This weekend we’re going to be taking another look at Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ. We remember this most important section in Matthew’s Gospel, when Peter stepped out and said the most important words he would ever utter, and Jesus responded with a blessing:

“But what about you?” [Jesus] asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 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. I 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.” -Matthew 16:15-19

I’ve been thinking a lot on what it means to make this confession. That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. There’s power in that statement. And great promise. Jesus says that this confession is what makes the Church the Church. Every person who joins their voice in making this confession becomes grafted into the Body of Christ. And Jesus even promises that Hell itself cannot overcome it!

Last week I was honored to share the message with the LSA students at the first all-school chapel service. We talked about His Kind of Love, the theme for the year. We remembered together that God’s love is all about what He has done for us. That when Jesus died on the cross He said, “it is finished” and sin was conquered.

At one point I told the students that this means we have nothing to prove. God is victorious, proved His power to the world, and now it is finished- we belong to Him.

Sometimes I forget about that. Sometimes I slip up in my thinking and assume that I need to somehow sell Jesus to this world. Like Jesus is some half-baked product and it’s up to me to get people to buy in to it.

Thankfully God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, finds ways to humble me. He helps me remember that I was the half-baked product, at least before Jesus came along. The only thing fragile and unappealing and ordinary in this relationship is the jar of clay that’s privileged to carry the Gospel message that makes dead men live. And that jar is me.

All the power in the world rests in that confession. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And that confession doesn’t need to be sold, it needs to be shared. It’s a living reality. It’s about what God has done through Christ. We don’t control the game; we simply point people to the scoreboard.

And that’s a relief. Because I can’t sell my way out of a paper bag.

But I can be a witness. I can point to what’s happened and changed the world forever. I can be one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.

Enjoying the Journey,

Pastor Doug