where do you get your answers from?
TRANSCRIPT
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"When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his
disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of Man is?' They replied,
'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others,
Jeremiah or one of the prophets'"
(Matthews 16:13-14).
Who do people say the
Son of Man is?Jesus asked His disciples this question. Their answers, as shown in the above
quotation, show that they must have heard what the religious people were saying
about Christ. They must have been friendly group of religious folk. That is to say,
people who identified Jesus with John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the
prophets were apparently not His critics. The named prophets were respected.
As the conversation continues, there emerges different groups of people as we shall
see shortly. Keep in mind that Jesus is at the center and the emerging groups will be
defined in relation to where Jesus stands:
The First Group is Called SOLI
There are people who identified Jesus with one of the acknowledged prophets but
they were not necessarily His disciples. They were, however, His admirers. They are
the people that I would describe as: Standing Outside, Looking InsideSOLI.
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People who stand outside while looking inside are those that will say positive things
about Jesus but would be reluctant to become His followers. Mahatma Gandhi
belonged to this group (see chapter 9 in Mistake God Never Made at
http://bit.ly/Z3PIdW).
But what about you, ...who
do you say I am?
After Jesus listened to the chorus answers about what people say about Him as
reported by His disciples, He asked them the above question (Matt. 16:15). This
questioned silenced almost everybody. From this question emerged the second groupas below:
The Second Group is CalledSILO
There are people who are quick to answer when the question points away from them.
All the disciples, with the exception of Peter, belonged to this group. They were
Standing Inside, Looking OutsideSILO. It was like they were looking outside to get
answers about the identity of Christ. This means that it is not enough to be inside.
It is one thing to be a follower of Christ, it is another where you look for answers. Itdoesnt matter how well solitalks of Christ, the best that you will know about Him is
what the Father says about His Son or what the Son says about Himself: quotations
come here (Matt. 3:17, 11:27, Mark 9:7). Let not what you know about Jesus be those
things you hear others say. Seek God in His Word to get to know Him personally.
The Third Group is CalledSILI
Although I call it group, it only had one memberPeter. You remember when Jesus
asked the first question, the disciples answered impetuously. How we are inclined tobe prompt to say who Jesus is if the question is pointed away from us! It was only
Peter who spoke, saying, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God (Matt.
16:16). Jesus commended Peter saying, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this
was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven (Matt.
16:17).
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Peter can be therefore referred to as Standing Inside, Looking InsideSILI.True
commitment comes when we get a revelation from above. This revelation brings
conviction and it is the essence of true commitment.
The Fourth Group is CalledSOLOThis is the last group I want us to look at. It didnt emerge from Christs conversation
with His disciples in Matthew 16 but it completes the kind of categorization I wanted
to pursue in this article.
When you go out there and ask people who Jesus is, they will tell you what they know
about Him in relation to rumours and speculations they hear about Him. People
tend to talk freely about what others say He is, or is supposed to be. This group can
be referred to as Standing Outside Looking OutsideSOLO.
I once gave an acquaintance a book to read. He refused because the book was
Christian. He believed He was an atheist and wouldnt want to read anything that
authenticates Christianity. I was surprised one day when this man joined in a
discussion a friend and I were having about Christ. His inputs were irrelevant,
irreverent and derogatory. I turned to him and asked: The other day I gave you a
Christian book to read but you declined saying that you neither read the Bible nor
Christian books. Now you seem to have a lot to say about Jesus, what are your
sourcesfrom where did you get the information about Him?
I must have been hard on him but I commanded him to hold his peace and stop
talking about religious rumours. I would describe a person like that as solo. His
claims cannot be relied upon when trying to establish the validity of Christianity and
the identity of Christ.
First, one gets informed about the Saviour, then transformed by
placing his faith in Him (Rom. 10:14-15). The result is that
he will talk out of conviction not out of confusion.
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Note to the reader: This article is a revised excerpt from the book: The Pursuit of
Commitment(See, http://bit.ly/VOuNPL ).