SPECIAL DAYS: Transfiguration Sunday

March 2, 2003 - Lesson: Matthew 7.15-20

Sermon Title: Actions Speak Louder than Words

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INTRODUCTION:

After explaining to my 3-year-old son, Joshua, that God made boys and girls differently, we talked about which gender he is, which one I am, then moved on to other family members.

Then I asked Joshua if our dog, Macy, is a boy or a girl.

Looking at me strangely, he replied, "Mom, Macy's a dog." (1)

MAIN BODY:

  1. In front of you, metaphorically speaking, are two people.

    1. One is a pseudo-prophet, which is the meaning of øåõäïðñïöÞôçò, pseudopropheôteôs, a spurious prophet, that is, pretended foreteller or religious impostor:--false prophet.

    2. The other is a true prophet.

    3. How do you tell the difference?

    4. Is it fair to say that if you do not know the true you cannot identify the false?

    5. How do you find out.

I watched CNN Larry King Live, Interview With Dan Rather, Aired February 27, 2003 - 21:00 ET

      1. There were two callers who asked questions to which Mr. Rather responded with the need for you to make up your own mind or to find your own answers.

"CALLER: 'Mr. Rather, it's a pleasure to talk to you, sir. You are, in my opinion, one of the most respected journalists in American today, so I'll highly value your answer to my question.

"'I'm a 31-year-old father of two and of course, I'm concerned about this situation. Now that you've met Mr. Hussein face-to-face, I guess now for the second time -- when we get on the news we hear our president constantly say that he's a liar and cannot be trusted and a deviant, so on and so forth.

"'Is that your opinion, sir? Do you feel war is the only answer or should we continue to trust this man with inspections?'

"RATHER: 'Well, I trust my president and when the president of the United States says things, I listen very carefully. That's my opinion as a citizen. That's my position as a citizen.

"'As a journalist, my job is to get at all sides of the story, if I can, particularly to the decision makers on the opposite side of whatever side our government takes, to allow you and other citizens to make up your own mind about whom to believe.'

"CALLER: 'Hi, Mr. Rather.

"'I heard you say earlier that you fully trusted in our president, as I do, but I just, -at such a critical time do you really feel that it was in America's best interest to interview a man who's continually lied to the world? I'm not sure why anyone would think that he would start being truthful all of a sudden now with a CBS interview. I'm just concerned that he was using our media to spread propaganda. I'm curious how you felt about that.'

"RATHER: 'Well, that's a good point.

"'Here's how I feel about it. It's the very essence of our free democracy that individual citizens make up their own mind and I have such confidence in you, in the audience, you can sort out the propaganda. You can decide if someone is lying or not.'"

      1. Does the new Media provide you with enough information so that you can know who is telling "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

      2. Do you find yourself dealing with a high level of doubt and confusion.

      3. How can you can tell the difference between a true prophet and a pseudo-prophet?

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  1. In spite of accusations to the contrary, Jesus is the true prophet

Who is this Jesus? He seems to be many things to many people. Philip Yancy reports in, The Jesus I Never Knew: (2)

The Cuban government distributes a painting of Jesus with a carbine slung over his shoulder. During the wars of religion with France, the English used to shout, 'The pope is French but Jesus Christ is English.'

Modern scholarship further muddies the picture. If you peruse the academic books available at a seminary bookstore you may encounter Jesus as a political revolutionary, as a magician who married Mary Magdalene, as a Galilean charismatic, a rabbi, a peasant Jewish cynic, a Pharisee, an anti-Pharisee Essene, an eschatological prophet, a 'hippie in a world of Augustan yuppies' and as the hallucinogenic leader of a sacred mushroom cult. Serious scholars write these works with little sign of embarrassment.

Athletes come up with creative portrayals of Jesus that elude modern scholarship. Norm Evans, former Miami Dolphins lineman, wrote in his book, On God's Squad, 'I guarantee you Christ would be the toughest guy who ever played this game. If he were alive today I would picture a six-foot-six-inch, 260-pound defensive tackle who would always make the big plays and would be hard to keep out of the backfield for offensive linemen like myself.' Fritz Peterson, former New York Yankee, more easily fancies Jesus in a baseball uniform: 'I firmly believe that if Jesus Christ was sliding into second base, he would knock the second baseman to left field to break up the double play. Christ might not throw a spitball, but he would play hard within the rules.'

    1. In the midst of such confusion, how do we answer the simple question, 'Who was Jesus?'

    2. Who is Jesus?

    3. George Burns once said, "Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made."

    4. Christ will not fake it.

    5. He is the only truly authentic person that this world has ever witnessed.

  1. Jesus is going to give you only what is valuable and true.

Steven Carter and Julia Sokol, in their book Lives Without Balance: When You're Giving Everything You've Got and Still Not Getting What You Hoped For, define what success means.

As good as their thinking is, it still doesn't go far enough from a biblical standpoint. (3)

They say: Success means ... accepting yourself for who you are.
Jesus says: Success means ... celebrate who you are; celebrate the person God has made.

They say: Success means ... knowing all the ways in which you are already a winner.
Jesus says: Success means ... sometimes an illness, a cancer, a rejection puts you in touch with gifts and graces you didn't know you had.

They say: Success means ... taking time to relate to the people you love.
Jesus says: Success means ... never taking for granted your nearest and dearest and neediest.

They say: Success means ... knowing when to compete and when to let go.
Jesus says: Success means ... walking down corridors of responsibility more than corridors of power.

They say: Success means ... being able to lose your career without losing yourself.
Jesus says: Success means ... being willing to lose yourself to find yourself.

They say: Success means ... taking good care of yourself
Jesus says: Success means ... giving yourself away to others, to your community--and then seeing what you get back.

They say: Success means ... spending time with the people who care about you.
Jesus says: Success means ... experiencing the power and presence of God wherever two or three are gathered together in Jesus' name.

They say: Success means ... controlling your finances.
Jesus says: Success means ... it is more blessed to give than to receive.

They say: Success means ... knowing that everything has its price--and knowing how much you are prepared to pay.
Jesus says: Success means ... taking up your cross daily and following him.

They say: Success means ... letting go of envy.
Jesus says: Success means ... seeing yourself as God sees you.

They say: Success means ... taking care of your own spiritual development.
Jesus says: Success means ... what does it profit if you gain the world but lose your soul?

They say: Success means ... following a life plan that is based on your true values
Jesus says: Success means ... building a life plan from the inside out not the outside in.

They say: Success means ... putting balance in your life.
Jesus says: Success means ... putting God in first place in your life.

They say: Success means ... trusting the process.
Jesus says: Success means ... trusting the Spirit.

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    1. They are like the counterfeiter who tried to get some change for a bill that he had created.

Barry Bailey (Fort Worth, Texas, 13 June 1993) tells the story of a Louisiana counterfeiter who got so excited that he made a number of $11 bills.

"He wondered what he was going to do with them. So one day he went to Thibodaux, out in the country. The person with him asked, 'What are you going to do?'

The counterfeiter said, 'This is an out-of-the-way place, this little store out here. I'm going in and see what kind of change I can get for this $11 bill.' He walked in, put the bill down on the counter, and said, 'I'd like some change.' The clerk gave him two bills.

The counterfeiter picked them up, and got back in the car. The man asked, 'What did you get?' 'I don't know,' the counterfeiter replied, 'but anything is better than what I had.' He looked at it-he had a seven and a four."

      1. At least with Jesus you know you are going to get the correct change.

    1. He will not tell you what to do.

      1. He will tell you what ought to be done.

      2. This will be described rather than proscribed.

    2. He will not control what you are to believe.

      1. He will provide you with the means of control.

      2. This is in within the meaning and purpose what has been taught and exemplified in his life.

      3. We are reaching the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount.

        1. This is the essence of what Jesus taught.

        2. This is the divine ideal fr the development of the human being as restored into the image of God.

    3. He is not going to constrain how you are to act out your beliefs.

      1. Jesus had 12 disciples.

      2. He called 11 of them.

      3. One joined the cause on his own and for his own purposes.

      4. Jesus sought to teach Judas, but he did not constrain him in his desperate moment of betrayal.

    4. Today is Transfiguration Sunday

      1. We view a scene with Peter James and John.

      2. We listen to the voice of God.

28Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32Now 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. 33Just 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. 34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" 36When 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. (Luke 9:28-36, NRSVA).

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    1. This is my Son, my chosen, listen to him.

    2. Or are we like this humorous look at the disciples response to Jesus.

      1. As referenced by Mark Terwilliger, Edmeston, New York

Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathered them around. He taught them saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the meek.

Blessed are they that mourn.

Blessed are the merciful.

Blessed are they who thirst for justice.

Blessed are you when persecuted.

Blessed are you when you suffer.

Be glad and rejoice for your reward is great in heaven.

Then Simon Peter said, Are we supposed to write this down?

And Andrew asked, Are we supposed to know this?

And James asked, Will we have a test on this?

And Phillip said, I don't have any paper.

And Bartholomew asked, Do we have to turn this in?

And John said, The other disciples didn't have to learn this.

And Matthew asked, Can I go to the boys' room?

And Judas asked, What does this have to do with real life?

Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus' lesson plan and inquired of Jesus, Where is your anticipatory set and your objectives in the cognitive domain?

And Jesus wept.

  1. You will know by their fruits.

    1. What kind of fruit did Jesus produce?

    2. It might appear to be, if I may use the term, "a mixed bag."

      1. This was not his fault.

      2. Because there is no control but self-control and voluntary compliance, Christians have been as guilty of inhuman acts and actions as they have been of humanitarian acts and actions.

    3. All we need to do is to understand the differences between the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit as found in Galatians 5:15-5:26 (NRSVA)

      1. The Works of the Flesh

16Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21envy,£ drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

      1. The Fruit of the Spirit

22By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

CONCLUSION

  1. Jesus is the one constant and the one in whom we may have complete confidence and trust.

    1. He is the one source to help us develop the means for telling the false from the true

    2. He is consistently and constantly the same.

John Killinger, in his book on the Beatitudes (Letting God Bless You [Nashville: Abingdon, 1992], 74, cites Herman Melville's Moby Dick, the great novel about the American whaling industry of the 19th century.

There is an unforgettable passage about a ship's lantern that hung in the captain's room on the Pequod. No matter which way the ship yawed and hawed in the rolling, pitching waves, the lantern always hung down exactly perpendicular to a line drawn through the center of the earth.

As Melville said, it 'revealed the false, lying levels' of everything around it.

    1. So it is with Christ.

1. Mary E., Pennsylvania, cited in christianitytoday.com

2. Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1995), 19.

3. Steven Carter and Julia Sokol, Lives Without Balance: When You're Giving Everything You've Got and Still Not Getting What You Hoped For (New York: Villard Books, 1992), 217ff, Quoted in HomileticsOnLine © 2002 Communication Resources, Inc. All Rights Reserved Used with Permission

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