Riverside Community Church
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Who is this Jesus that communion is all about? Jesus’s blood in the cup and Jesus’s body in the bread. Yea, but who is this Jesus, and why should He be so important to me personally?
A preacher visited a Nursing home that had some patients with Alzheimer's. He went around and greeted the people and he walked up to one lady and asked, "Do you know who I am?" She said, "No, but if you go to the Front Desk, they can tell you."
Do you know who this Jesus is? Everybody needs to ask that question and then discover the answer. You need to ask yourself, who is this Jesus, because the answer is life changing, life giving and life abundant. Wipe the slate clean about what you know about Jesus and start fresh by asking, who are you Jesus?
Let me put it this way. Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say I am?” and Jesus asks you that same question today, “Who do YOU say I am?”
Matthew 16:13-20 New International Version (NIV)
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 Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
He asked the question, not because He didn’t know what the people thought and spoke of Him; but to open the door for the disciples and indirectly us, for us to have this discussion. So, who is this Jesus?
It is like an event that took place in the late 1700’s. The Manager of Baltimore’s largest hotel refused lodging to a man dressed like a farmer because he thought this fellow’s appearance would discredit his Inn.
So the man left. Later that evening, the Innkeeper discovered that he had turned away none other than the Vice-President Thomas Jefferson! Immediately he sent a note to Jefferson, asking him to come back and be his guest.
Jefferson replied by instructing his messenger as follows: “Tell him I have already engaged a room. I value his good intentions highly but if he has no place for a dirty American farmer, he has none for the Vice President of the United States.”
That hotel Manager was like many of Jesus’ own people who saw a carpenter, an itinerant rabbi, a rebel, a miracle worker, they were looking at the Son of Man Jesus but did not realize they were also looking at the Son of God Jesus, the incarnate God Himself was before them.
He was flesh and blood, a human being. As we celebrate communion, He was also deity! We see in Colossians, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” Colossians 2:9 (NASB).
My thought is this: everybody ought to know Who Jesus is! Why? Because He is: the SAVIOUR OF MY SOUL, THE MESSIAH (THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD),
HE IS THE CRUCIFIED LAMB, THE RISEN LION AND THE COMING KING
Who is Jesus?
HE IS THE ANCIENT OF DAYS, THE ALPHA AND OMEGA, the beginning and the end
HE IS THE MIRACLE WORKER, THE WATER WALKER AND LEPER CLEANSER
HE IS THE LILY OF THE VALLEY, THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR
HE IS THE DEAREST OF FRIENDS AND THE SOVERIGN GOD OF ALL
JESUS IS THE SUREST OF DEFENDERS AND PROVIDER OF ALL OUR NEEDS
HE IS THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB FOR YOUR SIN AND THE HIGHEST ADVOCATE OF YOUR WORTH IN HEAVEN
HE IS THE PREPARER OF YOUR HOME IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH A SHELTER IN THE TIME OF STORM
JESUS IS MORE THAN YOU KNOW AND ALL THAT YOU NEED
Everybody ought to know this Jesus. Amen
When Jesus asked Peter “who do you say I am?” Peter declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Christ claimed Deity for Himself and demonstrated Divine prerogatives:
a. He forgave sins.
b. He took authority over demons
c. He healed the sick.
d. He controlled stormy seas.
e. He raised the dead.
f. He fed a multitude on a boy’s lunch.
g. He foretold the future with accuracy.
h. He claimed to exist before Abraham.
What does it mean?
It means that Jesus was not just a good moral man. It means that He was not merely a prophet or teacher. It means that He was not a deluded fanatic who got Himself needlessly martyred. He was, and is, the Son of Man and the one and only begotten Son of God. GOD HIMSELF, Emmanuel, God with us,
GOD PAID US A VISIT AND HIS NAME WAS JESUS
A man was looking out his front window at a flock of birds trying to find some food in the snow. He felt compassion for them and he opened his garage door to let them in and put some birdseed on the floor to attract them, but not one flew inside. He went out to herd them in but they merely flew away. After a while they were back and he held out a handful of seed to entice them into the shelter of the garage – no takers. He went out and shouted, “Stupid birds! Can’t you see I’m trying to save you? Get in that garage!’ Nope – not one! So the man thought, “I wish I could become a bird long enough to let the know I mean them no harm – only good.”
Well GOD DID JUST THAT. He became one of us to identify with us to communicate with us and to rescue and save us!
He is the Son of Man, Son of God:
The Messiah’s coming was not a secret left in a corner, but the repeated revelation of God to His people in the Old Testament. Jesus is that promised One, the Messiah, the Christ! And that assures us that He keeps His word.
”But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-5 (NASB)
Who do you say Jesus is? If you, like Peter, confess that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you, like Peter, will be called blessed and a true believer, a Christian.
This is the Jesus of this communion table, this is the Jesus we follow, we serve, we love and this Jesus, through His blood, is our personal Saviour.
