Crescent Springs Presbyterian
2 May 2004
WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?
Philippians 2:9-11
Once when Jesus took his disciples on a retreat to a place called Caesarea Philippi, he asked
them, “Who do people say that I am?” They offered four responses: John the Baptist, Elijah,
Jeremiah, or one of the prophets (see Matthew 16:13-16). Nowadays the question evokes even
more diverse answers.
Who is Jesus Christ? A good man... The Son of God... A Prophet... A Galilean rabbi... A
teacher of God’s Law... The embodiment of God’s Love... A political revolutionary... The Messiah
of Israel... Savior... A first-century wise man... A man just like any other man... King of Kings... A
misunderstood teacher... Lord of the Universe... A well-meaning but deluded religious leader... Son
of Man... A fiction of the early church…
Before the first believers could proclaim Jesus to the world, they had to know who they were
proclaiming. The Apostles’ Creed is one effort to answer that question. Think about the words. “I
believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord.”
In those few words are at least four answers to the question of Jesus’ identity:
· I believe in Jesus.
· I believe he is the Christ.
· I believe he is God’s only Son.
· I believe he is the Lord.
Let’s take those one at a time.
To say we believe in Jesus suggests two things. First of all, “Jesus” is a human name, a fairly
common name among Jews in the First Century. The name reminds us that Jesus was a fully human
being with a name and a face and a language, a man who grew up and lived in a certain time and
place and culture. The first real challenge to the Church’s beliefs about Jesus came from those who
denied his humanity. To say that we believe in Jesus is to remind ourselves that Christianity is a
historical religion, and our faith and beliefs center in a real human being who lived and died twenty
centuries ago.
The second thing about saying we believe in Jesus is that the name itself means “God saves.” The
Church has always insisted that the meaning of Jesus’ name is also the meaning of Jesus’ identity. He
is the Savior sent from God to redeem a sinful world from death. Since we recently talked about this
in an Advent sermon, we won’t belabor it this morning, but no description of Jesus’ identity could be
complete unless we acknowledge him as Savior.
We also believe Jesus is the Christ. I’m going to assume that everyone here knows that Christ was
not Jesus’ last name. He was not Jesus Christ, the son of Joseph and Mary Christ. Christ is a title. It
means “anointed one.” In the Old Testament prophets, priests and kings were anointed as they
undertook the work God gave them. To call Jesus the anointed one is to identify him as the Messiah
whom God promised to send to deliver Israel and bring salvation to the world.
In a sense the whole Bible centers on the Messiah, the anointed one, because God’s plans all
center on the Messiah. The Old Testament says, “The Messiah is coming!” The Gospels say, “The
Messiah is here!” The book of Acts says, “The Messiah has come!” The letters say, “Come to the
Messiah!” Revelation says, “The Messiah is coming again!” To say that Jesus is the Christ means that
he is the one who has come to bring God to us and to bring us to God.
We also believe Jesus is God’s only Son. The word “only” is important there. It helps us
understand what the creed is getting at. In a sense every human being is a son or daughter of God
because God is our Maker. In a deeper sense Christians are the sons and daughters of God—not
only because God made us—but because we have been adopted into the household of faith through
Jesus.
But Jesus is God’s Son in the deepest sense of all and in a manner that is utterly unique. To
borrow King James language, Jesus is God’s “only begotten” Son. That means Jesus is not created
by God, but actually shares God’s being and substance. This is why Jesus and Jesus alone can say, “I
and the Father are one,” (John 10:30). It’s not just that Jesus Christ comes from God; rather
Christians confess that Jesus is God. In practice, this means God the Son deserves the same worship,
adoration, praise, and reverence that we give to God the Father.
Let’s be honest enough to admit that this is, at best, an awkward belief. It’s awkward to believe
something that we cannot articulate or explain very clearly. It’s awkward to believe something that
offends the intelligence of so many people. It’s awkward to believe something that is a clear challenge
to every other world religion.
That’s why so many people prefer to believe in a Jesus who is a good man and a wonderful role
model and a wise teacher, and let’s just get away from the Son of God stuff. In his book Mere
Christianity C. S. Lewis offers a penetrating response to that way of thinking about Jesus.
Lewis writes, “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often
say about Him: “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 or kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call
Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human
teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Finally, we believe Jesus is Lord. He is the ruler of our lives and sovereign over the entire
creation. Paul says, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” (Romans 10:9). Why this emphasis on confessing
with one’s mouth that Jesus is Lord? Because that’s where the rubber met the road in the Roman
Empire. The Romans didn’t really care who or what you worshipped as long as you were willing to
confess that Caesar is lord. That was the requirement of team players in the Roman world. The
lordship of Caesar was the glue that held the Empire together.
For most people, mouthing those three little words didn’t amount to much, but Christians couldn’t
do it. If Jesus is really Lord, then nobody else can be. Rome did not persecute Christians because
they said Jesus was God or because they said Jesus was the Messiah or because they said Jesus rose
from the dead or because they said Jesus was the Savior. Rome laid bloody hands on the church
because the first Christians said, “Jesus is our Lord and there is no other!”
When confronted with the question, “Who is Jesus?” the first Christians mumbled no apologies but
gave the full answer. Jesus is the Savior, the Messiah, God’s only Son, our living Lord!
Listen again to Paul the great apostle and thinker and preacher. “Therefore God exalted him to the
highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” (Philippians 2:9-11).
God has ordained that one day Jesus Christ will be universally recognized as the Lord of heaven
and earth. When that day arrives, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. All creation will bow before the Son of God. No one will be exempt. Every creature in heaven
and on earth and under the earth acknowledge the lordship of Jesus.
You see, the question of who Jesus is cannot be dodged or avoided. It is the question that every
creature must answer sooner or later. We can stall and hedge, but we cannot refuse to answer. We
don’t get to plead the Fifth Amendment on this one. We can either joyfully confess Jesus as our Lord
and Savior today or we can confess him as Lord in shame and remorse at the end of time.
“I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord.” This is the Jesus of the Bible. This is the
Jesus we confess and worship as God in the flesh. This is the true Christ of the Christian faith. We call
on no other Savior. We serve no other Lord. The martyrs would not exchange Jesus for anything or
anybody. May God give us the same courage to live or die for our faith. And God hasten the day
when the whole universe will kneel before the Lamb who was slain and every tongue will confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Soli Deo Gloria!