Lent Landscapes - 2 - Breakthrough

Scripture: Luke 9:28-43

Luke 9:28–43 NIV

28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.) 34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen. 37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.” 41 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” 42 Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.

3/16/2025

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Mission Moment

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Week 2: Mission Moment

Cheryl Jones sharing about Lighthouse Ministry

Opening Prayer:

Eternal Hope,

you promised descendants as numerous as the stars

to old Abraham and barren Sarah.

You promise light and salvation

in the midst of darkness and despair,

and promise redemption to a world that will not listen.

Gather us to yourself in tenderness,

open our ears to listen to your word,

and teach us to live faithfully

as people confident of the fulfillment of your promises.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Breakthrough

Growth Spurts

Do you remember the first time you noticed you were growing? Maybe your parents or grandparents had a place where they measured and marked how tall you were getting. In our second house, growing up, I remember we had a place right next to the kitchen door where you could see a series of pencil marks, showing how tall we had grown over the years, sometimes just over months. Mom would line us up to be measured when she noticed we needed new clothes, and we were always excited to be measured anytime.

We had three cousins close to us in age, and it often felt like a race to see who would be the tallest. It was almost as if we could stretch and strain hard enough to grow a few extra inches while we were being measured, coming out on top at the end.

Of course, years later, we now realize how silly that seems. That is not how growth happens. All kinds of things are involved, like eating healthy, getting plenty of exercise, having the right genetic blueprint to provide you the potential to grow tall, and the time it takes for your bones and muscles to grow. Overall, it seems that we can do things to inhibit our growth to an extent, but when it comes to causing or nurturing that growth, there is little that we have control over.

It can be the same for our spiritual growth as well. We all want to grow into the spiritual mold of Jesus, and we struggle to do so daily. Last week, Bekah shared with us about temptation and the choices we make that can sometimes inhibit spiritual growth. And sometimes we struggle to grow into just an average Christian, whatever we think that looks like. We wonder if we just read the right bible passages, pray the right prayers, serve on the right church teams, and go on the right retreats if that will finally give us the spiritual growth spurt we have been waiting so long to receive. And we are often disappointed when it doesn't work that way.

Most of the time, it does not work that way. It may be that we grow spiritually in ways that reflect the way we grow physically. What if our breakthrough moments are not measured not by our decisions? What if they are measured by the things God does in us?

Rest and Surprise

I mentioned earlier that if we don't eat well or exercise regularly, we might be in danger of inhibiting our physical growth. The same might be said about our spiritual growth as well. If we don't feed ourselves spiritually by getting God's word into us or exercise our spiritual muscles in living out that teaching — through prayer, serving, and witnessing — we may inhibit our spiritual growth as well. But what if I told you that the biggest way you can inhibit your spiritual growth is not refusing to eat or exercise but refusing to rest?

There's a reason God told us to remember the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments. It has its own law, unlike prayer, fasting, serving, witnessing, and everything else—which all fall under the enormous category of loving God and others faithfully.

When we sleep physically, our bodies recharge, rebuild, and grow. I can't tell you how often I had a first day of track or basketball practice and came home exhausted but feeling normal otherwise. However, the next morning, after sleeping quite soundly through the night, I discovered I hurt all over because my muscles were working hard to rebuild and grow stronger so that I could withstand the stress I would put them through at my next practice. Without taking time for spiritual rest, I don't grow. I just do. I serve and serve until I drop, but I never grow in my capacity, so whoever I serve always gets the same thing.

I've done cleaning work in several businesses and churches throughout my life, and the first job I got after graduating from seminary was custodial work for two buildings at Asbury University. One was full of classrooms, and the other was the chapel. Some of those classrooms still used chalkboards, and the chapel was filled with those old built-in wooden chairs that no one gets comfortable in. They had chapel three times a week and encouraged us as staff to attend as we felt led. They also ensured we took breaks, and my partner often fell asleep listening to Rush Limbaugh on his radio during those breaks.

It could have been easy, mindless, senseless work. But I had heard people talk about Asbury University like it was the city of Jerusalem, where Jesus walked, and about the chapel I cleaned each week as if it were the Temple of God. So I cleaned it as if God would show up later that day and speak to the hundreds of students gathered there. I prayed over those uncomfortable chairs as I swept underneath them. And God did speak to those students, not just once, but many times. That work did not grow old for me because I was resting and partaking in moments to join the students in worship. It wasn't about me doing for others; it was simply me having the opportunity to do my small part — keeping them from being distracted by dirt or wrappers on the floor so they could keep their focus on Jesus. And it made a difference. Because I took time to rest, that work became an act of worship.

I'm in a different kind of work today, one that involves a lot of time in God's Word and learning new things every day, and it is easy to get so caught up in the spiritual practices of doing that I neglect the practices of resting. I read scripture and journal five days a week in addition to my sermon prep, work to get it written by Friday, and then take Saturdays off to just let it sit. I know plants won't grow and bear fruit if you constantly dig in the soil around them, jostling them around. I give God a day to work and grow my words before bringing them to you each Sunday morning. God met with Jesus when He took time to rest spiritually, and He often showed up and surprised the disciples when they were taking time for spiritual rest, as He did in our scripture passage today.

Fear and Comfort

Half-asleep, Peter, James, and John are startled by seeing Moses and Elijah, two long-dead prophets, talking with Jesus on the mountaintop that He brought them. Maybe they thought visual delusion was a spiritual equivalent to aching muscles after making that long hike away from everyone. Or maybe they had been with Jesus long enough to trust what they saw around Him. It surprised them and shocked them. There in the light, though, they were excited and wanted to build something to memorialize this experience forever... the place and the moment they got to see the author of the Ten Commandments and one of the greatest prophets of Israel together with Jesus. If they had cameras back then, they would have taken selfies to share with the other jealous disciples at the bottom of the mountain.

But this powerful moment was not meant to last forever, frozen in time. This moment was meant to live and die and then be planted in them to grow into something greater later. The disciples were so excited about seeing Moses and Elijah that they forgot all they spoke to Jesus about. But God did not want them to forget everything, so, in one final act, the presence of God appeared in a thick cloud that covered them. They could not see through the fog, and everything around them was suddenly being wiped away. They couldn't see the ground beneath them, whether they were standing on solid rock or about to step over the edge. All they could see was Jesus.

And God's voice called out through the fog in a way that shook them to their cores. He said,

"This is my son, whom I have chosen. Listen to Him."

God's voice terrifies all of us when He speaks, but because they had Jesus with them, they found a kind of comfort in it as well. In the Chronicles of Narnia, God is depicted as a lion named Aslan. At one point, one of the children asks if he is a friendly lion, hoping that is why they don't have to be afraid of him. But his followers tell them that no, Aslan is a ferocious lion, all-powerful, and he does whatever he pleases. It is right that they should fear him. But they say he is also good. He saves his ferociousness for those who threaten his kingdom, bringing comfort to his children in spite of their fear.

Reunion and Confrontation

Peter, James, and Jon have an incredible experience with Jesus on the mountaintop. God broke through the gloom and spoke to them. He claimed Jesus as his chosen son and told them to listen to him. I wonder if that had become a problem for them, listening to Jesus?

Sometimes, God uses those breakthrough moments to do some course correction in our lives. Sometimes, it takes something big and drastic to pull us back to the straight and narrow path. Sometimes, but not often.

More often, God shows up in our lives dramatically for character correction and course preparation. All of God’s prophets had incredible encounters with Him, not because they were bad, but because they were people that God was entrusting with some very special and often quite difficult work. God didn’t want to send them into the spiritual battlefield without strong encouragement and tools to help them pass on His Word. So, He came to them in some powerful breakthrough experiences to prepare them for what they could expect at the bottom of the mountain.

That’s what the disciples faced at the end of their mountaintop experience. The other disciples, who had missed out on this encounter with Jesus, were trying to cast a demon out of a young boy with severe seizures. And they couldn’t do it. They were frustrated. The boy's father was at his wit's end. And the boy was tormented beyond belief.

James, John, and Peter could not do it either. I’m not sure they even tried. They were not told by God to kick the devil out of the world. They were told to listen to Jesus. They didn’t need to try anything because they had Jesus there with them, and they now had a better understanding of who He was and what He could do. They could simply ask Him for help.

Those mountaintop moments prepare us for what we face when we come back down the mountain. And thank goodness they do because we need them. While we are away having those powerful moments in the presence of God, the devil plays in the world we left behind.

I know many of you might be remembering you’re Emmaus walk experience today. And we have been praying for Kris as she experiences hers this weekend. My first Emmaus experience, a Chrysalis flight I attended as a teenager, gave me some solid ground beneath my feet and helped me transition from high school to college, staying connected to Jesus. However, today, I’m thinking of my last Emmaus experience. I was the head spiritual director for the men’s Emmaus walk in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, from March 12 through the 15th, 2020. Those are some significant dates for us all. We went into that walk hearing rumors about a really bad flu bug going around, and when we came home Sunday, the entire world was shut down. We came back physically exhausted, spiritually full, ready to celebrate all that Jesus had done in and through us and were confronted by friends and family who were terrified, angry, and who had lost all the ground beneath their feet.

One of the things that Walk did for me was challenge and encourage me to find ways to share Jesus with others and to encourage them in their walks with him in ways that were outside our normal expectations. The experience was like watching Jesus feed the 5000 with five loaves of bread and two fish and then receiving a basket of leftovers to take home after the retreat ended. He knew I would need it, so he let that breakthrough experience prepare me for what would come next.

Jesus gives us these breakthrough experiences as we follow him every day. They are much more than moments of emotional or spiritual excitement. They are moments that mark us forever in ways that we do not choose for ourselves. And they are moments given to us to prepare us for the challenges we face. But it is normal to come down the mountain and feel like we no longer fit in with the people around us because, in some ways, we do not. When we spend enough intentional time with Jesus, his character, love, and goodness begin to come out of us, and we begin to look a little bit more like him. We begin to feel a little bit more like him. I'm sure Jesus always felt like He stuck out like a sore thumb in a world that would never understand him.

When you feel that way, it does not mean you need to climb back up that mountain and try to repeat the experience over again. It does not mean you need to hide in a place by yourself where you feel comfortable. Jesus has put you right where you are for a reason, and sometimes that reason is simply standing out and being a different example in the world that needs to see Jesus at work in someone’s life before they can receive him themselves. You don’t need to run. You don’t need to hide. In those moments before, during, and after the breakthrough, you need to listen to Jesus.

Where have you experienced breakthrough in your life?

How has Jesus continued to lead and teach you after you have come down from those mountaintop moments?

Where are you taking time to rest in the presence of Jesus and open yourself to these breakthrough moments?

Closing Prayer

Lord, we need you. We need you more than the air we breathe or the ground beneath our feet. Your words are not just things that sound good or sound true. Your words are the foundation of creation and the things we can build our lives upon like nothing else. In our times of temptation, help us to hear you. When you challenge us to climb the mountains, help us to listen to your voice, calling us forward. When we stand in awe of everything we see and experience at the mountaintop, please help us to listen to your voice in a way that we carry with us beyond the experience of the moment. When we come down the mountain and are reunited and confronted by the world we left behind, help us remember what you have given us. In Jesus name, amen.