Sermon Tone Analysis

OPENING JOKES - Last week’s teaching was very heavy, so I thought I would tell you a couple of fairy tales to kick today’s teaching off.

World's Shortest Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl "Will you marry me?"

The girl said, "NO!"

And the guy lived happily ever after, went hunting and fishing whenever he wanted, got fat eating fast food and pizza everyday, and left the toilet seat up the rest of his life.

THE END.

And then there’s a story of a father is tucking in his son at night.

His son asks him if he can tell him a fairy tale.

"Of course," the father replies.

He begins telling a story, "Once upon a time..."

The son interrupts him, asking "Do all fairy tales begin with once upon a time?"

The father says, "No, son.

In fact, most fairy tales begin with the words, 'When I'm elected...'"

And then there’s a story of a man walking down the beach and comes across an old bottle.

He picks it up, pulls out the cork and out pops a genie.

The genie says, "Thank you for freeing me from the bottle.

In return I will grant you 3 wishes."

The man says "Great!

I always dreamed of this and I know exactly what I want.

First, I want one billion dollars in a Swiss bank account."

Poof!

There is a flash of light and a piece of paper with account numbers appears in his hand.

He continues, "Next, I want to be healthy forever."

Poof!

There is a flash of light and his 50 lbs of flab vanishes, his waist shrinks, thick hair returns to his balding head, & his biceps grow to 20 inches.

He continues, "Finally, I want to be irresistible to women."

Poof!

There is a flash of light and he turns into a box of chocolates.

_____________

Now some people think the Bible is full of fairy tales that have been told so often that people just believe the fanciful stories, but the Scriptures were written by those who were eyewitnesses of the Creator, Who revealed Himself to His creation.

And today we will be reminded why the Scriptures and the Eyewitnesses can be trusted.

This time 2 years ago I was standing in the streets of Jerusalem where a Muslim man essentially told me that what I believed about Jesus was just a fairy tale.

Here’s how the conversation went:

He placed a prayer shawl on my friend and said, “This make you a holy man.”

I said, “No.

He is a follower of Jesus who died for his sins and THAT’S what makes him a holy man.”

He came close to me and said, “So you are a Christian?

You only believe those things because your family and culture told you to believe them.

But that is not true.”

And asked, “Are you Muslim?” to which he said “yes”.

I told him, "I could tell you the same thing - You only believe those things because your family and culture told you to believe them.”

The Koran teaches that Jesus never sinned, performed miracles, and was a great prophet.

However…the Koran teaches Jesus was NOT crucified, didn’t raise from the dead, and never claimed to be “the Son of God”

The Bible teaches the opposite of that - that Jesus DID die on a cross, did rise from the dead, and did claim to be “the Son of God.”

So I asked him, when did Mohammad receive these teachings from the angel Gabriel that are now in the Koran?

He wasn’t sure of the date, so I told him…about 600 years after the time of Jesus.

I began to explain that I would trust the multiple eyewitnesses who knew Jesus over one man who had an ‘angelic dream’ that made contrary claims about Jesus.

I asked if he knew of American football and then explained that my son’s high school team had won the state championship that year.

And I know this to be the case, because I was THERE.

If someone showed up 20 years from now to talk to this same Muslim man and told him something different, he might ask a question like, “Were you THERE?”

If they said, “No, but I had a dream from an angel about the game”, which would you more likely believe?

Then, sensing the enabling power of the Spirit, I said, “Jesus of Nazareth walked in this very place, taught in this very town, healed people of all kinds of diseases, and in this very city, not far from where we are standing, was crucified on a Roman cross, buried, and raised to life 3 days later, according - not to - an angel 600 years later, but according to the people who knew Jesus and saw what occured right here in Jerusalem!

I encouraged him to read the New Testament accounts, as the authors were eyewitnesses of Jesus.

Today, we are going to hear from one of those Eyewitnesses through the Scriptures.

And I trust that we will see that...

BIG TRUTH: God uses the Scriptures and Eyewitnesses to SPEAK to People through People.

The God who created people in His image, most often uses people to communicate the TRUTH about Who Jesus is and what Jesus says.

Although God could use DREAMS and ANGELS to share WHO Jesus is and WHAT Jesus says, He rarely does.

Instead, God uses the Scriptures and Eyewitnesses to SPEAK to People through People.

CATCH THE CONTEXT

Last week you remember that Simon Peter challenged his ancient audience..and us…with these words.

2 Peter 1:10–11 (NIV)

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election.

For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It is GOOD to examine our lives and see if how we BEHAVE demonstrates what we BELIEVE.

I hope you have chewed on that this week to make sure you and KNOWING God and GROWING in spiritual maturity.

And that’s where we pick up in this letter from the apostle Peter and the urgency and sincerity of why he wrote it.

2 Peter 1:12–15 (NIV)

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

As a good shepherd would do, Peter wants to do all he can to help these maturing sheep of God’s flock to continue to grow and until he draws his last breath - which is coming soon.

But until then, Peter will make every effort to leave them with a message that will not fade away.

Evidently, just before Simon Peter wrote this letter, Jesus had revealed that his death was drawing near.

Many years earlier, right after Jesus rose from the dead and just before He ascended to heaven, Jesus told Peter to take care of His sheep - to feed them, protect them and direct them to follow the Good Shepherd.

Let’s jump in on the end of that same conversation where Jesus tells him something else.

John 21:17–19 (NIV)

...Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.

Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

And sure enough, during the reign of Emperor Nero, Peter was arrested and led out to be crucified.

Peter is writing this letter, not long before that occurs.

And so, he uses his last bit of ink to write of these most powerful memories and challenges to sheep under his care.

2 Peter 1:16 (NIV)

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty.

What Simon Peter and others said about Jesus were not cleverly devised stories or ancient fairy tales.

The Greek word for stories is mythos - from which we get our English word myths, referring to legendary stories of supernatural beings and cultural heroes performing extraordinary feats* - sort of like some of our Comic-book heroes, but back 2000+ years ago.

[* Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 389.]

But Simon Peter and the other apostles of Jesus were NOT Stan Lee story-tellers who made up fanciful super-hero stories.

These men had seen Jesus heal all kinds of diseases and even raise the dead on several occasions.

They heard Jesus teach more times than they could count.

These men ate with Jesus, traveled with him from town to town, laughed with Him and were disciplined by Him.

Then Peter points to one of his most powerful moments with Jesus when he writes...

2 Peter 1:17–18 (NIV)

He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

Peter is remembering the transfiguration of Jesus that you can read more about this Matthew 17 and Mark 9. It’s in those passages that we are told how Jesus’ face was shining like the son and His clothing was whiter than any launderer could make them (Mk 9:3).

They even saw Moses & Elijah (who lived hundred of years beforehand) talking with Jesus.

But what really impacted Simon Peter that day was this voice that came from heaven - the voice from God the Father that said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

(see Ps 2:6-7) It was in this moment that the disciples of Jesus got a glimpse of WHO He really was and became eyewitnesses of His Majesty (v16).

This is a better story than Louis Lane finding out that Clark Kent really is Superman!