SERMON: WHO AM I?

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Mark 8:27-33

 

Mark 8:27-33

New International Version

 

Mark 8:27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

 

28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

 

29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

 

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

 

30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

 

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

 

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

 

-- have you ever played the game “Who Am I?” -- this is the game where names are written on a card and everyone draws a card at random and then puts the card on their forehead -- they then have to ask questions of the people in the room until they figure out who they are

-- for instance, if you’re the person with the card on your forehead, you might begin by asking someone in the room, “Am I a fictional character? -- or “Am I a political figure?” -- or “Am I someone in history?” -- and then proceed from there to narrow your guesses down

-- the game goes on until the person either figures out who they are or they run out of time or the limit on questions, depending on the rules for that particular game

-- the game can be very entertaining and is often used during team-building exercises or as icebreakers at meetings or conferences

 

            -- while this is only a game, it does introduce to us a very important question -- “Who am I?” -- our entire lives are built around how we understand and answer that question -- Who am I? -- am I a pastor? -- a wildlife biologist? -- a husband -- a father -- a hiker -- a birder -- a Georgia Bulldog -- an American -- a Christian?

            -- the way we see ourselves shapes who we are and how we live and what we do -- and how we answer that question determines how we live our lives

            -- but just as important is the reverse of that question -- “Who do people say that I am?” -- how do others see me? -- how do others perceive me? -- how do others relate to me?

            -- this morning, we see Jesus asking that very question of His disciples and us as we continue in our study of His life and ministry

 

II.  Scripture Lesson (Mark 8:27-33)

            -- let’s get right into it -- look back at verse 27

 

Mark 8:27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

 

 

            -- as you know, Jesus’ earthly ministry lasted about three years, from His baptism by John in the Jordan River to His death and resurrection

            -- last week, we looked at the start of His public ministry, when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount to the crowd there in Galilee -- in this sermon, Jesus restored the heart of the Law and the Prophets by showing the people what the Father had intended them to do and how He had intended them to live -- leading them to put aside the manmade rules and traditions and to get back to the heart of the Law by following the Greatest Commandment -- “Love the Lord your God with all your hearts and souls and minds and to love your neighbors as yourself”

-- He went on to tell the crowd and His disciples that He had come -- a veiled reference to His identity as the Christ -- that He had come not to destroy the law and the prophets -- not to upend the religious and political establishment and set up a kingdom on earth -- but that He had come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets -- to once again stand in our place as the Son of Man and fulfill the Law by completely obeying all that God had commanded us to do -- living as the only sinless and perfect man -- the Second Adam -- so that He could fulfill God’s demands and go to the cross in our place as the perfect sacrifice

 

-- and just like so many of us tend to do when we hear sermons or spiritual truths taught, everyone in the crowd there that day heard Him, but very few “heard” Him -- rather than truly listening and hearing what Jesus said and adjusting their understanding and lives to what He had just told them, they heard what they wanted to hear

-- and when Jesus said He had come -- when the people understood He was claiming to be the Messiah -- they assumed He would fulfill the popular concept of what a Messiah would be -- someone who would come as a revolutionary leader -- restoring Israel to its rightful place as rulers of Palestine for eternity

-- they just didn’t understand who Jesus was telling them He was

 

-- but now, it’s two years later, and a lot has happened -- after giving the Sermon on the Mount to the crowd, Jesus began His earthly ministry in earnest -- He traveled throughout Galilee and Judea -- healing and preaching and teaching that the Kingdom of Heaven was near -- showing the people through His actions and His words that He had come to bring healing to their spiritual lives -- to offer them forgiveness of their sins and reconciling them to the Father through Himself as the Son of Man

-- through it all, Jesus was trying to get them to understand the true calling of the Messiah -- trying to get them to understand the right answer to the question, “Who am I?” that He first asked in the Sermon on the Mount

 

            -- time has gotten short -- so, it’s critical for the people and His disciples to know the answer to this question at this point, because the events of this passage mark the start of His final journey to Jerusalem, which will end with His death and resurrection

-- for two years, Jesus has been teaching the people and showing them who He is -- now it’s time for the final exam, comprised of two questions: the first, “Who do the people say I am?”

 

            -- verse 28

 

Mark 8:28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

 

 

            -- after two years of teaching and preaching -- after two years of displaying His power and authority over creation and the spiritual world -- the people still didn’t have the right answer to this question

            -- “Who do the people say I am?” Jesus asked -- and His disciples responded by telling Him how the people saw Him:

-- some thought that He was John the Baptist -- after the death of John, a lot of the Jewish people -- including Herod, who had killed John the Baptist -- began to believe that Jesus was John raised from the dead and that’s how He had the power to heal and do miracles

            -- others thought He was Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the other prophets -- Elijah because of the scriptures that said Elijah would be sent before the coming of the great and terrible Day of the Lord -- those who believed Jesus was Elijah would have looked at Him as the forerunner or herald to the Messiah, but not the Messiah Himself -- the appearance of Elijah would have meant the end of days was at hand

            -- some assumed Jeremiah, as Matthew records in his account of this event, because according to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah would return bearing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem when the Messianic Kingdom was established -- there is no scriptural basis for this -- this was just a common belief -- also, the people might have assumed Jesus was Jeremiah because they saw Him only as another prophet, and Jeremiah was the first prophet in their Scriptures

 

            -- what is amazing is that none of the crowd -- none of those who had listened to Jesus’ preaching and teaching -- none of those who had heard Jesus give the Sermon on the Mount -- who had seen the miracles -- who had followed Him throughout Galilee and Judea -- knew who Jesus truly was -- they all missed it

            -- and a lot of us miss it today, too -- as Max Lucado points out, a lot of us have wrong understandings of who Jesus is even today

            -- Lucado wrote that “for some, Jesus is a good luck charm. The "Rabbit's Foot Redeemer." Pocket-sized. Handy. Easily packaged. Easily understood. Easily diagrammed. You can put his picture on your wall or you can stick it in your wallet as insurance. You can frame him. Dangle him from your rear view mirror or glue him to your dashboard.

-- “His specialty? Getting you out of a jam. -- Need a parking place? Rub the redeemer. -- Need help on a quiz? Pull out the rabbit's foot. -- No need to have a relationship with him. No need to love him. Just keep him in your pocket next to your four-leaf clover.

-- “For many he's an "Aladdin's Lamp Redeemer." New jobs. Pink Cadillacs. New and improved spouses. Your wish is his command. And what's more, he conveniently reenters the lamp when you don't want him around.

-- “For others, Jesus is a "Monty Hall Redeemer." "All right, Jesus, let's make a deal. For 52 Sundays a year, I'll put on a costume -- coat and tie, hat and hose -- and I'll endure any sermon you throw at me. In exchange, you give me the grace behind pearly gate number three."

-- “The Rabbit's Foot Redeemer -- The Aladdin's Lamp Redeemer -- The Monty Hall Redeemer -- Few demands, no challenges -- No need for sacrifice -- No need for commitment --

Sightless and heartless redeemers -- Redeemers without power -- [But] that's not the Redeemer of the New Testament.” -- [that’s not who Jesus is]¹

 

            -- so many of us miss the answer to the question, “Who Am I?” that Jesus asks -- we see that in this verse

            -- even though Jesus had shown the people in Israel that He was the Messiah through the miracles and His teaching and preaching -- including His teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth and the Sermon on the Mount that we looked at a couple of weeks ago -- all the people missed it -- all the people missed who He was -- and got the answer to the question, “Who am I?” wrong

 

            -- so, Jesus turns to His disciples and asks them the second and most important question -- the same question that all of us will have to answer at some point in our lives -- that our eternity hinges upon

            -- verse 29

 

Mark 8:29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

 

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

 

 

            -- Jesus is not asking this question because He didn’t know the answer -- He knew the heart of everyone standing there that day -- He knew who among His disciples were true believers and which one was going to betray Him to the Jewish authorities

-- Jesus wasn’t asking this question to find out what the disciples knew or didn’t know -- He was asking this question to lead the disciples further in their faith and understanding of who He was

-- He was asking this question so that the disciples would take a moment to truly consider what they believed about Him and to reveal the depth of their faith and trust in Him

-- this is a question that all of us need to be asked, too

-- I’ve shared with you before some of my journey to faith -- how I joined the church and was baptized when I was about 12 years old and how it wasn’t real -- I did it because everyone else was doing it -- I did it because it was expected of people my age in our church

-- no one ever asked me who I thought Jesus was before I got baptized and joined the church -- it was years later when a coworker asked me that question, “Who is Jesus to you?”, that led me to seriously consider the answer to who Jesus was and what my relationship to Him truly was

-- if you haven’t already done so, you need to take a moment and think about that question that Jesus is asking here -- “Who do you say I am?” -- not who the church says He is -- not who society says He is -- not who your parents or your preacher say He is -- who do you say Jesus is and do you know Him as your Lord and Savior? -- that is the question Jesus is asking the disciples here in verse 29

-- “I know who the people say I am -- but what do you say? -- Who do you say I am?”

 

            -- Peter seems to always be ahead of the others in everything -- he was impetuous -- he tended to react to situations rather than to respond -- he moved when the others hesitated -- he spoke when the others considered what to say

            -- from the very beginning of his experience with Christ, Peter was the first to follow -- the first to head out -- and now he’s the first to confess his faith -- “You are the Christ”

-- Matthew’s account has Peter saying, “the Christ, the Son of the Living God” -- emphatically proclaiming that Jesus was God

            -- we should note here that this is the first time that anyone confessed that Jesus was the Christ in the Synoptic gospels -- this is the first time that someone has answered the question correctly

            -- in Matthew, we read that Jesus affirmed Peter’s declaration of Him as the Christ -- noting that this truth had not come to him through flesh and blood -- through human knowledge and reasoning -- but through the revelation of the Father through the Holy Spirit

            -- “Who do you say I am?” -- Peter responded by saying, “You are the Christ” -- what is your answer to this question? -- who is Jesus to you?

 

            -- vs. 30

 

Mark 8:30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

 

 

-- now that Peter had expressed the greatest truth of all in answering Jesus’ question -- now that Peter had confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God -- it seems curious that Jesus would immediately tell them to not tell anyone about Him

-- wasn’t that the reason He had come? -- shouldn’t that be the overwhelming mission of the disciples?

-- there is a good reason for this, and it goes back to what we have been saying about how the people viewed Him -- the fact that none of them knew who or what the Messiah was and none of them realized that Jesus was the Messiah

-- the reason why Jesus warned the disciples not to tell anyone about Him was because of the common misconceptions about who the Messiah was

 

            -- the people were still thinking of the Messiah as a political leader -- a revolutionary -- someone who would remove the Romans and restore Israel to prominence -- setting up the throne of David in Jerusalem once again

-- and even though Peter had gotten the answer to Jesus’ question right, the fact of the matter is that even the disciples didn’t fully understand what Jesus was going to do as the Christ

            -- so, if the disciples began proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, the people would have understood their proclamation in the way most people believed -- they would have heard what they expected to hear -- they would have expected Jesus to go out and do what they thought a Messiah should do

-- Hiebert explains that for the disciples "to go out and broadcast the fact that [Jesus] was the Messiah would simply raise false hopes among the people who were expecting an earthly Messiah who would fulfill their political hopes²

-- if the disciples had done this, it would have resulted in a revolutionary movement -- the people would have tried to have Jesus declared King through political and military force -- we see that in John 6:15, where it says the people were about to come and take Jesus by force to make Him king

            -- but this is not the type of Messiah that Jesus came to be -- in His teachings and His actions, Jesus combined the roles of Messiah, King, and Prophet with that of the Son of Man and the Suffering Servant -- Jesus showed that the Messiah was more than the people envisioned -- that the Messiah was both the Son of Man and the Son of God -- that His kingdom was not of this world -- and that His role was to reconcile the world to the Father through His own death on the cross

            -- contrary to popular opinion, Jesus came as the Messiah to die in our place rather than to rule in Jerusalem on a human throne

            -- Furthermore, the disciples themselves were not yet qualified to proclaim the whole truth concerning Him as Messiah² -- they were beginning to understand -- they got the answer to Jesus’ question right -- but their faith was not completely mature at this point

-- so, for these reasons, Jesus warns His disciples to not teach and proclaim Him as Messiah until after His death, when the truth of who He was and why He came would be revealed and evident to all

 

            -- verse 31

 

Mark 8:31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

 

            -- up to this point, the question that everyone asked of Jesus was “Who is He?” -- and that is the question that Jesus had tried to answer in His sermons and through His preaching and miracles -- His words and His works were used to reveal His messiahship -- that was the focus of His earthly ministry up to this point

-- but beginning from this point forward -- after Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah, as the Son of the Living God -- Jesus’ message begins to shift and He begins a period of intense discipleship with the disciples, teaching them that His death and resurrection would prove His claims of Messiahship

            -- the question about Jesus changes from, “Who is He?” to “What kind of Messiah is He, and what does it mean to follow Him?”³

 

            -- we see that in the gospels, as their theme and focus shift beginning with the confession of Peter that Jesus is the Christ -- where before, the focus of Jesus’ ministry was on preaching, teaching, and healing -- actions which affirmed the authority, power, and deity of Jesus -- now the focus and attention changes to the events leading to Jesus’ departure from earth -- His journey to Jerusalem, persecution, crucifixion, and finally, the resurrection

            -- it was only after Peter’s confession that Jesus shares with His disciples about His upcoming arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection for the first time -- they weren’t ready before

-- they had followed Jesus, first as a teacher -- then as a prophet -- but now, their faith and belief in Him had grown to the point where they realized He was more than a good man -- more than just a teacher -- even more than a prophet -- He was the Christ -- the Messiah -- the Son of God -- God in the flesh

            -- and it took that knowledge and their growing faith to prepare them for what was to come -- for if they had gone on believing that Jesus was just a man -- even a prophet -- then His death would have shattered them

-- but because they now believed in faith that Jesus was the Son of God, then they would be sustained through His death until the resurrection, at which point their faith became sight

 

            -- I want you to understand just how difficult this would have been for the disciples -- how this was a hard thing for the disciples to accept -- to wrap their heads around

-- remember who these men were -- these were Jewish men, steeped in the religion and traditions of Judaism -- their whole lives they had been taught the commandment, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God -- the Lord our God is one”

            -- and now Jesus is calling them to understand that command in a drastically different way by accepting Him as more than the human messiah they had been waiting for, but as the divine Messiah -- as the Son of God -- as the Holy One sent by the Father to save the world from its sins

            -- it’s a lot easier for us to believe that than it would have been for the disciples, given their religious training and cultural understanding -- this would have required them to rethink everything they had been taught and had believed before Jesus came

-- so, the story of Jesus that we have been following has been one of progressive revelation to the Israelites, as He has shown them His power and authority through the miracles and His teaching until they reach this point, where their faith begins to mature and they glimpse the full truth of the good news of Jesus

 

            -- verse 32

 

Mark 8:32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

 

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

 

            -- as we see here in Peter’s response to Jesus, the disciples still don’t fully understand who Jesus is at this point -- they’re getting there, but there will still be missteps along the way -- there will still be times when they doubt and don’t understand -- there still will be times when they think with their head and not their heart -- when they use human knowledge and wisdom instead of spiritual knowledge and faith

-- even after declaring Jesus as the Christ, it’s obvious that Peter still doesn’t fully understand who Jesus is as the Messiah -- his proclamation of Jesus as the Christ is still tainted by the common understanding of the Messiah as a human king

-- the Jewish people never would have associated suffering and death with their conception of a Messiah -- so, when Jesus tells them that He is going to suffer and die and rise from the dead, Peter can’t accept it -- it goes against what he has been taught his whole life -- he rebukes Jesus for saying this -- essentially saying, “This can’t happen -- you are the Messiah -- we’ll keep it from happening”

-- so Jesus rebukes Peter because he has taken a step back -- after confessing Jesus as the Messiah -- as God in the flesh -- Peter turns back to his heritage -- to his Jewish religion and tradition -- to human knowledge -- rather than leaning upon the spiritual revelation he had received about Jesus

 

-- but take this as a start -- as a new beginning -- this passage marks a critical moment in the life of the disciples as their faith begins to truly grow and the promise of what they will become in Christ is glimpsed -- we’ll see more of that next week when we look at the Transfiguration of Christ

-- understand that the faith of the disciples is still a work in progress -- that’s why it says in verse 31 that Jesus “began to teach them” -- this is the starting point -- this is the foundation on which the church of Christ was to be built

-- in Matthew’s account of this confession of Christ by Peter, we hear Jesus saying to Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter -- petro -- the rock -- and upon this petra -- foundation of rock -- referring to Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah -- upon this rock, I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

-- this is the beginning of faith -- this is the foundation of the faith of the disciples and of the church -- it is the realization and the acceptance of Jesus as the Christ -- as the Messiah -- as the Son of Man and the Son of God -- as God in the flesh

-- at this point, Jesus began to teach them what the Scriptures meant when they proclaimed Him as the Messiah -- what type of Messiah He would be -- and why He had to be persecuted and crucified and be resurrected

-- He begins to answer the questions for them “Who am I and why did I come as your Messiah?”

-- this will be the emphasis of His ministry from now until His death in Jerusalem

 

III. CLOSING

-- let’s bring this to a close

-- as this passage shows, our lives are filled with questions.

-- as Alan Carr points out, “Some of the questions we are faced with are very mundane and routine. For instance, “What shall I wear today?” -- “Where do you want to eat dinner?” -- and “What do you want to watch on television?” -- are not questions that have long term importance in our lives.

-- “Some of life’s questions are just plain unanswerable. For instance, “Why do women open their mouths when they put on eye makeup?” -- “Why do men refuse to stop and ask for directions?” -- “If nothing ever sticks to Teflon, how do they make Teflon stick to the pan?” -- and “What was the best thing before sliced bread?” -- are questions that really do not matter in the least.

-- “But some of life’s questions are terribly important -- [questions like] “Will you marry me?” -- “What shall we name the baby” -- and “Doctor, what is my prognosis?” -- [these] are all questions that have lifelong implications.

 

       -- “In this passage, Jesus asks two questions that are eternal in nature. The first question has to do with what others say about Jesus -- [Who do the people say I am?] -- Their opinions of Him reveal the condition of their hearts. Their answer to His first question demonstrates whether they are saved or not.

        -- “The second [question] has to do with your personal opinion of Who Jesus is -- [Who do you say I am?] -- Your answer to this question will determine where you spend eternity”⁴ 

 

            -- we’re going to close in prayer now, and as we do so, I want you to take a moment and search your heart for the answer to the question that Jesus asked in this passage -- Who do you say I am?

            -- don’t leave here until you answer that question -- don’t leave here with doubts about your relationship with Jesus -- but come to Him -- believe in Him -- trust in Him -- ask Him to forgive you of your sins and to come into your heart as your Lord and Savior -- put your faith and trust in Him so you can answer that question as Peter did

            -- Who do you say I am? -- You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God -- My Lord -- My Savior -- and My Redeemer

            -- let us pray

1 Source: Max Lucado, Six Hours One Friday (W. Publishing, 2004), pp. 89-90

2 Hiebert, “Gospel of Mark -- An Expositional Commentary

3 Grassmick, Bible Knowledge Commentary

4 [Alan Carr, “Is That Your Final Answer?”, ://www.sermonnotebook.org/mark/Mark%2039%20-%20Mark%208_27-30.htm]