Who Are You, When You’re By Yourself
Mark 14:22-49 Luke 22:54-62 BPC 3/17/2022
I was a senior in high school 17 years old at the time, and I wanted to play Ivy League Football. I had given my life to Christ about 8 months earlier. I was invited to come to the campus of Brown University and was assigned a football player to make sure I had a good experience that weekend so that I would attend the college that fall.
The player knew nothing about me, so he took me to a party that he thought I would enjoy. To my surprise they were passing around marijuana joints at the party . I was petrified and just wanted to get out of there. When someone tried to pass me a joint, I didn’t have the courage to say, “I’m a follower of Christ and I don’t do that.”
Instead I wanted to blend in with the crowd, so I said, “no thanks, I’ve already had enough for one night.” I was praying, “Lord if you get me out of here, I will never set foot on this campus again.” God did and I never did. The football coach never understood why I was no longer interested in Brown University.
Sometimes we think we would like to know the future. But knowing the future can cause as much anxiety and nervousness as not knowing. Especially when it’s something that is negative. The disciples of Jesus would often ask him, when certain things were going to happen. Quite often he avoided answering questions about timing of events. But on one occasion Jesus made an exception.
The Scriptures provide us with quite a background on the disciple called Simon Peter. He was one of the first disciples Jesus called. Peter had witnessed Jesus fill his boat with fish at a time he needed a catch. He saw Jesus heal his mother-in-law. He walked on water when Jesus said for him to come to Him.
He was on the mountain of transfiguration and saw Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah. He was there in the room when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead. He had seen people healed whom he prayed over. He helped to pass out the bread to feed the five-thousand and again with the four thousand.
Peter was about as solid a believer as you could be. Can you imagine what it must have felt like when Jesus gave him a glimpse into the future? Suppose Jesus told you, “you are going to fail me miserably, but I’m praying that you will overcome it and encourage those around you.” How would you feel about receiving that notice of the future.
That’s about what Jesus told Peter and the disciples when he said to them, all of you will fall away on account of me. Peter responded; Lord I will do anything to keep from failing you. I am ready to go to prison, and I’m ready to die for you if need be. Peter meant every word of it.
Yet Jesus was not impressed. Jesus said to Peter, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me. Not only is Jesus telling the future, he’s saying this is going to happen today.
Peter was determined he was going to prove that Jesus was wrong about him. His confidence however is rooted in his faith in his own power and accomplishments. After all he had seen and experienced with Jesus, there was no way he could deny Jesus. He was basically the leader in the group.
Whenever we ignore the warnings in the word of God, we’re trusting in our own strength and setting ourselves up for failure. Jesus had told Peter, you need prayer from me on your behalf. Peter had basically said, “I got this.”
Well later that night the soldiers and the mob came into the garden to arrest Jesus. When Peter recognized what was going to happen, he saw it as an opportunity to prove to Jesus, just how strong his loyalty was. The other disciples would see him willing to do whatever it takes to protect Jesus.
He would go down as a martyr if necessary. The disciples had two swords with them and Peter grabbed one of them. He charged toward the mob and cut off one of the ear of the servant of the high priest. Peter was going for the head. He was all in.
Peter thought this would inspire the other disciples into action and that Jesus would be pleased with his devotion. Instead Jesus yells out, “No More of This!” The man who has been screaming over his ear, is shocked when Jesus takes the ear and heals the man on the spot.”
The shocker is that Jesus refused to fight or defend himself and allows himself to be carried away by the mob to be tried by the authorities. This was not what Peter had expected.
Well Peter had proved himself to be willing to be arrested and to even die for Jesus. The other disciples had witnessed his bravery. Now they should understand why Jesus had changed his name from Simon, to Peter which means “the rock.”
While 10 of the other disciples took off running, Peter wanted to see what was going to happen to Jesus. He was brave enough to follow the crowd to where Jesus was being taken. Now he’s by himself looking at Jesus from a distance. It’s cold outside, and he tries to warm himself by a fire that a group of people had already going. The sun has not yet come up so it was still a little hard to see faces in the dark even with the fire.
Peter still doesn’t understand why Jesus had not put up much of a fight. When we think that God has not acted in the way we think he should, it opens a crack in our spiritual armor for Satan to speak to us. Especially when we are away from other believers.
As he’s warming himself at the fire, trying to see what’s happening to Jesus at his trial, he does not know someone is looking at him to put him on trial. In Luke 22:56 it says, 56 A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”
Perhaps this servant girl had seen Peter at the front of the crowd on Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Maybe she was there at one of Jesus’ teaching sessions and Peter was up front with Jesus.
Maybe she was just one of those persons who likes to get others agitated. She is one of the early followers of the cancel culture movement. She wants Peter cancelled not because of any particular charge she has against him, but because she had seen him with Jesus at some point in the past.
Peter does not realize that her statement is not just an attack on him, but an indictment against Jesus. She’s saying, because Jesus is wrong anyone associated with him is also wrong.
Many of us do not recognize the desire of our society to cancel Jesus and the word of God when it hinders our freedom to do as we please. Like Peter we try to bush off the attack as nothing to be taken too seriously.
So Peter sort of quietly denies it and says, “Woman, I don’t know him.” His statement was similar to my denial on that college trip. I was just trying to blend in. Peter’s just trying to blend in to stay warm.
Is there an area in which you are denying Jesus, just to blend in and be a part of the group? I think too much of the body of Christ today wants to just blend in and be left alone rather than standing firm in Jesus Christ. But blending in doesn’t stop the attacks from coming, because we can only serve one Lord and one master.
A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them. Peter had been so bold and brave when he had an audience to support him there in the garden, when others could see the stand he was taking. But there are no friendly faces in this crowd.
Who is he going to be now that He’s alone. He doesn’t pray about what he should do or what he should say. He wants to protect himself, so the words have slipped out before he knew it, “Man, I am not.” Peter replied. Have you ever been in that place, where just a quick lie will buy you some time and you’ve said it before you realized it. But you regretted it later.
Peter gets too comfortable with crowd and starts speaking to them. His own lips betray him because Peter is from up north in Galilee. The people down south in Jerusalem can detect that northern accent in his voice. So about an hour later, another person asserted in verse 59, “Certainly this fellow was with him for he is a Galilean.” They all knew where Jesus was from. Peter was certainly from the same place.
John’s gospel tells us that third accusation came from a person that had been there in the garden that night and was a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off. Now Peter is looking at potential assault and attempted murder charges.
This third witness is very credible in that you don’t forget what a person looks like who tried to kill a relative of yours a few hours earlier. Peter’s plan to just fit back into the crowd is not working as he planned. Has a failed plan ever put you in deeper trouble.
When you’re a follow of Jesus Christ, you just can’t fit back into the world’s way of doing things. Your attachment to Christ is going to manifest itself to others. The Holy Spirit in you is going to cause you to do something that shows you’ve been with Jesus.
Peter knows that he’s slipping but he doesn’t leave his environment. It’s a shame he never heard Kenny Rogers song,” you got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, and know when to run. It was time for him to walk away and to run. Is the Spirit trying to get some of us to walk away or to run from something or someone for us to maintain our walk with Jesus Christ?
Like Peter, you can still see Jesus at a distance, but you don’t recognize that you are on trial. The Jesus that Peter sees at a distance doesn’t quite look like the Jesus that rode triumphantly into Jerusalem just a few days ago.
He doesn’t look like the one who commanded the wind and the waves to be still, and they stopped. He just looks like a man tied up with ropes who is disheveled and hasn’t slept all night.
So this time, now looking at facing possible criminal charges, Peter is more bold than ever in his assertion and denial, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Matthew tells us that Peter went so far as to call down curses and swore to them, “I don’t know the Man.” It was if Peter was saying,” If I’m lying, may God strike me dead. I don’t know the man.” For a brief moment, Peter felt a sense of relief, because it seemed as though they had accepted his bluff, until he heard the rooster crowing.
There was Jesus standing before the chief priests being accused falsely of all kinds of crimes against God. He knows this trial is a sham, and was just a pretense to get him before Pilate so that he could be executed.
But even with all this running through his mind, he wanted Peter to know that even in his hostile situation in the crowd, he had not forgotten about him. So Jesus turns his head away from his accusers and looks directly at Peter.
The Holy Spirit is still at work in Peter’s heart and when his eyes meets the eyes of Jesus, he has a flashback. He can hear the words of Jesus, as they rolled from the lips of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”
Peter realized Jesus had been right. He had failed miserably. Now he understood why Jesus was praying for him. Jesus had not given up on him though because in his prayer he had said, “and when you turn back, strengthen your brothers.”
I think Peter was so overwhelmed by the love Jesus had for him in this moment. Here Jesus was facing a trial that would lead to his death, yet he wanted Peter to know that he was still with him with just that one look. I believe one of the reasons Jesus immediately healed the ear of the man cut off by Peter was to make sure Peter was not arrested and put in jail. Jesus’ plans for Peter after the resurrection didn’t include Peter sitting in jail on assault or attempted murder charges.
The Scriptures tell us that Peter did something I think was very courageous. Peter went outside and wept bitterly. He didn’t care who was looking, or what other accusations would be made. The love of Jesus brought him to the place of repentance so that he could be restored. He was brave enough to face his failures and admit that he needed God for his future in life.
Do you understand the depth of the love that Jesus has for you. Jesus has looked into our future and has seen our failures which are coming and he’s already praying for us to turn back, so that we can strengthen others. You may be in a place today, that you never thought you would be in, but I want you to know that God has not given up on you.
We have this promise from the word of God, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Jesus sees all of us right where we are today. Don’t be so confident that what God says can never happen to you. Peter made the mistake of thinking he could handle his situation on his own. God wants to dwell inside of us with the Holy Spirit so that we can handle life through the strength he provides. We don’t have to do life on our own.
The most courageous thing you can do, is humble yourself before God and honestly pray, not my will, but yours be done. No failure or mistake is beyond repair. Remorse does not have to be the final word. Jesus offers forgiveness, renewed strength, and power to live again. Jesus can work the miracle your life needs. Invite him into your situation, and put your faith and trust in him.
Now more than ever we need to take a stand for Christ. Recently a professional hockey player in the National Hockey League for the San Jose Sharks refused to wear a warm up Jersey with the LGBTQ message on a Gay Pride Night at a hockey game. He was the goalie of the team and his name was James Reimer. He gave this statement for his refusal to put on the jersey.
"For all 13 years of my NHL career, I have been a Christian — not just in title, but in how I choose to live my life daily. I have a personal faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for my sins and, in response, asks me to love everyone and follow him," he said via the team's Twitter account. "I have no hate in my heart for anyone, and I have always strived to treat everyone that I encounter with respect and kindness.
"In this specific instance, I am choosing not to endorse something that is counter to my personal convictions which are based on the Bible, the highest authority in my life."
This sermon deals with Peter's 3 denials and how easy it can become for us to deny Christ by wanting to fit in with the crowd around us. More than ever believers need to refuse to compromise their faith.
