Peter: Man Of Commitment Series

INTRODUCTION

A pig and a chicken were walking together one morning when the pig suddenly blurted, “I’m hungry! Let’s have some breakfast!”

The chicken replied, “Okay. We could always have eggs and bacon.”

The pig stopped, looked at his companion, and stated, “That’s fine for you! It only requires a sacrifice from you, but for me, it’s total commitment!”

Commitment is a concept we rarely speak about today, yet it is a required attribute for God’s people.

Jim Elliot was one of four missionaries murdered by the Auca Indians of South America in 1956. He kept an extensive diary, and his wife Elizabeth has shared some of his writings. He once wrote in his diary: “He makes His ministers to be a flame of fire. Am I ignitable? Deliver me from the dread asbestos of other things. Saturate me with the oil of Thy Spirit that I may be a flame. But flame is transient – often shortly-lived. Canst thou hear this, O my soul? Short life? But in me there dwells the Spirit of the great Short- Lived, the One whose zeal for His Father's house consumed Him. Make me Thy fuel, O flame of God!”

Jim Elliot and the other three men understood that as Christians, God wants all of who we are. As the old saying goes, He wants us lock, stock, and barrel! What that calls for on our part is a complete surrendering of ourselves and our will to the will of God. Like the pig, it requires commitment.

INTRODUCTION

In our continuing series Unlikely Heroes, we now turn to the New Testament portion of our Bibles. Our hero for today was just an ordinary laborer in his little hometown of Bethsaida, near Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. His original name was Simon, a Hebrew word meaning “hearing.” You may know him better by the name given to him by Jesus, Peter, which in Greek means “rock.” By the way, he is sometimes called Cephas, which is the Aramaic word for “rock.”

Peter, like his family, was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. He probably attended the local synagogue school for boys, but he had no formal rabbinical training. His days consisted of fishing and home life with his wife. Everything about Peter screams unlikely hero.

Until that one day he was introduced to Jesus. His younger brother, Andrew, had heard the Master speak, and rushed quickly to his brother to lead him to see and hear the Master for Himself. Later, he, his brother, and their two fishing companions, James and John, would respond to Jesus’ call to be His disciples. Scripture records that all four immediately left their fishing to follow Jesus.

But Peter quickly establishes himself among the Twelve for a specific attribute that would turn him into a hero. That attribute was commitment. As we shall see, Peter committed himself fully to this new life, and set an example for all of us unlikely heroes to follow.

We will begin our perusal of the life of Peter with his own words, written in 2 Peter 1:16-18. Then we will survey the Gospels to uncover the commitment of this man, Peter. READ

The first matter in which we notice Peter’s commitment is:

I. He Was Committed to the Person of Christ (Matt 16:13-17)

In Simon’s day, there were false Messiahs aplenty. They broke onto the scene every few years, espousing their doctrine and claiming to be the long-awaited, long-anticipated Messiah. And, as was always the case, something would occur that disproved their claim.

When his brother Andrew, in John 1:40-42, heard Jesus and straightway went and told him, “We have found the Messiah,” Simon, trusting his brother and yet wanting to know for himself, went immediately to see the man. Jesus, upon gazing at Simon said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). Jesus recognized in Simon a stalwartness of commitment, and later, when Jesus passed by their boats and said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” Peter with Andrew, James, and John did not hesitate to leave their livelihood and commit themselves to this true Messiah.

Peter proved his commitment time and again, but none so evident as his bold declaration found in Matthew 16:13-17. When Jesus asked the Twelve who other men were saying that Jesus was, they responded with John the Baptist (who had been beheaded), Elijah, Jeremiah, or another of the prophets. But when Jesus inquired concerning their own belief, Peter boldly proclaimed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus commended his commitment to the Messiahship of Jesus, remarking that the Father Himself had revealed that knowledge to him.

In his address on the day of Pentecost, Peter announced, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” This was the message Peter preached often, because he was committed to Jesus as being the Messiah. In his two letters, he refers to Jesus as “Christ” 14 times!