MARK 8:27-30 – And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.”

THEME OF THE DAY:  LIFE’S MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION. Questions are effective ways to teach and learn.  We know by experience as teachers and learners.  When it comes to God asking questions, it elevates the importance of questions beyond teaching and learning.  They expose us.  They force self-examination.  They reveal our real self; the true condition of our hearts.  And today’s scripture contains life’s most important question.  Our answer not only determines our eternal destiny and state, but what drives, motivates, and shapes our lives. But there is a danger.  It is a danger of self-deception.

Jesus puts two questions before His disciples. The first one is “safe” because the answer isn’t personal.  Our Lord was walking with His disciples and as was His custom, He is teaching them on the way.  He puts forth the question, “Who do people say that I am?”  They begin to answer and with ease.  Again, it wasn’t personal.  It is like being quick to point out the sins of others avoiding our own.  That is easy.  Look around at others in their many failings and sinning while not getting personal with our own.  But Jesus wasn’t done.  A second question comes to the disciples, and this one personal. Very.  He said, “But who do you say that I am?”  Peter would step forward with the one true and right answer, “You are the Christ.”

Each of us must answer the second question Jesus asked – “But who do you say that I am?” but before we make the application to us as believers, this question is a great way to engage unbelievers. And what we may hear are responses like those C. S. Lewis would debunk in his classic answer taken from his book Mere Christianity – “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

This wasn’t the problem with Peter or the disciples, and hopefully none of us.  We, too, proclaim, “You are the Christ.”  But now comes the danger of self-deception.  Do our lives reflect Jesus is the Christ, the Lord of our lives?  Are all the areas of our lives under His control as the Christ – talents, time, resources, relationships, decisions, and everything else about us? The answer must be “yes” if our answer to Jesus’ second question is “You are the Christ.”   A profession of Christ without a whole life of submission to Christ is a false profession.

So, questions.  Great tools for teaching and learning.  And when God asks them, great tools for helping us to examine ourselves and avoid the danger of self-deception.  May the Lord help us to ensure our living for Christ validates our profession of Christ.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to strive to ensure my profession of faith in Your Son is validated by my living for Your Son”

QUOTE: “If we truly profess Jesus as Lord, it will impact every area of our lives and every decision we make.”

In the affection of Christ Jesus,

Pastor Jim