What Does It Mean to Confess Christ?
Most, if not all of you, have heard a preacher invite you to come forward and confess your faith in Jesus Christ as a part of your conversion. But what does it mean to confess Christ? a. Is it something we do on one occasion such as this morning? b. Or is it a part of our daily lives? Our text today follows a confession made by the apostle Peter toward the end of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus had taken His disciples to the region of Caesarea Philippi, about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. There He asked them, “Who do people say that I am?” (Mark 8:27) Their responses included “John the Baptist . . . Elijah . . . one of the prophets” (v.28). Then He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” (v. 29) Peter said, “You are the Christ” (v. 29)
Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about Him and then shared with them that He “must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (v. 31). At this point Peter took Him aside and rebuked Him — according to Matthew’s account He said, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” (Matthew 16:22). Jesus rebuked Peter with some strong words, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” (v. 33)
It was then that Jesus called the crowd up to Himself along with His disciples and told them what is truly involved in confessing and ultimately following Christ. It is important that we internalize these words this morning because our eternal soul is at stake.