Hanningfield Green
Lawshall
Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk
IP29 4QD
Matthew 16: 13 - 23
2 Peter 1: 1 – 11
Today I would like us to meet Peter the brother of Andrew and the son of John (or Jonah as he is also known), and in doing so perhaps we can see some familiar tracts in ourselves, whether for the good or for the bad! We can also experience the highs and the lows in Peter’s life as we perhaps reflect on the highs and lows in our own lives! And we can also see the changes through his life as Jesus calls, teaches, and transforms him. And again, perhaps we will see how Jesus has called, is teaching, and is indeed changing us as individuals.
Let’s start with a few facts that you will all know but perhaps haven’t put together and then we will end with Peters own conclusion to what he has learnt as he passes it on to us:
· After the name of Jesus, no other name is used as much in the gospels as the name of Peter and when the disciples are mentioned as a group, he is notably the one who is named first.
· He was one of three in the inner circle of the disciples alongside of James and John, and therefore one of the three closest to Jesus.
· As a consequence, these three were the only ones with Jesus at the healing of Jairus daughter, at the Mount of Figuration, and there in the Garden of Gethsemane.
· Nobody speaks as often as Peter, and nobody is spoken to by the Lord as often as Peter is.
· No disciple is so rebuked by the Lord as Peter, and no disciple rebukes the Lord but Peter.
· No disciple ever so boldly confesses and so outspokenly acknowledges the lordship of Christ as Peter, but no one denies it so boldly as Peter.
· No one is so praised and blessed by the Lord as Peter, and no-one else is called Satan but Peter
He is a constant conundrum. The four gospels are literally filled with Peter. He is everywhere and unbelievably this is the man that God chooses to make a leader out of.
In the gospel record, Peter asked more questions than everybody else combined.
· It’s Peter who says, “explain this parable to us”, in Matthew 15:15.
· It was Peter who asked how often he had to forgive in Matthew 18:21.
· It was Peter who asked: what is the reward for those who have left all to follow Jesus in Matthew 19:27.
· And it was Peter in Mark 11:21, who asked about the fig tree when it withered away.
He constantly asked questions and wanted full explanations. But in all of his questioning, he rarely got the answer he expected!
And furthermore, when the Lord asks a question, who answers it? It’s always Peter.
· Will You go away, asks Jesus. Where are we going to go, Peter answers.
· Who touched Me, asks Jesus. There’s a whole bunch of people pushing You, what do you mean asking a question like that, answers Peter. He is always replying even though at times it is without thinking.
But he is always there taking the initiative regardless.
· Who jumped out of the boat and walked on the water? Peter.
· Who jumped out of the boat to meet Jesus on the shore after His resurrection? Peter.
· After Jesus was arrested and all the other disciples had disappeared, who was following Jesus. Only Peter.
· And when the resurrection came, who was the first one there? Peter with John.
So, the question has to be asked, who is he and how much do we know about him? Furthermore, what can we learn from him?
Peter, a common name with a common job as he is just a simple fisherman and Acts 4: 13 goes further to say that he was an uneducated and common man. Therefore, he would be semi-illiterate, not being able to read or write and one might have gone further to say that he was thick or just stupid!
Perhaps, because of his poor upbringing he displays characteristics that are impetuous, meaning that he was hot headed, reckless, impulsive or spontaneous, therefore he got things wrong on many occasions! Yet Peter’s personality shows that he is also passionate as he expressed his love and devotion to Jesus but alas, he also gets that wrong at times as well.
I wonder what the other disciples must have thought of Peter and his reactions, especially as he was their leader or spokesperson. What must they have felt like as Peter continuously spoke without thinking and acted without acknowledging the consequences! Perhaps they were embarrassed at times (as we might have been), or maybe they were just happy to have someone who openly expressed his thoughts, remembering at times we read that he only says what they are thinking!
The first time that Peter met Jesus according to Luke 5 was when Jesus wanted to use his boat to teach to the multitudes, and having preached, Jesus tells them to lower their nets and although Peter at first seems to question this, he nevertheless does it because after all it is Jesus who is telling him to do it. As a result, they catch such a significant amount of fish that they have to call for help to haul the nets in which were breaking. But immediately afterwards Peter doesn’t express his astonishment regarding the miracle that had just happened, but he preferred to emphasise just how unworthy he was v8 “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” He simply sees himself as a lost cause!
So, what changed Peter?
First of all, the Lord gave to Peter the greatest revelation. Matthew 16: 13. “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, ‘Who do men say that I the Son of Man am?’ So, they said, ‘some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jerimiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am’? Simon Peter answered and said, ‘you are the Christ, the Son of the living God’. Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven’.”
This is a significant moment that Jesus acknowledges, as up until now Jesus had never explained to Peter and the rest of the disciples the fulness of His identity! And His messianic claims had been subtle allusions to Old Testament prophesies combined with miraculous works that proved those claims.
Jesus more or less says Peter you are too thick and too uneducated to have come up with that, as you would never have been able to work that out for yourself. It is therefore God the Father who has opened Peter’s eyes to the full significance of those claims and subsequently who Jesus really is. In other words, this is a revelation, as God has opened Peter’s heart to this greater knowledge of Christ by faith. This was a confession of Peter’s personal faith made possible by a divinely regenerated heart.
Peter was being transformed by God and God gave him the experience of revelation, because one day he was going to stand up on the day of Pentecost and he was going to preach the revelation of God. And one day he was going to take a pen and he was going to write the revelation of God.
And then, the Lord gave him a tremendous promise in Matthew 16. After this confession Jesus said in verse 18: “I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Furthermore, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Peter, you are going to unlock the Kingdom.
And he did; Who preached the first great apostolic sermon? Peter in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. To whom did he preach it? To the Jews. Peter unlocked the scriptures to the Jews and the church was established with three thousand converts. Who preached to the Sanhedrin, Peter in Acts 4. Who led the first Gentile to Christ? Peter in Acts 10. Who was it? Cornelius and his household. He unlocked, as it were, the Kingdom to the Gentiles and the Jewish Christians were astonished because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles. He was the opening of the door. And the Lord also gave that same promise to the rest of His apostles and extended it all through the ages every time we preach the gospel, we hold that key in our hand, but Peter was the first.
Peter must have been feeling special and excited now that he has been given this great revelation and promise. Surely when he opens his mouth next, will it be him speaking or God. Not only that, surely the Lord has told him that he has the key, he is going to unlock the kingdom.
But, from that time v21, Jesus began to show His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem to suffer, to die and be raised on the third day. Matthew has changed the emphasise of Jesus’s ministry from a public one to His private instructions for the disciples which took on a new sombre tone! Jesus is telling them He’s going to suffer; and He’s going to die. Surely not says Peter. Verse 22: “Then Peter took Him.” “And began to rebuke Him.” Took who? The Lord, the Son of God, the Messiah. So, he took Jesus and said, “far be it from You Lord, this shall not happen to You.” But Jesus turned to Peter and said to him, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offence to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Wow, what a rebuke!! How the mighty stumble in a moment!!
Isn’t this a very clear lesson to us? Peter’s mouth had just been used for God by declaring the deity of Jesus, and now his mouth was being used for Satan. He was doing exactly what Satan had done in the temptation: he was trying to derail Christ from the cross, and Peter shows that he was just as available to the Devil as he was to God, and that should be a great lesson for us all. You can get yourself into a position where God can use you but beware for the greater the potential to be used by God, the greater the potential to be used by Satan.
Then, we come to his great rejection. Matthew 26: 33, the Lord had just told them about the prophecy regarding the shepherd being struck and the sheep of the flock being scattered, and He was explaining to them that He was that shepherd, and they were that sheep that were going to scatter! Can you imagine how Peter took this as he says, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble!”
But Jesus I’m sure lovingly looks at Peter, and says, “Assuredly I say to you, that this night before the rooster crows you will deny Me three times”. But Peter’s response was still defiant as he said, “Even if I had to die with You, I will not deny You.” I will not do that. And furthermore, the rest of the disciples who were going to scatter agreed with him!!
So, what happened next? Peter rejected and denied Jesus, Chapter 26: 69. “Then the cock crowed, and Peter remembered the words of Jesus and he went out and wept bitterly.” What a lesson. What an experience. He had previously experienced a great revelation, and great reward, then a great rebuke, and now a great rejection. And he wept bitterly!
Can I ask you a very personal question ‘have you ever had to look into the eyes of a loved one or a friend who you have let down?
Have you experienced the hurt in their eyes?
Have you seen the tears running down their face and the pain etched upon their face because of what you have done and what you have put them through?
Have you ever sensed the loss of trust that you once held so dear but have now thrown away?
Have you ever wept so bitterly and so deeply because what you have done to that person and your relationship with them has been so severely broken?
Now, can you imagine what it must have been like for Peter to look into the face of Jesus, not just his loved one or his friend, but the Son of God? Isn’t it no wonder he wept bitterly!
And finally, he had an experience of a great re-commissioning in John Ch21, as the Lord restored him. Peter had gone fishing, and the Lord didn’t let him catch any fish. And just like the first time that Jesus met Peter, He again tells them to throw their nets out on the other side of their boat and once again their nets were filled with fish, and as Peter realises that it is Jesus, he again jumps out of the boat and wades to the shore. And here the Lord gave him an experience he would never forget, as Jesus confronted him with his lack of love that was demonstrated by his disobedience.
“Do you love Me,” verse 15, Yes. “Do you love Me,” verse 16, Yes. “Do you love Me,” verse 17, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you” then feed My sheep.” And finally at the end of verse 19 Jesus says, “Follow Me, Peter, follow Me.” And Peter finally follows.
Now, you can add all this together: his great revelation, his great promise, his rebuke, his rejection, and his re-commissioning as those were the key experiences of his life that came from his calling as Jesus taught him and changed him as he became the man God wanted him to be. Can we however look back and see the changes that God has done in our lives as He teaches and transforms us?
Perhaps as we ponder this for a moment, we can sing: Hymn 212: Have thine own way Lord.
We have looked at Peter’s great revelation, his great promise, his rebuke, his rejection, and his re-commissioning as key experiences as he was called, taught and changed to be used by God. But it goes further than this, as God needed to work on FIVE other aspects of Peter’s life, which we might also identify with.
He needed to learn self-control. The Lord had to teach him this because he was so hot-headed. In John 18, he’s in the garden and the soldiers come to take Jesus and Peter grabs a sword and cuts off the right ear of a man named Malchus. And we are told in Luke 22 that the Lord reached over and touched his ear and healed it. Peter, you have to learn self-control, you have to let God’s plan operate and let God take care of these matters.
Did he learn self-control? Yes, he did. In 1 Peter 2: 22 he says this: “To this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps, Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth, who when He was reviled, did not revile in return, when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” In other words, I saw Jesus accepting all this as God’s will. He restrained Himself and left His life in the care of His Father. I have learned that lesson and now I’m teaching it to you.
Another thing Peter had to learn is humility. “I’ll never leave You. All men may forsake You, but I’ll die before I forsake You.” And he learned his lesson because he wrote in 1 Peter 5: 5-6 these words, “God, resist the proud but give grace to the humble.” He learnt.
Peter also needed to learn the lesson of sacrifice. He had to be told in John 21: 18-19, “Most assuredly I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And after this He said follow Me” I’m speaking about the death you’re going to die for Me, Peter, you’re going to be a martyr. Are you ready for that?” And that’s the last time Jesus ever had to say that because Peter learnt the lesson of sacrifice. And he learned it so well that he wrote in 1 Peter 4:14 “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you. V16 Yet if someone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God.”
Peter also needed to learn love. And Jesus said to him in John 21, “Do you love Me? Do you love Me? Do you love Me?” That’s what I want, Peter, I want you to love Me. And you remember in John 13 where the Lord was washing feet and He comes to Peter and Peter says, “You will never wash my feet.” And the Lord says, “I’m trying to teach you a lesson, Peter. You don’t understand it now, but you will.” And afterwards the Lord said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” He had given them a great lesson on love and Peter learnt that lesson as later on in 1 Peter chapter 4 he repeats the lesson he learnt: “Above all things, have fervent love among yourselves, for love shall cover a multitude of sin.”
Peter also needed to learn courage. In John 21, Jesus said, if you’re going to follow Me, it’s going to cost you your life. Are you willing? In Acts 4, he goes in front of the Sanhedrin, and he says, I don’t care what you say, I’ll preach, because I will obey God not men. And they said, “Well, you can’t preach anymore.” So, what did Peter and the others do? They went into a prayer meeting, and he prayed that God would give them more boldness, and they went out and preached even greater.
The first 12 chapters of Acts, see’s Peter as the leader of the church. He is the one who makes the move to replace Judas with Matthias, Acts 1. He becomes the spokesman of the church on Pentecost, Acts 2. He, with John, healed the lame man in Acts 3. He defied the Sanhedrin, Acts 4. He dealt with the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5. He dealt with the problem of Simon the magician in Samaria, Acts 8. He raised Dorcas from the dead, Acts 9. He took the gospel to the Gentiles, Acts 10 and 11. And he wrote two marvellous and glorious epistles in which he repeated all the lessons that Jesus had taught him and passed them on to us.
He was a man whom God had touched with His grace. And God wants to take those same raw materials from us and put us through the right experiences and teach us the right lessons, so that we to can be used by Him, because you and I are here today because Peter and many others were faithful to their calling.
Those weak and frightened disciples are there to reassure a suffering church: If Peter and the others could come through their weak faith, uncertainty, fear and even denial, then we as believers can do likewise.
Perhaps the most striking characteristic of Simon Peter is his failure of faith, but this should reassure us as the good news is that a person can still be a disciple even if he or she fails as dramatically as Peter did.
He needed to add to his faith. Goodness, Knowledge, Self-control, Perseverance, Godliness, Love and much, much, more which the Lord gave him. How do we know this? When he writes his letters it is hard to believe that it is the same person. But God used Peter. This semi-illiterate man is writing with such eloquence and confidence to all the churches to pass on his new knowledge through the transforming power of our Lord.
Can I just add one more thing, Read: 2 Peter 1: 5 – 11. Peter through this discourse seems to be coming to a conclusion and wants us to learn from his own learning as he states in v8 “For if these things are yours in and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, with these virtues increasing in your life you will not be useless or ineffective. But Peter goes on to warn us in v9, “For he that lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.”
One commentator puts it this way:
‘Add to your faith the virtue or courage of David; and to the courage of David the knowledge of Solomon; and to the knowledge of Solomon the patience of Job; and to the patience of Job the godliness of Daniel; and to the godliness of Daniel the brotherly kindness of Jonathan; and to the brotherly kindness of Jonathan the love of John’.
May I just ask you one more personal question? Do you sometimes question your salvation? Do you live in doubt and fear as to your salvation? Surely this is why? God is sure of those He has elected and has given them an eternally secure salvation; you Christian however may not always have that same assurance.
Security is the revealed fact that salvation is forever, where assurance is one’s confidence that he possesses that salvation!
So, Christian this is Peter’s conclusion; V10 - 11, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will NEVER stumble, for so an entrance, will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” In other words, as you pursue this fruitful growth in faith, you will not stumble into doubt, despair, fear or even questioning, but you can enjoy assurance that you are saved just as Peter was assured! Peter’s life can be summed up in the very last words he recorded in the last verse of the last epistle that he wrote in 2 Peter 3:18. Here is his word to us: “But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; to Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.” As the hymn writer penned, Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!!
