The Supreme Question :: Matthew 16:13-20

Then Jesus said, On this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

There are questions in life we should never ask. We should never ask, why are you single ... when are you going to have children ... or even worse ... are you pregnant? We should never ask, what’s up with that spot on your face ... or are you on a diet? We should never ask, what happened to your hair ... or is that your real hair color? 

Whether it’s been at a family gathering or the time you met a neighbor at the grocery store, we’ve all been asked questions that should never be asked. 

But there is one question you should answer every day. It is the supreme question of life. And blessed are you who answer it correctly. This question was asked first by Jesus. First, he asked the disciples, who do the people say the son of man is? Then, most importantly, he asks

NOW WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?

1. No doubt the disciples should have a good handle on how to answer this supreme question because they’d been following Jesus now for two years. 

Today, they’re approaching Caesarea Philippi, which is a good 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. They’re in the foothills of Mount Hermon, near the Syrian border. The Romans built a magnificent city here with a gleaming marble temple so that the people can worship the gods of wealth and power, notably Caesar. There’s another temple nearby for the Greek god Pan. And at one time, the god Baal was worshipped here, too. The people loved this Canaanite god so much they even sacrificed their children to him. 

If I must say, it’s a perfect backdrop for the supreme question: Who do you say I am?

Before we get to that, though, we really should answer the first question ... who do the people say the son of man is? 

For hundreds of years, the Israelites had been formulating their ideas about who he would be, what he would look like, what kind of leader he’d be. The answers are quite telling about what the world thinks of scripture. 

Well, the disciples told Jesus, some say the Son of Man is John the Baptizer, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. In other words, the world thinks the son of man is a man of ideals or an ideal man, a role model, a good man with a good word about good living ... you know a mere man who knows God’s word. No one ever thinks twice about Jesus applying this title to himself.

The Son of Man is, in fact, a very specific man in scripture ... a unique man. And you really should perk your ears when you here the phrase. 

When we study the passages in which Jesus applies the Son of Man to himself, you will find that Jesus is doing things that only God is able to do. 

In other words, though he is 100 percent man, he is more than just a man. 

• He is a unique descendent, born of a promise, born of a woman, born from the lineage of Abraham and David ... born for the unique purpose of destroying the giants of sin, death, and the devil. 

• The son of man is the one who breathes life into dead bones. He is the one who faces the heat for us, who heals and saves us, who nourishes us and calls us, who pursues us.

• And he is the one who is given dominion and glory that never ends. 

Yet for some reason the people aren’t recognizing any of that. 

In other words, the world doesn’t think it is Jesus. Just like today.

 The Sadducees said Jesus was a lunatic; the Pharisees said he was a drunk and a glutton, or even Beelzebul, the Lord of Filth. And the scribes called him an ignoramus, wondering aloud Does anything good come from Nazareth? 

Today, the world has boiled Jesus down to simply a good man with a good word about good living, the purveyor of the golden rule. They think he ignores the sin in your life ... that he just wants you to be just like Jesus ... a pious man of prayer ... a man bound by the Word of God.

The world loves to set Jesus on this pedestal of their own making. The Mormons pretend to think so much of Jesus, they named their church after him. Yet they still don’t recognize him for who he is: they call him a son of God, but not the son of the Living God. Eastern and new age religions think Jesus is so much like a god it makes perfect sense to them to feature him on the cover of Time as the most influential man who ever lived.

II. Such answers are certainly complimentary, but they all express nothing about the true nature or mission of Jesus, the true son of man. 

So today we need to ask ourselves. Who do you say he is?

Is he really the one who gives you his body and blood at this altar? Or is he your best friend? Do you actually hold him in higher esteem than the Kansas City Chiefs? 

Who is he?

Our verdict on how to answer this question is inadequate if we merely elevate Jesus to the highest rank among the sons of men and give him but a mere hour a week on Sunday mornings. Our verdict is inadequate if we pay mere lip service to our baptism. Our verdict is inadequate if we reduce the Lord’s Supper to a mere meal of remembrance, only for special occasions. Our verdict is inadequate if we allow other lifestyles to take precedence over our Lord.

So ... who do you say he is?

Simon Peter has the correct answer ... and he was so excited by the truth he couldn’t open his mouth fast enough, giving voice to the conviction of all the entire holy Christian and apostolic church, declaring, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. 

Is this your confession, too? 

Thank God if it is.

Forget all the dead gods in the backdrop of Caesarea Philippi, and more importantly, the dead gods in the backdrop of your lives ... your idols of health, wealth, and prosperity.

Jesus is the Living God, the God with us, our Immanuel. Jesus is the Living God who finds us, calls us, comes to us, helps those who are like the Canaanite woman crying out in simple faith to the Living God, Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Jesus is the Living God who has met us where we are at and brought us to the knowledge of the truth of who he is and what he is doing in our lives. 

He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

III. By calling him the son of the Living God, Peter gave us a confession of Jesus’ deity that is more explicit and much stronger than any adjective we’ve heard lately. 

The Living God is the God who gives us life and breath, who makes all things new. 

The Living God is the source and sustainer of all things, including you.

The Living God hovers over the waters ... not only of creation but of baptism ... bringing order out of the chaos in your lives. 

The Living God is the one who feeds you and nourishes you with living bread from heaven, and who fills his cup of salvation for you endlessly, delivering to you the forgiveness of your sins, life and salvation. 

The Living God is the one who proclaims victory over death itself. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if there have been any doubts in your minds about who you thought Jesus was, hear the Gospel. He is the Christ, the son of the living God.

And now ... though you haven’t seen him, you know him and love him as he fills you with the inexpressible joy of eternal life. This truth enables you then to join the confession of both Peter and Paul ... that Jesus is Lord, believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead. 

He is not dead ... He is living!

He lives because he is the one who lives apart from sin. This is our confession: He was born of the virgin, born without original sin ... in the image of God. 

He is the one who endures through a living word that enables you to know that Christ died for sins according to the scripture. That He was buried. And that on the third day he rose against according to the scripture. 

Do you see it now? Jesus is not the dead God, but the living God.

And Blessed are you who recognize this. It means you have been saved by the grace of the Living God, through faith in the living Christ who has called, gathered, and enlightened you by the living Holy Spirit, and who sanctifies and keeps you in living faith. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you now have the keys to eternal life. For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.

Confess it boldly, tell the world around you about how Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to the living god. 

And there you have it ... the great confession of life.

Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.