Matthew 16
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They 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?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And 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.
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INTRODUCTION

Attention Gainer

Mary Carlson, a Harvard Medical School neurobiologist, observed an overcrowded Romanian orphanage where babies were rarely touched even at mealtime. There was strikingly no crying, no babbling, not even a whimper. Upon physical examinations given at age two, Carlson found that for these “untouched” children, growth was stunted and they acted half their age. She concluded that it isn’t sufficient to feed, clothe, and care for the physical needs of children. Touching is also critical to their survival.

Creation of Need (Fallen Condition Focus)
Touch is crucial to spiritual life as well. Matthew 16:37-39 pictures Jesus’ disciples sinking in hopelessness on the night of His resurrection when He showed Himself to them saying,

“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see.”

This encounter revived the dying spirits of Jesus’ disciples sending them all over the world to offer that life-giving touch of Jesus to all who will believe. Even His doubting disciple Thomas exclaimed:

“My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:28-29)

PROPOSITIONAL TRANSITION
The disciples were quickened from their spiritual despondency to an attitude of worship by recognizing the lordship and divinity of Jesus! What exactly did they recognize in Jesus that recharged their lives?

Matthew 16:13-17 outlines 3 answers. This Biblical passage narrates how Jesus gives a final examination to His disciples consisting of but one question, the ultimate question all of us must face: Who is Jesus Christ? Our answer is of the most colossal importance, because on it hinges life’s purpose, meaning and eternal destiny.

I.  A WORLDLY ANSWER (Matthew 16:13)

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

EXPLAIN
The city of Caesarea Philippi was on the southwestern slope of Mount Hermon and the northernmost extent of Jesus’ ministry. Here, about 25 miles north-east of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus could be alone with His disciples — outside the domain of Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, and within the area of Philip the Tetrarch. The population was not Jewish, so Jesus could teach the twelve in peace. (The Jews wanted to kill Him because of His blasphemous claims) Here, on a road outside of the city, Jesus asked one of the most profound questions that could ever be posed, “Who do men say that I am?”

Jesus and His disciples were in the outskirts of an affluent city that glorified human power and authority.

VALIDATE
In Caesarea Philippi there was a great temple of white marble built to the godhead of Caesar — it had been built by Herod the Great. Years later, when the Romans conquered the territory, in 2 B.C. Herod the Great’s son, Philip, named it Caesarea in honor of Augustus. Philip also named the city after himself. Later, Herod Agrippa would call the place Neroneas in honor of the Emperor Nero.

The grandeur that was Rome…in conquest and splendor (“I came, I saw, I conquered” — Julius [divine] Caesar)

APPLY
To the citizens of Caesaria Philippi, Jesus did not exist.  After all, He was just a penniless Galilean carpenter hailing from the poor village of Nazareth.  Against this backdrop, Jesus asks, “Who do men say that I am?”

Much like our world today who would not give Christ the time of day.  Other than using His name as a swear word, they know nothing about Christ other than their drive for possessions and pleasure.  After all, a dose of Christianity might just bog down our rapid pace towards achieving the American dream.

ILLUSTRATION:
A 26-year old Soviet cosmonaut named Gherman Titov became the second Soviet to orbit the earth and return safely. Sometime later he recounted his experience while speaking at the World’s Fair. In triumphalistic tones Titov declared that on his excursion into space, he looked for God but didn’t find him. Someone humorously quipped, “Had he stepped out of his spacecraft, he certainly would have.”

God created us in His own image and our world has returned the favor.  Thus, the world became out of touch with God and with itself.

II.  A WEIGHTED ANSWER (Matthew 16:14-16a)

14 They 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?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ,…”

EXPLAIN
It is interesting to see where Jesus chose to ask this question, for there are few areas in all of the then known world with more religious associations than Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi was littered with the temples of ancient Syrian Baal worship. Historians have listed at least fourteen such temples — it was a place beneath the shadow of ancient gods. It was also the religious center for worship of the Greek god, Pan. The Greeks named the city Panias in his honor. In the cliff that stood above the city, local people built shrines and temples to Pan.

It is as if Jesus deliberately set Himself against the background of the world’s religions in all their splendor and glory and demanded to be compared with them.

VALIDATE
Public opinion thought of Jesus as a prophet from whose miracles they could benefit. Even His disciples viewed Jesus as the Messiah who would restore their sovereignty by destroying the oppressive Romans who colonized the land of the Jews. Their weighted and calculating answer treated Jesus as Someone to be exploited for personal gain and benefit.

APPLY
Soaked in Postmodernism, our society is littered with all kinds of gods including ourselves. To many, Christ is only one of those gods. To claim that Christ is the only Way to God is to be branded as dangerously intolerant. Therefore,  the supremacy of Christ and Hi exclusive claims have been severely undermined.

ILLUSTRATION:
During the Russian revolution, Lenin promised that if Communism were implemented there would be bread for every household, yet he did not have the nerve to say, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger…”

Hitler claimed he would produce a powerful super human race yet he never said, “Without me you can do nothing.”

Buddha taught enlightenment yet he died seeking more light.  He could not say, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Mohammed claimed that he and his tribes were descendants of Abraham through Israel but he did not say, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

Sigmund Freud believed that psychotherapy would heal people’s emotional and spiritual pains. But he could not say, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful…for I have overcome the world.”

New Age gurus say that all of us will be reincarnated, yet not one of them can claim, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”

Yes, hundreds of great prophets attempted to teach men the way to GOD but Christ alone claimed He is the only way to the Father.

Contemporary culture has dethroned God from the nucleus of life and has placed man at the center. No wonder that purpose, meaning and happiness have been reduced into an illusion in society.

III.  A WORSHIPFUL ANSWER (Matthew 16:16b-17)

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And 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.

EXPLAIN
Jesus continued, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it?

Standing near the pagan temples of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples “Who do you say that I am?” Peter boldly replied, “You are the Son of the living God.” The disciples were probably stirred by the contrast between Jesus, the true and living God, and the false hopes of the pagans who trusted in ‘dead’ gods.

The term “living” was given to the true God to distinguish him from idols, that are dead, or lifeless blocks and stones. Jesus is no less than God! All of life is meant to glorify and worship Him. When we take the focus away from ourselves and humbly acknowledge the   sovereignty of God, we will know the glorious touch of Jesus.

VALIDATE
Caesarea Philippi’s location was especially unique because it stood at the base of a cliff where spring water flowed. At one time, the water ran directly from the mouth of a cave set in the bottom of the cliff.  The pagans of Jesus’ day commonly believed that their fertility gods lived in the underworld during the winter and returned to earth each spring. They saw water as a symbol of the underworld and thought that their gods traveled to and from that world through caves.

To the pagan mind, then, the cave and spring water at Caesarea Philippi created a gate to the underworld. They believed that their city was literally at the gates of the underworld—the gates of hell. In order to entice the return of their god, Pan, each year, the people of Caesarea Philippi engaged in horrible deeds, including prostitution and sexual interaction between humans and goats. When Jesus brought his disciples to the area, they must have been shocked. Caesarea Philippi was like a red-light district in their world and devout Jews would have avoided any contact with the despicable acts committed there.

It was a city of people eagerly knocking on the doors of hell.

Though Christian traditions debate the theological meaning of those words, it seems clear that Jesus’ words also had symbolic meaning. His church would be built on the ‘rock’ of Caesarea Philippi—a rock literally filled with shrines and temples for pagan idols, where ungodly values dominated. Gates were defensive structures in the ancient world. By saying that the gates of hell would not overcome, Jesus suggested that those gates were going to be attacked.

Standing as they were at a literal “gate of Hades,” the disciples may have been overwhelmed by Jesus’ challenge. They had studied under their rabbi for several years, and now he was commissioning them to a huge task: to attack evil, and to build the church on the very places that were most filled with moral corruption. Jesus presented a clear challenge with his words at Caesarea Philippi: He didn’t want his followers hiding from evil: He wanted them to storm the gates of hell.

APPLY
The apostle Paul emphatically wrote: “All things were made through Him and for Him.”

Please note the two prepositions:  through Him because Christ was the Instrument of creation and for Him because Christ is the Purpose of all God’s creation!

ILLUSTRATION:
Christ has created and formed us for Him.  Thus, our main purpose in life is to worship Him for reasons eloquently expressed in the last words of the classic literary piece “The Incomparable Christ.”

The names of the past, proud statesmen of Greece and Rome have come and gone. The names of the past scientists, philosophers, and theologians have come and gone. But the name of this Man multiplies more and more. Though time has spread nineteen hundred years between the people of this generation and the mockers at His crucifixion, He still lives. His enemies could not destroy Him, and the grave could not hold Him…He stands forth upon the highest pinnacle of heavenly glory, proclaimed of God, acknowledged by angels, adored by saints, and feared by devils, as the risen, incomparable Christ, our Lord and Savior!

CONCLUSION

In the end of C.S Lewis’ classic, “Mere Christianity,” he wrote, “Look for yourself and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, and decay.  But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

In the face of a celebrity, we will applaud. In the presence of a dignitary, we will stand. In the presence of a superstar athlete, we will cheer.  However, in the presence of Christ, we will kneel and bow down for we were made to worship Him by finding our utmost joy in Him forever.