When the going gets tough

Campfires

Campfires are interesting things where many things can happen and memories are made. Some of my fondest memories involve sitting around them, some during the boy scout trips I took, some when my dad would take us to the mountains to go camping with friends, ghost stories are shared, past memories are recreated with how enthusiastically they are told. Maybe you have some of those as well.

Our story today begins and ends with a fire, one in which a man falls from grace and the other is where he is restored and in both cases he is frightened because of who is there. He’s scared because of who is with him, at the first were those he thought wanted to do him harm and at the second was the one that wanted to redeem him.

Peter was kind of a mess at times with Jesus. He was boastful at times, over confident, jealous and sometimes he fell far short of who he was called to be. When Jesus was arrested Peter and John followed him into the courtyard of the high priest and as they get to the doorway Peter stops and doesn’t want to go in. It was only after John goes to the girl in the doorway and identifies as someone who knows the high priest which he did, John then secures Peter’s entry and as he approaches the girl she asks him “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” and Peter says “I am not.” Peter was trying to get to the fire to warm himself and those around the fire asked him the same question and he denied it two more times.

Peter was facing a very real fact, that following Jesus was dangerous and now he is seeing the seriousness of it. Do we see that? Following Christ can cost us so many things, it can cost us our life and in fact, it demands it. It costs us our old life, the one without Christ.

Peter was too confident in himself, he allowed himself to get caught up in the good times he was living. Jesus was at least in some circles was a superstar at this point and when you reach that level you will have those who love you and those that hate you. Being over confident in our faith can be just as costly as having little or no faith. It can be the difference of proclaiming Christ and running from him and this is what he was doing.

We tend to run when cornered, we seek the safety of a place that doesn’t want to harm us, doesn’t want to ridicule us, make fun of us or break us. Peter was seeking this place now and in time he will find it but he is going to see it just isn’t that simple.

There are going to be times in our life where you will have to make a decision for Christ and I don’t mean a minor confession but one of those life changing moments where you have to chose which path you are going to follow. Maybe it’s the world seeking to lead you away from what you know is right but doesn’t offer the glamour of a life with Jesus.

Maybe it will come in the form of old friends or new friends trying to get you live the life of sin and they are going to tell you that life is going to care for you and love you like no other and you’re going to have the things you’ve always wanted, they may tell you that they want you and love you like no other can and you will be cherished.

But that life is not one of love but hate. It’s going to cause you to make decisions that look so much unlike Christ and Jesus tells us this. Jesus tells us, just like he did Peter that we should “watched and prayed that he enter not into temptation” as Jesus told him too but it was in this case a step too far.

Peter went to a place he shouldn’t have gone and his faith was tested beyond what it could bare. We are tested just the same way as Peter, we are pushed, pulled in every direction and it comes in all forms and if we only prayed about situations we are in maybe things would turn out differently. But Peter was too confident in himself and less trusting in Jesus, Peter knew what he could handle and he just knew that he could follow Jesus no matter where he went but now, he is seeing where that is taking not only Jesus but himself also.

Peter went a step too far. Have you ever found in life where you took one step too many?

Peter saw where he was going and he went anyway. He saw trouble at the doorway and that is why he didn’t go in but he kept on pushing it, forcing himself into a situation he never should have been in. There were warning signs everywhere and he ignored them but he wanted more and he got what he wanted.

Getting into the courtyard he now found himself a step too far. We too can be just like Peter, we see the trouble ahead but we keep going. We see the lights flashing warning us of danger ahead but we think we can handle what is just through that door and we walk right through and find ourselves in a place we were never supposed to be but now it’s too late, we’ve been caught by the things of this world placed here by Satan and he lured you away just as a skilled angler coaxes that next big catch into his boat.

If we do not learn anything from Peter learn this, Peter was too sure of himself, he though he had everything under control and he could handle it all by himself and relied more upon himself and not on Christ. He wasn’t praying as Jesus told him to do.

Had he prayed as he should maybe he wouldn’t have found himself here. In the garden when Jesus was arrested remember that it was Peter that drew his sword and cut the ear off of the servant of the high priest. I think it’s kind of ironic that Peter is cutting ears off when he himself was one who wouldn’t listen.

Peter along with the others scattered just as Jesus predicted, their hope for a new life was lost, their faith shattered and they did the only thing they could do and they went back to their old life, the one they knew before they knew Jesus and found themselves on a boat back out on the sea.

We often return to our old life when we are let down by our faith, when we trusted Jesus to protect us and save us and we don’t get the answers we think we should have. When Christ doesn’t live up to our standards we often run away to what we find familiar, the old self lost in a world where we minimize Christ and exalt ourselves because after all, if Christ can’t do anything for us then we can do it ourselves. But even in this moment Christ comes back to them even when they ran away.

Christ appears on the shore and they didn’t recognize him, this is the third time he has appeared to them which is interesting because at these times they still didn’t know who it was. This tells us that Christ comes to us in our situation and works with us there. No matter what we face in life Jesus is there, he may not look the same, may not do what he has always done but he is there. In the heartbreak of our life Jesus is there and maybe when he is there we don’t recognize him at first, we may see a new Jesus, one we are not prepared for, maybe not the one we want, but he is the one we need.

Now Peter finds himself at another campfire, and again, he is scared, not from people that want to kill him but scare of the one that can condemn him. Peter is scare now because he knew that Christ would judge and punish him as were the others. Believing it to be Jesus they dared not ask him who he was for fear of their weakened faith would further anger Christ.

The scripture passes by the meal they ate, which tells us that most likely this meal was eaten in silence and when they finished Jesus begins asking Peter three times if he loved them more than these. Peter responded the first two times telling him that he does, but it was the third time that was too much for him for the scripture says that this grieved Peter greatly. Peter was being asked openly in front of the others publicly since he denied Jesus publicly.

Instead of Jesus condemning Peter, he restores him and not only that, but Jesus elevates him, promotes him if you will because as Peter said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

Jesus knows our heart as well, He knows that we struggle with faith many times. When things get tough sometimes we tend to run away to protect ourselves if you will. Have you ever found yourself running away from a situation in your life? Have you ever gave up hope that Christ is with you?

When we run from Jesus, the text doesn’t tell us that Jesus runs with us to catch us, but he knows where we’re going and waits on us there. He will meet us on the beach of our old life and love us when we come up from the water of sin that has been drowning us and that we must make a confession and answer the question, “do you love me.”

Christ never stopped loving Peter, never hated him, never condemned him and forgot about him. But he met him where he was at and loved him right there.

Christ loves you where you are, after you’re run away, gone back to the old life, when your faith has been weakened. If you want that relationship with Jesus you have to pray, pray for healing, forgiveness, pray for Christ to meet you where you are and he will be there loving you and when you can confess that you love the Lord as Peter did, Jesus doesn’t leave you there, he moves you to new and higher places when you want to live a life serving him.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 21:17.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 162.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 18:17.