Three Profound Christian Questions

17th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/16/18
Mark 8:27-35


Three Profound Christian Questions
I. Who is Jesus?
II. What is his work?
III. What does it mean to you?


It’s been said that there’s no such thing as a dumb question. I’ve spoken that sentence myself. How about you?

But after searching the internet for merely two minutes, I’m not so sure any more.

I have a list of a few dumb questions, all from adults who should know better. Here’s one: How many quarters are in a dollar?

Here’s a second—Person #1: I contracted malaria as a child. Person #2: How terrible! Did you survive?

Here’s another—Person #1: I wasn’t born at a hospital. I was born at home. Person #2: (with a surprised look on their face) Was your mom there?

OK. So maybe there is such a thing as a dumb question.

But I do know that Jesus never asked one. Read through the Gospels sometime and note how many questions Jesus asked. I think you’ll find that every one of them was the perfect question to ask at the perfect time. And some of the answers he expected were even glaringly obvious. But in asking them Jesus was either pointing out a profound truth about himself or about the person to whom he was speaking.

We have that very situation before us this morning in today’s Gospel selection from Mark. Jesus asks one of the questions point blank. The other two are implied. We have three profound Christian questions right here in front of us this morning. Your eternal future depends on your answers. Let’s see what those questions are and the correct answers that Jesus wants us to give him.

Part I.

I’m going to ask you a question in a second, but I don’t expect an answer. Here it goes: Who is Donald Trump? I’m going to guess there are about as many answers to that question as there are people in attendance today. My point is, everyone seems to have their opinion about President Donald Trump. But we’re not going to go into it here. This isn’t the place for it.

So why did I ask it? Because asking it helps to understand why Jesus asked the first profound Christian question for our consideration this morning. If you lived in 30 AD and asked a crowd of Jewish people, “Who is Jesus Christ?” you better be ready for an avalanche of different replies. Political threat. Blasphemer. Imposter. Healer. Exorcist. Bread king. Our great Jewish hope. There were Jews who were inwardly delirious and outwardly giddy over his potential, while others were thoroughly disappointed and disgusted. Some loved him. Others hated him.

Sound familiar? It certainly does. Those same opinions about Jesus are still alive and well 2000 years later. Some love him. Others hate him. Some will listen to whatever he says; others will listen to some things but not others, still others won’t pay attention to a single syllable.

But that’s not the case with us. One of the reasons we’re here this morning is that we’re united in our answer to the profound Christian question, “Who is Jesus?” In a few minutes we’ll joyfully recite that we “believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.” To put it succinctly, we believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God and our only Savior from sin. The vast majority of you have made that your answer to that profound question almost every day of your life on earth—from the day of your baptism until today. And God be praised—it’s the only correct answer to that profound question. It’s the only answer Jesus will accept.

But do you realize what that answer means for you? It means that he does deserve first place in your heart. It means that he won’t put up with our efforts to pick and choose which teachings of Jesus we want to believe and follow. It means he won’t look the other way when we decide that what he expects of us is too difficult for us to follow. It means he knows everything we’re thinking and everything we’re feeling. In other words, Jesus isn’t a product we can simply choose to use when it’s convenient for us.

But enter the grace of God—his love and favor we don’t deserve. By his grace, he has revealed to us who he is and by grace we believe it. What’s more, by God’s grace alone, when Jesus asks this profound Christian question, “Who do you say I am?” we join St. Peter in replying, “You are the Christ!” That’s the answer Jesus is always looking for from us!

Part II.

Do you have your expectations in life? I’m sure you do. We have expectations about our education, our employment, our retirement. We have expectations about our spouse, our children, our friends and neighbors. We expert certain outcomes when we have an appointment for service on something we own and when that appointment is with our health care provider. Believe it or not, we even have expectations regarding Jesus.

So did the disciples, especially regarding the work that Jesus would do. You see, they had no problem with Jesus being their Savior from sin, they just didn’t want to hear how he would go about it. Listen to it once again, “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” It’s likely that Peter, once again, was speaking for the rest of the disciples. Jesus tells them plainly that he’s going to Jerusalem to suffer and die and their immediate reaction is, “Absolutely not!!” They wouldn’t hear of it. In fact, their reaction to his plan indicated they would oppose him as much as they could. They wanted him to reign as a glorious king, not die as a common criminal.

We might have allowed the misconceptions about his work to slide, but not Jesus. He deals sternly and emphatically with them, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Jesus recognized Peter’s verbal resistance as another temptation from Satan himself for Jesus to avoid his death on Calvary. And in a couple months from this day in his life, that’s where we find him—suffering and dying for the sins of the world.

And that poses another profound Christian question for us to answer: “What is his work?”

That’s easy for us to answer. In a few minutes we’ll confess that he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. And we know why he did that work: to be our Savior from sin. The horror that was the cross of Jesus on which he suffered the very pains of hell was absolutely necessary for him to be our Savior from sin. We’ve come to love that truth so deeply that we’re proud to display that cross in our lives.

Until it doesn’t suit us. Until we have our own misconceptions about what Jesus came to do for us and what we think he still needs to do for us. Those misconceptions sound like this: “When is Jesus going to help me and make my life better?” Or, “How could the Jesus I know allow that to happen?” Or, “If Jesus knew what I was going through, then he would (fill in the blank).” Or, “I must have done something terrible to be suffering like I am.” Or, in a moment of despair, “What good is my faith in Jesus anyway?”

The fact is, Jesus didn’t come to be or do any of those things. He came to crush Satan, to win our forgiveness, and to earn eternal life in heaven for us. And that’s what he did. His resurrection is our certainty of it. By God’s grace, you know the answer to the profound Christian question, “What is Jesus’ work?”

Part III.

Jesus once declared, “Blessed are they who hear the word of God and obey it” (Lk. 11:28). His point was that merely listening to his word and agreeing with it isn’t the final point. What you hear and believe must also be active in your life, and that’s our worship focus this morning.

We can put that in the form of another profound Christian question. “What does it mean to you?” Jesus says it like this, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” We have just had the blessed privilege of answering the first two profound Christian questions correctly: Who is Jesus? and, What is his work? But just answering those questions correctly isn’t the final step in our life of faith. Living those answers is.

I imagine you’re not fond of self-centered people. Neither am I. A few minutes in their presence is about all I can take. Everything is all about them.

I’m going to guess that none of us are like that. But how often do our lives make the statement that, at least for the moment, it’s about me and not about Jesus? In other words, how often are we bowing before the idol called “Self,” instead of smashing that idol? How often do our desires, thoughts, words and actions arise from our sinful natures instead of flowing from our love for Christ?

Jesus is thrilled to hear us answer the profound Christian questions of who he is and what his work is. But he also wants to see what a difference our love for him makes in our lives.

Do you struggle with that? So do I. So let’s remember who we are—baptized children of God. Our baptisms put to death our sinful natures and planted in us the power of the risen Lord Jesus. That same Jesus removes the guilt and curse of sin including our sins of self-idolatry. Our love for Jesus willingly and gladly ushers him to the thrones of our hearts and empowers us to worship him, not just with our words, but with our daily lives. In fact, it makes us willing to suffer for his name. That’s our Christian cross to bear. How much does Jesus mean to you? Enough to carry that cross every day? May the Holy Spirit give you the willingness and the power to do so! Amen.