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Peter's
Confession & Jesus' Prediction Peter’s
Confession of Christ Jesus asks his disciples “who do people say I am?” Some say John the Baptist –We know that King Herod thought Jesus was John the Baptist. I spoke of this in an earlier Sermon in July. Others say Elijah and still others, one of the prophets. These last two guesses are attempts to give Jesus a lot of high praise, but that is not enough. Jesus was more then a renewal of the Old Testament figures, he was the person that all these figures were pointing towards. Jesus asks the disciples “who do you say I am?” Early in Luke’s gospels we learn that Peter’s brother Andrew came to Peter saying in “We have found the Messiah (that is the Christ)” Luke 1:41 Peter speaks up to the question from Jesus “You are the Christ”. Was Peter just repeating what his brother told him earlier? Or had he worked it out for himself? In Matthews Gospel is says that at the time, Peters confession of Christ was not from his own knowledge. “For this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven” Mat16:15 On the one hand Peter knew through his brother that Jesus was “the Christ”, yet on the other hand, he needed the divine intervention of God to reveal the true knowledge of Jesus. This tells us that perhaps there a distinction between an understanding of Jesus from a human perspective and an understanding of Jesus through the eyes of God. The human understanding of “Who is Jesus?” is easy to work out. You simply Google it! So how do you then describe the knowledge of Jesus through the eyes of God? Well as we read on, we learn what it isn’t… It isn’t a full comprehensive knowledge of Christ? God revealed who Jesus was to Peter, but even then Peter had not fully understood. Jesus knew this and warned the disciples not to tell anyone what Peter had confessed, as there was still more to learn. You can only imagine what Peter was thinking at this stage. “Jesus probably doesn’t want me to tell anyone that he is Christ, cause then all those evil doers will run away. He has come to wipe them all out. I can’t wait to see this!” But then, Jesus begins to teach the disciples that the Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priest and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed. “Whoa! Hang on their Jesus. Don’t you dare play with me? God has revealed to me that you are the Messiah. You are the Christ. You will lead us into victory.” The scripture say the Peter rebukes Jesus in what he says. Jesus turns around in verse 33 “Get behind me Satan” Had Peter turned into Satan? No, but he was tempting Jesus to not go through with his death just as Satan tempted Jesus in the desert. Even though Peter had a revelation of who Jesus was, Jesus says “You do not have in mind the things of God, but things of men.” God is going to show all his glory in a way that Peter could not comprehend. Even when Jesus is revealed to us we still have not got a full understanding. This will not come until the Kingdom of God is here in its entirety. Again I ask, how you describe this divine knowledge of what Peter did receive. I have been struggling with this thought all week and the answer has come over the weekend through different situations. This week, has been relatively tough going. I am working through assignments for Bible College, going to bed when my wife is already asleep and waking up to find that she has already gone to work. Preparing the Friday nights, missing the company of other mid/late 20 year old, like minded people, and gradually there creeps a discomfort in my faith and I ask….what is the point of this all God? Where are you when I feel so distant from you? Two days ago I with involved with my third Friday funeral in a row. This last funeral, the church was packed. 75% were 20 year olds. Lovely young men and woman who you could tell were impacted by the lose of a friend. After talking to some of them beforehand it was clear that they had no connection with the Christian faith. During the service I sit and wonder… What is the point? Where are you God when someone so young tragically loses their life? And as my mind drifts along this road, Charmaine (the Vicar) gets up in front of these young people and begins to passionately speak words of a hope that can only be found in Christ Jesus. 1. Jesus - Is our true Hope And then at 6pm, I tell a story to the intermediates kids of David and Goliath. There is something in me that is saying, this story has been told too many times it is getting a little boring. Then suddenly, I see the faces of 30 intermediates kids engaged with the words coming out of my mouth. Some kids eagerly stretching up their hands to answer the question of what is going to happen next. While others sit with eye balls wide open waiting in anticipation to find out the fate of a boy not much older then themselves. I then conclude by telling them that Jesus wants to use their talents just like God did with David. 2. Jesus - It our wider story Then it hits 7.30pm and Youth Groups from around Auckland come and meet at our Church. 120 high school kids, yelling out the words to songs about Jesus. A third of these young people (around 40) come regularly to our youth group. From this 40 about 30 come from non-christian or non-church families. Each Friday a couple of kids from the youth group will have a serious issue in their lives, usually relating to an undervalue of themselves.. But in this service all of them are singing out worship songs. Some because they like the loud music, others are being more reflective of their faith, however all are equally pleasing to the ears of Jesus, 3. Jesus - Is our worship I wake up the next morning and over 50 men come together at our church and eat a breakfast meal. Men and women in the Parish prepare food and set the tables. Michael Jones then stands up and speaks passionately about strong leadership needed for today’s society and for him the ultimate leader is found in Jesus. 4. Jesus – Is the leader of leaders. Yesterday, I begin typing out these thoughts when God interrupts my heart and says David. Yes, I am the true hope Yes, I am the wider story Yes, I am to be worshiped Yes, I am the leader of leaders But David, I have showed you over the weekend that I need you to fight. Fight for those at the funeral who have given up on me, Fight for those at youth group who have given up on themselves, Find further fighters at Men’s Breakfast. I need people to help fight others peoples battles, because there are so many people in Devonport that don’t know me that I so desperately love. Fighting for me is going to be hard. It is going to cost you your life. At times you may feel like giving up, but I have not given up on you nor have I given up on anybody in this community. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross.” Vs 34. This is what it means to truly know me. This is the type of Jesus I want you to know. Jesus is more then a fact, he is a way of life and whoever truly wants to live the way of Jesus, who ever wants to save his life, will lose it. What does it mean to lose your life? The easiest way to explain it is to stop the car, get out of the drivers seat, jump in the passenger side and give Jesus the steering wheel. God wants more then our Sunday prayers, he wants more then our scheduled Church time and money. He ultimately wants us to be in relationship with all people currently breathing air. This is the type of Jesus that we need to promote to those who do not know him. A real living God that actively wants to particulate in the lives of human beings. When we give Jesus the steering wheel, life can sometimes be hard, and we will have to carry that cross... While the majority of my time I am passionate about Friday nights, there are moments when I think, “man, it would be nice to have Friday nights with my friends” but being a Christ follower is more then doing a good deed when it suits us. As I look back on may journey as a Christ follower, I can best illustrate it like a rollercoaster ride. There a times when not much is happening and I am just going up a hill, there a crazy out of control times that a swirling round and round, there a times when I feel like I am going head first, down at a rate of knots. But when that rollercoaster ride finishes I look back and I think to myself, wow, what an awesome ride! Let’s do that again, and each time I do it again the roller coaster gets bigger and better. Verse 35 says “that whoever does lose their life for me and for the gospel will in fact save it” and overall I feel more alive as a Christ followers then all the highlights put together of when walking down my own path. How do we describe what Jesus is in the eyes of God? - Jesus is more then a fact. He is out true hope, He is the wider story, He is our worship, and He is the leader of leaders. He is a God that requires us to give up our lives in order to truly gain life in Him. I will conclude with this thought from Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make you paths straight” |
