Sermon Tone Analysis

Pentecost 14

Matthew 16:13-20

August 21, 2005

*Does It Make A Difference Who Jesus Is?* \\ after K. Duncan

            Introduction: Newsweek magazine carried an interesting article sometime back about a controversy that has been brewing down in Louisiana.

Let me share it with you: "Even if it did double as a bug zapper (it doesn't), the big blue neon JESUS sign outside the Church of Abundant Life in Harvey, Louisiana, would have to go.

So say Jefferson Parish officials, who claim they inadvertently approved installation of the five-foot-high, 21-foot-wide sign last November.

Now they're fighting to unplug the $5,000 Savior, saying it exceeds the maximum size for a residential area.

The church contends it's not a sign at all but a religious symbol that the government can't regulate.

Does it make a difference whether the Abundant Life church gets to keep its JESUS sign?

It sounds like it may be in poor taste.

It probably is an irritant in a residential neighborhood.

But we don't want the government regulating religion.

Government is too intrusive already.

So what do you think?

Should the sign stay or should it go?

\\             But a bigger issue is at stake.

Is a big blue sign saying JESUS outside a church appropriate in the first place?

In a culturally diverse world, might we not offend persons who are not of our faith?

Which brings us to a bigger question, does it really make any difference who Jesus is? \\             It's one of the most familiar stories in the Scripture.

Jesus and his disciples are in the region of Caesarea Philippi.

The disciples have witnessed firsthand Jesus' power to heal and to help.

They know he has become the talk of the countryside.

So they are prepared when Jesus asks, "Who do people say that I am?" "Some say you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets," they answered.

"But what about you,” Jesus asked them?

"Who do you say that I am?"

And that's the question, isn't it?

Who do you and I say Jesus is?

Does it make any difference who Jesus is to us? \\             IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE NATURE OF GOD.

\\             We as Christians make an extraordinary claim to the world: when you've seen Christ, you've seen his Father.

When you've seen Christ, you've seen God! \\             It's like an event that occurred in 1989 in baseball.

History was made.

For the first time, a father and a son played simultaneously in the major leagues.

Ken Griffey, Jr., the nineteen-year-old son of Ken, Sr., started for the Seattle Mariners, while his thirty-nine-year-old father played for the Cincinnati Reds.

The physical skills of the father, says one writer, were evident in his son.

(2) \\             How often that occurs.

A son resembles his father.

But something far more significant is true of the life of Jesus: The very nature of his Father is shown in the Son.

What is God like?

God is gentle, loving, and compassionate.

How do we know?

Look at Jesus.

\\             If you were to ask the question, what does a Jew believe about God, a rabbi would say to you, "Read the Torah (Gods Law)."

But as a Christian pastor, I can say to you, "Look at the Gospels and there you will see Jesus and in Him you will see God."

A person is much easier to read than a book.

That is why, we believe, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Does it matter who Jesus is?

Only if it matters what God is like.

There is a tribe in Africa known as the Masai, a race of strong, tall people.

This particular tribe has always believed in one god, Engai.

They believe Engai is passionately involved in his people's lives.

It sounds good to us Christian, doesn’t it?

But here is what the Masai believe about their god: that he loves the rich more than the poor, the healthy more than the sick, the virtuous more than the wicked.

Engai favors the Masai over every other tribe, providing them with rain and sleek cattle and protecting them against their enemies.

We could call such views primitive if we were not aware that this is how many Christians view God - a God who favors some people over others.

But this is not the God that Jesus gave us.

Jesus taught us to call God "Abba" or "Daddy" and taught us that God loves all people equally whether they are rich or poor - black, brown, yellow, red or white - whether they live in the United States or in Communist China.

God plays no favorites.

God loves us all.

Is that important?

You bet it is.

It's important in how we think about others in how we think about ourselves.

\\             There was a man from the United States that went to visit his uncle in Ireland.

His one living uncle was about to celebrate his eightieth birthday.

On the great day, he and his uncle got up before dawn and dressed in silence.

They took a walk along the shores of Lake Killarney and stopped to watch the sunrise.

They stood side by side with not a word exchanged and stared straight at the rising sun.

Suddenly the uncle turned and went skipping down the road.

He was radiant, beaming, smiling from ear to ear.

His nephew said, "Uncle Seamus, you really look happy."

"I am, lad," the old man replied.

"Want to tell me why?" asked the nephew.

His eighty-year-old uncle replied, "Yes, you see, me Abba is very fond of me." \\             That's cause for happiness, is it not?

"Abba is very fond of me."

How can we know Abba is fond of us?

Jesus.

It makes a difference who you think Jesus is if you are concerned about the nature of God.

He reveals to us a God that wants us to call Him Father.

\\             Does it make any difference who Jesus is? - Only if you are concerned about the nature of God; only if you are concerned about living a Christian life, and only if you are trying to find any meaning in life and the power to live it.

This power comes from the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"It is a power so great that it shattered the last fortress - death.

It is a power so great that it made atonement for all the sin of the entire world.

It is a power so great that it provides for those who would believe it the ability to live like children of God.

With the resurrection power of Jesus Christ there is a power so tremendous that with it nothing is impossible; and without it, nothing we do has any eternal value or significance.

This power begins in our confession of faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of the Father, our Savior from sin and death.

And it comes from having a personal relationship with the living God through him.

It is Christ and Christ alone who gives us the power to be all that God calls us to be.

Does it make any difference who Jesus is? Yes, it makes all the difference in the world.

\\             Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German theologian who was executed by Hitler during World War II.

Years later, one of his students recalled the last classroom session he had with his teacher.

Bonhoeffer, knowing his arrest was imminent, asked his students a question that took them by surprise: He asked them if they loved Jesus.

This is not the typical question one hears in a seminary classroom.

Usually the classroom is reserved for more academic questions.

But Bonhoeffer knew this was the heart of life.

This is the question that stands above all others.

Do you love Jesus?

And do you believe in Him? \\             Jesus turned to his disciples and asked them, "Who do people say that I am?"

It was Simon Peter who gave the answer that has resonated through the ages: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Is that the answer you would have given?

Does it make a difference?