“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Matthew 16:13-15 ESV

In a city dedicated to Caesar, with a temple built for worship of him, Jesus asks this all important question. With other distractions all around, with pagan gods and men claiming to be son of god, He asks His own disciples who they thought He was…and He asks us still today.

And our answer matters. It deeply and truly matters. Most everyone in Christian circles is familiar with C.S. Lewis’ conversation on what we call Jesus. Reading through the gospels, confronted with Him and Hs teachings, we must call Him 1 of 3 things: ‘Liar’, ‘Lunatic’ or ‘Lord.’ For all those people whether secular or religious who say that Jesus was a good teacher, an enlightened man, but not God, if they say He was a model of compassion and an example for how to treat everyone equally regardless of race or gender, but that He wasn’t really born of a virgin and that when He died, he died and there was no resurrection, if they say that, then they are calling the words of a madman truth in a selective way.

Jesus doesn’t allow us to pick and choose who and what He is, we either accept Him and His teachings, or we do not.

We cannot be selective. He cannot be just a good teacher, because He said too many things in reference to His divinity. And if we must take Him at His word, then we have much bigger questions to answer, such as the one that He poses to His disciples here in Matthew 16, a definitive, once-for-all answer. “Who do you say that I am?”

And then we live our lives according to our answer. If we say we believe Him, if we claim to have faith that He is the Son of God, the Word of God made flesh, then we need to treat everything He says with solemn reverence and take it all very seriously. What He says is no longer suggestion, but life itself. Teachings aren’t pithy sayings or clever proverbs for us to enjoy and say, “Oh, that’s nice, I like that…maybe I’ll put that one on my wall at home.”

When we admit that Jesus is who He says He is, we are claiming allegiance to Him, to live according to those precepts. We are telling Him and the world that our lives and hearts belong to Him, and that we agree fully with what He says…all of it. We cannot be selective, we cannot be choosy, and in our western/American culture, that scares us a little bit, because that means giving things up and leaving cultural dreams behind. It means we value Jesus more than we value comfort and reputation. So, when we answer that question, ‘Who do you say that I am?” Our answer is life changing in every way imaginable. We must trust Him implicitly. Once we accept Jesus as Christ, Savior, Master, Lord and King, then we sign our lives over to Him.

We do this in love, knowing that. He first loved us, and gave His life for us, and so we do the same in turn. And then, in love, we go and tell others about this wonderful news that we have been taught. We invite them in to freedom and rest in Jesus Christ.

So, GoLove as your Master loves, laying down your life is service to others for His sake.