Luke 22:31-34; 54-62 – When a Believer Fails
Today, as we continue to look at The Life of Jesus, we are looking at a familiar story from Scripture. We are going to look at Peter, in particular, his failure. But what it really a failure of faith? What was it? And are we likely to go through it some time? Let’s read from Luke 22:31-34 and 22:54-62.
Now, I suppose most of us have heard the story of Peter’s failure. This man had been one of the most staunch followers of Jesus, right from the start. He had been a fisherman, a hard-nosed, stubborn, rough, coarse blue-collar guy who earned his living from braving the elements and hoping luck would bring him enough fish to feed his family and pay his bills.
I find that people either approach the story of Peter with sympathy or with judgement. People either feel bad for what happened and show compassion towards the guy, or they analyze the situation to death. They wrestle with questions of why he did it, or where he would have gone – to heaven or hell – if he had died then. And I also find that the ones who sympathize with Peter are the ones who best know how sinful they themselves are. The ones who judge and condemn and say, “he should have known better” are the ones who are least willing to admit their own flaws. They may admit that they are sinful but won’t name any sin specifically. After all, if they admit to any sin, then they would feel obligated to change, and they really don’t want to.
Today I want to sympathize with Peter. I want us to look at his failure and gain some encouragement through it. First, let’s look at the context. It was at the Last Supper. Jesus would lay His life down in a matter of hours, and each word that He said was not wasted. Every word carried deep meaning. But the disciples were missing the point. They were arguing about who would be the greatest. They wanted authority. They wanted power. They want to rule.
They had had these conversations before. Jesus rebuked James and John, the Sons of Thunder, for wanting to get ahead in life. Well, at least, they wanted to get ahead of everybody else. Judas, a character we’re looking at in the evenings, certainly had plans of advancement – of getting ahead, of getting what he wanted.
And Peter was no exception, either. Peter wanted to save his own hide. He wasn’t concerned with sacrifice or selflessness. He wanted to be in charge. He wanted to make the decisions in his own life.
But the greatest lessons he would ever learn would come in from being in charge but from letting Jesus make the decisions. Peter was about to learn to have a tender heart. Peter, which means Rock, was about to have his stony heart smashed. Peter’s greatest lesson would not be about greatness, but about grace. Peter was about to fail, and fail hard, but he was also about to experience forgiveness.
I think it’s significant that Jesus calls him Simon in v31. It was Jesus who first called this Simon fellow Peter, and so I guess Jesus can call him Simon again. You see, as I said, Peter means rock. Now, the name Simon may mean “good listener”, but it may also mean “reed”, as in, easily moved. Personally I don’t think the guy was a very good listener, but at least on occasion he was led astray.
I think Jesus calls him Simon because he was about to waver. He was about to be not so strong and courageous. He was about to fall. Whether or not Peter resented being called his previous name, I don’t know. But he didn’t like the idea that he was about to fall. He said, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” He argued with Jesus. He said that he was certainly not going to fall. Maybe in essence he called Jesus a liar, but maybe he was just saying that Jesus was wrong. Either way, Peter was about to tumble.
The evening progressed like this. Judas flees, Jesus and the 11 disciples end up in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas brings the mob to arrest Jesus, and after a skirmish in which Peter lobs off the ear of the high priest’s servant, all the disciples flee. Mark runs off naked, and the others just run off.
Now, Peter and John resurface at the high priest’s courtyard. From there they can see Jesus’ interrogation as they stand around warming themselves at a charcoal fire. Three times, Peter is asked if he knows this Jesus guy that everybody’s all in an uproar about. Twice he responded with, “No, I don’t.” The 3rd time was more of an oath or a curse: “For God’s sake, I don’t know him!”
The Bible tells us that at this point, a rooster crows, Jesus looks down, Peter is suddenly filled with remorse for what he has just done, and he runs off into the night. Peter is really Simon after all.
Now, what just happened here is what Jesus said in v31: “Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.” The “you” in that verse means all of the disciples, not just Peter. It’s plural, which means that Satan asked to run all of them through the shredder. Likely we all feel that way sometimes, like the enemy has just been using our souls in a volleyball game.
Now I want to share with you 2 things from this passage that should encourage you next time this happens. First, you need to know that Jesus is on your side. Jesus told Simon Peter that he, Jesus, was praying for him. Jesus knew Peter would stumble, but he was still supporting him. We often picture a God who wants to strike us down, who wants to catch us sinning and messing up.
But knowing it will happen and somehow desiring it to happen are completely different. Jesus knew that Peter was about to fail, but I have a hard time believing He wanted it to happen. Yes, it worked out for the good. Peter learned about grace and forgiveness through it all. But Jesus’ prophecy was about knowing what would happen, not pre-determining that it had to happen.
And Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail. Jesus said that Peter would “turn back” to Him, meaning that Jesus knew Peter would stumble. But Jesus prayed Pete’s faith would not actually fail.
Well, you can look at this and say: 1) Jesus’ prayer was not answered because Peter’s faith did fail, or 2) Peter’s faith did not fail. I lean towards the 2nd one. Jesus knew Peter would do what he did, but Jesus prayed that his faith wouldn’t actually fail in the process.
What this says to me is that even when a person stumbles, it doesn’t necessarily mean that his or her faith is gone. I know that in the past people used to hold to some hyper form of Arminianism. That is, even if you are a Christian, and you sin, and you die before you get a chance to ask forgiveness, you will go to hell. I don’t buy into that. I have to believe that grace acts as a safety net.
But then there are those who say that once you are a Christian, you can do anything. It’s under the blood. All your sins, past, present and future are all forgiven. I have a hard time believing that too. If sin is serious enough for Jesus to die for, I can’t picture God not caring at all if we do it, even if we are Christians and are forgiven.
Again, we see Peter, acting like a coward, denying he knew Jesus not once or twice but three times. Jesus said it would happen, and it did. But it wasn’t Peter’s faith that failed. It was his performance. It was his behavior. It was his actions. He still knew and loved Jesus – that’s why he felt guilty. But for a moment he stumbled. His actions were not up to par. He didn’t do what he should have, but he still had his faith. He didn’t need to be “re-saved”. All he had to do was, as v34 says, “turn back.”
So yes, he sinned. Yes, he stumbled. Yes, he fell. But his faith didn’t fail. It was his performance. His actions did not line up with what he knew to be right, and he knew it, and Jesus knew it too. There was no hiding it or denying it. Folks, let me tell you, there’s nothing to hide from God. He knows your thoughts. He knows every hidden thing you do.
And even though it is not God’s plan for you to do things that you know are wrong, you do not become un-usable afterwards. There is no sin that God cannot pick you up from after. There is no level of falling away that you cannot be rescued from. Unless, of course, you don’t turn back. If you don’t turn back, and you wallow in your guilt or your mistakes, and you don’t try to make things right, and you don’t ask for forgiveness, then it’s your will not to get back up. Not His.
But Peter did return after his failing performance. Jesus dished out the forgiveness, and Peter went on to become a leader in the church. He was not so concerned with being right or first or great afterwards. He had been humbled. He knew that grace and mercy and compassion were much more important than rights and privileges. God used Peter’s failure to make him a better believer, stronger in his faith. Even though Peter had failed, he was certainly not a failure.
So I say, when you fail, which happens, don’t try to rationalize it. Don’t try to say, “Well, I couldn’t help it.” Don’t blame someone else for your choices. When you get angry at your kids, it’s not your kids’ fault, no matter what they have done to drive you to it. Admit it’s your failure as a parent, not theirs as kids.
Don’t try to deny it. God knows. Don’t try to ignore it. Don’t wait until you forget it, because that may never happen. Just turn back. Admit your failures. Admit you goofed up. Admit you fell down. Don’t hide it under a theology that says, “Well, I don’t have to sin, so I guess I didn’t.” Or a theology that says, “Well, I’m human. I can’t help it. It’s not my fault.”
No no no. Just put the blame where it belongs: on you. Come to God and admit to Him that you did whatever you did. Ask Him to forgive you. Ask Him to take you back. And He will. And if you remain teachable, then He’ll use to you strengthen other people through it all.
Perhaps you heard of the large two-engined train was crossing Canada. After it had gone some distance, one of the engines broke down. "No problem," the engineer thought, and carried on at half power.
Farther on down the line, the other engine broke down, and the train came to a standstill.
The engineer decided he should inform the passengers about why the train had stopped, and made the following announcement:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that both engines have failed, and we will be stuck here for some time. The good news is that you decided to take the train and not fly."
The good news is that there is hope even in failure.
