Who do you say i am?
READ MATTHEW 16:13-18
Jesus asks the single most important question any of us will ever have to face. He asks us, “Who do you say I am?”
There is not a single question that has more relevance or meaning to you as an individual than that of Jesus Christ looking directly at you and asking you who He is. It’s not a question we can afford to avoid. It’s not a question we can simply brush off and pretend doesn’t exist. Because again, it’s the single most relevant and meaningful question there is.
I remember when I first came here to Step Seven Ministries. I was fresh off addiction. I was very naïve to Jesus and Scripture and Christian community. I had a preconceived notion of who Jesus was. I had a version of Jesus in my head that was formulated by what the priests would say going to church as a kid and things I saw on TV or in the media and what other people would say about Jesus.
To be quite honest with you, my version of Jesus, at that time, was the best version of myself I could come up with in my own head. That’s who I thought Jesus was. For most people, if you stop and think about that for a second, they’d have to admit that when they think of God and His character and how He thinks and feels and behaves, the best they can really come up with is themselves at their very best.
But that’s not who Jesus is...
I’d like to submit this to you for your consideration: I think we all come into our realization that we need God with a very skewed view of who Jesus is. And, we can end up carrying that view into a walk with God that cheats us out of the very best that God has for us.
For most of us, the absolute best thing we can do when we first turn to God for help, is forget everything we think we know about Jesus. Forget everything the world has told us about Jesus, so that Jesus Himself can tell us, and teach us, who He is.
Of course, this learning process involves spending time with Him... in His word... in prayer... learning from Him and following Him wherever He may lead us. You see, too many people just want to add Jesus to whatever it is they’re already doing with their lives. That’s not how it works. Jesus is supposed to come in and completely redefine our lives.
So I got here to Step Seven, and very quickly I realized that I had no idea who Jesus was. I heard the guys that had been around a while, who seemed to get it, who seemed to be solid in their faith and sobriety, who had good things happening in their lives, saying things about Jesus that were new to me. They were always referencing stories from the Bible that I didn’t understand.
I wanted to understand. I NEEDED to understand.
I began to read my Bible... because I wanted to understand. I very quickly encountered a Jesus that I had no idea about. As I allowed Him to tell me about Himself I began to meet an authentic Jesus. I met a Jesus who changed everything... a Jesus who is continuing to change everything... and has since proven Himself to be the answer to everything.
My answer to Jesus’s question of “Who do you say I am” is much different today than it was back then. That’s a good thing, because until God revealed to me who Jesus is I had absolutely no idea. I had a false version of Jesus that couldn’t help me with much of anything.
I want you to imagine that you’ve got some company with you wherever you’re at. Imagine Jesus is with you right now, and He’s looking directly at you, right in the eyes, and He asks you, “Who am I?”
What’s your answer???
Notice, the question is not who do you think Jesus is... or who do you want Him to be... or who is He according to what’s convenient for you at the moment... but, WHO IS HE?
Everything is riding on how you answer this question. Whether in this life or the next, everything hinges on how you answer this question.
As you’re pondering who Jesus is, I’m going to go ahead and tell you who He isn’t. I’m going to base these fake Jesus’s on some very common misconceptions many of us have, or have had at some point in our lives. See if you can recognize any of these fake versions of Jesus.
First up we have Genie in a Bottle Jesus. Is Jesus only good for what He can give you? Do you elevate the blessings above the Blesser? Does your faith increase or decrease according to what you think Jesus has given you? We’ve got to come to an understanding that our wish is not always going to be His command!
Next up we’ve got Hide and Seek Jesus. Do you ever feel sometimes like Jesus is nowhere to be found? Like He’s hiding from you? This is usually indicative of us hiding from Him. It usually means we’re not seeking Him as wholeheartedly as we could or should be. Or, sometimes it may feel like you’re seeking Him with everything you’ve got, and He just won’t answer. He’s too well hidden... might as well give up. But, this isn’t true of the Savior who laid His life down for each and every single one of us... Jesus doesn’t hide.
How about Political Jesus? The main problem with this guy is that Jesus doesn’t choose sides! The real Jesus is for everyone, regardless of right or left. The only side Jesus chooses is the side of those that are in need... and last I checked, that’s everybody. If you look at what Jesus did while He was alive, He turned the political establishment on its head. Because it’s polarizing. It separates and divides. It’s counterproductive to His mission of unifying creation through salvation.
And then there’s Mean Jesus, the I’ll show you Jesus most of us think punishes us when we don’t act right. The one who refuses to bless us when we misbehave. This couldn’t be further from the truth. When we rub our hand against the grain on a piece of wood, it’s not the wood or the carpenter that causes the splinters. It’s us. We’re the ones rubbing our hand the wrong way. We need to stop blaming Jesus for the punishment we inflict on ourselves.
Last but not least, we’ve got Church Jesus. A version of Jesus that is dependent on one’s experience within the four walls of a church, and seems eerily similar to one’s pastor. The church is made up of imperfect people with imperfect leaders. Churches are messy places. No matter what might shake up a church, Jesus is unshakeable. Too many people have a relationship with Jesus that consists solely of their attendance at church. That’s not a relationship. It’s merely a series of meetings about do’s and don’ts and policies and procedures. The real Jesus is found by spending personal time seeking Him, and then celebrating and sharing the results with others. Church Jesus gets this all backwards.
If you look back to Peter’s answer to Jesus’s question, he says you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Think about that for a minute. Think about what it means.
Christ is an Old English word that comes from the Greek word Christos, and it is the equivalent of the Hebrew word Messias or Messiah, which means anointed one. Anointed to do what? Well, the name Jesus literally means He saves. So Jesus is the anointed Savior of all creation. That gives Him authority over everything. Which makes Him Lord. He’s the Lord of all creation. This includes the Earth and all that inhabit it. Including you and me.
Jesus is God. He’s the testimony of God to a lost and fallen world. He’s not only the bearer of good news, but He’s the bearer of the greatest news conceivable. Jesus came to deliver the truth to a world full of false beliefs. He is our greatest advocate, and our greatest gift. He is God’s love for us... for you and for me.
Notice that Peter tells Jesus You are THE Christ... not A Christ. Not A savior. Not A lord. But THE Christ. THE Savior. THE Lord… The only one there is. Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by me.”
In the opening of John’s Gospel where the apostle lays down the foundational truth to everything, the most foundational truth to the authentic Jesus, we’re told that Jesus was with God in the beginning. And, that He IS God.
Thirteen times we see Jesus refer to Himself as being God by using the “I Am” name of God. The one who always was, is, and will always be. The Great I am. Jesus doesn’t leave this open for debate. Either we believe Him or we don’t. There’s no grey area. There’s no taking parts of Jesus and coming up with our own version of the truth. There’s no accepting Jesus as Savior because we’re in a pickle and we need His help, but then leaving the Lord part out. There’s no room to say Jesus probably existed and was a good guy who taught good things, but I’m not so sure about the being God part.
Jesus calls everyone into account by asking, “Who do you say I am?” So again, what’s your answer? Because everything hinges on it.
There’s a fairly well known author and theologian named Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C.S. Lewis, who put it like this in his book “Mere Christianity”. It’s what we now know as the Jesus Trilemma. Because it’s kind of a dilemma with three options. So it’s a trilemma. He says that because of the claims Jesus makes, we are forced to make a decision between three things. Either Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or He is in fact who He claims to be. And, that’s God... who is everywhere all the time, always was and always will be. Nothing less.
Now, if you’re interested, let me tell you what Jesus, what this God has done for you.
He saw your flaws and pains and confusion. So He put on flesh and blood and came down here to go through it with you. In doing this, He gave up His divine privilege so that you can relate to Him and know that He gets it. He lived the perfect life so that you don’t have to. He was tempted on a scale that we know nothing about. He never gave in. He never sinned. He never fell short of the glorious standard. He maintained His status as the spotless Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice. And then, He who knew no sin, became sin. Not just taking your sins away, but becoming them. He became your sins so that He Himself could once and for all time eliminate the penalty for them. Because He decided to do this for you, He had to be treated as sin should be treated. He suffered public humiliation. He was tortured beyond measure. He died a death on a Roman cross... all the while looking at you and saying, “Yeah, this is so very worth it.” He died... He was buried... and then on the third day, He got up and told death, which is the ultimate price for your sin and all your shortcomings, to take a hike. He walked out of that grave and into eternity, where He invites you to join Him from now until forever.
And guess what, you don’t have to do anything to earn it. You don’t have to do anything to attain it or make it yours. Because it’s already been done for you.
When Jesus said it’s finished, He meant it.
And that’s the Gospel. The Good News. The greatest news conceivable. It’s why Jesus plus absolutely nothing is the answer to everything. It’s why Jesus looks at you with compassion and understanding, and He asks you, “Who do you say I am?”