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“Life’s Most Important Question”?
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Over 2000 years ago Jesus asked his disciples the most important question in the world!
And it is still the most important question in the world today.
The Question is who is Jesus?
You may be sitting there thinking, I’m going to let someone smarter than me answer that question.
But nobody can answer that question for you.
Your wife, your husband can answer it for you, your children can answer for you.
It doesn’t work that way, the question is a personal question; Jesus asked you, “who do you say I am”?
This is a question that you cannot dodge.
There are some questions that we like to dodge; if a rude person asks us how much money you make or how much something cost, we dodge that question.
When your wife asks you “Does this dress make me look fat,” that is a question you NEED to avoid!
The answer is “NO!” brother!
There are some questions we can avoid answering, and there are some questions not worth answering.
But this is not one of them!
This question cannot be dodged or avoided!
In these verses Jesus asks His disciples two very important question.
Both questions concerned who He is,
The first question V:18-“Who do the people say I am?
The second question V:20-“Who do you say I am?
The place Jesus chose to ask this question was not random.
The book of Matthew tells us that they were in a place called Caesarea Philippi, it is a beautiful place, not far from Mt. Hermon, near the source of the Jordan River; it was a place with a deep religious background.
The city was originally called Paneas, after the Greek God Pan, but when Phillip the tetrarch took over, he renamed it Caesarea Phillip (after himself and Caesar).
And he built a temple for the people to worship Caesar.
The thing that makes Caesarea Phillip the perfect place for Jesus to ask this question is the various religious beliefs of the city.
It contained a new temple to Caesar, an old temple dedicated to the Greek God Pan, and an even older temple dedicated to Baal worship.
At the sight where these temples were built is a big rock cliff, with shrines to different gods craved out in this rock cliff.
People would go there to pray and offer sacrifices to their gods.
There is also a huge cave hollowed out in this cliff, with a big rock where they made sacrifices to their false gods, even human sacrifices where made there.
It was a city with many idols to false gods.
Jesus chose this place as the backdrop for these questions.
Who do men say I am? Am I just another god among all these other gods?
Are Am I much more?
To answer life’s most important question there are three things you must do; #1 you must:
1. Reject the Opinions of men!
V:18-19.
First Jesus wanted to know what the opinions of men where about him.
Jesus ask, what is the word on the street about me?
And just like today there was a variety of answers.
V:19-Read.
There were several different opinions about who Jesus Christ was, and they were all wrong.
Some people said Jesus was:
*John the Baptist:
This belief originated from Herod, who had John the Baptist beheaded.
In -“Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all those done by him: and he was perplexed, because it was said by some, that John was risen from the dead “.
Herod was a creeper who stole his brother’s wife.
I don’t think they sat next to each other at family reunions.
John the Baptist called Herod out and told him it was sin, and Herod arrested him, but didn’t kill him because he was afraid of a revolt.
Herod was angry with John the Baptist, but his wife Herodias hated John the Baptist and plotted to have him killed.
On Herod’s birthday, Herodias’ daughter danced in front of the king at a party and Herod promised to give her whatever she asked for.
Her daughter asked her mom what she should ask Herod for, and Herodias said, ask for John the Baptist’s head on a platter!
Herod had John the Baptist beheaded, and when he heard about Jesus, he was afraid that John the Baptist had come back from the dead.
This superstition spread to others.
Some say your John the Baptist.
*Elijah:
Other people believed that Jesus was Elijah, the great prophet.
Elijah stood up to Ahab, and he called down fire from heaven.
In the Old Testament, God promised to send Elijah to prepare the way for the Messiah, and many people believed that Jesus was the one who would prepare the way for the Messiah.
(They did not recognize that John the Baptist was the one preparing the way ( and ).
*One of the old prophets:
Other people believed that he was one of the old prophets, like Jeremiah, the weeping prophet.
Jeremiah preached a lot about judgment, as did Jesus.
Further, Jeremiah was persecuted by the religious leaders, much like Jesus was.
There are similarities, and many people noticed these and associated Jesus with Jeremiah.
From the answers the disciples gave, we learn that the people had a lot of different opinions about who Jesus was.
But all the answers show they only believed he was a great prophet, nothing more!
Just like people had a lot of opinions about Jesus then, people have all kind of opinions about who Jesus is today.
Most unbelievers today say that Jesus was just a man, a good moral teacher, a prophet but they do not recognize any divine qualities or deity in Him.
*Jehovah’s Witnesses-believe that Jesus is just Michael the archangel, who became a man.
*Mormons- believe that Jesus was just a man who became one of many gods; they also believe that Jesus was the half-brother of Lucifer (just a terrible case of sibling rivalry!)
*Unitarian Universalists-simply teach that Jesus was a good man, like Mister Rogers in a robe; they say that He is to be respected for his good teachings on love, justice, and healing.
*New Agers- believe that Jesus is a state of consciousness that everyone can aspire to achieve.
*Scientologists- believe that Jesus was an “implant” forced upon a Thetan about a million years ago.
*Buddhists- believe that Jesus was an enlightened man, much like Buddha.
*Hindus- believe that Jesus was probably a man, or maybe an incarnation of a god, or one of many gods; they do not believe that He alone is God.
(They believe in 330 million gods)
*Muslims- believe that Jesus was simply a man and a prophet who is inferior to Muhammad.
It basically boils down to this: the world and the religions of the world believe that Jesus was simply a man or one of many gods, but they do NOT believe that Jesus Christ was the one and only Son of God!
It is important to KNOW that all of these views of Jesus are WRONG!
The people in Jesus’ day misunderstood who Jesus Christ truly was, and people today misunderstand who Jesus really is.
It is interesting to see that not all of these answers were terrible (most people don’t think Jesus was crazy or demon-possessed).
They recognize Him as a great spiritual teacher; they recognize that He was a major leader.
However, they didn’t recognize Him for who He truly is: the Son of God.
One of my most embarrassing moments was when I saw Tess in the isle at Wal-Mart, and walk up behind her, and said Hey baby and put something in the buggy!
But it wasn’t Tess!
A case of mistaken identity!
Many people don’t recognize who Jesus Christ really is!
He was not just a good man or a moral teacher…He was the God-man!
If you want to know who Jesus really is; the first thing you must do is reject the opinions of men!
Any view that minimizes or denies the deity of Jesus Christ must be rejected and denied.
We must never compromise or cave when it comes to the deity of Jesus Christ; Jesus was not merely a man.
To answer the question, who is Jesus?
1st of all you must; Reject the opinions of men!
To answer life’s most important question you must:
2. Receive the Truth of Scripture!
V:20.
After Jesus asks the disciples who other people say that He is, He directs the question to His disciples.
He makes it personal he asks them,V:20-“Who do YOU say that I am?”
This is the question that each of us must ultimately answer: who do we say Jesus Christ is?
What do we believe about Jesus Christ?
Jesus asks all of the disciples this, and Peter answers for all of them.
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