Peter – Page 3 – LOVE | ACCEPT

Lent 2009 – 24 Steps to the Cross

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” (Matthew 16:13-16)

Of many moments between Jesus and Peter, this confession of belief and faith is one remembered by the majority of Christians. When Jesus asks of the disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”, He must already know the answer. The responses—John the Baptist, Elijah, even Jeremiah—reveal the spiritual sense of the time. People were looking for a savior but perhaps, not for their souls. Their vision of the anointed one would be like David, a king who would lead them back to national prominence as befitted the people of Yahweh. Jesus asks those closest to Him the same question; do they hold the same nationalistic views? It is here that Peter steps forward as the spokesman to proclaim how the disciples view Him, He is the Christ, the anointed Son of the Living God, someone far beyond the human leader that many others craved.

Jesus asks us the same question. Who is Jesus to you? An insurance policy? A gift giver? Someone to be used as a theological hammer against those who understand Him in a different way? Has this question popped up in your prayer life?

Who is Jesus to you?

Lent 2009 – 25 Steps to the Cross

“Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” (Acts 3:24 – 26)

Ultimately in this chapter, Peter distills the essence of the ministry that the Church down to a single statement, through you ‘all the peoples on earth will be blessed. As we get closer and closer to the cross and the celebration of the risen Christ we can simplify our reflection to the blessing that comes from Christ. We are saved by our faith in Him, not solely for ourselves but in order to bless the rest of the world. With each step this Lenten season, we can further distance ourselves from our salvation in personal terms only and closer to our call to be the same blessing to others.

Lent 2009 – 26 Steps to the Cross

“Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you –even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’ (Acts 3:17-23)

As Peter previously demonstrated, an evangelistic call matches the good news of Christ with the bad news of the sin that separates us from God. The sign of the healed beggar alone should have driven people to their knees right? Would it do so today? The challenge that we face is that people did not and still do not see themselves as in need of salvation. Our modern culture lives by the thought that ‘I’m okay, you’re okay.’ If that were true in the perspective of God’s economy there would never have been a Jesus. But we’re not okay, are we? We are sin driven, sin guided, and we live in a sinful culture. Will pastors preach that this week?

We must be willing to suffer the slings and arrows of pointing out the sad truth to people, even if the consequences of doing so are dire. When Peter voiced these words the people of Israel were in no mood to be confronted with the truth. If the realization of what they had done set in, the meaningless nature of their tiny sacrifices would have fell them like a tree. The cultural facts however, should never prevent us from speaking the truth. Sacrifice is to be a key component of our nature. How’re you doing?

Lent 2009 – 27 Steps to the Cross

While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. (Acts 3:11-16)

Though it might have been momentarily tempting to claim the glory for healing the beggar, the Spirit in Peter guided him otherwise. He deflected to the accolades and pointed to the true source of power, Jesus Christ. In writing and in speech, we have heard reference to ‘mighty men of God’ and how powerfully the Lord has used men and women to accomplish various miraculous feats. It is easy for our culturally trained minds to hear Reverend So and So or Evangelist so and so were used by God to do this or that and associate the accomplishment with those men or women. We must take a more humble view and reread or relisten to what is said: they were used by God in His power to accomplish His will. They were merely vehicles. Peter is careful here to remind Israel that he too was just the vehicle, that is was the matchless name of Jesus that healed the beggar. It was the God who quickened Jesus and restored Him to life despite the sin of those who had put Him in the tomb and it was this same God who had healed the beggar. Israel, in her sin needed to meditate deeply on this act of Grace.

Is grace clear in your mind today?

Lent 2009 – 28 Steps to the Cross

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate call Beautiful, where he was put every day to be from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. (Acts 3:1-10)

When was the last time we reached out to brokenness and, in the holy name of the Savior, fixed it? I dare say not often. We tend to toward prayer and hope these days rather than healing. In some corners of the Church, there is suspicion extended toward the healing ministry. Peter believed in the power of the Spirit, in the power of the Name, to heal and transform so our reflection must be centered on answering the question, why don’t we? Our ministry to others was never intended to be narrowed by what the culture allows. It was meant to be holistic and touch all areas of life and yet, many of us shy away.

We are walking with Peter during this season for a purpose. He was much as we are and yet the power of the Spirit transforms him in so many ways. Is there any reason the Spirit won’t do the same thing for us if we are willing to allow Him?

Lent 2009 – 29 Steps to the Cross

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:11-12)

In the final part of his exhortation regarding the uniqueness and the demands of being the Church that Christ calls us to be, Peter emphasizes in this last pair of verses the necessity to separate from the world. He knew through his own transformation and the time he spent with the Lord that we were no longer at home in this world. Peter calls us to live as ‘aliens and strangers’ in the world but not of the world. Our holiness is to be apparent to all of those who peer into our lives. This holy nature is to be such that as others study us from a distance, they see consistency between our talk and our walk.

Our reflection today is a simple question: does your walk match your talk?

Lent 2009 – 30 Steps to the Cross

But you are a chose people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praise of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Following yesterday’s steps toward the cross, Peter emphasized that the grace of God was intended to build us into a church of the despised. Our comfort zone was not be the measure of the world but the measure of how our sacrifice aligns with that of Christ. He continues today reminding us of our role as a royal priesthood.

We don’t hear that preached much, perhaps because we have allowed that assignment to be abrogated by the vocational clergy. The Pastor is representative of the priesthood for us and we are simply sheep in his flock. What would Peter say about this specialization? Nonsense! As people of mercy we are called to be in the perpetual worshipful service of the one who granted that mercy. Reclaim the mantle and take the demands of the priesthood seriously.

Lent 2009 – 31 Steps to the Cross

As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone” and “ A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message – which is also what they were destined for. (1 Peter 2:4-8)

Sacrifice. The focus of our Lent reflections. With Peter as the vehicle, we can see the progression of ‘less of me and more of you’ in response to Christ and the change that it brings. We turn to Peter’s first letter today and ponder his call to Be the Church. Believers are to build themselves into the Church, the body of sacrifice modeled on their Lord’s oblation. The question we meditate upon is whether we can accept being despised in the same way Christ was. Have we given up enough of self to make this possible or are we still concerned with what men think?

Lent 2009 – 32 Steps to the Cross

“For, said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms,

“’May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’

and,

“’May another take his place of leadership.’ (Acts 1:20)

Peter is continuing the conversation he has been having with the remaining disciples after they had confronted the betrayal by Judas (33 Steps). In Acts we see a Peter who is maturing as the Spirit has confronted his worst tendencies and worked His transformation. The Apostle now turns his attention to filling the emptiness among the Eleven and fulfilling their mission. His use of scripture is a turning point for Peter; he has put aside his raw emotion in decision making and is applying the Word to the situation at hand.

The lesson for us is plain. Our maturity as Christ followers is measured by those moments in which we put aside our self reliance and rely on the revealed Word and the Spirit’s direction in plotting our direction in life. Make note of the twin requirements: we must know God’s Word and discern the Spirit’s guidance. Growth in these areas only comes from devotion to study and prayer.

Do you need to renew your commitment?

Lent 2009 – 34 Steps to the Cross

Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” (Luke 8:40-48)

Peter’s education on the nature of faith took many forms and we can gain much by spending time in those situations where he seems to play an insignificant role. He is with Jesus as the Lord heads toward the home Jairus to heal his daughter. Peter understands this mission and we can almost picture the burly fisherman blocking for The Healer as the crowd pushes in to be closer to Him. Suddenly, Jesus stops and demands to know who has touched him in the crowd. Peter is obviously stunned, wondering how He could ask this question of a crowd that presses in from all sides to be in contact with Him. The fisherman states the obvious.

Jesus knows that this touch was different. It was a touch of faith, a hand reaching out of the crowd that believed that He was the Healer. Peter misses this because he is focused on ‘the mission.’ Any deviation from the journey is unacceptable to him. Jesus knows differently though. He knows that a needy faith encounter can occur at any moment and in any situation. Commitments of faith do not occur only at the altar or when they are programmed. We can learn this same lesson as Peter did. We can train ourselves to be more aware of our surroundings, of those interactions that might not seem significant, and to look for those who need the touch of Jesus.