Who Do You Say I Am? (2)
Notes
Transcript
I am assuming most of us have heard of Ancestory.com right?
If you have not It is one of the those systems that you put your information and it will actually show you your family tree so you are able to know where you are from but also see who your distant relatives are.
And people are obsessed with it, because occasionally people will discover that they are somehow related to someone big.
Like Abraham lincoin or King George and because of that people have gotten really into it.
But then there are people like me who want to know where they are from.
I know I am part Irish and German
but my Grandmother has actually changed the other part where I was part Greek for awhile, then I was Seriann for awhile and then I think right now we think I am part Greek, but we don’t know.
But because of things like that, people love ancestory.com because to a small extent our genetic make up does tell us a little about ourselves.
When we start to understand who we are, we start to know more about ourselves, right?
But you know can I just say this is so much more true when we talk about whose we are.
Because while our ancestors tell a little bit about ourselves it really tells us almost nothing compared to looking at who are God is.
Because truthfully who our God is tells us who we are.
And so today we are going to be looking at Matthew 16:13-20 and in this passage tells us exactly who our God is.
And this has such a profound impact on not just us. Not just Christians, but this has a profound impact on every human on this planet.
So once again we are in Matthew 16:13-20 and we will just be starting in the first couple verses starting with verses 13 and 14. It says this:
Matthew 16:13-14 (NIV)
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
16:13–16pp—Mk 8:27–29; Lk 9:18–20
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.”
So Jesus and the disciples are entering the region of Caesarea Philippi and Caesarea Philippi is a place that is filled with shrines and temples of false God’s.
There were shrines to baal who they considered the god of fertility
There were shrines to pan who is was similar to the little goat guy from the movie Hercules
There were shrines to the roman god’s
And there were so many other shrines and temples that this place in Biblical times was extreamly known for their god’s.
And so I want you to get this picture in your head of what is happening.
Because Jesus and the disciples are traveling through this area and the disciples have been following Jesus for about two years at this point,
But whats amazing in these two years of following Jesus they have not declared who Jesus is yet.
But it has to be on their minds.
Because they have seen him heal people, they have seen him work maricles, they have heard His teaching.
And so now they are walking through this area where on one side of them there are false gods everywhere that they have encountered throughout history
And on the other-side is this guy that they have been following for two years and in there head they have to be thinking who is this guy.
Is He a false god like all of these others?
Is He a prophet like the ones we have heard from before
Is He just a good guy
Who is this guy?
And I just want to Pause here for a second because a lot of times we read our Bible’s and we think wow we live in a completely different world then these people.
I am so glad that we do not have to worry about all of these idols that these people had.
But here is the issue we live in a world that is actually very similar to this society we are reading about.
Because we live in a world where there are a lot of things that we can worship
I mean think about it we love having options don’t we?
I love Buffett's. Anyone else there with me?
And the reason I love them so much is because you have endless options and not only that but you can take a little bit of something here take a little bit of something else there
And you can even mix things together to create your own thing,
I mean I love it
But here is the issue with Buffett's: they are also typically a germier, disgusting knock off the food you could get somewhere else.
And you know this is pretty true when we worship anything other then Jesus.
We might be happy that we have something that seemingly fills us up or that kind of taste good,
but in reality the false gods we worship will always leave us disappointed, sick and hungry for more.
We might not worship the god of fertility, but we do worship our job
We might not worship one of the roman gods, but we worship a political party as our hope instead of Christ
And I just want to be honest: this happens to people inside and outside the church.
And what will often happen even more commonly is that we create our own identity of who Jesus is.
And we get to this place where we create our perfect model of Jesus and we form him exactly into who we like instead of Him forming us.
and thats why Jesus ask the disciples who people say He is
Because He knows people have there own ideas
And so the disciples say well some think your John the Baptist, others Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the Prophets
I mean Jesus and the disciples definitely recognized there were some opinions on who He is.
But in the middle of that I want you to notice probably the most important part of the passage because its in verse 15.
Because the disciples are saying Jesus some say your this others say your that, but then Jesus says this to Peter (one of the disciples):
Matthew 16:15 (NIV)
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Can I just say this is a question that Jesus ask every person: “Who do you say I am?”
I mean who do you believe Jesus is?
Do you know who He is in your life?
Is He just a role model?
Is He just someone that makes you feel good?
Is He someone you run to only when you are in pain?
Does He even have a big role in your life?
Who is Jesus to you?
Well look at Peters answer in verse 16 because it says this:
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
You know this seems like such a simple response from Peter, but it is also extreamly powerful.
Because the phrase that Peter says is basically saying in the Bibles original language: look you want to know who I think you are.
I think you are the one who we have been waiting for since sin has entered the world and since the fall of man
I don’t just believe that you are one of these false gods that we have seen in our past or someone who was kinda special.
But I believe that you are the one who has come not to just deliver me, but to deliver every person on this planet from the weight of sin.
Can I just say if you have not made that declaration of faith in who Jesus is please do it today.
Because Jesus can change your life.
Because we believe God created us (which means He knows you),
We believe He loves you so much that He came down to earth and died for you in one of the most painful ways (meaning that He cares for you more then you will ever know)
and during His time here on earth He experienced unimaginable sorrow and heartbreak (which means even when you are in pain He has been where you are).
And when you accept Him as your savior He has the ability to change your life.
If you have not accepted Christ today is a great day to do that.
But the thing is Peters decoration of who Jesus is does not just tell us about ourselves but it actually tells us about the church
Look at verse 17-19 it says:
Matthew 16:17–19 (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. 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.”
Jesus is saying that the truth that He is the messiah is what the rest of the church is built on.
The truth that Jesus is the one who can free us from our sin is what His church is built on.
I want you to think about it because this means a couple things:
First it means that His church is not built on a nice building, or a cool fog machine, or awesome music
But it means that the church is built on the fact that Jesus has defeated death.
But the second thing this means is that because Jesus has defeated death the passage actually says He has given us keys to the kingdom of heaven.
I want you to think about that for a second.
When you receive keys to somewhere it is a pretty big responsibility isn’t it?
Imagine if our church only had one set of keys. And I told Kollin that He is in charge of these keys.
Meaning You have to open the doors everymorning to let me in and you have to be there whenever someone meets in our church to let them in and for Sunday mornings.
I mean that would be a pretty big thing.
But truthfully Kollin would have some power because he would have the ability to say okay I am letting this person in and locking that person out.
But you know when this passage says that Jesus has given Peter and really all of us the keys to the kingdom of heaven, what it is saying is you have a big responsibility once you declare Jesus as your savior.
Because you have been given the ability to share that message with others.
And this message has the ability to change a life that is in chains. It has the ability to to free someone from sin, and it has the ability where now they get to experience the kingdom of heaven.
And Jesus is saying I have given these keys to you.
Now what are you going to do?
Are you going to just live a life where you watch people trapped in their sin or are you going to free as many people as possible by sharing this message?
Because something that is so powerful about this is that it says when we are doing this and we have Christ as our rock in the church.
The gates of hell will not overcome the church.
I want you to think about that for a second, because gates are considered defence aren’t they?
They don’t move forward, they sit there and try to protect what they are guarding right?
And the Bible uses this to describe Hell, but whats bothers me so much is that when I look at so many churches they look like.
They sit there and are on the defensive
They are trying to pay the bills and survive
They are trying to keep enough people coming to the church that it feels okay.
But here is the thing God has not called us to play defense
But God has called His church to attack the gates of hell.
God has given us keys to change lives and we have to decide what am I going to do with it?
Because once our life has been transformed by God we are called to transform other lives!
This morning I know we have covered a lot.
But can I just remind you it all flows out of this question of who do you say that I am?
And I think before we leave it just makes sense for me to give you an oppritunity to anwser that question for your self.
1. Will you close your eyes for a moment. Because as we close there are some of us who may be like the disciples we have following Jesus around or coming to church for years, but either something has not clicked or there has been somthing in the way of us truly say yes to accepting Him as our savior
This morning if that is you, like I said earlier please do not leave before making that right.
Please do not leave before awnsring that question
And if thats you and this morning you would like to accept Christ I would just invite you to raise your hand
Just as a way of responding to what God is doing in you this morning.
So if that is you raise your hand.
(Pause)
Well let me pray for us as we close
Well we are going to be finishing today in the best way possible and that is by celebrating the Lord’s supper as the body of Christ.
And really I love celebrating this because on the night which Jesus was betrayed He was having a meal with His disciples.
And you think Jesus would be a little bitter about all that is getting ready to happen.
Because He is getting ready to die for the very people He is sitting around a table eating with.
But whats amazing is during this meal Jesus breaks the bread and extends a cup to every disciple seated around this table
And He tells each one of these disciples who actually almost all abandon Him in the days to follow to eat and drink this to remember that He is dying for them.
And so today we receive communion together as a way to remember the sacrifice that Christ gave us, but also to remember that he died on the cross for you and these elements represent Him extending His grace to you.
So you should have recieved the juice and bread when you came in and everyone is welcome to take part in communion as long as you have placed your trust in Christ.
And during this next song I would just invite you to prepare your heart to receive communion together.