Over the next few weeks, I want to explore a few important questions Jesus asked that each of us should be able to answer personally. Jesus used questions to teach those around him and us as well.
Let’s look at Matthew 16:13-15 “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?””
The disciples answered Jesus’ first question, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” In the days of the disciple’s people had answers to that question. “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” When we are in conversation with people around us and ask them that question, we will get many answers as well. Some might say he was a good man who taught people great principles. He was a prophet. He is just an example to us who shows us how to live. He wasn’t a real man just a figure used in the Bible to teach us a good way to live. Some might even turn that question around and ask us, “You don’t really believe in that Jesus, do you?”
“But who do you say that I am?” That is a question each of us must be able to answer for ourselves. If we have been in the Word of God particularly the Gospels, we have seen the things Jesus has done. We have heard the things He taught. We have considered how he interacted with His Father in Heaven and how he interacted with people He met.
Hopefully we have wrestled with who Jesus is and can answer for ourselves who we say He is. When he asked that questions of the disciples, Peter had a ready answer. We read in verse 16: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied that,
flesh and blood had not revealed this to Peter, but that His Father who is in heaven did.
In Romans 10:9-13 we read something that should help us answer the question, “But who do you say that I am?” There we read, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
In these verses I learn to confess openly that Jesus is Lord. I also confess my belief that God raised him from the dead. By my faith and confession, I am both justified and saved. Jesus is God’s Son, who suffered died, was buried and rose again from the dead and now has given me new life and assures me that He will return one day to take me to be with Him forever. He has forgiven my sins and has perfectly fulfilled the requirements of God’s law granting that perfection to me in God’s sight, so that I might have eternal life. I have to say with Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” That’s a little bit about who Jesus is to me. He is much more but those are the basics.
If I believe and confess Jesus is Lord, then I should eagerly walk in obedience to Him. We read in Luke 6:46-49 these words:
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:
48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
How firm is your foundation? Who do you say Jesus is?
In Christ,
Dave ‘PK’ VanderKlay
