Questions 1 Peter 2:4-25

Day One:

Read 1 Peter 2:1-25

In both 1 Peter 2:5 and 2:9 believers are called a priesthood. You may have heard of the doctrine of “the priesthood of the believer.” Today we are going to look at what it means to be a priest before our God.

Dr. D. Edmond Hiebert explains the priesthood of the believer: “Since all believers constitute a priesthood, there is no longer any place for a special office of priests to mediate between individual believers and God; each believer has direct access to God Himself.”

1.   Read 1 Tim. 2:5. Why do we no longer need someone else, a priest, to go to God on our behalf?

2.   Read Heb. 4:14-16. What do you learn here about our situation in prayer as believers in Jesus?

Day 2:

3.   Read these verses and identify the kinds of spiritual sacrifices we make as priests:

a.   Psalm 107:22

b.   Psalm 141:2

c.   Rom. 12:1

d.   Heb. 13:15

e.   Rom. 15:16

4.   Sharing question: Look back over your list of spiritual sacrifices. As a priest, are you presenting these kinds of sacrifices to God consistently? Write down one area where you can improve and a specific action you can take this week in that area.

Day 3:

Read 1 Peter 2:11-3:7 to get the flow of the entire passage.

5. The first two verses of this passage (2:11-12) basically sum up the overall teaching of this section of the book.

What two principles are you to follow according to these verses? What result does Peter hope will come from your obedience (v.12)?

6. Why do you think that Peter would remind his readers that we are strangers and aliens in this world at this point in the letter?

Day 4:

7. List the things we are to do according to 2:13-17.

Also write beside them “why” the verses indicate we are to do them.

In other words, what does God want to achieve by our doing these things?

Reread 1 Peter 2:18-25.

10. What phrases in this passage support limitations on submission?

11. What kinds of masters are slaves to obey? Why?

12. Consider this passage in light of 2:12. What is God’s overall purpose in calling slaves to submit?

Day 5:

13. What do you learn from Jesus’ example in 1 Peter 2:21-25 about attitude in the midst of mistreatment?

14. Consider what His concern was when He went to the cross. How does it parallel the concern of this whole section of the book as expressed in 2:12?

Sharing question: Do you evidence Jesus’ attitude in your home/workplace? How would your family/fellow employees see this in your life?

 Sharing question: What is one way that works for you to help you keep the right attitude when you are faced with difficult or foolish people?

 Responding to God: It can be extremely difficult to live/work/share life with  unreasonable, unjust, or unwise people.  Write a prayer concerning your  attitude about this.

1 Peter 1:13-2:3 Holiness

How clean is your home? Is your home is cleaner than the one you grew up in?

Do you feel that your home is not as clean as you would like?

Are you happy with the level of cleanliness?

How do you know? What standard do you use?

Cleaner than your mother’s home? Cleaner than your neighbors?  Your home may be dirty but it never hurt anyone?

Is it picked up and looks good on the outside but dirty underneath?

From where does our level of cleanliness come from? Where do we get our level of holiness?

Let’s take a look at 1 Peter

¹³ Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. ²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴ For,

“All men are like grass,

and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;

the grass withers and the flowers fall,

²⁵      but the word of the Lord stands forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you.

2      Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. ² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³ now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

In the first part of this chapter Peter emphasizes walking in hope. In this section he describes walking in holiness.

He begins this section with the word, therefore. Which means that we have to go back and see what he had said before. Peter is saying that because of what Christ has done for us (His death on the cross) we have a responsibility to live a holy life.  We are to be Holy because Christ is holy.

Which begs the question, “What does holiness look like?”

I was looking at the word holiness and found out that in the Greek the word holy means to be set apart.

To be set apart, to be different. Different than what? We are to be not only different from the things of this world but we are to be different  from our old way of life.

Living a holy life in a polluted world is difficult. There is an anti-God atmosphere around us that is always pressing us, trying to force us to conform.

Peter gives some spiritual incentives for living a holy life in a polluted world. The first incentive is found in verse 13. He tells the church to prepare their minds for action, the King James is translated, “gird up your loins.”

This is an image taken from the way in which the Israelites ate the passover with the loose outer robe girded up about the waist with a girdle, as ready for a journey.  Believers are to do this; to shorten the garment so as not to impede motion, and to gird up the body itself so as to be braced for action.

  The believer is to have his mind (mental powers) collected and always ready for Christ’s coming. The NIV says to prepare your minds for action. This is an active verb, there is nothing passive about this preparation. We can’t just do nothing and then when temptation comes, hope for the best. We need to exercise spiritual disciplines so that when the testing comes and we know it will, we will be ready.

Not only will we be ready for the trial of this world, we will be ready for the world to come. Peter has set the reader up for the importance of having eternity in view. If you have eternity in view then you will look at this world differently.

A Christian that is looking for the glory of God has a greater motivation for present obedience than a Christian who ignores the Lord’s return.

Your outlook will determine your outcome and your attitude will determine action.

Thoughts matter, thought-life matters. They are not neutral. As a man thinks, so he is.

I knew a girl in high school that was really popular. She had tons of guys interested in her and all the girls wanted to be her. We actually became friends during college after I became a Christian. She was my roommate when I lived in a fraternity over a summer. She received at least 3 marriage proposals. It was really a mystery because on the surface she was no prettier than average, she was no smarter than average and she was no scintillating conversationalist. But somewhere along the way, she received the message that she was “all that.” Her thoughts about herself mattered.

Peter recognizes this as is evidenced by his next statement: be self-controlled. We will need our self-control to prepare our mind for action. We are no longer to conform to the evil desires we had prior to our salvation.

We are to live here in reverent fear. What are we to fear? We are to fear the

God who judges.

We are to be holy because He is holy. True salvation always results in obedience.

God’s holiness is an essential part of His nature. Any holiness that we have in character or conduct must come from Him. To be sanctified means to be “set apart for God’s exclusive use and pleasure.” It means to be separated from what is unclean. Everything we do should reflect the holiness of God.

Do you remember last time when I talked about the gods that the Romans served? They were essentially the god’s of the Greeks with Roman names. They were unholy gods, gods that were believed to have power and yet one couldn’t be assured that they would use their power for good. As a matter of fact many of the Greek legends of their gods show their gods to exercise revenge because of anger or jealousy.

In many ways, holiness was a new concept to the early church. The saved gentiles had no standard for holiness. The Jews had been given the law in the 10 commandments but the gentiles had no holy laws to follow.

Peter is telling them that in spite of their persecution, they are to no longer live in this world as they used to do.

Their world was so corrupt that to live in holiness would have meant to live as a stranger here. Just as our 2011 is so corrupt that to live here with any standards of holiness is to live as a stranger.

Prepare our minds to be self-controlled. We need to decide ahead of time how we will respond to the temptations around us. We need to have scripture at the ready so that we will have the ability and the will to resist the devil and he will flee from you.

1 Corinthians 10:13

Purify: Put aside all unholiness. More action. The word of God has a sanctifying ministry in the lives of believers. We are to read it and know it so that we can then live it. God has given us his standard of holiness, we don’t have to guess at it. Our thoughts, attitudes and ultimately our actions should be controlled by the Word of God.

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

Protect:

Vs. 22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply from the heart.”

Only by the transformation of a regenerated heart is one truly able to love in a sacrificial way. The only way to die to self is to die to self. You must be born again to give sacrificial love.

1 Corinthians 13:4

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails.^[1]

After all this Peter still hits home his point for holy, righteous living. He becomes more specific:

We are to “rid ourselves” of:

Malice: desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another, either because of a hostile impulse or out of deep-seated meanness.

Deceit: concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud; cheating.

Hypocrisy: a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.

Envy: a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions.

Slander: a malicious, false, and defamatory statement or report.

We are then told to “crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

So, we are to:

Persevere: to persist in anything undertaken; maintain a purpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement; continue steadfastly.

We are to persevere in our pursuit of holiness. We are to persevere in maintaining our standards of holiness.

We need to continue to read the Word and let it convict our hearts as to our sinfulness. The only one we should be comparing ourselves to is Christ. Let Him be our only example in righteous living. Then and only then will we be able to have the humility that we need to continue our growth of holiness.

Philippians 3:12-15

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.”

---

Questions 1Peter 1:13-2:3

1 Peter 1:1:13-2:3

Questions

1.   What does it mean to “prepare your mind for action”?

b.   What are some ways that we can do this?

2.   When you hear “be holy” because I am holy what thoughts run through your mind?

3.   What practical steps can one take in pursuit of holiness? See Ephesians 4:22-24; John 14:26; 15:1-2.

4.   Describe the slavery from which Christ redeemed you personally (vs. 18). For instance how was your own life “empty,” “futile” before submitting to Jesus?

5.   In your own words, explain what verses 23-25 teach.

6.   How should this fact motivate us to fervent, Christ-like love?

7.   Often God may place difficult people in our lives, people that it can be a challenge to love. Since agape love is action, what are some ways you can show agape love to difficult people?

8.   Read 1 Peter 2:1-3. Are the vices listed here attitudes of the heart or outward actions? Why do you think so?

Application:

Can you recall a recent time when you felt or showed one of the vices in 2:1? If so, what might have been the source of that “bad fruit?” (See Luke 6:43-45, Galatians 5:13-26)

Peter gives several commands in this section of scripture. Choose one and plan some steps you could take to grow more obedient to this command in the coming week.

1 Peter 1:1-12

  Read 1Peter 1:1-12

Points:

Written by: Peter who was chosen to be an apostle of Jesus.

Written to: believers in various house churches that are scattered.

They are scattered because of the religious persecution that they are experiencing. In 64 A.D. a fire broke out in Rome, destroying much of the city. Many people suspected that Emperor Nero had ordered the city burned so that he could re-build a more modern Rome. The Romans were devastated. Their culture had been burned, many of the temples and shrines and even household idols had been destroyed. Nero was in trouble so he came up with a scapegoat. Christians were already hated because they were associated with Jews and because they were hostile to Roman Culture (ie. their gods and the temples, idol worship). But because of the blame, persecution began and spread.

Purpose of the Letter: Peter touches on many things in the letter but the primary reason is to teach how to live victoriously in the midst of hostility without losing hope, without becoming bitter, while trusting in the Lord and while recognizing that this is not their home. He wants them to realize that by living an obedient, victorious life under stress and trouble, a Christian can evangelize the people around them.

Where he wrote the letter: Peter wrote that he was in Babylon (5:13) when he wrote the letter, not because he actually was but as a protection. He couldn’t really say where he was as that would be too dangerous. Babylon became a code word for Rome.

 What happened to Peter after the letter was written?

Rome was burned in 64 A.D., persecution heated up and it is believed that both Peter and Paul were executed within a few years of Rome’s fire. One source I read said that Peter was forced to watch as his wife was martyred and that he was crucified upside down because he didn’t feel worthy of the same death as the Lord.

So let’s get started on the text.
We have been chosen:
All Christians have been chosen by God for obedience to Jesus Christ. We have been chosen to be conformed to begin to look like Jesus. We have been chosen for holiness which is something we will discuss more next time.

We are God’s elect, not because we deserve to be, but because of His grace.

We are called to live here as foreigners/strangers.

Question: What is it like to live as a foreigner?
Has anyone traveled to another country or lived elsewhere for any length of time?

What are some characteristics of being foreign?

~don’t know customs (food, clothing, traditions)

~don’t know $

~don’t know the language

~don’t know your way around

~don’t know the people

What makes us foreigners here?

Because we have been “born again,” we have a new identity. We no longer belong to this world. We belong to heaven and we are on planet earth as visitors.
There is a different mind-set when you know your stay somewhere is temporary. You live your life differently. You choose to spend your time differently. If you knew you were going to move somewhere in 2 years wouldn’t you live differently than if you think you are staying somewhere for 50 years?
Think of some ways you would live differently.

For the early Christians, this was a great comfort. The idea that this was not their home was a great thought. It was not hard to convince them that heaven was a better deal. If they are running from persecution, meeting in the catacombs, afraid to share their faith with someone that isn’t one of them for fear they will be arrested, persecuted, perhaps fed to the lions, wouldn’t it be good news to recognize something better? It would for me.

As Americans, we busy ourselves trying to make heaven here on earth. We think that by satisfying our desire for love, possessions, money, security and even significance we will be happy. But that is a lie. Just look at the people that have all those things. They are still empty.

There is a great quote by John D. Rockefeller, one of the wealthiest Americans of the industrial revolution. When asked once, "How much money is enough money?" He replied, "Just a little bit more."

The things of this world don’t satisfy. We need to adopt an eternal perspective. This is not our home.

As C.S.Lewis puts it so eloquently:
“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
― C.S. Lewis

Our hope is in heaven and yet what is it that we are hoping for?
To spend eternity there and because of that our inheritance is secure; Unlike our inheritance here which can be gone tomorrow at the whim of the stock market or the housing market or the government (social security) or natural disaster (Irene, fire, flood)

Practice generosity: recognize that what you have doesn’t really belong to you.

Explore simplicity: simplify your lifestyle so that you have more time for what is really important.

Prioritize People in your schedule: become a people person. Think about how much time Jesus spent with people.

Pray for the lost.

Share your faith.
Recognize that those around you really aren’t satisfied with life. They need something more. Build relationships with others so that when the timing is right you have an opportunity to share the hope that is in you.

1 Peter 3:15: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

It is because of the hope we have for heaven that we are able to rejoice in the midst of “all kinds of trials.”
According to the text what are some of the results of trials?
These various trials—which seem to refer to persecution rather than life’s normal problems—have two results:

(a) they refine or purify one’s faith—much as gold is refined by fire when its dross is removed, and

(b) trials prove the reality of one’s faith.

Stress deepens and strengthens a Christian’s faith and lets its reality be displayed.

If you could spend the day with someone that you have never met, who would it be and why? (Can’t answer Jesus)

Even though we have not seen Jesus, we love Him. How is this possible? Do you have anyone else in your life that you have never met/seen that you love?
Couldn’t you have a pen pal that you have never met but that you know so well because of the letters you have exchanged that you love them.
Our relationship with Jesus should fill us with joy. We are receiving the goal of our faith, the salvation of our souls. Even though we have received salvation we are working out our salvation (sanctification). Not that we have been saved because of works but once we are saved we do the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit continues to perfect us.

The purpose of sound theology is not head knowledge. It needs to be translated into faith-filled action. If it isn’t translated into action it is of no use. Faith turns sound doctrine into sound practice.

1 Peter Introduction

It is possible that Peter is one of the more well-known disciples of Jesus. He was among the first called and from what we read about him in the Bible he was definitely the one who asked and answered questions first. He was not shy in voicing either his opinion or his questions.
From what we can read about him, he seems to be a passionate man. Someone who is quick tempered and impetuous.
Not someone who hangs back and assesses the situation or the people present. He is a straight shooter who tells it like it is…at least from his point of view.

 In order to prepare for this study I read through each gospel and Acts of the Apostles to try to glean from scripture what the apostle Peter was like. What kind of a man was he? What were his strengths or his short-comings?

Background:

Peter’s birth name was Simon. He was the son of Jonah. His family probably lived at Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Peter was married which is evidenced by the fact that Jesus healed his mother in law. He and his brother Andrew were fisherman by trade.

Peter was the first among the apostles. Jesus gathered His followers in 2 stages; first as disciples and later as apostles.

Peter was the first disciple to be called and the first to be named an apostle. (Mark 3:14-16).

His name heads every list of the twelve in the NT.

He was their recognized leader.

There was an inner circle of 3 apostles among the 12. Peter was also the leader of this small group. Peter, James and John were present when others weren’t; like the raising of a young girl from the dead and at Jesus’ transfiguration.  

Each gospel tells the story of how Peter and Andrew were called by Jesus to become “fishers of men.”

Peter and Andrew were brothers and owned a fishing business together. The gospel of John tells us that Andrew and Peter had been following John the Baptist. Then Andrew heard Jesus teach and went home to tell Peter about him. Then in Luke we hear of this interaction between Jesus and the brothers.

Luke 5

The Calling of the First Disciples

5      One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, ² he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."

⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Try and picture this: Peter and Andrew had been listening to the preaching of John the Baptist. John had been preaching about repentance and the coming of the Messiah. Jesus comes on the scene and the focus shifts from John to Jesus.

Andrew hears Jesus teach and tells Peter about him. But up to this time, they continue with their lives pretty much as usual.
Until one day, Jesus tells them to put their nets out into the sea. Now Peter and Andrew are seasoned fisherman. They know that the time of day is wrong to catch anything. And yet they obeyed Jesus because they had been following Him. They had some kind of prior knowledge of Him.

At first Peter tells Jesus that they have worked all night and caught nothing, but because it was Jesus asking he would do what He says.

They caught so many fish that not only were their nets in danger of breaking but their boats were about to sink. Undoubtedly this was the largest catch they had ever witnessed. Peter was confronted with something he had never experienced and his reaction was classic.

He drops to his knees and acknowledges his humanity. He realizes at some level that Jesus is no ordinary man and that he is undeserving of his notice.

He was trembling in fear. Jesus response was to re-assure Peter and then place a call on his life.

That is a very radical response to have. To leave your employment and the life you have known to follow a man you really don’t know all that well. And not just Peter left. Andrew, James and John followed along as well. Imagine when Peter went home to tell his wife he quit his job so that he could become fishers of men.
Pretty crazy!
Fast forward to Matthew 16:13-19

Peter’s Confession of Christ

¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. ¹⁹

This is a crucial statement in Peter’s life. It is the most important question that any of us needs to answer.
 “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” All of salvation lies in this answer. The answer to this question will determine how we spend eternity. You can debate Biblical issues until the cows come home, but until you answer this crucial question in your mind and heart you will not have a living relationship with God.
Jesus recognized this as the turning point, the pivot point. Hopefully each one of us has had this turning point, where we have confronted in some way, who do you say that I am?
Not a prophet, not John the Baptist, not just a good and moral teacher, but the son of the Living God!

Peter is the first to confess his faith that Jesus is the Messiah and yet Peter had his own ideas about what that was to mean.

At first he is praised by Jesus for his impetuous answer and in a few paragraphs he will be rebuked very strongly for his volatility.

Jesus Predicts His Death

^{Matthew 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, chief priests and 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 things of God, but the things of men.” ²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. ²⁶ What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. ²⁸ I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Because Peter had his own ideas of what Messiah would mean to the Jews he couldn’t accept what Jesus was saying. Suffering and rejection? That wasn’t Peter’s idea of an earthly king.

Sometimes our best friends, our most faithful colleagues, try to dissuade us from doing God’s will. Their intention is good; they desire to spare us trouble and pain. But we must not listen to them. We must do God’s will instead.

Peter is about to learn that confession of Christ is only the beginning.

He will learn that with faith comes action.

Jesus is very clear that being a follower of His will mean sacrifice, suffering and perhaps even death.

This is the gospel and yet hundreds and thousands were ready to accept and follow in the early church.

So the next important moment in Peter’s life comes in Mark 14:27-31

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

²⁷ “You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written:
“ ‘I will strike the shepherd,
 and the sheep will be scattered.’
²⁸ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
²⁹ Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.”
³⁰ “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.”
³¹ But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.

But we know the story. Peter does disown Jesus. 3 times he denies ever knowing Him.
Think about this for a moment. Peter, the leader, the one who Jesus calls a rock and who He plans to build his church on. This man, who was the
first to be called,
the first to be designated an apostle and the
first to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.

 He publicly says maybe everyone else will fall away but he certainly will not. Everyone else might scatter but not only will he stay loyal but he will die with Christ if need be. And yet a few short verses away…a few short hours away, Peter does exactly what Jesus predicts. He succumbs to fear and denies Christ.

When he realizes what he has done he goes away and weeps bitterly.

Thankfully for Peter and for us the story doesn’t end here.

As we know, Jesus is crucified and in 3 days he does rise from the dead. Think about what those 3 days were like for Peter.

Imagine the guilt and shame he must have experienced.

The grief that he let his best friend down and when he needed him most. Imagine what it must have been like to see the men that respected you as leader and the one that Jesus had chosen as the leader to look into your eyes, knowing that you were a coward and denied the Lord.

They didn’t know that Jesus would rise.
For all Peter knew, he was going to have to carry this guilt, remorse and shame to the grave.
Until he gets the news that the stone has been rolled away.

Mark 16:6-7:

The Resurrection

16    When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. ² Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb ³ and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. ⁵ As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ⁶ “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ” ⁸ Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Imagine; a message specifically with his name on it. Could there be a greater mercy?
What would Peter have thought? Why did he mention my name? Does He know what I did? Of course He does. How can I face Him?

One last passage: John 21:15-19

Jesus Reinstates Peter

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
In this passage, Jesus and Peter went back to the beginning of their relationship; Peter catching fish because of Jesus intervention and Jesus calling Peter Simon instead of Peter. 

Peter had failed miserably and he knew it.

He needed to be reconciled to Jesus and Jesus did it so gently by asking, Simon, do you love me more than these (the other disciples) and Peter of course says yes, Jesus repeats the question 3 times, perhaps to cancel out the 3 denials and the word choice here is so interesting. When Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him the first 2 times he uses the word agape for love:
agape (ah-gahʹpay),  The other two words were eros, which meant sexual love, and philos, which meant friendship, although their meanings could vary according to the context in which they appeared.  When used of human love, agape means selfless and self-giving love.

Peter replies the first 2 times that yes he loves Jesus with phileo love, recognizing that agape love is a high calling in which he failed miserably. Peter is humbled. And recognizing this, Jesus changes the word for love in his 3^rd question to phileo. Peter now realizes that he, Peter is human and therefore in need of a savior; a wonderful position to be in to be used by God.

It was because Peter recognized his inadequacy apart from Christ that he was able to become a rock solid leader. When Peter fixed his eyes on Jesus and followed Him, others followed too.

Often we feel that our past defines us. We may feel that we have nothing to offer to God because we have been side-lined in some way and yet have you ever stopped to think that it may be because of your past that God is able to use you? We have a human understanding of leadership. We believe that leaders should have certain qualities, that they should be sure of themselves, have charisma, be decisive and directive. If you think that, you need to take a look at the people that God uses in leadership positions. Most of them are uniquely flawed individuals that have made seriously poor judgments.

God has a unique call on all our lives. He meets us in personal ways. He expects us to answer the question, ‘who do you say that I am?” and once we have answered that question, He expects us to live like we mean it.

He expects us to follow Him, sacrificially and in humility so that we can point others to Him. Like Peter did.