What is “the Christ?”
Matthew 16:13-20
February 4, 2007
We’re constantly bombarded with all sorts of ideas of who Jesus is.
Some of them are on the mark, others aren’t.
Listen to this quote:
“I dig Jesus and so do many other witches. Its not his fault that Christianity is so confused today and as a person he was a very special guy, wise and generous, selfless and loving. I think he’d be horrified to see what his teachings have come to today. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if he was around today with his values of tolerance, acceptance, respect for nature and fellow people, he’d be a witch.” Fiona Horne, singer and practicing “white witch” from Australia (SermonCentral.com. Contributed by: Andrew Hamilton
There are plenty of people who “dig” Jesus. They just don’t want to listen to what He says and follow Him the way He said to.
And by the way, I thought people quit “digging” things back in the 70’s…
One of the ways to find out what people really think about Jesus is to see how He’s portrayed on TV.
More often then not, especially on some of more current cartoon shows on prime time, Jesus is shown as someone who’s not anything like he’s portrayed by Christians around the world and by the Bible.
He’s shown as someone who’s fed up with being used by religious “nuts” and “fanatics” as a tool to promote a religious agenda.
Of course, those fanatics and nuts are only those who actually believe that the Bible is true and that Jesus actually is who He says He is…
But we see this stuff, we come across it on the internet, on TV talk shows, and even on “Christian” TV, and we ask ourselves, “who’s right?”
How do we sort out the good information from the bad? How do we know when we’re hearing truth or being sold a bill of goods when it comes to Jesus?
And what happens if we get it wrong?
Those are questions that people have to wrestle with, and the outcome of that wrestling is all-important because if we have wrong ideas about Jesus, it can have devastating results.
You’re going to hear me say something to that effect a few times during the message. And it’s because it’s absolutely foundational to everything we believe about the Bible and Jesus.
And so I hope that our time today will give you some ammunition when it comes to confronting error about Jesus – the Messiah – or the Christ, as He’s called in Scripture.
And I also hope that if anyone here is unclear about Jesus and His mission, that some or all of that will be cleared up today through the words of Jesus Himself.
We’re on our second week at looking at a passage of Scripture in Matthew that has just a ton of stuff in it.
We’re going to unpack it a little bit more today, and do some more next week. It’s a great passage and there is so much for us to learn from it that we can’t get it all in in just one week.
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.
Jesus is asking a very pertinent and important question here: Guys, who do you think I am?
Peter gives his answer – “You’re the Messiah – the Christ – the Son of the Living God.
And Jesus says, “Bingo, Pete. You got it. And it’s that testimony that you need to take to the world.”
Next week we’re going to look at what Jesus says are the implications of knowing who Jesus is as it pertains to the growth of the kingdom around the world and the enemy’s response to it.
But today I want to focus on just what it means that Jesus is “the Christ.
When I was working on the title I wasn’t sure just how to phrase it. I wasn’t sure if it should be, “Who is the Christ,” or “What is the Christ.”
I chose the second one, because the first question is answered by Peter and affirmed by Jesus Himself, that He is the Christ.
The second question, which is the title of the message gives me the opportunity to explore what the term “Christ” actually means and why it’s so important.
So I’m operating under the idea that whatever “Christ” means, Jesus is it, okay?
And I just want to warn you that this may not be the kind of message that keeps you up at night going, “Wow! I didn’t realize that before!”
It might keep you up going, “Wow! He actually gets paid to do this…”
So if you find yourself drifting, just focus on the fact that it’ll all be over soon and you can get to work getting your food ready for the game, okay?
If nothing else, that’ll make it look to me that you’re interested.
But really, this is important stuff, so don’t zone out on me totally. You really need to know this.
I want to start by reminding you that “Christ” isn’t Jesus’ last name. It was His title.
In fact, “Jesus” wasn’t even His first name, in terms of the language of the Jews of the time.
His name in Hebrew is “Y’shua,” which is actually “Joshua.” The name means, “The Lord Saves.” “Jesus” is the Greek form of Joshua. Since the New Testament was written in Greek, it was only natural that the Greek name would be the one used in the New Testamant.
I just mentioned that “Christ” was Jesus’ title. The term “Christ” is the Greek word for the Hebrew terms, “Anointed One” or “Messiah.”
Another meaning of “anointed one” or “messiah” is “the Chosen One,” in other words, the one chosen to deliver Israel.
The picture that the Jews of Jesus day had of the Messiah was that He would come and set them free from the power of their enemies so they would no longer be oppressed by foreign powers.
Remember, they had had a long history of slavery and oppression: in Egypt as slaves, then during the time of the judges, when God allowed foreign nations to have their way in Israel when they shoved God aside to worship the gods and idols of those nations around them.
They got more oppression when God finally gave them over to exile in Assyria and Babylon because they refused to worship God.
Even after they had returned from exile, there were times in history when they were under the rule of other nations.
And during Jesus’ time, they were under the heavy hand of Rome, ruled by the powerful Caesars – powerful and brutal in their reigns.
Folks, Israel was sick and tired of being under the thumb of other nations. So they were looking for a Deliverer who would finally break them free.
But what they didn’t understand was that from the very beginning, the mission of the Messiah – the Christ wasn’t a military or political mission. The goal wasn’t to rid Israel of the Caesars and other kings and armies.
The goal of the Christ was to bring God’s kingdom to earth – a spiritual kingdom made up of people who were free from the tyranny of sin and the penalty of it.
I said that it was the mission of the Christ from the very beginning. What do I mean by that?
Well, remember back in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve blew it by eating the fruit?
And remember who convinced them that it was okay? The devil, disguised as a serpent.
So after God had a few words for Adam, he addressed the serpent. In Genesis 3:15 we read the words of God –
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
When Jesus died, it was the enemy striking His heel, but the time is coming when Jesus will deal the fatal blow to Satan. We read about it in the book of the Revelation.
Anyway, my point is that the Messiah – the Christ was to be the Deliverer. But it was to be the Deliverer of our souls, not of the nation of Israel in a military or political sense.
Now folks, you need to understand what I’m about to say, because this is why it relates to us here 2000 years later: Israel had a false idea of the Messiah. And Jesus refused to live up to a false idea of who He really was and is.
But you know what? People today have lots of false ideas of who Jesus is and what His purpose was. I’ve already mentioned one of them.
You don’t have to go very far to find out what many of these ideas are. Just watch TV for a week or go the internet and look at some of the discussion pages and blogs that discuss who they think Jesus is.
And just like the Jews of Jesus’ day, they’re missing the boat about Him. And if they end their life on earth with those false impressions, they’ll find that the security they lived in on earth was a false security in a false Jesus. And they’ll pay for their own sins instead of having Jesus pay for them.
The messiah came to save people from the condemnation that our sins bring to us.
He didn’t come to bring peace on earth and harmony. He didn’t come to simply give us an example of a nice guy and good teacher.
He didn’t come to be the poster child for political parties and special interest groups.
Here’s the point of everything I’m trying to say today– and you need to catch this:
Jesus doesn’t bend to our ideas about Him – we bend to His ideas about Him.
Let me repeat that:
Jesus doesn’t bend to our ideas about Him – we bend to His ideas about Him.
Do you understand why that’s so important?
It’s important because God makes the rules. We come to Him on His terms. He doesn’t come to us on our terms.
And if we refuse to come to God on His terms – in this case, accepting Jesus for who He really is, then that refusal will have eternal consequences.
I’ve said the last couple weeks that this is
extremely important because what you believe about Jesus affects how you respond to Him. And how you respond to Him affects your place in eternity.
Don’t miss this one. It’s too important.
If you blow it on this one, then you’ll end up paying for your sins yourself instead of enjoying the provision that Jesus made on the cross to pay for your sins for you.
So let me give you two things to keep in mind as we look at applying this passage of Scripture.
First, make sure your idea of the Messiah matches Jesus’ idea of the Messiah. Because remember…
Jesus doesn’t bend to our ideas about Him – we bend to His ideas about Him.
If your idea doesn’t match Jesus’ idea, then you’re setting yourself up to be duped. And that includes being duped by any number of people around who claim to be the Messiah or the return of Jesus.
Did you hear about this guy in Florida who believes he’s both the second coming of Jesus and the anti-christ – at the same time?
Here’s an excerpt from the latest issue of Newsweek magazine:
A native of Puerto Rico, (Jose Luis) de Jesus (Miranda), 60, spent his youth drifting from the Roman Catholics to the Pentecostals to the Baptists. Then one night in 1973, he says, he awoke to a vision of two hulking men at his bedside who announced the arrival of the Lord, who, says de Jesus, “came to me and integrated with me.” In the early years after founding Growing in Grace in Miami in 1986, de Jesus didn’t claim to be Christ. Instead, he worked as a pastor spreading his doctrine: that under a new covenant with God, there is no sin and no Satan, and people are predestined to be saved. But as his following expanded, his claims did, too. In 1998, de Jesus avowed that he was the reincarnation of the Apostle Paul. Two years ago at Growing in Grace’s world convention in Venezuela, he declared himself Christ. And just last week, he called himself the Antichrist and revealed a “666? tattooed on his forearm. His explanation: that, as the second coming of Christ, he rejects the continued worship of Jesus of Nazareth.
Hey! Choose one or the other, but all three? Come on!
And here’s the wacky thing: people believe him!
As the head of the Growing in Grace International Ministry, he presides over a sprawling organization that includes more than 300 congregations in two dozen countries, from Argentina to Australia. He counts more than 100,000 followers and claims to reach millions more through a 24-hour TV channel, a radio show and several Web sites. He is supported by the generosity of his devotees, who have launched some 450 businesses to pour cash into Growing in Grace’s coffers.
(Source: Newsweek, USA; Feb. 5, 2007 issue; Arian Campo-Flores. www.msnbc.msn.com)
Jesus knew these guys would be around, and He talked about them.
Matthew 24:24-25 –
24 “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 "So if anyone tells you, ’There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ’Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.”
People are led astray by these types of people because they get their idea of the Messiah from somewhere other than the words of Jesus Himself.
If you compare the words of Scripture to what you see in these other people, it becomes pretty clear who the real Messiah is – and it’s not any of these nut-jobs out there, that’s for sure!
This guy in Florida is the living embodiment of Jesus’ words about false christs. And these people are eating it up, hook, line, and sinker. How sad when they face God and realize that the Messiah they had put their faith in was a false Messiah. They had access to the Scriptures just like you and I do – but they choose to listen to a man’s idea of the Messiah instead of Jesus’ idea.
So make sure your idea of the Messiah matches Jesus’ idea of the Messiah.
The second thing I want you to take from here is to make sure that the one you claim to believe in is the Jesus of the Bible, not the Jesus of the world.
I’ve already mentioned some of the false ideas about Jesus. My hope is that your hope isn’t in any of them.
So let me give you a couple quotes from Jesus Himself to help you decide:
John 3:16-18 –
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
John 14:6 –
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus says that it’s faith in HIM that gets our sins forgiven and gets us a home in heaven. Not faith in the Jesus of the popular media. Not faith in the Jesus of a society that loves the “love” message of Jesus but denies His calls to believe in Him alone and serve Him alone.
You have to ask yourself some tough questions: Is your faith in the Messiah of Scripture? The Jesus of the Bible? The Messiah that Jesus Himself describes?
Or is it in the Messiah of popular opinion? Is your faith in the Messiah that the world says you should believe in or the one Jesus says you should believe in?
You may have noticed something about the name of our church. It’s Aberdeen Wesleyan Church. It’s not Aberdeen Biblically Ignorant and Stupid Church.
The “Wesleyan” part of our name says a lot about who we are and what we believe.
But the key of what it says we believe is that we believe the Bible to be the Word of God. Accurate and relevant for life here and now.
And so we claim to believe the Bible. And we therefore claim to believe in the Jesus of the Bible.
We call ourselves “Wesleyan,” but my guess is that John Wesley would cringe at that. Because John Wesley believed in Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible.
I hope that all of you who identify with this church as your church home have your ideas of Jesus firmly grounded in the Bible.
I hope that all of you who identify with this church will refuse to be swayed by the world’s definitions of Jesus – of what the Christ is, and that you will steadfastly measure their opinions and ideas against the words of Jesus in the Scriptures.
Then we will never be the church of the Biblically ignorant and stupid. We’ll be a viable and vital part of the Body of Christ, along with the other churches in this town who share our belief and passion for the Jesus of the Bible.
And we can become a church who is healthy and vital and growing as we seek to not only inoculate ourselves from error, but also introduce as many as people as possible to the wonderful Jesus of the Scriptures.
Who do you say Jesus is? I hope that you say, “He is the Christ – the Son of the Living God who came to set me free from sin and give me a home in heaven.”
Let’s pray.
