Moving Past Your Past

Moving Past Your Past

Easter 2024

Mark 16:1-8

Rev. Brian Bill

March 30-31, 2024

How many of you have received “the look” from a parent? I remember getting a lot of them growing up, especially when I was messing around in church, or tormenting my four sisters.

While my dad could give “the look,” my mom was an expert at it, probably because she had a lot of practice with five kids. When I received “the look,” which was fairly often, I usually crumbled.

When I was a teenager, I remember when I lost my driver’s license because of a speeding ticket and neglected to tell my parents about it. Unfortunately, in our small town, these infractions were published in the local newspaper and my parents read all about it a couple days later. After seeing her son’s sins in the paper, my mom met me at the door with a look that melted me. Later, when she told my dad, he gave me a look with an accompanying smirk. I think he was impressed I was able to get our old Ford truck to go 55 in a 25 mile-per-hour zone.

The worst “look” I ever received happened when I was 18 years old after my friend Tim drowned in the Rock River. I’ve mentioned this before, but I don’t think I’ve shared what happened after his body was recovered. I’ll never forget being in the back of a police car so I could show the officer where Tim’s parents lived. I watched as the officer knocked on the door and told his mom the news. Before she crumpled to the ground, she looked directly into my eyes, with a penetrating look I can still see today. I already felt guilty for not doing more to save him, so this gutted me.

Here’s the main point I want us to get today: To move past your past, seek the presence of Jesus in the present.

We’re going to spend some time focusing on Peter today. He was a fisherman before following Jesus and was known to be impetuous and assertive. He was brash and a bit of a braggart. At the same time, he was courageous as seen when he stepped out of the boat and walked on the water. In John 6:68, after many had turned back and no longer were following Jesus, it was Peter who said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” He was also bold when he proclaimed in Matthew 16:16: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

In Matthew 26:33-35, after Jesus told the disciples they would all depart from Him, Peter was quick to say, “‘Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.’ Peter said to him, ‘Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!’” Peter was filled with pride, thinking he was better than the other disciples and he was confident he would never deny Christ. To prove his point, when Jesus was arrested, Peter whacked off the ear of the high priest’s servant. But Peter was about to fail and bail on Christ in a really big way.

If you’ve never failed, messed up, broken a promise, or sinned in a big way, this message is not for you. But if you fall short like I do, and you want to move past your past, you’re in the right place.

Let’s consider the path Peter took:

• Renounced faith.

• Repentant heart.

• Resurrected hope.

• Restored purpose.

1. Renounced faith. While Peter was warming himself around a fire in the courtyard, Mark 14:65 says Jesus was being slapped around and spit upon: “And the guards received Him with blows.”

Here’s a composite picture of Peter’s slide into sin from the four gospels.

• He dodged. When accused by a young servant girl of being with Jesus, Peter practiced evasion, “Woman, I do not know Him.” Notice, he formerly confessed Christ as the Son of God and now he won’t even use His name.

• He distanced. Then Peter moved away from everyone. When he’s accused of being a disciple, he denied it by swearing with an oath, “Man, I am not one of His disciples.”

• He denied. About an hour later, one final accusation was made, and Peter invoked a curse on himself and swore that he was innocent, “I do not know the man of whom you speak.” While he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.

Have you ever noticed how sin gets easier to do the more you do it? In addition, a series of bad choices can happen in a matter of minutes and put us in a really bad place.