown is not found in places, but on a person. And Peter glimpses here that God will no longer dwell in tents, but that he reigns through his son, the Lord Jesus. Then fourthly and finally, in this point, it's a crown that's proclaimed again. Just as like Jesus' baptism, the Father speaks. And in the baptism, the Father spoke from heaven, confirming that Jesus is his beloved son. Here again, he confirms. Verse 35: This is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him. This itself is the language of Psalm 2. You are my son. Today I have begotten you and I've enshrined you on Jerusalem, my holy hill. The Father settles the question that started the passage. Do you realize that? The whole passage begins with who is this guy? And everybody going, well, is he is he Moses? Is he Elijah? Is he is he one of the prophets? Who settles the question? The Father speaks. He removes all doubt. You want to know who Jesus is? The Father has told you from heaven, this is my son. Listen to him. He is my spokesperson, my final word, my full disclosure, my final revelation. Then the voice fades, and the cloud disperses, and Moses and Elijah disappear, and Jesus stands alone, unmatched in glory, unbowed in purpose. We learn at the end of Luke chapter 9 that from that moment he set his face resolutely to Jerusalem, he must walk the road of the cross, but he knows that the crown is certain. We all want the mountain of glory, but most of life is lived in the valley of the cross. Don't despise the valley because the crown is coming. Luke shows us, as we close, Luke shows us two mountains, in a sense. On one mountain stands the cross of Calvary, that hill far away, where the old rugged cross was raised outside of Jerusalem's walls. That's where Jesus is headed. That's where sin is paid for. That's where his disciples learn to die daily. And on the second mountain stands glory. The crowned King Jesus. That's what Peter, James, and John glimpse. That's resurrection, life, that's the kingdom. But here's the truth you cannot. Reach the mountain of glory without passing through the mountain of the cross. Let me ask you a question. Do you want to see City Church? Do you want to see the glory of God manifested in our midst in our day? Yes or no? I'm asking that. Do you want to see the glory of God manifest amongst us? Yes or no? Yes. Of course we do. We want to see more people come to know Jesus. We want to see this room packed up. We want to plant more churches. We want lives transformed. We want people freed from despair and hopelessness and addiction. We want all of them, but we want the glory of God to rest heavy on our community. Amen. Amen. Of course we do. If that is what we want, we must be a church of costly obedience. We must be a church of daily dying, of reckless love, of lavish generosity, of sacrificial service. If that is us, the glory of God will rest weightily upon our community, upon our lives. We never walk up the mountain of the cross without the promise of glory. Jesus stands between these two mountains. He beckons us on. He carried the cross of our shame, and he bids us to share in the crown of his glory. Amen. Let's pray together. May we not despise the paths that you bid us to walk in our lives. Father, you know the crosses that people are bearing, the frustrations and sadnesses, the losses, the desperations, the longings that each person here bears. Would you meet them on that road? Would you lift their head that they might see the certain hope of glory that the kingdom has broken in because Jesus is alive. And that every step we take in faith brings us closer to that day where we see him in all of his beauty, glory, majesty, power. And with that strengthened, weary arms and weakened knees as we walk together. We long that your glory would weigh heavy in this room in our communities. Help us to live that life of costly obedience. And know the glory that awaits us. Amen.