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March 2022

April

So this Jesus of Nazareth is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” But someone might ask, “How can I know that for sure? I wasn’t there when He did all the miracles. I didn’t get to hear Him teach. I have no experience of Him interacting with me so how can I be sure that He is who Peter says He is? How can I have that same kind of confidence?”

The answer to that question will be celebrated this month. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is God’s stamp of authenticity that Jesus is who the New Testament declares Him to be, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Now there are plenty of folks who question Jesus’ resurrection, but they do so in spite of the evidence. If you were starting a new religion in the first century you would not write that women were the first witnesses to the event on which everything hinges. You would not portray the founding members of the religion as unbelieving cowards at the onset of that crucial event nor would you make a note that even after Jesus had made multiple appearances, there were still some who doubted that He was really raised from the dead. All of this on top to the dramatic change in the Apostles two months later is strong evidence that Jesus truly is raised from the dead. Paul said there were 500 people who witnessed His resurrection and he wrote that when most of them were still alive, essentially saying, “Go ask them if you don’t believe me.”

The question for us is, do we really believe that Jesus is raised from the dead? As Paul implied in 1 Cor. 15, are we standing in the truth of the Gospel? Do we believe, as he says in v. 3, that Jesus died for our sins and was raised to life on the third day according to the Scriptures? Because if I believe that then Jesus can’t simply be a good teacher or someone pointing us to God. If He is raised from the dead then He truly is the Christ, the Son of the Living God! If that is true, then it has vast implications for my life. I think one of the reasons that the church in these United States is in decline is due to a lack of confidence in the true identity of Jesus. We may confess on Sunday that He is Lord of all, our Savior and King but come Monday we start living in the default mode of the age. We substitute Son of God and Savior for good teacher and guide. When we relate to Him in that way, as teacher and guide, then everything is optional. We seek His advice rather than bow to His commands. We set up His teaching as an ideal to be admired rather than as truth that brings life. We pick and choose the things that we’re comfortable with, that help us fit in with our group and lay aside the things that call us into a brand new way of living.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, calls us to a life of compassion, graciousness and generosity towards all people in contrast to the moralism that religion breeds. At the same time, it calls us to a life of purity, holiness and faithfulness in contrast to the hedonism of a godless society. The only way we’ll ever get there is by working the Good News of Jesus, all that He is and all that He has done, deep into our soul. It means that we must be continually asking “If it is true that Jesus is the promised Redeemer (Savior) and that He really is the Son of the Living God who died for our sins and is raised from the dead, then what am I to do?” That’s what the Bible is talking about when it calls us to believe. It’s not easy but it is necessary if we are ever going to be the kind of people He calls us to be. Maybe you’re like me. I want to cry out with the father of the boy who had a demon, “I believe; Lord help my unbelief!” The Lord is Risen; He is Risen indeed! (Now what are we going to do with that?)

IHMS,



 

March

“You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  This is the foundational statement upon which the church of Jesus Christ is built. At least that’s the way Jesus put it and since He is the One who is building His church, I think He would know.

 

When Peter made this declaration, Jesus said that he was blessed by the Father to have had this revealed to him. Last month we looked at the importance of Jesus being the Christ, the anointed Redeemer sent from the Father to rescue us from the curse of sin. Notice the revelation doesn’t end there. It could be imagined that the promised Messiah/Redeemer could have been another human being. Likely, that is what most of the people of Israel were actually looking for. A man could have fulfilled the role of “the seed of Abraham”, “another prophet like Moses” or “the root of Jesse, the son of David.” Like Moses or David a man could have led them to freedom and to victory over their enemies. Peter is given the unexpected piece of the puzzle; Son of the Living God.

 

Through the miracles, the teaching and the profound love of this man Jesus, Peter saw something more, something almost unimaginable for a monotheistic Jew. He was shown that the Living God- the God who formed the universe out of nothing, the God who created with just a word, who breathed life into mankind and who displayed His greatness and glory to the people of Israel-has a Son, a co-eternal, co-equal Son. One, who as Paul says, is the exact representation of God’s being. Standing there in the presence of Jesus and the other disciples, he blurts out words that must have sounded like blasphemy as they spilled out. Yet, Jesus does not deny them or rebuke them or dismiss them. He owns them and affirms them by implying that it is this understanding of who He is upon which He will build a new nation, a new people through whom the glory of God would be displayed.  Peter would later write to the church, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God…”

 

So we learn from Peter’s confession and the words of Jesus elsewhere that the one true God, the Living God is a Trinity, One God in three Persons. The best way that I know how to explain that is everything that God the Father is, the Son and Spirit are. Everything that the Son is, the Father and Spirit are and everything that the Spirit is, the Father and Son are. As the Son of the Living God, Jesus is the all wise, all knowing ruler and sustainer of all things. He is the rightful Judge of all the earth and all humanity will one day bow to Him. When He says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through me” He means it.  This means He’s more than just another religious leader pointing the way to God, illuminating the path so to speak. If He is the Son of the Living God, then what He says is life and truth and all other options are off the table. It means His words are not simply suggestions or good ideas for us to incorporate into our lives when we get the chance.

 

I know this is an uncomfortable thought, but one day each and every one of us who claim the name of Christ are going to stand before the Son of the Living God and we will give an account to Him in regard to what we did with the things He said. In that moment, all of our excuses, rationalizations and justifications will be exposed for what they are: unbelief. It’s important that we put away our faulty notions of who Jesus is. Peter said He is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God” and that has some pretty serious implications for who we are and how we live as part of the Church that He is building.

 

IHMS,