Simon Peter; understanding yet not, is a picture of our walk

Based on SRVCC 56 Matthew’s View of THE KING (Continued) - Cultivation of the King’s Disciples - The revelation in view of rejection (Mt 16:13-17:13)

Scene 1. A journey of discovery can have many ups and downs.

When I was much younger, before I met Toni, there was a journey of discovery that I was on.

I was at a combined youth camp; I was one of the leaders.

One of the leaders from one of the other groups at our camp had caught my attention.

I believed that I had caught her attention.

This was a very good situation.

I knew her sister quite well having spent a year on the Scripture Union YMIS course with her.

We were engaged in conversation at the breakfast table.

Many other youth leaders were also at the table as we prepared for the day’s activities.

I was rather impressively talking about something.

I was thinking that she was quite impressed as I was talking to her.

As I was talking I was pouring my orange juice.

All over my toast!

Life can be like that at times; we think that we are travelling well and then suddenly we discover that we are not.

We might believe that we have something all worked out and then some unexpected obstacle knocks us to the ground.

Or the opposite can be true; we might be really struggling through a period of life and then something happens and we come to this enormous revelation about ourselves or our situation and this new understanding enables us to completely turn things around.

We call that a journey of discovery, it is exciting, scary and ultimately very rewarding.

Back in 2010 half way through our time at Woodford I was on an Army course

I was really struggling with depression at the time, I didn’t want to be there and I thought that I was going to find it incredibly difficult.

It was hard, it was challenging, but I discovered that I could get the work done and I actually did really well.

That was a turning point for me.

The fear had been faced and overcome.

Scene 2. The disciples and Peter in particular where on a journey of discovery, the lights were beginning to come on for them.

In Matthew 16:13-20 Jesus asks a couple of very simple questions of the disciples.

A sort of test, to see where they were at in their understanding of him.

Firstly he asks them what people are saying about him, who is he.

Now you usually get a bit worried when someone asks you who they are.

People normally know who they are.

Jesus was stretching the disciples.

Giving them a challenge.

Then he asks, but who do you say I am.

And Peter seeing his chance jumps in.

Peter’s a bit like the really keen kid at school.

I know, I know sir. Pick me!

“You’re the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God”

Peter must have been really pleased with what Jesus said next.

He was blessed for receiving this understanding from the Father.

Big tick from the boss.

And when Jesus used the play on words of calling him Peter; a name which sounds like the word rock, which was a really significant thing to do as they were in the city of Caesarea Philippi.

A city which was dominated by a massive rock face, the site of a pagan temple.

Peter’s chest probably swelled up even more.

He was being identified by the master as someone of importance.

Peter didn’t know it but it is this confession that would form the foundation of the church and he would forever be associated with it.

Death cannot defeat this church, nor can evil overcome it.

And then Jesus tells Peter that he is going to receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven and he would have power to bind and loose things.

Well Peter would have been over the moon.

He didn’t yet know that he would be the key player in the advance of Jesus’ followers.

He would be the one to validate new people groups being added to the kingdom, Samaritans, and Gentiles would all be accepted by the Jewish church because Peter as leader testified to God’s anointing coming upon them and he would make the key judgments for those early believers.

Scene 3. Peter though had some big setbacks, at first he didn’t really grasp all that Jesus as the Messiah was; he wanted to impose his own plan of action.

In Matthew 16:21-23 we read of a very embarrassing encounter for Peter.

Matthew 16:21–23 NLT

21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. 22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Peter would have been utterly devastated.

He has just identified Jesus as the Messiah.

And now he is humiliated.

How would you feel?

Peter has pulled Jesus aside and told him that he is wrong to say that he will die at the hands of the leaders of the people.

He has told him that he can’t die, he is the Messiah.

The Messiah must be victorious.

You just didn’t do that in ancient cultures.

You did not disagree with the teacher.

It was considered a great insult.

Jesus calls Peter Satan and tells him to get behind or away from him because he is a trap, a stumbling block.

That what he is talking about is not from God.

That must have really hurt Peter; Jesus just a short time ago heaped praise on him.

Now he tears him to shreds for tempting him to abandon his mission.

Peter was a bit impetuous.

He liked to charge in with the answers.

And often he found himself in over his head, he often blew it.

Scene 4. We are just like Peter; we blow it in our walk with God or our relationship with each other.

We might declare our undying love for Jesus and the next week fail to take the opportunity to tell someone about him.

Peter in Matthew 26 overstated his commitment to Christ, claiming that “even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Matt. 26:35).

Yet only a few hours later he denied having any association with the Lord (26:69–75).

We might tell others that we are going to pray for them and then never give it another thought.

Peter foolishly took charge of defending Jesus against Roman soldiers when they came to arrest Him.

Yet a few moments earlier had failed to “watch and pray” with Christ, as He had requested (Matt. 26:36–46; John 18:1–11).

There are times when we really hurt our loved ones.

We promise more than we can deliver.

Or we avoid our responsibilities because it is too hard.

Peter must have been in shock when Jesus called him Satan.

So immediately Jesus in verses 24 to 27 sought to correct his understanding.

Peter and all the disciples thought that they were about to rule with a conquering king.

Jesus was telling him that his kingdom consisted of sacrifice and a different view of the world.

Jesus was challenging them urging them to move forward to gain a new understanding of the kingdom.

His Kingdom would not consist of riches and earthly power, but sacrifice and dedication to the cause of the king.

Their entire world view was being challenged, here in front of them was the Messiah, but he wasn’t asking them to do what they thought he would.

I remember a testimony that a lady called Elaine gave at our church in Woodford.

The Lord had really challenged her understanding and it was an incredible thing to watch how this unfolded.

Elaine shared how the Father of her children was an alcoholic and had the beginnings of Alzheimers.

She had also known for sometime that he was homeless and had been thinking to herself how it served him right, he had brought it on himself.

She had very little to do with him for over 25 years.

But she had just returned from a Christian Conference that she had attended with some of her friends.

During one of the sessions on recovery she felt the Holy Spirit saying to her, “Give the father of your children a home”

She made a beeline for the Chaplaincy tent and spoke to the chaplain whom she knew.

By the time she left Elaine had the attitude I CAN DO THIS.

She spoke to the person who gave the talk on recovery and told him what had happened.

It made him cry to think she could be compassionate enough to do this thing after all these years.

It was a scary and daunting thing for Elaine to contemplate but she was obedient to God.

She invited the Father of her children, a man she had despised into her home and cared for him for quite a few months.

This man needed to be busy, he fixed her yard up, put in a veggie Garden and it was actually quite a good time.

He came to church with us on a semi regular basis.

Now I don’t know for sure if he repented and truly committed his life to Christ, I certainly hope he did, we had those sort of conversations.

He got really unwell and the end was coming very fast.

He went to hospital and then Elaine brought him home to die.

Palative care nurses came regularly and I had the priviledge of praying with him and the family and a little later he passed away.

It was an incredibly brave thing that Elaine did.

Her view on things was changed.

Scene 5. Wherever we find ourselves Jesus is going to keep prompting us forward, sometimes we will get it other times it will take a while; victory comes when we move forward. 17:1-12

I reckon that it took Peter more than a few days to get over the huge setback of being so strongly rebuked by Jesus.

But Jesus wanted to keep moving him forward in his understanding.

So after tearing him to shreds he gives him another incredible insight into his nature.

In Matthew 17: 1-13 we read of this incredible encounter that Peter, James and John are invited to experience.

The transfiguration which we looked at a couple of weeks ago.

Jesus has hinted at it in the last verse of chapter 16.

Jesus takes them up on a mountain.

It is a very high mountain, Mount Hermon.

And there they see Jesus in all his glory with Moses and Elijah.

And once again you will remember how Peter rushes ahead and shoots his mouth off when he should have just been quiet.

I think the Father stepped in then because he speaks right at that point.

Peter is instantly silenced.

The disciples are terrified.

They sort of get it.

Jesus will keep pushing us forward in our experience with him.

Sometimes we will get it other times it might take us a while.

But what really matters is that we are willing to go on that journey with him.

To be challenged, to gain that fresh insight into who Jesus really is and to have our life transformed as a result.

Are you on that journey of discovery with Jesus?

If you are not today is a good day to start.