Who Do You Say I Am?

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 10th of March, 2024 - the fourth Sunday in Lent.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, today is the fourth Sunday in our season of Lent, our time to look deep within ourselves to see if we are living as God would have us live.  Lent is our way to observe the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting and praying, all while being tempted by the devil.  Traditional fasting involved not eating anything from sunup to sunset, but still allowed for a hearty breakfast and dinner before sunup and after sunset.

We may not fast in our day and age, but we can pray.  And when we pray in the name of Jesus, God listens.  And just as prayer helped Jesus resist the devil’s temptations, prayer will help us survive Satan’s constant attacks.

We’re in the fourth week of our journey through Lent and getting closer and closer to the cross.  For quite some time, Jesus has been hinting at what is to come, but now He is beginning to tell His disciples in plain language what will happen when they reach Jerusalem and the end of His earthly ministry.  They’ve had trouble grasping the idea that their Messiah might actually suffer and die.  This ran counter to what they had been told all their lives to expect.  The Messiah was supposed to conquer Rome and free them from tyranny, not die at Roman hands.  And even though they’d walked along side Him for nearly three years, they still couldn’t accept that He was mortal flesh, just like them.  Then the day comes when He wonders if anything He’s tried to explain has sunk in or not.

Please listen and follow along to a short conversation between Jesus and His disciples as recorded by the Apostle Matthew in the 16th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 13 through 21, and I’ll be reading from the Easy-To-Read version of our Holy Bible this morning…

13 Jesus went to the area of Caesarea Philippi. He said to His followers, “Who do people say I am?”

14 They answered, “Some people say You are John the Baptizer. Others say You are Elijah. And some say You are Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 Then Jesus said to His followers, “And who do you say I am?”

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

17 Jesus answered, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah. No one taught you that. My Father in heaven showed you who I am. 18 So I tell you, you are Peter. And I will build My church on this rock. The power of death will not be able to defeat My church. 19 I will give you the keys to God’s kingdom. When you speak judgment here on earth, that judgment will be God’s judgment. When you promise forgiveness here on earth, that forgiveness will be God’s forgiveness.”

20 Then Jesus warned His followers not to tell anyone He was the Messiah.

21 From that time Jesus began telling His followers that He must go to Jerusalem. He explained that the older Jewish leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of the law would make Him suffer many things. And He told His followers that He must be killed. Then, on the third day, He would be raised from death.

--Matthew 16:13-21 (ERV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for our Testaments to Your word, both Old and New, for they give us greater insight into Jesus.  We know He is Your Son, Your Christ, Your Messiah, our Lord, our Redeemer, our Savior.  He has so many names, Father, so many titles, because one simply cannot cover all that He is to us.  Father, please help us keep our focus on the name of Jesus, for it is a powerful name.  Please help us bear that name across our foreheads and in our hearts.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to share it with others.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today.  Help us to understand that no matter what we may call Him, Jesus is Your Messiah, sent to offer us salvation, who will come again to judge us all.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Evangelist Billy Sunday, in his sermon titled, “Wonderful”, expressed this thought:  “There are two hundred and fifty-six names given in the Bible for the Lord Jesus Christ, and I suppose this was because He was infinitely beyond all that any one name could express.”

It’s long been said that the Arctic-dwelling Inuits have over 50 words for “snow”, and that has been shown to be true.  But many of the peoples and tribes who live in those far northern regions use hundred’s of different words to describe their local environment and its primary form of precipitation.

Languages evolve to focus on the most important aspects of our lives.  What could be more important to the world than Jesus?  He took away our sin and offered us salvation, and He is coming again to judge us all.  Some people don’t believe that, and it’s their loss, because He is coming and will judge them anyway, whether they believe it now or not.

So to me the most important word to describe Jesus is “Lord”, for as His followers we should obey His commands, since He holds our future in His hands.  But “Savior” may be equally important, because He does offer salvation to all who will believe and follow.  “Redeemer” is another good one, because He redeemed us by atoning for our sin with His own blood.  And He is definitely the “Christ”, the “Messiah” sent by God.

I think we can begin to see why the authors of the various books of our Bible needed 256 names to better describe Jesus and His importance to us and His relationship with us.  Of course, the name I like best is “Friend”.

“Who do you say I am?”

It seems like a simple question.  If I were to ask it, the answer would probably be “Richard Moore”, or “Rev. Moore”, or “preacher man”, or even “Dad”, depending on who I ask.  But this was Jesus who asked that question, and He asked it of His most faithful followers, those He personally chose, His closest friends.

“Who do you say I am?”

Jesus seemed only mildly interested in what the people in general might think.  He wanted to know what His disciples thought, if they had managed to grasp what He’d been trying to tell them and show them.  And Simon Peter got it right.  “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Long before Jesus was even born as flesh, the great prophet Isaiah gave us many names Jesus will be called by, many titles He will carry.  Please listen to what Isaiah wrote in the 9th chapter and 6th verse of his book of prophesy…

6 For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

--Isaiah 9:6 (NKJV)

“Wonderful” was the title of Billy Sunday’s sermon I mentioned earlier.  The name of Jesus is indeed wonderful.  And powerful, I might add.  Just invoking that name – Jesus – can bring about mighty results.  God listens for that name to be spoken, and responds.

We’ve only scratched the surface of the 256 names Billy Sunday told us about.  One of my personal favorite descriptions of Jesus, and another of the many names, comes from the opening verses of the Apostle John’s Gospel account, when he proclaims…

1 Before the world began, the Word was there. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was there with God in the beginning. 3 Everything was made through Him, and nothing was made without Him. 4 In Him there was life, and that life was a light for the people of the world. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not defeated it.

6 There was a man named John, who was sent by God. 7 He came to tell people about the Light. Through him all people could hear about the Light and believe. 8 John was not the Light. But he came to tell people about the Light. 9 The true Light was coming into the world. This is the true Light that gives light to all people.

--John 1:1-9 (ERV)

The Word, the Word of God, who was with God forever and who was made flesh to bring light into our world darkened by sin.  The Light, the true Light, given to all people that we might find our way out of the darkness and be reconciled with God.  Jesus is the Word of God and the Light from God.  Without Him we could not truly know God, and we would be stumbling around in darkness, doomed by our sin.  But the Word came to tell us the truth.  And the Light came to redeem us of our sin.

Family, we are blessed to belong to Jesus.  We are blessed to be counted among His followers.  But there will come tribulations for our acknowledging Jesus as our Lord.  Jesus cautioned us that we would still encounter trials and tribulations in this life – maybe even more so because the world hates the Truth, the Word, and the Light.

He also warned us that the non-believing world will not take kindly to our faith and belief.  Hear the words our Lord spoke as recorded by the Apostle Luke in verses 22 and 23 of the 6th chapter of his Gospel account…

22 "People will hate you because you belong to the Son of Man. They will make you leave their group. They will insult you. They will think it is wrong even to say your name. When these things happen, know that great blessings belong to you. 23 You can be happy then and jump for joy, because you have a great reward in heaven. The ancestors of those people did the same things to the prophets."

--Luke 6:22-23 (ERV)

You may remember this as part of the Beatitudes.  It comes from what Luke called Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain, which may or may not be the same as what Matthew called the Sermon on the Mount.

We are blessed when the people of this world hate us and revile us and say all kinds of nasty things about us simply because we believe in Jesus as the Son of God and our Lord.  After all, Jesus experienced this kind of treatment when He walked this earth.  Should we expect better if we are walking alongside Him, carrying His name as our own?

And that leads to the question Jesus asked His chosen twelve.  Who do we say Jesus is?  More to the point, who is He to us?  It is very appropriate to ask ourselves this during the Lenten season as we examine our hearts and motives.  Who is Jesus to us?

He is our Redeemer, our Intercessor, our Brother who reconciles us with our Father God.  He should be our Lord, our Master, our best Friend.  He brings the message of salvation to a weary world.  Let’s help our Friend share His message.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who came in the flesh to redeem us, and who is coming again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for giving us Your word in our Bible.  This allows us to learn more about You and Your Son, our Lord Jesus.  Here we can read the many descriptive names that mankind has tried to apply to Jesus, names that speak of His marvelous works, His loving kindness, His past and future missions on this earth.  Please help us take all of this to heart as we look within ourselves to see who Jesus is to us.  Sometimes, Father, we just think of Jesus in terms of the past, thanking Him for His sacrifice, but not considering all He does for us right now, and will do in the future.  Sometimes we don’t dig deep enough in Your word to see all that Jesus truly is.  Forgive us these times, please Father.  Help us build a better, closer relationship with Your Son.  And please help us do a better job of sharing Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You are infinite.  Your power, Your strength, and Your love are all unending.  It’s no wonder that mankind is unable to come up with just a few names to describe all You do.  Please help us be more like You, Jesus.  Help us grow in our faith and in our walk with You.  Please help us see through Your eyes so that we will be more righteous in our words and acts, and more pleasing in God’s eyes.  And Lord, please help us reach out to the non-believing world with the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.

Lord Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations and all the false teachings.  Help us fend off his attacks.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.