Who Do You Say He Is?

Posted on August 27, 2023

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Isaiah 51:1-6

Psalm 138

Romans 12:1-8

Matthew 16:13-20

Romans 12 give us, the church, an identity of who we are and in how we are to act and be. We are called the Body of Christ. Each of us different and yet part of one body. Just as a hand is not a foot and a leg is not an arm but each has its function a purpose to serve the body. So too does the church have many parts that serve a different purpose. Each of us has been gifted a talent or skill that has been developed to be used for the glory of God and to serve his kingdom. Each skill is unique and suited to each individual. The question though is whether you are actually using those skills for the glory of God or are you letting them lay dormant? Are you using your talents to serve the world or to serve Christ? Who is this Christ that we are to serve though. I explained in my last sermon that the way to salvation is to confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead. But who is he to you? Is he your Lord and savior? What do other people in your life say about him?

In Matthew 16:13-20, Jesus asks his disciples this question? “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” When Jesus asks this, he is asking about himself. Yet I find it interesting that he does not just say “who do they say I am.” He answers who he really is by his own question. However, the question is not about who he says he is but about what others believe about him. What do the people around them believe about who he is? So, the disciples answer, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” So, what they are saying is that most people do not even believe that he is the Son of Man. What do others around our world today believe about Jesus? Who do they say he is. Muslims believe as it is written in the Quran that Jesus was a Messiah, miraculously born of a virgin, performing miracles, accompanied by his disciples, and rejected by the Jewish religious establishment. However, they do not believe that he was crucified and if he was not crucified then he of course was not resurrected. However, they believe that he was saved by God miraculously and ascended into heaven. Jews believe that Jesus did not fulfill messianic prophecies that establish the criteria for the coming of the Messiah and do not accept Jesus as a divine being from God. Buddhists believe that Jesus was a man who had lived many lives but finally reached a high state of enlightenment. For Buddhists there is no God but one may reach this state of enlightenment and then be free from being reborn and the way is pointed by Budha. However, Jesus said that he is the way and the only way. Hindus believe that Jesus was just a spiritual man and that he is an example for those who wish to take up a serious practice of spiritual life. Taoists believe that Jesus lived in accordance with the Tao meaning providing an example for us of how to live and it is through his example that we to may come to the Tao or be an example as well. So, they believe that he is the ultimate example of living well but they do not believe in his divinity or that he is the Son of God. Unitarians believe that God the Father is one singular being and that Jesus is a distinct being, his son, but not divine. Mormons believe that Jesus was the spirit child of a heavenly father and mother, they believe that he suffered greatly but was not crucified and he saved us through his pain and suffering but not by his death. They do not believe he always was or that he was there through all creation but that he is now eternal and that he became a god but is not part of the God head. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus is God’s only Son and that he dies for humanity’s sins and that he was resurrected after the crucifixion but that he is not part of the trinity. They believe he is a Son and not God in the form of the flesh.

With all of these different beliefs about Jesus, no wonder why people are so confused. However, what is also interesting is their commonality. Not one of them denies that Jesus existed. Jesus is historically, documented fact. The question though is who do we say he is?

Jesus goes on in our Matthew 16 and asks them this question, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Now he is making it personal. They know what everyone else in the world believes about Jesus but what do they themselves believe? Simon Peter pipes up, “You are the Messiah, The Son of the living God.” In other words, Peter is telling him that he is the one that they have been waiting for. He is the one that the prophets spoke about. Jesus says that Peter is blessed because it is not through man that this was revealed to him but by His Father in heaven. For man does not even know or acknowledge who he is. However, Jesus now changes his name to Peter for it means rock and it is by this rock and foundation of faith in which Jesus shall build his church.

So, then I ask you today, who do you say he is? Unfortunately, there are so many denominations and so many differing understandings within Christianity that I think we can lose sight of this question. Even within the Church there are those who do not understand and cause more confusion. As a result, there are many beliefs about who Jesus is and whether or not He is the pathway to salvation. Sadly, there are some who believe that they can find their salvation elsewhere. Whether is be through Mary, Jesus’ mother, or by some attainment of enlightenment or state of higher being, or by doing good deeds so that you can be reincarnated into something or someone in a better state of affairs than you are now. However, I tell you this morning that Jesus is God in the flesh, born from a virgin, he lived a sinless life to show us how we are to live, he died on cross for our sins and rose from the dead to bring us life. Jesus always was and always will be. Jesus is my Lord and savior. Now who do you say he is?