High School Retreat - Committed - Peter

Sports for example. How many of you in here ever played on a sports team, or been on some sort of team?

Now, when you are committed to a team, what are some things that change in your personal life?

Sleep

Food you eat

Hours you spend preparing spill over into everything you do, whether it be running, studying, practicing, etc.

School becomes all of the sudden more important because you have to pass

You give everything you have at practice and in games because you want to be victorious, right? Or you want to prove yourself to others that you have what it takes

Adam Theilen -

See, our theme for this weekend is Committed. What does it mean, what does it look like to be a committed follower of Jesus.

How would you describe someone who is committed to Christ?

Follower

Someone who does something to prove their commitment

Sold Out

Care more about Christ then they do themselves

Good answers, and they are all true in at least one sense. Someone who is committed to something is someone who will drop everything, someone who will follow closely, someone who is willing to risk almost anything to remain committed

Now, when you are committed to a sports team, what are some things that change in your personal life?

Sleep

Food you eat

Spend hours running

School becomes all of the sudden more important because you have to pass

You give everything you have at practice and in games because you want to be victorious, right? Or you want to prove yourself to others that you have what it takes

Adam Theilen -

But in our first session this weekend, what I want you to see, is that a committed follower of Jesus isn’t committed just because they do things, because they are totally bought into it. Those are good signs of a true believer, yes, but that’s not the key.

Followers

That’s not what makes someone a committed follower of Jesus Christ

People who prove their commitment

And I think we sometimes misplace our trust. We sometimes are guilty of thinking we have to do these certain things to ensure we are believers.

Peter’s Legacy

And so this evening we are going to look at someone from the Bible who demonstrated a life of commitment to Christ.

With a theme of commitment set for this weekend, Pastor Adam and I had set this plan in motion to look at an OT character and a NT character that displayed a life of commitment to God

And as I prayed about it, and thought about it, I went through several options

Obviously I could have picked Christ, who modeled for us exactly what we should be…but I didn’t do that one

I could have picked Paul, who, upon coming to Christ, was the most influential Christian we have possibly ever seen

I could have gone with a few options, but I landed on this guy, and when I say his name, your response might be, why? Why would I pick this guy of all the candidates I had before me

Peter

Negative

Turn to with me:

Now, when I say Peter’s name, for most of you, some visual probably popped up, or some descriptive term in regards to Peter or things that he did

Let me hear some of them

Lack of Faith

: 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

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

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

Denial

Luke 22:54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” 57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” 58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” 59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.

Rashness

 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

So, it’s safe to say that Peter’s legacy, or at least the things we remember quickly about him aren’t necessarily good things, right?

Positive

Follower of Jesus -

In , we see Jesus call Peter and Andrew and tell them to follow Him, and they do, immediately, dropping everything to follow Him

Peter had faith - - “But who do you say that I am” - Peter replied, “You are Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Peter was called, and Peter was committed

Peter also had position among the other 11 disciples.

And this didn’t change based on victories or failures in Peter’s life

But not only that, but Peter was also appointed the head, the rock, of the church that would take root upon the ascension of Christ. () And he was appointed this after his most heinous failure, denial.

Peter also had position among the other 11 disciples.

If you would take time to read through the gospels, what you’ll find is Peter, often, speaking for the disciples, and answering for them

He was a strong personality

He was the unofficial leader of the apostles, under Christ

Which begs the question, what is Christ doing appointing someone as unqualified as Peter to lead the early church? I mean, here is a guy, who by our standards of commitment we just talked about, failed quite often did he not?

Because this is how we think isn’t it? It’s how our world works

Well, what makes you think you are good enough to be in this play?

Why do you think you deserve a spot on the basketball team?

Yeah, you have some positives on this job application, but your negatives way outdo the positives

Same with Peter, surely there were better candidates! Give me a Luke, a doctor who is more refined

And this is often how we judge ourselves too isn’t it?

Well, I must be a Christian because I did this thing for Him today…I went to church, or I went on a retreat.

Or, if you flip it, maybe I’m not a Christian because I did this today, or I thought this thought.

Anyone ever been there?

And we do this with Peter. Well, was Peter a committed follower of Jesus? Well, let’s look at whether his positives outweighed his negatives

Peter was called, and Peter was committed

And this didn’t change based on victories or failures in Peter’s life

Now, can we look at people and see if they are believers by how they act? Should we look at our lives and see if we are demonstrating a life committed to Christ?

Absolutely. Don’t hear me wrong there. But ultimately our works is not what determines our salvation. Our victories or our failures don’t determine our commitment.

And how Christ uses us or doesn’t use us is not based on whether we are good enough or not.

Christ’s Commitment

When you heard the theme of this retreat, committed, you probably came in with this thought that you were going to be given a checklist of things you should be doing, and things you shouldn’t be doing. A list of right things, and a list of wrong things.

And yes, there are right ways a Christian should live, right things a Christian should do....for sure.

And we’re going to cover some of those things.

But if you hear nothing else from me this evening, hear this.

“Your salvation does not rest in your commitment to Him, but in His commitment to you.” (REPEAT)

What do I mean by that?

I mean this. One of the worst things we do to ourselves is live under this heavy, unbearable burden of trying to earn salvation by keeping a list of rules.

And so the worst thing I could do, or Adam could do is bring you in here this weekend and pile all these things up on you, and then say, now go live for Christ!

If you leave here on Sunday with just this idea that you have to do these certain things to prove your a Christian then you’re leaving with a burden that you can’t bear alone.

And so, let me ask you.....how many of the “Christian” things that you do are done out of the mindset of trying to look like a Christian, sound like a Christian, act like a Christian, “earn” Christian status

What about Peter, here is a man, who, under that mentality, definitely failed drastically, didn’t he?

He denied Jesus

Like, how do you come back from that?

His faith failed him when walking on the water

He attacked a man with Jesus right there beside him!

If that was the standard, Peter failed.

Please understand this, if you think your salvation rests on living off of a checklist, you are mistaken.

Your self-righteousness will not earn you salvation

And this is huge, and you’ll see why in a minute…but first, turn with me to

Read

Do you see what Christ is saying there?

Our salvation, our eternal life, rests in Him.

Jesus also says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

He makes no mention of us there does he?

When we are in Christ’s hand, we will never perish.

When we are in the Father’s hand, no one will be able to snatch us away, including ourselves

When we have eternal life, when we have faith, it’s completely independent of any works, or failures, that we may do.

When we have eternal life, even if we stumble, even if we mess up, and boy, did Peter ever mess up, (and boy do we ever mess up!) we don’t lose our salvation

Turn to . There is something else I want you to see.

Did you know that Jesus knew Peter was going to deny Him? I’m sure you probably did

Did you know that Jesus told Peter that he was going to deny Him?

In , Christ says this to Peter, “ 31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Do you guys understand what is happening here. Christ, the one who called Peter, Christ, fully God, knew that Peter was going to fail....and still called him

But what does the text say?

Peter, Satan wants you, Satan longs to have you, Satan wants to take you out of my hand

But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers

Christ upholds us and intercedes for us, independent of our victories or failures.

And Christ promised Peter, that even though he would fail as he goes on to tell him, he would turn again, he would come back, and he would be a committed follower…because he was in Christ’s hand.

Your faith does not rest in keeping a list of Christian do’s and dont’s

Your faith rests in the faith you place in Christ for your salvation, and in nothing else

That is the basis of a committed follower of Jesus Christ.

You aren’t a believer based on whether your victories outweigh your failings

And isn’t that great news? Because if that was the case we would all be in some serious trouble.

If that was the case Peter would have been in some serious trouble

Guys, remove the weight, remove the burden of trying to satisfy Christ on your own. Remove the chains of self-righteousness from around your neck…and stand up under the freedom of Christ’s righteousness covering your sins

Our Response

Here’s what I want you to see this morning, here’s some application points for you, if you brought a notebook, write them down:

Faith in Christ rescues us from failure

Peter’s failings, while wrong, were not the end all of Peter because his faith, his salvation, was found in Christ

This is why Christ came, to rescue us from ourselves

The boat - pursuing Christ

If we could save ourselves, we wouldn’t need a savior

The garden - trying to “protect” Christ

The denial - trying to follow as closely as possible to Christ

Faith in Christ frees us from the fear of failure

Klopp - freedom to play

If you can say one thing about Peter, he wasn’t afraid to try

Peter’s failings happened in pursuit of Christ

The boat - pursuing Christ

He wasn’t just out abusing the gift of grace of Christ.

Here’s the truth, when you free yourself from the burden of self-serving righteousness, you free yourself to pursue Christ in light of any mistakes you may make.

The denial - trying to follow as closely as possible to Christ

And when we fully understand that, then we run after him whole heartedly.

Like we see Peter doing through Acts

He had failures yes, but they didn’t hold him back, because his commitment to Christ was rooted in Christ himself, and what He did for Peter.

So as we kick off this weekend, ask yourself this question:

Am I guilty of thinking I can earn or work my way towards salvation?

If that’s you, you’re in this hamster wheel. You’ll just keep running and running and never getting anywhere

Secondly, if you’ve never understood that your hope rests fully in Christ and who He is, what better way to start this weekend then with placing your hope and trust completely in Him?

Now, in saying all of that, what is our response to this?

Well first things first, I have to ask all of you this question: “Do you have faith?”

Do you know Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, who is the only one who can rescue you from your sin because of what he did on the cross, dying for your sins, and raising back to life defeating sin and death....defeating your failures and defeating your denials?

If you’re guilty of trying to earn salvation by doing the right things, and you think that will get you to Heaven, you are mistaken

Secondly, Peter’s failures were in pursuit of Christ

Secondly, let’s look at Peter one last time.

Here is a man who had faith.

And here is a man who had a lot of failings

But his failings were not for lack of faith:

His faith failed him when he was walking on the water, but you know what? He had gotten out of the boat at least. No one else had done that. He was convinced Christ could sustain him, and yes his faith waivered, but he had the faith to get out of the boat

Yes, he was guilty of trusting in himself in the garden of gethsemane when he cut of the soldier’s ear, but who was He with?

Christ

He had a lack of faith in that instant that Christ was in control, but he was still with Christ

And yes, he denied Jesus 3 times, but Christ didn’t let him go

In fact, just as Christ said, he turned back to Christ and strengthened his brothers in the early church.

He took the gospel message throughout Jerusalem and on

See, what Peter came to understand is that all of his hope, all of his joy, all of his peace rested in Christ alone, and not in himself

See guys, when we remove the weight of self-righteousness, and trying to do things on our own, we are free to run after Christ uninhibited.

Will we make mistakes, yes, most definitely

But a sign of a committed follower of Jesus is someone who rests in the finished work of Christ on the cross.