Biography
Dr. Benjamin Reaves is Vice President for Ministries at Adventist Health System in Orlando, Florida. Ben was born in New York City and is ordained in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He served as President of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama for 11 years, and was Director of the Center for Global Leadership of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists before taking his current post. Recognized for his dynamic preaching, Dr. Reaves has spoken to audiences all over the world. [Biographical information is correct as of the broadcast date noted above.]

"When You Have Jesus" 
The young woman sat through the service with a hostile expression. Following the benediction she strode up to the pastor as he greeted the worshipers at the door, demanding to see him. Diplomatically he suggested she wait in the study while he finished greeting the parishioners.

When he entered the study he was met with the fiery eruption of a verbal volcano. "How could you waste all that time talking that pie-in-the sky stuff. You're nothing but a fraud." Taken aback he waited, praying the flow would abate. Finally she paused but then asked, "Tell me, preacher. What do you have when you have Jesus?"

Simon had heard the rumors about a liberator, but somehow in this initial meeting, he noted, the man really didn't look like a revolutionary. There was a warmth and a dignity about him, a sense of openness, but revolutionary? Not hardly. Still the commanding presence underscored in Simon's mind the reason why his brother Andrew had been so insistent. As the Book of John, chapter one and verses forty-one and forty-two describes, "He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, we have found the messiah, which is being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, ‘Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a Stone.'" Or as the New English Bible puts it, "You are Simon. You shall be called Peter." You are. You are.

At some point in time on an airplane, after you have settled in on that late flight, thinking you can get a quick snooze, then finally it comes. You know, some conversation. And, generally it starts with, "Where are you going?" "Who are you?" We have a tendency to respond by either mentioning what we do. "Um, I'm a minister." Or by where we're going, "Well, I'm on my way back to Orlando." But suppose after that the small talk is followed up by "I understand that, but tell me, who are you? Really, who are you?" The smile of hospitality would disappear and a wall of defensiveness would begin to emerge because now the conversation is getting personal.

Well, when Jesus looks at Simon and says, "You are..." Jesus gets personal. It's almost as if he's saying, "I know you, I know you." What do you have when you have Jesus? You have a friend who confronts you with the reality of yourself today.

When Jesus says, "You are," he emphasizes the crucial need for self-knowledge. Do you know yourself? Do you really know yourself? Now, I don't mean the you your pastor or your friends think you are. Do you know what kind of person you are? Are you stubborn? Cooperative? Humble? Conceited? Weak? Strong? Are you relaxed? Nervous? Forgiving? Vindictive? You need to know the kind of person you are. And, along with the need for self-knowledge, Jesus underscores the need for self-acceptance. How you feel about yourself.

Being a former college president, I was keenly aware young people struggled with feelings of inferiority. However, the more I've moved beyond campus borders, I've found that's not just a young person's problem. There are men and women who have spent most of their lives trying to escape from a crippling web of self-doubt, feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. Someone has perceptively written that society is like a paymaster. If you are good looking, society gives your ego a gold coin. If you're smart, society gives your ego a silver coin. Now if you're not good looking, and you're not smart, society puts your ego on welfare. We laugh, but we spend a lifetime feeling like we're nothing. Believing we're nothing. Pretending that we're something. That's not Jesus' plan. When Jesus says, "You are," he wants yours to be a healthy self-esteem. Feeling good about yourself. Good about yourself, not because of what you have, the clothes you wear, or the image you present. Good about yourself because you are. You are God's creation. Therefore, you're special. When you have Jesus, you have someone who confronts you with the reality of yourself today.

But, more than that, the verse continues, "Jesus looked intently at him for a moment and then said, ‘You are Simon, John's son. But, you shall be called Peter, the rock. You shall be Peter, the rock.'"

And with that final phrase, embarrassed amusement rippled through the hearers. Obviously, the master knew Simon's name, but he didn't really know Simon. They knew Simon. Quick tempered, emotional, impulsive, loud, unpredictable, undependable, unstable. He would be called Peter, the Rock? Jesus didn't really know Simon. And yet, Jesus had said, "You are...and you shall be." Understand, with this Jesus was not just giving Simon the macho nickname of "Rocky" for casual identification. Oh no, there was something else going on here. There was more than just a name change.

For when you have Jesus ... you not only have someone who confronts you with the reality of yourself today, you also have someone who challenges you with the possibility of yourself tomorrow. "You shall be." And that phrase, "You shall be...You shall be..." You shall be, challenges. Frankly, Jesus was telling Peter, "Peter, I know you. I know what men say about you. I know that you are a profane pretender. I know that you're a blustering braggart. I know that you're vacillating. I know that you're weak. Unstable. But you shall be! You shall be!

Because, I see another Peter. I see a Peter who will preach so powerfully that three thousand will be converted in a day. "You shall be!" I see a Peter who will stand eyeball to eyeball with the authorities and take the stand, "We ought to obey God rather than man." "You shall be!" I see a Peter whose loyalty will be unlimited. "You shall be!" And that new identification and self-image burned itself indelibly into Peter's mind. Whenever he was tempted to settle for less than the best, he was reminded "You shall be!" You shall be!

And that's what Jesus says to you and, thank God, to me, "Yes you are...but you shall be. You shall be." When he says that, he is saying, "I believe in you. I believe in you." What a blessing to have someone believe in you.

However, while teaching in Michigan at Andrews University I was working on my doctorate in Chicago. I'd travel back and forth and word had spread among my faculty colleagues I was about to come up for my orals. So whenever I'd be on campus and I'd go in the post office someone would be there and say, "Oh, Ben, I hear you're going to have your orals soon. Oh listen, we know that you're going to pass with flying colors. We believe in you." But every time they said it, it was just like somebody put another 100 lb. weight on my back and I wondered to myself, "Why is it their confidence makes me feel so burdened?" And then I remembered, when you walk into that orals room and you face those professors, all those people that said, "We believe in you," they're not going to be there.

"What do you have when you have Jesus?" You have someone who confronts you with the reality of yourself today. "You are!" You have someone who challenges you with the possibility of yourself tomorrow. "You shall be!" And, in addition, when you have Jesus, you have someone who will accompany you every step of the way from "you are" to "you shall be."

You see, if these were the words of Benjamin Reaves they would be pretentious and arrogant, but these are the words of Jesus. His words to you today, right now!! His words containing his hopes, his purposes and, more importantly, his power for your life. "You are," but by God's grace "You shall be." And when you have Jesus you have some one who will accompany you every step of the way, from "You are" to "You shall be."

Eternal loving God, we thank you that is so. In Jesus name. Amen.

Interview with Benjamin Reaves
Interviewed by Lydia Talbot

Lydia Talbot: A powerful message on the process of self-recognition in relation with Jesus. I must ask you what was that shock of self-revelation, if you will, for you personally in your own journey.

Benjamin Reaves: I found that at some point, having been raised in a religious family, I enjoyed a religious experience by legacy or by tradition, and it was in high school when I made the personal discovery of Jesus Christ as my personal savior, and then became aware that in Him and with Him I could be all that I could be.

Talbot: As a boy in high school, now can you say more? What was that moment? How does one become receptive to that reality?

Reaves: Well, I think that there has to be a openness, but again that openness is ofttimes scheduled, if you will, by the work of the Holy Spirit. It was during my academy days and it was during a week of religious emphasis when thoughts were being turned to God and His plan for your life, and that was the intersection for me.

Talbot: Did you ever dream at that point, as a young man in school, that you would become a leader in the Seventh Day Adventist Church with global leadership and responsibility or the President of Oakwood College?

Reaves: No, I did not.

Talbot: Does that say something about the other aspect of your message, the challenge for the possibilities in one's life that we need to be open to?

Reaves: Absolutely. And what I have found is holding that openness then facilitates God's pushing the envelope for us, moving us beyond the limits of our comfort and I found that to be so in my life.

Talbot: Now this question of personal identity as a spiritual experience. Say more about that. What do you say to non-believers who simply, as your example in your earlier message, say it's baloney?

Reaves: Well, I think that perhaps my first approach would be that, while I respect your opinion of baloney, I would suggest to you that perhaps if we give consideration to it, you also search for an answer. What answer you may be struggling with now I may not know, but what I share with you is what I have experienced and I invite you to try it.

Talbot: Talk for a minute about the power of identity as it relates to the tragedy, for example, in our culture for many, many African Americans who have been denied that power of identity by our culture.

Reaves: It is absolutely imperative to understand who you are and that your sense of self is not tied up even in a name or a title such as African American; that your sense of self is tied up in your being linked to your Heavenly Father so that clothing and mannerisms and language and all of that is secondary. I am because I'm God's child. That makes me special.

Talbot: And so a freedom, a sense of liberation in that understanding.

Reaves: Absolutely. I don't have to prove myself or anything to anyone.

Talbot: Now, Dr. Reaves, you were born in New York City. You met your bride forty-three years ago as students at Oakwood College in Alabama. Tell us a bit about the future, that sense of possibility as you anticipate this aspect, this chapter in your life.

Reaves: What we are finding is, of course as many people know, that the longer we are married, the more new horizons of joy and happiness we experience. It's as if there is no end to it and I thank God for that, and together we look forward to whatever God will bring into our pathway.

Talbot: It is a joy to have you back on the program, Dr. Benjamin Reaves. We look forward to your next visit.

Reaves: Thank you.