This morning we are celebrating the 70th
convocation of Covenant Theological
Seminary. That is seven decades of
ministry faithfulness uh but also of
God's gracious
um provision as he has provided for and
sustained this institution. And uh we
are grateful that covenant continues its
rich legacy of gospel proclamation and
training servants of the triune God to
walk in his grace, minister his word and
equip God's people and as we say all for
God's mission and that's why I'm
especially excited this morning to
introduce our speaker uh the Reverend
Dr. Richard Joe who is has been now
seated in uh the Paul Dorstra chair of
world missions. Uh those of you who do
not know Dr. Kistra was this
institution's
fourth president and went on to serve as
the coordinator for mission to the world
after his time here at Covenant
Seminary. Um and has had a deep u and
lasting impact on the PCA but also
global missions. And that chair is named
in honor of his leadership and legacy.
Uh but the spirit of that chair is being
filled through the life and ministry of
Dr. Joe. Uh Dr. uh Richard Joe comes to
us from mission to the world where he
served for several years as the Persian
global ministries regional coordinator.
Uh and uh he has extensive ministry
experience all across the world. He was
called to serve uh Middle Eastern
um uh missions uh during his first
mission trip in 1993. Uh after seminary
at Westminster Theological Seminary,
went on to pastor in California and then
went on to further study and serve
abroad uh a Persian church in Europe.
came back to the US for language study
and then again for his PhD studies at
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Uh
and most and and and so now he comes to
us um to train and serve alongside uh
you here at Covenant Seminary. Dr. uh
Richard Joe is going to have the
privilege of continuing to serve with
Mission to the World. Um, and perhaps
there could be opportunities each for
you as his ministries continue there
with MTW. But please welcome Dr. Richard
Joe as he comes to share with us from
God's work. Oh, I forgot
those are all the official things. But,
uh, Dr. Richard Joe is married perhaps
most importantly to Hey Young, uh, who's
I think here. There she is back there.
And their son Ian is a recent graduate
of Brown University and is applying to
medical school. We're especially happy
that he could be with us today. And uh
Richard tells me that one of his
favorite things to do is to catch movies
and Netflix. And maybe you'll be invited
to his home for something like that.
Now, let's welcome Dr. Richard.
[Applause]
>> Well, good morning, Covenant Seminary.
I am so honored on multiple levels to be
here today. I'm honored, of course, for
the opportunity to bring you God's word
as we begin this academic year with a
convocation worship. I'm also honored to
be starting this new role as associate
professor of world missions, as uh Dr.
Gibbs mentioned, filling the the Paul
Kistra chair for world missions. But
most of all, I'm honored for the
opportunity to meet each one of you. Uh
whether you're in my class or not, I
would love to talk to you and get to
know you. And by the way, if you're not
in my class, there's plenty of space in
God's World Mission Residential.
But really, one of the things that I've
been really mo most looking forward to
is to meet each one of you. So, if you
see me randomly on campus, please stop
and introduce yourself. I'd love to talk
to you and get to know you. Now, as we
turn our attention to God's word, I'd
like to read for you Matthew 17:es 1-9.
Hear the word of the Lord. And after six
days, Jesus took with him Peter and
James and John his brother, and led them
up a high mountain by themselves. And he
was transfigured before them, and his
face shone like the sun, and his clothes
became white as light. And behold, there
appeared to him, Moses and Elijah,
talking with him. And Peter said to
Jesus, "Lord, it is good that we are
here. If you wish, I will make three
tents here, one for you, one for Moses,
and one for Elijah." He was still
speaking when behold a bright cloud
overshadow shadowed them and a voice
from the cloud said this is my beloved
son with whom I am well pleased. Listen
to him. When the disciples heard this,
they fell on their faces and were
terrified. But Jesus came and touched
them, saying, "Rise and have no fear."
And when they lifted their eyes, they
saw no one but Jesus only. And as they
were coming down the mountain, Jesus
commanded them, "Tell no one the vision
until the Son of Man is raised from the
dead."
Now, on this joyous occasion, as we
begin this new academic year, I want you
to examine yourself. Seriously, ask
yourself this question. What in the
world am I doing here? Now, at the
beginning of the year, of course, you're
all happy and excited. You're full of
hope. I'm sure you're getting plenty of
sleep these days. You're all caught up
on your Netflix episodes. I'm sure. But
one month from now, two months from now,
especially three months from now, it's
going to be a totally different story. 3
months from now, you're going to be
buried alive under a mountain of reading
assignments. You'll feel the heavy
weight on your shoulders of all these
research papers you're just trying to
finish and submit. And you'll feel like
your head is exploding trying to cram
more information up there in preparation
for the final exams. And at that point
when you're barely surviving on Red Bull
and adrenaline,
you may ask yourself again this
question. What in the world am I doing
here? And you may think to yourself, you
know, I just wanted to serve Jesus. I
just wanted to do ministry. Do I really
need all this information? Do I really
need to suffer this much and learn this
much? After all, I know Jesus. I've
experienced him in my life. I've got the
church. I've got the Bible. And hey,
these days I've even got chat GPT.
Do I really need all these classes? Do I
really need Covenant Theological
Seminary? Now, hopefully you'll all keep
with all your work and maintain your
schedule to the point where you never
have to come to the point of seriously
questioning your place at Covenant
Seminary. But just in case, I want to
provide you with an answer. I know
there's plenty of answers to that. What
in the world am I doing here? And uh
plenty of legitimate answers to that
question, but one answer that I want to
give you today is from Matthew 17.
Because in this passage, we see Jesus's
three closest disciples, Peter, James,
and John. And they too have experienced
Jesus. They too have served with Jesus.
They've actually lived with Jesus. And
even more than you and I, they've had
this face-to-face experience of the
transfigured Jesus in all of his full
glory. And yet, it was not enough. You
would think that they've got all their
that they need to continue their work
and to be leaders in the church. But not
only was that experience of Jesus not
enough, but we'll see later in the
passage, they were woefully inadequate.
Because for all that Peter, James, and
John had done with Jesus and served with
Jesus and experienced of Jesus, they
still did not understand Jesus. And that
is what I want to suggest to you is what
in the world you are doing here. Through
all your studies and your hard work here
at Covenant Theological Seminary,
through by the sweat of your brow as it
were, you are growing in your
understanding of Jesus. So let's begin
even today as we uh in this convocation
service to increase your understanding
of Jesus with Matthew 17.
Now as we go through the passage
together this morning, I want to focus
on two points. First understanding the
glory of Jesus and second understanding
the grace of Jesus. So let's go to our
first point now understanding the glory
of Jesus. Now Matthew 17 Jesus takes
Peter, James and John up to a high
mountain. And already from these details
you know that something very significant
is going to happen. Something that Jesus
could only reveal to his three closest
disciples. Something that is in fact
going to blow your mind. Now what is
that thing? Jesus is transfigured.
his face shining like the sun, his
clothes white uh brighter than light
itself. Jesus isn't transformed into
some new and improved version of
himself. He is transfigured, reverting
back to his previous glory that he had
from all of eternity before he took on
the humble form of a human being. And
then there appears before Jesus, Moses
and Elijah. Now, there are a lot of
different theories as to why
specifically these two figures, but the
one that makes most sense for me is that
Moses is the inspired human authors of
the book of the law. Uh Elijah is
considered the the greatest of all the
prophets. So, you could say that these
are the representation of the law and
the prophets. And so, as you see this
conversation of Jesus with the
embodiment of the law and the prophets,
it points to the fact that Jesus is the
fulfillment of all the scriptures. Now,
Peter, James, and John, they're there,
and they must be impressed. In fact,
they're probably scared to death. But as
amazing as this face-to-face encounter
is with the full glory of Jesus, Peter
completely misses the point in verse
four. And Peter said to Jesus, "Lord,
Lord, it is good that we are here. If
you wish, I will make three tents here.
One for you, one for Moses, one for
Elijah." And look at verse five
specifically. He was still speaking when
Now, what Peter had said was so
completely inappropriate, really
bordering on blasphemous that God the
Father Almighty had to break in and
interrupt the scene just to correct
Peter. Now, can you imagine? There are
some slips of the tongue that are minor
enough that you could let the person at
least finish their sentence before
correcting them. But not this time.
There was something so fundamentally
wrong with what Peter said that God
himself had to appear before them, stop
Peter in his tracks, and correct him.
And so what was so wrong? Now think
about it. What's the deal with the
tense? Now it's not like Peter wanted to
do some camping or something. Tense of
course has a significant meaning in the
Bible. When God appeared before his his
people, his glory was so great. His his
holiness was so pure that in the direct
presence of God's glory, people would be
struck down dead. And so God instructed
the people to build a huge tent called
the tabernacle.
And that would protect the people from
his full glory. And so that was the only
way that God could remain in the midst
of the people without striking the
people down by his glory if he hid his
glory behind the tent and specifically
in the innermost chamber of the
tabernacle, the holy of holies. And so
here's Peter on the top of the mountain.
He sees Jesus shining like the sun in
all of his full glory. So brilliant that
he feels like he needs some protection.
He so he proposes to build a tent. But
Moses and Elijah are there too. And
according to the parallel passage in
Luke 9, we see that Moses and Elijah
were also shining in their own form of
glory. And so Peter has this idea that
he needs to build not just one tent, but
three tents. One for Jesus, one for
Moses, one for Elijah, so that he could
he hide all of their glory. And here was
Peter's fundamental problem. Peter
doesn't understand Jesus. He doesn't
understand the glory of Jesus. He
doesn't understand the difference
between the glory of Moses and Elijah
that was a mere reflection of God's
glory. Like a mirror reflecting it off
versus the glory of Jesus which was the
direct radiance of God's glory. Not like
a mirror but its own source of glory. So
while Peter was right there having an
experience of the glory of Jesus that
was unique in all the world, that
experience didn't help him. In fact, it
hurt him because he didn't understand
Peter's uh Jesus's glory.
But the thing is, you and I often make
the same mistake. So often we see the
thing that is shining and beautiful and
glorious and we think it is the true
radiance of God's glory when in fact it
is merely the reflection of God's glory.
Now this misunderstanding is especially
common for students of theology. As
seminary students, even as seminary
professors and pastors and church
leaders, we love theology and rightly
so. The theology we study is such a
beautiful reflection of God's glory, but
it is still just a reflection. Now,
don't get me wrong, reflected glory is
still valuable, just as Moses and Elijah
were indisputably valuable.
But so even as you're studying this
semester, appreciate the reflected glory
that you see in all the doctrines that
you're learning. But don't stop there.
Look deeper. Study harder. Meditate
longer until you can trace that
reflected glory back to its source, back
to the radiant glory of Jesus. In this
way, you will be studying theology not
just to lift up the theology. You'll be
studying theology to lift up Jesus.
Now this may be a difficult distinction
to grasp. So let me put it to you in
terms of poetry. Specifically I want to
share with you a story from a classical
poem from the great 13th century Persian
poet room. Now I have a dear Afghan
Christian friend named Samir who founded
a ministry called lumens of truth and he
shared this story from me of uh the the
poet room. Now, this poem is about a
poor Bedawin man and his wife. And the
couple was so poor and they were
suffering in their old age that they
they couldn't take it any longer. Their
neighbors were looking down upon them.
The the wife just begged him and begged
him to do something about it. And
finally, she had the idea, go and ask
the king for help. Now, since they had
nothing left to lose and were nearing
death, they they thought they might as
well ask the king for help. So the old
man, he set off in a long and
adventurous journey through the desert,
meeting various people along the way
until he finally arrived at the king's
palace. And his hope was that he could
just ask the king for for some food or
maybe some money so that he could he and
his wife could survive. But once he
entered the king's palace, he was so
overwhelmed with the grandeur and the
majesty of and the beauty of it. Never
in his life had he had seen anything or
even imagined anything. so glorious
that his heart was utterly filled by the
glory and the majesty of the king. In
the poem, the old man says that he has
drunk by the sight of it. Now, let me
read for you just a few lines of Room's
poem that describe this moment.
A stranger from the desert, I've arrived
in hope of the king's favor to be
revived. I came here to ask for some
gold, but I've become drunk with what I
now behold. A man rushed to the bakery
for bread, but saw the baker's glory and
was filled instead. In search of beauty,
he went in the roses direction, but in
the gardener, he found beauty's
perfection.
What the Bedawin in Roomie's poem is
experiencing is that when he beholds the
full glory of the king, he no longer
cares about his own needs, no matter how
severe and legitimate they are. He no
longer seeks anything from the king, no
matter how great his wealth is. Just to
behold, the king's glory is enough. It's
it's all the reward he needs. Just to
see his glory is greater than any gift
he could ever receive. And this is how
you can understand the glory of Jesus.
You will spend the next few months and
the next few years devoting yourself to
the study of theology and ministry and
the church. And praise God that you will
gain many treasures from your studies.
But they are all reflected glory. In
addition to all these treasures from you
gained from your studies, let the
greater treasure be the extent to which
your studies point you to the radiant
glory of Jesus. Just to know him more,
just to understand him more deeply, just
to step closer to his glory is reward
enough.
Now that was our first point today.
Understanding the glory of Jesus. Our
second point then is understanding the
grace of Jesus. Let me read again for
you verses 6-8.
When the disciples heard this, they fell
on their faces and were terrified. But
Jesus came and touched them, saying,
"Rise and have no fear." And when they
lifted their eyes, they saw no one but
Jesus only. Now Peter, James, and John
are literally falling on their faces in
fear. They're standing in the immediate
presence of God the Father Almighty. And
God himself is rebuking him. God knows
everything about them. He knows the very
thoughts on their minds, the very
feelings in their hearts, and they are
woefully lacking. Now, when you're found
to be insufficient before your friends
or before your before your loved ones,
sure that hurts. Of course, that's
awkward. But when you're found to be
insufficient before God himself, it's
your very existence that's at risk. But
in the midst of all this fear, in the
midst of the imminent judgment, Jesus
gives grace. In verse 7, we see that
Jesus came to them. Jesus touched them.
Jesus said to them, "Rise, have no
fear." Three details to emphasize
Jesus's tenderness, his care, his
comfort for their fear. But just the
words of grace would be ultimately
ineffective if Jesus did not also back
it up with his actions of grace. After
all, it's true that Peter and Jaden and
John were not worthy to stand in the
presence of his full glory. So to say
have no fear while his face was still
shining like the sun would have been
purely nonsensical. So Peter was correct
in seeing his need to hide Jesus's glory
with a tent. But Peter was absolutely
mistaken because he didn't understand
that Jesus already had his own tent.
Jesus's tent was the body of his own
flesh. In John 1:14 it says, 'The word
became flesh and dwelt among us. Now
that phrase dwelt among us, literally it
means he pitched his tent among us. His
own body of flesh, that was the
tabernacle that hid his full divine
glory so that it would not destroy us.
Immediately after Jesus reveals his full
glory to these three disciples, he goes
back behind the tent, back to his humble
and lowly form of a human being. And
it's from that position of weakness,
that position of humility that Jesus can
give grace to the disciples. So in order
to understand Jesus, in order to
understand especially his grace, we have
to appreciate this principle of
incarnation of taking on the body upon
himself. Jesus's grace was not just kind
words or loving sentiments, although he
certainly had those. Ultimately, Jesus's
grace came from his ability to enter
into the weakness of the other, to step
into their situation. And from that
position, Jesus can give grace. And so,
for you as well here at Covenant
Seminary,
you're learning all these incredible
truths from the Bible. And it's an
amazing opportunity you have to study at
such a high level. And I'm sure that you
all want to share these things with the
world. But in order to do that, you must
incarnate yourselves as well. You must
also take upon yourself their weakness,
take upon yourself their situation and
enter into their world so that you can
give not only the glory of Jesus to the
world, but incarnate yourself to the
grace of Jesus for the world. So for all
of your classes and all of your lessons,
think about how you apply how those
lessons apply specifically to different
people and societies in which you would
incarnate yourself. Now for myself,
wanting to share Jesus with the world,
that has meant that I've had to learn
theology. Theology like ecclesiology and
the doctrine of man, the doctrine of
Christ. And I've loved studying those
things. But it was not enough just to
study them. I had to incarnate them to
the people that I was trying to share
them with. So it wasn't enough just to
learn ecclesiology, but I had to figure
out how does ecclesiology relate to
Iranian Christians. And not enough just
to learn the doctrine of man, but how
does the doctrine of man relate to us
pastors in Central Asia and not enough
just to learn the doctrine of Christ,
but how does the doctrine of Christ
relate to Afghan refugees in the Middle
East? And this will be the challenge for
you. In order to convey the glorious
truths of Christ to the world, you have
to incarnate yourself through the grace
of Christ to the world. And this is the
work of missions. In missions, we take
the timeless and universal truths of the
Bible and we target those truths to
apply to specific societies and specific
cultures around the world. And while
this is a necessary work that we do for
cultures all to the ends of the earth
and far off cultures, it is also a
necessary work to that we do for
cultures that are very close to us that
are right next door. So for today today
I want to give you an example of how
this works. How we can incarnate the
truth of the gospel to cultures that are
close to us like for example today's Gen
Z culture. And so as an example, let me
just take a few minutes and talk about
K-pop.
Now, do you all know who Ros is? She is
one of the members of the K-pop music
group called Blackpink. Now, last year,
she came out with her own solo album
called Rosie. And full disclosure, I
have to admit to you, I do appreciate
K-pop, but I I don't have a regular
habit of listening to K-pop. So,
actually, when this album came out, I
didn't actually know who Ros was, but I
do have a regular habit of listening to
NPR radio. And so I heard an interview
with Ros on the on the radio and I found
out that Ros was actually born in New
Zealand and then later in her childhood
moved to Australia and then wasn't until
16 years old that she moved to South
Korea to join this group Blackpink. And
when I heard that, I immediately
thought, hey, she's like me. Not that
I'm a K-pop star,
but that I am we are both second
generation Korean immigrants. And so I
felt a little pride for this second
generation Korean New Zealander who is
making this impact on the world. And so
I listened more carefully to the radio
interview. Now she shared the story of
one of her new songs called Number One
Girl. She explained how there was one
night when she was attending this fancy
star-studded event. It was the kind of
event that should have made her feel so
so special, but instead she just felt
empty inside. And so she went back to
her hotel and she ended up scrolling on
all the negative comments on social
media and she just felt terrible. She
said that she was searching for
validation but she just found the
opposite. And so the next day she went
into the recording studio and started
writing this song number one girl. In
the you can feel the sentiment of her
need for validation and acceptance in
even just the first few opening lines of
the song. Let me read this for you. Tell
me that I'm an angel. Tell me I look
pretty. Tell me, oh, sorry. Tell me I'm
special. Tell me I look pretty. Tell me
I'm a little angel, the sweetheart of
your city. Say what I'm dying to hear
because I'm dying to hear you. Tell me
I'm that new thing. Tell me that I'm
relevant. Tell me that I've got a big
heart and then back it up with evidence.
I need it and I don't know why this late
at night. Now, Ros has such a powerful
way of capturing the sentiment of this
generation of Gen Z. But really the same
sentiment for all of us. We live under
this constant and uncompromising demand
for personal validation. Rosa is someone
who is on top of the world at the height
of global popularity. And yet she
expresses this heartache for her
generation that even this scale of
popular validation does not satisfy.
as Ros has so powerfully expressed. I
need it and I don't know why. Now, I'm
sure there are many of you here in this
room this very day who know exactly what
this feels like. You know all too
intimately the overarching fear of
rejection, the fear of not being
accepted, not being liked, not only by
your closest friends but the millions of
strangers on social media. So what
comfort is there in the face of that
kind of fear? Look at verse 9. And as
they were coming down the mountain,
Jesus commanded them, "Tell no one in
the vision until the Son of Man is
raised from the dead." Now for Jesus, he
has the most glorious moment in all of
human history. His face is literally
shining like the sun, God the Father
himself, declaring his praises. And what
does he say to the disciples?
Do not breathe a word of this to anyone.
Now, what in the world? Why isn't he
posting this on Instagram? Why isn't he
declaring this to the world? Why isn't
he revealing his glory to everyone?
Because he wants to give his glory to
you through faith in Jesus. He gives you
his position as the son of God. He gives
you his standing with the father so that
through his work on the cross, God the
father can come and look down on you.
And he declares to the world, you are my
son. You are my daughter. With you I am
well pleased by the grace of Christ
through faith in him. You are literally
number one in God's eyes.
And what does Jesus get in exchange for
this incredible glory that he gives to
us? He gets your shame. He gets your
disappointment. All your weakness, your
failures, all your rejection and
insecurity and heartache. The
uncompromising lack of validation.
He takes it all upon himself. And that
is his experience on the cross.
In his most glorious moment, his face
shining like the sun. He tells his
disciples not to tell a soul about this.
But on the other hand, what is the one
moment that he chooses to broadcast to
the whole world? It's his rejection, his
insult, his shame, his torture on the
cross that he displays to the world
because that is what he's taking from
you. Jesus was taking all of your lack
of validation, all of your embarrassing
moments, all of your heartbreak and
rejection. He didn't deserve it. He
didn't have to go through it, but he
submitted it to it all just for you.
Now, this is the grace of Jesus. Jesus
loves you so much. His love is not just
kind words and warm sentiments. Jesus
incarnated himself into your weakness,
entered into your situation, and
experienced your shame so that by his
incredible grace, you can receive his
glory instead.
Now, I'm sure you all know that Jesus
loved you and died on the cross for your
sins. But did you know that Jesus loved
you and died on the cross to give you
grace in your need for personal
validation?
The ability to to incarnate yourself to
a culture, even a social media immersed
Gen Z K-pop culture, and then offer the
grace of Jesus in a way that
specifically meets their needs. That is
the work of missions. But that is also
the work of theology.
And so as students here of theology,
here at Covenant Theological Seminary,
this is what in the world you are doing
here. You are growing deeper and deeper
in your understanding of Jesus. So much
so that you would daily experience his
radiant glory. So much so that you would
incarnate his grace to all the diverse
cultures of the world. even the cultures
that are closest to you. Let's pray
together.
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much
for this Jesus who has done so much for
us, who has taken so much from us. Lord,
all the glory that he'd rightly deserved
by grace, he gave it to us through faith
in him. He pours and lavishes upon us.
And in exchange, he takes all of our
shame, all of our embarrassment, all of
our lack of validation. Lord, I pray for
e each one of us. We are tender hearts.
We are easily wounded. Lord, we are so
so vulnerable. Heavenly Father, I do
pray that you you know each one of us.
You can see into all of our hearts and
you know what we need, what we desire.
We pray that you would minister that
gospel of Christ to each one of us and
transform us as well. incarnate us to be
ministers of that gospel, to be
messengers of this good news to the ends
of the earth and to the cultures that
are nearest to us. I thank you for this
new academic year. We anticipate great
things in the months and years ahead. In
Jesus name we pray. Amen.