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Introduction: The Disciple’s Confession
Sun Morn Sermon
Introduction: The Disciple’s Confession
Matthew 16:13-15
Introduction: The Disciple’s Confession
Read the Text.
Thesis: Today, I want to talk to you about your confession of faith by which you became a disciple of Jesus.
What is a confession?
Confession is not simply “the admission of guilt.”
It is an acknowledgement of God’s revelation of true reality.
It is admitting that our perception are often wrong, and is aligning ourselves with what God has said is really true.
Literally, the word “confess” means “to say the same thing.”
So for us to confess is for us to say the same thing that God has said, about himself and about us.
A biblical confession is agreeing with God in both our words and our actions.
There are some people who have wanted to mouth the words of confession with God without their actions aligning with that confession.
Jesus knew that there were many people who had been following Him because they wanted to see the miracles.
But they did not want the demands that He would place open their lives.
So—when He was alone with the apostles—He wanted to test their commitment.
The Question of Jesus
Jesus’s question was an odd question: “Who do people say that Son of Man is?”
It is an odd question, first, because Jesus refers to himself in the third person and with a title that is rather odd.
The Son of Man was used most notably in the Old Testament in Daniel 7:13-14:
“I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
“And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.[1]
Jesus is applying this title to himself and He is asking the disciples if the people recognize Him as being the fulfillment of all of God’s promises to bring salvation to the world.
The apostles respond with a number of answers: “Well, they are saying that you are John the Baptist.
Or that you are second-coming of Elijah.
Or Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
In other words, “Jesus, they are intrigued by what you are doing.
They admire you as a person.
You have a lot of followers on Twitter.”
But it might sound almost narcissistic.
Kind of self-centered.
“Gee, Jesus.
Why don’t you just go and do search your name and Google.
But you are kind of hung-up on yourself, aren’t you?”
But Jesus’s question was not probing whether or not He was popular.
Kind of like, “Hey what do the latest polls say about Me? Am I growing in popularity?
Am I trending on twitter?
There are still more self-identifying Christians than non-Christians?
Cool.
Everything’s good.
Let’s get back to real life.”
Jesus was putting them on the spot.
Jesus was asking—not for His knowledge but for their reflection—do you see things changing?
Do you see how my very presence in the world is bringing about a radical metamorphosis to those who are being exposed to me? Do you see that when the Son of Man has come to stand in your midst that everything changes?”
You see, most of us like a safe-Jesus.
We like a Jesus who invites us to come, but issues no threats to how His coming will impact our lives.
Too many self-professing Christians want to wear their Christianity like a lapel pin.
“If you look close enough, you will be able to tell whose side I’m on.”
But Jesus didn’t come to give lapel pins to those who vote for His Lordship.
He came to radically reorient the world to the reality of God’s rightful possession of His creation.
He came to announce that the world will one day stand before the holiness of God and reckon with their rejection of His sovereign rule.
But then Jesus moves beyond asking what the world was saying about him and he puts his immediate hearers—the apostles—on trial: “Who do you say that I am?”
It was not just a question for an immediate response.
It was a question for reflection.
Jesus is essentially saying: “Consider what you have seen.
You have seen me heal the blind and the lame.
You have seen me feed the 5000.
You have seen me walk on water.
You have heard what I have said.
Now, based on what you the evidence, who do you say that I am?”
He is still asking that question of us today.
He is asking that question of you.
“Who do you say that I am?”
Perhaps you are wanting to answer like so many of the crowd that was intrigued by His message in the NT.
“Oh Jesus.
You are a great man.
Kind of like one of the prophets.
You are a good teacher.
A noble man.
You are worthy of recognition.
You deserve a prominent place in history.”
And yet every one of those answers is inadequate.
Caesarea Philippi and the Worth of Christ
It is important that this confession was made at a place called Caesarea Philippi.
CP was a large city about 30 miles north of Jerusalem.
Originally, it was the home of the Greek god, Pan.
There were still caves that littered the landscape where people would go to give worship to Pan.
When Jesus would have been just a young boy, around 4 or 5 years old, the city had been renamed Caesarea Philippi in honor of Caesar Augustus and the Roman ruler, Phillip the Tetrarch.
So the site of pagan worship in a city erected to the honor of men became the location where the definitive declaration of Jesus’s Lordship was confessed.
You see, what is erected in the honor of men will crumble before Jesus’s Lordship.
When we confess that Jesus is the Christ, we are confessing that He alone is worthy of worship.
He alone is worthy of our work.
Many of us spend all of our lives trying to erect something in our name.
We want something in our lives that is a testimony to our kingdom.
A structure that memorializes our accomplishments.
But when we confess that Jesus is the Christ, we are confessing that there is nothing that deserves the investment of our lives more than Jesus Christ and His work in salvation.
You are the Christ, the Son of God.
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