THE “STARE” AT THE END OF SELF
Luke 22:61—62
INTRO: 1 “Kodak Moments” were once advertised by the film giants as memorable moments worthy of capture on film.
In our memories there are little snapshots of detail which are indelibly etched into our minds. We can see the occurr-ences clearly and it is likely we will never forget them. With them we have feelings frozen into our existence ready to thaw when the memory is called forth. Some of these frozen memories are good. Some are bad. Here are some of mine; you think of your own;
a. Being hung
b. Seeing brother or sister hurt
c. Losing wrestling matches (hurt arm)
d. Winning matches & championships
e. Being threatened with a tire iron
f. Receiving college awards and Diploma
g. Getting married — having each child
— especially Kelli with the chord around her neck.
2 Peter had a frozen memory in this passage. It is the time when Christ stared at him.
PROP: The stare of Christ is a stair for climbing to usefulness for Christ.
TRANS. Q: How is the stare of Christ a tool for climbing to usefulness
for Him?
TRANS S. Here are three stages through which Peter progressed in the emptying of self and becoming useful.
I. THE PIERCING STARE
A. The Lord made a deliberate effort to establish eye contact with Peter (Luke 22:61 — Turned).
1. Peter had been following the ordeal “afar off” (v 54) indicating that he was not as close
to the Lord as he thought he was.
2. Peter had moved around the court (v55, 58, 59 “about an hour”). V54 — They took time to
build a fire.
3. The Greek word for “turned around~~ is at the earliest part of the sentence for emphasis
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The point here is that Jesus made a deliberate effort to look at Peter.
4. When Jesus looked at Peter, He fixed his gaze on Peter.
a. This was not a casual look
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b. Jesus stared intently at Peter.
c. The eyes went right into his soul.
B. For this highly magnified moment in time no one else existed in the world but Jesus and Peter. As far as Peter was concerned, it was just he and the Lord. That is the way it always is when an individual comes to the end of self. He is alone with the Lord and is completely at His mercy. That is the way it was for the woman taken in adultry in John 8, that is the way it was with Paul on the road to Damascus, that is the way it was for Peter at this point and then once again with Christ’s resurrection; that is the way it has to be with you and me if we are to be used to our fullest potential in the Lord’s hands.
Two hunters came across a bear so big that they dropped their rifles and ran for cover. One man climbed a tree while the other hid in a nearby cave. The bear was in no hurry to eat, so he sat down between the tree and the cave to reflect upon his good fortune. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, the hunter in the cave came rushing out, almost ran into the waiting bear, hesitated, and then dashed back in again. The same thing happened a second time. When he emerged for the third time, his companion in the tree frantically called out, “Woody, are you crazy? Stay in the cave till he leaves!” “Can’t,” panted Woody, “there’s another bear in there.
3 50.13
Peter had to come to the end of places to hide. He was hiding among the crowd with the things he said. When he was confronted by Jesus there was no more escaping the bear called Truth.
C. Jesus stares at each of us on occasion. There are many times when we are emptied of self and He catches us with no place to hide.
1. For some it’s when he thinks the preacher is talking to/re: them.
2. Perhaps it’s when a loved—one goes & you didn’t get to say a kind word.
3. Others find a change in circumstances to be the Lord’s stare.
II. THE UNCONTAINABLE MEMORY
A. Peter had little choice in remembering the Lord’s statement regarding his denial (Lk 22:61 — “Peter remembered”).
1. Peter was a self—sufficient, loyal, rock—hard individual.
2. Jesus had said Peter would deny Him though Peter asserted his self—confidence (Lk 22:33—34).
3. Peter felt the pressure of those who recognized him.
4. During the moments of pressure Peter forgot
Jesus’s challenge (time had also passed and
Satan’s efforts were increased — Lk. 22:31—32.
Did Peter’s faith fail here?
5. With the rooster s crow and the Lord’s stare, Peter was forced to remember the Lord’s words.
6. No eyes could see deeper than these and no more horrible truth could one wish to excape than the one in which Peter was caught. Oh what a piercing stare that must have been.
7. The word for deny ( ) is in the middle voice (v 61) indicaying that there was selfishness in Peter’s act (you “for yourself” shall deny me 3x).
8. At this point it is debatable whether it was even possible for Peter to stay loyal for the simple reason that as Jesus got closer to the cross, it was more & more His burden to bear alone. No one else could.
B. Memories are funny impulses of the mind. Often we can do nothing deliberate about restraining or evoking a vision of the past. Many people today are claiming that they are remembering in their adult years, incidents of child abuse which they suffered and “blocked out” while quite young. When these memories surface, the subjects are often overwhelmed by influence these memories bring and the force with which these memories flood the mind.
Peter’s memory was like this. When Christ’s stare “pierced” his soul, the wright of all the truth about himself forced its way through the self—sufficient facade he had built over a life-time. The weight was crushing. Like H 0 forcing
2
its way through a break in a dam, the weight of Peter’s memory was now uncontainable. It was going to come in its full measure and there was he could do about it.
C. As brutal as it may be, truthful memories must be faced.
III. THE CRUSHING REALITY
A. Peter’s heart was broken terribly by his action (Luke 22:62 — wept bitterly).
1. After suffering the soul—piercing stare of the Lord Peter could do nothing but leave the court, crushed by the wright of harsh reality:
he was not as tough as th thought.
2. The action of the Greek reveals that Peter began to cry as he was going outside
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1. Before his feet hit the outer dust his eyes were draining a flood of tears.
2. Confronted with the horrible truth re: himself, even this big, success-ful, self—reliant, “self—serving” fish-erman could do nothing else but cry and that he did bitterly.
B. For Peter this was a most painful confrontation with reality. He had to grapple with a dis-covery he was not entirely willing to face. It hurt to look inside. Because of newly discovered truth about himself, the present evoked the most painful realizations. He was not all he wanted to think he was. Taht was brutal reality. No matter how strongly he tried to suppress it, he had to accept the crushing truth.
During a recent time of revival on campus, one student, acknowledging the battle with self, described the self—life like an onion: strip one layer off, and a new one is exposed.
This imagery was picked up by another student, who, commenting on the tears that were being shed, reminded us that whenever we peel an onion, it makes our eyes water. So, he assured us, when we begin to deal with sin there will be the shedding of tears.
About that time we noticed an item in our daily paper which referred to Mr. Otto Schaffner, who, with his wife Margaret, operates a horseradish gift shop at Tuellake, CA. As he grinds up the horseradish plants, Mr. Schaffner wears a 98—cent Second World War gas mask, “Without the mask,” explains Mr. Schaffner, “I would be crying con-stantly.”
Perhaps that is why some of us wear masks -— we don’t want to shed any tears of repentance or sorrow. We listen to appeals from God’s Word to deal with sin, but we put on our mask of indiff-erence or hypocrisy and sit like stoics, unmoved, resolved that, as far as we are concerned, we will not indulge in any orgy of emotionalism or wild-fire.
But in so doing, we lose out spiritually. Guard against emotionalism we must; avoid being mani-pulated by a clever speaker we should. But when God is speaking, and His Spirit is moving in the hearts of fellow—Christians, let us not put on our mask and sit with an air of scorn or cynicism. In times of revival God often removes the masks, and some of His children are exposed for what they really are —— sinners needing the grace of God and power of the Spirit to defeat besetting sins. At the foot of the Cross we can afford to take off our masks and let the tears flow.
(4) #14—28
C. We can learn nothing of the gospel except by feeling its truths. There are some sciences that may be learned by the head, but the science of Christ crucified can only be learned by the heart.
C.H. Spurgeon
(91) #16—20
GONCL:
Once when reading Psalm 103 Evangelist D.L. Moody came to the verse, “Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” He stopped at that
Remember point and in his inimitable way he said, “You can’t remember ‘em all, of course. But don’t forget ‘em all. Remember some of ‘em.”
(33) 76.2
2 A good cry not only makes you feel better, but it may also be an excellent preventive of stress—related disorders. That’s the conclusion of medical experts, who have found that tears play a large role in our well-being.
Biochemical research has indicated that emotional tears shed during stressful or sad times contain more protein than tears produced in response to eye irritation Investigators are endeavoring to determine if the chemical content of those emotional tears is similar to other stress—related chemicals of the body.
Cry By suppressing our tears, then, we may be increas-ing our susceptibility to stress—related disorders.
A Marquette University professor reported that, in a test group, the healthy men and women reported crying more than those with colitis or ulcers.
Thomas Scheff, a University of Santa Barbara pro-fessor of sociology who studied videotapes of criers, contends, “Not only do people feel better after a good cry, they look better. You can almost see the tension leave their bodies. There is less holding back, less conflict in people’s faces. Afterwards there is no bagging under the eyes, no bloodshot eyes, no headaches. It’s a genuine catharsis.
When people say, “I feel like having a good cry,
their bodies must be telling them something.
72.31
3 Christian, in all your troubles, look unto God and be saved. In all your trials and afflictions, look unto Christ and find deliverance. In all your repentance for guilt, look unto Christ and find pardon. Remember to put your eyes heavenward and your heart heavenward too. Bind round yourself a golden chain and put one link of it in the staple in heaven. Look unto Christ; fear not. There is no stumbling when a man walks with his eyes up to Jesus. He that looks at Christ walks safely.
—— Spurgeon
(18) #16—20
