The main event is only about eight hours away now – the spectacle that comes only once per year is almost upon us. Oh, sure, there will be a game and a half time show, but we all know that the high point of today is going to be the advertisements.
Most of them will be funny, some of them may even relate to the product their selling – but the thing that they will all have in common is that they will each cost more money than 90% of us will make in a lifetime. At $3,000,000 for 30 seconds, someone earning $130,000 a year would take more than 40 years to pay for it. It is clearly not within our means to reveal a message in this fashion – but is within theirs.
All of this money, of course, is spent for a single purpose. Madison Avenue wants to highlight a lack of something – They want to you to think that your life just isn’t complete without their beer, their car, or maybe even their internet registration service. I think it’s safe to say that you aren’t going to see anything that says – sit back, relax, and enjoy the fact that you already have everything you need.
And yet, our text this morning comes from a book that is going to make just that point. A backwater fisherman named Peter had 30 seconds of Jesus – and he understood in that moment of magnificent metamorphosis that we already have a power and a promise that propels a life to significance.
Peter is going to start his letter with a pretty bold statement – Jesus Christ has already given you everything you need for life and godliness. Let me say that again – Jesus has already given you what you need. Let me suggest to you quite plainly that if you know how to read, you can read this book – and this book has the power to change you. This book is not a myth – it is the basis by which we are changed into a state where we can be like Christ. It tells us how we can be made completely whole!
And yet, too often, we live as those advertisers hope – wondering if maybe we’re missing out. I think it’s understandable – but Peter wants us to understand that we can be sure that we have everything we need, because we have a prophetic Word made all the more sure by the power of what he himself has seen.
So, this Super Bowl Sunday, as we prepare to be dazzled by what the World says we need, I’d like to take a minute a reveal to you some of the spectacle of what we already have. Our text this morning is going to reveal that because we have had a vision of Christ, we can understand the power and the promise of Christ, and amazingly even know the Will of Christ.
But understand this too – an advertisement wells up want within you in order to make you go out and acquire something. Christ who has already given you all that you need will naturally compel you to an action to. When you understand how much you have been given, you should be compelled to share it. But before we get to the catch, let’s understand what we have.
The Vision of Christ
Peter is going to start with an event that he personally witnessed many years ago. He was out with James and John on a mountain, when all of the sudden, Jesus changed. His face began to glow, and the same Spirit that spoke at his Baptism came through and said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I well pleased.”
The Gospel also says that Jesus’ appearance becomes completely changed. The Greek word is ‘metamorphe’ – changed in the same way that a caterpillar is changed into a butterfly. Changed in the same way that this same word promises us that if we are in Christ – We are new a Creation! Peter had a vision of Jesus – a vision of his coming to us and seeing what He would make of us.
You know on Wednesday, we are going to begin Lent, and to start it off, we’re going to take a day to literally wear ashes – the debris that is left after a cremation – symbolizing the death that we so are accustomed to. In one sense, it isn’t normal in the slightest – but the reality that we proclaim is more real than what passes for everyday life.
We do something extraordinary in order to proclaim the reality that the wages of sin is death. But Jesus, who for 30 years had been wearing the ashes of a body, and for one brief moment wore the Kingly Body that was the reality of who He is. It wasn’t normal, but it reflected the reality of who Jesus was.
In our Bibles, we find all sorts of things that seem outside of normal existence – but they reveal the way things really are: Truth made more sure by the prophetic word. We do we well to pay attention to it. The spectacles may be dazzling, but the reality is amazing.
And as if this spectacle weren’t dazzling enough, Elijah shows up on one side of Jesus, and Yul Brenner’s on the other. Peter, James, and John are in awe. Before them was the whole of Jewish History: Moses, the giver of the Law and Elijah, the Prophet against whom all other Prophets are judged. Imagine, if you take your Old Testament Table of Contents – the Law and the Prophets, – and there’s Jesus, the Word made flesh standing right in the middle.
Talk about a revelation. You have the entirety of the Word of God in history, and the fullness of the Word of God in Christ, all on one mountain.
By the way – 2 Corinthians picks up on Moses encounter with God’s glory. It says that after seeing God his face shone too. In fact, Moses’ face shined so brightly that the people made him wear a veil. But I’ll tell you something about the law by itself – it fades. 2 Corinthians says that Moses kept wearing the veil because he knew that reflected glory fades over time. The law was insufficient in and of itself.
We don’t have time here to look into Elijah, but he too was transformed by this event. I don’t think it’s off the mark to point out that Elijah was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind. My guess is that whirlwind stopped on a certain mountain – but as it did, power came out of Elijah and into his servant. Elisha was twice as great Elijah, they say – but even here less than Christ. Elisha’s bones raised one man from the dead. How many did Jesus save?
The prophet was great, but only because he was heading towards Jesus. The law was great, but only because it reflected Jesus. But of these things can transform our lives and give us power – but only because of Jesus. If Moses was pointed towards Jesus, and Elijah was pointed towards Jesus, then this Word will point us toward Jesus. It can give us a vision of him – and that’s strength! That’s power. That’s the will of God.
This vision of Jesus taking center stage is exactly the plan that had always been expected. This vision of Jesus is seems so out of the ordinary, and yet so exactly what real reality is.
It is that Vision – that knowledge that Christ is with us – that compels us. It completely changes our world. I remember when I first got my eyeglasses – I found out that normal people actually saw leaves on trees. It totally opened my eyes to the beauty that God revealed all around us.
The Vision that this spectacle puts on for our benefit encourages to see with his eyes, to not settle for what is in front of our eyes – but to see the world as he sees it. We do well to pay attention to that – To look intently on the things that he sees, because that is how we will know the will of God.
The Power and the Promise
When Peter saw the Vision of Christ, he realized the Power that is in Christ. One look at the true face of the King, and it all made so much sense. Honor, Glory – that means dazzle by the way – these things were the reality of who Jesus was – and now God was making that plain to men. Can you imagine what that would mean? God cared. God cared enough to tell you, he’s coming.
There was raw, unadulterated power proving the point that all of history had been leading up to this point: Jesus was revealed as the Son of God. There’s power in that. Those “myths: – those “fairy tales” they had heard growing up about how God loved them and was going to send them a Savior? Well here they were, being revealed as true.
It’s so easy to take the Bible as a cleverly devised myth – and short of a personal encounter with Him, I understand why people would dismiss it. But when Peter says, “Hey – I’m an eyewitness!” it makes me want to be an eyewitness to. This book is my window into that world. It will let me see if I’m willing to look into it and through it. And what I become an eyewitness to as I read it is God’s love.
He loves us enough to become one of us. He loves us enough to die for us. He loves us enough to return for us. He has made us His sons and His daughters. He has given us all we need for life and godliness.
He has already given us the Law and the Prophets – even a New Testament. We have the advantage of pen and ink. We can read and study it. But God loves us enough to where he’ll even offer us that same vision, if only we’ll reach out for it.
Look at what happened when John Newton asked for that revelation. Now there was some amazing grace! Look at what happened when Lee Strobel examined that revelation. The Case for the Crucifixion was supposed to prove it was all a myth, and yet it turned out that even a skeptic like Strobel had to admit the truth. Michael Farady, Chuck Colson, Isaac Newton, C.S. Lewis, John Bunyan – the list of lives that are testament to the power of the Word goes on and on.
If you’ll indulge me one of my favorites – you know the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty? Fletcher Christian puts Captain Bligh off the ship and they all sail away? Well it’s a real story – but did you ever wonder what happened to them? I’ll tell you what happened. They all sailed off to Tahiti, took some additional people on board, set out again, and eventually found their way to a tiny little island called ‘Pitcairn Island.’
Within four years, all but two of the crew were dead – victims of the diseases that accompanied their lifestyle, their own murderous rage, insanity brought about by alcohol. Only two remained – Alexander Smith and Edward Young, and even these two had axed one of their comrades to death for their own safety.
In order to protect himself from Young, Alexander Smith ran away to the other side of the island. He had a Bible, but couldn’t even read. Eventually, Smith brought the book back to Young who taught him how to read the Bible shortly before Young succumbed to consumption. But Alexander Smith took what he read to heart. His life was dramatically altered. The only white man left on the island, he taught the others about Jesus. His life was changed – a metamorphosis just like Jesus.
When the British finally caught up with the last mutineer of the Bounty, they were so amazed with the changes in Smith’s life that two different captains refused to follow the orders to hang him. Smith owed it all to one book – the Bible. In fact, pull out a flag of Pitcairn Island, and there at the center you will see that Bible, front and center. It changes things – it really does. But only when have that personal encounter – the promise that Jesus comes again into any life that will receive him.
The Will of God
You see in verses 20 & 21 that these visions – these prophecies and scriptures – they’re not from us, but from God. And notice here what the fact that we have this word tells us about God – he cares enough to tell us his will.
Now, understand that if you know the will of God, you know what’s going to happen. If I understood the will of God in regards to certain sticks on the NYSE, I’d be a much richer man than I am now. But the truth is God has a lot more in store for us than just good stock picks. What good is money is comparison to a life?
You see, in the end, God is going to be picking us to live with him. I can choose to set myself towards that goal or against. To the extent that I choose him, I am tapping into power.
He wants us to learn who he is. He wants us to learn to be carried in his Holy Spirit. And therein says something about God. And if he wants us to learn about him, it is because he loves us enough to desire to make himself known.
And if he wants us to learn about him, he can appoint us to the task as well. We are his advertisements – Not some 30 second spot, but entire lives devoted to proclaiming the Vision and the Power and Will of God.
What it compels us to do
Notice at the end of the Gospel a curious little phrase. Peter had a vision, and we see that we have the same vision. But Jesus says, don’t tell anyone the Vision … until I’ve been raised from the dead. Now, quick show of hands – how many of you think that Jesus has been raised from the dead. Sounds like that ‘don’t tell anyone the Vision’ condition is passed.
So, what’s the implication? Share it! Share the vision! Peter is writing this whole letter to say –look you have the prophetic word. You have it made sure in Jesus Christ. Pay attention to it, do what it says, but most of all – share the vision with those who can’t see it.
Superbowl Ads
We have been given
- The vision of Christ (17-18)
o Transfiguration = Metamorphe – new creation
o Normality vs. Reality
Ash Wednesday – not normal ashes (cremation) reality of death in sin
Jesus normal clothed in this dead flesh – moment of the shining reality
Whole Bible on display (Moses – law, Elijah – Prophets)
o Fading away (2 Cor)
Moses’ glory fades when not in the presence of Christ – veil
Elijah’s whirlwind
Prophet was great because he was looking towards Jesus, Moses great when pointing towards Jesus
The Word points us toward Jesus – It gives us a vision
o Totally new perspective
my glasses – beauty of nature
his eyes encourage us to see a fallen world being made new
- The power and the promise of Christ (16)
o Vision says God cares enough to tell you about him
o Without vision, seems like a fairy tale
o But we know what happens when the vision takes hold –
o John Newton, Chuck Colson, Lee Strobel, C.S. Lewis
o Mutiny on the Bounty
- The will of Christ via the Words of Christ (19 – 21)
o These words aren’t from us, they’re from God
o These words are for us – they tell us what is the will of God
Don’t tell the Vision?
- The Vision of Christ is that he reveals himself – We are to be like Christ.
- Kazakh glasses – means towards helping others see – but the real healing is from the Word that is delivered.
- You are God’s 30 second spot – but it’s your whole life. Do you have anything relevant?
