922. Peter: A Servant Chosen and Equipped

Welcome to The Daily Platform. Our program features sermons from chapel services at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Whether it's the general chapel service for the whole student body or services for those in the ministerial class or seminary, everyone at the school is blessed by the preaching of the word each day from the chapel platform. Today on The Daily Platform, we're continuing a four-part seminary series entitled New Testament Servants, which studies how God chose and equipped particular servants in the Bible to minister his word. Today's message will be preached by Reverend Phil Gerard, pastor of Midway Bible Church in Pelzer, South Carolina, where he has served for the past 18 years.

Phil also held pastorates in Mississippi and Pennsylvania before he moved to South Carolina. The title of his message is Peter, a servant chosen and equipped from Luke 22. Let me ask you to open your Bibles, please, to Luke chapter 22.

It will take me a while to get there, but you can have your scriptures open to Luke 22. The four gospels are full of Peter. He's mentioned in nearly 200 verses.

No name comes up more often in the gospels except the name of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. No disciple speaks as often or as much as Peter. Our Lord speaks more often to Peter than any of the other disciples. Peter played the foil to Jesus Christ.

We know Jesus. We understand Jesus, and we wouldn't understand him nearly as well if Peter had not been part of the background. Now the gospels portray Peter from two perspectives. From the beginning, Peter is called the first. Matthew 10 lists the disciples, and it begins with these words, Now the names of the twelve apostles were these, the first, Simon, who is called Peter. In the gospels, the lists of disciples rearrange the order of some of the names, but Peter's name is always first.

Because from the word go, he was the leader of the band. He was the leader of the apostolic band, the leader. On the other hand, the gospels portray Peter as a bundle of contradictions. No disciple was praised more often by Christ than Peter, but no disciple was reproved so pointedly as Peter was. No disciple ever confessed Jesus so boldly or outspokenly, and yet no disciple intruded and interfered and actually tempted Jesus as much as Peter. Now there's a reason for this pendulum swing in Peter's personality. When Jesus called Peter to follow him, he said these words to him.

You are Simon, son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas, which is translated Peter or rock. You see, through his association with the Lord Jesus, his character was transformed from the sandstone of Simon to the hard rock, the quartzite of Peter. And until Jesus was finished with him, he vacillated between the Simon personality and the Peter personality. And the witness to that in the gospels is that you continue to see both of these names used. In certain contexts, he's called Simon. In other contexts, he's called Peter.

And it's interesting to note those uses of the word. Now where these two aspects of Peter's person intersect, his leadership and this vacillation, this pendulum, that's where we find the crux of the man Peter. Jesus made Peter into a godly leader, the leader of the twelve, the leader of the early church by transforming him from Simon into Peter. By transforming him, I'm going to use these nicknames this morning, from Sandy into Rocky.

In the few minutes that we have this morning, I want to trace this transformation. So first, let's consider for a few moments what this man Simon or Sandy was before Jesus really got a hold of him, before this transformation took place. Simon was a leader of sorts before he ever met Jesus. I repeat, Simon was a natural leader before Jesus transformed him. Why, from the very beginning, is Peter recognized as the leader of the twelve? Nowhere did Jesus appoint him leader. No, Peter was already the leader, ready-made when he heard Jesus call. You have to remember that several of the disciples knew each other when they met Jesus. Four of them were partners in a fishing business, James and John, Peter and Andrew. Guess who was the leader of that fishing business?

We don't really know. Scripture doesn't say, but I'll only give you one guess. Peter was the leader of the band of disciples when it got its start. He was already the natural leader. And there's a lesson here, it's a lesson I learned the hard way in the first church that I pastored about 40 years ago now in Greenville, Mississippi. In any church, there are elected leaders and there are appointed leaders and there are natural leaders. And blessed is the church where the natural leaders are also the elected leaders. And where those natural leaders also support the pastor's direction.

Let me turn it around and put it the other way. A church is going to have real problems, real trouble if the natural leaders are not the elected leaders. And if the natural leaders are not supportive of the pastor and his direction, I know this from experience, learned the hard way 40 years ago. Now what was it that made Peter a natural leader?

Let me make three suggestions. First of all, Peter I believe was a man's man. I believe that before he met Christ, he was what in Mississippi one of my elders used to call a rounder.

A good old boy. When Peter got his first real glimpse of who Jesus was, he responded by saying, depart from me, I am a sinful man. Now I don't think Peter was just being humble.

I don't believe he was being self-effacing. I believe Peter was describing himself as he actually was. Peter was a man's man and all that that can mean in not just the good aspect but the bad. In the second place, Peter was full of enthusiasm.

He did nothing by halves. It was all or nothing with him. And the enthusiasm of a Peter is what's necessary to lead an enterprise.

And one example here will suffice to illustrate the whole. Remember the scene in the upper room. Jesus strips and he girds himself with a towel and he begins to wash the disciples feet. And Peter will have none of it.

It was all or nothing and he said, I'm not having any of it. And Jesus said to him, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me. And we're told that Simon Peter answered, Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head.

If it can't be nothing, then everything. That's the kind of person that Peter was. And then number three, Peter was willing to boldly express his views. A leader cannot be reticent. He has to be willing to take a stand, to tell people why he stands where he stands and then to take the fallout from taking that stand. And this was certainly Peter, I believe, more than any of the other of the twelve.

So that's a very quick thumbnail sketch of Simon or Sandy. To begin with, this was a man with leadership qualities but he was not worth following. Because he didn't have any direction.

He was a bundle of contradictions. But the point that I want to make to you is that there was material there that Jesus could work with. There was something there that Jesus could transform. Don't get the idea that God throws everything out that you were before you met the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I grew up in circles where I often heard or read the idea that you had to be emptied of everything so that the Holy Spirit could fill you.

And I find that a very confusing metaphor. Now certainly God wants to take the besetting sins out of our lives. Certainly the sinful habits need to be replaced. And certainly God wants to fill us with his Spirit but you will never cease to be you and I will never cease to be me. God doesn't want to make us into cookie cutter Christians. All alike. God is a God of great diversity and so you have certain qualities.

You've had them since birth or you've developed them perhaps even before you knew the Lord Jesus Christ. And what Christ wants to do, the work of transformation in your life, is to take that sandstone and make it into something hard, quartzite rock that he can use to build his kingdom. That's what he did with Simon Peter. Now I want to make sure that the metaphor that I'm using this morning doesn't escape you. I'm comparing the transformation of Peter's character to the metamorphism of sandstone into quartzite. Now quartzite is formed from sandstone at very high temperatures, over 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and under great pressure, nearly 15,000 pounds per square inch. That is a great deal of heat and pressure. Now what was the heat and pressure that God brought to bear on Peter to make him no longer Simon but Peter, to transform him from sandy into rocky?

Well our text gives us the clue. Look with me here in Luke chapter 22. Luke 22 verses 31 and 32. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, notice that he uses the name Simon. Indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren.

Jesus allowed Satan to sift that sand, if you will. He allowed Simon to fall into Satan's hands, to be tempted, to be tried. Now he didn't abandon Peter. He assured him that he was praying for him.

He assured him up front that he would strengthen him in two ways. First of all, his faith would endure. He would not take the path of a Judas. And number two, he would return.

I actually prefer the old KJV word. He would be converted. He would be changed. He would be transformed. Now when did this sifting happen?

I think most of us know. The night of Jesus' trial, the day of his crucifixion brought about this sifting, the first step in this transformation. You remember the events. Peter's boast that he would die with the Lord Jesus before ever denying him. The encounter in the garden where he tried to make good on that promise by cutting off the ear of the high priest's servant and then that darkest hour before dawn, when Peter denied the Lord three times. In a word, God allowed Peter to fail.

Big time. Now many of us wonder why God would allow the attack of Satan. Why God would allow circumstances that sometimes seem to test us beyond what we can endure. Why God would ever permit us to feel like Peter must have felt after he saw Jesus die.

That all hope was gone. Why does God permit us sometimes to fail so miserably? The lesson we learn here from the life of Peter is that often it is necessary. It's the necessary process in making a Christian leader. It's part of the process of taking us from what we were in our natural state, who we were when we came to the Lord Jesus Christ, and making us into a person that God can use. It's part of God making crystal clear that we cannot depend on ourselves no matter how much natural talent we have, no matter how much education we have, no matter how much of a charismatic personality like Peter we may have.

Only by heat and pressure can sandstone be made into the hard rock of quartzite, and only by the pressure of temptation and the heat of failure can we bring about the metamorphosis necessary to create a godly leader. You know in my other life I worked for the provost. People ask me what I do at Bob Jones. I say I do whatever the provost tells me to do. And a lot of the time that means working on curriculum. It means thinking about what we need students to do in order for us to accomplish the mission of Bob Jones University. And as I think about that, and I think about it at times with my pastor's hat on, a vital part of a Christian student's education really cannot be built into university curriculum or seminary curriculum. You see everybody needs to take CR 501. You know what that is?

That's crisis 501, and sometimes it's crisis 601 and crisis 701. And we can't put that on your schedule. Only God can put that kind of a course on your schedule.

But let me give you a plea from my heart. When God schedules you in that course, make sure you complete the course. Make sure you pass the course.

Make sure you don't have to repeat the course. I repeat, it's often the pressure of trial and temptation. It's often the heat of failure that will transform you into the leader that God needs you to be. Now, there was a second event that converged with this first to transfer you excuse me, Simon, into Peter, Sandy, into Rocky. And that was Jesus' resurrection and his reconnection with Peter. When Peter came to know that Jesus was resurrected, there was opportunity to complete this transportation. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that Peter was the first of the disciples to see the resurrected Lord. Now that encounter is not recorded anywhere in scripture.

We don't have any insight into that. You can use a little bit of imagination to think about the tears and the repentance and the reconciliation of that reunion. But Peter's life teaches us another important truth at this point, and that is that there's nothing positive about failure in and of itself. I just impressed upon you as deeply as I could that we all at times need to fail. We need to go through trials and temptations and difficult times, but that failure does nothing for us spiritually if we don't reconnect with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The worst year of my life is the best year of my life because of that. And the worst time in your life can be the best time in your life if and only if you reconnect with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I think two things happened. I don't have text to prove it, but I think two things happened at least when Peter reconnected with the Lord Jesus. First of all, there was obviously repentance and there was obviously forgiveness. And when we fail spiritually, we need to make sure that we're reconnecting with the Lord Jesus who can bring that cleansing and forgiveness. But Peter reconnected with the risen, the resurrected Jesus. And I think the big thing that transforms failure in a person like Simon that transforms him into Peter is connecting with the resurrected Jesus. The New Testament talks about the resurrection power of Jesus at the end of Ephesians 1.

You know, we are what we need to be because of our union with Jesus Christ that we all have a difficult time explaining and we certainly have a difficult time putting into words. But Peter reunited with that resurrected Jesus. And that's what completed that transformation. That's what took that failure and made Peter the rock that would lead the early church.

So what was the end result of this transformation? Well Jesus outlined it himself in Matthew chapter 16, so very quickly I'm going to ask you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 16. We don't have time obviously to dive into this context, but I'm just going to read two verses, verses 18 and 19. And I also say to you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. The end result of this transformation was Peter the rock. Let me say something that may surprise you, when Jesus said you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, the rock that he was talking about was Peter. I know some of you have been taught differently, but the verse here says you're rocky and upon this rock I will build my church. A lot of us have been told we can't believe that because that's what Roman Catholics believe.

Don't get backed into what you believe because of what Roman Catholics believe or don't believe. The book of Matthew says you're rocky and upon this rock I will build my church. I'm preaching through the book of Acts right now. God used Peter to open the door of the church to the Jews in Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 8 he used Peter to open the door of the church to the Samaritans, the half Jews, half Gentiles. In Acts 9 and 10 he used Peter to open the door of the church to the Gentiles.

Now none of that means that the Roman Catholic Church is right in what they teach about the Pope. But it does mean that Peter was the rock. Jesus succeeded in transforming him from Sandy, from Simon, into Peter the rock and building the church on him. So are you sandy or rocky this morning?

Is your character more like sandstone or hard quartzite? Has Christ started this transformation process in your life? Have you felt the heat of trial, the pressure of failure? As I close I urge you to obey the words of James chapter 1 and count it all joy when you fall into diverse trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces not just patience, but the rock of Christian character which Christ can use to build his church. You've been listening to a sermon entitled Peter, a Servant Chosen and Equipped from Luke 22 preached by Reverend Phil Girard.

This sermon is part of the Seminary Chapel Series titled New Testament Servants Chosen and Equipped. I'm Steve Pettit, President of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. I'd like to invite you to attend one of our summer camps for both middle and high schoolers. BJU has over 50 camps to choose from so there is one for you. Here's just a few.

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