JESUS ASKS, WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?
Matthew 16:13-20 - September 5, 2004 - Pentecost 14
MATTHEW 16:13-20
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14They 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?"
16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the king-dom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
You and I would agree, that during these times in our nation many have become just a number. In the midst of all the different kinds of people in this world, it is easy to lose our own personal identity. We have become just another nameless person in this world. And so people sometimes have an identity crisis. Our text is going to talk about identity today. Jesus wants to know how he is identified. Who recognizes him and what do they recognize him for. As believ-ers, we know that the Lord has worked faith in our hearts in order to believer in our Savior. Now you and I do not look at Jesus as just a generic Jesus, but as our Savior, and as the Savior for mankind. This saving faith knowledge comes to us by the Holy Spirit. Paul writes in Corinthians: ”Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit:” (1 CORINTHIANS 12:3). You and I did not find out that Jesus was our Savior on our own, not by our own human wisdom. It is by the Holy Spirit that Christ is revealed to us.
And so by the Spirit of God this morning our heavenly Father is going to reveal to us the depth and meaning of Jesus conversation with his disciples. Jesus asks his disciples who do you say I am? And today as our disciples JESUS ASKS US, WHO DO YOU SAY I AM? We al-ready have confessed in the Nicene Creed that first of all I. Jesus is the Son of the living God. And then thankfully we also confess that II. Christ is our solid, enduring rock.
I. JESUS IS THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD
Once again as our text began it tells us that Jesus is not in Jerusalem. He is not in the re-gion around Jerusalem. But Jesus is in another Gentile area, he is in the region of
Caesarea Philippi. Now Caesarea Philippi was known as a Roman stronghold. The main city of the region was beautified after the style of Herod. This was a setting for the display of royal wealth and power. Our text begins in this region: When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea
Philippi, he asked his disciples: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Jesus wanted his disci-ples to tell him what they had heard on the street. He wanted his disciples to listen to what peo-ple were saying. Jesus calls himself the Son of Man. Indeed Jesus was the Son of Man, born of the virgin Mary.
Now the disciples come back with the peoples’ different opinions. The opinions are differ-ent but also they are pretty closely related. The disciples told Jesus, “some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the Prophets.” Interesting answers, Elijah, John the Baptist, Jeremiah, these were people of high standing among the Jews. And here also in a Gentile region, even the Gentiles associate Jesus as one of those religious important people. When we look closer at the opinions we discover that John the Baptist and Elijah have close con-nections to the Messiah. The peoples’ opinions have placed Jesus into a pretty high category.
But Jesus wants to know more than that. Jesus wants the disciples to understand what they know and believe. So Jesus said to them: ”what about you?” Who do you say I am?” Jesus is looking for a personal response from the disciples. It makes no difference what the people around him thought. What did the disciples know and believe?
And then of course Peter, as a spokesman for the disciples, speaks up. Simon Peter an-swered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Peter looked beyond the fact that the public opinion that put Jesus in the category of another religious leader. He looked beyond the fact that Jesus called himself the Son of Man, and he called him the Son of the living God. Peter confessed that Jesus was God’s very own son, which of course Jesus was. Now Peter also called him the Christ. The Old Testament word for Christ was Messiah. Both the New Testament Christ means anointed just as the Old Testament word Messiah means anointed.
Peter looked at Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises. He recognized Jesus as the Savior. And did he do that because of public opinion? Did Peter do that because people said Jesus was like Elijah and Jeremiah? No -- Peter confessed as a gift of God’s grace. Jesus re-plied, “Blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, because this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in Heaven. To God is the glory!
Today, who do men say Jesus is? Many agree and describe Jesus as a good teacher. He did much for those who needed help. He was kind and friendly and just plain nice. Some feel Jesus was a concerned about social issues. Jesus lived in poverty not even owning a house. But there is more to Jesus than mere public opinion, isn’t there? By divine, free grace, the Lord has revealed to us that he was more than just the carpenter’s son. Jesus wasn’t just another or-dinary human being, he was the very Son of God. Jesus came not just to do good in this world, but Jesus came to provide eternal salvation. And again, we don’t learn that from popular opinion. We don’t learn that from our own human reason and understanding, but we learn it from God’s Spirit, through his grace. In 1 John we are told: ”This is the one who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who tes-tifies, because the Spirit is the truth” (1 JOHN 5:6). He says the Lord has come to us through his son by water, we think of baptism. Jesus has come to us by blood, we think of the Lord’s Supper. Here Jesus gives us his very own body and blood. The Holy Sprit has revealed all this to us. Now we have learned that from early on.
We may not think very often of the gift of the Holy Spirit, of our faith. And yet when we look closely at our faith we realize the great obstacles that the Spirit has to overcome and the very great difficulty in making us believers. When we are born into this world we are no longer born in the image of God, as mankind was first created. Instead, we are born in the image of man. We are born in the image of Adam. And the image of Adam is one of sinfulness. We inherit from Adam, we inherit from our parents -- sin. Now we are born into this world, not as friends of God, but as enemies of God. But now the Lord in His grace, makes us who are enemies of God his children. That miraculous change is difficult, only possible by God’s divine intervention. You may have run into people who are enemies and tried to make them friends. That is a life-long process and may never be accomplished. But can do this and does it by grace. Our loving Lord over-comes that obstacle of our hatred towards God because of sin and makes us his believers. But that conflict is always there isn’t it? In Galatians we are told: “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want” (GALATIANS 5:17).
Each of us still sin. We still have a sinful nature on this side of heaven. But today, when the Lord says to us “and who do you say I am?” We can put behind us our sinful nature and let our new man come forth and say: “you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. You are the Savior of the world.” And then even more amazing we can say: “You are my Savior, You have died for my sins”. Paul writes in Romans: ”That if you confess with your mouth, ’Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (ROMANS 10:9). Here, then, is the great mystery of salvation. The Lord doesn’t ask us to do this and this and this to be saved. He just says if you believe in your heart, confess with your mouth, you will be saved. Then, then it is the Holy Spirit who works faith in our hearts to believe.
When Jesus says to us : “and who do you say I am?”--we say you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And that is our salvation. But we know from this point in time, right here in the present, until the future, when we will see him face to face, whenever that might be, there are a lot of things that will happen in our lives. Our Lord gives us our eternal salvation so that we con-tinue to grow in our faith. And when Jesus says “who do you say I am”, not only can make a con-fession like Peter and say: you are the Christ the Son of the Living God, but also You are our eternal, solid rock”.
II. CHRIST IS OUR SOLID, ENDURING ROCK
Now we will go back to Peter in making that confession, and note a lot of things happening just in that name Christ. Jesus responds and says: “Blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but my father in heaven.” We note the teaching of the Trin-ity--we have God the Son speaking to Peter and telling him that the Father has revealed to him this knowledge of salvation. We also know that the Spirit works faith in his heart. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit -- three persons, yet only one God.
Jesus continues and says to Simon: ”I tell you that you are Peter”. We discover that as we read Scripture--sometimes he is called Peter and sometimes he is called Simon, and sometimes he is called Simon Peter. This is the same person. Jesus says I call you Peter. The name Peter means a stone, a pebble. Not too bad. Jesus adds: I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. Jesus uses that same word with a different gender and meaning. Jesus speaks of rock, rock and Peter mean the same thing. Jesus says this rock upon which the church is to be built, is a rock ledge. This rock ledge is a solid foundation, it is not a pebble. The Lord is going to build his Church not on Peter the man, but on the confession of Peter (which is the confession of every believing Christian). The rock ledge foundation is the confession that Christ is the Son of the living God.
Jesus describes the power of this confession and foundation of the church when he says: “on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it”. Satan would sorely test the disciples. Satan would even try to lead Jesus astray. But the gates of Hell could not overcome them, did not overcome Jesus. Jesus states the gates of hell are not going to overcome any making and believing this confession that Christ is the Son of the living God.
Jesus continues by bestowing this power on the Church. “I will give you the keys to 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”. This verse speaks about the preaching of the Law and the Gospel. Those who do not repent are going to have their sins bound to them on earth. And if they are bound to them on earth, then they are going to be bound to them in eternity. God’s Gospel provides forgiveness. This is the power that the Church has, the keys of the kingdom provided by Christ. Some feel this power only applies to Peter. But when you look at the other Gospels, you learn that the Lord gives these keys to his disciples, to his Church. The power of the preaching of the Law and the Gospel, is not just for one person. This divine power is given to the body of believers.
Our text now concludes this morning with something that sounds strange, or at least strange to me. Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. Jesus wanted them to remain quiet. There are a number of reasons for this. First of all, Jesus’ time had not yet come. Secondly there were some false teachings concerning the Christ. Rather than just say Jesus is the Christ, and people would be misled, the disciples were to wait until the people were able to recognize Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed, the Savior of mankind. So the disciples were to remain quiet, even though they recognized and believed in Jesus as the Son of the living God. The disciples also knew and they believed in their hearts that Jesus was their rock, their solid foundation.
Today, the opposite seems to be true. In the next few weeks we are going to continue in Matthew and we are going to learn that the Lord asks us not to remain quiet, but to let our light of faith shine in a world that is growing darker with sin. Our world as it tumbles on down to Judg-ment Day grows increasingly darker. Scripture says the love of most will grow cold. And we see that clearly in our society. So what are we to do? First, we are to confess with our lips that Jesus is the Son of the living God. Second, knowing Christ as our Savior, gives us courage to live our lives in the boldness and confidence of a living faith that God is also our rock. Believers are to live with a shining light in this sin darkened world. Daniel says: “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever” (DANIEL 12:3). This is the Church. This is you and I as believers, and every believer who have been given the keys of the Kingdom. God’s power provides the church his gifts.
Our Lord encourages us. Oh there is a lot in this life that we could grumble and complain about. Things don’t always go our way. Things don’t go according to our plans. The world is get-ting worse. People care less about people rather than more, and that list goes on and on doesn’t it? But you and I are grounded on the foundation of Christ, our solid Rock. Christ is our founda-tion. When we put our foot on that rock, it does not move. It does not shift or change like sinking sand. Christ our Rock encourages us to look boldly at the future and to look ahead confidently, knowing that whatever happens, it happens for our good, according to God’s plan. Christ is our Rock. Listen to Isaiah: “So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ’See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dis-mayed” (ISAIAH 28:16). Isaiah reminds as we put our confidence in him we are never dismayed.
Now, we know that in our lives sometimes we are dismayed. Sometimes we are discour-aged. Sometimes we are disappointed, disgusted, depressed. Those feelings deal with our physical life. But when we look deeper this morning and realize that as Jesus reveals himself to us as our living God, Jesus is also our trusted Rock, This Rock provides for us spiritually, abun-dantly. Today we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. We are reminded that Christ gave up everything – even his own life. Jesus poured out his blood so that our sins will be covered up. That news is encouraging. That truth is our comfort. That act of love is what chases away dismay, disappoint-ment. God sent his Son to die for us. Colossians reminds us: “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have re-demption, the forgiveness of sins” (COLOSSIANS 1:13,14). Christ is our Rock. Christ has freely, fully forgiven our sins.
Sometimes in this life when we might feel forgotten or alone, just another number in this great big world. The Lord would have us remember that he is our Rock. As we look around us Jesus would like us to recall the question: ”Who do you say I am?” Then we confess boldly and confidently by God’s grace: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. You are my Rock, my sure foundation.” We can rejoice that we don’t depend on popular opinion, or what someone else might think. You and I don’t have a generic Jesus. But we do have Jesus who is our Savior, who is the Savior of mankind. Believing these truths is an amazing miracle of faith.
Jesus after feeding the five thousand had called himself the “Bread of Life”. Now the peo-ple didn’t want to believe that. Many people left. Jesus turned to the disciples and said, “Are you going to leave also?” Simon Peter answered him, ’Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy one of God” (JOHN 6:68,69). Jesus asks: “who do you say I am?” By God’s free grace alone we answer. With John, Peter, the other disciples, and all believers we can confess what we know and believe: Jesus - You are the Son of the living God; You are our Rock, our solid foundation. AMEN.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
