The Christ of God

We have one very simple question each of us needs to answer today: Who do you say Jesus is?

Note: This transcript was auto generated and may have errors.

[00:00:00] This morning, we have reached the point of the Book of Luke that I consider to be something of a tipping point in the book. We’re in Luke nine, verse 18, so you can turn there. Now, if you have your Bibles, go ahead and open to that point. Up to this point, most of Luke has focused on Jesus activities of healing and casting out demons and telling people that their sins are forgiven. Uh, almost all of the interaction with Jesus has been with people who are trying to figure out who he is. That’s that’s true. Even of the 12 disciples who were closest to Jesus. You’ll remember that when when they were on the boat and Jesus told the wind to stop, he will remember that they had this conversation among themselves. They said, who is this? Who is this? Who is this guy? We were told at the beginning of the book, during the birth narrative, that Jesus is the one who’s come to bring salvation to God’s people. But all the people are going to learn this by looking at Jesus and listening to him. It’s a discovery process with Jesus. And today, and for the rest of the book, the focus shifts slightly away from discovering Jesus identity to following Jesus as a disciple. And we’re going to begin to hear a lot more parables on what faithfulness looks like and what what it means to be lived out. Faithfulness in Jesus.

[00:01:29] Jesus is going to begin teaching on what it means to give your life to him in mission. We’re going to see that very clearly in a in a passage next week, a very direct and challenging passage. Next week, there will be more warnings to those who are listening from here on out in the book to to people like the Pharisees, the legalistic religious leaders who have misled the people. So in some sense, the Gospel of Luke before our passage today was about discovering Jesus identity. And today and hereafter it’s more concentrated on walking faithfully in light of that discovery. So, broadly speaking, we are moving from discovery to discipleship. Now, that’s not to say that we’re not going to see some more healing accounts. We will see them. But you’ll notice that when we come to those, you’ll begin to notice that they’re done mostly to challenge the Pharisees or to illustrate what real discipleship looks like. And our passage today is the tipping point between those two themes, and it’s very obvious why once we read it, you’ll see why that’s the case. Jesus is going to have a little talk with his crew about what people are saying about him, and then he’s going to turn that question to the disciples themselves and ask what they personally believe. And we’re going to see a breakthrough in understanding Jesus. We have one very simple question before us this morning.

[00:02:59] It’s really the only question that you need to answer coming out of our time together this morning. And that’s. Who do you say Jesus is? Who do you say Jesus is? Based on your observations of him, who do you believe Jesus to be? Based on your understanding of Scripture and how you’ve seen Jesus impact the world over the last 2000 years, what is your conclusion about him? We’re going to look at this conversation that Jesus has with disciples in three parts. What do the crowds say? What do the disciples say? And then finally, some instructions from Jesus. So let’s start with Jesus question about the crowds. Now it happened that he that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him, and he asked them, who do the crowds say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah and others that one of the prophets of old has risen. So you can see Jesus is finally found some time to be away from the crowds with his disciples to to to pray and to discuss ministry. And his first question to them is about the crowds. Who do the crowds say that I am? Now, that’s a very insightful question, isn’t it? It’s a very insightful question because it tells us something about Jesus understanding of his own ministry. Jesus knows that his ministry is part of a discovery process for the crowds, for those crowds that come and listen to him and watch him.

[00:04:41] He knows that what they’re engaged in is a discovery process about him personally. He knows that his ministry is not to just make sure that everyone is healed and fed and happy. All of those things that he’s doing and those things that he is teaching are meant to point people to a clear understanding of him personally. All of the ministry he’s doing is meant to reveal his identity. Now, this is very unique to Jesus. This is very unique. And here’s what I mean for for comparison, consider what you do and why you do it. Okay. If you’re a doctor, do you heal people so that it will be revealed to your patients that you are a great medical genius? I hope not. I hope that’s not the reason that you’re engaged in healing people. If you’re a programmer down at IBM, do you create programs designed to point to people at point people to you as the designer, that you are the creator of this particular, uh, program? Do you have an expectation of exaltation because of what you’ve created? Moms of Calvary. Did you mom? Well this year so that they would lift you up today on shoulders and your children would parade you through the living room? Is that what you did it? And if so, actually, that’s pretty funny. I actually hope they do that. Kids take note.

[00:06:23] That is a fantastic idea. Mom will love that. See, see, we don’t do things to reveal to the world who we are. It’s not why we do things. And if we are motivated that way, it’s considered prideful. It’s considered a negative thing when we do it. But here’s Jesus debriefing with his disciples, and he turns the conversation not to the work that’s been accomplished, but to what the crowds think of him personally because of all that he’s done. In other words, his work is intentionally self revealing. Jesus Jesus has an agenda that says that people ought to be talking about him personally because of his ministry. They should be forming an opinion about him by watching what he does. That’s either prideful, arrogant, and manipulative, akin to a narcissist who hopes everything will curve back in on himself. Or it’s the intentional plan of a good and loving God. See if Jesus is just some wonder worker and charismatic teacher. This this question comes off sounding like a guy who’s looking to build a reputation for himself. He’s he’s nothing more than than a politician who’s looking for supporters or an influencer that’s looking for subscribers. But if his ministry is intended to show the crowds that Jesus is something far, more far greater than just some guy in the world. And if that revelation of of Jesus identity is is the most important aspect of his ministry for the good of the crowds who are receiving his ministry, then the answer to this question is more vital than all of the healings and and teachings and miracles.

[00:08:19] These crowds have now experienced Jesus. But do they know him? Do they know him? Do they? Do they understand who he truly is? Because if they’ve missed the revelation of Jesus, they have missed the purpose of the ministry of Jesus. Friends, this is the question to you this morning when when I’m having a conversation with someone that I. That I don’t know. Well, okay, I want to meet somebody. I don’t know them. Well, I want to get to know them. I’ll try to get a sense for where they are spiritually by, by by saying, you know, tell me about your spiritual life. That’s a sentence I’ve said many times. Tell me about your spiritual life. And often what I get back is a list of ministry experiences. So I’ve been to going to church my whole life. I was I was confirmed as a teenager. I serve in the children’s ministry. Whatever it is, it’s always a list of things that they do. And I find it interesting that when asked about our spiritual lives, we often begin by talking about practical experiences, not about Jesus and who he is and what he’s done for us. And that may be just because it’s easier to talk about the things that we do, than it is to talk about our passion for Christ.

[00:09:37] I get that, but I suspect that it also may be because many have missed the point. See, when when we read Scripture, it’s to reveal Jesus. When we when we engage in ministry, it’s to show other people who Jesus is. When when we sing, it’s to praise and declare our allegiance to Jesus. So if you if you’re visiting with us this morning, I’m really glad you’re here. But I don’t want you to miss this. I don’t want you to miss our purpose in gathering this morning. We are not here because we love religious services. We are here because we want to see and learn and follow Jesus more closely. Because of our love for him personally. Because of our attachment directly to Jesus. Jesus knew the purpose of his ministry was to reveal to the crowds who he is. And so he asks, who do the crowds say that I am? So let’s go to the answers that that they offer. The first one is John the Baptist. This one is the one that makes the least sense to me. I’ve never really understood this point. John and Jesus were cousins. They lived at the same time. They appeared together in the same place. John baptized Jesus. So they are clearly two people, right? Two separate people. John was was killed in prison by Herod, but that was at the same time that Jesus was doing ministry.

[00:11:10] In fact, we learned back in John chapter seven that one John was in prison. He interacted with Jesus through messengers outside before he died. So this one is always confused me. But I suppose in a in a time when information traveled much more slowly than it does for us today, there could have been some confusion in the in the timeline there. Or perhaps there were some who had heard about John but hadn’t yet seen him. And so when they saw Jesus, they thought that was John the Baptist. There may be some explanation for that. The second person they thought Jesus might be is the second coming of the Old Testament prophet Elijah. Now this one makes a lot more sense. According to the prophet Malachi, the Lord told Israel that he would send the prophet Elijah before the great and awesome day of the Lord. Uh, this is from the last paragraph of the last book of the Old Testament. So the book that was written last, the last prophet that arose in ancient Israel wrote this and that there would be this, this Elijah like prophet would spring up. And so this Elijah like prophet is the next thing in the spiritual calendar for a waiting Israelite. This is what they were looking for. They expected an Elijah like prophet from God who would kick off the final age of the world that would end in God’s judgment, the day of the Lord.

[00:12:37] And that’s that’s where we are now, by the way. We’re in that age now. They expected this prophet. And so the crowds think maybe Jesus miracles and sermons are an indication that Jesus is the Elijah, uh, that the Lord is going to send before he sends the Messiah, the one who would come to save God’s people. And so that’s actually a pretty close guess. They were one person off. Okay, really close guess. Jesus later tells the disciples that it was John the Baptist who was the Elijah like prophet. Now, if that is confusing to you, don’t feel bad about that at all. John the Baptist himself didn’t think he was the Elijah like prophet. They they were just a little confused about what was happening. Um, he didn’t know his own role in God’s plan. The last guess the crowds are making is that Jesus is one of the other Old Testament prophets that’s risen from the dead. When Matthew writes his account of this conversation, he includes Jeremiah in it. They say Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Um, now there’s no expectation that the other Old Testament prophets would come back to the people. But I would say that the crowds at this point are justifiably confused. I mean, after all, what do you make of Jesus? If you saw him, what do you make of a man like Jesus, who teaches with the authority of God himself, who raises people from the dead, who tells the wind what to do, who turns water into wine, who feeds thousands of people with a lunchable? What do you what do you do with that? That’s that’s amazing.

[00:14:22] He’s clearly very powerful. He’s clearly very important. And their Old Testament scriptures are telling them to look to the Lord, to send prophets who will usher in the salvation that they’ve been waiting for. So it makes all the sense in the world to think Jesus is one of those prophets. They see Jesus as a very important, very spiritual. Man a person. But that’s not enough. That’s not enough. And friends, it’s not enough for us to think that either. It’s simply not. I’m going to show you why in just a minute. But right now. Right now, in this room, and every Sunday here in this room, we have a variety of perspectives represented as to who Jesus is. And they range from those who believe that Jesus is God incarnate, that he’s the second member of the Triune God who became a man and entered into our world to save us all the way to the other end of that spectrum where you have people who doubt Jesus even existed. They believe him to be a legendary figure like a Paul Bunyan. By the way. That’s a that’s a tiny minority of of people who disregard swarms of, of evidence.

[00:15:39] But those folks are out there. And somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, you have a much more popular view. You have the very, very popular view in our day that Jesus was a good man and a good teacher. I I’m not the sort of guy who puts a lot of stock in statistics and polls, because you can usually make numbers, say whatever it is you you want them to say. But the Barna Group is probably the best organization for surveying Americans and discovering trends in Christianity. And sometimes that can that can be helpful for just getting a sense for what people are thinking in 2015. So about a decade ago, Barna published their findings on popular beliefs about Jesus. And I expect they’ll probably do this poll again, because they usually do these polls about once a decade, kind of on a rotating basis. But the findings are still very interesting, even though they’re a decade old. It’s very interesting. The vast majority of all Americans believe that Jesus was a real person. And as I mentioned, the historical evidence for that is overwhelming. So that makes sense. But here’s what I found very curious. Ten years ago, they said that 56% of Americans believe that Jesus is God. 26% believe that he’s just a spiritual leader, like like Buddha or Muhammad. And the rest, the 18% that remain simply aren’t sure. And with every subsequent generation.

[00:17:11] So every younger generation belief in the deity of Jesus decreases. I was curious about the 56%, the 56% of Americans who believe that Jesus is God do more than half of the people that, you know live as if Jesus is God incarnate, Lord and Savior of our lives? That number seemed high to me. And that number may be high because the poll shows also, the same poll shows that 52% of Americans, also just over half, think that Jesus sinned just like everybody else. So there is a percentage of people, a small percentage of people that believe that God himself came into the world and became a sinner, uh, which is that’s just bad theology and bad logic going on there. Um, but the reason I bring this up, the reason I want to I bring this, this sort of array, this, these statistics up is I simply want to show you that even in a country where we have had generous exposure to the gospel over hundreds of years, the crowd is still divided. The crowd is divided on who Jesus is. Rochester is still divided. This group here with us today. Still divided. Let me show you how important it is to get Jesus identity right. Then he said to them, but who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, The Christ of God. So this is the tipping point. Jesus wants to know what the men who have walked with him, who’ve watched him, who’ve listened to him very closely, what do they think of him? Has their has their understanding of Jesus identity progressed past? Good man, good prophet, rabbi or important religious figure? Do they see Jesus.

[00:19:07] Uh, something more than just what the crowd see. The way, the way this sentence is written in Greek, the word you is in the front. So they fronted the word you. And so it has the effect of. But you, you guys okay? That’s what the crowd say. What what do what do you say? It’s it’s as if Jesus knows it’s the right time. He knows now. Enough has been done. They’ve seen. They’ve heard enough. And these guys must know something more than these crowds. Again our question this morning. Who do you say Jesus is? And it’s a question, especially for those who have spent time with Jesus getting to know Jesus. So if you’re new to Calvary here and you’re new to even church, this is a great question. You will need to answer this question at some point, but you may not feel that you’re ready to answer it yet because you don’t have enough information on it. And that’s not a problem. What I would say to you is keep watching Jesus, keep learning about Jesus. But Jesus gave this question to the guys who had had plenty of opportunity to see him and to understand him plainly.

[00:20:16] And so I’m talking to you here in the room who have also had that opportunity. Who do you say Jesus is? I’m not asking what your parents think. I’m not asking how you were raised or where you go on Easter. This isn’t a question about secondary theological matters. It’s not the age of the earth or the order and timing of Jesus return. This isn’t this isn’t about where you volunteer in church. This isn’t about how often you attend services, or what your spiritual gifts are, or how often you read your Bible. Those are good questions. But this question. This is the most important personal question you will ever answer. The answer to this question will send you down one of two paths, and you can’t walk both paths. You can’t be in both places. It’s one or the other. Who do you say Jesus is? Peter speaks for the group of disciples. Jesus, you are the Christ of God. What does he mean by that? What does he mean? That phrase? He might be a bit confusing, but it clears up if you understand that Christ is not a name for Jesus. It’s a title that signifies a role just like doctor or president. Uh, Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word messiah, and in English it’s translated anointed one. It’s a title that was given to the kings of Israel in the Old Testament. See, the promise in the Old Testament is that God would raise up a king from the bloodline of King David, who would reign over God’s people forever.

[00:21:58] That’s what what Israel in the first century was waiting for. They are waiting for the forever king from David’s line who would come? And they knew that the Elijah like prophet would come and pave the way, so that then this king would arrive and the crowds think Jesus is paving the way for the Christ. Peter more accurately says, you are the Christ we’ve been waiting for. You’re the one. You’re not preparing the way for anybody. You’re the one who’s had the way prepared before him. You’re the savior who’s come to rescue us. Now, this is not yet a full understanding of Jesus identity, okay? Peter. Peter isn’t saying here that Jesus is God. He’s not claiming the deed. He doesn’t fully understand who Jesus is at this point. And his understanding of Jesus kingship even is, is inadequate. It’s probably mostly earthly. He thinks that Jesus has come to kick out the Romans. That’s why, by the way, the right before he goes to the cross, where when they’re in the garden and Jesus is about to be arrested, Peter grabs a sword and hits one of the guys, cuts his ear off. Do you remember that story? That’s because Peter thinks now’s the time. Now’s the time we take back the land. He doesn’t yet understand that Jesus kingdom is a spiritual kingdom that’s worldwide.

[00:23:23] It’s far bigger than national Israel. But. But what? What is he saying here? What he is saying here is Jesus. God sent you to be my king. You’re my king. You’re not paving the way for anyone else. My salvation is in you alone. My allegiance is to you alone. All those things that were said about Jesus at his birth. You remember that from Luke chapters one and two, all those things that were said in that birth narrative, that he’s the horn of salvation, that he would save God’s people from their enemies, that that of his kingdom there will be no end. You remember that from Christmas. You hear that every Christmas right of his kingdom there will be no end. All of those things. The Lord is beginning to reveal all of that to those who are closest to Jesus. I ask you again, who do you say Jesus is? If he’s just a good man. And a wise teacher with some nice things to say, he can be safely ignored. Lots of people say nice things. There’s lots of people in the world that say nice things. There are 7 billion people on this planet. How many? How many nice people will you hear from in your lifetime? Maybe a thousand. So it is safe to say that you and I will not hear from billions of people. Does that keep you up at night? That you won’t hear from billions of nice, wise people? Doesn’t keep me up at night.

[00:24:55] I won’t lose any sleep over it. Because. Because they’re just people with ideas. They’re just people with opinions. And. But if it’s true that the Creator God has sent his King into the world to bring salvation from sin and entrance into the kingdom of God, then he cannot be ignored, at least not safely. Listen to what Jesus tells Peter and the others to do with his new revelation, and he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, 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 on the third day be raised. It’s a little counterintuitive, because you’d think that Jesus would want this word to get out as far and as quickly as possible, right? I mean, we’ve seen that with the garrison guy who was healed, and then he spread Jesus fame throughout the region. Jesus sent his disciples out on a mission trip. Just just a few chapters, just a few verses ago. Right. So he clearly wants the word to get out. But here he tells them very forcefully that he not to tell any of the people that they’ve what they’ve discovered about his identity. This is a theme that you will find throughout the Gospels.

[00:26:13] As you read the Gospels, you’ll find it. And theologians call this the messianic secret. Uh, it’s not so strange when you realize that Jesus identity as the Savior and King of all of God’s people isn’t going to be fully understood until after Jesus death and resurrection are complete. That’s when we’ll fully understand what what it means for Jesus to be King and Savior. And that’s why he starts teaching about that right here. These guys have discovered this, and so he wants them to have a bit of the fuller picture to fully understand Jesus identity as the Son of God, who’s come to save into, to reign, is slowly being revealed to people leading up to the cross. And if the people find out if the crowds find out these things sooner than that, they’re going to try to crown him, and they’re going to jump right to a campaign to get victory over the Romans. And what they need to see is that the king destroys his enemies. He does, and he assumes his throne, but not through military conquest. He does it through his death and resurrection. They didn’t have the full story. But friends, we have the full story. We have more of the story. We have we have all the information. We have the eyewitness accounts of Jesus death and resurrection and ascension. We can we can hear from those who saw Jesus victory over over his enemies, sin and and death.

[00:27:46] So when we’re faced with the question of Jesus identity, we’re working with all the information that’s available. Jesus is King. But is he your king? Jesus is the Savior sent by God. But is he your Savior? For you. When you look at Jesus, who do you say that he is? Now, I gave you some less than exciting stats earlier about how people see Jesus. Isn’t that just like a preacher, right? All doom and gloom when it talks about the world and looking at the stats and the trends and all of that, and that pastors are notorious for this sort of thing, aren’t we? So let me give you a stat. It’s a lot more encouraging. Okay. This is from the same Barna Group. But these these stats I’m going to give you are from last year. Uh, this is a newer study. Barna says right now, 77% of us teenagers are interested in continuing to learn about Jesus throughout their lives. Right now, 77% of all teenagers. That’s not just Christian teenagers or church attending teenagers. That’s all teenagers. All of them from from those who are committed to Christ, to those who know nothing about Jesus, more than three quarters of them see the importance of learning about Jesus for the rest of their lives. What that tells me, church, is that there is a spiritual hunger in the emerging generation. There’s a lot of hunger there.

[00:29:20] There are plenty of reasons for it. I don’t know all of the reasons, but. But if I had to guess, I’d say that the New Atheism project of 20 years ago has completely failed. The evangelical movement offers no answers to life’s biggest questions, and an increasingly fractured and hostile culture has young people looking for truth that’ll fix the world. There’s a desire among the young people, the teenagers 13 to 19. They call them Gen Z, right? That group wants to know Jesus. And I am very encouraged to know that the church of the future rests in the hands of a generation that is eager to know Jesus as he is revealed to us in God’s Word. I’m not saying they’re all pursuing a lifetime of following after Jesus, but there’s a spiritual question that they believe that Jesus has some answers to. And that’s exciting. Students, you have a huge responsibility. You have a huge responsibility when you’re at youth group this Wednesday, I want you to look around at the hundreds of your peers, and I want you to see that you are the church of the future. You know that you’re the future church. You’re the ones that are going to be leading it. And right now you are in a spiritually hungry generation that is yearning for truth. The vast majority of all your friends want to know who Jesus is. Some won’t. Some will push him away.

[00:30:46] There’s always going to be some who do that. But the majority do want to know more about Jesus. So what you need to do is you need to search and study God’s Word deeply so that you can answer the question for your own soul. Who do I say Jesus is? Who do I say Jesus is? And then you need to be prepared to help your searching generation find the truth that they are longing for so they can answer the question, who do you say Jesus is? I want to close this morning with some guidance for your journey, okay? Some guidance for that journey in discovering who Jesus is. As I mentioned earlier, you will encounter many people in your life, like the crowds in Jesus day who will have a very high view of Jesus. They’ll call him a good man. He’ll call him a good teacher. They’ll say he’s important for one, one reason or another. They’ll see him as as important. But they won’t call him king and they won’t follow him, love him or trust in him. The great British author C.S. Lewis wrote a book called Mere Christianity, and in that book he offers one of the most famous arguments for why it’s silly to call Jesus a good teacher, but not God, King and Savior. This is popularly known as the Lord liar, lunatic argument. And if you’ve spent any time in church at all, you have heard this before.

[00:32:22] It is a very famous argument, but it certainly bears repeating, wouldn’t you say? It’s one of those little gems of sound reasoning that I discovered early on in my walk with Christ and have meditated on for 24 years as a Christian. I’m going to quote Lewis at length here, mainly because it’s so good and I don’t want to mess it up. So let me let me read this passage to you. This is from Mere Christianity. I’m trying here to prevent anyone from 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 sorts of things that 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 patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. Let’s pray.