Will the Real Me stand Up?
Matthew 26:31-35
Easter reflection series.
A. People: Are we mixed up or what?
A Mexican bandit made a specialty of crossing the Rio Grande from time to time and robbing banks in Texas. Finally, a reward was offered for his capture, and an enterprising Texas Ranger decided to track him down.
After a lengthy search, he traced the bandit to his favourite cantina, snuck up behind him, put his trusty six-shooter to the bandit’s head, and said, "You’re under arrest. Tell me where you hid the loot or I’ll blow your brains out." But the bandit didn’t speak English, and the Ranger didn’t speak Spanish.
Fortunately, a bilingual lawyer was in the saloon and translated the Ranger’s message.
The terrified bandit blurted out, in Spanish, that the loot was buried under the oak tree in back of the cantina.
"What did he say?" asked the Ranger.
The lawyer answered, "He said, ’Get lost, Gringo. You wouldn’t dare shoot me.’"
I am sure every lawyer that decides to be a lawyer, first, thought about helping people with their legal problems… but there are times you kinda wonder are they really helping… or gouging me? Will the real lawyer who helps people and not take advantage of people stand up? I think there may be some here, sure I am like that… I help out people in trouble …
Have you heard of the four Canadians who have legally changed their surnames, From Dunlop to Dunlop-Tire? For doing this, each of them pocketed $6250 their share of the $25,000 prize money offered by Goodyear Canada Inc. which markets Dunlop tires in Canada. This was a marketing stunt that took branding to a new extreme. People are now branded, with brand names, to serve as a walking advertisement. 24 year old Jason Dunlop-tire of Winnipeg did it, and when folks made fun of him he says “I don’t care. I have the money and they don’t.” A San Diego man offered to change his name and shave his head so a company logo could be painted on it. Last summer, a NY couple tried to auction naming rights to their newborn with bids starting at $500,000 US. What will people think of next? Wally Wal-Mart?
So you see, there is something in humanity, in us, that would sell-out even our names just to get more of what we think is important for the moment. Will the people who will not sell out their identities stand up? Some here may say sure I will never do that!
Last week, we see more than enough the assaults on children, sad story of a mother Andrea Yates who killed her children in Texas, Quatsino, BC of 6 kids killed, story of Alexis Currie, missing and presumed murdered. That’s horrible, ain’t it? I will never do that!
Yet we also see the other side of humanity… The heroic rescue efforts of the NYPD and NY firefighters in the tragic aftermath of 9/11. We see them trying to rescue survivors in midst of the rubble. We salute them. We see that noble desire in us, we want to be like them! People buy that stuff, we see merchandise that has NYPD, NY Firefighters we buy that up! We see folks like Mother Teresa who would give a life of luxury to serve the poor and undesirables, the untouchable class in Calcutta and we applaud that. We too want to be really heroic. Last week, as health care dollars in BC become scarce, I hear folks are saying pay the doctors what they deserve, we applaud them, we see them helping the sick healing the sick… they are our heroes.
THIS IS THE STORY of our humanity – is it not? In there, is a mix of heroism, a mix of cowardice, a mix of sinfulness, yet in that mix a sense of the image of the Creator, who is love and who is good, who is beautiful and perfect and holy. We are mixed up!
In our text, this morning, we find the same can be said about Peter. Wasn’t he heroic? In Matthew 16, Jesus called him the Rock, macho name, isn’t it? Kinda like a wrestling type nickname, the Rock! Here’s what Rock said in our text, v.33 “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” Then in v.35 “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” How many of us have said that to Jesus too? We pledge to follow Christ on the day we Him Christ into our hearts, on the day of baptism, on the day we rededicated…
Here is the same guy who would jump out of the boat and walked on water toward Jesus (Matt.14). How daring can you get? Talk about fear factor! That’s like 1st century bungee jumping, without the bungee. Go Pete! Go! We too want to have a faith like that, a faith that can walk on water. And some of us have done some pretty bold things for God too…
We see the heroic Rock … He was one the closest friends of Jesus… we see him at the private preview of the glory of Jesus with James and John on a high mountain in Matt. 17. This was the time where Jesus appearance changed, with his face shining like the Sun, clothes becoming white as light. Jesus was transfigured. In midst of that episode, Peter was the only disciple who was credited to have something and he said “Lord, it is good for us to be here…” (17:4) Peter was action oriented, he was the one who defended Jesus drew a sword and struck the high priest’s servant, Malchus, and loped off his right ear (JN.18:10). We too have acted, sometimes foolishly, but with sincerity to follow Christ…
But if we to get a clearer picture of Peter we see the other side too… Peter was not in tune with Jesus… Matt.16:21-24
1From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
23Jesus turned and said to Peter, "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."
Peter could not stand the idea that Jesus must be killed. That there has to be a Good Friday. He did not want it to happen, but that will thwart the purposes of Jesus. He was sent to be our substitute for God’s righteous punishment for sin. That idea of Peter’s was Satanic, it was adversarial. I think we too, have done that, not follow through to see God’s view on what’s occurring in our lives. We too have the in mind the things of men not the things of God, as we get seduced by this world’s glamour and promises for a better life.
Then we see Peter, The Big Fisherman, was very bravely said “I will not fall away, never disown you, Jesus.” Became the Betrayer as Jesus predicted he would be. In Matt.26:69-75 we read the story:
69Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. "You also were with Jesus of Galilee," she said.
70But he denied it before them all. "I don’t know what you’re talking about," he said.
71Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, "This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth."
72He denied it again, with an oath: "I don’t know the man!"
73After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away."
74Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, "I don’t know the man!"
75Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Talk about a about face… Never fall away, never disown… 3 times it occurred, twice to a girl (talk about losing your macho quick) and once to some other folk who weren’t even soldiers, or arresting him… He quickly resorted to the gutter language you hear many fisherman use when the big one got away. How many of us here have resorted by to the old familiar ways, to the gutter language and slipped and fell away?
O Why Simon Peter? And look at us o why are we so silly to have betrayed, so cowardly to deny Jesus? Will the real Simon Peter please stand up? Why so mix up, crossed up?
B. People are complex.
In one way or another, he is very much like all of us. Peter was a complex person; because no one is truly one-dimensional. At different times and under different circumstances Peter behaved in different manners. At times he was timid and weak, cowering before accusers. At other times he was bold and heroic, standing up against those in positions of power. In his passionate way, not understanding God’s purposes, he even stood up to Jesus when he said “Never Lord, this shall never happen to you”.
Are we all not like that? Complex, not merely one dimensional? Did we not say, I will follow you Jesus… and then fall away too? Did we not ever walk the same road Peter has? Acted bravely then suddenly becoming fearful? Will the Real Me stand up? Who am I?
Here’s the real me… as expressed by Paul the Apostle in Romans 7:15 ff. (NLT):
I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. 16I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good…. 18I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. 19When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway…. 21It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22I love God’s law with all my heart. 23But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin?[
The inconsistency we see in Peter’s behaviour is mirrored here by Paul’s struggle. That inconsistency, brings tension… “what a miserable person I am! Who will free me?” …. Shamefully we too have had episodes of denials of Christ. We too go after the easy way out, succumbing to sin’s offer, to its seducing power like bugs drawn to oncoming light, but resulting in being squished and smashed on a windscreen of a vehicle. We know we would be heading to same destructive end as those bugs. But O those bright neon lights of sin, it seduces, it commands us to come and give in, we are hypnotized, we are drawn and we give in do, like Paul , , “I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. 19When I want to do good, I don’t.” And like Peter! But do we admit it? Or do we sweep our struggle with sin under the carpet, saying it doesn’t matter. It does! Look at Peter and Paul’s struggle, they wept! They know it’s all wrong… You can see how they publicly struggled, written in pages of the Bible… You can sense the tension they have in their lives!
C. Sunday’s A Comin’
Tony Campolo tells the story of a black Baptist preacher in the inner city of Philadelphia who preached a sermon Tony says he’ll never forget. Tony preached first. He was "hot," so "hot" he says, that he even stopped and listened to himself. He sat down and said to his pastor: "Now see if you can top that one!"
"Son," said the black pastor, "you ain’t seen nothin’ yet." For an hour and a half the pastor repeated these words over and over again: "It’s Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’."
"I’ve never heard anything like it," Tony said. "He just kept saying it. The congregation was spellbound by the power of it."
"It’s Friday. Mary, Jesus’ mother is crying her eyes out. That’s her son up there on the cross. He’s dying the agonizing death of crucifixion as a criminal. But it’s only Friday," the preacher said. "Sunday’s a comin’.
"The apostles were really down and out. Jesus, their leader, was being
killed by evil men. But it was only Friday. Sunday is a comin’.
"The Devil thought he had won. ’You thought you could outwit me,’ he said,’but I’ve got you now.’ But it was only Friday. Sunday is a comin’."
"He went on like that for 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour. Each time he
said, ’It’s Friday,’ the crowd began to respond, ’but Sunday’s comin’. An hour and 15 minutes.
"It’s Friday and evil has triumphed over good. Jesus is dying up there on the cross. The world is turned upside down. This shouldn’t happen. But it’s only Friday. Sunday’s a comin’.
"Mary Magdalene was out of her mind with grief. Her Lord was being killed. Jesus had turned her life from sin to grace. Now he was dead. But it’s only Friday. Sunday is a comin’."
The place was rocking. For an hour and a half. "Friday! But Sunday is a
comin’. Friday. But Sunday is a comin’.
"The sisters and the brothers are suffering. It just isn’t fair...all they have to go through, but it’s only Friday. Sunday is comin’."
"I was exhausted," Tony said. "It was the best sermon I’ve ever heard. The old preacher was saying it and the people were with him. ’It’s Friday, but Sunday is a comin’. It was powerful," Tony said. "It was personal."
As we reflect on the Easter story, we will see that much of our world is shrouded in the deadness of a Friday, where life is extinguished, where sin seems to win out, where darkness seem to dominate. Tremendous tension… with all our complexity… problems.. But folks, Sunday’s a coming… Jesus rose from the dead, that’s when the dead come back to life, where sin is extinguished, where light pushes back the darkness…. Hallelujah! Yes, the sheep of the flock will be scattered…(Friday) but Jesus will rise, “I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” (v.32)
D. Restoration: the Key is receiving Jesus
So we see Peter’s volatility gradually gave way to rock-hard steadfast faith based on the Sunday event. Jesus went ahead… he is not leaving behind a corpse! He will deal with Fridays, there’s gonna be a rising up from the ugliness of death, defeat, there’ll victory! Yeah! It was after the Resurrection, after Pentecost, and with the memory of the transfigured Jesus still vivid in his mind, Peter became the pillar of the apostolic church in Jerusalem. His story is our story… we too can triumph over the Friday’s darkness with resurrected life. For if God can restore a Jesus denying, shattered defeated weeping heap called Peter, surely He could restore you and I.
Peter’s dramatic sermon on the Day of Pentecost was followed by the healing of the lame man by the gate Beautiful. When the lame man begged for alms, Peter said, "’Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk’" (Acts 3:6). The man departed walking, leaping, and praising God.
But not everyone was pleased about this episode. The authorities, troubled by the apostles’ preaching of the Resurrection, has Peter and John cast into prison. Then, before the authorities, Peter preached a courageous sermon, provoking even more hostility from them. They therefore commanded Peter and John to speak no more of Jesus. But the apostles replied: "’Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard’" (Acts 4:19-20). He cannot help but speak of God’s transforming power of love forgiveness, of not needing anything but the name of Jesus.
The authorities saw a different Peter...a transformed Peter, no longer cowering in front of a girl. With characteristic understatement, Luke records: "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus" (v.13).
Here is the crux of the matter, the key that unlocks the personality of Peter — he was a man who had been with Jesus. That’s was the case with Paul as well, as we find the answer to his question quoted earlier : Romans 8:24 (NLT) 24Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? 25Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
What about you today? Facing some tensions in life… You know the good you ought to do, but no matter what you choose the wrong thing. You want God but you can’t make it work. Well, folks, truth is you can’t make it work. Your willpower is not the answer. If the apostles, like Peter and Paul can’t make it work, if they too say, will the real me stand up, and can God accept me as I am? They will only get a mass full of tension, mixed up with good and evil motives, you need to know that life is a whole lot of Fridays… lots of tension… lots of what Peter and Paul experienced.
How do u get rid of that tension. Are u with Jesus? Can people say you are with Jesus? Are u with lust, are u with Internet porn? Are u with lying cheating gossiping, are u denying Jesus or with Jesus? Come back to Jesus. The scene is after Sunday… after the resurrection of Jesus…
John 21…
15After breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?"
"Yes, Lord," Peter replied, "you know I love you."
"Then feed my lambs," Jesus told him.
16Jesus repeated the question: "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
"Yes, Lord," Peter said, "you know I love you."
"Then take care of my sheep," Jesus said.
17Once more he asked him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was grieved that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, "Lord, you know everything. You know I love you."
Jesus said, "Then feed my sheep. 18The truth is, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked and go wherever you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will direct you and take you where you don’t want to go." 19Jesus said this to let him know what kind of death he would die to glorify God. Then Jesus told him, "Follow me."
From that day on, Peter followed Jesus, he found grace, he found love he found forgiveness, he found a mission, he found Jesus could take away his sins, his sin of denying Christ. If God could love me, accept me after I chose to deny Him, he could accept anyone…
It was Paul’s experience… 1 Cor.15:9 as he testified…
9For I am the least of all the apostles, and I am not worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted the church of God.
10But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me--and not without results. For I have worked harder than all the other apostles, yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 11So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach. The important thing is that you believed what we preached to you.
So again I ask, what about you? Are you a heap of defeated, Jesus-denying jello, asking will the real me stand up? Can God ever love accept me as I am. Answer is yes, yes, my friends… otherwise Easter makes no sense. It is nonsensical to celebrate Easter. So the answer is yes, yes, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
So I ask, if you found favor with God, tell others of this good news. Pray for others to know the sweet release. Today some of you no doubt have fallen hard, hear Christ’s word of restoration, Peter and Paul did not merely have a private faith, it was public, it was for all to see, make a public confession as well. Come and receive Jesus as Savior and Lord. They are Christians here who need to make a break with struggle of sin and find freedom, come and pray and seek Jesus and find a renewed mission.
The real you can stand up and receive God’s love today. The real you can find peace with God today. The real you can be received with all the mixed up motives, good and bad and find a loving restoration!
Tell others of your struggle with faith, and how u found Christ to be answer to the tensions you face, and found peace.
If you want to pray with me, to settle the issue of the tension you feel in you, pray with me….
