At the close of the year we began on a series focusing on the image of Jesus. A quick scan of your local church and the doctrinal positions of the leaders may reveal to some their church may have a distorted view of Jesus. Take for example the church that professes that once you become a Christian all your problems are over. Another example is the church that claims Jesus does not judge. Buried deep are the churches that claim to be Christian but are the ones that profess a Jesus that is simply not found in scripture. For this reason it was important for us to delineate what we believe to be true about Jesus. 

There is an interesting exchange that is found in scripture between Jesus and His disciples. Having warned them about the religiosity of the Pharisees and Sadducees, He turns to them and asks a question we all have to answer; Who do you say that I am? In Mark 8:27-29 Peter answers in the affirmative "you are the Christ". This should be our response to this question, not just a prophet, not just a good man, not just a moral being or whatever else may be said about Him. Jesus' response to Peter is "...on this rock I will build my church". Due to some of the language it is assumed Jesus is saying Peter will be the church. This may scarcely be true as Peter denies Jesus three times, one of those times to a small girl. Yet, it is unfair to not read this text and see how something Peter does is what Jesus is pointing to as the rock that the gates of hell will not prevail against.  

It is on Peter's confession of Jesus of Nazareth being the Christ that the church will be built. That is, each of us have a duty, much like Peter and the other disciples, to know Jesus intimately. That in our coming to know Him we profess Him as the Christ, or Holy Anointed One sent for our salvation. In the Christ we find forgiveness of sin, redemption of who we once were, and are restored to the Father once more. 

Coming to know who Jesus is prompts us to a space in which we gain a greater understanding of Christ. We move from an emotional experience to a full encounter with the living Christ.  In this, we fulfill one of the greatest commands to love the Lord with all our hearts, soul, and mind. (Matt 22:37) 

Focusing then on the mind, there is a need to move from blind faith or even a passive understanding of Christ. This we accomplish in the work defined by Paul when he proclaims that faith is not blind, faith is bound to hearing, and hearing through the word of God. (Rom 10:17) 

Peter and the disciples had the luxury of being able to walk with Jesus, to see Him daily, to know Him intimately, and to raise their questions to the Christ. It was essential for them to be able to emphatically say "You are the Christ." Something of similar import is how even seeing some will struggle to believe.  Jesus states to Peter that it was not flesh and blood that revealed this truth to him. The revelation was given by the Spirit. 

Today we may not literally see Jesus as the disciples did in their time. However, we are prompted to know the Lord in the same way. This is only accomplished in and  through the work of the Holy Spirit. We see Jesus in all of scripture from the Old Testament into the New Testament. It is our responsibility to search out the word, to seek for ourselves, and not rely on the testimony of another. 

One additional facet of knowing Christ is understanding how it is that He has revealed Himself to us. Each one of will carry an experiential knowledge of Him and this will reflect in the way we worship Him. Our experiential knowledge cannot trump the truth that is found in scripture as the scripture is the authority from which all of our beliefs are comprised. 

Coming to a full understanding of Jesus should not be conflated with knowing everything about Him. We can search far and wide in search of all there is to know about Jesus the Christ, even so, we may find we have only begun to know Him. Never the less, we are assured there is a way to know Him as we are drawn to be His disciples not just followers. 

There is a blessing in believing without seeing (John 20:29) but we are not commanded to believe blindly. We have a duty to know Jesus not just know of Him. As we continue in the series this is the hope, that all who would hear these messages will come to a greater understanding of who Jesus is. That we, as Peter, will profess Jesus as the Christ.