SIMON PETER’S CALL OF FAITH

SIMON PETER’S CALL OF FAITH
By Jeannie Horton 

Life Christian University Student

INTRODUCTION

The Apostle Simon Peter’s life is one of the greatest redemption stories ever recorded in the Bible. Like all of us, Peter was Christ’s follower, and through his walk with Jesus, identified himself with Him. He spent many close years with Jesus as His apostle. Peter’s faith grew through his time with Jesus. He learned from Him, watched Him perform many miracles, and healed those in need.  This bold and headstrong fisherman became a fisher of men. He became humble in Christ so that many would come to know Christ through his ministry. Peter was completely heartbroken over his denial of Christ, but this didn’t cancel his identity. His stumble ultimately caused him to come back stronger than ever. Peter’s story is our story. His stumble is our stumble. Peter made a bad mistake, but he sought the Lord’s forgiveness with great humility. Because Christ is love, the Lord only looked at Peter with love. After his fall, the Lord pursued Peter to come back to Him. Peter was able to rebound from his wounds. In his boldness and renewed strength, he went on to do great things in the name of Christ.

I. PETER’S BACKGROUND AND CALL OF FAITH

Peter is the son of John from Bethsaida. In his adulthood, he was a sinful and uneducated fisherman on the Sea of Galilee, now living in Capernaum. His Brother, Andrew was also a fisherman. In John 1:42, Jesus renamed him “Cephas.” Cephas is translated Peter and means “rock.” God knows the beginning from the end. He sees our lives where we will be, not where we are currently if we continue our walk with Him. He knew Peter was not yet a “rock,” but through his growth and maturity he would live up to his name.

The call to follow Jesus is about faith. Whoever Jesus prayerfully chose to follow Him would be in an intense, loving relationship with Him. These twelve chosen apostles’ would have to be willing to suffer persecution and even die for Christ. Jesus wanted Peter to follow Him as His disciple. There are a few examples in the bible of Jesus calling Peter to follow Him. We see this in Mathew 4:19. Here, Jesus told Peter and his brother Andrew to follow Him as His disciple. In Luke 5, Peter knew that he was a sinful man, and even told Jesus to go away because he was unworthy to be in His presence! Jesus knew Peter’s heart and called him to follow Him, stating he will be “fishers of men.” His final call was in John 21:19. Jesus called for Peter to follow Him again after His third appearance succeeding his resurrection.

Early in Peter’s walk with Jesus, situations where his faith grew through his maturity:

·         We read from the gospels that Jesus healed Peter’s mother in law from a fever. When Jesus touched her, she instantly got up to serve Jesus.

·         The Sea of Galilee is located in Northern Israel. It is about 8 miles wide and 12 miles long. It is about 700 feet below sea level and is surrounded by hills: the highest point is about 2000 ft. Because of its location, the cold air clashes with the warmer air and creates intense storms. In the book of Mathew, with Jesus in the boat, the disciples made their way to the other side of the Sea of Galilee when a storm came upon them. They were suddenly so afraid and cried out to Jesus to save them. They thought they were going to die. Jesus replied to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?”(Mathew 8:23).

·         After the disciples fed the five thousand in Mathew 14, Jesus ordered the disciples into a boat to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus headed up the mountain to pray alone. In the meantime, the boat was caught in a storm. Jesus saw this and walked on water to the boat. The disciples saw Him and at first were afraid, thinking He was a ghost.  But Jesus spoke to them and reassured them. From the boat, Peter spoke first. “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water” (Matthew 14:28). Hearing Jesus’ voice and encouragement, he stepped towards Him. But, Peter began to be afraid and started to sink. Jesus catches him and says, “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” (Mathew 14:31). The disciples worshiped Him and were in full faith that it was indeed Jesus.

II. PETER’S STUMBLE AND REBOUND

By the time Peter stumbled, he had a strong relationship with Jesus. They were very close like brothers; Peter’s faith in Him had grown. Jesus loved and admired Peter very much and would do anything for him, and Peter felt the same way. But, Peter makes a heartbreaking mistake that temporarily wounded him. He denied knowing Jesus in a moment of fear.

In Mathew 26:69-75, we read about Peter denying Jesus. Jesus told Peter earlier that he would, even prayed over Peter saying: “That your faith [and confidence in Me] may not fail; and you, once you have turned back again [to Me], strengthen and support your brothers [in the faith]” (Luke 22:32 AMP). In Jesus’ prayer, He was restoring Peter even before his denial. He is instructing him to strengthen and support the faith of his brother’s in Christ. After spending so much time with Jesus as His apostle and friend, his love for Jesus was very strong. In Peter’s thinking, he could not possibly comprehend the idea that he would deny His Lord and Savior. Peter could not believe that he would ever deny Christ, so he denied what Jesus said. He told Jesus that he was willing to go to prison or even die for Him. But because of his uncontrollable fear in the face of his own safety, that is what Peter did. He had denied Jesus, his Lord, and friend. He immediately felt a lot of pain and sorrow over his actions. After Peter denied Jesus for the third time, Jesus turned to look at Peter. Jesus looked at Peter with only love because love is who Jesus is: 

In that look, Peter saw forgiveness and infinite love. He saw a revelation of Christ that he had never seen before, and it broke his heart to pieces. He wept bitterly but not in despair. It was at that moment that the new Peter began to come forth, the Peter who would less than two months later, preach a sermon on the day of Pentecost that would bring three thousand souls into the kingdom (Lindsay Pg. 194).

In Luke 24:12, Peter was still not only grieving from the death of Jesus, but he was also still wounded from his denial of Him. He felt so much shame over what he had done. When news got to Peter that Jesus was no longer in the tomb, but had been resurrected, Peter ran to the tomb to see for himself. Peter knew from Jesus’ teachings that He would die and would be resurrected.  Peter needed to confirm for himself that it was true.

During Jesus 40 days on the earth after His death and resurrection, there were ongoing appearances of Him. In John 21, after breakfast with the disciples, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. Each time Jesus questioned Peter, Jesus replied: “Feed My sheep.” After the third time, Peter was upset that Jesus had asked him for the third time. He finally said to Jesus, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, then feed My sheep” (John 21:17). Jesus had asked Peter three times if he loved Him because Peter denied Jesus three times. Peter was grieved after the third time, not because Jesus asked him if he loved Him three times. He was grieved because of his earlier denial. I believe in Peter’s eyes this was his confirmation that Jesus truly forgave him. His forgiveness gave Peter the strength he needed to continue as Jesus’ apostle to do great things in the name of Christ. Peter’s ministry thus began, and his relationship with Jesus rebounded.

III. PETER IS STRENGTHENED TO SAVE MANY

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He told the disciples to stay and wait for the Promise of the Father. On the day of Pentecost, there was suddenly a loud and violent sound of wind. It came from heaven and filled the whole room in which the disciples had been waiting for the past ten days. Each person received the gift of the Holy Spirit. They were strengthened and began to speak in tongues. 

Peter’s quality of being bold and outspoken made him a natural at public speaking. Having been anointed and strengthened in the Holy Spirit, he preached his first sermon to the Jews in Acts 2:14-47. In his sermon, he started by correcting their accusation of saying the disciples who were speaking in tongues as being drunk. He also quoted Joel’s prophecy from Joel 2:28-32. In Joel’s prophesy, he was telling about a time when God will pour out His Spirit upon mankind. Joel said that men will dream dreams, and will prophesy. In Peter’s sermon, he also told of signs and miracles that will happen on the earth as a sign that the Lord is coming. He also boldly accused them of killing Jesus.  He then stated that Jesus has been resurrected and is now at God’s right hand. The words that Peter spoke in his sermon caused remorse and anxiety, and they asked what they should do. He then told them to repent and be baptized: “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away. All who have been called by the Lord our God” (Acts 2:38-39). After Peter’s first sermon, 3000 people were saved. After his second sermon, 5000 people were saved. He was shepherding the others as Jesus requested in John 21.

In Acts 10, God had shown Peter in a vision that he should no longer think of others as unclean: that all people should be treated the same. Peter then preached to his first Gentiles: Cornelius, his family, and friends. He said, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism” (Acts 10:34). He went on to say that God accepts all people who hear and accept the Good News of the gift of salvation. Peter showed the world that non-Jews can be Christians. And the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles while Peter was preaching.

Throughout the remainder of Peter’s ministry, he performed miracles and healed people. He was later put in prison during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Even though he was chained to two soldiers, he was miraculously freed by an angel.  The whole time that this was happening, Peter thought it was only a vision, he didn’t think it was actually happening. But, he and the angel kept passing guards on the way out of prison. When Peter was in the clear, the angel left him. Peter then realized the truth, that an angel sent by the Lord had freed him.

During Peter’s ministry, he wrote two letters. The first letter was written about 63-64 AD. He is writing to both Jewish and Gentile believers. In the first letter, he is offering hope and encouragement in the face of their persecution. He’s shepherding his readers so they can live Godly lives as the letter is full of instructions. The second letter of Peter was written in 64-66 AD. In this letter, he writes about becoming mature in Christ, warns about false teachers, and encourages his readers to be ready for Christ’s return. He also warns about all the events that will occur at the end of time. A key verse out of the two letters is: “But you must not forget this one thing dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, he is patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:8-9). The Lord is extraordinary patient. He is love and wants everyone to have the chance to come to repentance and be saved. And this is what the Apostle Peter is saying.

Not much is written in the Bible about Peter’s death. According to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified like Christ was except upside down. Peter requested to be crucified this way because he felt he wasn’t worthy to die the same way as Jesus. The only thing written in scripture about his death is in John 21. Jesus was speaking to Peter:

I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go. Jesus said this to let him know what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, Follow me (John 21:18-19).

CONCLUSION

At the conclusion of his writing in 2 Peter, he wrote to his readers to grow spiritually mature in the Lord: this is Peter’s life; he grew and matured in his faith walk with the lord. Peter proved himself. He proved that he was worthy of Christ calling him to follow Him. Peter lived up to his name as the “rock.” Peter’s story is our story. We are all like him. When we accept Christ, we choose to believe the Good News, but we will stumble. God knows that none of us are perfect, but He still chose us. He knows the beginning from the end. God in His great love and mercy is there to pick us back up and place us on our feet. He forgives us! In our walk with Him, we grow in our maturity, and if we align our will with His will, we will go on to do awesome things in the name of Christ. Just like Peter.