Sermon Tone Analysis

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?