“Worship God Alone”
Psalm 99; Luke 9:28-36
Transfiguration Sunday – March 2, 2025
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What we do in this place matters.
In the act of worship, in this sanctuary, we have our ears and our eyes re-oriented.
As we sing songs of praise and dwell on Holy Scripture,
our hearts and our minds are turned again toward the Holy God,
toward the One who sits enthroned above all.
Our psalm for today lifts up the characteristics of the God whom we worship.
Our God is great and holy, the psalm claims. Our God rules over all peoples and nations.
Our God is a mighty and active Sovereign, one who loves justice and establishes equity.
Our God is highly exalted, yet hears the cries of the lowly.
Our God stands above history, yet answers each of us in prayer and forgives our iniquity.
Our God forgives, and yet allows some consequences to remain,
and at times our God will exert some measure of punishment, in order to redeem us.
On this Sunday before the season of Lent, the psalmist encourages us to remember
the holiness of God, to worship this God alone, and exalt the name of the Lord.
Hear the Word of God: Psalm 99
1The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble!
The Lord sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
2The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.
3Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is the Lord!
4Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity;
you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
5Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is the Lord!
6Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
They cried to the Lord, and the Lord answered them.
7The Lord spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
8O Lord our God, you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
9Extol the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy.
When Eugene Peterson translated this psalm for The Message version of the Bible,
he wrote – “Take notice! Be on your toes!”
The Transcendent, Holy God, is wholly other than us, not “earthy”, but “holy”, sacred,
set apart, far above all peoples and nations, worthy of our worship and praise.
Consider for a moment what difference it would make to say: God first, instead of me first.
What difference would it make in your home to say: God and God’s purposes first,
not our family first.
What difference would it make in our nation if we committed ourselves to saying:
not America first, but God and God’s purposes first.
As an old friend used to tell me: If we are sitting on the throne of our lives, acting as sovereign,
we are sitting in the wrong seat.
If we are sitting in the pilot’s seat, and we call God our co-pilot, we are sitting in the wrong seat.
God alone is Sovereign. God alone is the One who should be charting our course.
In the lectionary, Psalm 99 is paired with the Transfiguration narrative from the gospel of Luke.
The uncommon event that transpired on the mountaintop with Jesus and three of his disciples
has traditionally been called the “transfiguration.” “Transfigure” simply means “to change”.
Hearkening back to the ancient stories of Moses on Mt. Sinai and Elijah on Mt. Horeb,
Jesus and the three disciples on the top of Mt. Tabor had an awe-inspiring experience.
Moses, who received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, represented the Law.
Elijah, who heard the still, small, voice on Mt. Horeb, represented the prophets.
Jesus conversing with Moses and Elijah on top of Mt. Tabor revealed that Jesus
was not separate from but would continue and fulfill the purpose of the Law and the Prophets.
Hear the Word of God from Luke 9:28-36
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James,
and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying,
the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.
Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.
They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish
at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep;
but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here;
let us make three dwellings, 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 terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said,
‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’
When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.
And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Did you notice the fear and trembling of the disciples?
As mentioned in Psalm 99 – God’s power and presence is terribly beautiful.
Upon entering the cloud, the presence of God,
Peter, James and John fall to the ground and are terrified.
God is awesome. God is powerful, and so the human response throughout the Bible
when realizing the presence of God is fear. But the divine response to fear in Holy Scripture
always begins with these words – human, do not be afraid.
As we participate from week to week in worship, we should not be surprised occasionally
to know fear, to be afraid of what God will do or what God may call us to do.
But we should also be prepared to know comfort and hope and direction.
Do not fear, the messengers of God tell us, for even though we will face trials and tribulations
in this life, even though we may be called to change our lives, to be transformed,
God’s presence is with us for our salvation, not our destruction.
God’s presence is with us for our redemption and for healing of the world, not for its undoing.
The season of Lent begins this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday.
Lent is our season of preparation for celebrating Holy Week and Easter, traditionally a season
to be more intentional in our worship, more intentional in listening for the voice of God.
In the Transfiguration narrative, the voice from above proclaims: “Listen to him!”
The voice continues to beckon to us as it did to those first disciples:
This is my Son, my Beloved. Listen to him.
In order to be more intentional in our worship,
in order to re-orient our hearts and minds toward God and God’s will, we must listen,
listen to the words and the actions of Jesus.
Many have shared lately that they are growing anxious or concerned listening to news reports.
Lately, I have found myself turning off the news and telling Alexa to turn on some smooth jazz
or some classical music. I am committed to keeping up with the news.
It is important to be informed and aware, but lately my soul has needed some reprieve.
Perhaps there is no better time than during the upcoming season of Lent
to set down our phones in another room, to turn off our televisions,
to change the station in our car radio, to take out the ear buds, and shut down the laptop…
During this upcoming season of Lent, perhaps we could, with renewed intentionality,
listen for the voice of God and seek to worship God with all our heart, soul, and mind.
What we do in this place matters.
What we encourage through our worship in this place matters.
As you are aware, we are given 168 hours every week to live and breathe. 24 times 7.
If we are prudent, we will sleep about one-third of that time, or about 56 hours.
What will we do with the other 112 hours or 16 hours per day?
If we utilize as much as 4 hours or so for meals and exercise and personal hygiene, etc,
and perhaps another 8 hours for various forms of work and service,
and perhaps as much as 2 hours caring directly for others or nurturing relationships with others,
that still might leave as much as 2 hours.
How will you utilize those 2 hours to the glory of God?
Some measure of personal entertainment and relaxation may be in order,
some screen time, if you will. How much?
If we were to limit screen time to only 1 hour per day, that might still leave a full 1 hour.
How might you spend that hour?
I encourage you to intentionally spend as much as an hour a day listening to God,
worshiping God, paying attention to the presence of God.
Now, there are various spiritual types and various forms of spirituality.
Some may take nature walks. Some may engage in Bible reading and other devotional reading.
Some may engage in conversations with others or time in small group studies.
Others may practice meditation and other forms of prayer.
Remember that, if we gather weekly, we are only gathered in this sanctuary
for one of those 168 hours. The influence from all those other hours we spend,
especially the influences from media sources, is powerful.
How might you and I spend more time orienting our lives
toward the person and purposes of God and less time orienting our lives
toward whatever direction those media sources may want to take us?
The encouragement to worship false gods and the temptations to orient ourselves
toward earthly power and purposes, is real and ever present.
If our lives are, in any way, to be oriented toward the one Holy God of all and God’s purposes,
we will need to invest significant time in personal worship and prayer,
in addition to our corporate worship together.
Lent is a good time, a good season, to intentionally worship and listen for God’s voice.
We can listen to Jesus by reading our Bibles and dwelling upon Holy Scripture.
We can listen to Jesus by taking time for silence and meditative prayer.
We can listen to music which soothes the soul and reorients the mind.
We can also get closer to Jesus by paying attention to the voices of those in need,
for those are the same voices that Jesus heard, the voices to which he responded
so generously and graciously in his earthly life.
What we do in this place matters. What we do with the rest of our lives matters.
Most of our days will be spent in our homes and in the streets and marketplaces,
among the crowds, where God’s voice can be difficult to hear
and where we may be tempted to worship many a false god.
In this coming season of Lent, let us remember the urgent command:
Worship God alone…Listen to words and actions of Jesus…
Orient our lives once again toward the Holy One…And do not be afraid.
Our Holy and awesome God is with us and for us, always.
Amen.
Rev. Dr. Todd Speed
Decatur Presbyterian Church
Decatur, Georgia
