February 6, Transfiguration Sunday, Boy Scout Sunday

Lesson: 2 Peter 1:16-21

Sermon Title: Myth or Reality?

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INTRODUCTION:

Instructions (1)

Don Shelby tells the story about the father who had ordered a tree house for his children. The time came to assemble the tree house. He laid out all the parts on the floor and began reading the instructions. To his dismay, he discovered that the instructions were for a tree house but the parts were for a sailboat! The next day he sent an angry letter to the company complaining about the mix-up. Back came this reply:

"We are truly sorry for the error and the inconvenience. However, it might help to consider the possibility that somewhere there is a man out on a lake trying to sail your tree house."

  1. The point is clear: To put something together, you have to have the right parts and the right instructions.

    1. This is where faith comes in.

      1. The only way you can put life together is through faith.

      2. Faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior-that's what makes it work.

      3. That's the way to assemble your life, to root it in Jesus Christ through faith, to tie it to Jesus Christ, to ground it in Jesus Christ.

    2. What happens if you do not have Jesus Christ?

  2. You are riding in an automobile with an acquaintance and asked several questions.

    1. One question has to do with what is happening to this person.

      1. Life is full of trouble, Why?

      2. The person is very nervous and tense, Why?

    2. How do you come to some understanding about God?

      1. What do you say?

      2. How do you respond?

      3. What resources do you offer?

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MAIN BODY:

  1. So you suggest that many of the answers to these questions are to be found in the Bible.

    1. The individual responds:

"The Bible was written by a bunch of drunks who only wrote what they wanted to." (2)

      1. Just a lot of cunningly devised fables.

        1. Noah and the flood.

        2. Jonah and the great fish.

        3. Elijah and the chariot.

        4. Perhaps most of the story of Jesus.

          1. His virgin birth.

          2. His death and resurrection.

          3. His ascension

      2. It appears to me that this person may be more like the empower than the child in the Emperor's New Clothes.

        1. This story depicts one of the great fables.

        2. The emperor's condition is revealed by a small boy who remarks that "He doesn't have any clothes on."

    1. Would you want to be found without the garments of righteousness.

      1. Unclothed

      2. Vulnerable.

    2. The statement of the person with whom I was riding presupposes one of two sets of beliefs.

      1. One is well stated by C. S. Lewis

"The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits was, poverty and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God's acquittal. But the important thing is that Man is on the Bench and God is in the dock." (3)

        1. This is truly stomping on the promises.

        2. It is sometimes difficult for us to reverse our position and let God on the bench.

      1. The second is a condition that is described by Mike Holmgren

"When I was 11 years old, I had committed my life to Jesus Christ at an evangelistic crusade, but in my pursuit to make a name for myself in football, I had left God on my bedroom shelf--right next to my dust-covered Bible. Now in the pain of rejection, I pulled out my Bible and found comfort is a verse that I had memorized in Sunday School." (4)

        1. This is the classic God on the shelf syndrome

        2. A dust covered Bible can be devastatingly dangerous.

        3. I was in California and decided to return home by way of Carlsbad, NM.

        4. There was a terrible dust storm and the road was impassible.

        5. There were cars coming out of the storm with whole side wiped clean of paint right down to the shiny metal.

    1. Now what do you do?

      1. Well, you can change the subject.

      2. This is not going to the individual much, if any good.

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  1. You can share what you have come to believe and the benefits that your faith has had in your own personal life.

    1. What is the place of God in your life?

    2. So you present your evidence.

"God never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith. His existence, his character, the truthfulness of his word, are all established by testimony that appeals to our reason; and this testimony is abundant. Our faith must rest upon evidence, not on demonstration. Those who wish to doubt will have opportunity; while those who really desire to know the truth, will find plenty of evidence on which to rest their faith." (5)

    1. One of the favorite passages that I use in found in 2 Peter 1.16-21

16For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." 18We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.

19So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, 21because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

      1. Peter is speaking in the plural so he is not speaking only for himself.

      2. He is speaking also for his companions in "The Way,"

      3. He is speaking for all the Apostles.

    1. They are declaring what they have heard, seen, looked at, and touched with their hands.

      1. Where do you find that information?

      2. Though Peter might not have fully realized it, you find it in the writings of those who were the Apostles as contained in the biblical material.

    2. We have questions about the Bible, it's versions and translation.

      1. We must trust the translators.

      2. It makes no difference which translation or version that you pick up, the message is to be found.

    3. The Bible is to be believed

      1. Regardless of the declarations of science, which ever discipline may be making claims of superiority.

        1. The findings of archeology

        2. The criticisms of philosophy,

        3. The conclusions of psychology.

    4. Peter emphatically declares the reliability and necessity of the scriptures.

      1. It is a light to guide the way.

      2. It is the standard by which all of life will be judged.

  1. This is why Peter writes as he does in 2 Peter 1:16-21, NRSVA:

16For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." 18We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. 19So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, 21because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. I received an email from my brother and at the end of the email was this exhortation:

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL THE PEOPLE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK,
NOT ONLY COULD IT SAVE SOMEONE'S HOME, BUT IT COULD SAVE SOMEONE'S LIFE.

The Subject line read: FW: FIRE DANGER

This was received from a friend in the home insurance business. It is well worth reading.

This is one of those emails that if you didn't send it, rest assured someone on your list will suffer for not reading it.

The original message was written by a lady whose brother and his wife learned a hard lesson this past week. Their house burned down.... nothing left but ashes. They have good insurance so the home will be replaced and most of the contents. That is the good news.

However, they were sick when they found out the cause of the fire. The insurance investigator sifted through the ashes for several hours. He had the cause of the fire traced to the master bathroom. He asked her sister-in-law what she had plugged in the bathroom. She listed the normal things....curling iron, blow dryer.

He kept saying to her, "No, this would be something that would disintegrate at high temperatures". Then her sister-in-law remembered she had a Glade Plug-In in the bathroom.

The investigator had one of those "Aha" moments. He said that was the cause of the fire. He said he has seen more home fires started with the plug-in type room fresheners than anything else. He said the plastic they are made from is a THIN plastic. He also said that in every case there was nothing left to prove that it even existed.

When the investigator looked in the wall plug, the two prongs left from the plug-in were still in there. Her sister-in-law had one of the plug-ins that had a small night light built in it. She said she had noticed that the light would dim and then finally go out. She would walk in to the bathroom a few hours later, and the light would be back on again.

The investigator said that the unit was getting too hot, and would dim and go out rather than just blow the light bulb. Once it cooled down it would come on. That is a warning sign. The investigator said he personally wouldn't have any type of plug in fragrance device anywhere in his house. He has seen too many homes that have been burnt down due to them.

    1. It is a cunningly devised fable.

    2. I looked it up on the internet.

      1. Consumer Watch could find no basis for the conclusions.

      2. It is an urban legend

  1. The Bible does not deal in urban legends.

    1. The Bible presents a world-view that is in harmony with the teachings of God.

      1. The Bible establishes the sources of good and evil.

      2. The Bible communicates a true concept of one's self

      3. The Bible is the source of the "good news" which leads to salvation.

    2. The Bible proclaims the rewards and punishments awaiting us in the future.

Priscilla J. Owens expressed the completeness of the revelation of the Bible in the poem that became a gospel song, Give Me the Bible.

"Give me the Bible, star of gladness gleaming,
To cheer the wanderer lone and tempest tossed,
No storm can hid that peaceful radiance beaming,
Since Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

"Give me the Bible, when my heart is broken,
When sin and grief have filled my soul with fear;
Give me the precious words by Jesus spoken,
Hold up faith's lamp to show my Savior near.

"Give me the Bible, all my steps enlighten,
Teach me the danger of these realms below;
That lamp of safety, o'er the gloom shall brighten,
That light alone the path of peace can show.

"Give me the Bible, lamp of life immortal,
Hold up that splendor by the open gave;
Show me the light from heaven's shining portal,
Show me the glory gilding Jordan's wave."

      1. I believe because I must.

      2. I have no other alternative.

      3. If I do not believe I have nothing.

      4. I believe the internal evidence.

      5. I have faith in the church which established the cannon, the volume that we presently have in our possession.

    1. I cannot scientifically refute the questions that arise, so faith acts where science doubts.

  1. This is Transfiguration Sunday.

    1. Have faith in the word and grow in it.

    2. It is the source for understanding life and for describing relationship with the one who gives us life.

1. James W. Moore, ChristianGlobe Sermons, via eSermons.com, preachingnow@preaching.com

2. Anonymous

3. Lewis, C. S., God In the Dock, Essays on Theology and Ethics (Grand Rapids: William B. Erdmans Publishing Co., 1970) p. 244

4. Holmgren, Mike as told to Greg Asimakoupoulos, What Matters Most in My Life, (Minneapolis: Decision Magazine, October 1997), p 9

5. White, E. G., Steps to Christ, (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1908), pp. 107-108.

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