Pop Quiz and Final Exam
By Pastor Jim May
Matthew 16:13-19
How many of you can remember your school days? For some of you it seems that it was only yesterday, but for some of us, it means dusting off a lot of cobwebs, and crossing a whole lot of bridges that we have crossed to come this far, and then just maybe we can remember a few of the days that seem to be so long ago.
One of the things that I remember about school that I will never forget is something that I considered to be a scourge of humanity; something that strikes fear into the heart of every student; and it is the single, most powerful weapon that all teachers have at their disposal to fight against ignorance in the classroom. It’s commonly known as the POP QUIZ.
Well, this morning I want to speak to you about a Pop Quiz. First, I want to see just how much intelligence you really have by giving you this little Pop Quiz that has been given to both Professionals (such as Lawyers, Doctors and Teachers) and to grade school children as well. Let’s see how well you do? Are you ready? Here goes!
1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator? The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator door, put in the giraffe and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.
2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator? Wrong Answer: Open the refrigerator door, put in the elephant and close the refrigerator. Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.
3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend? Correct Answer: The Elephant. The Elephant is in the refrigerator. This tests your memory.
4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles. How do you manage it? Correct Answer: You swim across. All the Crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes and whether you have an attention span that lasts longer than 10 seconds.
These questions are put here to get your attention, but they really aren’t a joke. These questions really were used in a survey to make a point about the thinking processes of different people.
This morning I want to bring your attention to a passage of scripture that is found in Matthew chapter 16, in which Jesus gave His own form of a Pop Quiz to His disciples as they walked along the road.
Now Jesus never asked a question to which He did not already know the answer. He didn’t ask questions to learn anything of men, but he used questions to teach men and to get them to think.
It seems to me that the biggest problem with mankind today is that we don’t really think too much at all. Most of the time we act by instinct and not by advanced planning, goal setting, getting a plan of action and then constantly checking on our progress and then making course corrections so that we can ultimately reach our goals. Most of us don’t even know what a goal is, much less how to set one, and even less, how we could ever achieve that goal. We just simply react to whatever comes and make a split second decision based entirely upon how we “feel” and not on “logical thinking”.
But God gave us a brain that we could use to think things through, if we will only use it. For a long time medical science and neurological research had concluded that people only used about 10% of their brain capacity. Now their estimate has been lowered to 5% and even that low figure seems optimistic. I think, using the 1% of my brain that is active this morning, that there are a whole lot of people out there whose brain has no mileage on it all. Some of these folks are middle aged but their brain doesn’t have even a week’s worth of wear and tear. The sad thing is that the saying is true, “You must use or lose it.” That’s a sad thought for those who never read a book, or attempt to think about anything that would tax their thinking power, and just sit mindlessly in front of a TV or a computer screen for hours on end.
Let me give a few example of people whose brains have very little “mileage” on it. You may have heard these, but bear with me.
One man was in an accident at work, so he filled out an insurance claim. The insurance company contacted him and asked for more information. This was his response:
"I am writing in response to your request for additional information. You said in your letter that I should explain more fully, the circumstances of my accident. I trust the following details will be sufficient.
I am an amateur radio operator and I was working alone on the top section of my new 80-foot tower. When I had completed my work, I discovered that I had, over the course of several trips up the tower, brought up about 300 pounds of tools and spare parts. Rather than carry the tools and material down by hand, I decided to lower the items down in a small barrel by using the pulley attached to a pole at the top of the tower. Securing the rope at ground level, I went to the top of the tower and loaded the tools and parts into the barrel. Then I went back to the ground and untied the rope, wrapped it tightly around my wrists to ensure a slow decent of the tools."
"You will note that I weigh only 155 pounds. Due to the larger weight of the tools I was jerked off the ground. I could not let go of the rope. Needless to say, I went quickly up the side of the tower. At about the 40-foot level, I met the barrel coming down. This explains my fractured skull and broken collarbone. But this only slowed my ascent slightly. I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were jammed deep into the pulley at the top. I still could not get free of the rope but as the barrel of tools hit the ground, the bottom fell out of the barrel."
"Now the weight of the tools was absent and the empty the barrel now weighed only about 20 pounds. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the tower. In the vicinity of the 40-foot level, once again, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, and the lacerations of my legs and lower body. The encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell onto the pile of tools and, fortunately, only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the tools, in pain, unable to stand and watching the empty barrel 80 feet above me, I was finally able to get free from the rope, but unable to move quickly enough to get out of the way of the barrel as it fell.
One more, and this one was reported on the news in 1993.
A truck driver with 45 weather balloons rigged to a lawn chair took a 45 minute ride Friday up to 16,000 feet before he got cold, shot some balloons with a BB gun and crashed into a power line.
Long Beach, California police Lt. Rod Mickelson said that Larry Walters, 33, of North Hollywood, was uninjured. The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused. Regional safety inspector Neal Savoy said the flying lawn chair was spotted by TWA and Delta jetliner pilots at 16,0000 feet.
Police said Walters went to his girlfriend’s house in San Pedro Thursday night, inflated 45 six-foot-tall weather balloons with helium and attached them to an aluminum lawn chair that was anchored to the ground.
Friday morning, with half a dozen friends holding the tethers, Walters strapped on a parachute, seat belted himself into the chair and told his friends to let go. Within a few minutes he was calling for help on the CB radio he had with him.
He said he had shot up like an elevator to 16,000 feet and was getting numb from the cold and lack of oxygen. He had tried to shoot holes in the balloons but after puncturing several of the balloons, his BB pistol fell overboard. The chair slowly drifted downward and became tangled in a power line, causing a small area of Long Beach to be without power while he was rescued. Walters was able to get down safely.
Now, let me get serious with you. Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 16 and let’s read verses 13-14.
Matthew 16:13-14, "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? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets."
Jesus’ questions in this passage of scripture are directed at his disciples but I want us to look at them as though Jesus were asking them to each of us right now.
This was a Pop Quiz. He didn’t preface the questions with any kind of recorded explanation. He hadn’t just concluded a lesson in his own identity. He just simply asked, who do men think that I am?
My question to you this morning is simple – Who does the world think that Jesus is?
I’m convinced that the world, those people who really don’t know who Jesus is, will still answer in the same fashion that was given that day on the road to Caesarea Philippi.
The world still doesn’t know who Jesus is, and it is unwilling to think long enough, or to accept the reality of who Jesus is.
People will quickly admit that Jesus is above the ordinary. Sure He was special. He had abilities and powers above that of most men. But that’s as far as they will go.
Jesus was a man who preached repentance for sin just like John the Baptist. To most of the world Jesus is no more than any other preacher that they choose to ignore. There are some people, even in the church, who refuse to hear the preacher as he speaks forth the Word of God. They won’t hear the message of repentance because they think that they are good enough just like they are. Who does that preacher think he is? He is no more righteous than I am. I know his faults. I know his failures. I know where he lives. Why should I listen to him?
Folks, I’ll be the first to confess that I’m far from perfect. But that doesn’t negate the truth of the Word of God that I preach to you every week. God’s Word isn’t dependent upon my righteousness. His Word is true in spite of my faults. I’m not preaching to change your mind to match my opinions. I strive to preach only what the Bible says. The Bible is a Living Word and it will speak to you if you will hear it.
You have to learn to speak to the Living Word of God and ask “The Word” to come alive in your heart and show you what to do, how to live, where to go and how you should think.
John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John 1:14, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth."
Who is Jesus to the world? To the world he is just another preacher. To the world he is just another prophet among multitudes of prophets. The world relegates Jesus to an equal status with Isa, Mohammed and Allah of Islam, with Buddha of the Buddhists, with Joseph Smith of the Mormons, with the Cows of India and the Maharajah’s, Guru’s, and Krisha of the Hindu religion, with Charles Darwin of the humanists, with Confucius of China , with Michael the Archangel, who the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe is actually Jesus, the Son of God, with Baháulláh of the Bahai religion, with thousands of Pagan and Wiccan (Occult) prophets.
Some of the Jews in Jesus’ day were convinced that Elijah had come back to earth to fulfill his mission. Others believed that Jeremiah was raised from the dead. There were as many opinions about Jesus as there were Jews in the land. But none of them were right.
Jesus is greater than all of these other prophets, whether they were real or false. He was more than a preacher of repentance, or a prophet that could perform miracles, or a prophet who could weep over the conditions of mankind. Jesus was more than an angel, more than a man-made god. He is very God, who was walking around in the form of a man, yet still very God; omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God.
Israel didn’t see Jesus for who he really was then and the world doesn’t see him now, and I often wonder if the church really sees Jesus for who He is right now!
Do we see Jesus as the Righteous, Holy, and Omnipotent God of Creation? Or do we see Him as just another prophet? Do we strive to live holy, righteous and obedient to him and the Living Word of God, or do we just shrug Him off like another preacher?
Jesus’ Pop Quiz to the disciples only served as a confirmation of the ignorance that men have of the things of the Spirit. It only served to confirm the rebellious and sinful condition of man. Mankind is so blinded by his own sin and self-centered warp way of thinking that he cannot see who Jesus really is.
The true knowledge of the true nature of Jesus Christ cannot come through logical thinking. He is far above our ability to reason Him out. Jesus is very God and very man and you will never be able to think all of the ramifications of who Jesus is with your mind. You have to discover who Jesus is with your heart and with faith.
The world has failed the Pop Quiz and a huge percentage of the church, that claims to know Christ, is still failing this Pop Quiz and this is one Pop Quiz that carries a heavy weight to the final destiny of all mankind. The world is failing and Hell enlarges its borders every day because men do not pass this question and get the answer right.
There’s still only one-way to salvation and eternal life, and that’s through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. The world has failed the test! I hope that you are passing it!
Jesus then got personal with the question. This was no longer just a Pop Quiz – it was more like a Final Exam. Your answer, my answer, and every man’s answer to Jesus’ question will absolutely determine whether you fail or pass in the classroom of life! We can’t afford to fail this test!
Matthew 16:15-16, "He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
This coming week our children will be facing final exam week in the schools. Within the next few days many of them will be so concerned on whether they pass on to the next grade or have to repeat the same lessons again. We need to pray for them and hold them up, asking God to bring to their minds the lessons that they have learned, if they learned them. If they didn’t learn them, then they need to do it again. We are turning out too many now who can’t read or write much.
But friends, the lessons of school, concerning history, math and science, as important as they are, pale into nothingness compared to the importance of passing Jesus’ test!
Who is Jesus to you this morning? Is he nothing more than a nuisance in your life? Is Jesus really God to you, or some ethereal being that exists in another world? Is Jesus your Savior, or is he just a nice guy who offers a gift to mankind?
Jesus is God! He is the Living Word! He is your Deliverer, your Savior, your Lord, your Master and your King. He is all of these and more to those of us who really know Him as He is!
Are you passing this test this morning? Do you really know who Jesus is? Your eternal destiny rests upon the answer you give!
The final question of the Final Exam in life has been given. What will your answer be?
