Peter: Low and Slow
SUMMARY
In this sermon, Karl Ihfe walks through the life of the apostle Peter, showing how Jesus saw in Simon something Simon couldn't yet see in himself — a rock. Through Peter's failures, restorations, and ultimate transformation, Karl reminds us that Jesus doesn't call us because we're already who we should be, but because he intends to make us who he created us to be. It's all grace — only grace, ever grace.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Well, church, every life has a story and every story has a moment. A moment when you encounter Christ and you have an opportunity to decide, as Rob reminded us today, who do people say that Jesus is? Who do we say that Jesus is? We're in a series this summer called behind the Ministry, taking a look at the lives of those first 12 who were called to follow Jesus and trying to learn from them what it means to be his people. We started last week with Judas, maybe the person you thought I might end with.
No, I didn't want to end that way. I wanted to begin that way because Judas life gives us an opportunity to really reflect on and think about what it means to be his people. And so last week we looked at the question and the reality, the truth that Judas shows us that we can be really close to Jesus and yet never surrender to him. And so the summary, as we think about what it means to be a disciple, we wanted to start there and move out thinking we don't want to settle for proximity Jesus. We don't want to settle for just showing up and knowing the songs and maybe being familiar with the passages, but really surrendering our hearts to Jesus, allowing him to take control and to lead us.
And so that's our hope this summer. This week, I want us to jump to the story of a disciple that maybe is most familiar to us, certainly in the writings of all the disciples. We know more about this guy than just about any other disciple. In fact, we'll look at a couple later this summer that we don't know a whole lot about. But we've got a lot on this guy.
We understand and know who he is. And I think maybe, at least in my mind, this guy is one of the ones that we identify with most because he's maybe most like us. Not because he's particularly strong or weak or smart or not so smart, not because he's particularly gracious or obnoxious. He's the one that maybe best illustrates, I think, the ups and downs of being a disciple, of what it's like to truly follow Jesus. This guy who at moments was all in Jesus.
The rest of these losers may fall away, but I will never give up on you, right? And then 30 seconds later, cue song, right? Charlie Brown walking out. He's completely betrayed who Jesus has called him to be. Peter was your average, ordinary, everyday guy, a guy who followed and he wandered, who doubted and believed, who sometimes said the most beautiful things right out of the mouths of children and then said other things where you think, how in the world could you be following Jesus for three years and that is what comes out of your mouth?
He did some pretty amazing things like walked on water. Just unbelievable. And yet in the same moment, sunk in that same water that he was walking on. I think Peter gives us these handholds of what it means to be a disciple, and I find it so interesting. William Barclay, a New Testament scholar, talks a lot about how the gospel writers never hide Peter's faults.
Have you noticed that? They don't hide any of his impulsiveness or his anger, his fear, his pride, his denial. It's never hidden in the stories. If you were having someone write a book about you, you might want to edit and redact a few of those lesser famous stories about yourself that you wouldn't want people to know. But not true of Peter.
We see it all with him, and I think that's partly because Peter was like that. One of the things I love most about Peter is what you see is what you get. Peter was all out, and it was 100% always that way. In a minute, I'll tell you a story about time growing up. But one of the things I remember from being a young athlete was my coaches would say, you can't coach hustle.
You either got it or you don't. Peter had hustle. He was 100 miles an hour in the direction he was going. Now, half the time it was in the wrong direction, but he was going all out. And I love and respect that about him.
But I think Peter also understood that the longer he followed Jesus, the more he understood who Jesus was, who he was, the more he understood his life was a testimony to God's grace, not to his own personal greatness. If you read much about Peter, what you'll see is he was a natural leader. In fact, he was often the spokesman for the 12th. Whenever something was happening, Peter would be the guy who'd say, hey, hey, I'll take care of this, right? Which means he often was the one who spoke the most.
Which in turn meant he was often the one that Jesus had to correct the most. But he was also the one that Jesus said, I want you to lead my early church. I want you to lead this young church when it's getting off to its start. I think we hear and we see, especially later in Peter's letters to the early church that was scattered and being persecuted. We hear the heart of a man who's been shaped by the grace of God.
And we'll get to that in just a minute. But for those who maybe don't know a whole lot about Peter. Here's kind of a quick recap of some of the things that we learn about him. The Gospels that Peter was actually first known. We first meet him as Simon, Simon's son of Jonah.
He had a brother named Andrew. And he and his brother Andrew worked for their father as fishermen. And they kind of had a fishing business that they partnered with a couple of other brothers named James and John. A couple other these disciples we'll look at here. Pretty soon Peter was married and his mother in law lived with him.
He was an intergenerational family. But not only that, Peter was an interesting guy. In the Gospels and in Acts, we see his natural leadership come out quite often. He's the first name in every list of disciples. If you go through and read a list of the apostles in Scripture, you're going to read Peter's name first and again.
He was the one who spoke the most, who got corrected the most. He was the disciple that Jesus entrusted with leading in his early church. Barclay notes that Peter appears under all these different names, right? Simon. Simon son of John, Simon son of Jonah, Cephas, Peter.
Jesus often referred to him as Simon when you see it, but there are other times where he calls him a different name. In fact, I want to look for just a minute about one name in particular that he was known as. And that was Cephas or that was the Aramaic version. Peter is the Greek version, which is the name that we know him. Now in John's Gospel, Jesus gives him this name.
When they first meet in John chapter one, we're told this Andrew had been following John the Baptist. And Jesus shows up and Andrew starts following Jesus. And then we're told the first thing Andrew did was he finds his brother Simon and he tells him, we found the Messiah, that is the Christ, and he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon's son of Jonah. You will be called Cephas, which when translated is Peter.
Now in the Synoptic gospels, that's Matthew, Mark and Luke. This name comes a little bit later on, right? We learn in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 16, it says when Jesus this moment that Rob referred to us just a moment ago. When Jesus asked his disciples, who do people say that I am? They replied, John the Baptist, others, Elijah, others Jeremiah, one of the prophets.
What about you? Jesus asked, who do you say I am? And Simon Peter answered, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God. And Jesus replied, blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Jesus often used Simon when he would refer to Peter. Throughout the Gospels, that was the name he most commonly used. But there were these moments when he would say Simon, son of John, or Simon son of Jonah. You know, maybe think of as parents when your kids get in trouble. That's when all three names come out.
Carl, Richard, I can't believe you did that. I don't know that Jesus is necessarily getting on to Peter here in this moment, but when he uses his full name, he wants him to know not just any Simon. Simon, son of Jonah, you, I want you to know, I want to emphasize this point. You're to be called Cephas. You're to be called Peter the Rock.
It almost sounds ironic if you know, Peter's life, doesn't it? And yet Jesus was very serious in this moment. Upon this rock, he's going to build a church. Peter's going to play a pivotal role in God's kingdom. Not only his kingdom work in that moment, but in the days and the weeks and the years to come.
You know, it's almost as if Jesus wasn't so much describing him as declaring his future. You are Peter. I was thinking this week, when I was in third grade, ish, we moved to a new place in San Antonio. And I played football, Pop Warner football, and I played for the Steelers. Now, I know a couple of us here, my friend Marianne and Sherry, they'll appreciate that.
But I played for the Steelers. And our coach, he would divide us up, put us onto these different. Either offense or defense. We'd play for a few seasons. Throughout the season, he would come up with nicknames for us.
And so at the end of the year, we'd have our little banquet, and he'd kind of stand each of us up and he'd give us a trophy and, hey, great job, and way to go. And this is, you know, he would introduce us and tell the nickname. And so I remember at the banquet we were having, my coach stood me up. And during the season I had playing at school, I'd cut my hand open and I had a few stitches. And so in order to play, I'd have to wrap up my whole arm, almost like a club, you know.
And so he stood me up in front of the team as they were giving out these different awards, and he gave me my nickname. He said, if get up here. So if gets up there, hey, Coach, you know, hands me my trophy. I'm like, thanks, Coach. He's like, this is if.
And his nickname is. You know what it was? Fancy Pants. No, it wasn't Fancy Pants. It was the Hammer.
The Hammer. And I was like, yeah, I like that. The Hammer. You're the Hammer. You know, what Coach would do is he would find each one of us and he would discover what it is that we were about who we were.
But this name that he gave to us, he would. He would refer to us from then on. That was our name. And he was kind of speaking this truth over us. Like, you may not be this person, but I want you to be this person.
I want to inspire you. I want to challenge you to be this person. I can't help but think that Jesus had this in mind with Peter, because, again, if you read through the life of Peter, you understand that Peter wasn't always a rock. But, you know, it's amazing, through Scripture, whenever God changes a name, he's changing a destiny. Abram becomes Abraham, and Jacob becomes Israel, and Simon becomes Peter.
Barclay argues that Jesus was essentially saying to him, Simon, if you'll give me your life, if you'll follow me, if you'll trust me, I'll make you into a rock, and amazing things will happen. I think God still works that way, right? He's still changing names, and he's still changing destinies. In fact, John, in his Revelation at the end of our scriptures, he gives us this eschatological promise. He says, one day, every one of us is going to have a new name.
He says, whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who's victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I'll also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. There's something powerful about a name that God calls us not merely by who we are in that moment, but who he's helping us to become. When Jesus first calls Peter in Luke, chapter five, it's a pretty amazing story. Jesus has kind of commandeered Peter's boat, and he's teaching to the people.
And he realizes the crowd has gotten so big that he needs to. To get out onto the water a little bit. So he gets into Peter's boat and he gets out and he teaches. And as soon as he's done, he turns around and Peter's kind of in the back of the boat, and he says, hey, why don't you push out into deeper water? Let's fish a little bit.
And it's been a long day, we know. Luke tells us Simon is tired. But he answers Jesus, he says, master, we've worked hard all night and we've not caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. And when they'd done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.
And so they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came, and they filled both boats so full that they began to sink. And when Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus knees and he said, go away from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man, you know, Peter's first response when he encounters the power of Jesus is not confidence. Like, well, of course he would choose me.
I'm Peter. That's not what he says. It's unworthiness. Get away from me. You don't want to have anything to do with a guy like me.
And I find it so fascinating. Jesus doesn't say, no, no, no, Simon, you're a good dude. You're nice to your friends. You're sweet to your wife. You treat your employees well.
Stand up, buddy. Just come on. Have some confidence. Jesus doesn't say that. Instead, he says, don't be afraid.
From now on, you'll fish for men. And so they pulled their boats up on shore and they left everything and they followed. You see, what Jesus saw was not merely a fisherman. He saw an apostle. You know, it's amazing if you look through all the scriptures, God never calls perfect people.
He never does not. One time he calls imperfect people. It's almost as if Jesus is saying the most important ability for a follower of Jesus is availability. That's the most important thing. Are you open?
Are you willing? Will you follow him? I love how Barclay notes in his writings about Peter. He says that Peter's failures aren't the focus. They actually become the classroom.
They become the opportunity for him to learn and grow and to discover. Peter walks on water, and then he sinks. And Peter confesses Jesus. And then literally two verses later, he's rebuking him. Peter draws the sword to protect Jesus in the garden, and he denies him three times.
You know, at first glance, these moments kind of seem disconnected apart from one another.
But repeatedly, Peter struggled with one lesson. Accepting the Messiah's path meant suffering. Jesus was very open and honest about the sacrifice that would come. But Peter wanted a kingdom without the sacrifice. He wanted a victory without having to give those things up.
I mean, even Peter's rebuke was this sense of him struggling to accept suffering. Savior Peter's failures weren't random. Instead, they exposed the places in his life that Jesus was continuing to try to transform. And isn't that true of us? Jesus doesn't expose our weaknesses as a way of making us feel bad about ourselves.
He's not trying to provoke us to shame. Instead, he's exposing them so that he can transform. You see, that lesson came for Peter, as it often does for us, that the better he gets to know who Jesus is, the more he understands who he is. I mean, look back at Matthew 16. Jesus asked his disciples, who do you say that I am?
And Peter answers, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God. And so Jesus says, and you are Peter.
Peter declares who Jesus is, and Jesus declares, who Peter is, is. You know, people spend their entire lives trying to discover themselves. That's language we hear a lot in our day. Peter found himself really, truly only after he discovered who Jesus was. You see, identity always follows Revelation.
It always does that. The more clearly we see who Jesus is, the more clearly we begin to see who we are. And I love how, again, Barclay observes that Peter became the first person to make this full confession. And so Jesus then publicly affirms the destiny he'd already spoken over his life. But as we know, if you know Peter's story, this isn't the end of his story.
In fact, his darkest day is still to come, right? That denial. That night, gathered around a charcoal fire, and three times he's asked about Jesus, and three times he denies him. And in fact, Mark's telling of the story says that not only does he say, people, man, I do not know this guy. It says he calls down curses.
Luke gives us a little different window into the story in his telling. He says, when Peter replied, man, I don't know what you're talking about. Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed and the Lord turned and he looked straight at Peter. And their eyes meet. And I imagine in that moment, everything went silent, everything went still.
Peter goes outside and he weeps, and he's broken.
But still we haven't reached the end of Peter's story. This incredible moment. Jesus is not finished. Three days later, John 21, the passage that Dominic read for us just a moment ago, there's another fire, another charcoal fire. And Peter is around that fire once again.
And this time he's asked three questions about Jesus. But this time he affirms his love for Jesus. In this moment, Jesus doesn't merely forgive him, he restores him again publicly. I love how Jesus returns to Simon's full name, Simon, son of John. Not just any Simon.
You. Do you love me?
And Peter's hurt because Jesus asked him a third time, do you love me? He said, lord, you know all things. You know I love you. Jesus said, feed my sheep. You know, God's grace always returns his people back to purpose.
But again, we still haven't reached the end of Peter's story yet. Turn over to Acts chapter two. It's the same guy, and yet he's changed. Peter's matured. He's been through some things.
He's been brought back from some things. It's the same Peter, but it's. It's a different man. Not because his personality has changed, but because the Holy Spirit is helping to complete the work that Jesus started in him. The man that once trembled around that first charcoal fire, afraid because of being questioned by a servant girl, he's now standing in front of thousands of people proclaiming the name of Jesus.
That impulsive disciple has now become a shepherd. That frightened follower is now a bold leader. In fact, Peter's going to go on to spend the rest of his life strengthening the church. He's one of the first to help unlock and open the Gospel. For Gentiles.
We're a legacy, a living legacy of Peter. He suffers persecution and again, as testified by Christian tradition, he dies as a martyr because he refuses to deny the the man that he once denied, Simon. As Barclay writes, Simon truly became Peter. As we finish this morning, I want to invite us just to reflect for a moment on the lesson of Peter that Jesus never stopped calling him Peter. In fact, that was the name that Paul would use whenever he refers to him in his letters.
He took up that name, that name that Jesus gave him, that shaped him before that named him, before he shaped him. That Peter couldn't see it, but Jesus could. He saw in him things he couldn't see in himself. And maybe that's what we need to hear this morning, that some of us kind of feel like Simon. We're stuck in the past, we're stuck in our failures, and we forget.
No, Jesus actually sees something very different. Jesus sees the you that he's creating you see to be, not because you're already there, but because his grace is at work. You know, Peter didn't become the rock in a single moment. There was lots of years, lots of failure, lots of brokenness and repenting and trusting and growing and maturing and following and failing. But the miracle of Peter's life is not that it was an instant turnaround and said the miracle was just this persistent transformation over and over and over again.
I spent some time rereading Peter's first letter to the early church and thinking about the young man that he was when he first followed Jesus. And now he's an older man and he's reflecting on the life that God has given to him and the ways that he's tried to love and nurture and shepherd the hearts of those who are also trying to follow Jesus. And I just want to end with reading just an excerpt from this letter and invite you to listen for the change that has happened in Peter, who started out as this prideful I'm smarter, I'm tougher, Lord, the rest of these losers may fall away, but I never will kind of attitude to now he's this pastor reflecting on life and he's challenging the church. But notice, notice the words that he says. In fact, he points to other leaders in the church.
First he says to the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ's sufferings, who also will share in the glory to be revealed. Be shepherds of God's flock that's under your care, watching over them not because you must, but because you're willing as God wants you to be, not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve, not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. So when the chief shepherd appears, you'll receive the crown of glory that won't ever fade away. And in the same way, church, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders, all of you, all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because God opposes the proud, but he shows favor to the humble. Peter knew that.
Humble yourselves, he says, under God's mighty right hand, because he'll lift you up. And church, cast your anxiety on him because he cares for you so deeply. Be alert and sober minded. Your enemy, the devil, he prowls like a roaring lion ready to devour. Resist him.
Stand firm in the faith because you know that the family of believers throughout the world, we're in this together, right? We're undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you into eternal glory after you've suffered a little while, he will restore you. Church, I know a little thing about being restored. And our God, he will restore you and he'll make you strong and firm and steadfast, right?
He'll give you a name. And he'll help you to live into that name. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen. You see, perhaps the greatest encouragement from Peter's story is this.
Jesus doesn't call us because we're already who we should be. He calls us because he intends to make us who he created us to be. And it's all grace, only grace. It's ever grace. That's Peter's story.
And I'm praying this summer it will be ours as well. God, may it be so of us. May we discover and encounter your grace once again. That we learn from the life of Peter. Someone who is bold and passionate, who made mistakes, all kinds of mistakes.
God even denying you, and yet returned again and again and again that God, your grace. Your grace is more. It's greater than our sin. Oh, God, may that lesson sink deep into our souls this day as so many of us carry around the weight and the burden of our past, of those things that we did or didn't do, those words that we said or didn't say. God, would you restore us once again the way that you restored Peter?
Would you call us to follow you and give us the courage to take that next step, whatever it may be? God, may we hear in the story this morning that you're still calling people. You're still giving us a name and helping us to live into it. And God, that name you've given to us is your church, your people, your son, your daughter. God, would you help each and every one of us live into that name?
Father, thank you for the stories of these men. May you encourage us, may you challenge us to be more fully yours. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.