2 - Exploring Faith: Who is this Man?

by Jeff Fry

Matthew 8:23-27

I.       Intro

A.   Last week we saw that according to the prophecy in Isaiah 40 John the Baptist came to prepare the people for the coming of the Christ ("the anointed one").  And he pointed the crowds not to himself, but to Jesus as the way forward spiritually.

1.     We pointed out that Jesus was a historical person with Christian and non-Christian historical documents documenting his existence and life (Josephus, Tacitus as secular historians citing Jesus as historical).

2.     Also, we said that historically the church got in trouble when it took its eyes off Jesus and onto other things like rituals and religious, man-made systems to gain right-standing before God.

3.     While one can skirt God who is not here to defend himself so to speak, people of Jesus' day and now are forced to deal with the question : who is this man?

II.    Who is this man?

A.   State

1.     This is the fundamental question of Christianity -who is Jesus to you?  When you can answer this question, then you can evaluate whether your beliefs line up with that of Christ himself and Christianity in general.

2.     Today we are looking at  Matthew 8:23-27.  Let's review it.

a)    Who are the characters?

b)    When does it take place in Jesus' ministry?

c)     What happens?

d)    What is the question at the end they ask?

e)     The disciples are on a boat with Jesus out on the lake.

f)      A wild and dangerous storm comes up and they are caught on the water

g)    the wind and waves are too much for the boat and they are about to capsize and drown.

h)    They turn to Jesus who is asleep in the boat!!

i)       Jesus has a problem with their lack of faith and then with a word ordered the waves and wind to calm down. 

j)      The disciples are number one relieved that they are still alive and equally puzzled as to how Jesus did this and therefore who he is that the waves and wind obey him!

k)    In Mark and Luke's version they say, "Who is this man?"

3.     It's hard to know what they thought of Jesus at this point in his ministry as it was toward the beginning.  But at least we see that this event led them to start thinking about who Jesus is in a more serious way.  Maybe there is something extraordinary about this man.

4.     And this question: Who is this man? is a great question.

5.     It is fundamental to the Christian faith to establish who Jesus is.

6.     It's a question that is asked over and over in the NT accounts.  Why?  Because it is so important.  It is a key question in the Christian faith because without Jesus there is no Christianity.

a)    There was a lot of different opinions among various people about Jesus when he was alive ministering.  What did people think of him?

(1)  Teachers of the Law - some people thought he was from the devil as the teachers of the law said that "by the prince of demons he is driving out demons" (Mark 3:22)

(a)    should it surprise us that there are people like this today - Richard Dawkins in his book "The God Delusion" includes these chapters:

(i)      Why there almost certainly is no God

(ii)    What's Wrong with religion - why be so hostile?

(iii)   Childhood, abuse and the escape from religion

(iv)  Appendix: a partial list of friendly addresses, for individuals needing support in escaping from religion

(2)  Rich Young Ruler - some thought he was a just a good teacher and nothing more

(a)    Luke 18:18 A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

(3)  Disciples - some thought that he was a good rabbi that had disciples like other rabbis

(a)    ^NIV John 1:38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

(4)  Crowds - some thought he was a prophet

(a)    ^NIV Matthew 21:11 The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

b)    It's a question that the writers of the NT pressed.

(1)  go through any gospel and you will see that the author of the gospel addresses this question more than once.

(2)  Read a gospel all the way through this week and at the end ask: Who is Jesus according to this gospel? (Mark is only 16 short chapters - less than 3 chapters  a day - ask yourself as you read - who is Jesus?)

c)     It's a question that Jesus himself pressed.  Later in his ministry Jesus revealed his full identity to his disciples:

(1)  Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" ¹⁴ They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." ¹⁵ "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

(2)  Christ = "anointed one; Messiah"

(3)  How did Jesus reply to this assertion of Messiahship?

(a)    ¹⁷ Matthew 16:17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

d)    It's a question that the Jewish authorities pressed.

(1) ^NIV Matthew 26:63 But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." ⁶⁴ "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." ⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.

(2)  In Matthew and Luke (Luke 22:70) he replied with the  "I am" which has important double meaning especially for a Jew who knew the OT Scriptures.  For those who know the Old Testament it is a symbolic name for God  (see Exodus 3:14).

(3)  He has equated himself with God and that is why the Jews brought against him the charge of blasphemy and this is further proof that the meaning of Jesus' words meant that he was claiming to be God.

B.   Illustrate

1.     Richard Dawkins in "The God Delusion" (p. 117-118) says that " the historical evidence that Jesus claimed any sort of divine status is minimal … as I said, there is no good historical evidence that he every thought he was divine." (p. 117). 

2.     Either Dawkins has never read the gospels in the NT or he doesn't believe they are historical documents that are reliable.

3.     I want you to know that you can trust the Biblical documents with your life: they are reliable because …

a)    The number of copies is enormous.  Compare them to the Iliad (Homer) which has the second highest number of copies next to the NT

4.     Ancient Classical Literature vs NT (# of Copies)

a)    The time span between the actual events and the copies is minimal. (see chart above)

5.     Plus their accuracy can be checked with quotations from other writings which quote the New Testament (Early Church Fathers quoted NT a  lot).

6.     Because of the huge numbers of manuscripts of the NT documents, the number of variant readings can be more easily corrected as we have so many copies to compare the minority of versions that may have errors in them.

7.     "The variant readings about which any doubt remains among textual critics of the NT affect no material questions of historic fact or of Christian faith and practice." (FF Bruce, "The New Testament Documents", p20)

8.     sir William Ramsay one of the greatest archaeologists who ever lived started out as a sceptic toward the NT.  He concluded, "Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy … this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians" (Ramsay, W. M. "The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament". Grand Rapids: Baker, 1953).

9.     Conclusion: If you discount the NT for lack of  historical evidence then you must discount all of ancient classical literature as unreliable.

C.   Apply

1.     Someone once said to a former alcoholic that his religion was a delusion.  He replied, "Thank God for the delusion; it has put clothes on my children and shoes on their feet and bread in their mouths.  It has made a man of me and it has put joy and peace in my home, which had been hell.  If this is a delusion, may God send it to the slaves of drink everywhere, for their slavery is an awful reality".

2.     So, Who is this man?

a)    The gospel of Mark starts out with this: "the beginning of the good news of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God"

b)    and ends with a Roman Centurion confessing at the foot of the cross: "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mark 15:39)

III.  Conclusion

A.   Who do believe that Jesus is?

1.     Jesus says "do not be afraid" when you are fearful (John 14:;27)

2.     Jesus says, "do not worry" when the world seems to be overwhelming (Philippians 4:6)

3.     Jesus says, "I am your strength" when you are weak and it seems you cannot go on anymore. (Philippians 4:13)

4.     Jesus says, "I am your peace" when you find only chaos and noise in your life (Isaiah 9:6)

5.     Jesus says, "I am your shield" when you feel vulnerable and exposed. (Psalm 91:4)

6.     Jesus says, "I have overcome the evil one" when you feel evil around you. (1John 5:18)

7.     Jesus says, "I am with you" when you feel alone and deserted.(Matthew 1:23)

8.     Jesus says, "you are my precious friend" when you are feeling worthless and rejected. (John 15:15)