Water Walking Faith Part 2

Good Morning and welcome to week 2 of our ongoing series Unlikely Disciple. Last week we started this series and we introduced our unlikely disciple, Peter. Last week we talked a bit about Peter’s start, being called as a disciple and about who he was before. We talked about Peter’s life as a fisherman and about his personality, and ultimately how God used him in spite of that. We ended with this quote

Part of the beauty of Peter’s witness is that he wasn’t perfect—but God still used him in mighty ways. Peter firmly knew God’s love for him through Jesus, despite his faults and inadequacies

Today we are going to continue our study of this unlikely disciple and continue looking at Peter as well as ourselves as we examine some of these events. So with that said I want to ask a question....

Do you ever have those moments when you’re really smooth and do something right? Maybe you say the right thing at the right time or figure out a difficult solution to a problem. Maybe it was in front of others, and they were astonished and complimentary of what you had done.

I remember the character Marty McFly in the 1985 movie Back to the Future. Marty goes back in time to the 1950s. Toward the end of the movie, Marty is playing the guitar for a high school dance. He does well and astonishes the crowd with his rock and roll sound. However, Marty goes a little too far in the history of rock music and starts to play thrash guitar solos that leaves the dance hall speechless and off put. Sometimes in the day to day of our christian walk we have these moments where we seemingly have the ability to excel and fail almost at the same time. Peter, our unlikely disciple, shared these tendencies with us. Turn with me if you will to the book of Matthew chapter 16

Matthew 16:13 ESV

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

While Jesus is in conversation with his disciples, he asks, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” This you might imagine is a tough question as chronologically, we have not gotten to any acknowledgement from Christ that He is the Messiah..... so what do they say…let’s look forward

Matthew 16:14 ESV

And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

They answer safely and sort of survey the field..... They reply, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” They sort of take a multiple choice sort of approach, some say A, some say B......etc. And what does Jesus do

Matthew 16:15 ESV

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

He gives them no room to equivocate, and asks them to take a stand. I’m paraphrasing, but He basically says.....that’s great, you can tell me what everybody out there says........I don’t care what THEY say, what do YOU say.

And this leads me to my first point of the morning

The World Can Waiver but Disciples Have to Take a Stand

See people all over the world for the entirety of human history have always wanted to waiver and equivocate and dance around and never get to the hard reality of taking a stand for truth. We see that all around us right now in our society and in the world that we live in. People everywhere want to take the easy way and refuse to acknowledge the truth of God’s Word. Let me tell you something right now very clearly........There is good and evil in this world, there is right and there is wrong, and for all those who would tell you that it is hard to determine right and wrong in such a complex world, no it isn’t.....it’s very easy…it’s called the Word of God.

What the word of God says is right is right and it will lead to life, blessing, and happiness for you, what God’s Word says is wrong is wrong and while your free will gives you the right to decide to be wrong....it will always be wrong and it will always lead you to unhappiness, frustration, heartache despair, etc.

Body of Christ as believers it is time for us to take a stand for the Word of God. We have to stand up and proclaim the truth that is spoken in Romans 3:4

Romans 3:4 NIV

Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

Let God be true and everyone else a liar, but Body of Christ if you want to walk the path of a disciple God is looking for a generation that is willing to stand up and proclaim the truth of God’s Word in the face of all the secularist, garbage that is out there.....disciples you have to take a stand!

So what does Peter do? Let’s look forward

Matthew 16:16 ESV

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

My Man…Gold star!!! Peter nails it right of the gate. He doesn’t waive, he doesn’t try to shade it....straight up.....you are the Christ! What does Christ say to that.

Matthew 16:17–18 ESV

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Peter’s proclamation of Christ’s vocation isn’t a minor part of the gospel story. “Peter recognizes Jesus as the Messiah by revelation, not by signs Peter dictates and thus uses to manipulate the Messiah”. Peter isn’t trying to make Jesus the Messiah by recalling some miracles; he has a revelation beyond simple information that Christ states was revealed by the Father to Peter. God is speaking something through Peter for the rest of the world to hear and understand.

Now let me make a few points here, and I want to make sure that you see this.....I said here that Peter was not using some sorts of signs or miracles to make this declaration, he was given revelation by God......and what does Peter do with this revelation.....He speaks it. Now I didn’t say he spoke it into existence, nor did I say that he declared it.........he took what God had given him, and he spoke it out loud for everyone to hear. We have the divine revelation of God in His Holy Word.

But in this case I think it also important to note what Peter did not do.....he didn’t turn around and make sure that all the other disciples heard him and how important he was, or notice that he was the first one to get it right or to get this revelation......he didn’t get on his Jerusalem FB page and start arguing with everyone who though Jesus was John the Baptist or Elijah......he didn’t do any of those things.

And this leads me to my second point today....

Taking a Stand Does NOT Mean Taking on Everyone Else’s Stand

Just because you take a stand does not mean that you are to antagonize others who feel differently than you. You love them. That does not mean compromise…I didn’t say coddle them in their sin, that’s not ok......but that’s God’s job to convict them of the their sin and the need to repent......your job is to love them.

Mark 12:30–31 ESV

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:32–34 ESV

And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

But what does Peter do with that?

Matthew 16:21–23 ESV

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Peter went from Gold star God has revealed this to you…to get thee behind me Satan in the span of 4 verses.......likely just a few minutes of conversation....why....because He went from taking a stand based on the revelation of God to taking a stand based on his own personal feelings. So much of what we see going on in our world today is because people are out there running around based on what they feel or what they think........I’m not interested in what you think....and you shouldn’t be interested in what I think. If you see a bunch of preachers out there telling what they think....RUN…Tell me what the word of God say!

Peter’s high moment was shattered a few verses later. Jesus tells the disciples he will “suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Peter will have none of it: “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” Jesus confronts this directly and devastatingly: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:21–23). Peter went from bold confession that Jesus is the Christ to being rebuked by Jesus and called an instrument of Satan!

“Peter’s rebuke reveals how little he understands the kind of messiahship Jesus has in mind. … Peter’s strong will and warm heart linked to his ignorance produce a shocking bit of arrogance. He confesses that Jesus is the Messiah and then speaks in a way implying that he knows more of God’s will than the Messiah himself”

7. Sometimes we put our foot in our mouth. Maybe we should buy this shirt: https://www.bigdippergraphics.com/i-spend-a-great-deal-of-my-life-realizing-ishould039ve-shut-up-10-minutes-ago/.

Peter becomes relatable to many of us. We have moments of bold proclamation of God’s truth, and then arrogant moments when we declare we know better than God.