Message from Oct 29

Mark 8, 9:2-8

Seeing His glory

22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see men, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Peter Confesses Jesus As the Christ

27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

34 And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? 37 For what can a man give in return for his life? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

9 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”

The Transfiguration

2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

Mk 8:22-9:8

Who likes a show off?

Typically we don’t like it when someone tries to show off. We look down on people who seek to make themselves look good all the time. When someone is trying to gain praise for themselves we are offended, aren’t we? In fact, we consider it a bad thing to be proud in that way. They are so self consumed, so wanting to see themselves exalted. Self-exaltation is not something good, is it? If someone came over your house and said “Let me do you a favor for the next hour. Let me talk to you about how great I am”, you would quickly find a excuse to end the visit. There is nothing worse than someone who is just all about themselves.

Now, if that is true, if we hate it when someone tries to gain praise for themselves, and see it as a bad thing, then when we come to God we should find Someone who never seeks praise for Himself, right? I mean, we don’t like it, it is looked down upon and even forbidden to gain our own praise. So God certainly is not all about just gaining his own praise, right?

But we find the opposite. Why? God is not just always, it seems, concerned about his own praise, but he seems to even demand that we praise him. What are these demands for praise? What kind of a God runs around saying “you better praise me, you better worship me, you better say nice things about me, you better say how good I am!”- what is that about? It could seem, well, kind of pathetic, couldn’t it? Why does He need our praise?

Here we have in this passage Jesus showing off His glory. Why? It’s an odd thing to do- “Come up here to the top of this mountain with me so I can show you how great I am.” Isn’t this exactly what we should not do? Why does He do it?

I want to explain to you why Jesus does this, and why this act here is one of the most loving things Jesus can do. It is not selfish, it is not unloving- this is extraordinarily loving of Him! Why?

Reviewing the truth about our hearts

Last week we talked about our hearts. We said or hearts all do three things. Do you remember?

1- they seek something of value to be near

2- they want to get more of that thing of value, and enjoy it, and will sell everything to get it.

3-they want to proclaim the greatness of the thing they find.

And I said that this is exactly what God created us for. He created you with hearts that work this way for a reason. Your hearts are built to seek value and want it and enjoy it and proclaim it.

In fact, I would say this- the greatest happiness any human can have, in fact the happiness you long for and try and get- is a happiness that comes from your heart doing these three things. You desperately want to be happy by finding something of value, getting and enjoying it, and proclaiming and singing it’s praises. You are made for this- you all are worshipers. You were made to be. You were designed to exalt the worth of valuable things.

What valuable thing this week did your heart show it was wanting, and near, and valuing?

What did you talk about?

What did you spend your time on?

What did you think about all alone?


These are the things our heart values, these are the things we worship. We value them, we enjoy them, we want to praise them. This is the design of our hearts.

The greater the value, the greater the joy

And get this; the greater the value of the thing you find, the more joy you will have in it, and in expressing it’s value. Think about that. For instance, there is a measure of joy in valuing baseball and being excited over a team doing well and praising that team. There is a greater joy in valuing a person that we are in love with, and gaining joy from being near them, and in talking about them, and that joy is much greater than the joy of valuing baseball! But what if we found something of the greatest value, of such a value that it made even the people we love seem insignificant and small? What if we could find that thing of great value, and enjoy it, and praise it?

And of course you know I am speaking of God- and this is what our hearts were designed to do. And if the amount of joy we will have is equal to the worth of the thing we are valuing, then the greatest joy we can have is if we have hearts that value God, and enjoy Him, and praise Him. You see this? It is life changing to get this!

So to sum up- we have hearts that long to find something of value, and get and enjoy that thing, and praise it. The greater the value of the thing we find, the greater the joy our hearts will have in getting and enjoying and praising it. God has the greatest value, so to have God as the object of our heart’s valuing, to have Him as our treasure, this would bring the greatest joy.

A loving thing to do – giving us Himself

So, keep thinking. If I really love you, if I really really do- what should I help you do if I want to see you really happy? Yes, I should help you see the value of God, so that you can value Him, want to get more of Him, enjoy Him, and praise Him. That is what I need to do. If you love those near you, if you really love them, what will you do? Will you help them value you most? Value lust most? Value popularity most? What will you help them value most? God, right? That would be the most loving thing you could do- to get them to tie their hearts to God- to get them to see the real value that He has, because for as long as they are setting their hearts on things much less valuable than Him, they are destined to never have joy as they were meant to have it. So, the most loving thing I can do, and you can do, is to try and show how valuable God is to others so that they set their hearts on Him and enjoy Him and praise Him. Right?!

So then, what is one of the most loving things that God can do?

You see, God is in a unique position. God knows that your heart was designed to find something of great value and enjoy it, and the greater the value of what it finds, the greater the joy that you will have, he knows that. And so if God seeks to make you happy, and then sets out to search the universe for the most beautiful, valuable thing He can find, what does he end up finding? Yes, Himself! So the greatest gift God can give you is Himself.

This is why it is good for Him to exalt Himself, but not good for you to do it. You are not that valuable, compared to God! It is wrong- even sick- to exalt ourselves and put ourselves in places to get others to latch their hearts to us. But it is not wrong for God to do it. God should do it- it would be unloving of God to give us anything but Himself. Think about that! The most loving gift He can give is Himself.

If a great chef came up with this really great recipe for this wonderful desert, and then decided they never wanted to share it, that would not be loving, would it? In the same way, God, when he sees that He is the most valuable thing in the universe, and that we have the greatest joy when we find the thing of the most value, would be unloving to hide from us His beauty.

He must show off His greatness to us, He must display His beauty. This is loving of Him.

We have this weird idea of love- we get the wrong idea that love is when someone makes a big deal over us- they love us when they make much of us. Think about it- when we do think someone loves us? They make a big deal over us, they think about us, they want to be with us, etc. But that is not true for God- for God it would be unloving of Him to make much of you. For God to love is to make much of Himself.
Taste and see!

This changes how you see God’s commands in the bible to worship. He is not a sad old man, wishing someone would say something nice about him. He is actually doing something nice for us when he commands us to worship Him, because a command to worship Him really is a command to enjoy Him! God is always working for His own glory-

9 “For my name’s sake I defer my anger,

for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,

that I may not cut you off.

10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

for how should my name be profaned?

My glory I will not give to another.

Is 48:9-11

25 “ I, I am he

who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

and I will not remember your sins.

Is 43:25

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Eph 1:4-6

And this working for His glory comes out in His commands as well- we are commanded to praise Him, to worship Him alone. From the commandment to have no other Gods before Him to the commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

These are not the commands of a God who is afraid he will lose the love of those he needs and have no one left to praise Him! This is a God who is commanding us to do what will bring us the most joy- to enjoy Him! This is right- to admit His worth. This is just. Understand, it’s not just the fact that it is for our joy that he does this. He DOES really deserve to be honored, and as a just and honest God he MUST demand that we praise Him. To demand we praise anything else would be idolatry! But it wonderfully is not just the right thing to do- but He has set up the universe in such a way that the right thing to do is the thing that would bring us the most joy! It is for our joy!

Our heart’s long to do this, because this is where we will find joy-

11 You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Ps 16:11

4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,

that will I seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

and to inquire in his temple.

Ps 27:4

This is what we want- to find that which has the greatest value- Him! And then enjoy Him forever, and make Him known forever! And he invites us to enjoy Him! Do you see the love in this? When He puts on display his value, He is doing what is most loving!

Think of all the ways he has put in display His greatness! For you to enjoy it! Think of how the world around you constantly shows you Him! Think about the fact that He gives you His word to see Him in! Think about His Son coming to earth to reveal to us the Father! Think about this very night- God is at work to show you His worth, that you would be able to enjoy Him more!

8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Ps 34:8

This is what we are called to do- taste, and see!

Having no taste for Him

But- what if you don’t see it?

What if we understand this, but when we look at God, when we taste, we don’t seem to find anything of all that much worth. This is where most of the world is. They see Him every day all around them in creation. They hear of His Son’s work. And they don’t see that he is good. What then?

All is not lost if that is you. You don’t see His value like you should? Neither did these disciples.

That is what this text is about tonight. And what God does in response. Look with me at Mark 8 and all that is going on.

First, we have Jesus feeding the crowds miraculously. After this, the Pharisees, who don’t see who Jesus is, demand a sign. As if the feeding was not enough. Jesus, in disgust, leaves them, telling them they will get no sign. He has just put on display His greatness, and they missed it- and they want him to perform for them. They cant see his value. They wont believe.

Next he gets into the boat with the disciples, and that is who this section is really all about. His followers don’t understand. He is in the boat and he warns them not to be like the Pharisees- he says “watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees.” They are confused, and Jesus says to them “Do you not yet understand?”

Then we have this really weird story- Jesus heals this blind guy, but it’s not normal. There he is, surrounded by the disciples, the disciples he just said still do not see who He is, they don’t see His true worth. And so he takes the blind man, and touches him- and he sees- but not completely-only in part. Then he touches him again, and the man is fully healed. This is just like the disciples- they see in part, but not all the way. This is shown in the rest of the section. Next, Jesus asks “who am I”, and Peter seem to get it right- you are the Christ. But then just sentences later is telling Jesus that he will never suffer on the Cross, and Jesus calls him satan. He still doesn’t see. He sees in part, but not the whole. He understands some of the worth of God, some of who Jesus is, but not the whole thing.
Seeing only in part

This is some of you- you see in part, but not completely. You understand it, and you believe it- but you don’t taste His goodness. Are you like that tonight? You see in part? You hear this talk about his value, and enjoying Him, but that part you don’t see. You see the part that he is God, and that He died for you, but there is no good taste, no real valuing?

Do you want to see the whole truth of who He is?

Understand, Jesus healed the man, and he saw in part. But how was he healed all the way? Yes, by Jesus! Jesus finishes the opening of the eyes.

And the same with the disciples-

He takes peter, James and John, and just literally shows them. He reveals His glory to them. He continues to show Himself to them, He continues to show His worth.

Jesus is this day willing to continue to put on display His value to you. The way to be healed of your blindness is to keep being exposed to His glory, until finally your eyes see it.

4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.2 Co 4:4-6

The light is shining, he constantly shines it- keep seeking it out. He will open your eyes. Beg Him to do that tonight.

Look upon his value now-

Understand- God is so loving that he puts on display his worth to us- but not just that- we would be cut off from his worth forever. Just think of how sad it is that you right now might not even be able to see His worth, the worth of the one your heart is designed to see the worth of. How messed up we are! What penalty do we deserve for having spent our lives enjoying the value of other things, and thinking that He has little value at all? This has put us under his wrath. We are cut off from Him, separated because of sin.

The sad thing is, even if we see his worth, we cant do number two and three- we cant get more of Him and enjoy Him. We are cut off! We were kicked out of the garden- we can not get to the one who is most valuable- and so we can never get the thing that would bring us the most joy. Can you imagine what joy would be ours if we could get him- his worth is infinite- and so our joy would be infinite as well! And the amazing thing about the Cross, it isn’t that it gets us out of hell, it is that he brings peace between us and Him, so that we can once again have him- we can get to Him, we can have what our hearts now see the value of- we can enjoy Him forever!

The cross! The good news is that you don’t have to do anything to fix this, he does. And the very way he fixes it shows His worth! The fact that He would die for you while you did not value Him, this is love, because it shows off His worth! The Cross shows the worth of God- it puts on display how beautiful His love is, and his mercy, and his justice. And the Cross makes a way for you to have Him forever!

Keep looking!

Where is he at work to show you His worth? Are you looking for it? Are you trying to see it? For your joy, I beg you- look for it! Seek to see it! Have you even looked tonight?

Jesus is transfigured before us- He is showing His worth to us. Where can we go to see it? To His word! I beg you, friends, flee to His word, and seek to see his beauty and worth- seek to see Him! Look to the Cross and see how beautiful He is- then, let your heart go to Him, and believe the truth- the truth that He really is welcoming you to have more and more of Him forever, and to enjoy more and more of Him forever!

What a great gift He has given you! He has given you the greatest gift that could ever be offered to anyone- the most valuable thing in the universe is offered to you right now- Himself- and it is not free for Him, to offer it to you took the cross! This is the love of God! This is His value!

Taste and see that the Lord is good! And live in such a way that you show the world that you value Him most, and live in such a way that you help them value Him most too!