The following sermon was given by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, on September 12, 1982. The title is, Who Do You Say That I Am? And the scripture reference is Matthew, chapter 16, verses 13 through 28. The Bible of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew. 

I'm reading from the 16th chapter beginning at the 13th verse. Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do men say that the Son of Man is?

And they said, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed.

And on the third day be raised again. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying, God forbid, Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan.

You are a hindrance to me, for you are not on the side of God, but of men. Then Jesus told his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life or what shall a man give in return for his life for the son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his father and then he will repay every man for what he has done the gospel of the lord this is a tremendous passage of scripture for any time but but perhaps especially for the beginning of a new church school year. For most families, we mark this as the beginning of a new church year. It officially begins with Advent, but as we come off of our summertime holiday, things crank up again, and we sort of count this the beginning, and it's a wonderful passage for a new beginning.

It poses the foundational question, Who do men say that I am? who do you say that I am if you read through the gospel accounts I think you'll see that everything in Jesus' ministry is moving up to this point and it's a pivot point after this nothing is the same again it's interesting Matthew says from this time Jesus began to teach that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer and die. From this time, not prior to it, after he's raised the question and after he's received Peter's answer, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, from this time, he begins to teach that he's got to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die.

It's as if he's saying, now that you've seen who I am, let me tell you what I've come to do. You've given me the right answer, Peter. I am, in fact, the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And now let me tell you what I've come to do, what my mission is. I've come to go to Jerusalem to suffer many things at the hands of chief priests and Pharisees and scribes and finally I'm going to be put to death for your sins. Now that you've seen who I am, let me tell you what my mission is.

From this time, nothing is the same. With all the signs of expansion around us, I'm reminded of a comment that Bruce Scott frequently makes. He says, you know, the most important thing in building a building is the foundation.

If you've got a problem in the foundation, it'll follow you all the way to the roof. This is the foundation. This is the foundational moment.

The foundational question. It's interesting to me that the incident took place in Caesarea Philippi because Caesarea Philippi is the site of the headwaters of the Jordan River. and with all of the significance of the Jordan River for the whole holy history of Israel, it's interesting that this is the place where the Jordan begins.

It bubbles up in Caesarea Philippi and everything that the Jordan becomes begins here. And everything in the ministry of Jesus, in a very real sense, unfolds. It bubbles up out of this foundational issue.

Notice the way the conversation unfolds. First, Jesus says, Who do men say? Who do people say that I am?

And there are all sorts of opinions on the matter. Some say you're a prophet. Some think that you're a great prophet from of old.

Come back in a miraculous way. Some people think that you're Elijah. Scripture predicts that before Messiah comes, Elijah is going to return and herald his coming.

Elijah was one of only two men in the Old Testament that didn't die. He was taken off into heaven in a whirlwind. And some are even daring to suggest, Jesus, that you are Elijah.

Come back to earth. Some have gone farther than that. They think you're Jeremiah, who very clearly did die.

Come back to life again. Some think you're John the Baptist. And everybody knows that he was beheaded just a little while ago.

John the Baptist, come back to life. You see what people are prepared to say about Jesus. He's not only a prophet, but indeed the very Spirit of God is upon him and miracles are taking place.

They're prepared to say that. That doesn't get to the heart of the matter. If you were to ask the same question today, you'd get at least as many opinions.

Who do men say that Jesus is? Well, this group over here would say He's a great teacher. Another group over there might say He's a great social reformer.

And some would say He came to found a new religion. And a few would say He's the Messiah of Israel. And others would say, no, He's just a modest rabbi whose disciples got it all confused.

Some, many of us perhaps would say, He's very God of very God, begotten not made, of one being with the Father. Some would say that. The church has said that for centuries.

But you see, Jesus isn't content with the question, what has the Gallup poll showed? What do men say that I am? He then presses the issue, what do you say?

What do you say? Who do you say that I am? You've got to love Peter.

You've just got to love him. I mean, he has always got an answer. This time his answer was absolutely right on target.

You are the Christ. the Son of the living God? Jesus would ask you that question.

He'd ask it of me. Sooner or later, Jesus is going to look into each one of our eyes. He's going to look into each one of our souls, into our hearts, into our very being, and He's going to say, who do you say that I am?

Do you agree with Peter's conclusion that this is in fact the Son of the living God, the Christ come amongst us, or is He simply an interesting, perhaps inspiring, historical figure who met a tragic death in first century Palestine? Everything hangs in the balance. Everything, and nobody else can answer that question for you.

Who do you say that this is? I want you to notice four things about Peter's answer, four things that sort of unfold from this interchange. The first is that Jesus himself acknowledges that Peter's answer is from God.

He doesn't say, oh no, no, no, Peter, that's much too excessive. He says, right, blessed are you. Blessed are you because flesh and blood hasn't revealed that to you.

My Father in heaven has shown you who I am. You might think that it's your own cleverness, your own wisdom, your great intellect, your wide reading that has led you to the conclusion that of all the possible world religious figures, Jesus is the one. Out of all the various world views, Christianity is right.

Not a chance. If you've come to that conclusion, it's because God Himself has led you to it. Remember what Jesus said, recorded in John's Gospel, chapter 15, He says, you didn't choose Me.

I chose you. I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and your fruit should abide. I chose you.

Faith, which unlocks the door to all of the other blessings, faith itself is a gift from God. if you have begun to see who Jesus is, that itself is God's gift. That's evidence that God Himself is working in your life.

I'm interested, secondly, that Peter obviously didn't really understand very much about his own answer. He didn't understand what was coming out of his own mouth. He had the right answer, and he didn't see the implications of it.

Jesus says, you're absolutely right. I am the Christ. Here's what I've come to do.

I'm going to go to Jerusalem and suffer and die. And Peter says, God forbid, Lord. What a wonderful sentence that is.

God forbid, Lord, right? You are the Lord, but God forbid what you've just said. See, it doesn't compute at all.

Peter understands that the Messiah is going to come in glory and set up a kingdom and live forever and bring in peace and prosperity and you're going to go to Jerusalem and suffer and die? He doesn't understand the implications of what he's just said even though it's the right answer. And yet, it is a beginning.

It is a beginning. Even though he doesn't understand very much about it, it is a beginning. Jesus makes an absolutely extraordinary statement here, one that's been badly misunderstood for centuries.

He says, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. And folks have supposed that Jesus was saying he's going to build his church on Peter. God forbid, Lord.

Peter, who doesn't even understand what's happening. Peter, who one minute later, Jesus can turn around and say, you devil. You're not on God's side, you're on man's side.

Peter doesn't understand anything at this point. Jesus is not about to build His church on Peter. In fact, the New Testament says over and over again that Jesus Christ Himself is the cornerstone on which the church is built.

Peter, in his first letter, talks about Jesus as the living stone rejected by man which has become the head of the corner. The church isn't built on Peter, it's built on Jesus. The church's one foundation is what?

Jesus Christ, her Lord, right? Well, what did he mean? You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.

Actually, it's a play on words. You are Petros, which means a little pebble, a small stone. And upon this Petra, which means a great boulder, I will build my church.

What's the great boulder? what has just come out of Peter's mouth, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are Peter, and upon your confession, upon what has just come out of your mouth, wherever men come to the conviction that I am the Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that's where I'm going to build my church.

Wherever anybody says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, I'm going to build my church. You're a little pebble, Peter. And this great rock is going to be a foundation stone.

You're a chip off the old block, Peter. And upon the foundation of your confession, which God Himself has inspired you to say, to see, and to begin to enter into, I'm going to build my church. We've already noticed that Peter understood very little of what that meant, but it was a beginning.

And I take great encouragement from that. Because I suspect that very few of us, when we begin to respond to Jesus, really have worked out the implications very far. You know, we come to the point where we say, Yes, Lord Jesus, come into my life.

Be my Lord. I give you myself. And it never occurred to us that that was ever going to include our pocketbooks.

Right? Or our jobs. Or our families.

Or our free time. Or our relationships. Or our income tax returns.

But it was a beginning. Do you follow what I'm saying? Peter saw very little, but what he saw was right, and it was a beginning, it was a foundation, and Jesus began to build.

And when God puts that conviction in your heart, He's going to begin to build. And there are going to be battles all the way down the line. Every time He begins to lay claim to a new area of your life, there's probably going to be a struggle, but He's building something, and He's going to see it through to completion.

Doesn't that encourage you? a friend of mine used to say I'm continually discovering new areas of my personality that need to hear the gospel they need to be converted but it is a beginning thirdly confessing Christ confessing Christ entails following Him the conversation moves, just almost shifts gears unnoticeably. Jesus says, Yes, I am the Christ, the Son of the living God.

I've got to go to Jerusalem and die. And if anyone would follow me, he also must take up his cross and die daily. Well, wait a minute.

Who said anything about taking up crosses and dying daily? We weren't talking about following you. You asked me who you are.

And I said you're the Christ. That's right. To confess me as Christ means to follow me.

To acknowledge that I am Messiah means to recognize that I have a claim upon your life. And I am going to be knocking on new doors of new areas in your personality. I'm going to do that, and you're going to have to die to those.

You're going to have to die to yourself over and over and over again. You're going to have to pick up that cross, which is an instrument of self-denial, an instrument of execution, every single day of your life. That's implicit in recognizing who I am.

Didn't know that. Well, it is. And yet, fourthly, following Jesus may be costly.

It will be costly. But the rewards are infinite. Whoever would lose his life for my sake will find it.

When Jesus talks about dying, He's talking about dying to your independent life. Dying to being in charge of your own life. And discovering your true life which is in relationship to Him.

it's abdicating the throne and inviting him to come and occupy it it's saying Lord Jesus I do belong to you and I want you to begin running the show and the rewards are infinite the end of that is life eternal the forgiveness of sins the slate wiped clean new life with God everlasting joy I wonder if you'd understand me if I said that that the gift of God's grace is absolutely free, and yet it ends up costing you everything. And yet having paid everything, you find that God gives it all back in a new way. Does anybody understand what I'm saying?

A little bit later on in the story, we find Jesus pressing the issue of who He is and His role in our lives. And we read in John's Gospel that many of His disciples drew back. They stopped following Him.

It was too radical. It was too much to ask. And Jesus, I hear sorrow in His voice, turns and faces the twelve and He says, Will you also go away?

Will you also go away? And once again, it's Peter who speaks for the others and says, Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.

To whom would we go? If you will not build your life upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, then to whom will you go? That's the decision.

It's going to be this way or it's going to be that way. It may be that this morning He's looking into your eyes. He's facing you personally.

He's saying to you, who do you say that I am? Are you going to build your life upon Me? Knowing that right now you don't fully understand all of the implications of that, knowing that it certainly is a little bit scary, it's a little bit threatening, it's going to be costly, it may be very difficult, it may cost you your life.

William knows about that. Ugandan Christians know about that. But the end is life eternal.

And if you won't build on Jesus Christ, to whom will you go? who else has the words of eternal life? Let's bow our heads together.

At nine o'clock, a lovely thing happened. a man who has been honest enough not to come to communion because he really didn't know where he was in relationship to Jesus, turned the corner, heard Jesus asking that question of him, and was able to answer, you are the Christ and I give my life to you. And his walking down the aisle to this communion rail was a matter of giving public witness to having answered that question.

I'd invite you to picture in your mind the Lord Jesus standing in front of you with tenderness and love asking you a life and death question. Who do you say that I am? You are the Christ.

You are my Messiah. I recognize that you have come to bear my sins in your own body on the tree. You are the Son of the living God.

And I bow before you. That I would receive the gift of your love and your life and Lord Jesus I would follow You. I can't do that in my own strength.

Fill me with Your Spirit and help me follow You. Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee. Take my moments and my days.

Let them flow in endless praise. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice and let me sing always only for my King. take my intellect and use every power as thou shalt choose take my will and make it thine it shall be no longer mine Lord Jesus Christ take myself and I will be ever only all for thee If that's your prayer this morning, would you just stand for a moment with me? Just stand as a response to Jesus.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Lord, we're your people by your grace.

Thank you for calling us. Let your love just flow from one to another and fill us with your Spirit that we might indeed follow you all the days of our lives. Can we just very quietly in our own words, each one, thank the Lord for His love for us.

and just speak to him as the Spirit would lead you. Thank you, Father.