PENTECOST
13
August
22-24, 2026
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Matthew 16:13-20
“THE MOST
IMPORTANT Q AND A”
All questions are important. If you
don’t know something, ask! Answers are important too. They teach or reveal
knowledge you need to have. Some questions are more important than others and
some answers are more important than others. Generally these questions and
answers are more important because how the question is answered will have
ongoing results or direct the course of your life.
“Will you marry me?” That is a very important question. One that should not be
asked unless you really want her to say Yes. The answer given is also very
important. It will direct the course of the lives of at least two people. “Will
you accept this job?” There is another important question. An employer is
offering you a means of income. How you answer will direct for a time where and
when you work and perhaps even where you live. You have been accepted to this
college. Will you attend? Another life directing question and answer.
The word of God before us today
presents the most important question and how you answer it will not only direct
the course of this life for you, it will also reveal where you will spend your
eternity. Jesus had been teaching his disciples for two years now. For two
years they got to hear Jesus explain the Bible as it was meant by God instead
of the way the Pharisees and teachers of the law had twisted it. For two years
they had seen Jesus do miracle after miracle, healing the sick, walking on
water, driving out demons. Much training had happened. Much more was needed.
That is when Jesus started his Q and A session. “When
Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who
do people say the Son of Man is?” 14They
said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one
of the prophets.”
A very important question. Who do
people say Jesus is? As you live your life as a witness for Jesus it is
important to know where the people around you are at. Who do people think Jesus
is? What is their impression of Him? The disciples had the answer or rather answers.
John the Baptist. Now that’s an interesting one. Not too long before this
happened King Herod had John the Baptist’s head cut off because he told people
what God said whether they liked it or not. The people had respected John the
Baptist. Jesus spoke strongly too. Was John back from the dead? Other answers.
Elijah, one of the great Old Testament prophets through whom God had done
miracles. Jesus did miracles. Maybe he was the second Elijah. More answers.
Jeremiah. Another great Old Testament prophet. Some other prophets. An important question. Some important answers
that revealed where the people the disciples would serve were at. If you had to
pick one thing that all of the people’s answers had in common, what would it
be? Jesus is a great man. A great teacher. A great prophet. But just a man.
If Jesus asked you that question “Who
do people say that I am?” what answers would you give? Your Muslim friends and
neighbors call Him a great prophet. But Mohammed is better! Jehovah’s Witnesses
will call Him a great servant of God. The Mormons will say He is the one who
taught us how to live. Many of our fellow Americans look at Him as a great
teacher. Some as just a name to yell when they are angry or hurt.
There is a more important question for
you and I to give an answer to, the most important question. Jesus asked that
one next. “He said to them, “But you, who do you say that I am?” There
it is! The most important question you can be asked. “Who do you say Jesus is?”
It is a question that everyone must answer at some point and how you answer
will determine not only the course of this life but where you spend your
eternity. How did the disciples answer? Their self-appointed spokesman stepped
up. “Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Good
answer. Jesus, not only are you a great man and a perfect teacher, you are the
Christ, the God sent Savior of the world. His one and only Son.
That answer set the course for Peter
and the others’ earthly life and their eternity. “Jesus replied, “Blessed
are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal his to you, but
my Father who is in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and
on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overpower
it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever
you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will
be loosed in heaven.” Based on that answer the disciples were blessed by
God. They could not have come up with that answer on their own. The Father had
intervened. Both the original Greek of the New Testament and our English
translations make it clear the Christ’s church is not built on Peter or his man
picked made up successor but on the confession that Jesus is the Christ. Peter
is a name. Rock is petra. A solid foundation. The same word Jesus used when
teaching on the wise and foolish builder at the end of His Sermon on the Mount.
The disciples were blessed to live their
earthly lives on the truth that Jesus is both Lord and Savior, the Christ.
That directed the course of their
earthly lives. These boys still needed another year of training. They needed to
learn and relearn the truth that Jesus, the Christ, had not come to set up an
earthly kingdom or just teach people to be nice. He came to save them from sin
so they could be a part of His eternal kingdom. Once they absorbed that truth
you find driven and motivated disciples who gladly announced forgiveness of
sins, the loosing of sins Jesus mentioned, to all who believed and lack of
forgiveness, the binding of sin, to all who rejected Jesus. That became their
life and their passion all based on their answer to the most important
question. And then, for each of them, when God’s timing was right, they were
welcomed to the joy and happiness of heaven reserved for those who believe.
Now it is time for us to stand before
Jesus. Who do you say He is? That is the most important question you can be
asked. And how you answer it will not only direct the rest of your earthly life
but also reveal where you will spend your eternity. Who is Jesus? Friend? Yes,
He is. What a friend we have in Jesus and no one is more faithful than He.
Brother. Yes, He is. He came to be one of us. He took on our humanity to be our
substitute. Teacher. Yes, He is. In the Bible He plainly reveals God’s rights
and wrongs. He gives straight talk. Marriage is one man and one woman. Sex reserved
for marriage. God made only male and female. Honor and obey every God given
authority whether you like them or not. Pay your taxes. Live within your means.
Forgive all others. Put God first in your calendar and budget always and by the
way these non negotiable rights and wrongs of God cover not only your actions
and words and thoughts but your failure to have right actions words and
thoughts. Friend. Brother. Teacher. Good answers. But not good enough. My Lord
and My God. Savior. That answer you can only say if the Father revealed it to
by the Spirit. That answer is the one that determines where you will spend your
eternity. That is why our Friend and Brother taught God’s laws so clearly, to
help us see we can’t do what God demands. We need saving. Jesus is that Savior.
So, who do you say Jesus is? That is the
most important Q and A session you will ever be a part of. You are blessed to
answer that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, your Savior. You
did not come up with this on your own. The Father revealed it do you. And now
you, like Jesus’ original disciples, have the course of your earthly life set.
You serve Him. At that time, because the timing was not right, Jesus “commanded
the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.” Times have changed.
Jesus completed His mission. So tell everyone you want the most important
answer to the most important question. Jesus is your Savior. Amen.
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