Peter the Man, Peter the apostle, Peter the Lesson
1 Peter 1:1
(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes are throughout sermon)
This morning we are beginning to go through 1 Peter. Please turn to the epistle of 1 Peter, to verse 1. As you are turning there, I want to briefly get us aquatinted with 1 Peter. Peter wrote the epistle somewhere around 62 to 64 AD. He wrote it to both Israelite Christians and Gentile Christians who were spread throughout the land. The strong overall purpose of the letter is meant to encourage the Christians who are living among the spiritually lost world; particularly encouragement through recognizing doctrinal facts concerning the Christian faith. They were experiencing the common problems that come with being God's New Covenant people who exist as "a holy nation, and royal priesthood." One thing Peter does in the letter is help us to see our temporary sufferings in light of the coming eternal glory. He explains that in the midst of discouragement, God keeps His people for Himself. Though Paul, by inspiration of the Spirit, coined the phrase of walking by faith and not by sight in 2 Corinthians 5:7, Peter presses the same message. Peter points out that Jesus Christ was patient when He suffered. He had His glorious future to look forward to. So do all Christians no matter how tough it gets in this life. Christ is the pattern to follow. Peter addresses the fact that life among the lost world culture is not easy; God never said that life would be easy. The church must expect hardship, conflict, and persecution. It requires humility, submission, faith, and love. It is important to recognize that 1 Peter, 2 Peter, and Jude, are a progression of letters that are closely tied to one another in a historic thread. Here, 1 Peter is where Peter speaks of the persecution that is from outside of the church. 2 Peter was Peter's prophecy alert that he wrote to warn of false prophets that are coming, and when they come, they will come from within the church congregations. Jude was written a couple of years after Peter's martyrdom to essentially say, "The false prophets that Peter warned us about are here! They are among us. Beware of them now!" Consequently, Jude quotes extensively from Peter to make his point. With these basic background things in mind, I want us to consider Peter's opening. He writes,
"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, ..." 1 Peter 1:1
This is our text. Please prepare your heart to learn, along with me, from the preaching of God's word in this sermon titled,
Peter the Man, Peter the apostle, Peter the Lesson
[prayer]
We can learn a lot from what God has preserved for us concerning the life of Peter. We can learn from Peter's epistles. We can also learn from Peter's personal life. In a sense, Peter is a lesson in himself of the miraculous making of an apostle. Analyzing the biblical record, we can see how Peter dramatically transitioned from walking from man's interests based upon personal ambitions according to the way Peter wanted to see things, to walking in miraculous faith after Jesus was crucified and risen from the dead. In Peter, we learn the importance of ongoing trust in God, and especially that we can not walk by faith without the enablement of God. With this in mind I am wanting us to learn important truths from Peter the man, Peter the apostle, Peter the lesson.
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The first has to do with who God had made Peter to be when Peter wrote this epistle,
"1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, ..."
As we read the opening of 1 Peter, we notice that Peter is quickly making a declaration of confidence. He is establishing his calling and clout as the author of an important letter. Peter is an Apostle with the authority to write the oracles of God. This is why anyone would listen to him in his day. It is why we must listen. We do not learn from just anyone who comes along and claims to be God's spokesman. A lot of people claim to write down revelations from God. We don't listen to them. We do not learn from people who merely claim they are apostles. Peter was actually made into an Apostle by God. He did not make himself into one. He did not come to God and present himself and ask to be an apostle. No matter what Peter could have done to try to make himself into an apostle, he would have failed.
To understand what Peter means when he calls himself an apostle of Jesus Christ, we must understand that Peter is calling himself a missionary who is called, created, commissioned, gifted, and sent out by Jesus the Messiah Himself. The word "apostle" literally means "one who is sent forth." The Latin Vulgate Bible translates the Greek word, apostolos, as "Missionis." It is where we get our English word "missionary." Peter was a missionary of Jesus Christ in a very important sense. He was a primary apostle that was commissioned by Jesus Christ to establish the roots of the church in the first generation. Peter's special calling entailed laying out Christian doctrine as Scripture. The Scripture that God used him to write extended Peter's apostleship, in a sense, to all generations. It is important for us to understand that when we speak of primary apostles, like Peter, Paul, or John, we are talking about men who possessed certain qualifications that set them apart according to God's will:
A) They lived in the first generation of Christ;
B) They were males,
C) They had seen, and had communicated, in direct interaction with Jesus;
D) They received truly inspired revelations from Him;
E) They were commissioned by the resurrected Christ to reveal God's good news, and establish the roots of Christianity in the first generation.
They were unique. They were known. They were the only ones who were truly primary apostles. They were the original 11 disciples of the core group of 12, and then Paul. There were 70 other main students that followed Jesus in His pre-cross ministry. None of them were commissioned to be primary apostles in Christ's post resurrection to proclaim the New Covenant in Christ's blood and resurrection. Judas, who was of the original 12 core students, was also not a primary apostle of Christ's New Covenant in His sacrifice and resurrection. Judas was commissioned to be a missionary (apostolos) on the pre-cross missionary outreach (Mark 3:13-15) to announce for Jesus that the Kingdom of heaven was at hand, Matthew 10:6. But Judas was also the prophesied "son of perdition" who was ordained to betray Christ, (cf. John 13:18, 17:12, 18:9, John 6:67-71, Matthew 27:9-10, Acts 1:15-17 etc.) as an instrument to help bring about the New Covenant sacrifice. Judas betrayed Christ and committed suicide. Judas was not a primary apostle that was commissioned by the resurrected Christ to go out and preach the gospel of the New Covenant in Christ's blood and resurrection that saves sinners by grace through faith. A man named Mathias replaced Judas through the casting of lots by the primary apostles. This put Mathias in another category. He was a secondary apostle. Secondary apostles were the men who were commissioned directly by a primary apostle while serving the risen Lord. The job of secondary apostles was to help with the gospel outreach efforts during the first generation of Christianity. The first generation period is typically seen in the New Testament time from Christ's earthly ministry, on up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Secondary apostles were men like Epaphras, Barnabas, Apollos, and Sylvanus. Today, there are neither primary apostles, nor secondary apostles. There are people who do missionary work according to God's written word, empowered by the indwelling Spirit. But anybody who claims to be an apostle today, can not rightly mean that they are on equal footing with Peter and the other apostles. The point is that this is what Peter means when he announces that he is Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ. Notice that he calls himself Peter. Before Peter became an apostle, Peter's name was "Simon." Jesus is the one who later gave Simon the name, "Peter." When Jesus found Simon, he was an unassuming country fisherman in Capernaum. He was just another "Simon" among all the multitudes of Simons. He was "Simon Barjona," which meant "Simon, son of Jonah." But as a student of the Messiah, Jesus named him "Cephas" in Aramaic which is "Peter" in Greek. Peter is a name that literally means "Stone", or "Rock." What Jesus did was change Simon's name from meaning, "He has heard," (which is Simon) over to "Stone," (which is Cephas and Peter). So, when Peter introduces himself as, "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ" he is making a doubly strong proclamation concerning his authority. He is referring to himself as a man whose name was given to Him by God. That fact, right there alone, is just amazing. Peter is essentially declaring,
"I am 'Stone' because that is what Jesus named me. I am an apostle, because that is what Jesus Christ made me to be."
When Jesus gave Peter his new name, Jesus asked him
"who do you say that I am?" Matthew 16:15
By a supernatural revelation of God, Simon answered Jesus and said,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Matthew 16:16
@1 Father God revealed to Peter that Jesus was the ___________________ the Son of the living God. Matthew 16:15-16
Jesus responded,
"Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:17-20
Early on, then, we see the anointing that Peter had upon his life. In fact, it is because of the details said in this interaction that Roman Catholics began developing a belief that Peter is something called the first "Pope." The belief wrongly suggests that Peter is the founder, or more specifically the foundation, of the church. But Peter is not the founder and foundation of Christ's expansive church. The Person Who Peter is an apostle "of" is the founder and foundation as the chief cornerstone Matthew 21:42. Though someone may think that popes are supposed to be heads of the expansive church, it doesn't matter. Christ is the Head. Pastors, who are elders, who are shepherds, who are overseers, who are stewards of God, are men who provide spiritual guidance, leadership, and protection, in local assemblies under Christ in accordance with His preserved word. The idea of popes came about when the Roman Emperor Constantine became the first "papal" authority to preside over a meeting of many Elders at his post-war Council of Nicea in AD 325. The papal system developed from that precedent. It continued with Popes being elected to rule over the Catholic Church over the centuries of the following generations, until the Protestant Reformation (with the exception of the "Great Schism" of 1054 AD of the Eastern Orthdox branches of churches). In the biblical sense, though, there are no Popes. Nevertheless, to try and find a biblical precedence for Popery, Roman Catholics try to claim that Peter was the first Pope. The argument for Peter being the first pope, hinges on this statement that Jesus made in His pre-cross ministry,
"Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church." Matthew 16:17-18
The common claim for the "Peter was the first Pope" argument, is that Peter (Petros in the Greek) is the same as the "rock" (petra in the Greek) that Jesus said he was going to build his church upon. They are two different Greek words, (Petros, and petra) but notice that they are very similar. Let me say it with the original Greek words in place:
"I also say to you that you are Petros, and upon this petra I will build my church." Matthew 16:18
In Greek, Petros generally means a "stone or fragment of a rock." When you think about this word, think about the small rocks you would generally find on the shore of a lake. To get the general idea, petros can be translated as something as small as a pebble. "Petra", on the other hand, is generally translated as a boulder, or rock-mass. This would be like a big rock outcropping you would stand on to dive into that same lake. It would be like a boulder you would stand on to throw rocks into a lake. Jesus was using a divine play on words where He specifically intended to distinguish the two words, indicating two different things. Jesus was giving Peter his name and alluding to a particular meaning; then Jesus referred to something else that Jesus called "this." It is "this" that Jesus will build on which is something that has another nuanced meaning. There is the smaller stone, Simon, who is now named by that smaller stone name, Peter. And then there is "this" other larger boulder that Christ said that the church will be built upon. There are various views on what Jesus meant by using this metaphoric language. Each is worthy of mention:
/a/
For example, there are some who think that Jesus meant that Peter, as the little petros pebble, is a fragment of the whole, while Christ himself is the big petra boulder as the entire Rock. They suggest that Jesus meant that the church would be built on Himself (Christ)--the petra boulder. This would be indicative of the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy out of Psalms that Matthew quotes five more chapters later in the same gospel account in Matthew 21:42,
"The stone [Gk. lithon] which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone." Psalms 118:22 (cf. Matthew 21:42)
/b/
Others suggest that the big petra boulder upon which the church is built, is Peter's revelation of who Jesus is. They say that it is that beautiful statement of truth; "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." So, it would be the truth in that statement that would be the big petra boulder. This suggestion is closely married to the first one above, but has to do more with the revelatory base.
/c/
Then there are still others who think that what Jesus meant is that the larger rock is all the apostles together as a group. They say that Jesus is speaking of Peter, the little rock, as a part of the bigger aggregate petra boulder, of the apostles and prophets who would ground the church in the truths of Christ as in Ephesians 2:20.
Let's think about the definitions of Petros, and petra for a moment. Consider that whether you think that Christ meant that He would build the church upon Himself as the chief cornerstone, or upon the revelation of who Jesus is, or, upon the whole apostolic group, Jesus clearly said that you Peter are the little stone, right?; and on "this" bigger boulder I will build my church. The main point is that the "this" of the bigger rock is different than the "you" of Peter.
Also, there is no scriptural, or historical, evidence that Peter is the founder, or foundation, of Christ's church. Neither is there evidence that Peter is the founder of the church at Rome where the Romanized church originated, (and where Popes originated two and a half centuries after Peter's death). Further there is no scriptural or historic evidence to indicate that Peter served as the "overseer" (Bishop) of Rome for twenty-five years as Roman Catholics claim. What we actually know is that there were several congregations in Rome when Paul wrote the epistle of "Romans" to Rome. We know this from Romans 16, where Paul mentions several "household groups." But their origin is not attributed to a speculated previous ministry travel to Rome by Peter. There are multitudes of reasons for Christians existing in Rome at the time. With all these things in mind, it is important to recognize that Peter was made to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was commissioned by Jesus Christ to establish Christ's sheep in doctrines and precepts for New Covenant living, where Peter was a worker in Christ's building project.
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This leads to the second important thing I am wanting us to learn from Peter the Man, Peter the apostle, Peter the Lesson. Peter's affinity before being made into a New Covenant apostle was marked as walking by his carnal vision concerning what he wanted to see concerning what he wanted the kingdom to be, rather than by the faith that Christ demanded according to what Christ wanted. When Jesus first called Simon Peter to follow Him, Simon Peter was doing what a humble fisherman did. He was fishing for fish. In John, we find that it was Peter's brother, Andrew, who first identified Jesus as the Messiah. Andrew was the one who went to find Peter to tell him,
"We have found the Messiah" John 1:41
Andrew recognized that all the facts of Christ aligned with the prophets of old. Andrew knew that John the baptist recognized that Jesus was the Messiah. Andrew also knew that this was Jesus' own testimony of Himself. Andrew demonstrates for us that God is the one Who enlightens the mind with the revelation. In the revelation, we either embrace Christ or we reject Him, but it is God who reveals to us that Jesus is the Messiah. This is why Jesus later told Peter that flesh and blood did not reveal to him that Jesus was the Messiah. But think about this--Andrew was flesh and blood, right? Andrew is the one who first told Peter that he had found the Messiah. The point is that the revelation is more than merely shared data. The Father in heaven revealed it to Peter's heart even though Andrew originally announced it to Peter's ears.
Now I want us to think about something--When Jesus first encountered Simon Peter at Galilee, Peter was not catching any fish that day. He had been fishing all day long, but it was fruitless. Jesus confirmed who he was by miraculously directing Peter to cast his net one more time. In the following miracle, there were so many fish overflowing out of the net that it could not contain them. Peter, a seasoned fisherman, quickly realized that this was a true miracle of God. It was on that day that Jesus demonstrated to Peter who He was. But here is the important point--it was what Peter liked to see. It was what Peter wanted to see. Jesus did something else too. He prophetically told Peter that Peter would be a catcher of men rather than a catcher of fish. What Christ meant was that Peter would catch men that God miraculously provided for God's own self in the same way that God provided the fish that day. Jesus was talking about the future when He would make Peter into an apostle. Through Peter's future missionary work of proclaiming the gospel the way God defines it, the Father was going to announce the reality of Who His Son was to people, and what His true kingdom actually is. I ask you,
How do you think Peter felt about hearing these things?
That day on Galilee, Peter liked all he was hearing. He especially liked all he was seeing that he wanted to see;
So what did Peter do?
He followed Jesus throughout the land. Peter followed Jesus because he saw Jesus do miraculous things. The question is;
What would happen if what Peter wanted to see was not how things seemed to be?
Would his faith by personal sight, turn out to be pure faith in what Christ knows in Christ's vision of things?
Or would Peter's faith be contingent on his own ideas about what Peter thinks he knows?
Later, in Matthew 14, after Peter had been with Jesus for some time, we find Peter on a boat again. He's a student traveling with Jesus. It was night time. Peter looked out and saw Jesus walking on the water. Peter asked the Lord to command him to walk out on the water too. Peter knew that if another miracle was going to happen, like catching all those fish, and like multiplying fish and bread to feed multitudes, and these kinds of miracles, that Peter would be able to walk out to Jesus if Jesus commanded it. Jesus told Peter to come, so Peter climbed out of the boat. It was at that moment that Peter realized something that his own sight confirmed numerous times as a fisherman: Mere mortals do not typically walk on water. But Jesus said come, right? So, Peter did. The Scriptures reveal that Peter had taken a few steps. Peter believed what He chose to see. He believed what He saw as He looked at Christ. He also believed what he saw happening under his feet. He was walking by faith in Christ. But the scriptures also state something else about Peter's walk. Peter's started looking at the wind. Immediately, what Peter now saw in his sight, scared him. Amazingly, in an instant, Peter quit walking by faith. Peter, the little stone, started to sink like a stone. As Peter was about to go under, he cried out to the one who restored sight to the blind, overflows fishing nets, feeds multitudes, and is walking on the water in the midst of the wind. Peter called out to the one who originally commanded Peter to come,
"Lord, save me."
Those are probably three of the most beautiful words that anyone can utter. Peter put his eyes back on the miracle working Lord, and Jesus did save him. But I want us to notice what Jesus said next. It has to do with Peter deciding to believe the Lord when Peter thought it was necessary,
"31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of [Peter], and said to him, 'You of little faith, why did you doubt?' 32 When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, 'You are certainly God’s Son!'" Matthew 14: 31- 33
Jesus was not confused when He asked why Peter doubted. Jesus was using a rhetorical question for Peter to consider, and for Matthew to record for the church throughout all generations. For Peter to be an apostle, Peter needs to believe Christ no matter what Peter's personal opinion is. Jesus knew why Peter doubted. Jesus knew what I am bringing out in this second point on Peter the Man, Peter the apostle, Peter the Lesson. Jesus knew that Peter's affinity before being made into an apostle was marked as walking by the things He chose to see, rather than by the miraculous faith that cuts through what he was seeing which is according to the way God sees things.
Later in the ministry, Jesus and all the students were traveling up to Jerusalem. It was the last leg of Christ's pre-cross ministry. Jesus asked that famous question at the time that Jesus named him Peter. It was the time that Jesus said that flesh and blood did not reveal to Peter that Jesus was the Messiah, but God revealed it. In the parallel in Mark, we read of the same event. But there, Mark gives us some more details that sum up this vital point concerning Peter the man, Peter the apostle, Peter the lesson, in respect to walking by sight contingent faith according to "man's interests," rather than supernatural faith according to the indwelling Spirit. We read about the faith revelation from God first,
"29 And He [Jesus] continued by questioning them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Peter answered and said to Him, 'You are the Christ.' 30 And He warned them to tell no one about Him."
Next we read of the flesh revelation of walking by our own vision of what we want to see. It is the carnal view that rejects the fullness of God's revelation,
31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." Mark 8:29-33
@2 Jesus rebuked Peter because Peter did not want the prophecies about Christ to come true where Jesus must suffer, be rejected, killed, and rise again three days later. Peter was not looking at God's interests, but ____________________ interests. Mark 8:29-33
This is an amazing example of what I have been talking about. One moment Peter is confessing that Jesus is the promised Messiah. It has been revealed to Him supernaturally. Then next, Peter looks at things according to his own interest which is Peter's whole pre-cross legacy of wishy-washy faith; and it doesn't fit into his own way of what he wants the Messiah to be according to his own personal vision. In fact, Peter does like a lot of people who criticize God's word in our day. He ignored the part where Jesus said,
"After three days I will rise again."
Peter went from faith in God's interests in the full revelation that God was continuing to give through the words of Jesus, over to man's interests which were according to the way man wants to see things. Later on, after they arrive in Jerusalem, the night that Jesus was betrayed and arrested, Roman soldiers came to seize Jesus. Peter apparently still had his mind stuck on man's interests. He evidently, in sin, still did not believe that Jesus was going to allow himself to be arrested, just like Jesus said He was going to do, then go through the crucifixion process and then rise again, so Peter struck one of the soldiers in the ear with a knife. Peter was still on his own agenda, though he acted as if it was Christ's agenda. Why? Because he thought about certain select details that he had wanted to see before, and brought them over to what he could see now. What he remembered seeing, and hearing, before were all the miracles. He remembered seeing the power. Peter knew that Jesus was more powerful than Joshua, David, and even Moses. The ancient prophecies foretold that Christ is a great conquering King of kings and Lord of lords. But the prophecies in Isaiah 52 and 53, in other places in the Old Testament, and from Jesus too, also explained that Christ was the suffering Messiah. But Peter had self inflicted blindness to this fact. Peter had heard Jesus say "go and buy some swords," Luke 22:36. Peter liked that part, "We are going to have the ultimate power encounter now!" Remember, Peter was selective with doctrine. He embraced what he liked. You and I must be very careful not to be selective with doctrine. We must embrace the full counsel of God. Your doctrine will drive your actions. Peter's doctrine, that he liked, drove his actions. So, when Peter was looking at Jesus there in the garden, He was thinking, "Here is our Messiah king. Samson destroyed armies with a jawbone. Joshua destroyed cities with a little band of men. David defeated armies with a little group of men. Now is the time for our little group of men to fight and bring in a physical kingdom of Covenant Israel where our miracle working Messiah will sit on the throne of David. All His enemies will be His footstool. The wicked Jewish leaders will be ousted. The Gentiles will be defeated. It is all coming to a head." But when Jesus allowed himself to be arrested, Peter and all the rest of the students continued to operate by their own personal sight, instead of faith in what Jesus said had to happen. Now they were seeing something different than what "man's interests" want to see. It was not something that they could handle without miraculous faith--without believing in everything that Christ said. The big point--and pay close attention to what I am about to say--the big point is that they did not have the Holy Spirit ("the Helper," John 14:16, 26, 15:26, 16:7) living in them. So, what did they do? They ran away. The followers of Christ, became evacuators of Christ. Peter the man, Peter the lesson, reveals that it takes more than knowledge of a select group of biblical facts to experience life changing belief. Later that night, Peter, who once had confessed that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah according to God's revelation, became even more fearful. He came to the point once again of seeing the wind blow across the sea of life, but this time the wind that blew was the storm of shattered dreams according to man's interests. Just like Peter refused to believe Christ that day on the road, he also did not believe Christ a few hours earlier when Jesus told Peter that Peter would deny Him three times before morning. So, Peter lived the lesson that he had to learn. Peter denied that he knew Jesus. He denied Christ three times that night. Peter did this just like Jesus told him he was going to do. But Peter had actually argued with Jesus about it, which was a lack of faith. You see, it wasn't something that Peter selfishly wanted to believe. You say,
"But wasn't Peter expressing godly faith when he said that he would be willing to even die with Jesus?"
No, Peter was expressing gross sin of the worst kind. You say,
"Wow, that is kind of harsh, don't you think?"
NO! Peter was showing disobedience, and lack of faith in the very words of the Son of God. Now think about this; If Peter would have believed Jesus' prophecy beforehand, then Peter would have been walking by faith in what Jesus said. He would have known that he must necessarily deny Christ because that is what Christ said that Peter would do. But Peter wanted to believe in what Peter wanted to see happen. Peter, in humanistic religiosity, tried to correct the Son of God,
"Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You." Matthew 26:34
@3 Peter contradicted what the Lord told Peter must happen by saying, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not _______________ You. Matthew 26:34
People all over the world are doing religious things and they claim that they are practicing godly faith, but they are in sin because they have made up their own set of rules. They are lost. Why? Because they have not believed in the exact statements that the Lord has made. They have believed in corrupted statements--in false statements--in make-believe doctrines that they want to hear. The point is that Peter contradicted the Lord of glory in what seemed like a pious declaration of religious allegiance. But it was really a sinful affront to God and His clear decree in a gross lack of faith. Subsequently, Peter denied Jesus to avoid dying with Him. He denied his teacher. He denied His friend. He denied God's word. Peter denied the Messiah, the Son of the living God. The scriptures record in Matthew 26:75, that Peter wept bitterly because of this.
But, didn't Peter weep because Peter now had faith in what Jesus had told him earlier?
No.
You say,
"How can you say that?"
Because Peter should have known that all this was going to progress along like Jesus originally told him on the road to Jerusalem. Peter should have expected that there was death awaiting Christ--that there was resurrection awaiting afterward. But the faith manifestation would have come if Peter would have been awaiting the resurrection that Peter spoke against when he sinfully tried to rebuke the Messiah. So Peter mourned as they tortured Jesus and hung him like a shamed criminal, naked and exposed, to die in agony for all to see. All Peter could do was cry like a baby. If Peter had walked by faith in God's comprehensive word, then Peter would have been looking forward to the fact that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again," Mark 8:31. What a contrast from the bold apostle who wrote 1 Peter.
But God had called Peter to serve Christ in faith in what Christ sees, and this is what Christ made sure would happen. Though Peter wavered to protect his own life, the resurrected Christ found Peter again at Galilee. This is how God's grace works. He is the one who comes to us and finds us in the midst of our failures. We remember the first time Jesus came to Peter at Galilee. We remember that Jesus told him to throw out his fishing nets one more time. There is another detail. After the nets and the boats became so full of fish from the miracle, Peter had an overwhelming conviction of his sinfulness. So Peter blurted out,
"Go away from me Lord, because I am a sinful man." Luke 5:8
@4 When Jesus first met Peter, Peter said, "Go away from me Lord, because I am a ___________________ man. Luke 5:8
Whenever someone is faced with the King of kings and Lord of lords, and He opens up their eyes to see, they realize who they are. They realize what they are. Then, just like a poor fisherman in Galilee, they recognize the overwhelming reality of Who Christ is, and their heart cries out, "I am sinful!" When they cry out to the Lord to save them from their sins, He does. It is only when we are convicted by God to realize that we are sinful, that we will leave everything behind to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior. Peter left everything behind to follow Jesus. Now, Peter is on the boat again. He sees the risen Christ calling to him, and he recognized that He is still the sinful man he was when he first met Jesus. Peter must have been thinking about what Jesus had originally told Peter he would become. Maybe Peter thought about it after discovering that the tomb was empty. Maybe he thought about it in the upper room where Jesus showed up in the midst of the confused students shortly after His resurrection. Do you remember what Jesus told Peter when he first found Peter? He told Peter that from now on he would be a catcher of men. Now the resurrected Christ is on the sea shore. When He calls out to Peter, Peter is doing the same thing he was doing before. He is fishing for fish--not men. This time the resurrected Jesus tells Peter to shepherd His sheep and tend to His lambs, John 21:15. This is the apostolic calling being restated to Peter in grace. Jesus' intimate reference to Israel was that they were His sheep. In His early announcement, Jesus said,
"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew 15:24 cf. Matthew 10:5
Jesus also said that he had other sheep, which are not of this fold; they will hear His voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd John 10:16. Jesus was talking about the ingathering of Gentiles to be part of God's people to be evangelized for the New Covenant. In this 1 Peter epistle, Peter identifies Jesus as the "chief shepherd" in 1 Peter 5:4. Jesus, as the chief shepherd of His sheep, reinvigorates Peter's failed heart that day by the seashore. Now humbled Peter was ready for the high-call to fish for men, and tend to Christ's sheep. Peter would be empowered by the Holy Spirit in a matter of weeks at the Jewish feast of Pentecost. Peter was about to operate in obedience by the power of the indwelling Spirit in supernatural power. The apostleship does not come from mere religious zeal. Religious zeal will change like the tide. It does not come from the power of your flesh. The power of the flesh is weak when it comes to serving Christ. Holy Spirit enablement, empowerment, and enthusiasm is what marks all true New Testament servants of God.
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This leads to the third and final principle that is vital for us to recognize concerning Peter the Man, Peter the apostle, Peter the Lesson. When the risen Christ came back to Peter, He told Peter not to leave Jerusalem. He told Peter to wait there for the promise of the Father of being baptized with the Holy Spirit. Peter listened and did what he was told. He waited. And he was baptized with the very person of the One true God in the person of the Holy Spirit. Immediately Peter had an empowering boldness. He began to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the dispersed Jews that had come together in Jerusalem for the Holidays--many of whom had actually been part of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ,
"1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. 5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 "And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs, we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God." Acts 2:1-11
From that day forward, we see a new supernatural boldness in Peter that reflected the passionate turbulence of rushing wind, and when Peter spoke, he spoke as if with a tongue of fire. Peter manifested the indwelling Spirit. Peter was ready for the suffering ministry of an apostle. Peter was ready to teach encouragement in suffering as he does in 1 Peter. The reason is that Christ had ascended to the right hand of the Father, and He had sent the helper to permeate Peter. Now, in the New Covenant age, Peter is different. He is supernatural. His sight is supernatural, and His life showed it. It was also on that day of the Jewish celebration of "Pentecost" that we see the net of the Spirit that has continued in every generation since. We see the miraculous catching of men. God uses preaching of the word, in conjunction with the illuminating power of His Spirit, to bring the harvest in each generation. Peter preached in faith, and Peter preached in power. The Scriptures proclaim that
"the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." Acts 2:47
The Lord adds the number. Peter, the catcher, did not add the numbers. You do not add the number. I do not add the number. The Lord does, according to the work of the Spirit. The point is that it was the Holy Spirit that changed Peter from the fisher of fish, into the fisher of men. Peter now had the faith to go out into the ocean of life, and cast the net, but it was God who directed the net, gave the boldness, gave the faith, and gave the words to speak. It was the Lord who opened up the hearts of multitudes to submit to the crucified and risen Shepherd forever. It is the Lord who makes His body from every tongue tribe and nation by the same Spirit. God is the one who changes you and me to walk by faith and not by our own personal views of things. We must give Him all the glory. And so Peter is a Holy Spirit created apostle now. As such, he is moved by the same empowering Holy spirit to write a general letter to those dispersed followers of Christ according to what Christ wants to see. He continued to fulfill the call and mandate of God to feed His sheep.
We need to learn from Peter the man, Peter the lesson. Let's remember it all again. God made Peter to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. As a primary apostle, Peter has the authority to teach us the doctrines and precepts of Christianity. Once Peter was an unassuming country fisherman in Capernaum. Peter personified how God calls all of us out to follow Him. Peter started out as just another "Simon." But Christ changed his name to stone. Peter declares the name that was given to him by Christ. He also declares that his apostleship was given to him by God. Peter's affinity before being an apostle was marked as walking by what Peter wanted to see rather than by the faith that is required. Peter's life of walking by sight was indicative of walking according to the flesh. Peter shows that he had trust in the Lord when all seemed like it was going according to what Peter liked and wanted. After Christ established the New Covenant in His blood and resurrection, Peter received the promised Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He received power and miraculous faith to follow His Messiah as an apostle. This is the picture of all of us in salvation. God wants us to walk by the Spirit in our salvation, and not by the sight that marked us in our life in the flesh. In a sense, God has given us all a new name. Amen.
@1 Father God revealed to Peter that Jesus was the ___________________ the Son of the living God. Matthew 16:15-16
@2 Jesus rebuked Peter because Peter did not want the prophecies about Christ to come true where Jesus must suffer, be rejected, killed, and rise again three days later. Peter was not looking at God's interests, but ____________________ interests. Mark 8:29-33
@3 Peter contradicted what the Lord told Peter must happen by saying, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not _______________ You. Matthew 26:34
@4 When Jesus first met Peter, Peter said, "Go away from me Lord, because I am a ___________________ man. Luke 5:8
