How to Confess & Follow Jesus....
In 1937, a Lutheran Pastor in Nazi Germany named Dietrich Bonhoeffer watched the German church compromise with Hitler’s regime. Specifically, they baptized Nazi propaganda into Christianity and preached a gospel that cost nothing and changed nothing. While some assured their churches that following Jesus and the Führer were compatible, Bonhoeffer insisted that true faith in Christ demanded total obedience with no compromise. Bonhoeffer could have stayed in America where he taught and had a safe and comfortable life. Instead, he risked everything and returned to Germany in 1939. There, while preaching the true Gospel and helping the Jews escape Nazi persecution, he was eventually arrested, imprisoned and executed. By reading the these words that he penned, one can see that Bonhoeffer correctly understood that confessing Jesus includes following him faithfully, possibly unto death.
Today's passage, Mark 8, is going to force us to consider the possibility that we can confess Jesus rightly and resist His mission entirely. We can say all the right things about Jesus on Sunday and live all the wrong ways the remainder of the week. We often want Jesus’ forgiveness without His lordship, desire Jesus’ benefits without His demands and embrace Jesus’ crown while rejecting His cross. Today’s message, titled How to Confess and Follow Jesus, provides two clear imperatives: 1) That we must Confess Jesus as the Christ and 2) That we must follow Christ to the cross. While both are equally important, this writing will focus on the first imperative.
The location of our Lord’s two questions and Peter’s astute answer was not accidental. The city of Caesarea Philippi was rebuilt by Herod’s son, Philip and renamed after Caesar Augustus and himself. Very importantly, it was associated with worship of the Caesar. While traveling between villages within this city, Jesus asked two questions to his disciples. The first question was: "who do people say that I am?" (Mark 8:27). The disciples response: “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets" (Mark 8:28). Obviously, given these responses, the general population at that time was very confused as to who Jesus truly was. However, this confusion is not limited to those living in the first century. If this same question were asked of people living today, the answers would be similar. Listed below are some of the current misconceptions people have about Jesus:
● Islam says Jesus is a prophet, but not the Son of God.
● Mormons teach that Jesus progressed to godhood, thus he became a god.
● Hindus views Jesus as a holy man with ethical teaching, one among many divine figures.
● Buddhists consider Jesus enlightened, kind and wise, yet reject him as divine Savior.
● Progressive Christians embrace Jesus care for the poor, but reject his teaching on marriage, gender and sexual ethics.
Following the first question, Jesus, in verse 29, asked the disciples the second question that is the dividing line between those who do and do not understand His true identity: “But who do you say that I am?” Peter simply answered, “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29). Now, while this is one simple statement, we must absolutely recognize the significance and compexity of what this four word answer means. Specifically, to confess that Jesus is the Christ (or the Messiah) is to agree with all of the following.
● that Jesus is the seed of the woman to crush the serpent’s head in Genesis 3:14-15.
● that Jesus is the prophet to whom all are to listen and obey in Deuteronemy 18:15.
● that Jesus is the one to subdue all kings and kingdoms in Psalm 2.
● that Jesus is the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23.
● that Jesus is the one born of a virgin in Isaiah 7:10-23.
● that Jesus is the Son of Man, the Ancient of Days, to whom all nations bow and
worship because He has all authority, glory and sovereign power. He rules over
a kingdom that will never be destroyed in Daniel 7:9-14.
So, who do you say Jesus is? Sadly, many see Jesus as nothing more than a get out of hell free card rather than someone we must fully submit our lives to. Others see Jesus as someone who will teach our kids to be good citizens, but nothing more. Many so called “Christians” embrace His ethical teachings of neighboring and helping the poor while rejecting His supernatural miracles of healing others and rising from the dead Himself to conquer death. However, all of these alternative views vastly short-change the totality of who Christ it. Jesus is not just a theological construct. He is the God-Man who sits at the right hand of God, the second person of the Godhead and who is to be worshiped, obeyed and embraced in His totality. Friend, do you, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Apostle Peter did, confess and embrace Jesus for the entirety of who He is? And, if not, will you begin doing so today?....
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