“But who do you say that I am?” Matthew 16:15

Christians tend to be a hypocritical lot. Most Christians expect the actions of people in public life to match their words, but do not apply the standards they apply to people public life to themselves. How many Christians live lives that match the words they say in church? Does the way that they personally speak, the way they behave, the way they live their lives, match the words they say?

“But who do you say that I am?” asks Jesus

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Every Sunday, people in church profess the same faith as Peter. Standing and joining in the Creed, churchgoers recite the words that have been recited by countless generations. But when the people in the outside world look at churchgoers, what difference do they see? What radically different lifestyles are represented by those who are gathered? What evidence is there that words are matched by actions? What evidence is there that faith has integrity?

Peter makes his profession of faith in verse 16 and if we read on to verse 24 we see that Jesus warns that if anyone says what Peter says then they are going to be expected to live up to what they say. There’s no option to say one thing and to do another. If what one does doesn’t match what one says, then one doesn’t count as a follower of Jesus. Verse 24 says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”. That’s fairly clear and unmistakable, no option is given to be a Christian on a Sunday morning and do what one likes the rest of the time.

Claiming to be Christians, saying to Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” must mean accepting that he must come first, regardless of whatever priorities we might have ourselves. If a life is centred on God, then all priorities will be the right priorities, there will be a right perspective on things and live will be lived to its full potential.

Jesus makes no promise to the disciples that everything will always go well or that life will always be easy, acknowledging him as the Messiah is not a magic formula that will make all troubles go away.

The teaching that being a Christian can mean expecting to become rich and successful is simply not found in the teaching of Jesus. The “prosperity theology” taught by some  churches, the preaching that believing in God will make a person wealthy is not something that is found in the New Testament. Doing the Christian thing is sometimes the hardest choice. Jesus’ promise is not about wealth or success, it is about choosing the way of doing things that is right, it is about choosing a way where life has a direction and a purpose, and where it does not end at a graveside.

What Jesus promises to Peter is the keys to the kingdom of heaven; what better offer could anyone ever receive? Yet, given the best offer there is, how often do Christians still make other choices?

“But who do you say that I am?” asks Jesus

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Do people’s lives match the words of Peter? Christians expect to see integrity, expect actions that match words, but do they show such integrity themselves?