Recognizing Jesus for Who He Really Is
Matthew 16:13-20
January 28, 2007
Have you ever been in a situation where you got to know someone and realized that they were nothing like you were led to believe?
Someone had warned you that this person was someone who couldn’t be trusted, or was a boozer, or a chronic liar or complainer, or worse yet, someone who still wore those polyester leisure suits from the 70’s.
And it turns out that this person is nothing like that at all!
It makes you wonder just where in the world the other person got their information.
Have you ever been guilty of having a false impression about somebody? I have – and it’s embarrassing to find out that I’ve got my information wrong.
Maybe you’ve been the victim of someone else’s wrong impressions. And you’ve hurt because someone has given someone else the idea that you’re someone you’re not.
Boy, that’s no fun, I can tell you…
Having the wrong impression about someone can have some pretty harmful effects. It can ruin a relationship before it even gets started and it can harm existing relationships beyond repair.
Well, even Jesus had to deal with wrong impressions about Himself.
Some thought He was one thing, some another, and it seemed like few if any were getting an accurate picture of Jesus and what His mission was all about.
It was important to Jesus that His followers got it right. After all, He was gonna be trusting these guys to carry on His mission when He was gone, and if they didn’t have it right, then there would be no hope of salvation spreading around the world.
And you and I would have no hope of hearing about how to have our sins forgiven and find a home in heaven.
You see, having the wrong impressions about people is bad enough. But having the wrong impressions about Jesus can have not just harmful effects for your life here on earth, it can affect your eternal destiny.
This is why today’s Scripture passage is so important.
Matthew 16:13-20 (p. 694) –
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 20 Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
Last week we looked at how the Pharisees and Sadducees had been infecting the nation of Israel with false notions of the Messiah, making it hard for people to recognize that Jesus was the Messiah.
Jesus is saying here that we need to have the correct idea of who Jesus really is – the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
We’re going to explore that a bit more next week, but I want to focus on the issue of having a correct idea of who Jesus is, because as I said a few moments ago, having the wrong idea of Jesus can have eternal consequences.
In this passage, Jesus asks two questions that tie in with that:
The first question seeks what the world thinks of Jesus. In verse 13 He asks, “Who do the people say the Son of Man is?”
And the apostles give Him some of what they’ve been hearing in the streets. But as we find out from Jesus, those ideas are flat-out wrong.
The world has had wrong ideas about Jesus from the beginning – and there are plenty of wrong ideas floating around about Jesus today.
I think that the most popular idea about Jesus today is that He’s a non-judgmental teacher who would never send anyone to hell for not believing in Him.
One of the reasons that I think this idea is most popular is because they see so many Christians who are judgmental screamers who are looking for reasons to send people to hell.
And they see that and think, “Surely Jesus could never really be like that!”
And while it’s true that Jesus said not to judge in an unrighteous manner, and it’s true that He was a teacher, and it’s true He came to save people from hell, the fact of the matter is that this idea of Jesus is not completely accurate.
The Bible is very clear, and we have Jesus’ words that He believed in a morality that was spelled out in the Law, and that refusing to believe in Him meant eternity in hell.
Yet the world refuses to listen and respond to the words of Jesus, whom they claim to know and love.
So what’s the point? The point is that the world’s definitions of who Christ is are incomplete and therefore inaccurate, just like they were when Jesus asked the question.
And when we let the world define Jesus for us, we end up adopting those incomplete and inaccurate ideas, and folks, that’s just plain dangerous.
So I want to repeat what I told you last week, and I hope that you’ll take this to the core of your being, because it affects how you view Jesus and therefore how you respond to Him.
And your response to Him affects your eternal destiny, so please don’t ignore this:
To get the truth about Jesus, go to the Word, not the world.
The Bible is where we get the accurate information about Jesus.
The world neither loves nor cares for Jesus – so why should we rely on the world to define Jesus for us?
I’ll say it again – it’s plain dangerous to do that.
And as I said last week, it’s not just in the workaday world out there that there is error about Jesus floating around.
There are churches in this very town who will deny what the Bible says about Jesus, saying that the Bible is inaccurate or that Jesus couldn’t really have said what the eyewitnesses say He said.
Just because someone stands on a platform or behind a pulpit or claims to speak for God, that doesn’t mean that he really does.
These churches and their pastors have made the fatal mistake of going to the world instead of the Word for their information about Jesus.
And because of that, many people are following a false Jesus, and they’re living in a false security that will ultimately end in missing heaven.
Thank God for the churches in this area who are committed to the Bible as their source. Thank God for the pastors who teach the Scriptures as the Word of God rather than the words of men.
And thank God for the people of God who go to the Word instead of the world for the truth about Jesus.
The first question Jesus asked was about what the disciples had been hearing, but the second question moves from the hypothetical and general opinions of Jesus that were floating around, and gets real personal.
Jesus asks, in verse 15, Jesus asks, “What about you – who do you say I am?”
He’s saying, “Okay, I know what the religious leaders say I am, and I know what the people are saying I am, but what about you guys – the men that I’ve spent the last 2 or 3 years around, the ones who know me better than anyone else on earth – who do YOU say I am?”
And Peter says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
We’ll see later in this chapter that even when he said it, Peter didn’t quite get it. But He wasn’t speaking on his own – He was speaking what the Father had given to Him.
I wonder if maybe after he said it he thought, “Did I just say something? What was that?”
If I were to ask you to describe Jesus in a few words or a short sentence, how would you describe Him?
For some He’s the Savior. For others He’s the Servant. For others He’s the King or Boss. For others He’s the Perfect Example. For yet others He’s the Righteous Judge. Or the Messiah.
And these are all cool – they’re Biblical to the core. And He’s even more than these things. The only danger is when we pick only one of these or a few and ignore the rest of Scripture about Jesus. Or when we let worldly ideas color who Scripture says Jesus is.
Look back at verses 16-17, because there’s something important to point out in regard to all this –
16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
This is key because not only does Jesus tell Peter that his information about Him is correct, but He also tells Peter that the source of his information is what made the difference.
He got his information straight from the Father, not from other people’s ideas about Jesus.
You know, the Father doesn’t seem to speak to very many people like He spoke to Peter, but we have the benefit of having the wisdom of the Father and the words of Jesus right in our hands.
All we have to do is open it up and read it, asking the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds like the Father opened up Peter’s.
When we do that, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth – and we can avoid the errors that the world has regarding Jesus.
Folks, who do YOU say Jesus is? Where do you get your information about Him?
Think about your ideas of who Jesus is. Can you find them in Scripture? If not, where do you get them? If they don’t line up with Scripture, then you need to shed them and grab the words of Scripture.
Remember, to get the truth about Jesus, go to the Word, not the world.
It’s crucial to understand that we accept Jesus’ identity and mission on God’s terms, not anyone else’s, including our own.
We simply cannot let the world shape our view of Jesus. The world has no desire to know the Jesus of Scripture, and Satan is doing all he can to fuel both apathy and error about him.
To get the truth about Jesus, go to the Word, not the world.
I’ve got something I want you to listen to. It’s about 6 ½ minutes long and it’s entitled, “My King Is…” by Rev. S.M. Lockridge.
Some of you have heard this before, and for those who have never heard it, you’re in for a treat.
The context, if I remember correctly, is that Dr. Lockridge was asked to give a quick greeting and he launched into this awesome description of Jesus that is completely based on Scripture.
Sit back and enjoy for the next few minutes.
Is that YOUR king? Because that’s the Jesus of Scripture.
Folks, one of the hallmarks of true Christianity is that we profess to follow Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible.
And it’s my heart’s desire that the people involved in this church would be seen as people who get their ideas about Jesus not from the media, not from Hollywood, not from the radio station, not from their friends, but rather from Jesus Himself – from the Word of God.
Don’t buy into the “Jesus of the Month Club” that society seems to embrace. Whatever the popular image of Jesus is now will change over time, and something else will take its place.
But the Bible’s ideas of Jesus never change. They’re timeless. And it’s the Jesus of the Bible who will carry us through – as individuals and as a church that’s committed to living and spreading Biblical Christianity in Aberdeen and Brown County.
So won’t you join me in refusing to allow the world to make Jesus in its image?
Won’t you join me in refusing to let society determine what we should believe about Jesus and what we should throw away?
And won’t you join me in asking the Holy Spirit to give us the true picture of Jesus that the Bible has for us, so we can truly love Him and live for Him as we should, and so we can accurately reflect Him to a world that needs Him so desperately?
Join me in determining to let God’s Word have the final say about Jesus.
Because folks, if we don’t, we’ll never recognize Jesus for who He really is – and that can be a fatal error, both now and for eternity.
And the great news is that the Jesus of the Bible is so much better than the Jesus of the world’s making.
But you’ll never know that if you don’t go to the source and find out for yourself.
Let’s pray.
