Who is this man - Luke 9

People asked the question "who is this man?" about Jesus all the time.

Luke 9 is the hinge chapter of Luke. In 9:51, Jesus sets out for Jerusalem, where he will be sentenced to death.

Herod the tetrarch was wicked and insecure. He is the son of Herod the Great. He is paranoid that Jesus may be John the Baptist raised from the dead. John had criticized Herod's immorality, and Herod ended up beheading John.

Luke 23:8-12 NLT

[8] Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle. [9] He asked Jesus question after question, but Jesus refused to answer. [10] Meanwhile, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law stood there shouting their accusations. [11] Then Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Finally, they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. [12] (Herod and Pilate, who had been enemies before, became friends that day.)
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.23.8-12.NLT

Jesus says nothing to Herod.

Watch out to not be like Herod:

• minimize and mock Jesus
• dress Jesus up in our imaginations
• hand Jesus over to be cancelled

Luke 9:18-19 NLT
[18] One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him, and he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” [19] “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other ancient prophets risen from the dead.”
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.9.18-19.NLT

Everybody has a different answer about who Jesus is.
But this is just the warm up question.

The next question is THE question.
"But who do YOU say I am?"

Luke 9:20 NLT
[20] Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.9.20.NLT

You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

• C.S. Lewis

Luke 9:20 NLT
[20] Peter replied, “You are the Messiah sent from God!”
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.9.20.NLT

Jesus tells Peter that he answered correctly, and then strictly warna them not to tell anyone.

Luke 9:21 NLT
[21] Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was.
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.9.21.NLT

Jesus doesn't want them to tell anyone, because there was an idea about who the Messiah would be. They thought he would be a conquering ruler that would free the Jews from the oppression of the Romans.

But Jesus gives a conflicting answer of what it means for him to be the Messiah.

Luke 9:22 NLT
[22] “The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.9.22.NLT

Peter cannot believe this answer. So he tells Jesus this cannot be.

Matthew 16:22 NLT
[22] But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.16.22.NLT

Then Jesus rebukes Peter harshly.

Matthew 16:23 NLT
[23] Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.16.23.NLT

Peter has the right answer about who God is, but not the right alignment about what it means.

Jesus doesn't want to be a part of your life. He wants to be your life.

Being a disciple of Jesus begins with desiring to line my life up behind Jesus

Saying yes to Jesus is no just accepting him as savior. It is also accepting him as Lord.

Accepting Jesus as Lord has ramifications.

Jesus is all Savior and all Lord. If you just want the savior part, you can't have it. He needs to be the Lord of your life to be the savior of your life.

Being a disciple of Jesus requires denial of our self-importance

So, living independent of God is self-delusion. It is not just a matter of pride being an unfortunate little trait and humility being an attractive little virtue; it's my inner psychological integrity that's at stake. When I am conceited, I am lying to myself about what I am. I am pretending to be God, and not man. My pride is the idolatrous worship of myself. And that is the national religion of Hell!

It's a matter of identity. Where does my worth come from?

Our ego is a big empty vacuum. We try to fill it with something. We want things that give us worth or an identity.

Being a disciple of Jesus requires dying daily in a world that is living it up

The cross was not a cute symbol to the early church. It was literal.

First century Christians didn't where cross necklaces as a symbol of their faith. They were placed on crosses because of their faith.

Satan's temptation to Jesus was to give him a crown without a cross.
Satan's temptation to us is to have a Christianity without a cross.

it means dying to the world

Galatians 6:14 NLT
[14] As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.
https://bible.com/bible/116/gal.6.14.NLT

What good is having all the great things of the world, without knowing God?

it means crucifying my flesh

Galatians 5:24-25 NLT
[24] Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. [25] Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
https://bible.com/bible/116/gal.5.24-25.NLT

Everytime I offer forgiveness to someone who doesn't deserve it, I follow Jesus.

Everytime I serve on who doesn't serve me, I follow Jesus.

Everytime I pray for those who persecute me, I follow Jesus.

Being a disciple of Jesus is an everyday decision to follow Jesus

We're not talking about following Jesus on Twitter.

I need to allow the life of Jesus to transform my life.

Who is this man? Who do you say he is?

But this question can be even better for us: