Dr. Wayne A. Lawson
Perfected Praise Worship Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Delivered on Sunday, February 3, 2008
Title: Are You Following The Polls?
Scripture: St. Matthew 16:13-17
13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
It has been quite interesting following the polls as so many candidates feel they should be elected as our next President. In two days our great state of Oklahoma will go to the polls for what has been termed “Super Tuesday.” Currently there is no clear front runner as to who will receive the nomination for their particular political party. On Tuesday, our state will play a key role in helping to shape and solidify the front runners who will most likely go on to win their party’s nomination. There are various opinions as to who should become our nation’s next leader. Candidates have various opinions about one another – most not very kind in their assessments. In 21st Century America, we have a number of opinions about every issue. As we continue to watch the 2008 Primaries unfold, the candidates continue to offer different opinions on the various issues of our day. Their opinions usually sprinkled with the flavor of the day.
I believe that it is safe to say that people have different opinions about politics in general. I also believe that it is normal and some of these political opinions can become very heated. Yet, isn’t that the beauty of a democracy. I simply hope that people offer informed opinions on key issues that affect us for year to come, not just simply repeating what they hear. Most of what we hear from others tends to be inaccurate. Be careful what you embrace and repeat from:
• Radio talk shows
• Rush Limbaugh Show
• What you watched on Saturday Night Live
• What you watch on the Late Night Talk Shows
• Or the all too many 10-second sound bites
• Or the bombardment of the recent 30-second commercials offered by the candidates
If we take the time to look carefully at what the issues really are and how they affect us, we can tackle these issues in our country, then we can make more informed decisions. Who are the candidates? Does anybody really know them? It is important that we take the time to investigate them and what they stand for. It would not be fair to any of the candidates to presume to know them and their views on the issues based on insufficient information! I know what some of you must be thinking already, because I have heard it myself. Many say that there are two things that one should not speak of in polite company: politics and religion!
People also have different opinions as it relates to religion. That’s what makes faith real and authentic. People should not be coerced into believing something; they must come to their own faith. They must weigh the facts and decide what they will believe. We just pray that when people offer their opinion on things religious, that they offer informed opinions, not just simply repeating what they hear on radio talk shows or on Saturday Night Live or from a sound-bite on some network special or from some one-liner from a movie. If people take the time to look carefully at who Jesus really is, then they can make informed decisions. Who is Jesus Christ? Do you really know? It is important that we take the time to investigate. It would not be fair to Jesus to presume to know him based on insufficient information! Like Nicodemus, came to Jesus by night saying “RABBI, WE KNOW THAT YOU ARE A TEACHER COME FROM GOD.” Nicodemus had incomplete information, but thanks be to God he would eventually get it right.
• Must be more than Mom and Dad’s religion
• Must be more than Grandma’s religion
• Must be more than get me out of trouble religion
• Must be more than what I learned in seminary
• Every time super stars get in trouble with the law, they find religion – must be more than that
WHO DO MEN SAY THAT I THE SON OF MAN AM? Jesus poses this question to Peter and the others at Caesarea Philippi. It is important to understand why Jesus asked this question at this particular time – during this particular juncture. Caesarea Philippi was a Greco-Roman city about 20 kilometers north of Galilee, an international city, a center of trade and commerce, a crossroads of the Middle East. Its original name was “Paneus,” a city dedicated to the worship of Pan. Pan was usually depicted with the head, chest and arms of a man and with the legs, horns and ears of a goat, Pan prances through the fertile countryside playing his seven-reed pipe in wild abandon. His piping can be as soft and seductive as the breeze, but when he’s angered, his bellow and howl can be heard for miles. Through various occupations it changed names and now was named after Caesar, and located in the tetrarchy of Herod’s brother Phillip. It had also become a marketplace of religions, various gods and cults worshipping in the same city, all vying for the allegiance of this international city. Caesarea Philippi was much like the modern world we live in. There is no one religion or church that dominates and controls the religious life of our world. Rather it is a marketplace of ideas and faiths, each competing for believers. Who do you believe in? What is truth? What is right? Who is God? What is God like? And we, like the disciples, gathered in the marketplace of religious ideas, are more than willing to engage in this debate about the merits of one faith or the other, one idea of truth or the other. The newspapers regularly feature stories about the various churches, denominations and religions in our region and in the world. We don’t have to travel very far to see every type of Church – Temple – Shrine - you can imagine.
• Christianity
• Roman Catholic
• Protestant
• Evangelical
• Lutheran
• Pentecostal
• Holiness
• Full Gospel
• Born-agains
• Islam
• Hinduism
• Buddhist
• Traditionalist
• New age
• Spiritualities of various forms and beliefs
Jesus asks these twelve (12) men who have been following him, “WHO DO PEOPLE SAY I AM?” The answers are familiar to us, in a way — “Maybe he’s John the Baptist, or one of the prophets…” All they could do was to fit Jesus into categories of thought that already existed. The popular ideas in Jesus’ time all were just that: “Well, let’s try to cram this Jesus into our already-formed categories for such things. So, he must be a prophet…or hey! Remember that John the Baptist? He was a little strange one! Maybe he’s John the Baptist again!” That’s what we do today with Jesus as well. There are many opinions out there about Jesus, and they all fit into our preformed categories, based upon who others have said that Jesus is? There are so many responses to this question today.
• Jesus was a great religious leader
• He was a prophet
• He was an incredible man who was more enlightened than most
• He was an ancient Jewish version of Gandhi
• He was a political radical
• He was a religious zealot
• He was a magician—his miracles were all tricks
• He was just a normal man that the apostles made too much of
All these answers to the question fit into our predetermined categories, rather than letting Jesus Christ Himself redefine our categories by His true identity. Too often we simply listen to the polls. Just like bad journalists, we fail to go to the sources. We rely on hearsay, on uncorroborated evidence, and anything that sounds “juicy.” It’s not that we have no interest in Jesus, every Christmas and Easter all the main news magazines run cover stories on Jesus, and the TV networks run specials on Jesus. But most of what is said is uncorroborated hearsay and really “juicy” and we get our information from polling others. Who do people say the Son of Man is? Could be almost anything today.
We must be careful where we gather our information as to who Jesus is. Sometimes we must be careful when we attempt to gather information in some of the churches today. Jesus has been watered down to a Genie in a Bottle in many of our churches. We just use Jesus whenever we need something. I heard a minister a few months ago preaching on how to demand what you want from the Lord. Much of the preaching today is about Prosperity no longer about salvation. I even heard a minister say it is not his strong point to preach from the Bible. I wonder today, are you following the polls?
• It is in the church - not so much in the world - where Jesus is effectively denied
• It is in the church - not so much in the world - where the dream of God for this world is distorted and discarded
• It is the temple - not the market-place - where in holy wrath Jesus takes up the whip and seeks to re-create the "house of prayer" out of the "den of robbers"
We should not be overly concerned with what we see today. Keep in mind that they got it wrong in Jesus day as well. The title, “Christ” is the Greek form of the ancient Hebrew word, Messiah. The Messiah is another word for the special “anoited” King of God’s People. The prophets pointed toward a time when the Kingdom of God would come in splendor, with the Messiah as the King of kings and Lord of lords. God would be God of the People in this perfect kingdom—He would be their God, and they would be His people. But what’s really interesting is that the Jews of Peter’s time were looking for the Messiah to come in power—that he would rule as King in such a way that the table would be turned on the Romans. They thought the Messiah would kick the Romans out of the land and in turn that the Israelites would rule over them! This Jesus did not fit into any pre-conceived notions. We cannot push a cross-shaped block into a round hole. He was God in the Flesh, the Perfect Revelation of God. He is the Christ, the Messiah, the King – but even in Peter’s day, the polls dictated otherwise.
Jesus now looks at the disciples. He has heard the various responses as to what others have said about him. Jesus says to these followers – Okay, you have informed me as to what the polls are saying about me. Jesus recognizes that more often than not, the polls just don’t get it right. Just as we recognize today that the polls don’t always get it right.
• Polls said Senator Hillary Clinton would win Iowa – she lost to Senator Barak Obama
• Polls said that Senator Barak Obama would win Nevada – he lost to Senator Hillary Clinton
• Polls said that Senator Barak Obama would win a close race in South Carolina – he won by a landslide
• Polls said former NY Mayor Rudy Guiliani was front runner – he dropped out of race last week after losing in Florida, where he consistently said Polls were wrong
Are you following the polls? All that is wonderful. It is good to watch the engagement of today’s world events. But it is much better to be engaging ourselves. Jesus recognizing this and now turns to the disciples and says – Who do you say that I am? This was Jesus’ question to his disciples; and in their answer, everything changes. They are no longer just listeners to his message – receivers of his miracles – observers of his amazing ministry. They are believers. They are truly disciples. They are caught up with him and his life is not their life – his fate is not their fate – his love is now their love. It is also Jesus’ question to each one of us, and in our answer is a whole new life as well. We are no longer talking about God, talking about religion and beliefs, talking about Christianity and about this one called Jesus. We are talking to him. We are saying, “You are the Christ, you are the one, you are the saving grace of God for me.” Jesus’ life is now our life; his fate, our fate; his love, our love.
Then Peter steps up — bold, impetuous Peter — the same Peter who just recently stepped out of a boat in a storm, tempting Jesus to save him, and sank into the waves, the same disciple who never quite understands, but who speaks out anyway. The same Peter who would deny that he ever knew him three times the night of Jesus’ arrest and trial. Peter says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” It is not that he figured it out here. He had not put it all together, added up all the arguments and concluded that Jesus was indeed the messiah. He had not assessed the various polls. Most polls would have concluded exactly the opposite. Peter wasn’t being rational and logical. It was a highly impetuous thing for Peter to say: "You are the Christ - the Anointed One of God - the Messiah!" Where on earth did that come from? Was this just Peter being Peter - forthright, bull-in-a-china-shop Peter, well-meaning but often slightly off-target? None of the gospel accounts record the other disciples present saying, ’Yes! Peter’s right - you are the Christ’. They all seem to leave Peter out on a limb - stranded with the words he’s just uttered, waiting for a response from Jesus. We don’t get a picture of a group of disciples of one mind on these big issues, all absolutely clear about the aims and objectives of Jesus’ mission. I think we get a picture of a group of simple, good-hearted people, all at different stages of understanding about what they see Jesus do, about what they hear him say, about how people react to him, and about what Jesus expects from them as individuals and as a group.
I don’t know how many of that group gathered at Caesarea Philippi would have gone out on a limb with Peter and agreed with his claim. I don’t know how many of Jesus’ followers will have seen him put to death and gone into that Passover time thinking it was all over and that the mission had failed. What I can see is a range of responses to Jesus, even when he sat face to face with those first disciples and they could see, hear, and experience his message in its full reality. I can imagine glimpses of Jesus’ power and insight which would be totally convincing and lift someone’s belief onto the highest plane. And I can imagine times when the mission seemed hard, when the outcome was in doubt, when Jesus was rebuking disciples for being slow to understand or telling them that he must face death, and when doubts about the whole enterprise will have crept in.
No group of followers could have experienced the tremendous highs, and the desperate lows, of Jesus’ mission without their faith taking a substantial battering. It may have been enough for Peter to come forward with such a bold answer to Jesus’ question, ’Who do you say that I am’; but I wonder how many of his other followers were still on a journey – still absorbing the facts – still checking the latest polls - and would take some time to achieve that same level of conviction. And how strong was even Peter’s faith when Jesus was arrested and Peter was accused of being a follower? What do his three denials say about the highs and lows of following the way of Jesus? Let us be honest in our responses today to the risen and ascended Jesus, if he asks, ’Who do you say that I am’, we may not always be in a place where we can make that impetuous confession of Peter’s. And that does not necessarily point to any weakness or failure on our part; it points to discipleship as a life-long aim, not a short-term achievement.
Simon knows who Jesus is — I often wonder how did he know this? It wasn’t discovered by listening to all the clutter in the culture in which he lived - he did not listen or be controlled by the latest polls. If he had listened to that, he too would have started to think that Jesus was just a mere prophet or some other established category. It was God the Father who revealed this to Peter. This is the foundational revelation from God! If you miss this, then you have no foundation on which to build your faith!
• Jesus is the one! He is the Messiah!
• He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God!
• There is none like Jesus, who is the Christ
• There are all these other religious leaders throughout the ages—great men in the eyes of the historians and of those who follow their teachings
• But there was only one Christ, only one Son of the Living God
(Close)
