Who Do You Say That I Am?

Mark 8:27-38 Everybody has questions about the new pastor.  How will he conduct his ministry among us?  What kind of man is he?  What are his priorities and plans?  I can answer many of those questions right now from God’s Word to us today.

            What I want for each member of this congregation and for every member of our community is for you to make the same confession as Peter:  that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, your Savior from sin and death and the power of the devil. 

I want you and every member of this congregation and every person in this community to believe that the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is the end of God’s wrath over your sins and the empty tomb the beginning of a new life with God where he is your father and you are his child.

I want you and every member of this congregation and every person in this community to follow Jesus as his disciple, taking up your cross and walking in his ways until that great and glorious day when we stand before him and hear him say: Well, done good and faithful servant.

That is who I strive to be as a believer and that is my goal and priority for you as your pastor:  that you would confess Jesus as your Savior and trust in his saving works and follow him as his disciple until you join him in heaven.  The Bible says that:

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”

            Everyone had an opinion about Jesus.  Everyone.  To encounter the power and goodness and the wisdom of Jesus of Nazareth and remain unimpressed was impossible.  Everyone had an opinion about Jesus and everyone had a high opinion.  “One of the great prophets—perhaps Elijah.  Maybe John the Baptist has returned”. 

So it still is today.  Everyone has an opinion about Jesus.  Muslims count him as a great prophet.  Hindus count him as part of their pantheon of gods.  Buddhists see him as an enlightened one.  Countless others see him as a great teacher whose words provide the pattern we should all live by to make the world a better place.  Everyone has an opinion about Jesus.  What about us?  The Bible says that:  Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?”

You see dear friends in Christ, it is not enough to hear the opinions of others when it comes to Jesus.  We cannot consider this question of his identity from a safe academic distance as if it were a philosophical exercise.  The question of Jesus is posed to every person in this world and we must all give an answer.  Peter shows us the way:  You are the Christ. 

“Jesus, you are the Messiah promised by the prophets and sent by God!  Jesus you are the Savior of the world and the only way to have a life with God!” God grant us his grace and the help of the Holy Spirit to believe that and make that confession our own! 

Dear friends in Christ, here you have the absolute dividing line that cuts throughout all humanity, including folks in this community, separating every person into this world into one of two groups:  those who are saved and those who need saving.  Which is why, what happens next, is so odd.  Jesus strictly charged them to tell no one about him. 

The Bible says that faith comes by hearing so why in the world wouldn’t Jesus want his identity published far and wide?  It’s because so many people had a mistaken view about who the Messiah was.  They were looking at the Messiah from a worldly point of view—the material blessings he would give and the great victories he would achieve. 

Of course we know that this attitude is nothing new.  Throughout so many places in the outward, visible church today there are still countless people who say they believe in Jesus but what they really believe in is a heavenly genie who will give them what they want when they want it and then stay out of their business otherwise until they call upon him again. 

Even the disciples struggled with this mistaken view of Jesus that wants to separates who he is from what he came to do.  The Bible says that:

Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.  And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

            Here is the content of the Christian faith:  that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior sent by God to suffer and die and rise again.  This is who Jesus is and this is what he came to do.  Jesus Christ came into this world to bring us back to God.  He went to the cross as our sin-bearer, carrying upon his holy shoulders every sin we have ever committed and all the sins of the world.

He died there on the cross, rejected by those he came to save, the wrath of God over our sins poured out upon him, and yet promising us with his dying breath that our sins are forgiven and our salvation complete.  Three days later he rose again as the victor over death and the grave and the power of the devil—his own, holy resurrected life the promise and the path for us to our share in eternal life.

How can we ever sufficiently thank God for sending Jesus to forgive us our sins and redeem us from slavery to Satan and restore us to God’s family?!  And yet there was Peter, rebuking Jesus for that very thing. 

You see, this wasn’t really what Peter and the disciples and the Jews were expecting from the Messiah.  It really wasn’t even what they wanted.  They wanted material success and earthly victories and all the stuff that comes with being on the winning side.

Of course, that temptation is not unique to them.  Much too often we treat forgiveness for our sins and life with God has something we can check off of life’s “to-do” list and then expect God to get down to the serious business of giving us what we want.  Like Peter, we need to understand the satanic source of that sinful attitude.  The Bible says that:

Turning and seeing his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

            Maybe we think that Jesus’ response was a little bit harsh?!  After all, Peter had just made the great confession that Jesus was the Christ and if he was a little confused, well, what’s the big deal?      But this is not the first time Jesus faced just exactly this same kind of temptation to separate who he was as the Messiah from what he had come to do as the Savior.  The devil tempted him the same way in the wilderness. 

            And so then it was not cruelty on Jesus’ part to call Peter’s words what they were (a satanic temptation) but a kindness for him and the disciples and us—for it teaches us again and again to look for no other sign of God’s love than the cross and empty tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Throughout our life the devil will tempt us to fix our eyes on the things of men—to believe that God is pleased with us if all is going well and to doubt his love for us if we struggle in some way and in in both of these temptations the devil is pleased and we are deceived.

But the Holy Spirit directs our eyes of faith again and again to the things of God:  a faithful promise that was kept—a Savior who was sent—a Redeemer who died—a mighty King who lives and reigns forever.  To set our mind on these things of God is to have, not only salvation, but a purpose and meaning and direction for our lives.  The Bible says that:

Calling the crowd to him with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

            Before we go even a step farther in our meditation I want you to understand that this call to Christian discipleship comes AFTER the redeeming work of Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection.  Our life as Christ’s disciples is the fruit of his saving work for us. 

We deny ourselves and take up our cross because Jesus did not count equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing and died a terrible death on the cross.  Our life as his disciples flows from his life as our Savior.

We have been baptized into his death and raised in his resurrection and are called to walk in newness of life.  That means that even as his life has become our own, so we are to live that out his life in our own life—saying no to our flesh, counting others better than ourselves, loving them sacrificially and gladly, joyfully accepting the hardships and challenges that come with being a Christian because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate.  Jesus says that:

Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  For what can a man give in return for his soul?

            If you have ever taken Economics or Intro to Business you understand that, what Jesus is asking us to do here is to make a cost/benefit analysis.  On one side is life with God.  Jesus has shed his blood to save us, body and soul.  He has given his life to save our life.  And he calls us to lose our lives by following him to heaven knowing that there will be hardships in doing that.

On the other side is living this life as if this life is all there is—going our own way—doing our own thing—having only ourselves to answer to—avoiding the hardships of Christian discipleship and seeking pleasure wherever we can find it.  Jesus wants us to understand that following that road, even if it gains us the world, will lead to eternal death.  He said that:

Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

            Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we think about our life together as pastor and people, we must always keep eternal things at the forefront of our plans and priorities.  There is coming a day when we will all stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ.  Those who have denied that he is the Savior—those who have hoped in something other than the cross—those who have been ashamed to be Jesus’ disciples will spend eternity in hell.

But that is not us for we know who Jesus is and we trust in what he has done for us and we are glad to begin again this week following him wherever he leads, no matter the cost.  May God grant us courage and faith in Jesus’ name!  Amen!