2.10.14 3.3.2024 Luke 9.18-36 Certain about Him, Questions and Answers (2)

Start:

Entice: It is one of the most basic questions people ask.

“Who are you?”

Closely related is its introspective twin,

“Who am I?”

Jesus makes it even more personal when He tests His disciple’s, first by asking what other’s thought about Him—an elementary “poll.” Then He makes it even more personal.

“Who do YOU think, I am?”

And today we still ask, in one way or another, the central question posed in the Gospels.

“Who do you think Jesus is?”

Personal experience,

external observation,

subjective consideration,

introspection

and even

desperation

all work together to help each human person answer the question.

“Who is this Jesus?”

Engage: You must answer.

You must choose.

Despite the personal nature of the question,

there is guidance.

There is certainty.

There is clarity.

There is community.

There is guidance.

In this passage Luke traces the process of moving from the question Jesus asked to the right answer.

Here is a graphic to represent the structure, the movement of the text from question to answer.

Luke 9:18–36 ESV

18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” 21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” 23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” 28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

Expand: The material in the synoptic gospels is largely the same. Each author frames that material consisting of the Words of Jesus, His ministry activities, His passion—all of it is organized to tell the author’s particular application of the story of Jesus. Often, this structure is invisible. Other times the structure is not only clear, its rightly guides us into understanding the story, and deciding correctly who Jesus is.

In Luke it is, of course, Luke who tells the story. Many of you are familiar with the stories of the great confession and the transfiguration. You may notice that Luke tells the story with some slight differences. Both Matthew and Mark include the contentious argument of Peter with Jesus regarding the Cross, while Luke moves directly from His cross to our discipleship. Luke patiently waits for the Father Himself to provide the ultimate answer to the central question of life, the universe, and everything.

Explore:

We ask the question, God answers.

Expand: The structure of this text leads us to several responses.

Body of Sermon: The initial response is to

1 Answer correctly.

Luke 9:18–20 ESV

18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

1.1 The answer is not subject to a poll.

1.2 The answer is specific.

1.3 The answer is individual and communal.

The next response is that we must

2 Accept the Consequences.

Luke 9:21–22 ESV

21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

Jesus is a suffering, dying, rising Messiah.

Once we understand who He is we can

3 Address the Challenges.

Luke 9:23–27 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

Discipleship requires us to deliberately follow regardless of those challenges.

The final response, the saving response is when we

4 Acknowledge the Christ.

Luke 9:28–35 ESV

28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”

Shut Down

We began with a question

“Who is Jesus?”

The Father gives the answer.

God’s Son.

God’s Chosen.

God’s Spokesman.

The challenge of Jesus is not a matter of information. It is not an issue of understanding. It’s choosing. It means Looking at the objective evidence, and the subjective impacts of Christian faith and making that choice. The evidence is that Jesus rose from the dead, that His claims were true. The impact is 20 centuries of changed lives. Each of those lives were changed as people learned how to answer the question “Who is Jesus?”

In the person of Jesus,

God asks the question.

In the voice of the Father,

God also answers.

In between we are expected to obediently follow the cross-bearing way of discipleship.

Jesus is still asking the question.

Now, it’s your turn to answer.