“The Most
Important Question of All Time”
Luke 9:18-27 (SBC,
Sligo IE)
26 August 2018
INTRODUCTION:
We all live with unanswered
questions. We are all plagued with questions that come to us in the night and
rob us of sleep. Questions like…
Ø Why are there Braille
signs on drive-up ATM keypads?
Ø Once you are in Heaven
do you get stuck for eternity wearing the clothes you were buried in?
Ø Why is it that people
say they “slept like a baby” when babies wake up screaming every two hours, all
night long?
Ø Why do people pay to go
up to the top of tall buildings and then put money in those stupid binoculars
to look at things down on the ground?
Ø Why do doctors always
leave the room while you change clothes? They are going to see you naked
anyway.
Ø Why is there an expiration
date on sour cream?
Ø Why do we say something
is “out of whack”? What is a “whack” anyway?
Ø Why is it you can be “overwhelmed”
and “underwhelmed,” but not simply whelmed?
Ø Why is the word
“phonics” not spelled the way it sounds?
Ø Speaking of that, if a
word is misspelled in the dictionary, how would we ever know?
TRANSITION:
Those are questions that make us go,
“Hmmm” but they are not really all that important in the grand scheme of
things. But let’s think for a minute about some of the really important
questions of life that most of us have to answer:
Ø “What are you going to
be when you grow up?”
Ø “Do you take this woman
to be your wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better
or for worse…?”
Ø “Do you solemnly swear
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you
God?”
Ø “What do you believe in
so strongly that you would be willing to die rather than back down?”
Ø “Why did you become a
Christian, anyway?”
This morning we are going to look at a question
that Jesus posed to His disciples. I believe that it is the most important
question in the world, the most important question of all time. In fact, the
answer that we give to this question will determine where we go when we die. It
is that important!
MAIN BODY:
Verses 18-19: And it happened that while He was praying
alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?” 19 They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say
Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.”
·
This
story is told by three of the Gospel writers: in Matthew 16:13-28, in Mark
8:27-9:1, and in Luke 9:18-27. Luke’s account is the briefest of the three, so
we will be supplementing some details from the other two Gospels. For example,
Luke does not tell us where this conversation between Jesus and His disciples
took place but both Matthew and Mark tell us that it occurred in the district
of Caesarea Philippi. The city of Caesarea Philippi was situated in the far
north of Israel, about 30 miles above the Sea of Galilee and located on a
terrace on the southern slope of Mount Hermon, about 1150 feet above sea level.
The area had an unusually beautiful setting. Fertile and lush, it is one of the
main sources of the Jordan River. The ancient Canaanites built a sanctuary to
Baal there. Later, the Greeks and Romans both built sanctuaries there because
of the Cave of Pan. Inside the cave was a seemingly bottomless pit with an
unlimited quantity of water, which made the pagans marvel. It was to this
beautiful yet spiritually dark center of pagan worship that Jesus led His
disciples to pose to them the most important question of all time.
·
Notice
that Jesus was praying alone, but the disciples were nearby. Jesus would often
get alone by Himself to pray. He knew that the day was approaching when He
would go to the cross and He drew His strength from those times alone with His
Heavenly Father. I have always wondered what the disciples thought of His
prayer life. It didn’t seem to occur to them that they, too, should be in
prayer.
·
Seemingly
out of the blue Jesus asked His men, “Who do the people say that I am?” I’m guessing
that this question took them all by surprise. Remember, Jesus never asked questions
to gain information. He already knew all the answers. He asked questions to
prod the disciples into thinking about what was really going on around them.
·
To
His question the disciples responded, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that
one of the prophets of old has risen again.” The disciples answered
truthfully. In fact, we saw this same answer back in verses 7-8. The people
knew that Jesus was special, but they did not yet understand that He was their
promised Messiah of Israel. They thought that He was just a very powerful
miracle-working prophet.
Verse 20: And He said to them, “But who do you
say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”
·
Here
is where Jesus posed the question that is the most important question of all
time— “But who
do YOU say that I am?”
Every man, woman, and child will one day, sooner or later, be forced to answer
that question. The answer that we give will determine whether we go to Heaven
or Hell for eternity!
·
Peter’s
answer is correct in every sense. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.
These are not names, but rather, titles. And He came from God’s right
hand to be our Saviour. The word “Christ” is the anglicized form of the Greek
word, “Christos,” which means, “Anointed One.” The Hebrew word, “Messiah,” or
“meshiach,” means the same thing, the “Anointed One.” The English form of His
proper name, Jesus, comes from the Latin form of the Greek name, Ἰησοῦς [pronounced
Iēsous]. However, His Hebrew name is actually “Yeshua” (ישוע) meaning
“salvation.” Variants are Joshua or Jeshua.
·
Matthew’s
account gives Peter’s complete answer while Mark and Luke give only the
shortened version. Matthew 16:16 says, “And Simon Peter answered and said, ‘Thou art the Christ
[Messiah], the Son of the Living God.’” YES! THAT’S THE RIGHT
ANSWER! Peter finally got it! Jesus is the Creator and Sustainer of all that
is, the Anointed One, the Promised Messiah who came to be the Sacrifice for our
sin, the Lamb of God, the Redeemer, Saviour, Lord of All, and the Righteous
Judge of both the living and the dead. Jesus is all that, and more. He is the
King, the Healer, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and
Prince of Peace.
·
So
here for the first time we have the disciples understanding fully that Jesus,
was their promised Messiah, God in the flesh, fully God and yet fully Man. It
seems like in that moment the full import of that truth hit the Apostles for the
first time. I don’t know what they had been thinking up until then, but now
they knew for sure.
Verses 21-22: But He
warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, 22
saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be
rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be
raised up on the third day.”
·
This
is hard to understand until you realize that these guys did not yet have the
whole story. Starting in verse 22 we see Jesus beginning to fill them in on the
details of what they could expect to see, but He did not want them going off
half-cocked, telling half the truth.
·
Jesus
yet had many miles to go and much to do before His work on earth would be
finished. Without a doubt Jesus wanted everyone in the world to eventually know
who He was but He knew that He had a schedule to follow for all the pieces to
fit into place before He faced the cross. Here He gave the disciples a hint of
what was to come in the weeks and months ahead. This must have shocked them.
The idea of such suffering and rejection and death were more than they could comprehend.
Yet Jesus knew exactly what He was facing and how it would all play out.
·
This
is where Jesus turned a corner with His disciples. At this point in His
training of the Twelve He began to be very specific about what He had come to
earth to do and what was going to happen to Him in Jerusalem. He told them that
He would be arrested, beaten, tried, and crucified, and that He would then rise
from the dead on the third day.
·
“The Son
of Man must…be killed…” Jesus almost always used this title to describe Himself.
It emphasized His humanity in the midst of His divinity, but more importantly
it was the ancient OT title which referred to the suffering Messiah. The cross
was a necessary aspect of Messiah’s work. He must suffer and die in order to
fulfill the many OT prophecies concerning His death, burial, and resurrection.
·
Imagine
what the disciples must have thought about such talk. They were undoubtedly
shocked and could hardly believe their ears. Up until this point they believed
that He was just getting His ducks all lined up in preparation for defeating
the Romans and setting up His Messianic Kingdom on earth. Now He is talking
about being rejected, suffering, dying, and rising again. None of that fit in with
their understanding of who He was or what they thought He was supposed to do
and it left them very confused. So much so that Mark 8:32 tells us, “He spoke plainly
about this, and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.” You
might remember that Peter’s response didn’t go well for him. Mark 8:33 says, “But when Jesus
turned and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan!’
He said. ‘You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
I’m guessing that Peter was looking for a hole to climb into about then.
Verse 23: And He was
saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
·
Up
until this point in His ministry Jesus has called people to repentance and to
believe in Him as their Sin-Bearer. But now He changes the appeal somewhat and
begins to call them not only to believe in Him but to follow Him as
disciples. Up until now His emphasis has been on proving that He was the
promised Messiah, the One who was to come as the perfect Sacrifice. He called
people to salvation through faith in Him. But salvation is just the first step
in the Christ-follower’s life. Discipleship
is the life-long commitment to obey and to serve Him.
·
So
here Christ gives a call to discipleship, and it has four important components:
1.
“If anyone
wishes [desires] to come after Me…” First there must be the desire to
become a true disciple. The Lord does not drag anyone into His service against
his will, kicking and screaming. This is an all-volunteer army.
2.
“…he must
deny himself…”
This is very difficult. By nature, we are wired up to serve ourselves and to
look out for our own selfish best interests. Christ calls His followers to
humble ourselves and put God and His Kingdom purposes as first priority in our
lives. Self-denial speaks of readiness to suffer for someone else. Christ is
the pattern in this. He calls us to follow in His footsteps.
3.
“…take up
his cross daily…”
What cross is this? Does it mean that we must die on a cross just like Jesus
did to be His follower? For many Christians in the first century that was
exactly their fate. However, the cross is a symbol of suffering. Jesus
told His followers on several occasions that to follow Him would mean suffering
for sure, and that has proven out in history countless times. Jesus was telling
His followers that suffering was part of the package. Whoever would come after
Christ must walk the path that He walked, the path of self-denial and
cross-bearing.
4.
“…and follow
Me.” The
form of the verb Jesus used indicates continual following with no stopping or
turning back. The disciple is to keep on following Jesus (Greek present
imperative).
Verse 24: For whoever wishes to save his life will lose
it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
·
Wait
a minute! Now He’s talking crazy stuff! If you want to save your life, you’ll
lose it. But if you want to lose your life, you’ll save it. Is that what He
said? That can’t be right, can it? That just sounds too weird!
·
Let’s
back up the lorry and unload this cargo box by box. This verse is the one that
led Jim Elliot, one of the five MAF missionaries killed in 1956 in Ecuador by
the Auca Indians, to write these immortal words in his journal: “He is no fool
who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
The Bible says in James 4:14 that our life is but a vapor, a little bit of
fluffy cloud. The more we try to grasp on to it the more it slips through our
fingers.
·
The
Apostle Paul gives another insight from his personal perspective in Philippians
1:21, “For me,
to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Verse 25: For what is a man profited if he gains the
whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
·
In
school many of you were forced to study Goethe’s “Faust.” Although you’ve
probably tried hard to forget, the story concerns the fate of Dr. Faust in his
search for the true essence of life. Frustrated with learning and the limits to
his knowledge and power, he attracts the attention of the devil, represented by
Mephistopheles, who agrees to serve Faust until the moment he attains the
pinnacle of human happiness, at which point Mephistopheles may take his eternal
soul to hell. Faust is pleased with the deal, because he believes the moment
will never come. But to his surprise, the devil follows through on his promises
and Faust finally must face up to the deal he made with the devil. Now this is
a fictional story, but it illustrates what many people do. To gain the shiny
objects this world offers they put their souls in hock to Satan—not in a
direct, “let’s make a deal” kind of way, but by going after the things the
devil offers us, the way a fish goes after a shiny lure.
·
In
Luke 12:15-21 Jesus taught a lesson about this. Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on
your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of
possessions.” 16 And He told them this parable: “The ground of a
certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to
himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build
bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll
say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life
easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You
fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will
get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be
with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
·
God
is not against us having money and shiny objects as long as they do not come
between us and Him, which they so often do.
Verse 26: For whoever is ashamed of Me and My
words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He
comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
·
Who
is Jesus talking about? The word “whoever” takes in all people from all time.
However, I believe that He was speaking particularly of those who claim to be
His followers but do not pass the four-fold “Disciple Test” of verse 23.
1.
Truly
desire to obey and follow Christ
2.
Deny
self and selfish ambitions in favour of God’s Kingdom
3.
Take
up Christ’s cross daily
4.
Follow
the Master without turning back
·
“…when He
comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Here Jesus pulls back
the curtain of time for just a second to give His disciples (and us) a peek at
what it will look like when He returns someday in power and glory to claim what
is rightfully His. On that day the Lamb of God will be recognized as the Lion
of Judah, and the Saviour will be seen by all to also be the Righteous Judge.
Verse 27: But I say to you truthfully, there are some of
those standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of
God.”
·
Most
of the people standing there hearing Jesus’ words lived through the remainder
of Jesus’ earthly ministry, including His crucifixion, death, resurrection, and
ascension. Most of them were present on the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit of
God came upon the Church to impower her to carry out the Great Commission. And
most of them witnessed the birth of the Early Church and the spread of the
Gospel to all the major cities of the Roman Empire. This is what Jesus was
talking about. The Church is the visible manifestation of the Kingdom of God.
Christ is the Head and the whole thing exists to bring Him glory and to spread
the Good News of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus to the ends of the
earth. Jesus said, “I will build MY
CHURCH and not even the powers of hell will not prevail against it.” We too
have the privilege of being part of His Kingdom.
CONCLUSION:
Christ’s four-fold call to radical discipleship
is still a challenge to us today. It messes with our heads. Oh, we want His
salvation. We want Heaven. We want forgiveness of sins and a nice life here and
now. But we don’t want unqualified obedience, suffering, self-denial, daily
cross-bearing, or continual followership. Yet those are what Christ asks of us
today.
What will be your answer to Him? Just how
serious are you about being a genuine follower of Jesus?
There is an old chorus that most of you know
that sums up this text we’ve examined this morning. It goes like this…
I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning
back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me, no
turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me still I will follow, no
turning back, no turning back.
Will you decide now to follow Jesus? – No
turning back, no turning back.
Sing it with me. It is number 602 in your
hymnal.
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