Full disclosure: Sermon Central has a message of mine based on this text called “When Thou Art Converted”. This message is different, not just an edit or a rewrite.
Also, this message was based on a sermon preached at First Baptist Church, Chamois, MO on March 12, 2023. This is not an exact transcription.
Introduction: Jesus and the disciples were in the Upper Room, just hours before He would go to Calvary. They were taking part of the Passover Meal when an argument started about who was going to be the greatest. Jesus gave them some food for thought, and also some words directly aimed at Simon Peter.
Our text comes to day from Luke chapter 22, beginning at verse 24 through verse 31.
Text: Luke 22:24-32, New American Standard Version (NASV): 24 And a dispute also developed among them as to which one of them was regarded as being the greatest. 25 And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles domineer over them; and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ 26 But it is not this way for you; rather, the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. 27 For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves. 28 “You are the ones who have stood by Me in My trials; 29 and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift you men like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith will not fail; and you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
<Opening prayer>
We’re in the time of preparing for Easter, when our Lord died and rose from the dead for us! Now, I’ve used this text before but after all, it’s in keeping with the Easter theme. I mean, this event took place just hours before our Lord Jesus went to Calvary for us.
In the context, the Lord and the disciples had already entered Jerusalem in the Triumphal Entry, where people cut down tree branches, threw their clothes on the ground, and shouted “Hosanna!”—all of this because they believed Jesus was going to come and once for all restore the Kingdom to Israel. It’s clear this didn’t happen, and to me it’s anybody’s guess how many people lost faith or hope or even everything, all because Jesus didn’t give these people what they wanted or expected.
Now in the immediate context, these men, Jesus and the disciples, had gathered together in the “Upper Room” to eat the Passover meal. It was during this time when the events of John 13 took place, where Jesus took a towel and washed the feet of each disciple.
By the way, we sometimes forget that this Lord’s Supper is really nothing like da Vinci’s painting. He made it look like the men were six on one side of Jesus and the other six on the other side—if you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. The reality, though, is that this arrangement, so to speak, isn’t what happened. The men would lie down on their left sides in groups of around four, making a square or horseshoe formation. Food would be placed in the middle so that the men could take what they wanted whenever they wanted (this is based on what I’ve heard from several Bible teachers).
It’s a great painting but da Vinci got it wrong.
Well, we shouldn’t be surprised, as the disciples got it wrong, too. It was during this time, when they should have been celebrating the deliverance from Egyptian bondage, they were engaged in a battle of “who’s the greatest?” How long this went on, we’re not told, but we can imagine some of the verbal “I’m the best because . . .” from at least some of them. Peter could have started it by saying something like, “don’t look at me, my mother didn’t ask Jesus to make me the top dog in Heaven”; James and John saying “We left our entire fishing business with Dad! Top that!” I wouldn’t be surprised if even Andrew joined in, “Hey, fellows? Who found the boy with the loaves and fish? If not for me, you’d still be looking for grocery stores!” And even Judas Iscariot, maybe, could have been tempted to say, “Who’s the man holding the money? Doesn’t that count for something?”
Oh, this could have gone on for a long time, and anybody who’s been to a conference knows about one or two to a small group who can’t wait to hear their own voice! Now, if I read the Gospels correctly, this might have been the time when Jesus decided to put a stop to it. He took a towel, poured water in a basing, and washed the feet of each disciple—even Judas. John 13 has the story, and it’s a powerful story, how that the Lord of glory washed 12 pairs of dirty feet.
By the way, there’s another lesson here for us: whose job was it to wash feet? The guests didn’t do this to themselves! No, either a household servant or slave, or one of the early arriving guests would do this. It’s anybody’s guess how long the disciples were in the upper room with Jesus before He “got it done” and washed their feet.
This is one reason why He might have said, “I am among you as the One who serves”.
And I don’t think any of them had much of anything to say after He said this.
Now, I think, this is when the Lord spoke the words in John 13 followed by this message, directly to Simon Peter, but also for all of the disciples. That includes us, too, by the way, and the message has three parts or statements.
The first one, is “Simon, Simon (and it’s rare indeed for a person to have his or her name called twice), Satan has demanded (permission) to sift you like wheat.” If I had been Peter, I would have been stunned!
Remember, Peter was the one disciple with enough guts, let’s call it what it is, to rebuke or correct Jesus! He tried this first back in Matthew 16, when Jesus said He would suffer and rise again on the third day. Peter said, in so many words, “Not gonna happen, Lord!” but heard some stinging words from Jesus, “Get thee behind Me, Satan! (Matthew 16:23, KJV)” Another time, when Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter saw Jesus with Moses and Elijah. He said (blurted?) “Master, it is good for us to be here, so let’s make three tabernacles, one each for You, Moses, and Elijah (Mark 9:5, paraphrased)”. The Voice from the cloud (the Father, in my opinion) said, “This is My beloved Son: hear Him (Mark 9:7, KJV)!
With these two (and who knows how many others!) rebukes in his ears and memory, Peter may not have known what to think when Jesus said, “Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.” Most people of that time knew about sowing, growing, and harvesting wheat, and Jesus had used that picture when He told the Parable of the Sower and Seed in Matthew 13. Most of us, though, don’t, as machines do most of the harvesting for us (and I’m one who’s grateful for that!) There was a three-step process, though, in “sifting” wheat in those days.
The first thing of course was to harvest the wheat. The Book of Ruth mentions how Ruth gleaned in the field of Boaz, for example, for several months (“barley harvest . . .wheat harvest”, Ruth 2:23). Then came step one, to “winnow” or separate the wheat from the chaff, and for this I’m indebted to numerous sources, including an article by Dr. George Sweeting in a Moody Monthly magazine published in the mid-1980’s. From what I understand, the farmer or laborer would toss the wheat into the sky and the wheat would fall back down close to its starting point. The chaff, being lighter, would blow away, off to the side.
After this, the wheat would be crushed, to separate the “germ” from the outer shell (I may not have the words exactly right, here). Dr. Sweeting observed that the word “tribulation” is related to the word for the tool to thresh the wheat. But that still wasn’t all.
The final step was to grind the wheat germ or remaining product, we might say, into flour. Then as now, flour was used for bread and even for grain offerings (or “meat” offerings, in the KJV). It’s with this picture in mind that Jesus explains what Satan wanted to do: he wanted to grind Simon Peter down to a powder, just like dust that would blow away in the least amount of wind.
I’m pretty sure Jesus had Simon Peter’s attention by now, but He wasn’t finished. No, He wasn’t going to leave Peter in despair here, by just saying, “Hey, there, Satan wants to destroy you” or anything like that. Instead, see how Jesus right then gave Peter a word of encouragement: “But I have prayed for you, that your faith will not fail”.
Let’s explore this a little further.
When Jesus said, “I have prayed for you”, He didn’t mean He had just started. If I read the information correctly, this means Jesus had been praying already and wasn’t going to stop. Now if that isn’t an encouraging word, I don’t know what is! I don’t know what else to call it! Our Lord Jesus not only knows all about us but He’s been praying for each one of us for a very, VERY long time!
But here’s something that may not be easy to see at first glance. Here, the Lord is praying for a very specific thing, and that specific item was that Peter’s faith wouldn’t fail. Oddly, some think Peter either was not saved at all, or had been saved but would or did lose that salvation. They get this, I think, because of the King James Version’s translation of “when you have turned back” as “when thou art converted.” True, Peter was born a sinner—all of us were—but there was a time when he did believe and became what we call “saved,” and that salvation was never in doubt. After all, our salvation has nothing to do with us but everything, EVERYTHING, to do with Jesus Himself. Someone once said a perfect Christ could not make anything imperfect, and that if our salvation were to fail , Christ would have to fail, and that is not going to happen.
One’s faith, and in this case Peter’s faith, is something else. Again, it was and is real, and if I can share this illustration with you, it might make sense. Well, I can try anyway. Here goes: you all know I love bluegrass music! We used to get a certain TV station that featured some good stuff: I mean some bluegrass that spoke to me! Now on one of these episodes, the cast and crew had gone a good ways away to visit the now-deceased Dr. Ralph Stanley at his home place. The crew filmed the show outdoors, wind blowing and all, and I loved it because it was so REAL.
In fact, they really tried to emphasize the “real-ness” of it all by having a dog out there on the site. Hey, why not, right? But after a song or two, I began to think something wasn’t exactly right. Those of us who have owned pet dogs know that, okay, they do like to remain still every once in a while, for a while, but if a dog doesn’t move occasionally, something could be wrong.
Here’s what made me think something was off: the dog didn’t move! No eye movement, no tail movement, not even any ear movement. Even stranger, the dog’s mouth position didn’t change. Most of the time a dog’s mouth will usually be closed all the way (I tried to mimic this), or open all the way (I tried to mimic this too, and the members laughed!), but that wasn’t the case for this dog! This dog’s mouth stayed about “half-staff”, if you will (oh, did they laugh when I tried this) and did not change for at least three songs!
Those of us who know dogs, know something has to be wrong when a dog doesn’t move for five or more solid minutes. Then I saw the reflection off the dog’s eyes: it was an amber reflection. This dog was a fake! It was a prop! It had fur like a real dog, and some of the other things that most people associate with dogs, but it was a fake!
For some people, their faith—however they call it—is about as real as that prop or fake dog. This “faith”, so called, may look real but it’s nowhere near real. That wasn’t the case with Peter, though, because his faith was real and it was solid.
For the moment, that is. Simon Peter was bold enough to bring a sword, sort of, along with him when Jesus and the other disciples went out to the Garden of Gethsemane. He was also bold enough to try to attack Malchus, a servant of the high priest (John 18:10) but then heard Jesus rebuke him again: “Put back your sword.” Other passages in the Gospels relate how Peter was also bold enough to walk into the high priest’s palace (John 18:15) but then denied Jesus three times, maybe more, even cursing and swearing. The final blow was probably when Peter saw Jesus looking at him, hearing every word, knowing every thought , and then ran away to weep bitterly (Luke 22:54-62).
But the Lord still wasn’t done with Peter. He had one more word of encouragement for him.
That word was simply this: “Strengthen your brothers.” He did just that! Not long after this, when Peter and the others had gone to Galilee to meet Jesus (John 21), Jesus appeared and restored Peter to fellowship. Peter’s letters are full of encouragement, as are the records of his words and actions in the early chapters of Acts.
All right, some of you might be saying, so what? What does this have to do with me? First, remember that Jesus warned Peter that Satan wanted to sift him like wheat, to grind him down to a powder. He won’t stop there, either: the Devil is after you and me and every believer.
Then, remember Jesus Himself was and is praying for each one of us. That fact has always spoken peace to me and I hope it does for you too! Finally, also keep in mind, please, that once we too have turned back, or gotten ourselves right with God, we can then encourage and strengthen others too. We can encourage them to not make the same mistakes we did, and, when they do, we can encourage them and try our best to bring them back to Jesus.
The sermon in a sentence is this: Jesus warns, Jesus prays, and He encourages us to do the same thing for other believers. I hope we’ll do exactly that!
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Version of the Bible (NASV). Those quotations identified as KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
