Lessons From Peter I Series

PETER’S LESSONS

LESSON ONE

LUKE 5:1-11

When I was a little kid a remember a time when my uncle Bobby lived with us. I must have been no more then four years old. I am amazed that I can remember hanging out with my uncle Bob, but I can’t remember what I had for dinner last night. But anyway, I really looked up to me uncle Bob. To me he was so cool. He played guitar, which I thought was pretty neat. He had a convertible, and not just any convertible this one had power windows, something pretty amazing back in the 60’s. That car was the coolest car ever as far as I was concerned. A roof that folded down and windows that went up and down by themselves. Yes my uncle Bob was the coolest. The only fault I could see in him was the fact that he had a girlfriend. At the time I did not see much use in having a girlfriend.

Now at that age Uncle Bobby was my idol, I wanted to grow up and be just like him, just like he was back the mid 1960’s.

I think we all can think back and come up with our own Uncle Bobby’s. That person you looked up to, that one you wanted to be like. Now that we are grown up we would like to think that things have changed. But they haven’t all that much. As Christian’s there should be a desire to grow up and be like Jesus. I know I have told you many times from this pulpit that you should be like Jesus. I even pray in my prayers that the Lord would work in me to be like Jesus.

But you know what. We are not going to be like Jesus this side of heaven. As 1 John 3:32 tells us; “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

To tell you the truth I do not have any hope of being exactly like Jesus while walking this world. To be honest I do not thing I am going to even get close. Now that may sound like a defeatist attitude, but I realize that Jesus is God, and I am never going to be as God is. And as long as I have this sinful nature that I must deal with, I am not going to get even close.

Now I know that in heave I will be as He is, God’s word promises me that. I will be like Him not in the sense that He is God, but I will like Him in the sense that I will be Holy and without sin, as He is Holy and without sin.

I want to say that just because I know I will never be like Jesus, is not to say that I will stop trying to be like Jesus. That is what Spiritual growth is all about, us trying to attain that unattainable, trying to be like Jesus.

I will be the first to admit that while in some areas people may see Jesus in my life, in other areas I look about as much like Jesus as Harley looks like Brad Pitt.

In that we know in our hearts that we will not be truly like Jesus in this world, we lower the bat a little bit. We think, at least I do anyway, if I can’t be like Jesus well maybe I can be like Paul. After all what does Paul say in 1 Cor. 11; “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”

Ahh! Now we are getting somewhere. Certainly I can imitate Paul. He was just a man like me, not God incarnate or anything like that. After all Paul is the one who wrote Rom 7:18-20; “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”

We can all relate to that. But if we look throughout the NT we do not see to many examples of Paul messing up. He writes most of the NT, he is used by God to win thousands to Christ, he seems to have grasp on Spiritual things like no one else.

Here we are again looking at someone that is hard to imitate. Paul was a spiritual giant when compared to me. He was willing to give it all for God, something so few of us are willing to do. I do not know about you but I find it tough to imitate Paul because I cannot relate to him. We never see him mess up, sure He talks about it, but no examples are given.