Passing the Pretest

Sermon Prep Template:

TOPICAL --- Main Idea/Direction

Peter confesses Jesus as the Messiah

What truth do students need to hear most?

Jesus is not what you make of him, he is who he is and he makes something out of you

Three Supporting Ideas within the passage

False Ideas

The Most Important Question

The Life-Changing Answer

Additional Scriptures for Cross Reference

Luke 9:18

James 2:19

Mark 5:7

Background Info / People / Places

Sermon Outline Template:

IMAGE:

A college professor handed me the final exam on the first day of the semester. It was a pre-test to help me see and help the professor see what I already knew and what I needed to learn over the course of the semester

SUBJECT:

Tonight is a pre-test of sorts. Jesus gives out a one-question final exam that Peter passes with a 100%

NEED:

If you are not careful, you might go into the final exam too self-confident and end up failing, or maybe worse - getting the answer right but forgetting why the question was asked in the first place.

BIG IDEA:

The most important question you could ever answer is “Who is Jesus?”

TEXT ADDRESS:

Tonight we’ll be continuing in our series According to Mark, and we’re in chapter 8.

SET UP:

Here in the middle of chapter 8 of Mark, the tone of the Gospel begins to shift. If you remember back to week one of this series, there was one big question that Mark wanted you to wrestle with as you read: Who is Jesus?

Jesus has been giving hints as to his identity for 7 chapters, but now the journey shifts toward the cross and we’re gonna see an answer.

TEXT:

Mark 8:27-30

What I want to look at in this passage is how to answer the question, “Who is Jesus?”

POINT 1:

Eliminate the Wrong Answers

What Does It Mean?

So I kinda lied. i said the final exam was one question, but if you were reading along with me, you probably noticed that jesus actually asked two questions. But this first one is a warm up. It is going to help eliminate the wrong answers.

The first question that Jesus asks is “Who do PEOPLE say that I am?”

I really like how Luke’s Gospel account remembers the question, “Who do the CROWDS say that I am?”

And there are all kinds of opinions in the crowd apparently. The disciples tell Jesus, some of the people in the crowds think you are John the Baptist back from the dead. That’s an interesting answer.

But it actually makes sense.

Mark 6:14–16 ESV

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

I didn’t preach this passage on a Wednesday night, but if you’ve been sticking with the read through of Mark on your own, maybe you remember coming to this section.

Elijah is another popular answer. And that has some merit.

Malachi 4:5 ESV

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

So we know Elijah is supposed to come at some point, but Jesus is not Elijah.

The last answer that some in the crowd give is that maybe Jesus is just like one of the prophets of old. Again, wrong.

Why is This Important?

In the first century when these events are taking place, there are some common (but wrong) assumptions of who the Messiah is going to be. (Remember that Messiah is the Hebrew word for Christ, which is greek).

The Roman Empire is oppressing Israel so of course the Messiah, the Savior, is someone who will be a strong military leader who can lead the rebellion and overthrow Rome.

Since that is the dominate false idea of the day, it makes sense that there would be other false ideas floating around about the identity of Jesus.

What Can We Do About It?

And maybe you even have a wrong idea of who Jesus is, or at least you have friends who have some wrong answers about who he is.

Jesus is a Good Person.

Jesus was a Great Moral Teacher.

Jesus was a prophet who came to tell us about God.

Illustration:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. . . . Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God. (Mere Christianity, 55-56)

Transition:

So the first step in getting to the right answer is to eliminate the wrong ones.

What would you do next on the test?

POINT 2:

Re-Frame the Question

What Does It Mean?

So Jesus hears the answers that the crowd thinks and re-frames the question for the disciples. Not because they misunderstood him, but now he’s turning it on them. It’s no longer good enough to think about how someone else might answer, it’s time to come to grips with the question yourself.

Jesus asks them point blank, “Who do YOU say that I am?”

Why is This Important?

I told you that I think this might be the most important question that you could ever be asked.

Who do you say that Jesus is?

A.W. Tozer once wrote,

“What comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you”

So you’ve got to reframe this question in your own mind. What do I really think about Jesus?

Is he just a good guy with some good things to say?

Is he a genie in a lamp that you dust off when you need help with something big?

Is he a disapproving parent who is always mad at you?

Is he distant and far off, unconcerned with the lives of us mere mortals here on earth?

What Can We Do About It?

Each and every person needs to come up with an answer to this question. You can’t leave it blank.

Illustration:

Transition:

Let’s look at the way Peter answered the question. Maybe cheating off of him will help us out.

POINT 3:

Believe the Right Answer

What Does It Mean?

Peter doesn’t answer with the same answers the crowd might give, he gives the right answer. He says “You are the Messiah.”

But we’ve already seen that the title Messiah might mean some different things to different people. And just getting the answer right doesn’t necessarily mean your heart is behind it. Or that knowing the answer changes you in any way.

Remember the legion of demons in that guy from a couple weeks ago?

Mark 5:7 ESV

And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”

The demons know who Jesus is, but they’re still demons.

James 2:19 ESV

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

You can know true things about God, but still not be changed. You can believe that jesus is who he says he is in your brain yet live in such a way that it doesn’t effect anything that you do

It’s almost like in a math test where you get the right answer, but you don’t get the points because you didn’t show any work.

But Peter seems to be saying this in faith, trusting and believing in Jesus the Messiah.

Why is This Important?

This confession is the turning point in Mark’s Gospel, and this question is the turning point in your life.

How you decide to wrestle with the question and the answer you come to effects everything.

I’ve known a lot of people who have gone to church their whole lives, but never came to a solid answer to the question of who is Jesus. They could probably say that Jesus is the Messiah. If you asked them they might tell you about how he’s the son of God and the savior of the world. But he was never THEIR savior. They knew the answer but the answer never changed them.

What Can We Do About It?

When you come to an answer and you realize that Jesus is who he says he is, the only way to move forward is to believe it, to trust him, and to live your life for him.

Illustration:

Transition:

Your practical application point as we head into the summer is to answer the question.

SUMMARY:

Eliminate the wrong answers

Reframe the question so that it’s pointed at you

Believe the right answer, don’t just know the right answer

BIG IDEA:

CLOSER:

Taking that pre-test in my college class was just the start of the learning that semester. I did okay on it because I’m good at taking tests, not because I knew the material. If I had gotten a good score on the pre-test and then said, I’m out, I’m not gonna show up to class, I’m not gonna do any of the assignments or read any of the books, and I’ll just come back at the end and take the final. I wouldn’t have learned anything and I’d probably just get the same score.