by Patrick Timlin
Key Verse Matthew 16:16- Peter replied “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Identity is an important part of every person’s life. It can be how you see yourself, or how others see you. It is what truly defines us as a person. Identity is formed by our actions, beliefs, and words, along with our backgrounds. Depending on who you ask, you’ll get different answers for the question “Who is Patrick Timlin?” My Academic Decathlon coach might reply “A hard worker who inspires the rest of the team to be better, while always being the catalyst of fun times.” On the other hand, my English teacher will reply “That kid who’s rarely in my class, and when he is there, he’s on his phone.” Or if you ask my mom, you’ll hear “My gift from heaven who loves God, his family, and gets straight A’s.” The closer the person we ask this question, the deeper response we expect to receive and it frankly is closer to the truth. In this passage we will dive into the idea of identity, dealing with Jesus and the people of this earth.
Jesus starts off his discussion with the disciples in verse 13 by asking “Who do the people say the son of man is?” Can someone read their response in verse 14? Here Jesus is talking about “the people”. In this case the people are all those throughout Israel who Jesus and the disciples have encountered during their travels. The people who have seen Jesus perform miracles, along with those who only heard about his wonders. Through their responses we can see how foolish they are. John the Baptist is alive at this point in time and is preparing the way for Jesus, therefore Jesus cannot be John. Elijah had last been seen on earth 900 years prior, being lifted into Heaven on a chariot of fire. Malachi prophesies that Elijah would return, saying (Malachi 4:5-6) Elijah would come back on the dreadful day when the Lord comes. Yet that day would not come until after Christ comes the first time. Furthermore Jesus could not be another one of the prophets because he is fulfilling the exact prophecies that the Prophets proclaimed. Here Jesus‘s identity is being misunderstood by some people, denied by others, and the chosen few understand it.
Then in verse 15 Jesus asks the disciples a different question. Can someone please read verse 15 aloud? (“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”). This question is much deeper. It requires thought from the disciples on who Jesus is to them. It’s much easier to describe someone’s opinion or words because it has no impact on us, really we are just passing the information along. A common use of this is gossiping in high school. Spreading the words of someone else happens everyday in the halls of Whitney Young, and I guarantee it happens everywhere else in the city. Whether it’s the passing period, in a group chat, or over snapchat, it is so much easier to gossip about what other people say. Yet here Jesus asks the disciples who they think he is, to find the answer, they will have to deeply think about who Jesus is to them. Their answer will show the heart of themselves, and much more importantly, that they know who he actually is.
Here our hero steps up. Peter is the first to answer. This is where our key verse comes in. Lets read all together: Simon Peter answered “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Peter’s answer could not have been any better. It perfectly sums up Christ in 10 words, those 10 words are enough to save a person’s soul, and portray Jesus’s identity that is most important to us.The story of Jesus’s identity starts long before any miracle that he had performed. The little baby Jesus had a controversial birth, with his mother being a virgin, yet becoming pregnant with child. This alone leaves to types of persecution amongst community circles when viewing Jesus as a child born out of wedlock. At Jesus’s birth he is just a little baby being born in a manger, yet at the same time he was worshiped by wisemen from far away lands. Then for a short time Jesus is raised just like any other boy, as the son of a carpenter. At these early points of Jesus’s life, it is hard to define his identity by his actions, rather we have to look at what he is fulfilling. He is fulfilling prophecy after prophecy about what the Son of Man would be. When he starts to perform miracles and teach the law to those around him, it becomes more and more clear to those who listen that Jesus is our Savior. Yet saying such a thing is a powerful statement.
This proclamation of faith is an important of not just Peter’s journey, but in every person’s walk of faith. Jesus makes it clear to us that this proclamation is a blessing because it was not something that Peter came up with on his own. Can someone please read aloud verse 17? The main part here is “not by Flesh and Blood, but his Father in heaven”- or in other words, the Holy Spirit. We as humans cannot truly understand Jesus’s power by ourselves. His ability to heal others, provide wisdom beyond our own, and conquer death are too much for our simple minds. In this moment Jesus’s identity is revealed to Peter through the Holy Spirit, something that we should all pray for. Peter’s declaration will provide him with eternal life in the kingdom of heaven and let him live freely on earth because he can trust that the Lord is his savior forever. The last important part is that Peter calls Jesus the Son of the Living God. Up until this point, Jesus was called the Son of Man (by himself and by the people). In Peter’s answer he shows that Jesus comes from God who is living. Rather than coming from an idol that is dead or inanimate, God is alive, constantly watching over us and blessing us. Since Jesus comes from God he has the same power and strength.
Peter’s pronouncement leads to something very peculiar, and really only something that Jesus has the power to do, a change in Peter’s identity. Jesus has already done this before when he changes Peter from someone who fishes for fish, to someone who will fish for people. Simon, son of Jonah, brother of Andrew, was a fisherman in Bethsaida, until Jesus called out to him while he was on the lake and turned him into a disciple. Look at verse 18. “18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[a] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Now Simon is being changed into Simon Peter, “The rock on which Jesus will build his church.” The blessings that follow Peter are endless. Whatever Peter bounds on earth will be bound on heaven. Peter will be instrumental to the faith and conversion of tens of thousands of people. He will be blessed with wisdom from the Holy Spirit, and courage to fight the good fight.
Peter starts to be this rock when the early church is forming, and we get a good image of this in Acts. At the Pentecost in Acts 2, Peter begins to build the church upon his own faith and showing it to others. He baptizes the entire congregation and Acts 2:41 says “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”. Later in Acts 3, Peter heals a lame beggar, something that we will touch on more with Johnny’s message. Then in Acts 4, Peter goes before the Sanhedrin and defends his faith. Acts 4:4 says that those who believed is increased by 5,000. Then finally Peter and John lead a prayer throughout the entire congregation in Acts 4:29-30 saying “29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” This prayer for God’s help in leading the early church members would start the spread of Christianity for centuries to come. Many of the early missionaries and believers looked to Peter for guidance and answers, and by God’s wisdom and strength provided through the Holy Spirit, Peter is able to continue with his identity as the rock on which the church is built.
As with everyone else, there are some downfalls to Peter that are apart of his identity. Peter is almost always the first one to answer Jesus’s questions or respond to his teachings, which is actually very similar to myself in elementary school during class. When Peter says the right thing, he comes off as fearless and wise. However Peter can also be perceived as rash and impulsive. In verse 21, Jesus tells the disciples about the suffering he will endure, that he would be crucified, and on the third day be raised to life. This idea is hard for the disciples to understand. For quite some time they had been traveling and teaching with Jesus and nothing had been able to stop them. They had fed 5,000 people, healed the sick, and even raised a dead man back to life. At every turn, the pharisees tried to criticize Jesus, yet he always had the correct response. Really anything bad happening to Jesus seemed impossible. Peter’s impulsive behaviors get the best of him when he rebukes Jesus for saying such things. First off, we should never rebuke Jesus. I mean how could we even rebuke Jesus, he is perfect and blameless. Second, Peter is thinking of only human concerns, not the concerns of God. Peter focuses more on the suffering and death of Jesus rather than the promise that he will return again, being raised to life on the third day. This joyous promise of Jesus’s return leads to the cleansing of our sins, and the central doctrine of Christian faith. Believing that Jesus was raised to life is what helps us identify as Christians.
Part two: Our Identity
So far we have learned about the identity of Christ, as our Messiah and Son of the Living God, along with the identity of Peter, the Rock on which Jesus built his church. As a christian, there are no identities greater than this. Yet if we all want to identify as Christians, Jesus has very specific instructions for us. It is not enough for us to attend church on Sundays, have a bible verse in our bios on instagram, or awkwardly raise your hand in class when the teacher asks if anyone is religious. Jesus says in verse 24 “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Taking up one’s cross is no small feat. The journey that Jesus endured while dragging his cross, being prepared for crucifixion, and ultimate death that he would suffer was something that he himself did not want to endure. Matthew 26:39 describes Jesus turmoil as it says: “he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” An interesting side note is that Peter died by crucifixion in Rome. However at his own request he was crucified upside down, because he said he was not worthy to have the same death as Christ. The literal action of taking up one’s cross is impossible, it is a suffering that Jesus endured for all of us and Peter himself knew that it was something only Christ could do.
Has anyone here ever tried to see who their real friends are? Or been apart of a group where they want to see if everyone is committed? An example of this that I have encountered recently was with my volleyball team. Just to clarify for everyone, there is very little running involved in volleyball. At most, you will shuffle from one side of the court to other a few times on a given play. Thus I wouldn’t call anyone on my team a track star. Yet this year, our coach made us run around 10-15 suicides during the first week of practice. He said he wanted to build up our endurance, yet some kids disagreed with him, thought it was dumb, and quit the team. When starting the second week of practice, the remaining 13 of us anticipated another week full of running. Yet our coach simply told us he was trying to weed out the kids on the team that weren’t full devoted while also building us up as players with stamina for games that go to 3 sets. This simple strategy used by my coach to figure out which kids did not fully want to be on the team while also making the rest of us better, is similar to denying ourselves and taking up our cross and follow Jesus.
Jesus wants us to deny things of this world that may keep us from fully following him. Are we willing to take up our cross and follow him if it means losing a couple friends? Are we willing to take up our cross and follow him if it means messing up our reputation? Are we willing to take up our cross and follow him if it means losing our life? Honestly it is hard to do these things. I feel like all my friends now I go to church, because whenever I wake up from a sleepover on Sunday morning, they know that I’m going to take the train to church or that my friday nights are typically booked. Then recently one of my friends was caught off guard, and asked “Wait you believe in God?” I had to hesitate before I replied yes. I thought “wow something must be wrong here if my close friend had to ask that question. I must not be truly living the life as a believer that I thought I was.” This instance made me think harder about my faith and if I’m living it correctly. To be christians, we cannot simply just say yes, strictly read the bible, and pray before we eat. To conquer the things of this world and live our life of faith we need the Holy Spirit, just like Peter. Through deep prayer and faith, we too can receive the Holy Spirit, be able to declare that Jesus is the Messiah Son of the Living God. After we receive the Holy Spirit, we become stronger and rooted more in our faith. Taking up our cross leads us through trials that allow us to grow closer to God and struggle with Him.
To declare ourselves as believers and Christians, it has to be apart of our identity. It starts with encountering Christ, experiencing his glory, and living life with him. Christ will be there through all our struggles, regardless of how small or big they are. In the end, living our life as Christians is built in our eternal hope for life in the Kingdom of Heaven. As Jesus says in verses 25&26: 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” Here Jesus clearly tells us that living our life for him is the only way to save our soul. Giving our soul and living for God leads to gifts better than what we have here on earth.
By proclaiming ourselves as Christ followers and doing his work there are rewards to look forward to. Can someone read verse 27 aloud? (For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.) When Jesus comes again, what will you have done? Do these things call for gifts from God? I believe that everyone of us here has the ability to do something warranting a gift whether it's praying for someone else in our life, sharing the word with a friend, or being a servant for HBF whenever something is needed. Personally I feel that I am most able to live out my life as a Christian and believer in Christ by showing his love to all those around me. First off, Christ’s love is unconditional and is for everyone. Thus to all my friends and family I try to be someone they can count on, along with doing unwarranted acts of kindness to make their day better. I also make an effort to become friends with people who may not have someone around to talk to them. Sometimes this may push us out of our comfort zone or be unwanted, but we can happily show Christ’s love to other because he showed it to us when he died on the cross. All of us here can definitely show Christ’s love to other because God promises to reward us with eternal life in heaven. What a glorious life we have to look forward to when we declare Christ’s identity as the Messiah and our savior. I pray that we may all encounter Christ through the Holy Spirit and be able to identify as believers in Jesus through the rest of this conference.
Let’s read our key verse one more time.
Matthew 16:16- Simon Peter answered “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Difference between Son of Man and Son of the Living God.
This proclamation of faith is an important of not just Peter’s journey, but in every person’s walk of faith. Jesus makes it clear to us that this proclamation is a blessing because it was not something that Peter came up with on his own. Can someone please read aloud verse 17? The main part here is “not by Flesh and Blood, but his Father in heaven”- or in other words, the Holy Spirit. We as humans cannot truly understand Jesus’s power by ourselves. His ability to heal others, provide wisdom beyond our own, and conquer death are too much for our simple minds. In this moment Jesus’s identity is revealed to Peter through the Holy Spirit, something that we should all pray for. Peter’s declaration will provide him with eternal life in the kingdom of heaven and let him live freely on earth because he can trust that the Lord is his savior forever. The last important part is that Peter calls Jesus the Son of the Living God. Up until this point, Jesus was called the Son of Man (by himself and by the people). In Peter’s answer he shows that Jesus comes from God who is living. Rather than coming from an idol that is dead or inanimate, God is alive, constantly watching over us and blessing us. Since Jesus comes from God he has the same power and strength.
Peter’s pronouncement leads to something very peculiar, and really only something that Jesus has the power to do, a change in Peter’s identity. Jesus has already done this before when he changes Peter from someone who fishes for fish, to someone who will fish for people. Simon, son of Jonah, brother of Andrew, was a fisherman in Bethsaida, until Jesus called out to him while he was on the lake and turned him into a disciple. Look at verse 18. “18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[a] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Now Simon is being changed into Simon Peter, “The rock on which Jesus will build his church.” The blessings that follow Peter are endless. Whatever Peter bounds on earth will be bound on heaven. Peter will be instrumental to the faith and conversion of tens of thousands of people. He will be blessed with wisdom from the Holy Spirit, and courage to fight the good fight.
Peter starts to be this rock when the early church is forming, and we get a good image of this in Acts. At the Pentecost in Acts 2, Peter begins to build the church upon his own faith and showing it to others. He baptizes the entire congregation and Acts 2:41 says “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”. Later in Acts 3, Peter heals a lame beggar, something that we will touch on more with Johnny’s message. Then in Acts 4, Peter goes before the Sanhedrin and defends his faith. Acts 4:4 says that those who believed is increased by 5,000. Then finally Peter and John lead a prayer throughout the entire congregation in Acts 4:29-30 saying “29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” This prayer for God’s help in leading the early church members would start the spread of Christianity for centuries to come. Many of the early missionaries and believers looked to Peter for guidance and answers, and by God’s wisdom and strength provided through the Holy Spirit, Peter is able to continue with his identity as the rock on which the church is built.
As with everyone else, there are some downfalls to Peter that are apart of his identity. Peter is almost always the first one to answer Jesus’s questions or respond to his teachings, which is actually very similar to myself in elementary school during class. When Peter says the right thing, he comes off as fearless and wise. However Peter can also be perceived as rash and impulsive. In verse 21, Jesus tells the disciples about the suffering he will endure, that he would be crucified, and on the third day be raised to life. This idea is hard for the disciples to understand. For quite some time they had been traveling and teaching with Jesus and nothing had been able to stop them. They had fed 5,000 people, healed the sick, and even raised a dead man back to life. At every turn, the pharisees tried to criticize Jesus, yet he always had the correct response. Really anything bad happening to Jesus seemed impossible. Peter’s impulsive behaviors get the best of him when he rebukes Jesus for saying such things. First off, we should never rebuke Jesus. I mean how could we even rebuke Jesus, he is perfect and blameless. Second, Peter is thinking of only human concerns, not the concerns of God. Peter focuses more on the suffering and death of Jesus rather than the promise that he will return again, being raised to life on the third day. This joyous promise of Jesus’s return leads to the cleansing of our sins, and the central doctrine of Christian faith. Believing that Jesus was raised to life is what helps us identify as Christians.
Part two: Our Identity
So far we have learned about the identity of Christ, as our Messiah and Son of the Living God, along with the identity of Peter, the Rock on which Jesus built his church. As a christian, there are no identities greater than this. Yet if we all want to identify as Christians, Jesus has very specific instructions for us. It is not enough for us to attend church on Sundays, have a bible verse in our bios on instagram, or awkwardly raise your hand in class when the teacher asks if anyone is religious. Jesus says in verse 24 “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Taking up one’s cross is no small feat. The journey that Jesus endured while dragging his cross, being prepared for crucifixion, and ultimate death that he would suffer was something that he himself did not want to endure. Matthew 26:39 describes Jesus turmoil as it says: “he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” An interesting side note is that Peter died by crucifixion in Rome. However at his own request he was crucified upside down, because he said he was not worthy to have the same death as Christ. The literal action of taking up one’s cross is impossible, it is a suffering that Jesus endured for all of us and Peter himself knew that it was something only Christ could do.
Has anyone here ever tried to see who their real friends are? Or been apart of a group where they want to see if everyone is committed? An example of this that I have encountered recently was with my volleyball team. Just to clarify for everyone, there is very little running involved in volleyball. At most, you will shuffle from one side of the court to other a few times on a given play. Thus I wouldn’t call anyone on my team a track star. Yet this year, our coach made us run around 10-15 suicides during the first week of practice. He said he wanted to build up our endurance, yet some kids disagreed with him, thought it was dumb, and quit the team. When starting the second week of practice, the remaining 13 of us anticipated another week full of running. Yet our coach simply told us he was trying to weed out the kids on the team that weren’t full devoted while also building us up as players with stamina for games that go to 3 sets. This simple strategy used by my coach to figure out which kids did not fully want to be on the team while also making the rest of us better, is similar to denying ourselves and taking up our cross and follow Jesus.
Jesus wants us to deny things of this world that may keep us from fully following him. Are we willing to take up our cross and follow him if it means losing a couple friends? Are we willing to take up our cross and follow him if it means messing up our reputation? Are we willing to take up our cross and follow him if it means losing our life? Honestly it is hard to do these things. I feel like all my friends now I go to church, because whenever I wake up from a sleepover on Sunday morning, they know that I’m going to take the train to church or that my friday nights are typically booked. Then recently one of my friends was caught off guard, and asked “Wait you believe in God?” I had to hesitate before I replied yes. I thought “wow something must be wrong here if my close friend had to ask that question. I must not be truly living the life as a believer that I thought I was.” This instance made me think harder about my faith and if I’m living it correctly. To be christians, we cannot simply just say yes, strictly read the bible, and pray before we eat. To conquer the things of this world and live our life of faith we need the Holy Spirit, just like Peter. Through deep prayer and faith, we too can receive the Holy Spirit, be able to declare that Jesus is the Messiah Son of the Living God. After we receive the Holy Spirit, we become stronger and rooted more in our faith. Taking up our cross leads us through trials that allow us to grow closer to God and struggle with Him.
To declare ourselves as believers and Christians, it has to be apart of our identity. It starts with encountering Christ, experiencing his glory, and living life with him. Christ will be there through all our struggles, regardless of how small or big they are. In the end, living our life as Christians is built in our eternal hope for life in the Kingdom of Heaven. As Jesus says in verses 25&26: 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” Here Jesus clearly tells us that living our life for him is the only way to save our soul. Giving our soul and living for God leads to gifts better than what we have here on earth.
By proclaiming ourselves as Christ followers and doing his work there are rewards to look forward to. Can someone read verse 27 aloud? (For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.) When Jesus comes again, what will you have done? Do these things call for gifts from God? I believe that everyone of us here has the ability to do something warranting a gift whether it's praying for someone else in our life, sharing the word with a friend, or being a servant for HBF whenever something is needed. Personally I feel that I am most able to live out my life as a Christian and believer in Christ by showing his love to all those around me. First off, Christ’s love is unconditional and is for everyone. Thus to all my friends and family I try to be someone they can count on, along with doing unwarranted acts of kindness to make their day better. I also make an effort to become friends with people who may not have someone around to talk to them. Sometimes this may push us out of our comfort zone or be unwanted, but we can happily show Christ’s love to other because he showed it to us when he died on the cross. All of us here can definitely show Christ’s love to other because God promises to reward us with eternal life in heaven. What a glorious life we have to look forward to when we declare Christ’s identity as the Messiah and our savior. I pray that we may all encounter Christ through the Holy Spirit and be able to identify as believers in Jesus through the rest of this conference.
Let’s read our key verse one more time.
Matthew 16:16- Simon Peter answered “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Difference between Son of Man and Son of the Living God.
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