Matthew 16:13-20
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter,and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome 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." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
Who do you say I am? What would someone say if you asked them that question? Would they be able to tell you who you were and what your life is all about? When people hang out with you do they get a sense of who you are? Jesus poses that question to his Disciples. They had been with him for quite sometime when he says to them, who do people say I am? They respond from observation that they had witnessed first hand. They had seen miracles, been taught lessons in the form of parables and had watched love seething from Jesus' pores. Jesus taught the Disciples more than religion or a law, he taught them how to love like a homesick father. But when he says to them, "who do you say I am?", only one could answer the question . Only one could identify him as the Savior. The rest may have doubted, some may have been confused and others may have just not known. How would he have responded to that question? The truth is that everyday we do answer that question. The way we conduct ourselves, the things that we do for the lest of these and our attitudes tell people everyday who we say Jesus is. I saw a shirt the other day that gave me a clue of who we say that Jesus is. The shirt said,"God I pray that you would save me from your followers". The reason that this bothers me is because I think so often the our lives do not show the world who Jesus really is. This week we will look at how we can answer Jesus question with our life and not only our mouths.