Acts 2:14-41 - God’s Power through God’s People #3: Peter
Today we are continuing our series through the book of Acts. The whole book is about people who were used by God to take His message of forgiveness and grace to the world, to make a difference in people’s lives. Two weeks ago we examined chapter 1, and how we all need God’s power in our lives. Last week we looked at Judas, a man who missed the point and fell short of making a positive contribution to the world. Today we look at a man who knew Jesus, and played an important role in the life of the early church. His name is Peter.
We will read from Acts 1 and 2 in a few minutes, but I’d like to take us back through the Gospels to review Peter’s life. As I was preparing this message, I thought of an old Far Side cartoon. Do you remember the Far Side? An offbeat comic strip about odd things, full of jokes that people need weird senses of humour to understand. I understood pretty much all of them, so that’s telling you something about me. Anyway, the creator once did a comic with the caption, “The life and times of Lulu, Mrs. O’Leary’s ill-fated cow.” It showed a clumsy calf tripping on a rock, then running around with a bucket stuck on its head. It got older and became stuck in a fence. The grown cow then tripped on another rock, spilling a bucket of milk, followed by leaning against a barn door, with the door giving way. Finally, it showed the cow running out of a burning barn. This cow had a lifetime of being accident-prone, eventually starting the great Chicago fire of 1871.
Peter certainly had his moments of, shall we say, clumsiness. I’m so glad that he ended better than Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, whatever the cow’s name was. This morning we will see where Peter came from, how he spent his time with Jesus, and how he affected the early church. We will also hopefully gain some insight that will help us in our walks too. Ladies and gentlemen, the life and times of Simon Peter.
According to John 1:44, the man was born in Bethsaida, the son of a fisherman named Jonah or John. His original name was Simon, or maybe Simeon. It’s likely that because of his hometown and his heritage, he grew up knowing several languages: Greek, which is what the NT was written in, as well as Hebrew and Aramaic, the original languages of the OT. He also likely grew up with a good education, with reading, writing, and memorization of the Torah, that is, the books of Moses, the 1st 5 books of the OT.
According to John 1, it seems that Simon was a follower of John the Baptist. The mission of this man John was to prepare people for the coming Messiah, to baptize them as a symbol of new life, to teach them to be serious about God, and to point them to the coming Saviour. He collected quite a few followers, and turned them over to Jesus when He arrived. Peter was one of them.
John 1:42 says this: “Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). That’s quite something. Jesus looks at him, calls him Simon, and says, “But you will be Peter.” What does this mean? In essence, Jesus says, “I know who you are now, but I also know who you will be.”
I like that. You know, Jesus sees who you are. Every part of you. He knows your strengths, He knows your weaknesses. He knows all your good qualities and all your negative qualities, even better than you yourself know them. And He still wants you to follow Him. He still wants you to trust Him. He still wants you to serve Him. Because He also knows what you could be. What you will be. That’s good news for those of us who live our spiritual lives like Mrs. O’Leary’s cow from the Far Side cartoon, from one mistake to another.
Back to Peter, we can read in Matthew 4:18-20 how Jesus called him to follow Him. “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.”
Now, again I say, it’s possible, maybe even likely, that Peter already knew Jesus. He had met the man who would show Himself to be the Messiah. But to leave everything – his nets, his occupation, his father, his father’s business – at the drop of a hat, as it were – is still worth mentioning. Jesus speaks, Peter acts. Certainly Peter was a man of action, which got him into trouble sometimes, but still… to leave everything he knew, for a man he barely knew, is quite a faith to have. I think we ask too many questions. I think we expect to know too much, instead of just acting on what we think God is saying. We overanalyze and rationalize, instead of step out in faith. But that’s just me.
Peter’s progress is seen throughout Jesus’ ministry. Matthew 14 tells the story of the disciples being caught on the water in a storm. Jesus appears on the water, and tells the frightened disciples to take courage. Peter calls out to Him, “Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water.”
Jesus said, "Come." Matthew tells the story from here: Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
This is one of those life-defining experiences. Forever, Peter has gone down in history to be recorded as the disciple of little faith. What is often forgotten is that no other disciple asked to be part of the miracle. No other disciple got out of the boat. No other disciple walked on the water. Peter may have been rebuked for his little faith, but it was still more than what the others had. Peter did not lack faith; he merely lacked enough faith to successfully stay on top of the water. Frankly, I would rather be of little faith than of no faith.
Another defining snapshot in Peter’s life was what we call the confession at Caesarea Philippi. Jesus asked, “Who do you think I am?” Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Peter had gotten enough of an idea of who this man was, to speak the truth. Jesus was the Messiah, the One sent from God to save the world.
Jesus commended him for his insight, and again reminded him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 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.” What praise! You are a rock, Peter – that’s what “Peter” means. You are strong, and you will help me as I build my church.
Peter then, almost in the next breath, and tells Jesus that there was no way Jesus would die. Jesus looked at Peter and said, “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.” From being called the Rock on which Christ would build His people, to being called Satan because of selfish thoughts, Peter got on quite a roller coaster. I guess this goes to show that any one of us has to be careful about feeling too good about ourselves. Each of us needs to remember that we are human, that we will have good days and we will have bad days, and we sometimes fail.
Which Peter certainly discovered. He said that he would never abandon the Lord. He said he would never desert or betray Him. But he did. Matthew 26 tells how Peter disowned Jesus 3 times, the last time with a curse similar to, “I swear to God I don’t know him” or “May God strike me dead if I’m lying.”
But Jesus forgave him. On Resurrection Day, just 3 days after Peter said these hurtful words, Jesus made a special appearance to just Peter alone. Although we don’t know what was said in that conversation, I imagine it involved tears, many words expressing how sorry he was, and a few words saying, “It’s OK, Peter; I forgive you.”
Peter was a man of action. From jumping out of a boat in order to walk on water to Jesus, or cutting off a guy’s ear when they came to arrest Jesus, to bolding asking questions like, “Lord, how many times do I have to forgive people?”, Peter wanted to be doing things for God. And in Acts 1, we see him taking charge. “In those days Peter stood up among the believers.” He took charge of the recently-leaderless bunch of disciples. He decided that someone should fill Judas’ place.
And he preached the first message of the new church, after the Holy Spirit had been given. V14 – “Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd.” The results? V37 - “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” 3000 people were saved that day.
Peter became a leader in the early church, from doing miracles to hearing God’s words about letting non-Jewish people become Christians.
Folks, there’s hope for imperfect people. There’s hope for people who say stupid things. There’s hope for people who make mistakes. God can use you. He wants to use you. He wants to forgive you, He wants to fill you. It’s not about how good you are but about how good He is. Trust Him to use you however He wants. Say, “Lord, I know I’ve messed up, but help me to be useful for You now.”
