Several years ago a professor at a New England college, loved by students and alumni, adopted a plan to help discouraged students. Whenever he noticed a discouraged student, he made it a point of giving that student a better mark than what he really deserved and of seeing that others in the class knew of that mark. The professor noted that invariably that the student would perk up at the grade and then earn that grade the next time. Wouldn’t it be nice if that happened not just in the classroom, but also in the workplace, in the home, in the neighborhood, and in the church?
Unfortunately it doesn’t and the result is a great deal of discouragement all around us and in us. We struggle with feeling and believing that we are significant and that we matter to someone and there is a reason for our existence.
But we do matter to someone and there is a reason for our existence. One of the most important parts of our identity in Christ is that we are and we can become significant in Him.
This important aspect of significance is illustrated in the life of someone that I believe many people can identity with in this day and age. His life is an open book and when we read it we learn something about ourselves and we also learn about God’s view of us as we observe God, through His son, Jesus Christ, bringing significance to this man’s life.
The man is Peter, one of the first followers of Christ, one of the disciples, called by Jesus to follow Him. We have been given access to at least a part of his life in several New Testament books. There are many points of entry into Peter’s life. But, today we begin at a point of profound and devastating failure because I believe that it is in this chapter of Peter’s life that we can fully understand our significance to God and our significance in God. It is the point at which Peter denies Jesus.
All four of the Gospels record Peter’s denial and the events leading up to it. Three of the four record Jesus’ statement that Peter will deny Him three times before the rooster crows and Peter’s denial of Jesus’ assertion. But, I am going to focus on John’s account in chapter 18, starting with verse 25. I encourage you to follow along.
Jesus has been betrayed and arrested and Peter, who reacted violently to the arrest as we read in verse 10, follows Jesus and the arresting party to the High Priest where at first he was not aloud to enter the courtyard until John (the other disciple spoken of in this passage) said something to the woman guarding the entrance. As Peter walked in, the woman said, “Aren’t you one of Jesus’ disciples?” “No, I am not,” is the reply.
The account then shifts to the initial questioning of Jesus and then back to Peter who is asked a second time, “Aren’t you one of his disciples?” “I am not.”
Then a third questioner, a relative of the one who received Peter’s sword strike, asked, “Didn’t I see you out there in the olive grove with Jesus?” Again Peter denied it. And the rooster crowed.
Luke records in chapter 22 and verse 61 that when the rooster crowed, Jesus turned and looked at Peter and Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him a short time earlier and Peter left the courtyard, “crying bitterly,” as verse 62 indicates.
What Jesus had said to Peter came true. He denied that he knew Jesus. And now Peter experienced failure head on. Peter loved Jesus. Peter had said, “I’ll follow you to death Lord!” only to back down and, in fear, deny that he was one of Jesus’ followers.
Have you had moments like this? Have you felt the heat of fear when you have been challenged about your commitment to Christ in an environment that was hostile and mocking? Have you had a moment of weakness when you denied your relationship with God and tasted the bitterness of denial through disobedience? We can relate to Peter can’t we? We understand his emotions, his feelings, and we experience the ache in his heart because of his denial that he is one of God’s followers.
When I study these segments of the gospels each year in preparation for Easter I get nosy. I wonder, where did the disciples go after they fled? What did they do? In the four accounts, only John is mentioned at being present at the cross in Jesus’ final hours before His death. How did the other 10, Judas having killed himself, cope with the loss of Christ and their own fears and shame at running away? Where was their source of significance now? It couldn’t have been in their relationship with Jesus. They ran from Him! They denied Him! They betrayed Him! Besides, He was as good as dead!
Our key verse for today is Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
I want us to notice and reflect on three phrases in this verse: 1. We are God’s masterpiece. 2. He has created us anew in Christ. 3. We can do the good things he planned.
There is a cause and effect in this verse. The cause is in the phrase “He has created us anew in Christ Jesus!” The effect, the result, is two fold, “we are God’s masterpiece,” and “we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” The first effect is about our being, about who we are. The second effect is about our actions, what we do. Both are being and our actions can be forever changed because
Well as we read in Luke 24, the eleven have gotten back together and hear reports of a risen Christ. Peter and John, as recorded in John 20, go running to the tomb. John gets there first and only peeks into the tomb. But, Peter goes into the tomb and finds it vacant. But there is still unfinished business for the 11.
In John 21 we find the closure to this unfinished business. Seven of the 11 are back at fishing. They have been out all night. No success. Then someone on shore says, “Try the right side.” And they can’t hang on to the net because there are so many fish.
“It’s the Lord!” And, boom! Peter jumps out of the boat and swims to shore. Jesus brings him back into the fold. “Do you love me more than these?” Yes, Lord you know I love you.” “Feed my lambs.”
A second time, “Do you love me?” “Yes, Lord you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep.”
Finally a third time, “Do you love me?” Grief hits with the third question. But on this third time not a denial, not grief, not a look, not a rooster crowing, but an affirmation, a commitment, “Lord you know everything. You know I love you.” “Then feed my sheep.”
The cause and effect of Ephesians 2:10 is at work here. Because God has created us anew in Christ Jesus through Christ’ death and resurrection, Peter is embraced by Jesus, he is forgiven by Jesus and because he is, he is God’s masterpiece and Jesus gives him an assignment to take care of, to love, to feed, the flock, the people of God, the Church because these are the good things that God planned for Peter long ago.
At the beginning of this series, I asked you a question, “Who are you?” Today we answer that question, “I am God’s masterpiece!”
It has been a month since Easter. Soon it will be two then three, then four months. Are you living now and is it your intention to be living then, not in the light of Easter but in the reality of Easter? In the power of Easter? In the hope of Easter? In the forgiveness of Easter?
CONCLUSION:
David Yarborough tells the story from one of Max Lucado’s books of a lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century was quite wealthy but also quite frugal. The people were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home.
Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appeared at her door. He asked if her electricity was working well, and she assured him it was. "I’m wondering if you can explain something to me," he said. "Your meter shows scarcely any usage. Are you using your power?" "Certainly," she answered. "Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough to light my candles; then I turn them off."
Yarborough goes on to say, “She tapped into the power but did not use it. Her house is connected but not altered. Don’t we make the same mistake? We, too-with our souls saved but our hearts unchanged - are connected but not altered. Trusting Christ for salvation but resisting transformation. We occasionally flip the switch, but most of the time we settle for shadows.
Living in the light of Easter requires us to use the power not of a candle but of electricity. Living in the shadows makes us miserable. Is that all we want to settle for?
This is not only true for individuals but it is also true for churches. Let me ask a question, “Do we merely want to live in the shadows of the past? Of the “what might have been”? Is that what God wants for us? NO! God has so much more for us! But, it requires us to surrender. To surrender what ever it requires us to surrender. Past difficulties. Past conflicts between one another. Past dreams and plans. Past victories.
I believe that God has a future for us and I think that He wants us to know what it is. But, are we prepared to hear it, to accept it, and then do it? We won’t be until, until, we find and accept our acceptance, our security, and our significance in God and God alone.
What are we going to do?
