Sermon and Worship Resources

[While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.]

Original Title: Swimming with the Sharks
New Title: Transformed by the Transfigured

Perhaps you’ve heard the old story that sharks only grow as large as their surroundings permit. I’ve heard that for years but it turns out that is a misunderstanding. As a species sharks are very adaptive. There are over 500 different species and that gives the impression that they are individually adapting to their surroundings. If you have a small aquarium in your city, don’t place a baby Whale Shark in there. He won’t adapt to his environment. He grows to 60 feet in length. But you can place a Dwarf Lantern Shark in your home aquarium. Fully grown, he’s 8 inches long. (1)

I've noticed the same phenomenon with regard to followers of Jesus Christ. As a species we are highly adaptive. If we are challenged to live heroic lives for Christ, we have that capability. Left unchallenged, however, most of us stay where we are with an immature understanding of faith and a nominal commitment to Christ. Some of us need the ocean. Some of us need the home aquarium.

Our lesson contains one of those growing, stretching experiences that occurred for Jesus' disciples. Go with me to the top of a mountain. Jesus is there as are his three most trusted disciples: Peter, James and John. As usual Mark doesn't give us details about what happened on the mountain. Did they have a time of prayer? Did Jesus lead them in a time of meditation? We don't know. ALL WE KNOW IS THAT SUDDENLY THE DISCIPLES SAW JESUS TRANSFIGURED.

What does that mean, transfigured? It means he was changed, before their eyes. If you can imagine seeing the word “glory” occur, right in front of you, you’ll begin to get a picture of Jesus’ transfiguration. Jesus transformed into the glorified Christ who will one day reign over all of life. Add that to your mental picture. When you look at Transfiguration you are looking at the glory of God, but add to that, the Future. The disciples we’re looking into the future, our future. That's about as best as I can define it for you. Right before the disciples' eyes Jesus was elevated to a new plateau.

Those of you who are baseball fans may remember a player by the name of Brooks Robinson, former third baseman of the Baltimore Orioles. Robinson was such a stellar defensive player that he became the standard of excellence for third basemen. It was often said of Brooks that he played third base as if he "came down from a higher league." (2)

It's a crude analogy, but the disciples saw Jesus as if he had come down from a higher league. Mark tells us that Christ's clothes became a dazzling white, whiter, says Mark, than any bleach on earth could get them. Then, says Mark, the disciples saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Moses, of course, gave the children of Israel the Law. Elijah, on the other hand, was the greatest of the prophets. So, here were the highest representatives of the Law and the Prophets, and the transfigured Jesus was in their company. And the disciples heard a voice: "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" And the disciples were terrified.

A crucial statement, that: THE DISCIPLES WERE TERRIFIED. We can appreciate their response to this most unusual situation. We would have been terrified, too. We hear about people experiencing strange phenomena, near death experiences, out-of-body experiences, etc., but for the most part these sorts of things haven't happened to us. And we are a little suspicious when they happen to other people.

And we would be suspicious of Peter, James and John's report, except for the way in which it affected their lives. This experience, as well as many other experiences they had with Jesus, transformed them radically. You and I, 2,000 years removed can make light of their experience, but it was so very real to them that they gave their lives for Christ, literally! Christ was transfigured, and the disciples were terrified. Why were they terrified? Because they were dealing with something outside their experience. Here was Christ in all his glory. The future of mankind being unveiled for them. Here was someone coming down from a different league. Here was someone whose life shone with a beauty and an integrity they did not have. Here was one whose dazzling white robe indicated his holiness, his purity, his uniqueness, and they were but ordinary mortals. And they were afraid.

Being in Christ's presence made them aware of their inadequacy, their imperfection. They were sinners in the presence of one who was sinless. No wonder they were terrified.

While serving aboard a gunboat in Vietnam, Dave Roever was holding a phosphorus grenade some six inches from his face when a sniper's bullet ignited the explosive. He describes the first time he saw his face after the explosion: "When I looked in that mirror, I saw a monster, not a human being . . . My soul seemed to shrivel up and collapse in on itself, to be sucked into a black hole of despair. I was left with an indescribable and terrifying emptiness. I was alone in the way the souls in hell must feel alone." Finally, he came back to the States to meet with his young bride, Brenda. Just before Brenda arrived, Roever watched the wife of another burn victim tell her husband that she wanted a divorce. Then Brenda walked in.

"Showing not the slightest tremor of horror or shock," Roever writes, "she bent down and kissed me on what was left of my face. Then she looked me in my good eye, smiled, and said, Welcome home, Davey! I love you.' To understand what that meant to me you have to know that's what she called me when we were most intimate; she would whisper “Davey,” over and over in my ear. In that moment, by using her term of endearment for me, she was saying, “You are my husband. You will always be my husband. You are still my man." (3)

To understand the grace of God poured out in Jesus Christ, we must first understand our inadequacy, our imperfection, our ugliness, as it were. But the transfigured Christ in all his loveliness, in all his holiness, in all his glory still loves us, the sinful ugly ones. There was no need for the disciples to be terrified, but they did not know that. All they could see was Christ's holiness and their own unworthiness. And they were terrified.

THEN THEY WERE TRANSFORMED. That is the second thing we need to see. They were transformed. Oh, not at once. Transformation rarely happens all at once. Don't let anyone mislead you. Few people are genuinely converted completely all in one night. The experience on the Mount of Transfiguration was but one stop on the disciples' pilgrimage to becoming apostles of Jesus Christ. They would share many other important experiences with Christ. All the time, though, something real and important was happening inside them. They were becoming more like the Master. They were becoming more committed to him and to one another. Their faith, which was not even as large as a mustard seed, was growing. They would stumble and lose hold of it from time to time, but they would always come back to it and it would blossom into a mighty faith that would shake the Roman empire. These men would move from being terrified to being terrific. Their faith would grow from being easily intimidated to being almost invincible. They were in the process of being transformed by the presence of the transfigured Christ.

And the same thing can happen to us. Like the disciples we can also be terrified in Christ's presence because we are imperfect, but we soon discover that in his presence we are not without value and we are not without hope. Because Christ loves us, change is possible. This is the heart of today's lesson: The proper response to the transfigured Christ is transformation. To see the transfigured Christ is to be aware not only of our inadequacies, our ugliness, but also our possibilities. As he is, so shall we one day be.

The drama, The Man Born to be King, reaches its climax at the Crucifixion scene. The three Marys enter and approach the Roman guards. Mary, the mother of Jesus, speaks to the captain requesting permission to minister to the needs of her son. He roughly pushes her away. Then one of the other women come forward and make the same request. But she adds some interesting words. She asks the captain to do this, "for old times' sake." The captain refuses her request as well. Then with a sweeping motion of her hand she loosens her golden hair so that it cascades down her back. "Marcellus," she asks, "have you ever seen hair like this?" And then she thrust out a foot and asks, "And have feet ever danced for you like these feet?"

An incredulous expression comes to the captain's face. In amazement he says, "Mary Magdalene, how you have changed!" Slowly, with dramatic emphasis, she turns her back was to the audience and facing Christ on the cross, slowly she says, "Yes, Marcellus, I have changed; he changed me!"

To see Christ as he really is is to experience personal transformation.

C. S. Lewis put it quite pointedly: "He (Jesus) never talked vague, idealistic gas. When he said, ‘Be perfect,’ He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder, in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad." (4)

III

I like that imagery. Before we experience Christ's transforming power we are unhatched eggs who can only fly if we become more than we are. To experience the transfigured Christ is first of all to be terrified, then it is to be transformed. AND FINALLY IT IS TO BE TURNED LOOSE, TO BE TURNED LOOSE TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD FOR WHICH CHRIST DIED. Christ came preaching the Kingdom of God, the reign of God in every heart. And it is to his followers that he has given the commission for the teaching and the preaching of this kingdom. That's you and me. We are to be transformed and then we are to be transformers.

You know how the story of the Mount of Transfiguration ends. Peter wants to build three booths, one for Christ, one for Moses and one for Elijah, and stay on that mountain. But it is not Christ's mission to stay on the mountain and be worshiped. His is a ministry of love to the people in the valley below. And that is our ministry as well.

I read recently that when American forces captured Okinawa in World War II, the typical island village was a filthy place. The inhabitants were ignorant and poverty-stricken. But there was a village called Shimmabuke which was different. Its streets and homes were spotlessly clean. Its citizens were friendly and polite. Why was this village so different from the others? Thirty years before, a missionary stopped at Shimmabuke on his way to Japan. He won two men to Christ, Shosei Kina and his brother Mojon, and gave them a Bible. Through them the entire village became Christian and village life was transformed. (5)

That is our ministry. When we have been transformed by the transfigured Christ we catch a vision of what the world could be if we all lived under his Lordship.

No longer would Peter, James and John be content to live in a tiny fishbowl. Christ had called them to bigger and better things. Now it was time for them to reach their full potential as his followers. And friends, it is time for us to escape the fishbowl as well. Suppose you and I had been there with Peter, James and John on the mountaintop when Jesus was transfigured. What would have happened to us? Wouldn't we have been terrified? Wouldn't we have been transformed? Wouldn't we have been turned loose to transform the world for whom Christ died? Friends, the transfigured Christ IS here. And he is saying to you, do not be terrified but be transformed. Reach your full potential in Christ this day.

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1. John C. Maxwell, DEVELOPING THE LEADERS AROUND YOU (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.).

2. Elliot Johnson and Al Schierbaum, OUR GREAT AND AWESOME SAVIOR (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1991), p. 35.

3. Dennis and Barbara Rainey, MOMENTS TOGETHER FOR COUPLES (Ventura, California: Regal Books, 1995).

4. "C. S. Lewis on Holiness," by Jerry L. Walls, GOOD NEWS, May/June 1995, p. 30.

5. Roy B. Zuck, DEVOTIONS FOR KINDRED SPIRITS (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1990), p. 271.

[ORIGINAL SERMON]

In his most recent book, John Maxwell tells us something quite fascinating about sharks, those fierce leviathans of the deep: sharks only grow as large as their surroundings permit. The shark, strangely enough, is one of the most popular fish for aquariums. The reason for this is that sharks adapt to their environment. If you catch a small shark and confine it, it will stay a size proportionate to the aquarium in which it lives. Sharks can be six inches long and fully mature. But turn them loose in the ocean and they grow to their normal size. (1) I've noticed the same phenomenon with regard to followers of Jesus Christ. If we are challenged to live heroic lives for Christ, we have that capability. Left unchallenged, however, most of us stay where we are ” with an immature understanding of faith and a nominal commitment to Christ.

Our lesson for the day contains one of those growing, stretching experiences that came from time to time for Jesus' disciples. Go with me to the top of a mountain. Jesus is there as are his three most trusted disciples ” Peter, James and John. As usual Mark doesn't give us many details about what happened on that mountain. Did they have a time of prayer? Did Jesus lead them in a time of meditation? We don't know. ALL WE KNOW IS THAT SUDDENLY THE DISCIPLES SAW JESUS TRANSFIGURED.

What does that mean ” transfigured? We don't know exactly. All we can say is that somehow the disciples saw Jesus transformed into the glorified Christ who will one day reign over all of life. That's about as far as we can go. Right before the disciples' eyes Jesus was elevated to a new plateau.

It's a crude analogy, but the disciples saw Jesus as if he had come down from a higher league. Mark tells us that Christ's clothes became a dazzling white ” whiter, says Mark, than any bleach on earth could get them. Then, says Mark, the disciples saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Moses, of course, gave the children of Israel the Law. Elijah, on the other hand, was the greatest of the prophets. So, here were the highest representatives of the Law and the Prophets, and the transfigured Jesus was in their company. And the disciples heard a voice: "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" And the disciples were terrified.

A crucial statement, that: THE DISCIPLES WERE TERRIFIED. We can appreciate their response to this most unusual situation. We would have been terrified, too. We hear about people experiencing strange phenomena ” extraterrestrial visitations, out-of-body experiences, etc. ” but for the most part these sorts of things haven't happened to us. And we are a little suspicious when they happen to other people.

And we would be suspicious of Peter, James and John's report ” except for the way in which it affected their lives. This experience, as well as many other experiences they had with Jesus, transformed them radically. You and I 2,000 years removed can make light of their experience, but it was so very real to them that they gave their lives for Christ, literally! Christ was transfigured ” and the disciples were terrified. Why were they terrified? Because they were dealing with something outside their experience. Here was Christ in all his glory. Here was someone in a different league, as it were. Here was someone whose life shone with a beauty and an integrity they did not have. Here was one whose dazzling white robe indicated his holiness, his purity, his uniqueness ” and they were but ordinary mortals. And they were afraid.

Being in Christ's presence made them aware of their inadequacy, their imperfection. They were sinners in the presence of one who was sinless. No wonder they were terrified.

While serving aboard a gunboat in Vietnam, Dave Roever was holding a phosphorus grenade some six inches from his face when a sniper's bullet ignited the explosive. In his book, WELCOME HOME, DAVEY, he describes the first time he saw his face after the explosion: "When I looked in that mirror, I saw a monster, not a human being . . . My soul seemed to shrivel up and collapse in on itself, to be sucked into a black hole of despair. I was left with an indescribable and terrifying emptiness. I was alone in the way the souls in hell must feel alone." Finally Roever came back to the States to meet with his young bride, Brenda. Just before Brenda arrived, Roever watched the wife of another burn victim tell her husband that she wanted a divorce. Then Brenda walked in.

"Showing not the slightest tremor of horror or shock," Roever writes, "she bent down and kissed me on what was left of my face. Then she looked me in my good eye, smiled, and said, Welcome home, Davey! I love you.' To understand what that meant to me you have to know that's what she called me when we were most intimate; she would whisper Davey,' over and over in my ear . . . By using her term of endearment for me, she said, You are my husband. You will always be my husband. You are still my man." (3)

To understand the grace of God poured out in Jesus Christ, we must first understand our inadequacy, our imperfection, our ugliness, as it were. But the transfigured Christ in all his loveliness, in all his holiness, in all his glory still loves us. There was no need for the disciples to be terrified, but they did not know that. All they could see was Christ's holiness and their own unworthiness. And they were terrified.

THEN THEY WERE TRANSFORMED. That is the second thing we need to see. They were transformed. Oh, not at once. Transformation rarely happens all at once. Don't let anyone mislead you. Few people are genuinely converted completely all in one night. The experience on the Mount of Transfiguration was but one stop on the disciples' pilgrimage to becoming apostles of Jesus Christ. They would share many other important experiences with Christ. All the time, though, something real and important was happening inside them. They were becoming more like the Master. They were becoming more committed to him and to one another. Their faith ” which was not even as large as a mustard seed ” was growing. They would stumble and lose hold of it from time to time, but they would always come back to it and it would blossom into a mighty faith that would shake the Roman empire. These men would move from being terrified to being terrific. Their faith would grow from being easily intimidated to being almost invincible. They were in the process of being transformed by the presence of the transfigured Christ.

And the same thing can happen to us. Like the disciples we can also be terrified in Christ's presence because we are imperfect, but we soon discover that in his presence we are not without value and we are not without hope. Because Christ loves us, change is possible. This is the heart of today's lesson: The proper response to the transfigured Christ is transformation. To see the transfigured Christ is to be aware not only of our inadequacies but also our possibilities. As he is, so shall we one day be.

Bishop Emerson Colaw writes that during one Lenten season he went to see a drama that portrayed the life of Jesus. The drama, THE MAN BORN TO BE KING, reached its climax in the Crucifixion scene. The three Marys entered and approached the Roman guards. Mary, the mother of Jesus, spoke to the captain requesting permission to minister to the needs of her son. He roughly pushed her away. Then one of the other women came forward and made the same request. But she added some interesting words. She asked the captain to do this "for old times' sake." The captain refused her request also. Then with a sweeping motion of her hand she loosed her golden hair so that it could cascade down her back. "Marcellus," she asked, "have you ever seen hair like this?" And then she thrust out a foot and asked, "And have feet ever danced for you like these feet?"

An incredulous expression came to the captain's face. In amazement he said, "Mary Magdalene, how you have changed!" Slowly, with dramatic emphasis, she turned so that her back was to the audience and she was facing Christ on the cross. Slowly she said, "Yes, Marcellus, I have changed; he changed me!" (4)

To see Christ as he really is is to experience personal transformation.

C. S. Lewis put it quite pointedly: "He (Jesus) never talked vague, idealistic gas. When he said, Be perfect, He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder ” in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad." (5)

I like that imagery. Before we experience Christ's transforming power we are unhatched eggs. To experience the transfigured Christ is first of all to be terrified, then it is to be transformed. AND FINALLY IT IS TO BE TURNED LOOSE ” TO BE TURNED LOOSE TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD FOR WHICH CHRIST DIED. Christ came preaching the Kingdom of God ” the reign of God in every heart. And it is to his followers that he has given the commission for the teaching and the preaching of this kingdom. That's you and me. We are to be transformed and then we are to be transformers.

You know how the story of the Mount of Transfiguration ends. Peter wants to build three booths ” one for Christ, one for Moses and one for Elijah ” and stay on that mountain. But it is not Christ's mission to stay on the mountain and be worshiped. His is a ministry of love to the people in the valley below. And that is our ministry as well.

That is our ministry. When we have been transformed by the transfigured Christ we catch a vision of what the world could be if we all lived under his Lordship.

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1. John C. Maxwell, DEVELOPING THE LEADERS AROUND YOU (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.).

2. Elliot Johnson and Al Schierbaum, OUR GREAT AND AWESOME SAVIOR (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1991), p. 35.

3. Dennis and Barbara Rainey, MOMENTS TOGETHER FOR COUPLES (Ventura, California: Regal Books, 1995).

4. Leighton Farrell, CRIES FROM THE CROSS (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), pp. 29-30.

5. "C. S. Lewis on Holiness," by Jerry L. Walls, GOOD NEWS, May/June 1995, p. 30.

6. Roy B. Zuck, DEVOTIONS FOR KINDRED SPIRITS (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1990), p. 271.

Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Duncan