The Greatness of God! Luke 9:28-43a
Introduction
Are you extremely proud of your lifetime accomplishments? I have known the lure of pride in the accomplishments of my life; perhaps you have as well. It was on November 21 of 1877 that Thomas Edison announced to the world that he had invented the phonograph. Edison’s accomplishments are often forgotten. In his Menlo Park, New Jersey fix-it shop he designed the following items: the household light bulb, a motion picture device, the telephone transmitter, stock ticker improvements, the mimeograph machine, the dictating machine and much more. If anyone had a right to brag, Edison did.
However, he humbly acknowledged he couldn’t create the simplest form of life.
The Creator of everything and everyone has this perspective on bragging rights. He inspired the prophet Jeremiah to write, “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:23, 24 NIV). When we understand how incomparable our Creator is and then realize how our knowledge, talents and wealth are but gifts from his limitless storehouse, then and only then we will discover how few bragging rights we really have.
Transition
In today’s text the disciples of Jesus learn this lesson and much more. Indeed, they and the crowds saw the incredible power of god displayed that day.
This morning my aim is simple. While it is always my goal to do it in a way that is interesting and stimulating, my method is simply to see what God has to say to us today in the pages of the Bible; God’s holy word and our guide for life.
Thesis: By way of examining this passage of Scripture I hope that we all will be encouraged – amazed – by the greatness of the God whom we serve.
Exposition
When I consider the works of God I am utterly amazed. Consider the wonder of creation. All that it is was created by God “ex nihilo,” out of nothing. According to the plain teaching of Holy Scripture, there was no precondition of creation upon which God stumbled and reformed. According to the Bible there was no broken world which God fixed; neither anything set in motion nor left to its own devices as is the proposition of theistic evolution.
Consider the words of the Psalmist, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (8:3-4 KJV)
When I consider the works of God’s hand in creation I am struck by the sheer inadequacy of humanity’s ability to formulate a more theory or hypothesis which is in any way provable and exceeds the authority of the word of God.
“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Hebrews 11:3 KJV)
Perhaps Francis Shafer, in his systematic theology, says it better than anyone:
“With no ability to receive the things of God or to know them, man is unable to give intelligent consent to the dictum that all existing things were created from nothing by the immediate fiat of God (Heb_11:3). Recognizing, however, that all existing things must have a beginning, he proceeds to construct his own solution of the problem of origin. The best he has done is represented by the theories of evolution, which theories, because of their inconsistencies and unproved hypotheses, are somewhat worse than no solution at all. Is man who so fails to discover any reasonable solution of this problem at the same time to be credited with the authorship of the Genesis account of creation, which account is the one basis whereon all subsequent revelation proceeds?”
What Shafer is saying is twofold: (1) Man is unable to look back into past and test his evolutionary hypothesis as to viability. (2) Has man invented a theory which exceeds the revelation of Scripture and if he has not then how can he, as some have asserted, be credited with writing the Genesis account of creation?
If man’s wisdom is insufficient to test his claims as to origins, then how can it be said that his wisdom is greater than the revelation which God has given?
Further, he is implying that if the revelation of God is otherwise proven to have power, authority, and truth value, then the totality of its value is credited. In other words, when biblical truth is applied to my life in matters of practical value and my life greatly improves this may be seen as a “proof” of its truthfulness.
Scripture is best understood as a whole. Its parts cannot be divided as a child does to a pizza when he does not like the onions which came on it. The Bible is a unified whole. Its message is complete. If it has value to transform sinners and all of its doctrines proceed from the Genesis account, then it is best taken wholly.
But, my goal here and now is not to refute evolution, though I surely believe it to be highly refutable. My aim here and now is to remind you of the greatness of God, and He is great in creation, just as He is great in our lives!
In today’s text we see the greatness of God exemplified to its fullest in the person and work of Jesus Christ; first in the transfiguration next in the healing of a boy.
Transfiguration: The transfiguration account of Jesus best understood as the illumination of the person of Christ from within, not from without. This is an important distinction to make in light of the truth of who Jesus is.
Jesus is not merely a great or even divine man, as the disciples no doubt had supposed up to that point. In ancient Jewish thought, and today, the portrait of the Messiah which largely exists in the mind of the Jew is one of a divinely blessed man, chosen of God to be sure, but very much a man.
What the Old Testament Scriptures actually attest to and what the reality of Jesus life affirms is that He is not merely a divine man but divinity clothed in humanity. This distinction may seem overly nuanced at first, but its value is great.
Illustration
A Christian worker in Arizona tells of a fierce looking cowboy who came to him asking for copies of Mark’s Gospel, and who told him this story: “I went to San Francisco and threw away much money in rough revelry. I slept late after a night of dissipation. When I awoke I saw a little Book on the table near my bed: the Gospel of Mark. I angrily threw it on the floor.
I did the same thing the second morning. Awaking the third morning, I saw that same little Book. This time I took it with me to a nearby park and began to examine it. I spent the day reading it. I heard the Son of God say to a leper, ‘Be thou clean’ (Mark 1:41). I heard him say to a paralytic, ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee’ (Mark 2:5, 9). I heard him commend the widow for her mite (Mark 12:43). I saw him take little children in his arms and bless them. I heard him say, ‘Couldst thou not watch one hour?’ (Mark 14:37). I saw him die. It broke my heart and changed my life. I am a different man. Now, Stranger, I spend much time giving away copies of the Gospel of Mark.”
No man, however great, no man, however blessed of God, no man under, however pious or spiritually divine, had or has the power to transform the wretched souls of men! The light which shone on the mount of transfiguration was not the confirmation of God’s blessing on the man Jesus. It was the revelation that the man Jesus was in fact, God in the flesh!
While this is a mystery great for our minds to comprehend, it is likewise a reality too important for our hearts to reject! The Nazarene pursues us with His divine love, even now, and if we will but allow Him He will heal our brokenness, transform our sorrow into joy, comfort our afflictions; He offers peace.
The reality of His offer of peace is seen in at the end of this passage when Jesus heals a little boy who was tormented by a demon; causing convulsions. The boy’s symptoms were similar to epilepsy but this does not rule out that it was in fact a demon, not does it require that demons are responsible for all such conditions.
Healing of the Demoniac Boy: The most remarkable language is used by Luke to describe the crowd’s response. The Greek word ekplēssō is translated “amazed.”
This word literally means that they were “struck with astonishment.” Peter, John, and James has just seen Jesus glory revealed. Now, they, the other disciples, along with a large crowd who had gathered when they returned from the mount of transfiguration (Probably Mount Hermon near Caesarea Philippi, Mark 8:27), and Jesus heals a little boy. The crowd is “amazed at the glory of God.”
While they may not have understood exactly who Jesus was, it was apparent that the power of the God was at work in Jesus and they were “struck astonishment.”
Conclusion
When I consider the work of God in His creation, I am similarly struck with astonishment. When I consider the work of God in my life, I am amazed.
There is no end to His power. Nothing is out of His reach. Indeed, we serve a great God who able to do far more than we could ask, hope, or think.
Today, child of God, if you are in need call on Him! If you are at the end of your rope, reach out to Him! If you do not know where else to turn, turn to Him, for He is slow to anger, His compassion is abundant, and His love is available.
Consider the word of the Lord in Ephesians 3:14-21, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:14-21 KJV)
