Precis

Readings

Exodus 1:8 – 2:10

Psalm 124

Romans 12:1-8

Matthew 16:13-20

Who do you say Jesus is

Me

Sometimes there is a ring of truth in the adverts which we see. You may remember a gentleman, very full of himself presenting himself at an airline check in counter. He thrust his bag on the scales.

“Sir, your bag is overweight, you will have to pay extra” said the ground hostess.
“Never mind that. I want to be moved to an earlier flight. I also want an aisle seat and to moved up to business class!”.
“Sorry sir, but you have to pay for you bag, and we can’t move you an earlier flight. You don’t qualify for an upgrade and you’re booked in a middle seat.”
“Nonsense. Do you know who I am!!?”
The hostess reached for a handset on the desk and broadcast throughout the terminal: “Can we please have some help at the check-in counter. We have a passenger who doesn’t know who he is!”

I was once invited to snacks with young upcoming managers of a large company so that we would all get to know one another. During the evening, I was chatting to a friend when a man with ginger hair joined us. We chatted for a while and then my friend turned to the ginger-haired man and asked “what do you do here”. “This and that. I’m the Chief Executive”

It helps to know who people are.

We

You may have your own stories of trouble identifying people, and the importance of know who a person is. Very importantly, we also need to know who we.

God

Our reading from Matthew this morning is about a question of identity. When Jesus and his disciples come to the region of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus confronts them.

If you wanted a discussion about identity then Caesarea Philippi was an interesting place. The area was a conflux of many different claims to authority.

There were temples there to the ancient Syrian Baal worship.
There was a cave there where the Greeks believe that the great god Pan, the god of nature, was born.
This same cave was said to be the source of the river Jordan, a river of huge significance to the Jews.
There was also a great temple of white marble which had been built by Herod in honour of the godhead Caesar.

So here, in the midst of all these claims to deity by Baal, by Pan, by Caesar and by Jewish tradition a homeless Galilean carpenter asks his disciples if they really understand who he is. At the confluence of Eastern and Western deities, at a spot in praise of human greatness and a source of historical experience, Jesus asks his disciples if they understand who he is.

The importance of knowing the other point of view

Jesus first asks the disciples what they have heard that other people say about who Jesus is. This question was important because if we do not know where other people stand in their view of Jesus it is impossible to be effective in our witness. One of the first things that missionaries are taught is that the first task they have is to listen and to understand. Only then can they begin to truly share the gospel.

The disciples are free to report all the crazy things that other people have said. They are at liberty even to throw in a few crazy ideas of their own under the guise of having heard hem in the crowd. So they report that “some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

The disciples run through a few possibilities that they may have heard in the crowd. Each of these pushes the boundaries somewhat, but they are largely constrained by human categories. People have sought to define Jesus in terms of their own expectations and in terms of their own experience. Jesus cannot be categorised in this way. We must accept that all our names for Jesus, all our descriptions and expectations are merely shadows of who He truly is.

The identity of Jesus – Jesus is the Christ

Jesus allows them to exhaust the views of others before he asks the crunch question: “Who do YOU say I am”. The disciples are now in a bit of a bind. Whatever they say next will be a reflection on them, not on the crowds. All the crazy notions which they attributed to the crowds are suddenly seen for what they are – not quite right. I can imagine there must have been a hushed silence as Jesus asked this question. How could they process all the experiences they had had with Jesus and come up with a suitable answer?

It is Peter, a fisherman by trade and someone given to rash statements and actions, who ventures to put himself on the line. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

I wonder at the reaction of the other disciples:

Did some snigger – “you are sooooo out there with that answer”.
Did some think – “blasphemy, how can Peter say such a thing.”
Did some think – “I knew it, I just wasn’t as quick as Peter.”

Jesus the Christ

Peter states that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

This is a HUGE statement, and its implications ring out for all of humanity. Jesus, this carpenter from Galilee, was here to set the people free.

It is possible that Peter at that stage simply believed that Jesus was the one who would lead the Jews out of subservience to the Romans and set them free. He perhaps did not then fully realise that Jesus was to call all people to a journey which led

from captivity to sin to the kingdom of God,
from slavery to being heirs of God,
from death to life.

This same Jesus who had shown power in healing, over the elements and over the food of the people was himself to become the bread of life, to heal our brokenness and to defeat once and for all the power of sin over us. That same Jesus that Peter identified as the Christ is the one who joins us in fellowship today as we meet in His name to worship Him.

He has names which other have given him too, too many to recite in this service:

Advocate, Lamb of God, Head of the Church, the Bread of Life, King of the Jews, wonderful counsellor, the Good Shepherd, Prince of Peace, Immanuel, God with us, Saviour, Light of the World.

We

Each of us must stand like Peter and answer that question for ourselves when Jesus asks: “who do you say I am?”

A Personal Response

One of the glaring truths to come out of this passage is that we cannot rely on what other people say about Jesus – it must be a personal response. While it is important for us to be aware of what they say, the critical issue is to confront the truth of what it is that we personally believe.

An investor once remarked that there was a huge difference between his view of the market and that of the financial analyst who was helping him. He pointed out that if the financial analyst was wrong, the analyst would still draw a salary at the end of the month whereas he, the investor, would be eating sardines on toast for the rest of his life.

Your view of who Jesus is a critical cornerstone in your life, and you need to make sure that you work it through. In terms of running your own life it is not important what Ronnie believes or what Erich believes; all that is important is what you believe.

Heart, Head and Hands

There are three aspects to the way we declare our view of people – through our heart, through our head and through our hands.

When two young people meet there is that initial pounding of the heart which excites the sense and leads them to want to see more of each other. This is a wonderful feeling, but we know that by itself it is hardly the basis for a life together.
Then there comes a time when the couple sits down and realises that they are in love, and begin to make plans together and to work out their future together. This is where their heads come into play and they work through things logically. If called to explain themselves, they can often give an account of why they are seeing each other.
Finally, however, their love needs to find expression through their actions, through their hands. The initial fluttering of the heart needs to be changed into an understanding of the relationship with the other person, and that needs to be transformed into acts of loving kindness – tea in bed at 6 in the morning, tending for each other when they are sick, cooking meals, making beds, providing food, paying the mortgage. This is where there is real expression of the other person’s place in life – when the feelings of the heart and the understanding of the head are transformed in to the actions of the hands.

Just so there are three aspects to our confession Jesus as Lord and Saviour, as Messiah, as Son of God. Our belief needs to be evident in our heart, in our head and in our hands

Confession in our heart

One of the first responses which people have to Jesus is that of the response of the heart. This is the response which we often immediately feel after a powerful sermon has been preached, or after we have read a moving passage of scripture. This response is important, but it does not last. Like the spark of sparkplug in an engine, it is bright and hot but is over in flash and does not have the power to move the vehicle unless it ignites the fuel mixture in the piston.

Be Transformed By A Renewing Of Your Mind

The second response is that of the head, of the mind. This is intellectual assent to the Lordship of Christ, it is a careful weighing of the evidence and arriving at a conclusion.

Lee Strobel, a journalist by profession, has written a number of books examining the claims of Christ and the basis of our beliefs. His books are excellent and well worth reading. They present among other, the case for the Creator and the case for the Resurrection in clear and compelling terms. There is just one problem – the intellectual assent needs to be personal.

When Peter said “You are the Christ” there was a meaning behind it that he had not even begun to fathom. Our intellectual assent of Christ as King must follow through to the assent that Christ is King of my life, that he died for me, and because of His work I can be saved, renewed, transformed.

When John Wesley wrote in his journal about his experience at Aldersgate Street it was exactly this personalisation of his belief that he was talking about:

About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

Head and heart work together when the intellectual understanding and the emotional understanding are aligned.

A Passive Transformation

A word of comfort comes through the scriptures however. While we need to wrestle with the intellectual elements of our faith, while we need to study and real and think and meditate, we know that God is beyond our comprehension. We are limited to our earthly experience and examples, and we cannot fathom the full depth of God’s love and purpose.

Jesus said that Peter was able to discern the identity of Christ not through his own intelligence but through the leading of the spirit.

Later on Paul contended that by ourselves we can never fully understand the glory of God as revealed in Jesus, but only through the work of the Spirit in our lives. In his letter to the Romans Paul urges them to be transformed by a renewing of their minds. There was no way that they could bring about the changes in their minds by themselves, but by opening themselves to the working of the Spirit their minds would be renewed.

Christ, when he challenges us to say who he is, invites us to open our lives to allow him to guide us to an understanding.

Who do we say Jesus is with our actions?

Once our hearts and heads are aligned it is necessary for our faith to result in actions. There is no greater proof of a person’s belief that their actions

Paul calls on the people of Rome to offer themselves as “living sacrifices”. Their lives – their time, their treasure and their talents, was to be offered to God as a sacrifice and used as his pleasure. God has equipped each of us with gifts for use in his service. If our hearts and heads both agree that Jesus is Lord then our hands, our gifts, must be offered to him.

Alternate reading of the question

You see, there is another way to look at the question Jesus asks us. When a child wants to leave the house with a dirty face and crumpled clothes, many parents will stop the child and say “What sort of home will people think you come from?” When people look at us, we the people of God, what will they learn about Jesus? Who do we say Jesus is by the way we act individually and collectively as a church?

St Francis is alleged to have said “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words”. While the preaching which takes place in this and other pulpits is good and necessary, real preaching, real reaching out to people who lives are torn and tattered, must take place in our actions accompanied by our words.

There is a beautiful hymn in Songs of Fellowship which says:

We are the hands of God

Our task to do His will,

Lay our hands upon this world

And by His Spirit see it healed

We are the Church invincible

The flesh and blood of Christ

We are the Gospel visible

Our lives the Saviour’s light to the world

We are the word of God

And by the things we say

This world will judge the Prince of life

And be drawn in or turn away

We are the feet of God

Who walk the narrow way,

And every step we take is watched

By those for whom we fast and pray

WE

Who do you say Jesus Is?

Jesus confronted his disciples at Caesarea Philippi, in a place where the powers and beliefs of the world were on display, and asked them who they said he was.

Christ confronts us each day, asking us the same question – who do you say I am? What does your heart say, what does you mind say, what do your actions say?

Each day as we awaken we are confronted twitch the myriad demands of the world for the day, surrounded by the idols of popular culture and extravagant consumption. Who do we say Jesus is in quite of our room before we move into the day? Who do we say Jesus is when we are confronted by poverty and lawlessness? Who do we say Jesus is when we are called on for help, or confronted by illness?

Who do you say Jesus is with your heart?

Who do you say Jesus is with you head?

Who do you say Jesus is with your hands?

Sermon