You Are the Christ

Well, good morning, church. Would you turn with me to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 8.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

We're looking at verses 27 through 33. That's page 792 in the Pew Bible.

Mark chapter 8, 27 through 33.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

As we turn there, let me pray, and then I'll read for us.

Father in heaven, what a mighty prayer that is, that you would be our vision.

Lord, whatever may befall, be our vision.

Lord, we confess that there are many things that crowd into our line of sight, the sight of our hearts.

God, we pray that you would clear those things away now in these moments as we come to your word.

Let our spiritual blindness be healed and help us to see you in all your glory.

That we might love you and serve you and worship you and rest in you as we were created to do.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right. Mark chapter 8, verse 27 through 33.

Mark 8:27–33

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

And on the way, he asked his disciples,

Who do people say that I am?

And they told him, John the Baptist.

And others say, Elijah.

And others, one of the prophets.

And he asked them,

But who do you say that I am?

Peter answered him,

You are the Christ.

And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things

and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes

and be killed.

And after three days, rise again.

And he said this plainly.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But turning and seeing his disciples,

he rebuked Peter and said,

Get behind me, Satan.

For you are not setting your mind on the things of God,

but on the things of man.

So, the Gospel of Mark.

The Gospel of Mark is a very carefully and artfully constructed book.

You might not notice that the first time you read it

because it's so quick and it's so punchy.

But it's actually sort of wrought with a lot of care and a lot of detail.

The Gospel begins by saying,

This is the good news.

The Gospel about Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

And then Mark's story takes us on this kind of two-part journey.

There are two halves to the Gospel of Mark.

In the first eight chapters,

Mark is essentially trying to help us answer the question,

Who is he?

Who is this Jesus?

And then in the second half of the book,

the last eight chapters,

Mark is trying to help us come to see and answer the question,

What did he come to do?

And these two halves actually connect right here in our passage.

Who is he?

What did he come to do?

This passage is really the hinge of the whole book.

We've come to kind of the burning center of the whole thing.

But you know, this passage doesn't just tell us what Mark,

or the earliest apostles,

or even what Jesus himself thought about his own identity.

It also turns the spotlight on us,

the readers, the listeners.

What about you?

What do you believe about Jesus?

Who do you say that I am?

There's no more important question than this.

What do you believe about Jesus?

Who do you say he is?

I want to look at our passage in four parts this morning,

as we consider this searching and most important of questions.

And in the first part,

we see that there are lots of opinions about Jesus.

Lots of opinions then,

and lots of opinions now.

Look again at verses 27 and 28.

Mark writes,

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

Now that's about a 15 mile travel north of the Sea of Galilee,

Caesarea Philippi.

It was chiefly a non-Jewish region,

and it was actually famous for having a pagan worship site

dedicated to the god Pan.

Sort of this half goat, half man sort of god

that was about fertility and crops

and all sorts of things that you would worship

if you were a pagan in the first century.

So this is Caesarea Philippi.

Sort of a strange place for Jesus to take his disciples,

to ask them this searching question.

But they're getting away.

They're getting away from the crowds.

They're getting away from the hubbub.

They're getting away from the activity.

And on the way,

he asked his disciples,

Who do people say that I am?

And they told him John the Baptist,

and others say Elijah,

and others one of the prophets.

So we see that there are a lot of opinions circulating

about who Jesus is.

And you notice that most of these opinions

are pretty pious opinions.

They're even respectful opinions.

All of them sort of seek to make Jesus out

to be a great, even powerful figure.

Right?

John the Baptist was a respected and revered preacher.

Perhaps Jesus is continuing the work of John the Baptist.

Or how about Elijah?

Elijah was a great Old Testament prophet.

And the Old Testament actually ends by saying

that a figure like Elijah would appear

before the great and awesome day of the Lord.

Perhaps Jesus is that great figure.

Or how about one of the prophets,

or even the prophet?

Moses predicted in Deuteronomy chapter 18

Deuteronomy 18 · chapter mention

that a prophet like him would arise.

Perhaps Jesus is that prophet

that Moses had spoken about.

Again, all these are pious, respectful opinions.

And today, it's kind of the same, isn't it?

There are a lot of respectful, pious opinions

about who Jesus is.

A great moral teacher.

A prophet.

A perfect model of love and compassion.

A martyr who stood up against the injustice of his day.

But as we assess these opinions,

do they match what the earliest records

actually tell us about Jesus?

Jesus is a great moral teacher.

But he was much more than that.

And what about those things he says

that don't seem very likely

on the lips of a great moral teacher?

Things like,

I am the way, the truth, and the life,

and no one comes to the Father except through me.

Can you imagine sitting in an ethics class

and hearing your teacher say that?

Imagine turning on PBS

and seeing one of these self-help gurus

saying something like that.

You wouldn't think they're a great moral teacher,

would you?

Jesus was a perfect model of love and compassion.

We've seen that again and again in Mark's gospel,

haven't we?

As he touches lepers,

as he eats with outcasts,

as he welcomes the lowly and the sinners.

But he was much more than that.

There are times when the disciples

are downright afraid

at his power and majesty

when he calms storms

and walks on the sea

and casts out evil spirits.

And yes, Jesus did stand up

to the injustice of his day.

And yet,

was he simply a martyr

dying for a good cause?

Our passage will have more to say about that

in just a minute.

But so many of the opinions

or the options that circulate today

don't really do full justice

to the real Jesus.

They only see part of the picture,

not the whole.

So are you and I willing

to subject our opinion of Jesus

or what you might hear circulating about him

among your peers

or what you see on popular TV

or even read in scholarly books?

Are you willing to subject

your opinion of Jesus

to the full data that we have?

And when you do,

you'll start to find

that those opinions

are a bit like a blanket

or a sweater

that's just a little too small.

No matter how hard you stretch it

or pull it,

it never seems to cover everything.

There's always something that's left out.

There's always something

that's unaccounted for.

And you know,

just because an opinion is popular

doesn't mean it's true.

The popular opinion

during Jesus' own ministry

seems to be

that he was a prophet of some sort.

But that wasn't quite right.

It was close,

but it wasn't the full picture.

That sweater didn't quite fit.

In the second century,

one of the more popular opinions

about Jesus

came to be known as docetism.

This was the idea

that Jesus only seemed to be human.

He only seemed to have a body.

Because after all,

if Jesus was a powerful divine figure,

he couldn't possibly have

an icky body like you and me.

So that was an incredibly popular opinion.

And today we look at that

and we think,

that's utterly ridiculous.

But again,

that sweater didn't quite fit either.

And down through the ages,

popular opinions abounded.

Perhaps Jesus was just

a really great human

endowed with the spirit of God

in a unique way.

Or perhaps Jesus was just

a mistaken apocalyptic prophet.

Or perhaps Jesus was just

a religious zealot

out to overturn Rome.

And what you find

is that these old ideas

get recycled again and again

and marketed as new ideas.

And again and again

as the ideas go in

and out of fashion.

Whether it's a cashmere turtleneck

or a fisherman's white wool cable knit,

the sweater doesn't fit.

But the opinions just don't match the reality.

And that brings us to the second point.

There are lots of opinions,

but only one real answer.

Verses 29 and 30.

And Jesus asked them,

but who do you say that I am?

Peter answered him,

you are the Christ.

And he strictly charged them

to tell no one about him.

And here,

with Peter's confession of faith,

we see for the first time

in Mark's gospel,

the answer that's been building.

The answer that's been slowly rising

like a wave that begins far from shore.

And you can see it

just slowly gathering energy

and power.

And then it rises above the surface

in power and in beauty,

reflecting the sky and the sun.

There it comes,

raising up.

What other answer could there be?

And yet notice under what conditions

Peter makes this confession.

Jesus had done a number of great signs, yes,

but at the same time,

Jesus had no wealth.

No majesty,

no great following,

no military power.

In so many ways,

Jesus didn't look anything like the Messiah

that they had been waiting for.

The heads of state didn't recognize him.

The religious leaders had all but rejected him.

And yet still Peter says,

you're the Christ.

You're the king.

You're the one we've been waiting for.

The Holy Spirit enabled Peter to see what merely human eyes could not see.

As we saw last week,

our natural condition because of the fall is one of spiritual blindness.

But God can heal our spiritual blindness

and give us eyes to see.

Eyes to see what Peter saw.

Hearts and mouths that confess what Peter confessed.

How about you,

friend?

Has your sight begun to get clearer?

Is Jesus no longer to you just a literary character in a story?

Is he no longer just some historical figure?

Is he no longer just one more religious teacher or leader?

Has the wave begun to rise for you too?

Do you see it in all its power and beauty?

The loaves that feed the multitude.

The lepers that walk away clean.

The outcasts and the sinners who are embraced.

The evil spirits that flee.

The storms that grow quiet at the mere sound of his voice.

Yes, the popular opinion would say something respectable,

something pious even.

Perhaps a great moral teacher.

But as the wave rises,

it doesn't do justice to what you've seen.

Where else do you find such power and such love?

Where else do you find such blistering truth

and yet such gentle grace?

Can he even be compared to a prophet?

Does he even belong in that category anymore?

Or is he in a class by himself?

And does your heart reach out to him and say,

you are the Christ,

the king,

the one we've been waiting for?

To put it all to rights.

To fix what's broken.

To mend what is torn.

To make the evil and the sadness come untrue.

Like Peter,

we should never expect

this confession

to be a popular one.

We should never expect

such a true and clear confession

of Jesus as the Christ

to win us prestige

or position

or rank

or fame.

In fact,

it may mean the loss

of a lot of those things.

But let us follow

in Peter's footsteps nonetheless.

If the Holy Spirit

is working

in the eyes of your heart,

then call out

and confess him

as your own.

Why?

If the cost is so great,

why do so?

But friend,

what greater reward

could there be

to know

and be known

by

the king?

Isn't that its own reward?

And the things of earth

will grow strangely dim

in the light

of his glory

and grace.

It's the very thing

our hearts were created for,

to know

and be known

by him.

But as our passage continues,

we see that at this stage,

the disciples

didn't understand

everything

fully

just yet.

There are lots of opinions

about Jesus

and only one real answer.

But this answer

is deeper than you think.

This answer

is a lot

deeper

than you think.

And this brings us

to our third point

of our passage

in verse 31.

You know,

did you think

it was a little strange

that Jesus tells Peter

to tell no one?

I mean,

Peter has just

confessed

that Jesus is the Christ,

the Messiah.

Finally,

someone gets it.

Why not tell Peter

to go

and spread the news

everywhere to everyone?

Well,

because at this point,

not even the disciples

have quite the full picture.

Look at verse 31.

And Jesus began

to teach them

that the Son of Man,

he's referring to himself there,

must suffer many things

and be rejected

by the elders

and the chief priests

and the scribes

and be killed

and after three days

rise again.

And it's with this verse

that Mark's gospel

takes a turn

and we see

the great wave

of Jesus' identity

begin to crest

and see it

take its full form.

The disciples,

like most Jews

of their day,

expected a Messiah

who would reign

in power,

not suffer

in agony.

They had what we might call

a theology of glory,

a theology of victory,

a theology of triumph,

not a theology

of the cross.

But notice

that this message

of Jesus' suffering,

rejection,

death,

and rising again,

according to Jesus,

it's utterly essential

to what he,

as the Messiah,

has come to do.

Notice the word there

that he uses,

must.

The Son of Man

must suffer.

He must be rejected.

He must be killed.

He must rise again.

There's no understanding,

Jesus,

apart from this

must.

But what does he mean by it?

Why does Jesus say

that he must suffer?

Does he mean that

he'll simply be unable

to escape the jealousy

and hatred

of the chief priest

and the scribe,

that they're stronger

than him,

they're more powerful

than him,

so it's inevitable

that they'll have

their way with him?

Is that what this

must means?

Surely that can't be it.

Does Jesus mean

that he must leave them

a great example

of self-sacrifice

and self-denial?

Is this why he must die,

to merely teach them

the importance

of self-giving love?

Well, that can't be it either.

Then why is Jesus

so adamant

that he must die?

Well, the Messiah

was the one

who was supposed

to put things right,

to heal and mend

what was broken.

But the greatest problem

wasn't the Romans,

and it wasn't leprosy,

and it wasn't

a shortage of food,

and it wasn't

even unclean spirits.

All those things

mattered,

but that wasn't

the root of the problem.

In theory,

all those things

could be fixed,

but still,

the greatest problem

would remain

the one that stood

at the root

and gave birth

to all the rest.

What needed

to be put right

wasn't ultimately

their relationship

to Rome

or to one another

or to the environment

or to themselves.

What needed

to be put right

was their relationship

with God.

And to do that,

the king must

suffer,

be rejected

and killed

and rise again.

Consider why that is

from God's side.

God's side.

Again and again,

the Bible presents

God as utterly

holy and just

and at the same time

utterly gracious

and loving.

Read the Old Testament.

What do you find?

Well, again and again,

you find things

like Exodus 34,

6 and 7.

God is a God

merciful and gracious,

slow to anger

and abounding

in steadfast love

and faithfulness,

keeping steadfast love

for thousands,

forgiving iniquity

and transgression

and sin,

but who will

by no means

clear the guilty.

Well, which one is it?

Is God perfectly just?

He will by no means

clear the guilty?

Or is God perfectly

merciful and gracious,

abounding in steadfast love?

Do we have to flip a coin

and pick?

Is God erratic?

Does he choose one one day

and one the other?

No.

The answer is he's both.

Always.

At the same time.

And that creates a dilemma

that runs right through

the entire Old Testament.

How can God

be holy and just

and yet

still live with his sinful people,

still be merciful

and accepting?

Well, friends,

the answer is here

in Mark chapter 8

Mark 8 · chapter mention

when Jesus says,

must.

At the cross.

At the cross,

the Messiah

will represent his people

bearing the perfectly

just penalty

for human sin.

God will judge sin

perfectly at the cross

and at the same time

extend perfect mercy

because God in Christ

is bearing the penalty

on himself

so his people

don't have to.

Utterly,

holy and just

and perfectly

merciful.

And that brings us

to the human side

of the relationship.

You see,

the problem,

what we see here

in this must of Jesus,

the problem of human sinfulness

is so great,

so intractable,

that nothing less

can take it away.

We can't possibly

be good enough

to cover over the offense

or to make up

for the cost.

No,

the Messiah

must suffer

and die

to atone

for our sins.

If there's ever

to be atonement

for sins,

if humans are ever

to be put right

with God,

then the Messiah

must die.

And yet,

here's the good news.

Jesus willingly

did so.

Seeing what had

to be done,

the great cost

that needed

to be paid,

seeing what must happen

if ever we could

be forgiven,

Jesus freely

chose to do so.

The one who had

all the glory

and the splendor

of heaven,

who was beautiful

beyond compare,

would come,

as Isaiah 53

says,

that we read earlier,

and be despised

and forgotten

and considered

of little account.

Why?

For us.

Friends,

this is the centerpiece

of the whole Bible.

Everything else

is secondary to this,

that Christ died

for sinners.

This is the truth

that you can lean

your whole weight upon

in life and in death,

in sickness and in health,

that though we deserve

nothing,

Christ willingly

suffered for us

on the cross.

And by his suffering,

he's purchased forgiveness

and eternal life

for all who believe

in him.

This is the one thing

that you can rest

everything on.

But there's one last thing

in our passage

that we see.

We saw that there are

many opinions about Jesus,

but only one real answer.

Then we saw that this answer

was even deeper

than we realized.

Our passage ends,

though,

by showing us

that we can easily

lose sight

of this central truth.

We can easily

lose sight of it.

Pick up in verse 32,

and Peter took Jesus aside

and began to rebuke him.

But turning and seeing

his disciples,

Jesus rebuked Peter

and said,

get behind me, Satan,

for you're not setting

your mind on the things

of God,

but on the things

of man.

Friends,

how often are we like Peter?

We want a theology

of glory,

not a theology

of the cross.

In other words,

we want a Christ

who promises us

health and wealth

and power

and happiness,

not a Christ

who suffers.

We want a Christ

who grants us

our own wishes

and desires,

a Christ who follows

our agenda

and our program,

not a Christ

who calls us

to take up a cross

and follow him

on the path

of self-sacrifice

and self-giving.

How often do we, too,

set our minds

on the things of man

and not

on the things

of God?

How quickly,

thinking that we're

actually honoring

God's name,

do we end up just

playing into the hand

of the evil one?

So, friends,

let us learn humility

from our passage.

Just because we as Christians

speak the name of Christ,

it doesn't mean

that we've always

fully embraced

the reality

of Christ crucified

and applied it

to our whole lives.

There are still

areas of our hearts

where we desire

human glory

and human approval.

people.

There are still

areas where we

refuse to take up

our cross

and follow him.

There are still

areas where we

fail to see

that my sins

are so great

that Christ

must die for me.

So, friends,

let us walk

in humility

knowing that

this truth

about who Jesus

really is

has to go

deeper

and deeper

and deeper

into our lives,

into our thinking,

into our relationships,

into our church,

into our workplaces.

And if we learn

humility

from Peter here,

I think we can

also learn

charity.

Yes,

Jesus gives Peter

a strong

rebuke,

perhaps the strongest

he could give.

But doesn't

this passage

teach us

not to be

too quick

to write off

another believer

because of their

errors

and mistakes?

Within a few

verses,

Peter got it

wonderfully right

and then

disastrously wrong.

And he was

corrected for it.

And yet,

that wasn't

the end

of Peter's story.

He would come

to see what

every true Christian

comes to see,

that the cross

is the very

center of it all

and that we

can't really know

Jesus as our

king without

knowing him

as our crucified

and risen king.

as every

Christian can

confess,

it takes time

for this truth

to permeate

our whole

thinking

and our

whole living

so we can

be gracious

and gentle

and charitable

with one another

as we work

these things

out in our

lives.

But the truth

is,

friends,

by the Holy

Spirit,

it will do

that.

It will

begin to

permeate

everything.

and it

must do

that.

This is

what it

means to

confess

Jesus as

the Christ,

not just

as our

king,

not just

as our

Lord,

but as

our

crucified

king,

as our

risen

Lord.

Not

just a

theology of

glory,

but a

theology of

the cross.

So how

about you,

friend?

Who do you

say he is?

And have

you confessed

him as

such?

There are

lots of

opinions,

but only

one real

answer.

You are

the Christ.

Make Peter's

confession your

own today.

Let's pray

together.

Our

Father in

heaven,

like Peter,

we know

that,

God,

we so

often get

it wrong.

And so

we pause

now,

having

considered

this

passage,

in quiet

before you

and in

stillness,

and ask

for your

Holy Spirit

to come

and take

the blinders

from our

eyes and

from our

heart.

Lord,

clear away

the opinions

and help

us to

truly see

and to

know and

to confess

Jesus as

the Christ.

Christ.

And Lord,

for those

of us

who have

through

your grace

come to

take you

and confess

you as

the Christ,

forgive us,

God,

for ways in

which we

have not

followed the

way of the

cross.

But God,

thank you for

the hope of

this passage,

that you're

healing and

good and

gracious

King.

God,

come and do

a work in

us,

we pray.

Make us

the kind

of people

who confess

you with

boldness

and live

that out

in the

gentleness

and strength

and courage

that you

provide.

Pray this

in Jesus'

name.

Amen.