Friday, January 3, 2014

A BIG MISTAKE

People are so wishy-washy.   We are fickle.  We have good intentions, but so often when the time comes, we forget, we fail, we hesitate from what we said.  And the apostle Peter was no different in that respect from us.

Peter had made some astounding statements such as, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God," and was commended by Jesus.  Peter also said, "I will never deny you even if all turn away."  Then Peter was called Satan or fitting the plan of Satan not God in this former episode, and of course denied the Lord three times before the cock crowed.

We see that denial in John 18 today (15-18, 25-27).  As you look back to Jesus' being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane (yesterday's blog), one finds a big contrast between Jesus and Peter.  Jesus says, "I AM (he)" in response to the guards seeking Him.  Peter, asked whether he was with Jesus or is His disciple says, "I am not."  One of course, is God (Jesus), and one is a human who wants to follow but as one says, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."  Fear, embarrassment--whatever, it caused Peter to recoil and lie about his position in relation to Jesus.

Notice how the question is posed, negatively, as if it certainly was a bad thing or (today in our environment--a non-intellectual thing) to be a follower of Jesus.  Today, in the scientific culture we live in, if you believe in Jesus you must be some sort of weird person.  Because that is just a choice--no fact involved (faith vs. fact debate).  "You are not one of his disciples, are you?" (Jn 18:17, 25)  It's kind of like saying, "I thought you were smarter than that--believing in an old, outmoded story, something without basis in fact."

Notice, "disciple"--This is a learner, a committed follower, one seeking to learn and pattern his/her life after another.  Peter denied that he was this, and so often do we.  It may be our words that say, "I am not a disciple, or it could be we deny we are followers when indeed we are--we're just too embarrassed to own up to it.  But there are other ways of denying we are His disciple too--like saying we believe one way, and living our life quite the opposite.  The way of Jesus was a way of truth, righteousness, morality and justice.  When we claim to be His disciple, but then live in contradiction to His teachings, that is denying we are His disciples.  We all sin, but we also often swallow "the worldly way" of doing life more than we do Christ's way of living life.

Peter was a person, like us.  Peter didn't have it all together yet, just like us.  But Peter was a disciple in that he learned from his mistakes, and after the coming of the Holy Spirit and Pentecost (Acts 2) was a radically different follower of Jesus.  That says to me, "There's hope--don't give up the quest to become a fully committed disciple."  And it also say, "The power is in God and Jesus, to live the committed Christian life.  It does not reside in any human.  We need that godly power along with our knowledge of what Jesus expects, to live life to please Him."

Do you see yourself in Peter today?  "You're not one of his disciples, are you?"  What areas of your life need to be turned over to the Lord or recommitted to the Lord again?"

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