Reliable Witnesses

 Scripture.   2 Peter 1:16-21 (CEB) 

16 We didn’t repeat crafty myths when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Quite the contrary, we witnessed his majesty with our own eyes. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when a voice came to him from the magnificent glory, saying, “This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 In addition, we have a most reliable prophetic word, and you would do well to pay attention to it, just as you would to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Most important, you must know that no prophecy of scripture represents the prophet’s own understanding of things, 21 because no prophecy ever came by human will. Instead, men and women led by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

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2nd Peter - not one of the letters that gets preached on with any frequency.  We sometimes forget that anyone besides Paul even wrote letters.  Paul’s letters have authority - maybe too much authority sometimes.  Peter’s, not so much, even though Peter was one of those who walked with Jesus when he was here on earth and Paul wasn’t.    This letter is rich in encouragement and instruction, giving hope to people who are beginning to falter.  I will be quoting much of it this morning.   I would suggest you read it when you get a chance - it’s short.   Trigger alert - a prophecy concerning the end of the world is discussed. 

A side note for those of you who are interested in the history of the New Testament - because there are events mentioned in Peter’s letters that didn’t happen until after he died, chances are excellent that, as with some of the letters attributed to Paul, this letter was not actually written by Peter but by one of his students, quoting him extensively.  This was not a bad thing.  Unlike today, at that time it was accepted practice for students to write in the style of their teacher, reflecting that teacher’s positions and opinions, then sign their teacher’s names to that writing to give it authority, for they had none of their own.  

This letter was written at a time when folks were beginning to question whether Jesus was coming back at all.  It had been much longer than anyone anticipated having to wait.  Many of the original apostles had already died, and people remembered that in the stories they told, that Jesus had told the apostles that he would return during their lifetimes.  People were wondering whether they really needed to care about how they lived, if Jesus wasn’t coming back, if there was to be no judgement.  Some preachers - who both Paul and Peter denounced as False Teachers - were taking advantage of these doubts, telling the churches that prophecy was chancy at best and that they need not consider scripture to be truly inspired by God.  And Peter responds saying,  Don’t listen to them. We did not make this stuff up!  I was there!  I saw Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus, and Jesus transfigured, gleaming!  I heard the voice from heaven saying “This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”   And I heard the prophecies.  I heard Jesus speak of his return, and of the coming judgment. I am hear to tell you that prophecies are not stories invented by humans, but are truths given to them to speak by God through the Holy Spirit.   

People were getting discouraged.  The world was in a shambles. Wars and injustice everywhere.  No matter how much they preached the Good News, no matter how many hungry they fed or homeless they housed or demons they cast out, there were always more.  They couldn’t seem to make a real difference in the way humanity chose to live.   And Jesus hasn’t come back yet.  They are still waiting.  They were sure he would be here by now.   So when false teachers said, “Where is the promise of his coming? After all, nothing has changed—not since the beginning of creation, nor even since the ancestors died.” (2 Peter 3:4)   the people started to wonder.  Why should we even bother?  

We’ve heard that same question.  Maybe we’ve even asked it ourselves.  We know that countless people have left the Church because the Church seems to be powerless against the evils of the world.   That trend began among young people  in the 1960s and 70s, the days of the Civil Rights Movement and the War in Vietnam, and comparatively few who left at that time returned, or brought their children.  More have left and continue to leave because the Church excludes their friends or themselves over issues of gender identity or sexual orientation.  So today we look around and see the empty seats.  We worry that the Church might be dying.  And the false teachers continue to say “What’s the point?  The Church is impotent against injustice at best, and a collaborator at worst.” 

There are those who leave the Church because they lose faith in God’s goodness in the face of evil and suffering.  If we are to be rewarded for our faithfulness, then why do good Christians suffer from cancer?  Why do innocent children die?  Why do fires and floods do such terrible damage to homes and churches and take so many lives?  When good people and bad people alike suffer these bad things, why bother to be good?  When we can see evil people prosper and good people suffer, why should we be good?  

In the 3rd chapter of this letter, Peter reminds the people “that with the Lord a single day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a single day. 9 The Lord isn’t slow to keep his promise, as some think of slowness, but he is patient toward you, not wanting anyone to perish but all to change their hearts and lives.”  He describes the judgement day as a day when all evil will be exposed and destroyed, and says, “11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be? You must live holy and godly lives, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming day of God.  14 Therefore, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found by him in peace—pure and faultless. 15 Consider the patience of our Lord to be salvation.”  

Consider the patience of the Lord to be salvation.  How very good is it to know that we all are given the opportunity to change our lives and become the kind of people God desires us to be.  For “By his divine power the Lord has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of the one who called us by his own honor and glory. 5 This is why you must make every effort to add moral excellence to your faith; and to moral excellence, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, endurance; and to endurance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, affection for others; and to affection for others, love. 8 If all these are yours and they are growing in you, they’ll keep you from becoming inactive and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (2 Peter 1:3-8)

Peter said, “ I’ll keep reminding you about these things, although you already know them and stand secure in the truth you have. 13 I think it’s right that I keep stirring up your memory, as long as I’m alive.” (2 Peter 1:12-13)   To the end of his life, Peter kept telling the story of Jesus as he knew it, as he himself witnessed it.   He was a reliable witness, and he loved to tell the story.

I love to tell the story - not just the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, but the story of how Jesus works in my life today.  How hearing his commandments and trying to live by them has changed my life today.  How I had left the church of my upbringing at age 18, was not part of this church or any other for the next 25 years, but I learned about a loving, forgiving God in a 12 Step program and then searched for and  found a church where I was nurtured and loved, in Jesus name.  I love to tell the story of how I always know Jesus is walking with me - whether I’m going through good times or a tragedy, I am never alone.  Never.  Because my brother Jesus is always there, always holding my hand, always providing a willing shoulder for me to lean on.   I know that in the Church universal there are all kinds of people, but that the head of the whole Church is Jesus the Christ and it is his example I need to make my model, not that of any human, for we are prone to error.  

I have witnessed God’s love, manifest through Jesus Christ, with my own eyes, felt it with my own heart, known it in the darkest times and in the brightest.  And I love to tell that story to any who will listen.

When you go from this place today, I ask you to please - be reliable witnesses!  Tell the story - your story.  Share the truth of God’s glory as it has come to you in your own life and  your own experiences.   Go out, and tell the story of Jesus and his love!