Luke 22:31-34 | Sifted Confidence

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Strange Builders

Several years ago, my wife Kate and I built a house. Probably one of the most unique parts of the process was watching the people frame up the house. It was very interesting, today they build all of the walls and the roof pieces under roof in an indoor facility and then they truck it to the job site and assemble it in place. That wasn’t the most interesting thing for me. What I thought was interesting is that the entire house was put together by a team of Amish workers. They foreman for the project told me that they drove in from further North, in Amish country in Ohio. You would probably think that an Amish construction worker would be limited by not having power tools, but apparently there is a loop hole. They can use an diesel generator powered air compressor driven tools, as long as nothing is hooked up to the electrical grid, they are in the clear. But that isn’t what stood out to me. None of them were wearing PPE, Personal Protection Equipment. No safety glasses, No hard hats, No steel tip shoes, no fall protection.

In 2015 a mining company was taken to court because they required all miners to wear hard hats. But the Amish employee’s refused. One of the Amish said “We want to put our faith in God, not hard hats”

This seems almost outrageous for someone like me, I wear a hard hat and glasses regularly as I go into industrial facilities for work. There are 52,000 OSHA recorded incidences of people being struck by a falling object, each year. 5% of workplace deaths are due to falling objects.

God’s Safety Requirements

God endorses safety equipment. Take a look at Deuteronomy 22:8

Deuteronomy 22:8 KJV 1900

When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.

God’s building code isn’t very long. Number 1: Build your house on rock, and Number 2: Put a little wall around the perimeter of your roof so nobody can accidentally fall off — and die. Unfortunately, Christians can adopt a mentality that takes all personal responsibility for acting responsibly off of their shoulders. They just shrug it off and declare that God is in charge, and imply that everyone else just needs to have their level of faith.

Overconfident Faith

The disciples started to look at their faith in this strange way. Jesus is giving them warnings of things to come, but rather than take heed, they were quarreling over who was the greatest. And so we come to Luke 22:31-34 where we will find our text this morning.

Luke 22:31–34 KJV 1900

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

The message this morning is entitled “Sifted Confidence”

Pray

Truth

Sifting

Sifting wheat is not something we commonly experience today at least not in America or other developed nations. It is something that you can still find done in poorer countries that lack the industrialization of agriculture we see today. There is a flour mill in West Harrison, Indiana and they will bring in wheat that has essentially been already been separated by the combine and then it is ground and processed into flour.

But for Peter, he would have had a different take on what sifting wheat was like. We read in places in our Bible about “threshing floors”. This was a hard floor area, typically outdoors that was paved with small stones, or on a portion of exposed bedrock, occasionally they were even on densely packed dirt. The people working the wheat would lay it all out on the floor and begin breaking open the wheat to reveal the grain. If they were fortunate enough to have a donkey, they would have it pull a weighted sled in circles that ground down the head of wheat, and if not, the would beat the wheat with sticks until the grain was separated.

Once the wheat was separated, then they would toss the mess they created up in the air, where just the fine and light weight pieces would blow away. The heavier grain would fall back to earth first and then the stems would fall on top of that. It was as simple thing then to remove the stems and collect the grain beneath.

It wasn’t a fast process and it wasn’t a gentle process. Only after a great deal of violence is done to the wheat, is anything useful able to come from it.

Satan’s Desire

Only in Luke’s account of these events do we read of this desire that Satan has. This phrase “Satan hath desired to have you” is very interesting if we look at the Greek. Bare with me on this: it is “Satanas exetesato hymas.” 3 words that literally mean: The Adversary | Has petitioned for and been granted | you. But you is plural. So, all of you. Even though Jesus is directly addressing Peter here, this is a warning to all of the disciples. The Devil has gone to God asking for permission to put them through trials. And it was granted.

They are now in company with Job.

Job 1:6–12 KJV 1900

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

And then we read in the next chapter

Job 2:1–6 KJV 1900

Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

Precocious Faith

Years ago, like any parent we warned our son about the dangers of talking to strangers. Now, if you know Brody for any length of time, you know he is very in to super heroes, especially Batman. So when we explain to him that evil people would potentially try to kidnap him his first response is to inform us how he would attack the bad guys and kick them and then they would be sorry. He was awfully confident in himself for a 5 year old.

This is what is going on with the Apostles. They have been warned of the dangers to come, of tribulation. They have been warned of traitors. But how does Peter respond to Jesus?

Luke 22:33 KJV 1900

And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.

Reality Check

You know how things turned out for Peter.

Luke 22:34 KJV 1900

And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

Application

A warning to the church

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 10:12 with me. Paul writes the Corinthians and he warns them starting in verse 1 that Israel had the Shikinah glory of God and were able to cross the parted sea. But then in v5 we find that these people were the same people who were overthrown in the wilderness because they fell to temptation and began worshiping a false god.

Paul tells the people of Corinth

1 Corinthians 10:12 KJV 1900

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

This is a warning to a church. Be careful to not think you are past the temptations of the world, because you are a Christian. When you begin to stand on faith, it’s that much more important that you kneel in humility.

There was a song by Carman when I was about 12 entitled “Satan Bite the Dust”, it was a ridiculous song about a believer having a western style show-down with the devil. Listen to these lyrics from it:

But I know who I am Through Jesus Christ so I talk to you demons like dogs Satan you coward, you molester of souls, I command you to appear You're hidin' from the presence of God but I can feel your fear from here

In contrast 1 Peter 5:8 says

1 Peter 5:8 KJV 1900

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Don’t get eaten

If we are casual and complacent as Christians, we are going to get devoured.

We can argue with that. How much trouble can we really get into? We are Christians after all. Well, what did Peter do? The exact same thing that Israel did when they were in a tough situation that required faith. They denied God. And who can think of a worse sin than that?

Matthew 10:33 KJV 1900

But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Inspiration

Jesus said something though, that Peter in his rush to defend is faith missed. Jesus said

Luke 22:32 KJV 1900

But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Jesus Prayed for Peter

Jesus prayed for Peter. Satan may have petitioned God for the right to sift the Apostles, But God the Son and God the Father had a conversation about Peter’s spiritual well-being. That his faith wouldn’t be broken over this transgression. And lest you think that this is somtehing reserved for the Apostles

Hebrews 7:25 KJV 1900

Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

1 John 2:1 KJV 1900

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

Jesus is making intercession for you. Jesus is our advocate before the throne of God for you.

Peter would be Converted

Not only did Jesus pray for Peter. He told Peter that he would be converted. We think of that in terms of salvation, but here it really, and I have to give you Louw Nida’s definition of the Greek word used here, epistrepsas. To return to a point or area where one has been before.

Peter wasn’t damaged goods in God’s eyes, no longer worth while because he denied Christ. No, the point here with this is that Peter was going to mess up, but when he repented, and returned back to God he would return all the way back, Back to where he started before he sinned.

Peter would be used

And then Jesus tells Peter: After all of this happens, strengthen the brethren. Peter’s ministry wasn’t over. Yeah, he had a moment of weakness, and he messed up big time. But he still get’s to be used of God.

We read how God uses him in the first half of Acts, He writes 2 Epistles that God has preserved for eternity, and is likely the source for Mark’s Gospel.

Action

Let’s be careful not to get over confident as Christians. Thinking that we have matured to the point, or that our walk with God is such that we are incapable falling to temptation. That is a very dangerous place to be.

But also, be encouraged. There are a handful of things that you can do that will disqualify you from certain ministries. Divorce is a very big deal to God, and there is a pretty extensive list to be gathered from 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1 and 1 Peter 5 of qualifications of a Pastor. But if you have gotten snared by sin: that doesn’t mean your relationship with God or even your ability to minister is over. Full restoration with God is available, and that is exactly what Jesus wants for you.

Pray