I have a list of people and I want you to think about what these people have in common. President Obama and President Trump, Madonna, the Pope, Bart Simpson, Napoléon, Hulk Hogan, Jesus and probably you. The thing that all of these have in common is that they are controversial.
What does it mean to be controversial? It means to be someone with whom people disagree. When you see Madonna you probably think she shouldn’t dress that way. She shouldn’t talk that way. She shouldn’t act that way. There are a lot of things that Madonna does or says that I disagree with. I’m sure she is real concerned about what I think. Almost everybody is a little controversial sometimes but some people are more controversial than others. I bet there were people in Calcutta, India saying, “That Mother Theresa doesn’t know what she’s doing. I wouldn’t treat the sick and the poor like she is. That’s just ridiculous.” Everybody is controversial at times. If you are never controversial, you probably either need to stand for something or you are just boring.
In my research this week (yes, I googled it) I found out something interesting. I googled “controversial people” and the first thing that popped up was the question, “Who is the most controversial person to have ever lived?” And Google answered that question with “Jesus.” Now, what surprised me was not that Jesus was the most controversial but that Google believed Jesus was the most controversial. Obviously, even the world can see and understand just how controversial He is. It is easy to see that a lot of people disagree with the teachings of Jesus.
So, what does that mean for us as followers of Jesus? Maybe we should water down the message of Jesus a little bit to make it a bit more palatable for people. You know what I mean. Maybe we need to be a little more inclusive and say that Jesus is just one of the ways to Heaven or that if you are a good person, at least better than your neighbor, that God knows your heart and will show you grace even if you don’t become a Christian. What do you think? I think we could get more people to come to our church that way. I think we would be more popular at work if we did that. But there’s a small problem. Jesus said in Matthew 28 we are called to be disciples. And disciples are only disciples if they make other disciples. Also, Jesus said in Matthew 12 that whoever is not for Him is against Him and the only way to be for Him is 100%. Jesus said in John 14 that He was the way, the truth and the life and that NOBODY gets to the Father but through Him. Jesus didn’t care what Oprah thinks. Jesus didn’t care that atheists don’t think. Jesus came to bring truth and the truth is controversial to those who don’t believe.
Benjamin Rush said, “Controversy is only dreaded by the advocates of error.” We advocate for the truth and so we believe and advocate for Jesus and will never water down His message just to be popular. Jesus never encouraged us to be rude but He also never said our goal was to make friends. Our goal is to make other disciples. And to do that, we have to know what Jesus said and we have to know why we believe it. We are in the second week of our sermon series on apologetics which is simply knowing what we believe and why we believe it. We talk a lot around here about spinal beliefs and rib beliefs, meaning some things that we believe are absolute truth spinal issues and some things, like what color the carpet should be are rib issues. Today, we are going to look at the very marrow of the spine issue of who Jesus is. It is a supremely important issue to work through and the very spinal column of the church itself.
Turn to Matthew 16. We will see that the question of who Jesus is has always been controversial ever since, well, Jesus. We are told that the location for this event was Caesarea Philippi and I was fascinated to learn in Ben’s Bible study last Thursday night that this is the area in which John the Baptist started his ministry in the wilderness. It’s interesting because this is a fairly remote area far north of all the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem. It was close to the Jordan River and is still today a beautiful and wild countryside that, if you put in the effort to get there is well worth it if you enjoy nature. It was an area, though, that had a lot of idol worship. Where Jesus has taken His disciples here wasn’t really a town but was still considered a hotbed of religiosity. There were temples to pagan idols all through the area and so it is interesting that this would be the place that Jesus would ask this most important question.
Let’s read it in Matthew 16:13-16. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
Jesus hauls His disciples to the very northernmost part of Israel out to the middle of nowhere and surrounded by idolatry and takes the pulse of the people He was ministering to. He asks His disciples who people say He is. He used His favorite title for Himself, the Son of Man. It is used by Jesus some eighty times in the New Testament and was an humble title. Why do you think He used that name for Himself so often? He could have used “King of kings” or “Lord of all creation.” Why do you think He chose “Son of Man” so often? All through His ministry Jesus tells people not to tell anybody else He is the Messiah. He would heal people and they would realize who He really was but Jesus would tell them that it wasn’t time to let folks know that yet. He tells His disciples that very thing later in this passage in verse 20. But using the term “Son of Man” also has its roots in Daniel chapter 7 where Daniel describes somebody that looks like a man but was actually, I believe, a Christophany or a description of Jesus Himself. So, Jesus was being kind of sly, again not revealing His true identity except to those that were open to it and could appreciate it.
Now, my next question is, why would Jesus ask this question to begin with? I thought Jesus knew everything. What would the reasoning be to ask the disciples who other people said He was? It had to be for the sake of the disciples. Jesus knew what people thought but He wanted the disciples to work through and think of all the options and then come to their own conclusion. Because then He asked the group who they thought He was.
Again, an interesting point to clarify here is that Jesus asked the whole group. The original wording Jesus used was the Greek word that we Texans would translate as “y’all.” Who do y’all say I am? And then Peter answered and don’t you know that when Peter started to open his mouth to answer this most vital question that the rest of the group cringed for just a second? Oh, Peter, be careful. This could go bad quick. And he is speaking for the whole group so if he says Jesus is a real swell guy, they are all going to look bad.
But Peter nailed it. "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Whew! Good job, Pete! Good answer. That’s right. I think all of us sitting here would agree with what Peter said. We believe that Jesus is God and as the second part of the divine trinity that He came to earth as predicted in Old Testament scriptures to live and then die on the cross to pay for our sins but rise again so we can have a relationship with Him today. I think we would all agree on that spinal issue. If you have a problem with that, please come see me after the service and we’ll talk.
So, along with Peter, that’s what we believe, now let’s dig down to see why we believe it. If you are witnessing to someone and they have never heard any of this stuff, you can expect them to have some doubts and some questions. That’s fair and understandable. So, how are you going to respond? Are you just going to say that the Bible says it and you have to have faith or is there any proof?
Okay, I have a joke for you. I know. I know. But this is funny. Do you know why Hillary Clinton doesn’t like Jehovah’s Witnesses? Hillary Clinton doesn’t like any witnesses! Bada bing! Well, Hillary might not like witnesses but they help to prove our point about Jesus being the Messiah. In John chapter 5, Jesus is debating His divinity with some Jews who didn’t believe Him and the first witness Jesus calls in this debate is none other than Himself. Now, I have heard some people say that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah but those people that say that evidently don’t have much biblical knowledge because in John 5, Jesus says it outright.
In John 5:24-27, Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”
Jesus gives a powerful witness of Himself in these verses. And as C.S. Lewis said, you now have to decide for yourself if Jesus is a liar, a lunatic or Lord. But if Jesus is a lunatic or a liar, I’ll give it to you that He would say these things about Himself. So, do we have any other witnesses? Well, Jesus understands this as well and so He tells about another witness to His divinity. In John 5:33-35, Jesus said, “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. 32There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. 33"You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.”
So, Jesus says, not only will He witness for Himself but John will witness for Him. Now, think about all the others as well. The thief on the cross (Luke 23:33–43) realized it just before it was too late. Even the centurion at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:39) testified, “Surely this man was the Son of God!" After Jesus died, the apostles gave the ultimate witness by giving their lives based on their belief about Jesus. The early church fathers and the church councils all testified for Jesus as does this church. And we do it just because we want other people to have what we have.
Now, factor in the witness of the work of Jesus. The things He did are recorded not just in the Bible. People like FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, PLINIUS SECUNDUS, CORNELIUS TACITUS and even the Hebrew Talmud record His deeds. They might not have liked Him or even believed in His divinity but they recorded His works and His works testify to His divinity. In John 5:36, Jesus said, “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish-the very works that I am doing-testify that the Father has sent me.”
To be able to heal the blind and sick and cure a leper’s spots and even bring a man back to life at least prove that this person is from God if not God Himself as we know Jesus to be. And Jesus healed people all over Israel. There were lots of people that could vouch for that back in the day. So, Jesus said it. John backed Him as did all the apostles, and people all around Jesus during and after His time on earth. It is recorded in secular writing, not to mention all the prophecies in scripture and the teachings of scripture and some of those include the witness of God the Father that Jesus was His Son from Heaven. (John 3)
So, there is no lack of witnesses from the time of Jesus until today that will verify that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God to leave Heaven and come to earth to be our salvation. But for Peter, it was a personal choice. Yes, he spoke for all the apostles that day but it was a personal decision. He had everything to lose and very little to gain on this earth by witnessing for Jesus, especially after the death of Jesus. But from the time Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples after His resurrection until Peter’s death, Peter never shut up about Jesus. Thirty to thirty-five years after the crucifixion, Peter started writing his books that would go in the Bible and in 1 Peter 1, he starts off by saying, “Praise be to the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” I think Peter was convinced. Don’t you?
Years ago, I worked with a lady that claimed to be either atheist or agnostic. She wasn’t sure what she believed and what she didn’t except she knew Jesus wasn’t anything to believe in. She seemed like a good person. She seemed to have pretty good morals. She had been married for years and as far as I knew she had no real scandals in her life. But she never seemed happy to me either. One day I had a good chance to tell her my beliefs. I told her some of the things we have looked at today. I told her of all the ways I knew Jesus was the Savior and how because of all that, we could have a relationship with God through His Son Jesus. You know what she said? She shot it all down with four words. “I don’t believe that.”
Okay, plan B. I went on to tell her about my testimony. I told her how I knew at a young age that I was a sinner and I knew that Jesus was the only way to be forgiven. I told her how I fell away and then how God drew me back and how, since then, I have had peace and joy even in the difficult times and I am assured of my eternity in Heaven. After a few minutes of listening politely, you know what she said? She said basically the same four words. She said, “I’m glad for you. I’m glad you have that. But I don’t believe that.” I never got another chance to talk to her but I think if I had, it would have been the same.
Some people will never believe or at least they will never allow themselves to believe, not because it is too far-fetched or that it is unbelievable but because if it is true, it’s going to mean they have to surrender control of their lives to God. They are going to have to change their ways and change their habits and change where they go and who they hang out with. And that is absolutely true. You will lose friends and maybe even family members. You may lose your job or realize you need to quit your job. A relationship with Jesus means almost everything is going to change. You will not be the same and you won’t act the same. You won’t be comfortable hanging out with the old crowd. You won’t have peace doing what you used to do and if you do have peace doing that old stuff and you don’t really change, I can tell you that you aren’t really saved!
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!” Don’t tell me about being a Christian if you do the same things and go to the same places and have the same bad habits as you used to. A true Christian is not slightly remodeled. They are brand new. Not everybody is going to believe no matter how much apologetics you know. You can explain and prove and witness and testify all day long and some folks are going to refuse to believe the truth. You tell them what you know and why you believe it and prayerfully do all you can and if they reject it, they are not rejecting you. They are rejecting Jesus and there will literally be hell to pay for them and that’s not your fault.
That’s a harsh teaching. I know. It hurts to say it. If I made the rules, they might be different but the Creator of the universe made the rules and, yes, He is controversial. A lot of people think they know better but Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” We ought to love people too much to allow them to go through their lives and never hear of the peace and joy in this life and the promise of eternal life in Heaven as co-heirs with Jesus to all the good things Heaven has to offer.
If you have never asked God for forgiveness and then repented or turned away from that old lifestyle, do that right now. Ask God to come into your life and change you and make you more like Jesus. You will never regret it if you do and you will always regret it if you don’t. Do it right now as the music plays.
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