Matthew part 45

Peter’s Story: Hope for the Wayward Christian

Today I would like us to focus on one particular character. We have seen him throughout our study of Matthew, but as we turn our attention to what has to be the most pivotal moment in his life, I believe it would helpful for us, and honorable to him, if we take today to look at his story as a whole. After all, the story of Peter’s rise, fall, and restoration as Christ’s disciple is a pattern we have seen in our own lives. And perhaps for some of you, today, you have followed Jesus in the past, but not that life seems distant to where you are today. Well, I have hope for you, too. You are not too far to come back to Jesus. Let’s take a look at Peter’s life and how he was restored from a fallen spot.

Peter, the Disciple | Matthew 16:21-25

In Matthew’s gospel, Peter is called way back in chapter 4. Peter and Andrew are casting their net into the sea, and Jesus calls to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew says they “immediately” left their nets and followed him. The three move on James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and Jesus calls those two, as well.

In chapter 10, Peter is sent out with the rest of the 12 in order to proclaim the kingdom of heaven to all the towns surrounding Jerusalem. He (and the others) are given authority to cast out unclean spirits, heal every disease and affliction.

Later in chapter 16, Peter has his first major moment of faith…or at least the first one that is recorded for us. Jesus asks the disciples who people say he is. They answer, and then he asks the real question—who do they say he is? Peter steps up and confesses that he is Christ, the Son of the living God. And immediately following this pronouncement, Peter is given another lesson in faith. Turn with me to 16:21.

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 16:21-25

A few points are worth noting from this passage. First, notice the timing of the disciples being sent out. It occurs after Peter gives the famous proclamation. It is after the disciples recognize and follow Jesus as the Messiah—the Christ, Son of the living God—that they are sent on mission. They are empowered by Christ when they recognize his identity.

For some people, they are not sent out by Jesus, or they haven’t found their mission yet, because they have not yet recognized the identity and power of Christ. Our true purpose in this life comes when our true identity is found, and that identity is found in Jesus Christ.

Our true purpose and power in life is found when we surrender to following Jesus our Savior.

Next, notice how Peter is chastised in verse 23. Peter has good intentions. He does not want to see Jesus crucified. But Jesus must be crucified. Look back at verse 21, Jesus says he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, and be killed. Because only after Jesus is killed can he be raised on the third day, and only then are the sins of the world paid for and eternal life available to humanity.

It appears Jesus is calling Peter Satan, but Jesus is driving home the true antagonist to God’s plan. Even though Peter just had a wonderful revelation of who Jesus is, he is not “setting his mind on the the things of God.”

For many of us, we may know who Jesus is, and we may have even surrendered to him at one time. Perhaps you have been baptized, gone to Sunday School, and have done all the things that “good Christians do.” But if all of these things do not drive you set your mind on the things of God, then you will be susceptive to Satan’s influence. And when God calls you, or someone you know, to achieve great things through great risk, you will find yourself saying, “Far be it, Lord!”

The cure for this type of thinking is found in verse 24. Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” The first step to setting your mind on the things of God is to learn to pray, “Not my will, but yours, Lord.” It can be a difficult prayer, but it is the most important prayer. Without focusing our attention, our willpower, and our faith in the wisdom of God, we will never learn how to step in faith.

Following Jesus requires us to deny any perceived power or wisdom we think we may have in ourselves.

And this principle is not a “one and done” principle. Daily following Jesus requires daily denying our self. In a moment, we are going to see what happens to Peter when he forgets the lesson of 16:25. If we hand on too tightly to the things of this life, we will find ourselves losing those very things. But if we learn to hold tightly to the hand of Jesus and loosely to the things of this world, we will discover a life that is overflowing with new life.

But now we must turn to Matthew 26, where we left off last time. As we approach Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter will once again have great intentions, but unfortunately his actions will fall short.

Peter’s Denial Foretold | Matthew 26:30-35

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.

Matthew 26:30-35

Once again Peter shows his mind isn’t quite on the things of God. Jesus tells the disciples they will all fall away. It is even foretold in Zechariah 13:7 the disciples will flee after the shepherd is struck.

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.”

Zechariah 13:7

As we consider what it means to follow Jesus, “deny our self” also includes embracing the prophecies of God. If the Lord has said, “This will happen,” then we cannot presume to know more than God by saying, “Surely not! Even if everyone else does such a thing, I will not.” Again, Peter’s intentions are good. He does not want to be one of the disciples who fall away, but his fall has already been established. This decision isn’t even really in his hands.

Sometimes Christians will lament prophecies because the prophecy means their world will drastically change. They enjoy things the way they are. I’m sure Peter also enjoyed their current situation. For the last three years, they had seen great and mighty miracles. They had seen the dead raised, the sick healed, storms calmed, and thousands fed with a kid’s lunchbox. Now Jesus is telling them it will end, and they will fall away. And though some prophecies may mean great and difficult times ahead, just as the disciples were about to face a great and difficult time, that doesn’t mean joy and eternal life is missing on the other side. The disciples were about to face three dark days. But Sunday morning was waiting on the other side.

“Deny yourself” may mean facing difficult days ahead, but there is life and joy on the other side of those days.

Perhaps God is calling you to deny yourself by getting rid of some thing or some attitude that is holding you back. It may not even be a ‘bad thing’ necessarily, but if it is keeping you from setting your mind on the things of God, it is time to remove it. Yes, there may be some pain, but that pain will give way in time to joy and true life.

Peter’s Denial | Matthew 26:69-75

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

Matthew 26:69-75

Jesus has been arrested and is facing a mockery of a trial. Peter is outside in the courtyard and faces both the opportunity to be true to his word and the risk of being taken inside to face the same court as Jesus. And of all the people for Peter to fear and fall in front of, it is a little servant girl. We don’t know who she is, but based on the word Matthew uses, she is still young—not even a teenager yet. Apparently, others are around because Matthew says he denied Jesus “before them all.” Next, another young girl sees him outside the entrance, and she too recognizes Peter was with Jesus. Now Peter swears an oath he doesn’t even know Jesus. Last, other bystanders approach him, and they even say his accent gives away the fact that he must have been with Jesus. Peter must have known Jesus because they have similar forms of speech. Peter must have at least been around Jesus at some point.

And on this third opportunity to speak the truth, Peter instead curses himself swearing “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. Peter remembers exactly what Jesus told him would happen, and that is what happened—three denials and a crowing rooster.

The chicken has called out the chicken.

It is certainly a low moment, if not the lowest for Peter.

But before we cast off Peter, let’s consider one more time what Jesus said to him. Jesus foretold exactly how the denial would take place. For Peter, in that moment, the rooster was confirmation of Peter’s weakness. But for us, we can look at the story and see, the rooster was really a confirmation of Jesus’ power and knowledge. And because we can see for certain Jesus saw this denial coming, we can also see the love behind Jesus’ statements to Peter. Jesus knew he would be denied, and yet he still offered a privileged place for Peter.

Whenever we face those opportunities to put feet to our faith, but instead we fall into fear, we do not have to beat ourselves up. Jesus already knew we would deny him, just like he knew Peter would deny him. Jesus calls us to follow him, gives us power to follow him, and continues to love us, even though he has already seen the moments in our lives when we would fall away and deny him.

Jesus knew your strongest moments of faith and your weakest moments of doubt before he called you to follow him, and he calls us anyway because of his great love for us.

Perhaps you have had your own rooster moment. Maybe you are in the middle of dealing with the aftermath of your doubt. You know exactly how Peter felt the moment he heard that chicken and remembered Jesus’ words. I have good news for you. Peter’s story is not over, and neither is yours.

Peter is Restored | John 21:15-19

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

John 21:15-19

After the resurrection, Peter sees Jesus a few times with the disciples. But on this third time, Jesus does something amazing for Peter. Look again, how many times does Jesus tell Peter to feed the flock? Peter denies Jesus three times, and now Jesus gives Peter three opportunities to take it back. When Jesus restores, he restores fully!

Peter is not just forgiven, he is restored to the status of Apostle. In fact, Peter will go on to do great and mighty things in the kingdom of God. He will preach to thousands. He will heal hundreds, if not thousands of people. The stories of Peter outside the New Testament are too many to count. Church historians in the early centuries will talk about how he will go to Rome, along with Paul, to preach in front of emperors and face miraculous, Satanic opposition.

And though Jesus once again prophesies, this time the prophecy is about Peter’s own death. There will come a day when Peter faces his own executioners. He will be stretched out and carried to his own cross. The story goes that Peter tells his executioners something rather interesting. Rather than succumb to fear again, Peter tells his executioners to bind him and crucify him upside down, because he is not worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord.

Here in John 21, we see Peter restored. In Acts and in Peter’s letters, we see this restored Peter serve the Lord with faithfulness and power of the Holy Spirit. In the history outside the New Testament, we see even more illustrations of a man who may have denied the Lord in the past, but that past did not determine his identity. We do not speak of Peter as the denier. He is a pillar of the Jerusalem Church whose ministry extended to the Gentiles, much like Paul’s though his ministry is not as chronicled as Paul’s.

If you are a Christian who has faced moments of fear and failed, I have great news for you.

There is restoration and power for even the doubters when we surrender to the Lord.

Who knows what you will accomplish for the Lord?!? Perhaps there are hundreds of people waiting to hear the Gospel from you. Perhaps there are lives waiting to be blessed, eternities to be changed, and thousands of joys waiting for you. But you will never see any of that if you remain frozen in the moment of listening to that rooster crow.

If you find yourself frozen in fear and failure, today, don’t stay there. Look up to the Savior who loves you, and knew you would find yourself in this mess long before you ever fell. Turn your eyes to Jesus and be restored to today.