Who do you say that I am? (6)

What is your answer?

Over the last several weeks we have looked at the question,

“Who do you say that I am?”

To Matthew Jesus was

A King...

To Mark He was

A Servant...

To Luke, Jesus was

The Son of Man...

and to John He was

The Son of God...

but

What about you?

The answer that you come up with will have power to determine the course of your life.

Today, I’d like to read the verses that stirred up this whole question.

Matthew 16:13–20 NIV

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Each one of us needs to answer the question of

Who is the Son of Man?

I find it interesting that Jesus starts out by asking who do others believe that the Son of Man is.

I’m not sure if we were to poll people in our community as to who Jesus is, what the answer might be.

I would suppose that if we started with an older age demographic, we might hear that Jesus is the Son of God.

Here are some stats taken by Ipsos Reid in 2009.

Jesus as the Son of God...

A majority (52%) of Canadians believe that `Jesus of Nazareth was the actual Son of God who was crucified and then rose from the dead after being buried and then ascended into heaven, which paved the way for the forgiveness of their sins'. One quarter (23%) of Canadians think that `Jesus of Nazareth was a Jewish preacher or prophet who was a man who was crucified and was buried but did not rise from the dead and was not the Son of God'.

Adopting a contrary stance, 15% believe that `Jesus of Nazareth, despite what has been written, did not really exist and is just a story that was intentionally developed to create a religious movement'. One in ten (10%) don't know which of the above statements best describes their beliefs.

According to an Angus Reid and Canadian Bible Society poll from 2024,

“48 percent of Catholics and 55 percent of mainline Protestants believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a historical event versus 81 percent of evangelicals.”

Some of these stats might seem to be alarming, because we believe that Jesus shed His blood to provide forgiveness, but if Jesus is still in Joseph’s tomb, “How can we know that we are forgiven?”

Many that are asked if they are Christians would say with certainty that they are Christians, but if it is no more than a religion that has been passed down from generation to generation, it has no power to save them.

You might be surprised at the response that you might get when you start asking people about what they believe about Jesus Christ. There is a push to try to prevent people from proselytizing or converting others to their faith.

When asked the question,

Who do people say the Son of Man is?

The disciples heard names like John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. This was in 1st century Judea. These people were looking for a Messiah, the Christ, the anointed One, the Chosen One that would come do something. They had the book of the Law and the Prophets that gave them hope that somebody would come.

Today, we are living in an ever increasing secular society. In Canada, we promote diversity, a Mosaic, pluralism, and multiculturalism.

You may hear words like this about Jesus. From a Muslim, Jesus was a prophet. From a philosopher, Jesus was a good moral teacher. From a sceptic, He was a figment of man’s imagination. To a believer, Jesus is much more than that.

After Jesus had heard their responses, He pressed in and asked

Who do you say that I am?

Matthew 16:16 NKJV

16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

We cannot give more than just a superficial answer unless it is revealed and experienced.

Matthew 16:17 NIV

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

We can even have the right answer in our head, but we can only truly answer this question when we are drawn by God the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.

God the Father had spoken to Peter’s heart and gave him the answer that Jesus was God’s Messiah.

What sense can it make to try and figure this out about Jesus .

This is what the Apostles’ Creed says...

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

To believe that God became man, it can only be revealed to us by God Himself. We live in a society where we believe that knowledge is everything. We trust that what we are told is true, and because we are not experts, we need to trust what the experts are telling us. According to Science or according to human reasoning, it is impossible for man to become God, but how can we measure whether or not God can become man.

When the angel Gabriel came to Mary, he told her how it was going to happen that she would conceive and bear a son.

She wondered how it was possible since she was a virgin.

Here’s Gabriel’s answer.

Luke 1:37 NKJV

37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Luke 1:37 NIV

37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

In this church, we have seen impossible things happen. We have seen people changed by God’s power, and we believe that Jesus Christ still changes lives today.

Often when we think of Jesus, we think of Him as

Saviour...

John 3:16 NIV

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 14:6 NIV

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Most Canadians are opposed to evangelism. Most Christians are opposed to evangelism. What evangelism is, is telling others what Jesus has done for us. The devil doesn’t want people to know what Jesus has done in your life and how Jesus has brought us from death to life.

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 NIV

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Some think that having a cross dangling around your neck or a tattoo of a cross on your arm is neat, but so many that wear a cross don’t want to know about the suffering and the shame that Jesus bore. Our sinful nature doesn’t want to hear that unless we confess our sins, we cannot be forgiven.

Satan has used the “My faith is private…” to try to keep the Good news from being proclaimed.

We are called to go and tell others about our Saviour and our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Let’s look at what Luke had to say about the event where Peter declared who Jesus was. Let’s start reading at,

Luke 9:18–21 NIV

18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” 19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.” 20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.” 21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.

Let’s listen to what Jesus says next.

Luke 9:22–26 NIV

22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” 23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Our actions speak louder than our words. With our mouths we declare that Jesus is our Saviour and our Lord. We believe that He is coming again. We even believe that there is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun, and yet there are people all around us that we are afraid to say anything to fearing that others will think that we are crazy if we talk to them about Jesus.

Proverbs 29:25 NLT

25 Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.

As Christians we believe that Jesus Christ is our healer. He is our baptizer, He is our soon and coming King. We believe that He sent the Holy Spirit to empower us to overcome the schemes of the evil one. We believe that Jesus Christ has all authority and that God the Father has placed all things under Jesus’ authority,

And yet Satan comes at us and bombards us with thoughts to weaken our testimony, and he wants us to believe that people will not take us seriously if we tell them about Jesus Christ.

Let’s tell others our story. For all we know, people may be crying out from their hearts wishing that somebody could bring them hope.

You might be surprised how far a loaf of bread or a piece of meat might go for somebody that is crying out to God asking if there is somebody who cares.

What we believe is important, but not nearly as important as how we live out what we believe.

What’s the old saying,

People don’t care how much you know...

Until they know how much you care...

Our Government has promised us a rebate of $250 on our GST. That’s good news. It will cost about 6.3 billion dollars. Their resources are limited because they come from human sources, people like you and me.

God’s resources come without limit.

2 Corinthians 9:10–13 NIV

10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.

When Jesus comes, He will say, “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me.”

We serve a Great God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to His power that is at work within us...

He empowers us to go and He empowers us to serve.

To close, I want to read from

1 Peter 1:3–5 NIV

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

I believe that one of people’s greatest needs today is that they need hope. We have found that hope and His name is Jesus.

Let’s be like the lepers in from Samaria who found bread. They shared with the starving people of the city. Jesus, the Bread of Life, is calling us to do the same.

Let’s pray!