This evening I'm preaching on Matthew 16:13-20 which is Simon Peter's confession of Jesus and exploring the question, Who is Jesus?
When I came up with the name for this blog I thought I was being very clever and using the celtic name for the Holy Spirit, (I still think I'm very clever). I also chose it because I wanted the title of the blog to represent what I'm trying to do which is seek God and know Him more. Which is what tonight's sermon is on.
This question of who Jesus is is one that has caused problems throughout Christian history. An example of this can be found when looking at the Nicene Creed written around 325 AD
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
In this extract from Creed it is written to state clearly that Jesus and God are one and the same and that Jesus was with God in the beginning in particular this is demonstrated when it says that Jesus was 'begotten not made' and 'of one Being with the Father.' The reason for the emphasis of this is that around the time it was written there was another form of teaching by a person called Arius who taught that Jesus although He is Divine he was created by God and is therefore lower than God. The Church declared this a heresy and wrote the Nicene Creed as a statement of the Christian faith to counter this teaching.
In more recent times from some liberal theologians who advocate that Jesus's resurrection was purely spiritual rather than physical (I can't remember the exact details of this but I ant be expected to remember absolutely everything from Bible College). This clearly shows that the question from Jesus of "Who do you say that I am?" is one that needs to be explored beyond the basic orthodox answer which is that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah who died to take away our punishment for sin so that through faith in Him we can know God and have a relationship with Him.
I firmly believe this but I also think to just see Jesus in terms of his salvific atctivity is a bit too restrictive. Through reading the Gospels we learn more of who Jesus is, yes we learn that He is the Messiah and that Forgives sins from his actions and His statements about Himslef particulary in the "I Am" statements. We also learn that He is a healer and a provider and that he cares about community and bring the socially marginalised out from the fringes and back to the community, every time He healed a criple or someone with leprosey He was bringing someone who because of their disability were considered unclean and outcast back into the community that had rejected them, He also did the same with prostitues and tax collectors and people who the Jewish culture of the time rejected. He travelled in His own community of followers. Jesus came proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand which is a Jewish Idiom for the Kingdom of God is here, the Kingdom of God is now and it is the kind of community which Jesus promoted and demonstrated.
As a Christian I believe I am a member of this community through faith in Jesus and as such I am to be like Jesus. The name Christian was originally an insult used to describe the followers of the early Church and it means 'Little Christ' (Thanks Anneka). I find it a bit of an odd insult as it describes what they suposed to be. If someone were to and laugh and point at me saying something along the lines of, "ha ha your a little Christ", I'd probably say, "Thank you that's what I'm aiming for." Its probably a bit obvious but in order to become Christ-like you need to know him and that is more than just knowing Him as our Saviour. Only when we are seeking to know Him more can we be more like Him and this comes through relationship with Him and its only through this that we can effectivly share our faith in Him. I was at a New Wine retreat last weekend and in one of the seminars there was this statement, 'Our Christology affects our missiology' it goes on to say that our missiology affects our ecclesiology but thats for another discussion. Basically the more we know and understand God the better we will be at shareing our faith in Him. A highly exaggerated example of what can happen if we don't really seek to know God that well can be found in the first ever episode of a TV series called Black Books, the link is below.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/black-books/4od#3110813
The clip is of two door to door evangelists who come to the door of the shop and are surprised when Bernard Black (the owner of the shop) invites them in. Although he is only doing it to procrastinate from the task of filling in his tax return. So they come in and have no idea where to start and then proceed to tell him their favorite bible stories all of which they get wrong and Bernard then corrects them on the stories and then continues to teach them all about the actual stories (over a few bottles of wine) and about Jesus and they leave drunk and excited wanting to come back to learn more about Jesus.
It's impossible and even arrogant to suggest that we can ever fully know God, but the more we truly seek God and a relationship with Him the greater our passion for sharing our faith will become and the more we will see the Kingdom of God grow.
Like I said earlier I chose the title of Wild Goose Hunter because the Celtic name for the Holy Spirit translates as Wild Goose, and I am seeking to grow in my relationship with God and to know him more. I am also looking at what it means to know him and what implications that has in my life and journey of faith. So essentially I am looking for the answer to Jesus' question, "Who do you say that I am?"
questions to think about: How would you answer Jesus' question and what impact does it have in your life?
