We have probably all heard the line, “I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you.” And probably many of us have said it ourselves (and followed it with a laugh - hopefully) when our little brothers asked us how we did this or that or knew this or that. But it brings up an interesting question: Is there any knowledge that is so valuable that it would be worth giving up your life if only you could obtain it?
Many of us would probably say that it better be pretty special knowledge if any of us would give up our lives. It better be so enduring that I profit from it even though I would lose my very life. It would indeed have to be knowledge that was so valuable that I counted it worth more than my life and all this world affords. Seems impossible doesn’t it? After all, it’s just knowledge.
But, and probably many of you have already thought of this, there is a knowledge that is worth losing your life. It is the knowledge of Jesus Christ; it is being able to look at Jesus Christ and know that you are looking at more than a carpenter’s son, but in fact God the Son who died and rose from the dead that his people might know eternal life.
However, there are two things in what was just said that I think we are quick to miss, or dismiss. We miss, first, the privilege we have of knowing who Christ is and, second, the cost that comes for having that knowledge. Therefore, I want to look at these two things tonight that we might better have a grasp on each of them.
The text begins with Jesus having fed the masses. His disciples still have not seen what he was showing them about what he could do and who he was. Therefore, Jesus turns to them and says, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (16:13). That is to say, “Who are people speculating that I am in light of the works that they have seen?” The disciples answered, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets” (16:14). Notice that the disciples cannot think of one person who has voiced that he thought Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
Then Jesus turns to his disciples and asks them, “But who do you say that I am?” (16:15). At this point, Peter pipes up (in his usual fashion) and says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (16:16). And it is Jesus’ response to him that catches us off guard. He says, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father is in heaven” (16:18). And with that statement, we learn two important truths.
Jesus could say instantly to Peter, “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you” because he knew that man in his own power cannot see Jesus as he is. Man cannot and does not want to see Jesus as he is. That’s why the religious leaders could still look for ways to kill Jesus even though everything pointed to him being the Messiah; they couldn’t see him as he should be seen. And that’s why “The Messiah” was said by no one when Jesus asked, “Who are people saying that the Son of Man is?”
Jesus tells Peter not only that flesh and blood did not reveal this truth to him but also that his “Father who is in heaven” did reveal it to him. Therefore, has God opened your eyes to see Jesus for who he is? And having seen him, do you love him? Jesus was able to hear Peter and tell him that he received revelation from God, can we look at one another and see the same thing?
One thing I’ve battled against somewhat for the time that I’ve been preaching here is conversion being lessened to the point that we no longer are looking for God to open eyes so that men might see Jesus Christ and love God through him. Instead we find ourselves content to look for a date and time. But a date and time does not show us that this man has had his eyes opened by God to behold Jesus Christ. And yet this revelation is huge as Jesus hears Peter. In fact, from this point on, Jesus began discussing his coming death with them (even though they did not understand it).
We see conversion when a man’s eyes have been opened by God to see Jesus as he really is and then to delight in him, placing his faith in the work of his Lord. I tell often the story of driving to a store, after having read Genesis 2:24 in light of Ephesians 5 and realizing that marriage was fitted together in order to be a picture of Christ and the Church, when I began to cry because of how much my heart was overflowing in the glory of Christ seen in the early part of Genesis. And as I realized in that moment how my heart loved him and delighted in his Lordship and his work on the cross, I exclaimed, “I’m born again.” Well, I tell that story because it was as if I got to sit in Peter’s shoes and say, “O my goodness, what am I saying! Flesh and blood has not opened my eyes and put a delight in my heart so that I would cry over joy in seeing Jesus.” It was the revealing of God in my heart. This is what must happen, this miracle, for men to see Christ. God must reveal him to their hearts.
But does this mean that men will instantly understand all of who Jesus is and what he did at their conversion? No, of course not. And we would be foolish to think that Peter understood all that Jesus was at his profession. We know, for example, that he didn’t understand the role that Jesus’ suffering would play in the story of redemption because he rebukes Jesus when Jesus speaks of going to the cross (16:22). And none of the others understood everything either, because Jesus told them (probably because of their limited understanding) not to tell anyone that he was the Christ (16:20). But it doesn’t mean that anything less than a miraculous revelation of God occurs in the eyes of the heart of one who is converted. It is a miracle that God must work.
And if you see Jesus as the Christ and as your Lord, and you truly find (at least) seeds of love in your heart toward him, then you have been privileged to have had the glory of Christ revealed to you by the Father who is in heaven. Isn’t that incredible!
But along with this privilege comes a responsibility and a great cost (sometimes together). The responsibility is in passing along this knowledge to others.
When Jesus says to Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,” (16:19) he is most likely saying that Peter had the key of knowledge as to who the Christ was, not some personal authority. Or to say it another way, Peter held the knowledge that men needed in order to became a member of the kingdom of heaven.
And as men to whom that knowledge has been given, we have the same responsibility.
“But,” you might ask, “what in the world do we do so that men might have the truth revealed to them by the Father?” Well, let’s answer that question by asking what it is that we want them to see. We want them to see Christ as he is and place their faith in his work of atonement for their sins. There we have our answer. We need do nothing more than speak to men of Jesus Christ and his work of redemption. It is God’s job to reveal to them who he is (or as we said a few weeks back, to shine the light in their hearts and create new life).
Don’t think that the more in depth and multi-faceted that you discover the work of salvation is the more difficult evangelism should become. Rather, realize that our job is to point men to the person and work of Jesus Christ and pray for God to do what only he can do.
But the responsibility does fall on us to preach the person and work of Christ, the gospel, for without hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ, men cannot believe, for they cannot believe on what they have not heard.
In other words, as I said in the beginning, to see this truth costs you your life. That’s why Jesus can describe conversion in one breath as the revelation of God opening our eyes to see him as he is, in order that we might follow him, and in the next breath describe it as taking up your cross, dying, and following him.
That means if God wants us to go and speak the gospel and die that men might begin to want the know the gospel more, then we must obey – for our eyes have seen the truth and that costs us our lives. Too many of us want to know the truth and still hold on to our lives and this world, and that is why the church appears so weak at times.
Let me illustrate this by asking a question: “What is needed for a man if he is to know Christ and eternal life?” The answer, is of course that he must hear the gospel. Well, picture yourself sitting across from someone at a table who says, “So what you, with your closed off, arrogant mind, are saying is that if I don’t place my faith in Christ then I’m going to hell?” and see if you are tempted to back down a bit.
I’ll tell you this, if you don’t back down, men will hate you. But they’re supposed to do much worse than that if we are true soldiers of Christ. Therefore, let us praise God for the gift of revelation of truth that we have received, spread this to others, and live knowing that we have been given a knowledge that costs us our lives – and is more than worth it.
As soldiers of Christ, Amen.