Jesus asked, Who do you say that I am - August 2, 2020

Pastor Chuck Ryan

 

Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?”

 

Text: Mark 8:27-30

Thesis: God is calling believers to have a mature understanding of the nature of Jesus Christ so that they can be His “Ambassadors” to a lost world.

 

1. Jesus is concerned that people have correct knowledge of who he is. (vss27-18).
2. Jesus asked, “Who do they say that I am?”
3. Jesus was concerned about people in general knowing who He was.
4. Christians should ask, “do the people I am visiting with know that Jesus is God and why he came?”
5. Jesus is God!

• “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

2. Jesus became flesh and blood!

• “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

3. Jesus came to seek and save!

• “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19:10)

1. God has called all Christians to be His “ambassadors”.

• “We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor. 5:20)

1. Because God is calling us, it is a high calling!
2. God himself, is “making his appeal through us.”

 

1. Jesus is concerned that his disciples have a correct understanding of who he is. (vs29)
2. Jesus asked a second question, “Who do you say that I am.”
3. Peter answered the question correctly.

• “You are the Christ (or Messiah)”

1. Jesus’ primary concern for his disciples was for them to have a clear understanding of who he was and why he came. (See answer above)
2. Jesus would be leaving in a few short years and it was vital that his disciples have a clear understanding of his divine nature and his desire to be the savior of the world.

• Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John14:6)

2. Jesus desires for his disciples to grow in the knowledge of him. (See Ephesians 4:1-16)

• “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13)
• “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

3. Not being immature and being tossed about.

• “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” (Ephesians 4:14)
• “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.” (Hebrews 5:13)