If you have your Bibles (and I hope you do), take them and open them up to Luke 22. We’re starting a short series on the Resurrection in hopes that God will use these sermons to prepare our hearts for the holiday season. And that we’ll see how glorious, and wonderful, and awesome, and amazing Jesus really is.
So… Luke 22:24 – 34 (READ).
So our text starts out with the disciples arguing about which of them was the greatest. In other words, these guys… the disciples had delusions of grandeur floating around in their heads. And it stemmed from a wrong idea of who Jesus was, and what His mission or purpose was. They believed that at this point in time, He was going to march into Jerusalem, throw off the yoke of Roman bondage, set up a physical, earthly kingdom, sit on a physical, earthly throne, and usher in a new golden age for Israel. And so they were jockeying for position in this ideal kingdom they had concocted in their minds.
Of course they missed it completely, and we’ll get to that in a minute, but this is what they had been doing, and so Jesus takes a moment to correct them in this.
So in verses 28, 29, and 30 Jesus first gives His disciples a promise. Now that might seem a little bit strange to correct someone’s wrong thinking by giving them a promise, but God’s ways are not our ways. Look at this: These guys have just been arguing about who was the greatest among them, and basically Jesus says, “That’s not how it works in My Kingdom boys! In My Kingdom we don’t think about advancing our own self-importance. We don’t think about achieving greatness as the world defines it.” And He uses Himself as an example… He says, “I am among you as the one who serves.” So Jesus is encouraging His disciples to be like Him. Because that’s where true greatness is… Not in all the fame and fortune and power, but in serving.
I told you God’s ways are not our ways. This concept is so hard for us to wrap our minds around. That humble service equals greatness in God’s eyes. That’s what Jesus is saying here. But that’s not all He says to them. He’s corrected their wrong thinking, but then He goes ahead and gives them the promise that someday they will be given authority and honor, and be seated with Him, and they’ll judge the tribes of Israel. So what Jesus is doing here is correcting their wrong thinking here. He’s saying, “Boys you’re arguing about meaningless things. You’re thinking that I’m going to Jerusalem to set up a physical kingdom and set on a physical throne right now, but that’s not the case at all. I’m going to die for the sins of the world. I’m going to lay down my life as a ransom for many. You need to change your perspective from the temporary to the eternal.
And that leads us into the next part of our text; verses 31 – 34 (READ).
Jesus turns his attention to Peter, but you notice… at first He doesn’t call him Peter. He uses his Hebrew name Simon. And He says it twice, which is showing us kind of a tenderness in the heat of Jesus. And basically Jesus tells him straight up… “Simon, you’re sitting here arguing with the others about whose going to be the greatest, but let me tell you something. Satan has petitioned My Father and he’s wants to sift you like wheat.” And this should remind us of the story of Job. And I’ll just tell you right now, if you’re not familiar with the story of Job, you should read it today when you get home. It will take you less than 30 minutes to read it… But basically in that story, Satan comes to God and asks to have a crack at Job, and God allows it… Well here in our text it’s the same sort of thing. And so what Jesus is saying to Peter here is, “Simon, there’s an ancient and powerful being, whose beyond your human comprehension, and he has come to God and asked to sift you like wheat.”
In other words, “While you guys have been busy arguing over your wrong notions and ideas, and with wrong perspectives, there’s a spiritual battle happening all around you. And your enemy, the enemy of your souls, whose sole purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy, has approached God and petitioned to sift you like wheat.”
So how does this tie in with Easter? Well there’s a theme that runs through the entire Passion Week. From Palm Sunday, to Good Friday, to Resurrection Sunday… And it’s what we’ve already seen here in our text. The disciples and all the people were looking for a physical, earthly king to deliver them from Rome and bring back this golden age of Israel.
In John 6 we read about the crowds trying to come and make Jesus a king, and He slipped away from them. Pontius Pilate asks Jesus if He’s a king and Jesus says, “Yeah, but not in the way you think… My Kingdom is not of this world.” The disciples had this expectation, the crowds on Palm Sunday had this expectation. And this is why they all ran away and abandoned Him when He was crucified. They didn’t understand that was why He had come.
Turn with me over to Matthew 16:21 – 23 (READ). Now just prior to this Peter had made his confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and Jesus had changed his name from Simon to Peter, and said flesh and blood did not reveal it to him, but the Father in heaven… So Peter had this revelation from God that Jesus was in-fact the promised Messiah that was to come… He is the Christ. But he had a misunderstanding about what the Messiah was to save them from. And in this passage, Jesus begins telling His disciples, “I’m going to Jerusalem, I’m going to be betrayed, captured, tortured, and eventually killed.” And Peter, with his wrong thinking, was like, “Oh no, no, no Jesus… you’re the Messiah… you’re not going to die, you’re going to deliver us from Roman rule.” And of course Jesus saw that for what it was… another temptation from Satan to try and prevent Jesus from doing what He had come to do. Which was to die… on the cross… for our sins!
So let’s go back to our text in Luke here…
The disciples don’t get it… they’ve been arguing about a physical kingdom and who would be the greatest… Jesus has corrected them telling them, the greatest is the one who serves… And the physical kingdom isn’t coming yet fella’s… in-fact; I’m going to die on a cross for your sins… and by the way, Simon… Satan… the same Satan who ruined Job, he’s got his sights set on you.
And Peter… brash and bold, and over-confident Peter says, “Ok, then Lord, if you’re going to die, I’ll die with you.” “No Peter, you’ll deny me 3 times before the rooster crows.”
Now there is a great lesson in all of this, that we need to see before we move on to the last part of the sermon. In Matthew 13 Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower… and as He explains it, in verse 19 He says, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.” And in verse 20 He says, “As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.” And these men… these disciples, have traveled with Jesus for 3 and ½ years… and for the last year or so, Jesus has been telling them that He is going to die for the sins of mankind. That’s He’s going to give His life on the cross of Calvary in order to reconcile sinful man back to God. But because they did not rightly divide the word of truth… and because the traditions of man have been so ingrained in them, they misunderstood, and the word was snatched out of their hearts. And when tribulation came, they ran, and hid and denied.
And so here’s the lesson… APPLY YOUR HEARTS TO UNDERSTANDING. Because if you don’t know God and you don’t know about Him, and what He’s like, and if you don’t know Jesus… and if you don’t know the Bible… then when the trials of life come, you’re going to doubt… and you’re going to question God and His love for you. You’re going to question His goodness. You might even question whether or not He even cares, and whether or not this whole Christianity thing is even worth it.
Now that’s the lesson here… but here’s the cool thing. It’s in verse 32 (READ).
Have you ever thought about the difference between Peter and Judas?
Both men were tempted, both failed miserably and gave in to that temptation. But one of them came to believe and was saved; the other never repented of his sin and ended up committing suicide out of guilt and shame. What was the difference? Was Peter somehow stronger than Judas? Was he smarter?
I think the difference is right here in verse 32… the prayer of Jesus.
Jesus has told Peter that he’s going to be sifted like wheat, he tells him “You’re going to deny me.” But he also says, “But I have prayed for you…”
This is one of the most amazing truths about the resurrection. It’s not just that Jesus died for us… it’s not just that He was raised from the dead to prove our justification… He ever lives to make intercession for us. Romans 8:34 tells us that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God making intercession for us. Hebrews 7:25 tells us that Jesus is able to save to the UTMOST those who come to God THROUGH Him, since He always lives to make intercession for us.
As we go through our lives Jesus is next to God the Father saying, “Father, keep him from sin.” “Father keep her from giving up.” “Father, bring him to repentance.” “Father give her the strength to endure what she’s going through.” “Father forgive them because I’ve already paid for their sin.”
There is no power in the universe that can equal Jesus’ prayers for His people!
He says to Peter, “BUT… I have prayed for you, that your faith will not fail, so when you’ve returned, strengthen your brothers.”
“So Peter, you are going to be sifted… and you are going to stumble… You’re going to blow it like you’ve never blown it before…. BUT I’VE PRAYED FOR YOU, that our faith would not ultimately fail.” And then I love what the Lord says next… “AND WHEN YOU’VE RETURNED…” In other words, “Peter, I’ve prayed for you… and I know they will be answered.”
So church, as we approach Easter, be encouraged. Yes it’s true, we have an enemy who wants to destroy us. But our Lord and our Savior – Jesus Christ, crushed the head of the serpent when He died on the cross for our sins. And He was raised from the dead, to show that His death was more than enough to justify us before God. And right now… at this very second, He is alive and He lives to make intercession for us. And its because of His help, and His strength, and His mighty power, and His grace that we will stand and persevere.
Let’s pray.
