Listen Up:

• Spiritual Hearing Impairment: Just as physical ears can lose the ability to hear high-frequency sounds with age, our spiritual hearing can become dull over time. This dullness isn't because God stopped speaking, but due to external factors.

• Reason for Dullness: The World's Noise and Distractions:

  • We live in a world saturated with "so many other voices," countless opinions, and a "cacophony of sounds."

  • Consequence: Being "so busy listening around you" that you fail to "tune in to the frequency of God and listen up."

  • Life Example (Cultural Overload): Constant "breaking news," political takes, opinions from work/family, and algorithms keep us in a loop, preventing us from listening.

• The Fight of Your Life: "The fight of your life is not to listen around The fight of your life is to listen up and to tune in to the frequency of God."

  • Jesus repeatedly said, "He who has an ear, let them hear," addressing the human tendency to hear without truly listening.

• Distraction as an Enemy Tactic:

  • It's hard to listen up when engrossed in social media feeds, which provide a constant "feed" of information, potentially causing anxiety and anger.

  • The enemy doesn't use "overt destruction" but "covert distraction" to cut off connection to the Father.

  • Life Example (DFW Airport Analogy): Recent flight shutdowns at Dallas Fort Worth Airport due to cut fiber optic cables (communication failure) illustrate how the enemy cuts our connection to God, keeping us "stuck" and unable to move forward, even when we're ready.

• Preparation for Hearing: We must quiet our spirits, get alone with God, and position ourselves to "listen up."

Matthew 16 Context: Before the Mountain

• Connecting Scriptures: Matthew $17$:$1$'s "After six days" directly links to the events of Matthew $16$, emphasizing the continuity of Jesus' ministry towards the cross.

• Challenge in Caesarea Philippi: Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi, a hub of pagan worship, to test if, amidst this idolatry and confusion, they knew "with clarity who I really am."

  • Cultural Relevance: It's easy to profess faith in church, but the real test is doing it "out there in the culture" and on the job.

• Jesus' Critical Questions:

  1. "Who do people say that I am?" (Listening around): Disciples eagerly listed popular opinions like John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah. This showed they were aware of cultural views.

  2. "Who do you say that I am?" (Listening up): A hush fell, revealing their ears were "more in tune with what's going on around you" than with clear revelation of Jesus' identity.

• The Problem with Facets: The names mentioned were facets of Jesus' work (repentance, prophecy, social justice), but not the fullness of who He truly is.

• Peter's Revelation and its Source:

  • Peter broke the silence: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

  • Jesus confirmed Peter's insight: "Blessed are you, Simon, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you
    My Father who is in heaven revealed this to you." This demonstrates the believer's call to "not just listen around, but to listen up."

  • Finding Yourself: "You don't find you by seeking you. You find you by seeking him."

• Enemy's Strategy, Part 2: Using Loved Ones:

  • Immediately after his confession, Peter rebuked Jesus about his imminent suffering, saying, "No way, Jesus. You're not gonna die."

  • Jesus' sharp response: "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." (Matthew $16$:$23$). The enemy doesn't just use overt enemies; he uses people who love you, whose well-meaning advice can contradict what God has spoken through "listening up." This highlights the importance of maintaining focus: "Your care can never contradict the one that I'm following. I gotta listen up."

The Transfiguration: Listening Up to God's Glory

• The Climb: Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a "high mountain," the first time in the series he is seen actively climbing. This "inner circle" suggests proximity to God isn't for everyone.

• On the Mountain Top: Jesus' Glory Revealed:

  • As they prayed, Jesus' face "shone like the sun," and his clothes became "white as the light, an unparalleled brightness."

  • This revealed his intrinsic glory, not who he was becoming, but who he always had been, previously veiled.

  • Lesson: God has more glory to reveal that we haven't encountered yet.

• Miracles vs. Glory:

  • Disciples had seen many miracles (feeding multitudes, walking on water, healing), which are significant.

  • However, "miracles always point to the glory, but the miracles are not the glory." Many people only seek the miracle-doing God, not the glory-revealing God.

  • The Danger of Reducing God: When we reduce God to just what He can do (miracles), we also reduce Him to only hearing what we want Him to say.

  • Life Example (Pulpit as a Playlist): The cultural tendency is to treat pastors and pulpits like a playlist; if a message doesn't echo what we already think, we "skip" it and find another church.

  • Transformation vs. Comfort: "I have never been transformed by the thing I wanna hear. Generally, the thing that challenges me is the thing that changes me." (John $6$ illustrates this: Jesus' challenging teaching on eating his flesh caused many disciples to leave).

• Transfiguration as Metamorphosis:

  • The Greek word transfigured means metamorphosis, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. For Jesus, it was a "butterfly becoming a caterpillar" to relate to humanity, then revealing his true butterfly nature.

  • Romans $12$:$2$: "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transfigured by the renewing of your mind." The same spirit in Jesus works to transform us.

  • Impact of Change: "When you start changing, make sure you got the right circle around you because everybody can't handle your metamorphosis."

• Moses and Elijah Appear:

  • Their sudden appearance was a "M. Night Shyamalan" moment. Being in God's presence and listening up reveals people for who they truly are.

  • Symbolism: Moses represents the Law, and Elijah represents the Prophets. Jesus is the fulfillment of both, making Him "greater than all of them."

• Peter's Interruption (Again):

  • Impulsively, Peter said, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." This was a "stupid idea."

  • He was treating Moses and Elijah as equals to Jesus and trying to confine God's glory to the mountain top for only the three of them, forgetting those in the valley.

  • Principle: "You can't put Jesus in a box" (denomination, ideology, political agenda, culture, race).

• The Father's Interruption, "Listen to Him!":

  • "While he was still speaking," a bright cloud covered them, and a voice declared, "This is my beloved Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" (Matthew $17$:$5$). God Himself interrupted Peter to emphasize listening to Jesus above all other voices or human ideas.

• Aftermath and Instruction:

  • The disciples fell face down, terrified. Jesus touched them, telling them to "Get up
    Don't be afraid." When they looked up, they saw "no one except Jesus." Jesus then instructed them not to tell anyone what they had seen "until the Son of Man