Life in the Kingdom
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Premise: The belief in who Jesus is will become most important in the days to come as the world comes to experience suffering and death and look towards being saved from ruin. The demands to prove whom Jesus was, and is, will grow. The church needs to be ready with their witness.
Point: The Church is built upon the confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
Key Question for Jesus : “Who do you say that I am?” (v.15). Is Jesus the One who was and is to come? Or should we be looking for another?
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But you,” He asked them, “who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”
And Jesus responded, “Simon son of Jonah, you are blessed because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth is already bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is already loosed in heaven.”
Show Us a Sign!
As the days we live in continue to darken, the expectation of Jesus, for His bride, the Church, is to be a light and point the way to Jesus. Reconciliation is about pointing people to Jesus. Go, teach and baptize, with all authority, making disciples of all the nations/peoples of the earth…then the end will come (Mt. 28:18-20; 24:14).
This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.
In the days to come, there will be a continual demand for a sign of Jesus being whom we prolaim, and whom He proclaims to be. Much like the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ day, people will come demanding signs of Jesus being the Lord God. There will be a demand of authenticity to our claim. Demands of the miraculous performed, eradication of death’s fingers upon peoples lives, suffering alieviated by provision of jobs, food and security. Surely, if Jesus cares about the world, about me, He will provide what I need and want. A good god is expected to do so, even for a people as bad and sinful as we are, yet we are not convinced of the depths of our depravity, and are not willing to admit, man is still basically good and deserving of Heaven or paradise.
Transformed lives will not be enough evidence for the world, because the world demands the spectacular, and even with the spectacular, life over death, Jesus was not enough to sedate our appetite. When the world demands a sign, it will be more of a test about who we are in the face of trial, persecution and even death, than a circus trick or slight of hand. When the Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus to show them a sign from Heaven, it was a test designed to see who Jesus was when exposed to pressure, a diamond or a piece of fools gold (Mt. 16:1).
The Pharisees and Sadducees had previoulsy visited Jesus, recorded in Matthew 12, asking Him whether or not it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath (v.9-14). The real trap was designed to put Jesus in bad light with the people, because they knew Jesus would violate the Sabbath laws. No Messiah, Son of God, would not violate His own Father’s law. No, He would not, if it was His Father’s law, or better yet He would fulfill the demand of the Law itself, sacrificing Himself on the cross for the sins of man. Religion and power cares about rules being followed and maintaining power. Jesus cares about lives being transformed and finding God.
Jesus said to the Pharisees and Sadducees,
But He said to them, “What man among you, if he had a sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn’t take hold of it and lift it out? A man is worth far more than a sheep, so it is lawful to do what is good on the Sabbath.”
Then He told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored, as good as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.
Jesus cares about the value of men and women, more than man’s rules and regulations of conduct. If lives would be transformed for good and God, would you glorify God in doing for the individual what Jesus would do, or would you refuse in light of man’s laws and regulations?
Jesus says to the church, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Mt. 12:7; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:8; Mt. 9:13). People who learn what mercy is, will not condemn the innocent.
Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Those who are merciful, like Jesus, unlike the religious and powerful, will manifest kindness and compassion to those in need. This is the picture of a true doctor Jesus says (v.12). Are we being a doctor to our neighbors? Brothers and sisters? Strangers? Enemies? Jesus cares for the souls of the innocent, caught up in this war between God the Father and Lucifer the Devil, who do not see the big picture. Instead of condemning, Jesus had compassion and mercy for the innocent. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8-9).
But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
Who are the innocent? All that have been deceived by the Devil. That is all of humanity, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Sin and death entered the world through the brokenness of Adam and Eve who believed the Devil and shunned God (Genesis 3). Was King David the devil for allowing his people to eat the sacred bread of the temple (Mt. 12:3-4), which was not lawful, when they were starving? Absolutely not! Jesus says to the stunned Pharisees and Sadducees. Here is a miracle and sign of itself, the true God will have compassion and mercy on the innocent instead of condemnation. Nuts to law when people are starving and in need of jobs, clothing and life! And man prides himself on the edifices he builds, as people starve to make ends meet. The church of Christ is no better than the dictators and power hungry of this world, if we have no compassion and mercy on the innocent caught up in this war between God and the Devil.
The Sign to Be Given
Now Jesus summoned His disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry; otherwise they might collapse on the way.”
Jesus does not turn anyone away. Do we turn people away? Do we meet people where they are at? Who would people say Jesus was if they were to meet you, me? Jesus finishes feeding the 4000, from seven loaves and few small fish (Mt. 15). SEVEN LOAVES OF BREAD AND A FEW SMALL FISH! And the Pharisees and Sadducees demand a sign of Jesus, to prove His authenticity (Mt. 16). In light of what you do for others, for Jesus, the world will still question your authenticity. Will still question your testimony. Will still question the reality of Jesus. Do not be shocked. The demand for a sign of authenticy of your witness to Jesus’ life, power and reality, will be doubted and cast aside in favor of the spectacular. Why? Because this is the sign, the evidence, of an adultereous and evil generation, Jesus says (Mt. 16:3-4). And who represented this generation? The religious who were caught up in law, rules and regulations, instead of being caught up in being compassionate and merciful to the people…loving the lost and the known well.
Jesus says, when we are caught up in rules and regulations, we miss Him, we will demand signs and wonders to confirm our doubts (Mt. 16:1-4). Watch out that we do not live our lives by signs and wonders, but instead live by doing good works of compassion and mercy, then people will know of your love for God (John 13:35; James 2:18).
By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works.
The Sign of Jonah
Jesus says the only sign that will be given to an evil and adulterous generation will be the sign of Jonah (Mt. 16:4).
An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away.
What is this sign? Jonah was in the belly of a great fish for three days and three nights (Jonah 1). Jesus would be crucified and buried for three days and three nights and then arise (John 20; Luke 24; Mt. 28; Mark 16; 1 Cor. 15:4). Who has believed this message? Who has believed this truth? This is the only sign that will be given is that of a crucified and resurrected Christ. Do I believe? Will you believe? Comapassion and mercy displayed from a living testimony will go a long way to drawing someone to belief.
Who Do We Say that Jesus is?
The popular opinions of the day of whom Jesus was where:
1) Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead because only dead people have supernatural powers working through them (Jn. 14:1-2).
2) Jesus was Elijah, the prophet of God, taken upto Heaven in a whirlwind of fire (2 Kings 2:11; Malachi 3:1; 3:23). His ascent created an expectation of a role in the future for Elijah in the teachers and peoples minds.
“See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who will be able to stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire and like cleansing lye.
In Sirach 48:1-9, Elijah is pictured as bringing judgment and miracles of nature and healing of which Jesus did as well (NRSV contains Apocrypha).
How glorious you were, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Whose glory is equal to yours? You raised a corpse from death and from Hades, by the word of the Most High.
You were taken up by a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with horses of fire. At the appointed time, it is written, you are destined to calm the wrath of God before it breaks out in fury, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and to restore the tribes of Jacob.
Jesus himself, though assures us, that the Israelite people should see John the Baptist as the expected role of Elijah to come (Matthew 11:13-15). And later on, as recorded in Matthew 17:3, Elijah and Moses show up with Jesus at His transfiguration.
3) Jesus was the prophet Jeremiah, who experienced suffering and rejection and whom was called upon to speak against the temple in Jerusalem, of which Jesus will do (Matthew 23:38; 24:2).
Peter was asked by Jesus, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter’s answer was, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt. 16:16)!
Jesus says upon Peter, will He thus build His church. What did Peter confess? That Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus builds His church upon the confession of His followers! Do I confess and witness that Jesus Christ is God, Messiah? The church is only as strong as it’s confession and witness. This confession of Christ is our foundation stone. The crucified Christ is the only sign that will be given to our world. Am I sharing so?
The Pharisees and Sadducees discovered that Jesus was merciful and compassionate; that God was merciful and compassionate. That being merciful and compassionate matters far more than mans rules and regulations. That mercy and compassion are the credientials of God, in a world that demands the spectacular or amazing.