Sermon Tone Analysis

WHO You Say I AM?

John 1:1-51

Matthew 16:13-17 “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you.

You did not learn this from any human being.”

New International Version

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

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.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked.

“Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

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.

Jesus asked a LOT of questions in his years walking this earth.

By one estimate, he asks a total of 307 questions that are recorded in the Gospels.

What makes that number truly surprising is how few questions he answered.

We only have 8 recorded answers that Jesus gave.

It would seem the questions Jesus asked were far more important to him than the answers he gave.

Since questions were important to Jesus, I want to dive a little deeper into what these questions Jesus asked were and what they mean for us.

Questions > Answers

Have you ever thought that if Jesus was physically right beside you then you would get answers to those questions you’ve been longing for?

You’d think if the creator of the universe, the person who literally knows it ALL, was standing beside you, he could give you that answer you’ve been searching for.

But that’s not what we see in the Gospels.

Don’t get me wrong, people tried to ask him questions all the time, but he rarely answered them and instead responded with a question of his own.

Think about that for a minute.

Jesus, God in flesh, often, asked questions and avoided giving answers.

I don’t know about you, but this is not how I operate.

My initial reaction is to give an answer.

After all, I was asked the question, therefore, I must be the expert.

At least that’s what the prideful part of me says.

And that’s probably most of us.

When asked a question, we give an answer.

Why?

Because we think answers are more important than questions.

But Jesus didn’t do that.

And shocker… Maybe Jesus knows something we don’t.

Maybe he’s on to something.

You see, I think Jesus knows that those answers we seek won’t give us what we hope.

So instead, he gives us questions- which cause us to think, to dissect our lives, and to see what’s ultimately important.

When I think about the people that made the biggest impact on my life, it’s not the person that gave me a lecture about what I should be doing.

Rather, it’s the person that helped me reflect on my life and set it on a better course.

How’d they do that?

Lots of questions.

That’s exactly what Jesus does.

When we look at the questions Jesus asked, what we see is he is helping the people he’s interacting with evaluate their lives and set a better course.

Answers are overrated.

We think we need them, but in many cases, they don’t give us what we’d hoped.

Questions are greater than answers.

So, let’s look at the questions Jesus asked.

Questions Jesus Asked

With over 300 questions asked by Jesus, there’s no way we can get through them all in one blog post.

So what I want to do is look at the broader categories of questions Jesus asked and see what we can learn from them.

Below is not an exhaustive list.

I will focus on a few of the broad categories of questions, rather than cataloging each question Jesus asked.

There are some categories of questions Jesus asked that I excluded due to space- such as Jesus’ trial, on the cross, and the resurrection although Jesus asked a TON of questions in those times.

I tried to focus on categories of questions that have the most impact on our faith today.

A. Questions Of Identity

“Who do people say I am?

Who do you say I am?” – Jesus (Mark 8:27-29; Luke 9:18-20; Matthew 16:13-15)

What an interesting question for Jesus to ask.

Now I don’t think Jesus is curious about what people think about him.

He already knows their thoughts and knows what others say about him.

Jesus is after something else.

Jesus is using this question of identity to point his followers to where their identity lies.

These questions Jesus asked were directed at helping his followers see who he really was and the implications that held for them.

On rare occasions he would answer:

Matthew 21

New International Version

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her.

Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

5 “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you,

gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”[a]

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.

7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna[b] to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[c]

“Hosanna[d] in the highest heaven!”

10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

2. Jesus withholds telling them the Answers

Again, rather than just telling them who he was and what to believe, Jesus used a question to help them truly understand who he was.

When we are told a fact, it’s not really ours.

When we must stop and process to arrive at a conclusion, it becomes part of who we are.

That’s what Jesus is doing.

He’s causing his followers to pause and contemplate who he really is.

Who Do You Say I Am?

Who Am I?

I. Christ’s Names Prove He Is God’s Son

A. He is the Word (John 1:1–3, 14).

Just as our words reveal our mind and heart, so Christ reveals the mind and heart of God to men.

“He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9, NKJV).

A word is composed of letters; and Christ is the Alpha and Omega (first and last letters of the Gk.

alphabet; Rev. 22:13) who spells out God’s love to us.

In Genesis 1, God created everything through His Word; and Col. 1:16 and 2 Peter 3:5 indicate that this Word was Christ.

While God can be known in part through nature and history, He is known in full through His Son (Heb.

1:1–2).

Christ as the Word brings grace and truth (1:14 and 17); but if men do not receive Him, this same Word will come in wrath and judgment (Rev.

19:13).

The Bible is the written Word of God, and Christ is the living, incarnate Word of God.