13th July 2026

13th July 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (Matthew 16:13-20 focus v13-16)


Message (Alan Burke) 


There is this game we play at Youth Fellowship from time to time. It’s called ‘Who am I?’ The premise of the game is quite simple, and all you need are some sticky labels and a pen. What you do is write down a whole load of names on some sticky labels and then stick a name to the back of those playing (we did it on their foreheads until we caught one or two of them looking out the window trying to read the name in their reflection). The idea then is they get to ask questions to try to figure out who they are. It’s a bit of a laugh and some of them can’t figure out who they are and that is usually my fault because I’m so removed from popular culture. Today we come to a question of who Jesus is and it’s more than a little important. It’s vitally important that we get the answer to that question right but it’s not just a matter of getting the question right it is also about how we respond to that truth. 


We pick up here and Jesus asks his disciples; “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” This title ‘Son of Man’ is used in scripture in two different ways, to speak about a descendant of Adam or of the Messiah (See Ezekiel and Daniel 7:13-14). What is Jesus asking, well he is asking who do the people say he is. Back in Matthew 8, Jesus in explaining the cost of discipleship to the crowds had used the Son of Man in reference to himself; his disciples would have understood that he was asking them, who do the people say I am? (Mt 8:20). In their response they give four different answers; “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”


What we learn from the answer of the disciples to Jesus’ question is that the people, although they had witnessed Jesus’ ministry, they had seen his power, they had heard his teaching and they had connected the ministry of Jesus to the work of the LORD in their day, but they had not understood who he was. They perceived Jesus as one sent from God; in a sense, they were close, they recognised him as one of the prophets, but they had missed the reality of who Jesus was and is. Part of their problem was that their expectation of the coming Lord’s Messiah, his Christ, was all intermingled with political and nationalistic ideals that obscured their understanding.


Just in case we missed that Jesus was referring to himself when he spoke of the Son of Man, he then turns the question on them and he asks; “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answers; he answers not only for himself but for all of the disciples, saying; “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter was saying that Jesus is the one whom they had been waiting for ever since the moments after the fall of humanity when the Lord Himself preached the Gospel to Satan of one who would come to bruise the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). The disciples perceived that Jesus was the fulfilment of all of the prophecies of God, the one the people were looking forward to; to them, they believed that the true Christ had come. The one that all the Old Testament was pointing to and revealing. That Jesus was the Son of the living God. Peter didn’t understand the fullness of what he said, but the answer mattered a great deal for not only his but our eternal destiny. Who do you say that he is? But know that there is a world of difference between being able to say something, to know something, and that truth impacting your life. Who is Jesus? He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and all who call upon his name will be saved (Rom 10:13).


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q11 What are God’s works of providence?
A. God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.
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