"what about you? who do you say i am?"

Read: 1 Peter 3: 15-16

So, why believe?
What would it take for some of your friends to believe in Jesus? I have often been in heated discussions with people about Jesus being the Son of God, about Him being an historical figure, and about Him doing miracles. Yet nothing I said would convince them - even historical facts. They still wanted to see Him as, at most, a nice guy who did some nice things.

Nothing's Changed!
Many people who hung around at the time of Jesus saw Him perform miracles, answer difficult questions with such wisdom and intelligence, provide stunning replies [when supposedly trapped by clever philosophical questions] and saw him meet their very practical, material needs. Yet still some questioned who He really was.

St Francis of Assisi said, "Proclaim the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words." The apostle James puts it like this:

'Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?’ [James 2:15-16].

By our actions people will see what we are like and then they will ask us questions about why we do what we do. And it's at this point that we need to be ready and able to tell them.

What’s it to me?
I would like to set you two challenges today:

Can you tell the story of why and how you became a Christian? [Try telling it out loud to yourself].
Do your words match up to your actions?

Challenge
Over the the remaining Christmas Specials, we will be looking at Romans 6 and what it means to live in this understanding. It is suggested that Paul wrote to the church in Rome as he was planning to visit them in the future and he wanted to outline what he believed to be basic Christian beliefs. Paul wanted the beliefs to make a difference in these Christians’ daily lives, as they should also do to our lives today.

'Reflection Time' - Click here for some helpful tools for reflecting on who Jesus is