Written by Scott Fiddler
The Word
27 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.”
Mark 8:27-29 (ESV)
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9 (ESV)
Reflection
When Jesus asked His disciples who people said He was, they answered by giving examples of who others believed Jesus was: the Elijah figure who was to come before the Messiah (see Malachi 4:5-6), a reincarnated John the Baptist (see Matthew 14:1-2), or a prophet (Matthew 21:10-11). Jesus could have intervened at that point and said, “Well, they are all wrong. I am actuality the Christ, the Son of God.” Instead, Jesus made it personal, asking the disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”
It’s a question Jesus asks each of us, and it is a question every person, Christian or not, must ultimately answer. The answer delineates the Christian world from the non-Christian world. To Christians Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior; to the secular humanist He was just a good teacher and to the Muslim just another prophet. For the Christian, though, the answer does not end with mere belief but must be accompanied by a verbal confession of that belief (Romans 10:9-10).
The requirement of a confession seems superfluous at first. After all, Jesus knows my heart. So, confession is not for God but for man. Others need an indicator, a sign, of whether someone has believed, and God has chosen confession as the sign that one has believed (See Romans 10:9). A man speaks out of that which fills his heart (Matthew 12:34). What comes out of someone’s mouth is a good indicator of what is in their heart.
We think it is such a good indicator that in America we require confession of an oath as a condition to citizenship. That confession begins, “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereign . . .” That confession binds new citizens to other citizens and separates them from foreigners and resident aliens, just as in the kingdom of God a confession binds its citizens to one another and separates them from non-citizens.
Application
Here is where all this is going. If we are required to confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior to be saved that must mean our identification with the community of those who have made the same confession is super-important to God. Our confession that Jesus is the Son of God is not merely a doctrinal statement but a declaration of identity with God’s community on earth.
Prayer
Lord, thank You that You have given me a community of people who have made the same confession with whom to live out that confession. Amen.
City Life Starter 
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