Conference for Missionaries-1988- Discipleship - Part 3 — William MacDonald

The Mount of Transfiguration and the Valley of Human Need

Once again, tonight, Luke chapter 9. I'd like to begin reading in verse 28, Luke 9, 28. It came to pass about eight days after these sayings that he took Peter, John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.

And as he prayed, the appearance of his face was altered, but his robe became white and glistening. And behold, two men talked with him who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his deceit which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep, and when they were fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And it happened as they were parting from him that Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah, not knowing what he said.

While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. Then a voice came out of the cloud saying, This is my beloved son, hear him. And when the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone.

But they kept quiet and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen. Now, it happened on the next day when they had come down from the mountain that a great multitude met him. Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, Teacher, I implore you, look on my son, for he is my only child.

Behold, a spirit teases him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and bruising him, it departs from him with great difficulty. So I implored your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.

Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here. As he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him.

Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. The question was raised after the meeting last night about verses 20 and 22. Let's go back and just retrace that passage.

Jesus’ Death, Resurrection, and the Great Commission

He said to them, But whom do you say that I am? Peter answered and said, The Christ of God. And he strictly warned 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 be raised the third day.

The question was asked, How does that square with the Great Commission? Tell no man, and go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. Good question. We went over it too hurriedly last night. Peter had just made his great confession at Caesarea Philippi concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is the truth upon which the church is built, the truth Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God. And the Lord Jesus said, Don't tell anyone. He didn't say, Don't ever tell anyone, but for that time they were not to tell anyone.

The Lord Jesus knew the people. He knew that they were chafing under the hated bondage of Rome. He knew that they were looking for a Messiah, a popular Messiah, who would deliver them from that bondage, but they didn't want to be delivered from their sins.

The Lord Jesus did not want a popular uprising of the people to put him on the throne. He knew he must ascend the altar of sacrifice before he ever ascended the throne of glory. He knew it was first the cross, then the crown.

That's why the following verse says, Saying, The Son of Man many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised the third day. There was a certain order in God's purposes and salvation, and that order must be followed.

Publicity, Glory, and the Danger of Christian Ambition

Is there any practical lesson for us in this? Yes, I believe there is, and I believe it has to do with publicity. Publicity in the work of the Lord is generally bad. Now, when I say that, I'm not referring to prayer letters, I'm not referring to newsletters, but I'm referring to publicity that brings the searchlight on man instead of on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Generally, it is bad in the work of the Lord. One reason it's bad is because it touches the glory, and God will not have people touching his glory. Chuck Smith was asked to speak at a seminary graduation, and his outline was very simple.

He said to those seminarians who were graduating, Don't touch the dollar. Don't touch the woman. Don't touch the glory. Anybody could preach the sermon on that, couldn't they? Don't touch the dollar. Materialism.

Don't touch the woman. Sexual immorality. Don't touch the glory. Publicity that detracts from the glory of Christ. Another reason why publicity is very bad is that it exposes the Christian to special attacks from the devil.

We've seen it in our own country in this last year. Men who thought themselves great and pushed themselves forward all the time before the public view, and then came the terrible crash. The number one rule of evangelical Christendom today says, first try to get a spot on a talk show on TV.

If they go on TV on the talk show, interviewed by godless men, and made a laughing stock, and they seem to covet that position in the world. Also, publicity creates jealousy and conflict in the work of the Lord.

It can become a problem of one upmanship after a while. But the main reason against it is because it's against scripture, and it's against the example of the Jesus Christ. My heart is always touched when I find the blessed Savior, and he performed some wonderful miracle of healing, and he says, tell no man.

That was characteristic of him, wasn't it? He wasn't a rabble rouser. He wasn't trying to attract attention to himself. Thoughts of his sojourn in this veil of tears, the tale of love unfolded in those years of patient suffering, patient grace, we love again, and yet again betray.

The Disciples’ Pathway from the Cross to Glory

And that brings us up to the Mount of Transfiguration, and we must look to it and see what lessons we have there. I think the order of the passage is very important to see. What were the disciples to learn in all of these incidents?

And as we said last night, they're not isolated incidents put together with scissors and tape. There is a definite continuity. The Lord Jesus is confessed by Peter as the Christ, the Son of God. Immediately, the Lord Jesus predicts his being delivered up, his crucifixion, his death, and his resurrection from the dead.

And he says to the disciples then, that's the pathway. You want to follow me? That's the pathway to glory. And he calls them to come after him and warn them against the danger of materialism, of covetousness, and also the danger of being ashamed of him in this generation.

And immediately after that, you have the glory, the Mount of Transfiguration. And I think our hearts are touched every time we come to this passage of scripture. It touches me, for instance, to see him going up on the mountain to pray.

The Lord Jesus was a man of prayer, wasn't he? And that's especially prominent here in the Gospel of Luke, presenting him as the Son of Man. He took Peter, James, and John. He had said, there are some standing here who will not see death till they see the Kingdom of God.

And they saw a miniature of the Kingdom of God on the Mount of Transfiguration. That's what it was all about. It was a picture of the Lord Jesus' second advent and of his millennial reign on earth, as we shall see.

Peter speaks about this incident on the Mount of Transfiguration as the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Power and coming means the coming in power, the powerful coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He went up on the mountain to pray. He didn't go up on the mountain to be transfigured. He went up to pray, and as he prayed, he was transfigured. Does that happen today? Of course it happens today. Men and women who dwell in the secret place of the Most High, they're transfigured by the experience.

Men can tell that you've been with Jesus. It still happens today. As he prayed, the appearance of his face was altered, and his robe became white and glistening. What was this? Well, I would suggest to you that it's the outshining of the glory that was there all the time.

Christ’s Divine Glory Veiled in Humanity

When the Lord Jesus came down to earth in incarnation, he didn't lay aside any glory. He was as fully God at any moment in his life as he was with the Father in a past eternity. But the glory was veiled in a body of flesh.

It was all there, but it was veiled in a body of flesh. Aside he threw his most divine array, and veiled his Godhead in a garb of clay. And in that robe did wondrous love display, restoring what he never took away.

And sometimes during his earthly ministry, I think you see that glory shining out. I think you see it that day on the Sea of Galilee, when that terrible storm arose, and he stood up in the boat and said, Peace be still.

The glory of the Godhead. The Lord Jesus in incarnation was not God minus something. He was God plus something. He was God taking on humanity, which he never had before. And in that humanity, all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily, and the glory was all there at any one time.

And here on the Mount of Transfiguration, it comes right out through the robes he was wearing. His robe became white and glistening. Two men talked with him who were Moses and Elijah. This is a picture of the Millennium.

The Old Testament saints are there, represented by Moses and Elijah. The New Testament saints are there, represented by Peter, James, and John. The law is there, represented by Moses. The prophets are there, represented by Elijah.

Some are there who arrived by way of death, Moses. Some are there who arrived by way of translation, Elijah. Some are there who didn't die at all. They entered the Millennium without dying, and without being translated, and they're pictured by Peter, James, and John.

Some are there in glory. It speaks about Moses and Elijah being there in glory. Verse 31, Moses and Elijah who appeared in glory and spoke of the deceit which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. I don't believe they received their glorified bodies yet, but it pictures that.

It pictures the Old Testament saints in their glorified bodies, and some are there in their natural bodies. And it will be that way in the Millennium, won't it? There will be those who are there in their glorified bodies.

We will come back and reign with Christ over the earth, and there will be those who are there in their natural bodies as well. What a wonderful encouragement for servants of the Lord. What a message for missionaries who slugged it out for the Lord.

Missionary Suffering and the Promise of Future Glory

Enduring loneliness, discouragement, rejection, persecution, sorrow, hunger, and deprivation. After all of those things, the glory is coming. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. I'm sure we're all familiar with that story of the time a missionary was coming home from Africa on the ship, and on the same ship Theodore Roosevelt was coming home from a three-week hunting safari in Africa.

They arrived at the dock, and there was an enormous crowd there to greet Theodore Roosevelt, but there was nobody there to meet the missionary, and he'd rather complain to the Lord about it. Here's a man that goes hunting for three weeks, and he gets a reception like that, and I've been out there bearing the burden and heat of the day.

Here I come back home, and nobody is there to meet me, and it was as if the Lord said to him then, my son, you're not home yet, and none of us here tonight can ever imagine what it will be like to be greeted by the Lord of Glory, and here's his well-done, good and faithful servant.

As we stand with the Lord Jesus here on the Mount of Transfiguration, as we see him in all his glory, let us ask ourselves the question, isn't he worthy of it all? Isn't he a wonderful man? Isn't he worthy of all our physical strength, our intellectual strength, our emotional powers, our affectionate powers, all that we have and are?

The answer is yes, he's altogether worthy. The king there in his beauty without a veil is seen. It were a well-spent journey, though seven deaths lay between. The lamb with his fair army doth on Mount Zion stand, and glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land.

You know, there's no master like the Lord Jesus. We're going to be talking more about that Lord willing tomorrow night, but there's no master like the Lord. First of all, he assigns the work. Then he gives us the grace and the strength to do it, and then he rewards us when we do it.

You ever hear of a master like that? There isn't any. One missionary wrote, oh, it sears the faith and it tires the brain. It strains the arm until one's friend is pain in the fight for man and God. But it's great to be out where the fight is strong, to be where the heaviest troops belong, and to fight there for man and God.

And it's great to do it for such a wonderful master as the Lord Jesus. I mentioned the other night that when I read these passages, I get kind of restless and uneasy when I think of the disciples, when the spotlight is on the disciples, but not when you think about the Lord Jesus.

Peter’s Desire to Preserve the Glory

Well, here Peter comes upon the scene, and he wants to capture the glory of that moment. You know, there are moments in life like that, aren't there? When we'd like to capture them, but you can't do it with a tape recorder, and you can't do it with a camera, you can't do it with a VCR.

And so Peter wanted to build three booths, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And he had to learn that God has one unique son. He's going to get the glory, and he alone. A voice came out of the clouds saying, this is my beloved son, hear him.

That must be the motto of every one of us. He must increase, I must decrease. And when we've done it all, just that we might pray to the Lord, hide me behind the cross. When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone, but they kept quiet and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.

From the Mountain to the Valley of Human Need

And then the story moves on from the Mount of Transfiguration to the Valley of Human Need. I think some people have a rosy-eyed idea of Christian life and service. They think it's all mountaintop experience.

I haven't found it so. Most of my life has been daily plodding, hard work, oftentimes loneliness, menial work requiring endurance. And, let's face it, there are moments when you wonder. Right at that moment, the Lord knows just how to drop a handful of encouragement.

Right at that moment you think, I think I'll go on a little longer. And that's been my experience in life. There have been mountaintop experiences. Marvelous, but they're not the daily occurrence. The daily occurrence is the hard work, the stress, the fight for man and God.

And I think we see that here. The transition from a Mount of Transfiguration to the Valley of Human Need. Most of life is spent in common task, and we must descend the mountain as we see here the Lord Jesus healing the demon-possessed son.

It's interesting to me, two only begotten sons. The only begotten son of God, the Creator, and he heals the only begotten son of this anxious, anxious father. And our hearts can go out to this father.

It must have been wonderful to see, to have the disciples seeing all this going on, and the lessons that they would learn. They had tried to help, but they couldn't do it, and they had to hear the words of the Lord Jesus.

Oh, faithless and perverse generations, how long shall I be with you? And you bear, and bear with you. Bring your son here. Now, we hear a lot about healing today, and about faith healers, and oftentimes when a person isn't healed, it becomes a lack of faith that's given as a reason.

That's interesting, because so often the Lord Jesus had to say to the disciples, O you of little faith, as they went forth healing in his name. But here the Lord Jesus is there to alleviate human suffering and human need, and to see that dear lad delivered from the demon.

Verse 22. As he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to the father. That's what it's all about, isn't it?

The Disciples’ Difficulty Accepting the Cross

Again, in verses 43 to 45, the Lord Jesus predicted his death, but the disciples didn't understand. How is it that they didn't understand? Was it an intellectual difficulty? I found this experience in life, that oftentimes my mind rebels against receiving things that I don't want it to receive.

I can remember when one of our students at Emmaus died in Africa, Nigeria, on his way to the mission. He never got there. The car came to a bend in the road on the way out to the mission station, and it failed to negotiate the bend, and the car went off into the river, and three were drowned there.

I got the news, and I thought, well, it couldn't have been Ron. I just refused to accept it. I think there was a measure of that here in the life of these disciples. I had the same experience when we heard about the men in Ecuador.

I said, no, it's a mistake. So, I can sympathize with the disciples. I don't sit in judgment on them at all, but I can quite understand. They loved the Lord Jesus. It was hard for them to accept this fact, although they had heard it.

This wasn't the first time they had heard it. It was hard for them to accept it. Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men. But they did not understand this thing.

It was hidden from them, so they did not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask him about that thing. It's almost as if afraid to find confirmation of what they so much feared. And then, wouldn't you know it, a dispute arose among those as to which of them would be greatest.

Pride and Interpersonal Conflict Among Servants

Incredible, isn't it? No, it's not so incredible. When I look in my own heart, I don't think it's incredible at all. We've been talking about interpersonal relationships and interpersonal conflict. Here you have it in Luke chapter 9.

A dispute arose among the disciples as to which of them would be greatest. It seems that disputes are almost inevitable among those who serve the Lord together. And you know, and I know, that interpersonal conflicts remain one of the great problems on the mission field and on the home field today.

The number of career missionaries who return from the field after one term or less and never go out again because of shattered relationships is astounding, and it doesn't have to be that way. It's just life, isn't it?

Someone to Spurgeon said he'd rather spend eternity in heaven with some Christians than one half hour on earth. And he said that. If I said it, I wouldn't get away with it, but he does. What is the cause of these conflicts?

Well, in this case, it's obviously pride, isn't it? Pride, the parent sin. They were arguing as to who would be the greatest. This was childish, but it wasn't childlike to argue as to whose father is the greatest.

They were arguing as to which of them was the greatest. Pride is the parent sin. It was pride that expelled Satan, Lucifer, from heaven. The valet to a king of Prussia once said, I cannot deny that my master is proud.

At every christening, he wants to be the baby. At every marriage, he wants to be the bride. At every funeral, he wants to be the corpse. Pride. Now, I think there are three passages of scripture which, if taken seriously, would help us a lot in these matters.

Fervent Love That Covers Offenses

The first one is 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 8. The antidote to interpersonal conflicts. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 8, it says,. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.

What is this? Another way of salvation? Is this another means of atonement? Love will cover a multitude of sins? No, it doesn't have to do with that at all. Nothing doesn't have to do at all with any system of atonement, but it's saying that there are certain wrongs and injustices in life that just can be overlooked and passed by.

Not important to make a fuss about them, just forget them. If you can cope with them without causing you to generate gallons of sulfuric acid, forget them. That's what it's really saying. Love covers a multitude of sins.

Matthew 18 and the Process of Reconciliation

The second passage that helps us in the area of interpersonal conflict is the familiar passage in Matthew chapter 18 verses 15 through 20. This is where someone has sinned against you, and it's of such magnitude that you cannot consider it as petty.

What are you to do? You to go to the person. You to go to the person in private and try to contain the matter as much as possible at the outset. If he refuses to listen to you, you take one or two witnesses with you, you go to him.

That should say something to him. Three of you coming is kind of awesome, and he refuses to hear three, two or three, take you to the church. If he refuses to hear the church, count that man a heathen man and a publican.

One of our missionaries, and I have his permission to tell the story, I won't mention his name, one of our missionaries had been on the field carrying on a good work for a number of years, and then a conflict arose on the field, and he became involved in the conflict, and he harbored malice in his heart towards one of the men involved.

He came back to this country for the education of his children, and after he had been back in this country for a number of years, well, whatever it took to educate his children, the Lord began exercising about going back, but then he thought about this malice in his heart towards this brother on the field, and the Lord began to barbecue him about that, and if that wasn't bad enough, his wife began to speak to him about it.

She said, really, would it be right for us to go back to the field if this matter isn't settled? And he stood and he hemmed and he hawed. Finally, one day he sat down and he wrote a letter to that brother, and he apologized, and he made the whole matter right again.

He got a letter back saying, come. And this dear brother and his wife went back to the mission field, and they testified that they had greater fluency with the language after years of absence from the field than they ever had when they were working there.

And he further testified that wherever he went and preached the gospel, souls were saved. God's way is the best way, isn't it? Here in this country, just before I left, there's been a situation that we've been praying about for a long time, and it really looked pretty hopeless, you know.

Bad feelings among men are like the bars of a castle. It says in Proverbs, they're cold, hard, and immovable, and that was the case in this situation. Really, really deep-seated animosity. We prayed and we prayed and we wondered if anything was ever going to happen.

Just before I came to this conference, I got a telephone call, and a brother said to me, you know, he calls me on the phone. He said, could we get together over a cup of coffee in a restaurant somewhere?

So the arrangements were made to get together with a cup of coffee at the restaurant, and this brother who had been the offender, and he really had been the offender, he said to the other, he said, I have only two words to say to you.

I'm sorry. They talked for two hours. It was a long cup of coffee. The whole thing was sealed, and the first brother said to him, now are you going to go back to the elders of the assembly and tell them what you told me?

And he said, yes I am. That's good, isn't it? What a victory for the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to tell you, brokenness is really the answer to interpersonal conflicts like that, isn't it? Broken. It's just being willing to break at the foot of the cross and take the lowly place.

This is what is very, very needed today. The third passage, of course, is Matthew 5, 23 -24. This is where you remember that you have sinned against another person. If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way.

First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. I'm afraid there are many Christian fellowships today, and there are people breaking bread together who won't shake hands with one another, and I believe it would be proper for the elders in such a case to go to those people and say, look, it's not appropriate for you to break bread until this thing is made right.

It's just carrying on a sham. It's just hypocrisy to be coming together to remember the Lord under conditions like that. Leave your gifts at the altar, go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift, and it will be acceptable to the Lord in a condition like that.

Humility and Greatness in Christian Service

So, we come to verse 46. A dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest, and Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by him, and said, Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me, for he who is least among you all will be great.

Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. It's a snare that attracts when we seek great things for ourselves. Somebody said, I never found peace and satisfaction in Christian service until I stopped trying to be great.

That's it. I never found peace and satisfaction in Christian service until I ceased trying to be great. And then in 49 and 50, the Lord Jesus forbids sectarianism. John answered and said, Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.

Jesus said to him, Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is for us. Sectarianism is a weed that grows in every human heart, isn't it? We're all guilty of it at times. We have been, at least, guilty of it at times, and we must guard against it all the time.

Reconciling Jesus’ Teaching on Those for and Against Him

Now, there's a passage in Matthew Chapter 12 that seems to contradict this. Matthew Chapter 12 and verse 30, if you would please. Matthew Chapter 12 and verse 30 seems to say the very opposite. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad.

And this has been used as a contradiction in the Bible. Matthew says one thing, and Luke says the opposite thing. Let me read them again together. Matthew 12, verse 30. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad.

Luke Chapter 9, verse 50. Do not forbid him. He who is not against us is for us. How do we reconcile these differences? The context in Matthew Chapter 12 is the time when the Jewish leaders accused the Lord Jesus of casting out demons in the power of the Alphabet.

He called the Holy Spirit the Prince of Demons. He blasphemed the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus performed all his miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit. They said he performed them in the powers of the Alphabet.

He said, you can speak against the Son of Man and it will be forgiven you. You can't blaspheme the Holy Spirit and have it forgiven in this age or in the age to come. That is the millennial age. And in that context he said, he who is not with me is against me.

When it comes to the person of Christ, if you're not with him, you're against him. And if you don't gather with him, you scatter abroad. But in Luke Chapter 9, it doesn't have to do with the person of Christ, it has to do with Christian service, doesn't it?

It has to do with Christian service. It's speaking about fellow servants of the Lord. It's speaking about people who love the Lord Jesus Christ and in their own way are serving him. And Jesus said, do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is for us.

We can avoid sectarianism by loving all God's people without necessarily doing everything that they do. I think we must put that qualifying phrase on it. We can love all God's people without necessarily approving or joining in everything that they do.

We can rejoice, as the Apostle Paul did, whenever the gospel is preached, even if it's preached in contention. Just rejoice that the name of the Lord Jesus is going out. We can avoid sectarianism by clinging to the truth of the unity of the body, a great truth, but a truth that Satan hates, and will try in every way possible to create division, to nullify the manifestation of that truth.

It's not always easy on the mission field, is it? And some of our charismatic brethren steal sheep from the fellowship. Hard. After you've seen your work, you've worked so hard to see them built up in the faith, to see them discipled.

You've nurtured them for years, and it's not always easy when you see other missionaries and their work seems to be spectacular in its growth, and your work seems pitifully small. Well, the idea is just keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus, and remember we're one body in Christ, and if he's using others, rejoice in it, but make sure that we're walking close enough to him so that he can use us as well.

Responding to Rejection with the Spirit of Christ

And then, of course, Jesus comes to this Samaritan village, and they reject him. A lesson to the disciples as to how to face rejection. We all have to face that at some time or other in life, don't we?

Samaritan village would not receive him, because he was obviously going to Jerusalem, and the disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven, like Jehovah, like Elijah did, that is. Their spirit was not his.

He said he didn't come to destroy man's life, but to save it. But he cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

So it's wonderful to see the Lord Jesus going along with these disciples, and these incidents all part of their training. They're seeing it manifested, and they're seeing their own hearts, too. Perhaps that's the worst exposure of all, isn't it?

I certainly know that under pressure, we oftentimes act in a way we're not always proud of afterwards. But we have a wonderful Master. He's patient with us and leading us on, step by step, until we see his face in the glory.

And as we've said, it'll all be worth it then. Thank you. Father, we just thank you for your word tonight. We think especially of this problem of our dealings with one another, and of the need of constant brokenness.

But thou, Savior, meek and lowly, and wilt such a worm as I, weak and sinful and unholy, dare to lift my head on high. Keep us low at your feet, blessed Lord Jesus. Help us to have love cover a multitude of sin, and help us to obey your word in all things.

We pray that we might indeed be men and women who tremble at the word of God, and whose conscience is always captive to the scriptures. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.