MK040 Sermons
Simon Peter (Audio)
Peter is one of those guys who got Jesus, and there are more recorded conversations between Jesus and Peter than any other individual in the Bible. And at one time when Jesus spoke to a large group of individuals about following him and what this was going to involve, and the Johnacy records this story as many of those who were following Jesus left and went away. And Jesus asked his other disciples if they were going to do the same, and Peter says this, he says, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of life." And Peter got this about Jesus, an unindicated fisherman, but he understood there was something about Jesus, it was the only place for him to go, the only place where he could turn that was going to offer him hope, and going to offer him life. You weren't here with us last week, we began a new series entitled, "40 Days with Jesus, Leading Up to Easter." And I don't know about your experience as a kid, but when I was a kid growing up in church, you know, we just kind of went to church, went to church, and all of a sudden Easter happened, and I did that for much of my life. And then about 10 years ago, I started to hear individuals talk about giving something up for Lent. I'm like, Lent, what is Lent, and why are they giving something up for that? And that's an intriguing concept, and I saw I asked a few more questions about it. As I begin to ask questions and explore, I discovered that for a number of churches, and for churches for centuries, they've practiced this season often 40 days leading up to when Jesus died on the cross, known as the season of Lent. And it was designed as a preparation time for the celebration of Jesus' death and his resurrection. I don't know about you, but yesterday with the snow having melted down quite a bit this past week, my guess is you found some things in your yard that you hadn't seen for a while, you know, and you were maybe out cleaning up some things that had piled up that you hadn't seen for a while, you know, and remnants of snow blowing things all over the yard or plows, you know, moving things, and we're kind of entering in the next two months this season where winter's coming to an end, where things that have been dormant, things that have died have all come to an end, and we're anticipating we're preparing for things start to come to life once again. And I want to invite you during these next five weeks that it might be a season for you where God is inviting you and stirring some things up in you that have been dormant for a season, maybe some things in your relationship with him, maybe some things as you heard Dave talk about with your finances, maybe some things in another of your life where they just been kind of lying dead and dormant and ignored and under the snow, if you will, and God's starting to melt some of that and thaw some of that and invite you into something that is going to be culminated with the celebration of his son on Easter Sunday. And so over these next several weeks, what we're going to be doing is we're going to be looking at individuals and events in the life of Jesus that my hope and prayer is that these times together will begin to thaw the things of winter in our hearts and in our lives and stir up and prepare us for something that God has for us. So that's what we're going to do over the next six weeks. Last weekend, when we had the bitter cold, last Saturday, actually a former neighbor of mine, someone who used to attend here, some of you know our male average, she was in town visiting some family and she called me on the phone said, John, I was in a car accident, do you think you can come and pick me up and kind of take me back to my family and we'll figure out what to do with the car. And so I went and did that as I picked her up, I said, well, what happened? She said, I was driving along and I saw this car sitting at a stop sign and I saw the car and then suddenly just as we got to the intersection, that car pulled out and she t-boned that car. She saw everything as she said, it was surreal watching. No one was hurt, but it was surreal just watching this. She knew it was coming. It was all right there in front of her. Those things in life, even though obviously those accidents are not a good thing, those are sometimes easier things to navigate than when we get blindsided by things. When we don't know it's coming, when out of the blue, it comes at you and then you have to react in the moment and figure out what to do and what to say. And any father that has raised sons knows that when your sons are little, there's always things flying at you and they're usually below the belt, you know, when they come at you and call your boy to go a little higher when that happens, you know, and you just get blindsided. You don't know where it's coming or when it's coming to you. It just comes at you, you know, and then as they get a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger, you know, it's not just those things. It's a punch in the back when you're in public, you know, and they just kind of lay one on you and you're like, don't do that to me when we're out in public, you know. We can do that at home when we're wrestling, but not when we're out in public, you know. And you just know it comes out of the blue and there all of a sudden it is there. And those are funny and those are humus and we try to restrain ourselves in our emotion and realize that they're just playing and having fun and they're not really doing anything wrong in those situations. But it's tougher when those things blindside us and it's not as innocent and it really, really hurts. You know, when we've poured ourselves into a job and we've done everything expected of us, so we've gone above and beyond and we've hit all our quotas, we've done everything and the boss comes and says, you know, just profits are down and we've got to let somebody go and you're the one on the lowest one on the totem pole and you're like, man, I didn't see that coming. Or you've been in a relationship and you think things are going well and you think things are moving forward and you're excited about and you look forward to being with the individual and then and then they just kind of say, this just isn't working out and I just want to be friends and you don't want to be just friends. And you're like, where had that come from? I wasn't expecting that at all. My grandfather poured his whole life working for a company, set money aside for retirement every day, every week, every month and then suddenly that company went under and he lost everything. Blindsided financially and impacted the rest of his life. This morning we're going to talk about a story in the life of Jesus where he blindsided one of his disciples. They didn't see it coming at all. And as we look at this story, I know that the story for some of you is going to leave you feeling a bit blindsided. But I hope this morning that you are able to hold on and hang in there through the end of the story because I think it will give you a glimmer of hope. If you have a Bible with you this morning or a wireless device, you're going to turn to Mark 8 on your phone, tablet. Mark 8, one of the Bibles, if you grab one of the Bibles, the guys are passing out, it's going to be on page 820. And as you turn into Mark 8, let me tell you a little bit of what's happening in the story of Jesus at this point in time. Jesus had been on the earth for a while and so he had passed the point of time where he was now doing miracles and he was feeding people. And he had fed 5,000 people and then a little bit later he fed 4,000 people. And he was healing people and so his reputation was growing and people were becoming more and more aware of who this Jesus was. And periodically what Jesus would do is Jesus in spite of all the activity, in spite of all the demands, he would step away from the masses. And sometimes he would spend time alone by himself. Sometimes he would spend time alone with his disciples, a great example of rhythms for us. And so in Mark 8 is one of those step away times where he's stepping away from all the crowds and all the demands and all the people and he goes north of the land of Israel to the place called Caesarea, Caesarea Philippi. And Caesarea Philippi is in the northern part of the land of Israel. They were in the Sea of Galilee, the Galilean region. They went up north in the area that we would know is the Golan Heights or near Syria where a lot of the conflict is right now. And in this area of Caesarea Philippi there's a mountain called Mount Herman and Mount Herman is one of the highest peaks in the land of Israel. You see Jerusalem is about 700 feet above sea level. Mount Herman is 2,800 feet above sea level. So it's very very visible in the land of Israel. And Jesus went to this place, went to this location and something unique about Caesarea Philippi is there's a massive rock that this city is built on. There's a massive rock. This rock is 100 feet straight up and you can see with a couple of images here of it and 500 feet wide and there's a city built on top of this rock. This city was built by King Philip as a gift to Herod. And while Jesus was there with his disciples kind of stepping away from all the busyness and activity that was taking place, he did a little bit of public polling of his disciples like guys what are you hearing? What's the word on the street? What are you hearing out there? And he says what are people saying about me? Who do they think I am and they figured this all out yet? And as he's asking this disciples this question they say in verse 28 they said to him well some people think that you're John the Baptist. And if you're here this last week, Don talked about John the Baptist and introduced us to John the Baptist and he was known as the forerunner Jesus. He's the one that came in front of Jesus. And John was a little bit of an odd ball you know. John went out and lived in the desert and he ate kind of odd things. He dressed kind of odd. He was in the desert for 40 days but he had a powerful message and that message is there's someone coming after me and you need to pay attention to him and I'm going to become smaller and he's going to become greater. And some thought that maybe you're just the same guy maybe you're two in one. Some people thought that he was Elijah. You say why do they think he was Elijah? Elijah is one of those few individuals in the Bible that it records never died. You say what do you mean he never died? Well in first Kings it tells the story of Samo's likely writing this account and it tells the story, excuse me not Samo but as the account was recorded it says that he was just ushered up into heaven, taken up in heaven. He never died. And so some have speculated that he will one day come back and the prophet Malachi in the end of the Old Testament one of the last verses in the Old Testament he says this he says see I will send the prophet Elijah to do you before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Devout Orthodox Jews and when they celebrate Passover we'll set a seat at the table for every person in their family and they will set an extra seat that no one is to sit at and that is a place for Elijah in hopes that maybe this Passover will be the one that Elijah will return and then the Messiah will follow. And so some people thought that he was Elijah. He was preparing the way for the Messiah to come. Still others thought he was one of the prophets Matthew records that maybe he's Jeremiah. And then Jesus makes it personal as he always did and he says who do you think I am and who do you think I am and who do you think I am? Peter never won to shy away from the limelight. Says pick me pick me pick me he says I think you're the Messiah. Matthew says the son of the living God. And he was right. He was absolutely right. Absolutely right. Peter in spite of all of his fumblings in spite of all of his sticking his foot in his mouth in spite of all of his saying the things that he shouldn't say Peter had anchored his hope to Jesus as the Messiah as the one that was going he was going to befowl and Jesus affirms that and Matthew's gospel where Matthew writes in much more detail than Mark. Look what Jesus says in Matthew 16 describing the same account. Jesus replied blessed are you Simon son Jonah for this not revealed you by flesh and blood. You didn't use your own brains to figure this out but by the Father who is in heaven. He said Peter you are blessed because God has made this clear to you. Not everybody gets this figured out but God has made this clear to you. And then look what he goes on to say in the next verse he says and I tell you that you are Peter which he was also known as Simon. He's kind of renamed here. And on this rock remember where he's standing I will build my church in the gates of hell will not overcome it. What is Jesus saying there? Jesus says in the future not right now but in the future. I'm going to start this thing because they didn't know what a church was. They went to temple that's what they did that's what good Jews did. They went to temple and they went to synagogue and they heard readings of the scriptures. But Jesus is talking about something different they never heard of. He says I'm going to establish this thing called the church and even the spiritual forces of hell can't rock this. I mean imagine what's happened in Peter's mind, the minds of disciples. I mean Peter just won the jackpot on the jeopardy quiz he got the right answer that Jesus was looking for. And then he goes on to tell them not only that but Jesus is going to start this thing and the truth is Peter is going to be a significant part of that. If you read the activities of the apostles the acts of the apostles what you discover is Peter was one of the foundational parts of this new thing being launched called the church. And so Jesus is just told Peter you got it all figured out and God gave this to you and I'm going to start this thing and even Satan is his forces can't overcome it. Peter had to be feeling on top of the world. He had just been told his team is going to win the championship. We're going to break sales records this year. These are up and to the right. And then Jesus drops his bomb on them in verse 31. He says this he began to teach them that the son of man referring to himself that's another title for Jesus must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders the chief priests and the teachers of the law and then he must be killed. And after three days rise again. I mean imagine what that felt like. Talk about being sucker punched. I mean one minute your teams on the fast track to the championship and the next minute your star player tour is a CEO and it's out for the season. I mean one minute you can't feel orders fast enough and you can't see the end in sight and then suddenly that big supplier pulls out and you are left with nothing. An investor you had that was going to make this new venture launch and take off they backed out and you're just stuck. I mean Peter probably was beside himself. As Mark records this he goes on to say that he pulled Jesus aside and he said Jesus we got to talk about this. You know he might have said you know Jesus I'm not sure what you're talking about here but I really don't think this is where we should be going. I mean haven't you seen the polling numbers haven't you seen the masses. I mean it's not going to take a lot for us to tip the scales so that we can take over this place and this kingdom that you keep telling us is near. Guess what we can make it happen and all that stuff you're talking about all that suffering stuff I don't think we need to do that. I don't think we need to go there. And instead of Jesus saying you know Peter you're right I think maybe I was confusing the guys I need to dial it back a little bit maybe that was just scenario A maybe this scenario B or C that God has in mind. Now look at what Jesus says to Peter. He says get behind me Satan. Get behind me Satan. Talk about being blindsided. I mean just a couple sentences earlier Jesus is saying you are blessed and you're going to be part of this thing that I'm going to launch. And now he calls him Satan of all names to associate him with Jesus and mankind's fiercest enemy the father of all lies a deceiver. I mean if he wanted to call him something I mean call him Cain or Ahab or Jezebel but some other horrible Bible name but Satan. Why did Jesus call Peter Satan. I think some of the answers in the second half of this verse he says you do not have in mind the concerns of God but merely human concerns. I say what were Peter's human concerns? I wonder if Peter's human concerns were Jesus you you have the power to make this happen. I don't know if you realize but I've watched you do some remarkable things with people with food you've got the power to make this happen. You've got the popularity to make this happen. You have this direct access to God and maybe he's going to come up with another plan to make this happen. But you know what I think might have been Peter's greatest concern is greatest human concern. We go back to verse 31 Matt what was Jesus teaching them about in verse 31 that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by every religious leader and die. I wonder if Peter was saying Jesus we don't need to go down that route. We don't need to go that direction. Isn't there some other way can we avoid this? I think that's pretty common don't you? My family makes fun of me about how much I complain about pain. You know if I'm not feeling well I go to the doctor I pay for the doctor I'm going to go to the doctor it's called insurance you know and if I'm not if I'm sick I'm going to go to the pharmacy and get some medicine because I have some money to do that and I'm going to get that pain relieved. I see no benefit in having pain if I can get my pain relieved there's no reason to live with that for three days and not go to the doctor. And I think if we're honest most of us kind of operate out of that MO think about our prayers what do we pray about someone sick we pray for them to get better. Someone's going somewhere we pray that they don't get hurt. There's a conflict we pray that it get resolved. If there's pain we pray that it gets minimized. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't do those things but if we're really honest the reality is is that we pursue pain relief whenever we suffer and I wonder I wonder if that's exactly what Peter was talking to Jesus about about relieving the pain and the suffering and the rejection and the death that Jesus said was coming. You see the problem is is if you follow Jesus and if you want to follow him Peter says that you are going to suffer or excuse me Jesus says you are going to suffer and Peter says no no no no no there must be another way. And when Peter said there must be a way to avoid this suffering Jesus identified him with Satan. Is it John I don't get it I don't get I mean I can see put in Satan with you know people that are wrecking someone's marriage or I can see putting Satan with you know addictive behaviors I can see putting Satan with this horrible things you know these people over in the Middle East that are beheading Christians I can see putting Satan with all of those things I can't see putting Satan with people that just want a little relief from some pain. What's so bad about that seems a little over the top doesn't it Jesus the truth is suffering is something that none of us most of us don't endure much of it we endure some and what little we endure we want to end it and get over it and move on and Jesus is following me there's going to be an element of suffering not a very popular message not a very popular message and I'll be the first to admit it's hard for me to like that it's hard for me to accept that I don't know anywhere else in Jesus's stories where he calls someone Satan nowhere else and that makes me take a step back and think this is a really big deal what's happening here Jesus didn't just flippantly call people Satan there was something that Peter was doing that was evil was wicked there was awful and that's just really really hard for me to sit with because I want to invite people to follow Jesus I want to tell people these are the reasons they should follow Jesus I want to say that if you follow Jesus you have hope not only for this life but the life to come and that you have the potential to experience life and it's fullest that's what Jesus said but by the way along the way you're going to hit some bumps in the road that are going to be really really hard I think Peter might have figured this out a little bit later in his life because he wrote a couple letters first and second Peter and he talked about this exact issue first Peter chapter four some of the verses are going to come up on the screen Peter says this if you suffer it should not be as a murder thief or some criminal or even as a meddler Peter's basically saying if you suffer because you did something dumb it's your own fault you know don't go fire bomb an abortion clinic and think you're not going to prison for it and call that suffering for Jesus it's not it's just stupid but look what else he says he says if you're insulted for the name of Christ you're blessed if you suffer as a Christian do not be ashamed but rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ that's a very different scenario than him rebuking Jesus who said this is what was going to come he says if you're insulted because you claim to be a Christian you are blessed if you suffer rejoice we don't live in a community that suffers a lot doesn't mean we don't have suffering but we don't face a precious suffering from outside of us Peter says when you do face suffering look what he says in the end of this section the last verse there he says when you do face suffering those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful creator and continue to do good it seems like Peter had a different message about suffering than earlier in his life when he was trying to talk Jesus out of it and he says when you do suffer you have a faithful creator who is going to walk with you in it one of the hardest things to remember when we are suffering is that God is good and that God is gracious the hardest things for us to hold on to he says when you face suffering hold on to the fact commit yourself to the reality that God is good and that God is gracious and you can offer that to other people so when you face suffering in this life when you face struggles in this life when you are mistreated because you try to do what is right when you have relationships that aren't what you hope that they become when you have to process the pain of people who've sinned against you in your past when you're dealing with ongoing health struggles when you're dealing with life not the way you hoped it would be what are you going to pray what will you say to God when these things enter your life or maybe they already are one thing you might do is you might just beg God for relief that's pretty common that's pretty common maybe say you accept God's will but also then beg for relief you know doesn't it say somewhere in the Bible that if we ask God for what he wants us and it says ask seek and knock and knock and it will be given are we supposed to ask God for those things we are we are this last one maybe is to ask God to help you accept his will for your life and that might be hard really really hard because the truth is when I say God I'm willing to accept what you have for my life that means I believe that no matter what you bring into my life you are a good God and you are a gracious God and I will accept that no matter what it is no matter what it is some other ways to say this might be just to say God help me to accept your will no matter what it is regardless what it is maybe you say God this is what I want the Bible says bring our wants and desire this is what I want God but I am willing whatever your plan is for me to accept that and believe that that is best Jesus did that in the garden didn't he and just a few moments we're going to remember his death by celebrating communion and when Jesus was in the garden he said father take this cup from me the cup pictured suffering he said take this from me and he said if there's some other way some other path can't we consider that option but at the end of that prayer he said not my will but your will that's what I want when I'm suffering I want relief and I will try to find it some way quick I don't like to stay in it the truth is some of you are facing suffering right now suffering that wasn't your fault suffering that wasn't your choice suffering because of what someone else did suffering because of someone else's sin suffering that in all reality and honesty is just not fair and the question for you to ask yourself is what am I going to do with that what am I going to say to God about it I think Peter figured out that there was a different way than just pain relief just pain avoidance and that different way was deciding if he could entrust his soul to his faithful creator who loved him more than he could ever know would you buy your heads in prayer with me as we wrap up this morning and as we do I just want to invite you to talk to God about whatever is going on in your life this morning maybe there is some suffering that's happening and you really would like I had to give your way out and for you it's an issue of surrendering your will to his maybe you're not in a but in season of suffering sometimes God allows us to have seasons like that and so it's a season where you say God is my heart open to do and accept your will no matter what it is or it's not suffering is not something that our bodies were designed for it's a result of living in a broken sinful world and yet you said in this world we're going to have suffering we're going to have struggles we're going to have difficult times you're going to be there with us so I pray this morning that we are able to honestly bring our hearts before you and just say God this is where my heart is I want that but I can't say it right now I'm willing to offer that to you and your name amen. (gentle music) (gentle music)