Sermon Tone Analysis

*     PETER: A TESTIMONY OF GOD’S GRACE*

 

    

     Peter, one of the most important apostles in the New Testament, is very easy to relate to for most people.

He provides examples both of a man of faith working mighty miracles of God and a man who sins denying his Savior.

Peter provides one with a view into the life of a man who accomplished much for Christ, and a man whose human nature was evident.

God allowed us to the frailty of his flesh, and his strength as God used him to accomplish His work.

The life of Peter is a comfort to believers for two reasons.

The first is because one realizes that restoration is possible after sinning even something as “big” as denying his Lord.

God’s grace in restoration is never an excuse to sin.

One should not rationalize that just because someone else sinned and God restored them then it is okay if I do it.

The second reason is like the first one in that God can take a broken vessel and use it mightily for His ministry.

One must be willing to let God use him in spite of his frailty.

God called Peter to be one of his disciples through the ministry of Andrew who was Peter’s brother.

The gospel of John tells us that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist.

John the Baptist announced that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God.

This caused Andrew to follow Christ who taught him for the remainder of the day.

Andrew was so excited about Christ that he brought his bother Peter to the Master.

Jesus tells Simon that his name will be Cephas, which is the Aramaic form of the Greek name Petros meaning rock.

The name Peter would eventually become the name by which he would be known for centuries to come.

This name is symbolic of the important part that Peter will play in the church.

The Lord called him by Simon throughout his ministry, and it was not until the book of Acts when Simon is consistently called Peter.

The calling of Peter, Andrew, James, and John occurred on the Sea of Galilee; Jesus called them to follow Him and become fishers of men.

This they did for a time, but it appears they went back to their trade.

In Luke 5:1-11, Jesus is going to call Simon to greater commitment.

Simon (Peter) and his partners James and John had spent all night toiling upon the Sea of Galilee, and they did not catch anything.

Jesus comes along while they were cleaning their nets, and because the crowd was so great, He had to use Simon’s boat as a floating lectern.

After the message, Jesus told Simon to cast his boat out into the deep and let down his nets (plural).

This would have been very unusual because as Wiersbe points out in his commentary, “It was a well-known fact that, in the Sea of Galilee, you caught fish at night in the shallow water, not in the daytime in the deep water.

What Jesus asked Peter to do was contrary to all of his training and experience, but Peter obeyed.”[1]

Peter does obey, but it is only partial obedience because he lets down one net.

This results in his net breaking because of the large number of fish they catch.

His partial obedience kept him from being able to enjoy the full blessings of God, and if he had not obeyed at all then he may never have been used of God.

Christians cannot afford to obey partially.

In his epistle, Peter encourages believers to be obedient children (I Peter 1:14), and a few verses later (22) he encourages them to obey the truth.

The truth is the Word of God, and he knows from experience just how much God can bless when one obeys His words.

Peter, James, and John answered Jesus’ call to become fishers of men and they “forsook all, and followed him.”[2]

Peter often encourages believers as in I Peter 1:21, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.”

He states that all believers are called to follow Christ’s perfect example.

Peter does not mention in this verse forsaking all, but it is understood that Christ forsake all for the believer.

Therefore, the believer should forsake all for Christ.

Peter is given a position of leadership among the apostles.

Matthew in chapter ten verse two tells us, “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter …”  In the New Testament, every list of the disciples names begins with the apostle Peter.

It is important to note that he is an apostle who has been sent out by Christ as Henry Ironside asserts, “Peter had been commissioned by the risen Christ to feed and shepherd the sheep and lambs of His flock (John 21:15-17).”[3]

Peter received this commission three times from the lips of Christ “lovest thou me more than these … then feed my lambs.”

I and II Peter testify of the fact that he took that commission seriously.

He also claims his God given authority as an apostle for the basis of his writing both I and II Peter.

Early on his ministry Peter learned the importance of hospitality through the example of his godly mother-in-law.

Mark speaks of this in his gospel account, “And he (Christ) came and took her (Peter’s mother-in-law) by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.”

(Mk 1:31)  This lady models hospitality perfectly; she has been very sick with fever and yet upon being healed she immediately begins to minister.

Peter may have had this example in mind when he wrote, “Use hospitality one to another without grudging.”

(1 Pe 4:9)  The word hospitality is two words in the Greek φιλόξενος /philoxenos/ the first word is the word for the brotherly kind of love and the second word  means stranger.

Peter exhorts believers to love strangers or outsiders, which for the Jew would have been the gentiles.

In the book of Acts Peter learns through his vision and the visit with the Centurion Cornelius that the Gospel message was also for the gentile believers.

Peter says, “Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”

(Ac 10:28)  God used Peter to open the door of the Gospel to the Gentiles.

Believers today must be careful not to be hospitable to strangers especially those outsiders who come to visit their church.

Christians should seek to win all men to the Savior.

The friendliness of a church has been proven to be one of the biggest keys for whether or a visitor returns, and it may also determine their eternal destiny.

One of the most widely known stories concerning Peter in the Gospels is the account of him walking on the water to Jesus in Matthew 14.  Jesus is walking out to the boat on the water, and Peter asks to come to Jesus on the water.

Peter is the only disciple that has the courage to walk on the water, but after a few steps he takes his eyes off his savior and begins to focus on the winds and the waves.

In his fear he calls out to his Lord, and Jesus saves him saying, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matt.

14:31b) 

The lessons to be drawn from this story are too many to be covered in this paper, but one can say that Peter learned what faith is all about.

In his epistles, he mentions faith seven times, and they cover the different aspects of faith found in this story such as: it is necessary for salvation, through faith in God’s power one is saved, it carries one through suffering and trials, and it must be in Christ alone.[4]

In Matthew 16, Jesus asks the disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” and they respond with the names of a few great prophets.

Jesus gets more personal with the next question by asking, “But whom say ye that I am?”  Peter is the first to answer as usual, and he says, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Peter shows that he really does know who Jesus is, and Jesus responds by saying, “That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

The Roman Catholics have taken this passage and twisted it to mean something that it does not mean.

Nothing in this verse sets Peter up to be the first pope or above any of the other apostles.

Peter obviously was the leader of the apostle, but as he states in both introductions to his books he is Peter an apostle not the apostle.

Acts reveals the story of Paul correcting Peter; this would never have taken place if Peter were an infallible pope.

The two Greek words used are *Πέτρος* petros (Peter meaning rock) and *πέτρα* petra (which means bedrock) the later is the kind of rock that the wise man built his house on.

Petra in the opinion of the author refers to the concept that Peter just affirmed, which is that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God.

Peter shows that he understood this when he says in his address to the Sanhedrin that Jesus whom ye crucified is the corner stone.

(Acts 4:10-11)  In his first epistle, he speaks of Christ as the stumbling stone to the Jew and the chief corner stone for constructing a spiritual house.

Peter never mentions himself in either of these epistles.

Most of the words used for stone in I Peter 2:4-8 come from the Greek word *λίθος** */lithos/*, *which refers to building stones.

The word is combined with another to taken on the idea of chief corner stone found in verse six.

Peter is quoting from Isaiah 28:16 which reads, “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner/ stone/, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste” in this verse.

The rock of stumbling in verse number seven is translated from Petra mentioned earlier.

Spiros Zodhiates in /The Complete Word Study Dictionary /explains,

Also the expression a “rock of offense” or “stumbling stone,” referring to Christ as the occasion of destruction to those who reject Him (Rom.

9:33; 1 Pet.

2:8 quoted from Is. 8:14).

Distinguished from the masc.

/pétros/ in that /pétra/ is a mass of rock while /pétros/ is a detached stone or boulder, a stone that might be thrown or easily moved.

Therefore, when a type is sought to illustrate a sure foundation, the word /pétra/, an immovable rock, is used (Matt.

7:24, 25; 27:51, 60; Mark 15:46; Luke 6:48.

See also its illustrative use in Rev. 6:15, 16 [cf.

Is. 2:19ff.;

Luke 8:6, 13]).[5]

Peter clearly understood his role in the church and knew that God was the foundation upon which all other stones should be placed.

The keys to heaven and hell are symbolic of the great authority and power that Peter would have to do miracles and preach.

Peter on the day of Pentecost used those “keys” to preach a message at which 3,000 souls were saved that is truly opening the doors of heaven for the Jews.

A.T. Robertson states, “The same power here given to Peter belongs to every disciple of Jesus in all the ages.”[6]

He bases this statement on the support provided by Jesus’ statements in Matthew 18:18 and John 20:23 where Jesus gives similar power to all believers present.

Barnes in his commentary summarizes Jesus statements to Peter in Matthew 16 as if he said, "I will make you the honoured instrument of making known my gospel first to Jews and Gentiles, and will make you a firm and distinguished preacher in building my church."[7]

Peter, James, and John in Matthew chapter 17 ascend a mountain alone with Jesus Christ, and there they witness His transfiguration.

Matthew testifies, “And (Jesus) was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.”

(Mt 17:2)  They witnessed His glory, and they saw Elijah and Moses.