Flawed Peter

Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples, is an important leader in the early church, yet his story is filled with moments where he disappoints Jesus. And this is good news because we all disappoint Jesus. What Peter teaches us is that no matter how hard we fall or how often we mess up, Jesus is waiting for us with open arms as long as we get back up, repent, and begin the slow and steady journey of following him.

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Representation fosters Connection

Have you ever noticed that more and more television shows, movies, and commercials include a more diverse group of actors than in past times? Often a show has a cast of men and women, young and old, and various ethnicities. When directors or marketing folks include a diverse-looking group of people, it is called representation.

Regardless of your opinion on representation, marketers and television executives focus on this because people connect better with commercials and shows and movies in which there are at least a few characters who feel familiar, who “look and act the same as I look and act.” When Cadillac wants to attract young buyers, they run ads showing young people driving Cadillacs. Target has commercials with black moms and Asian dads. Budweiser . . . well – you get the point.

When we turn our attention from advertising ploys to the Bible, we have to recognize that some people don’t connect with the Bible because they can’t see themselves in any of the Bible stories. They don’t feel they have any representation when they hear about Noah building an ark before a giant flood, or when they hear about Joshua marching around Jericho and shouting so the walls fall down. This lack of connection occurs because a lot of people have heard only the clean, faith-building parts of the Bible. Sometimes by failing to show the full story – warts and all – we fail to allow people to feel connected with the story itself.

If you go beyond the story of the Israelites plundering Jericho, you hear about how at the next town the Israelites got too big for their britches and felt like their victory over Jericho happened because of their own incredible strength. They felt they didn’t need to follow God’s command to take over this next town. It ended poorly! That’s a story I think many of us can relate to. When we hear about people putting their trust in themselves instead of God, we feel we have representation in that story.

We are in this sermon series called “Flawed Heroes of the Bible” because the heroes sometimes seem unrelatable if we don’t see their flaws. When we comb through all the details of biblical stories we quickly realize that most of the heroes are flawed people just like us. This shows that, just like them, we can be heroes of the faith even though we aren’t yet perfect.

Peter – First Among the Disciples

We will focus our attention today on a hero from Jesus’s inner circle – Peter.  Peter was in the first group of disciples Jesus called to follow Him. A quick side note: Peter’s full name was Simon Peter; so he is sometimes called Simon Peter, sometimes Simon, and most of the time Peter. And occasionally he is called Cephas, which is the Aramaic form of his name.

Peter was the only disciple to get out of a boat and literally walk on water like Jesus. He was one of the few to see Moses and Elijah and the glory of Jesus’s transfiguration. He was the first to confess that Jesus was “the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” He led  the early church and was the main character in the first half of the book of Acts.

Unfortunately for Peter, in spite of the many incredible stories the Bible tells about his life, many times he totally let Jesus down. He was definitely a disciple in process, sometimes growing in faith and sometimes completely doubting the power of God. (Does that sound familiar?) Today we’ll see a number of ways Peter let Jesus down. We’ll also see what we can learn from these stories to help us grow in our faith.

Peter’s Many Flaws

Failure to Trust Fully – Sinking in the Water

Several incidents of Peter’s life appear in the Gospel of Matthew. We look first at the famous moment Peter walks on water – or should I say “slowly sinks in water”?

Matthew 14:25-31 – Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 

²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 

²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 

²⁹ “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 

³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 

As we read this story, we must give Peter his due. He is the only disciple brave enough to ask to come to Jesus on the water. None of the others are hopping out of the boat!

Peter begins his trek across the water with faith that matches the moment. I’m sure you, too, have had situations in your life when you were required to trust God fully; but then it often happens – as it happened to Peter – in the middle of the journey, faith wavers. Rather than trusting the power of Jesus to keep him on the surface of the water, Peter’s mind started making him doubt. What he was doing didn’t match science. It didn’t match his experience. It shouldn’t be happening! And as he turned his thoughts from Jesus to the waves, his faith sank as did his feet.

I know. I’ve been there. When my wife and I jumped into being foster parents, we did it in faith at that moment that God was going to use us. However, I can’t tell you how many times we doubted what we were doing and whether we were making any difference. We felt like the storms around us were just TOO MUCH. The faith that launched us into the journey sometimes wasn’t there later on – and at times we sank. I’m sure I’m not the only one with that story.

Desire for Full Control – Wants to Protect Jesus from Death

Now we turn our attention to a second episode of massive failure for Peter. This might not seem like a failure to you if you know the story, but if Jesus calls you “Satan,” you probably did something wrong!

Mattew 16:21-23 ²¹ From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 

²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 

²³ Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” 

Jesus discloses to His disciples how His last days on earth are going to go, and Peter does not like the plan! The Son of God is speaks of the plan God requires, and Peter is thinking, “Surely not! I have a better way!”

How many times have we tried to make God follow our “better way” rather than following His way of suffering and pain? Abraham tried to short-circuit God’s plan by having a child with his servant. We so often try to manufacture what we want God to do for us. We try to control the situations and take care of them for God rather than trusting in His sovereign plan.

Jesus knows we can’t see this world from His perspective. We can see things only from our own human perspective with our own human concerns. When we try to call the shots from our limited vantage point, we make a mess of what God is doing. We have to trust that God sees all and has everything moving in the right direction.

Afraid of His Own Death – Denying He Knows Jesus

In Matthew 26 we see Peter’s most famous failure: his three denials of Jesus on the night Jesus was betrayed.

Matthew 26:31-35³¹ Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’’

^{32 “}But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” 

³³ Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” 

³⁴ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” 

³⁵ But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same. 

Matthew 26:69-75 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.⁷⁰ But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. 

⁷¹ Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” ⁷² He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!” 

⁷³ After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.” ⁷⁴ Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”  Immediately a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. 

In this famous scene, Peter is so worried about what people would do if they knew he was a disciple of Jesus that he disowns Jesus exactly as Jesus predicted. Not once, but three times – even calling down curses!

While we don’t have a clear reason for why Peter did this, I believe it was out of fear for his own life. He had said to Jesus “Even if I have to die with You. . . .” I believe that was the exact thought running through Peter’s mind when people recognized him. He cared more about saving his life than saving his soul.

In America we don’t face a fear of death for being Christians, but many followers of Jesus around the world face that very real possibility. Our church supports missionaries who could very well be jailed if the government where they live found out what they are doing.

Afraid of Others’ Opinion of Him – Ignoring the Gentiles when the Jews Arrived

Peter’s final flaw is shown to us much later in his life, several years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Paul tells us about this situation in his letter to the Galatians.

Galatians 2:11-12 – When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹² For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.

By this time, Jesus had given Peter a vision that Gentiles were to be included with the Jews in receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus. Paul was ministering to the Greeks in Antioch, and many were coming to a saving faith. Peter (here called Cephas) went to visit Paul and saw all the good ministry being done. He ate with the Gentiles there and fellowshipped with them. But then, when other Jews came to see what was going on – Jews who were not comfortable mingling with the Greeks – Peter withdrew from the new believers and sat only with the Jews from the circumcision group.

Paul was not happy with that! He proudly tells how he called Peter out for his hypocrisy. The whole thing sounds like something that could happen in any church today.

I can totally relate to behaving one way around one set of people and then behaving differently when someone who makes me uncomfortable or someone I want to impress shows up. This is a common reaction if we fear embarrassment. It’s human nature. It happens in schools, workplaces, and even churches.

A Disciple in Process

So there we see it. Peter, the foundation of the early church, was far from perfect. From the beginning to the end of the story he keeps letting Jesus down.

That’s one of the reasons I like Peter – I find him so relatable! In many of these ways, I am just like Peter (and not just because I’m loud and sometimes a bit too brash).

• I claim to have faith in Jesus, and I want to have a fully devolved and never-wavering faith; but when the storms of life are blowing all around, it’s easy to find myself doubting.
• When God’s plan seems to be going in a direction I don’t like, I prefer to use my own strength to move things to where I want them. I want to control the situation and write the story on my terms.
• When I was growing up, I was often asked why I went to church so much. Out of shame or embarrassment, I played down my faith because I was afraid of what others would think.

I don’t tell you this to show you that I, too, am a flawed pastor, but to make the point that we all let Jesus down. We are all flawed followers, but we don’t simply accept our flaws, say “oopsy-daisies” and remain in our immaturity. No. Flawed followers learn from their mistakes. They grow, they mature, they allow this process called “sanctification” to work in their lives, the process of growing in faith and becoming more like Jesus.

When we read through the Gospels, the book of Acts, and the letters Peter wrote (1 Peter and 2 Peter), we see a man who is slowly becoming more and more like Jesus. By the middle of the book of Acts, he is doing some amazing ministry.

And then he trips and changes his behavior so the Jews won’t think less of him.

I love that even after so much growth and maturity, this still happens to Peter. I don’t want to see him messing up, but it gives us all hope that even when we mess up years into our walk with Jesus, we are in good company. As flawed as we are, we can continue to get back up, learn from our mistakes, and continue the long journey of trying to live a life that reflects our savior more and more.

The journey of following Jesus will never be one of perfection. It is a journey filled with mistakes and missteps. But, like Peter, we can learn and grow and still have major influence on the people God puts into our lives. It doesn’t matter how many times we have messed up or how big the mistakes in our past have been.

Conclusion

• Here’s the message I want you to carry with you today: no matter how much you have let Jesus down, keep getting back up.
• Since Jesus has never said to you, “Get behind me Satan,” you can’t feel too beat up.
• In all these stories we have looked at, Peter could have thrown in the towel. He could have decided he was too much of a screw-up to bother with this mission of telling the good news that the promised Messiah had come.
• Peter’s belief that Jesus was “the Messiah, the Son of the Living God,” gave him the strength to keep getting up, to keep moving forward, to keep growing and maturing, and ultimately to have an incredible influence on the church Jesus established.
• Let’s learn from this flawed hero that our imperfections, sinful habits, and character deficiencies, as massive as they might be, never disqualify us in our pursuit of following our Messiah!
• Get up and fight another day!