Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2006 : October 1, 2006

Theme: What Do You Say about Jesus?

Church year occasion: Pentecost 17

Recently a man was walking through an airport terminal when things were pretty slow. But even though it was slow, many people were congregating around a certain shop, standing in line for something while every other shop stood virtually empty. Were they standing in line for the latest Starbucks to open or some new and trendy ice cream shop? Were they waiting in line to buy the most recent #1 New York Times bestseller? No. They were waiting in line to buy a lottery ticket. Small neighborhood grocery stores have been saved by the lottery because it brings in so much revenue. Indian reservations that once lamented 85% unemployment are now boasting that there are jobs waiting to be filled by anyone who wants one. And did you notice some of the first things to be rebuilt in New Orleans near the coast? Huge casinos, where more people than ever are crowding in and hoping for the big jackpot or the easy way to make lots of money. When it comes to money matters, casinos and especially the lottery offer people a quick fix. And if you've been up late at night, you almost can't turn the station without finding someone trying to sell you something that will turn all your financial problems around in only a few weeks, or even days. It's official -- the quick fix is in.

People these days are always looking for a quick fix, and I have to admit that I'm among them. I don't have much patience waiting for my car to get fixed. Why? Because it's inconvenient to have to carpool to the office or ride the bus or rearrange my schedule with my wife because now we're down to only one vehicle. Only one vehicle! Oh, the humanity! Can we ever survive?

God's Word that we're looking at this morning will bring this into a better perspective for us. When we're talking about being a disciple of Jesus, the quick fix and the easy life are now out the window. Today Jesus reminds us that confessing our faith in Jesus requires sacrifice. We need to think about that as we answer the question Jesus asks us this morning: "What do you say about me?"

What do you say about Jesus -- in your private life, in your business life, among your friends and neighbors? Do you stand up for Jesus and look for opportunities to tell others about him and live for him, or is it easier to melt into the background and not stand out? What does your life say about Jesus? What do people hear you say about Jesus? Those questions can make us red in the face as we think of the times we haven't confessed our faith to others.

The whole discussion in our text centers around the question, "Who do people say I am?" When Jesus asked his disciples that question, they answered that some people said that he was John the Baptist, others said that he was the prophet Elijah, and still others said that he was another of the Old Testament prophets. If there is one thing that we ought to learn from those answers, it is surely this -- that people can say some very nice things about Jesus, that they can really speak of Jesus in words of high praise and still be dead wrong in their opinion of him.

When we're talking about great believers who exemplified being a follower of the true God and putting that belief into practice, there are no greater men than John the Baptist, and Elijah, and the Old Testament prophets. To put Jesus into a class with those men surely means to put him at the very top of the scale, to give him the highest honor that can be given to men here on this earth. Yet, if this is the extent of our praise of the Lord Jesus, then we have completely missed the boat. And one thing we surely ought to learn from it is that pastors can preach today and say all sorts of nice things about Jesus and still be false teachers. This too is part of the sheep's clothing worn by false prophets today.

Jesus expected his disciples to have a higher opinion of him than this. After he heard these other answers that were given by the crowds, he turned to his disciples and said, "But who do you say I am?" That repeated question shows clearly that Jesus did not accept those other answers as being correct. He wants his people to give him higher honor than this. Peter gave Jesus the answer he was looking for when he said, "You are the Christ." or, in other words, "You are the promised Savior."

The Old Testament spoke of the Messiah as God, coming into this world to redeem it, as a great king who would come to save his people from all their enemies, as a great prophet who would tell his people the truth and bring them the best news they had ever heard, as a great priest who would give his own soul as an offering for the sins of all people.

Jesus himself teaches us that there is a connection between his high position as the Christ and the suffering he had to endure. Our text tells us that after Peter had said, "You are the Christ," Jesus began to teach his disciples that "the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again."

When Jesus called himself the Son of Man, he was using another name that the Old Testament gave to the Messiah. The Old Testament described the Son of Man as a great ruler who would rule over men from all the nations of the earth and whose dominion would last into all eternity. When you realize that, you can understand better why Peter talks the way he does in our text. When Jesus began to talk about the suffering of the Son of Man, Peter said that Jesus should not talk that way. Our text says that Peter began to rebuke him, and Matthew tells us that Peter said, "Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!" (Matthew 16:22) He found it hard to understand how the Son of Man, the Messiah, who was God himself, the Son of the living God, could possibly be so deeply humiliated.

And yet, this was the most important part of the work that Jesus had come into the world to do. If Jesus had not suffered, he would not be a great King who conquered the devil to deliver his people from the devil's kingdom of darkness. If Jesus had not suffered, he would not be the great priest who had to give his life as a ransom for many. If Jesus had not suffered, he would not be the great prophet who can bring us the good news of the forgiveness of our sins through his blood and death. Therefore, it is no wonder that, when Peter did not want Jesus to suffer, Jesus said to him, "Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

When those who claim to speak for Jesus in our time and who want to be spokesmen for the Christian church have little to say about the real importance of the suffering of Christ and speak of him, instead, only as a great example of love for our fellowmen or as a great social reformer or as a great teacher of how we ought to live in this world, they just demonstrate that they do not understand the things of God. They also deserve the rebuke that our Savior gave to Peter: "Get behind me, Satan!"

And when that same Savior, by whose suffering we have been redeemed, tells us that we should take up our cross and follow him, we know that he has a perfect right to ask that of us, and we ought to take up our cross and follow him.

We can do that in a hundred different ways, and each of us will be called upon to make many decisions that involve taking up the cross. A young lady who gives up a boyfriend of whom she is very fond, because she knows that marriage to an unbeliever could likely take her away from her Savior, is taking up that cross. A young Christian couple who give up a circle of friends whose company they enjoy, because they know that these people are leading them farther away from a Christian life is taking up that cross. A man who gives up a chance at a promotion because he knows that it will take him to a place where it will be almost impossible to hear the Word of God in its truth and purity is taking up that cross.

It is not wrong to be happy and to enjoy life, but our own happiness ought never to become more important to us than loyalty to Jesus and his Word. And if we remember how much the Son of God had to suffer so that we might have the greatest happiness we can ever know in this sinful world -- the happiness that comes from knowing him as our Savior who has delivered us from eternal pain by suffering it for us in our place -- then we ought to be ready to give up whatever stands in the way of our devotion to him. That is what it means to take up the cross.

So what do you say about Jesus?

You know him.

You know what he's done for you.

You know others who need to know what he's done for them also.

Let our every thought, our every word, our every action shout from the rooftops of the world that we not only know who Jesus is, our God and our Savior, but that it is obvious that we have no problem following that God and Savior in all things, as we take up our Christian cross and follow him to whatever end in this life, and to the eternal life that awaits us. Amen.