Luke 4:33-35,41; Mark 1:33-35; John 1: 48-50; Matthew 16:13-17
We live in a world where titles are everything. People work their tails off to achieve some status: CEO of a major corporation, Senior Pastor at a mega church, or Team Leader on a missions team. Sometimes it isn’t even that we necessarily are looking to that social standing, but are wanting to be recognized for that which we are rightly called. Looking at the life of Jesus, I have been reminded that it is more important to inform people of who we are based on our life than our words or name badges. It is not a matter of who we are or what we say, but what we do.
If you take a look at the passages above you will see three scenarios. The first two Jesus is casting out a demon. The demon is crying out for mercy from the Son of God. In all three situations within those two passages, Jesus does not let the demons declare his identity. He keeps them silent. Now this has a whole plethora of meanings that stem into spiritual warfare, but I just want to glean from it. He did not want everyone to know he was the Son of God because of what the demons said. Surely his life and ministry would have been different had people realized this fact. However, people close to him were able to find this truth out on their own not because there were demons there to tell them, but because Jesus lived and ministered with the love and authority of the Son of God.
Nathanael in the John passage was one such example. Jesus revealed something to Nathanael and he then proclaimed Jesus to be the Son of God. It was not because Jesus proclaimed his rightful title, but because Jesus demonstrated a glimpse of his power and knowledge.
Peter is the last example I have addressed. Peter was one of Jesus closest disciples. He knew better than anybody the way Jesus lived his life. In Matthew, when Jesus asks who his disciples say that he is, Peter replies with, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then responds saying Peter did not know this because of anything he said or did, but because the Father revealed it to him. Peter’s reply was not only founded by a revelation from God, but by seeing Jesus live as the Messiah.
The point is simply this: We, I, need to quit living life for a title. The title does not matter. Instead of making our name and position known we need to live out that position. People won’t always remember what we say, but they will remember what we do. People knew Jesus title, Son of God, because he lived up to the title. People will not remember who a person is by their title but by what they did to earn that title. I can be a doctor but it means nothing if I am not helping the sick. I can be a Christian, but it means nothing if I don’t live it out everyday. Instead of chasing a title, it is time I start living the title.
Challenged & Changed 