So Who Do You Say Jesus Is?
Good Morning Friends,
Martin Luther King, Jr. said that, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'” If we are honest, every one of us has questions about our faith and how to live. We ask ourselves things like: ‘Is the Bible true?’ ‘Why does God allow suffering?’ ‘Am I truly forgiven?’ ‘Will I really go to heaven when I die?’ I have attached a list of a hundred questions Jesus asked. When you have time read them straight up then read them again in context. They are not hard to understand just hard to live by. Still one of them stands out. Ultimately it is not a “what if” question or a “why” question that is the most important. It is a “who” question. So Who Do You Say Jesus Is?
Scripture: Now when Jesus came into the district 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, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:13-16 (NRSV)
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11.25-26 (NRSV)
But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6: 8-11 (NRSV)
Message: If you want vision, courage, strength and power to exceed your expectations? And who wouldn’t? And yet, they are all available only to those who are able to answer His ultimate question correctly. Christ first asked life’s ultimate question on the road to Caesarea Philippi. I have walked there in the ruins of a Roman city on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Few places could have provided a more significant setting for this question to be asked. When Jesus was there the city was in its Roman glory. Rising up out of its center was a translucent temple of white marble built by Herod the Great in honor of Caesar and an open air theatre large enough to seat thousands. Around it were magnificent villas and palaces added by Herod’s son Philip, who had renamed the city from its original name of Balinas which honored the pagan fertility god. The power of Rome was in the air, but so were the sins of orgies as worship of the pagan god, Baal. Framing the view and overshadowing the region was Mount Hermon, a metaphor of Israel’s quest for God. It was here in this region of symbols of humankind’s lust for military might and the religious quest for meaning, that Jesus stopped, turned, and confronted His disciples with a two part question. The first was “Who do men say that I am?” The answers were really very complimentary. They told Jesus that the fears of Herod Antipas, who murdered John the Baptist, had promoted the theory that He was John raised from the dead. Others believed He fulfilled the prophecy of Malachi that He was Elijah come to prepare the way for the Messiah. Still others surmised that the vision given to Judas Maccabaeus was being realized: He was Jeremiah who had come with a golden sword to wage war for the deliverance of Israel. Others simply said Jesus was one of the prophets. It was at this significant moment that Jesus pressed home life’s ultimate question. Surrounded by geographical and topographical evidences of humankind’s longing for an answer to the riddle of life, and in the emotional context of the varied, but false opinions about His real identity, Jesus asked the disciples, “But who do you say that I am? Only one could find his voice to answer. Simon’s response motivated by a gift of faith from the Father. His voice must have been alive with excitement and insight as he answered: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Clearly Simon acknowledged Jesus not as forerunner of the Messianic age, but as the Messiah Himself. Here this ultimate question is hard because it forces us to be absolutely honest in how we answer. When Jesus asks us, “Who am I to you…really?”, that cuts like a laser into the core of our being and forces us to evaluate our priorities, values and attitudes. There is no middle of the road here. How we answer Christ’s ultimate question determines what we will receive from Him this morning.
Pray that we realize that the
most urgent needs of our lives are met through Christ. Pray we realize that our answer to the ultimate question will determine how much we know and experience of God our Father and the Holy Spirit, our source of supernatural power. Pray we realize that how we answer Christ’s ultimate question determines our ability to live the abundant life He promised. Pray we realize how we answer Christ’s ultimate question determines our ability to receive and give forgiveness. Pray we realize that to become Christ like is the only thing in the world worth achieving. Pray we realize the authentic Jesus of the Bible tenderly cares for us when we hurt, but He tenaciously exposes anything that keeps us from being all He intends for us to be. Pray we realize that how we answer the question determines our courage to face death and where we will spend eternity. Pray we are freed of all anxieties for we belong to Christ. Pray we are motivated to committing our lives to Christ, and ready to receive the mysterious, but transforming dynamic of Christ’s cross and our own.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 