Confession’s Place

We will discuss the place confession has in Christian development.

We are NOT talking about its necessity. That is a fact with plenty of scriptures.

But what is its function in our development and growth as a Christian?

We will be reading and thinking about Mark 8:27-31. So go get your Bible and read for yourself. Make sure I am telling you the truth.

Ok. Now, let’s read Mark 8:27-30.

“Mark 8:27-30  And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  (28)  And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”  (29)  And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”  (30)  And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.”

This event takes place around 6 months before the events surrounding the cross.

That means for most of 3 years Jesus has been doing everything to get these 12 men to know Him.

Jesus knew that their faith was the most fundamental set in his work. Jesus knew the cross would be empty, useless and would become totally unimportant if these 12 men didn’t figure out for themselves who he was. He knew these 12 men would never help him build the only church there is, if they didn’t buy into who he truly was.

So he made sure they witnessed the healings. They heard the instructions. They got rebuked when they tried to keep the kids away from Jesus. They saw the confrontations at the synagogues,  and when the woman was taken in adultery. They witnessed people being given life again. They heard the Sermon on the Mount when it was live. They experienced his love and compassion for them by saving them from the storms.

And Peter, James and John had seen more than the others.

And now, finally, at long last, Peter says the “magic words”. Was Peter speaking only for himself? Or was he speaking for the whole group? I can’t prove it one way or the other from this text. But certainly, to Jesus’ ears, they were incredibly wonderful words. Finally, they trusted him.

And this was the work of a master teacher. Now they are buying into him. Not into a system. Not into a program. Not into anything other than him.

You might think that he would now want them to start telling everyone. But not the goat. The Greatest of All Teachers. He told them to keep their mouths shut. He did not want them telling others who he truly was. He wanted the others to discover that for themselves.

And that is what he wants you to do, too. Discover who HE is without any bias. No preacher, or teacher telling you what to believe and say. Just you listening and watching Jesus. You can do this until you can see him as God’s Son, with all his authority, with all his love for you, with all his determination to provide a way for you to go to heaven.

Now, with all this, we can NOW start understanding how important confession is, the telling others about your belief.

Let’s read one more verse. Mark 8:31  “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man 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.”

Only after Peter spoke the truly remarkable conclusion about Jesus would Jesus start telling them about HIS future. After the confession, he told them about how he was going to suffer many things. Jesus, the man who had given up heaven to live with us people. was going to be rejected by the most influential people of his time. He would be flogged within an inch of his life because of these envious, powerful people. Jesus told these 12 men that their world would be rocked so violently when they killed him.

He was telling them that he was not going to be the one to overthrow the Roman government, as every jew believed the Christ would do. There would be no revolt. No Make the Jews Great Again movement. But that he would die.

But he also told them he would be back after 3 days in the tomb.

If you read further in this passage, you will see how well this whole idea went over. Like Lead.

But Jesus had laid the foundation. They believed in him. They trusted him. And Jesus knew faith would be enough to get them through the most horrible days of their lives.

Jesus moved on to tell them of God’s great eternal plan. The plan that God created before the worlds were created, according to Eph 3:10. The plan to give man a chance to be free from their rebellious sins against God John 8:31-32. The plan of creating one group of people, called HIS church, that would continue on long into the world’s future. The plan for believers to mold themselves to be different than everyone else, just like those 12 did. Romans 12:2  do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of god, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The plan for Jesus to come back only to immediately take his followers with him. And the plan for everyone to appear before “the divine one” for judgment and sentencing. The plan to send those not continually confessing their faith in Jesus to hell, the place of eternal torment.

Do you see now, how confession is the verbal expression of who Jesus is? Do you understand now, that without it, your personal growth, your ability to transform into what God expects, will not happen, and hell awaits?

If we can help you know Jesus, we would love to help. We would like to show you more about his plan for mankind, and how it fits you. Would you give us a call at this phone number? Or send a text asking for more information? You could also go over to TimelessTalks.Net. There is a lot of information available for FREE, without any obligation. Just click the link to a special information page found in the description. And then, tell us what you need.

We care. We hope you will come to a kind of confession that changes everything.

But until we can visit again, well, Goodbye for now.