Culver Community Church

Pastor Chris Sweeney

Sermon Notes

July 1, 2018

Mistaken and Revealed Identities (Part 1) – Matthew 16:13 – 28

{vs. 13-14} Finally, Jesus has the “alone time” that He has sought out with His disciples!  The ministry has been going on for about three years and most have abandoned Jesus except these few – those who acknowledge that Jesus is the only One who, as Peter declared has the “words of eternal life” (John 6:68).  So now Jesus has got to get two important things across to the men: 1) who He is and 2) what He has come to do.  Jesus opens the conversation with a non-threatening question "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

We should take a clue from Jesus and begin more of our outreach or evangelistic encounters with questions!  Most people will not care about our message, the good news unless they first understand that we care about them!  So many ‘Bible-bashers’ or ‘sidewalk prophets’ fail not because God’s power is lacking but because we are not following God’s leading and connecting with those we want to share with.  Let’s start by asking who they are, what they think or believe and then . . . wait for it . . . most of the time they will turn back around and ask “Well, what do you think?”  That’s when we’ve got them! That’s when we can say
“I don’t know too much on my own (my opinion doesn’t really matter) – but my experience and life lead me to believe that the Bible is God’s Word – His revelation to me (to all of us). 

"Who do people say the Son of Man is?" – we know that “Son of Man” is Jesus’ favorite way of referring to Himself.  In this one simple phrase, we and the disciples are being told two very important things that can be seen from the Old Testament usages of the phrase:

· God called the prophet Ezekiel “son of man” 93 times and by this, He was describing him as a man!  Each of us is either a son or daughter of man; man begets man.  We know this by simple observation – there aren’t any ostriches, puppies or palm trees in the hospital maternity ward!  It is one of God’s original rules – every animal, plant and even man reproduces “each according to its kind” (Genesis 1).  So, this term also acknowledges that Jesus is a man like us, born into the human race, although ironically, not by a human father!

· In Daniel the description “Son of Man” is a Messianic title.  The Son of Man is the One who approached God without fear and was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that will never end!  This describes someone (a man) who is given sovereign power (God’s power) and is worshipped (worship is reserved for God alone!).  That tells us that Messiah will be a man and God! (Daniel 7:13-14)  When Jesus used this phrase, He was claiming this prophecy to be about Himself.  The Jews of that day should have been familiar with the phrase, the reference and to whom it referred.  In this, Jesus was proclaiming Himself to be the Messiah.

The disciples reply (knowing that Jesus is asking about Himself) with the various answers that they have heard.  These men were the ones passing bread and fish among the crowds.  They were the ministry helpers, crowd control etc. and while they were among the people, they had heard the talk about Jesus.  So all they had to do was give Jesus what they had heard.  We know that Herod thought Jesus was John the Baptist, returned from the dead (because of his conscience). 

In general, the Jews did not believe in reincarnation - it was definitely not Scriptural!  However, in order to explain the great miracles that Jesus did, the common consensus was that Jesus was <fill in the blank> raised from the dead.  What most people were doing was trying to describe the current work of God in terms of a previous one!  This is common in the entertainment industry – an actor/actress might be pitched for a role or described in terms of someone more famous.  For example, she is a young Marylyn Monroe or his acting reminds me of Cary Grant, etc.  They wanted to know who Jesus was and used previous prophets to try to understand what He came to do.

· John the Baptist – the wild, preacher of repentance, a great moral teacher.  He did not mince words but told it like it is – you need to do this, “you brood of vipers”, he was the very image of “thus sayeth the Lord”, etc.

· Elijah – The prophet of miracles, the prophet who called down fire from Heaven.  Elijah was in their minds the highest of the Prophets, one who never died because God took him to heaven.

· Jeremiah  - The weeping prophet, the embodiment of God’s love.  He was the one who called out for people to turn to the Lord, an evangelist at heart but sadly no one responded.

· one of the prophets (or ‘that prophet’) – Not just any prophet but the one like unto Moses foretold in Deuteronomy 18:15 (another law giver).

Each of these individuals was believed to be a forerunner for the Messiah by various groups – but what we see is that each was expected to help usher in the Messiah.  Did you notice that Messiah, that Son of David was missing?  It seems however, that no one believed that He actually was the Messiah!  Jesus was like each of these in some ways, but He was and is so much more!  We know through hindsight, the Word and the work of the Holy Spirit that all of these are wrong!  Jesus came to do something completely new – a work that has never been seen or fully understood before that time or since!  He is the only way to the Father and no one can come except through Him!  Tragically, there are people, congregations and even whole movements that do the same thing today – in fact, ever since Jesus walked the Earth!

· One church might think that Jesus is John the Baptist – they might hang a sign out front saying “The First Church of Morality”, calling everyone to repent of their sins but in emphasizing this, they fail to tell the rest of the story!  Being sorry by itself is not enough; we need a Savior to forgive those sins.  They organize boycotts and letter writing campaigns, while decrying the fallen state of man and this world!  Repent!

· Another group might see Jesus as Elijah – declaring that there is power and signs and wonders at every meeting!  Every member speaks in tongues, is healed and blessed by God or is kicked out for lack of faith!  Fire shoots through the pews and oil flows from the

· Next we see the Jeremiah crowd, the missionary or evangelist churches.  They offer classes on evangelism technique and apologetics mid-week, special meetings to weep over the lost and they have contests and giveaways for bringing the most visitors or unsaved people to services.  Sometimes they try so hard to seek the lost, to get the yes – they forget what the question is!  This is the Pokémon church – “gotta catch ‘em all!

· Lastly, we see that prophet disciples, they are all about the Word (even if they don’t live by it or understand the heart of the message).  This group studies night and day, they are quick to point out any infractions of the Law and their doctrine is always perfectly correct.  They learn the original languages, pronunciation, hermeneutics and research the context of every text but sadly, they miss the love in God’s love letter!

Don’t be mistaken, true followers should be proficient in these areas but more than any one, we need to know that Jesus covers every area of need and He Himself is our everything - - - not just the Lord of one specialty.

{vs. 15-17} Jesus moves from ice-breaker to the real deal – what about you, what do you think?  This question is the direct, pop quiz on important idea number 1 – who am I?  Now, Jesus was not going through an identity crisis; He already knew what others thought and He wasn’t asking to get ideas about who He should be ‘when He grows up’.  This was to lead the disciples and to contrast these mistaken identities from the Truth, revealed by God. 

Peter (impulsive as ever) answers for the group and this is one of those times when he gets it right – “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”.  It is this truth that allows us to go from hanging around or interested in Jesus, to a real believer!  This is the Rock that the church is built upon – the real identity of Jesus, He is the cornerstone and every other living stone built into that great edifice must get this question right!  This is the truth that believers believe, the unseen reality that we must have faith upon to enter the Kingdom.  You cannot have a mistaken identity for Jesus and be accepted by God!  After all, you and I can’t believe in Jesus if we don’t understand who He is.  Jesus is not just the Son of Man, He is the Son of God – Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One of God!  He is fully man (without sin), He is fully God – the perfect revelation of God sent to Earth to fallen men!  We cannot know anything of God until we come to know this revelation, Our Savior!

Upon passing the test, Jesus immediately declares the reward – you are blessed (remember the Sermon on the Mount – the Blessed are those who are favored by God, the beloved, those acceptable in His sight.)  This is not the first time that one of the men has declared this – but I believe it is the first true understanding of it.  They have worshipped after small and great miracles and they have declared Him to have the words of life – but here and now they truly begin to get it, which opens the doors to the next stage of Jesus’ training.  They are about to get the second big idea – the revelation of what Jesus (the Messiah) was sent to do!