Introduction
1. Let me ask you a question: Is there someone in your life that you really look up to? Let me ask more specifically: Is there a Christian person that you really look up to, someone who is an example, and maybe even a mentor? It could be someone in your life now, or someone from your past. Perhaps this person has led you along in your walk with the Lord. You’ve come to respect, admire, and love this person over the years. Perhaps in your eyes this person can do no wrong. Have you ever felt that way about another Christian, especially a Christian who has played a powerful role in your Christian walk? What happens if they fail? How do they change in your eyes?
2. Now what about you? Have you in all of your years as a follower of Jesus Christ, knowing that perhaps you are a role model for other, younger, less mature Christians, felt like a failure? Have you ever felt like you dropped the ball? How does that make you feel? And what is Jesus response to your failure?
3. Sometimes we look at people in the Bible and treat them with a lot of reverence and respect. We think of them as our great forefathers of faith. But this is only if we don’t look too closely, because if we do we pretty quickly notice that the people God chooses to use in His service are hardly perfect people. Abraham was a liar. Jacob was a schemer. Moses was a murderer. David was an adulterer. Paul was a persecutor of Christians. These people are our forefathers of faith. And these are just a few examples. More often than not, they are deeply flawed, sinful, imperfect, and sometimes provide us with negative rather than positive examples. Sometimes we look at the people in the Bible and we think, “What was God thinking using these people?”
4. One such example is Simon Peter the apostle and it is him that I want us to look at today. Simon Peter is at the center of our Scripture passage today as we complete our look at the Gospel of John. Simon Peter is an example of the kind of person Jesus calls to follow him. And by looking at Simon Peter we find someone whom we can look up to, someone who can draw encouragement from, someone who can help us in our walk with Christ, precisely because Simon Peter is not perfect.
“Upon this rock . . .”
1. So who is Peter? We first meet Simon Peter in the Gospel of John when his brother Andrew brought him to Jesus (1: 42). And it is when he first meets Jesus that he receives his new name: Peter. Now, Peter was not a proper name at the time. Jesus’ decision to call Simon this is unique – it is a nickname. It’s more a description of who Simon is going to be. The “name” Peter comes from the Greek, Petros; Cephas is a transliteration of the Aramaic version of Petros. Both mean “rock” or “stone.” When Jesus says to Simon, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas,” we might just as well translate this “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Rock.”
2. When Jesus gives Simon the name “Rock” in Matthew’s Gospel, he doesn’t stop with giving Simon this nickname. In Matthew 16: 18 Jesus says: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” Jesus plans on using Simon Peter as the foundation upon which he will build the church. The question is, what kind of “rock” is Simon? And what kind of rock is that upon which to build a church?
3. So we often remember Simon Peter as a great apostle, do we not? Isn’t he the chief apostle? He is often portrayed as the representative disciple. He was even one of the inner-circle along with James and John, among those closest to Jesus. Looking at the book of Acts we can see that he boldly and tirelessly proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. He is the first one to preach Christ to non-Jews. He baptized hundreds, maybe thousands, of people. He performed miracles by healing the sick and raising the dead. People chased his shadow believing that it could heal them. This is Simon Peter the man of success, the great man of God.
4. But that isn’t the whole picture. We also need to remember Simon Peter as the one who tried to walk on water but who began to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus and the waves and wind blew away his faith. He is passionate and impulsive. He often misunderstands Jesus and reacts inappropriately. He may have been the first to confess that Jesus was the Messiah and Son of God, but moments later he refused to believe that Jesus would have to suffer and die. Even though he told Jesus that he would never leave him, he ran away when Jesus was arrested for fear of his own life. And while this Simon Peter did confess that Jesus was Messiah and Son of God, this same man denied three times that he knew Jesus.
5. So our question remains. Who is Simon, the one Jesus called “Rock”? And what kind of rock is he really? Eugene Peterson says that “Peter was a failure in ways that we most dread: he was impotent in a crisis and socially inept. At the arrest of Jesus he collapsed, a hapless, blustering coward; in the most critical situations of his life with Jesus, the confession on the road Caesarea Philippi and the vision on the Mount of transfiguration, he said the most embarrassingly inappropriate things. He was not the companion we would want with us in time of danger, and he was not the kind of person we would feel comfortable with at a social occasion.”
6. Peter was a combination of faithfulness and failure, of able discipleship and bumbling denials, of heartfelt confession and tactless comments. He was the man that Jesus called a “rock,” yes, but just because he was a rock doesn’t mean that he was without fault, sin, and weakness. Christian musician and songwriter Michael Card recorded an album a few years ago called A Fragile Stone and this album is all about Peter the disciple. That’s where I got my sermon title – this CD has been playing in our car lately! Peter is a stone, all right, but if he is he is a fragile stone, a combination of weakness and strength, virtue and sin.
7. Isn’t it strange that Jesus chose this man to be his “rock”? Isn’t it strange to think that Peter, of all people, would be the foundation upon which Christ would build his church? What kind of church do you end up with if this guy is the foundation? I recall seeing a scholar talk about this recently, and he said for him it is comforting to know that Peter, the rock upon which Jesus built his church, is the same one that failed, that denied Jesus, and that wasn’t the perfect disciple. That means that Jesus built the church out of people like us. Another scholar says this: “Peter not only represents all the disciples as their spokesperson and, with all his strengths and weaknesses, [stands for] the typical Christian, but he also plays a unique and unrepeatable role in the founding of the new community.” Think about that: Peter stands for the typical disciple. How is that the case? Well, the typical disciple knows success and failure, weakness and strength, sin and glory. Peter is not so different from us. Michael Card, commenting on writing the title song for his album, “A Fragile Stone,” says that “Simon’s new title, ‘rock,’ was not meant to signify strength but simply something to build with.” In other words, being called “Rock” didn’t mean that Simon had more strength than anyone else, but that this is the kind of person out of which Jesus plans on building his church. Look at Peter, and you see the average disciple. Look at Peter, and perhaps you see yourself. It is out of this sort of material that Christ builds his church.
We Are All Fragile Stones
1. Peter himself “builds” – excuse the pun! – on this idea in his own letter. In 1 Peter 2: 5 he says: “Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.” While there’s more going on in this passage than this, I don’t think it’s too much to suggest that Peter is also recalling his own name here. He was called a “stone” by Jesus. On that “stone” Jesus would build his church. Here Peter is calling all disciples and followers of Jesus “stones.” And we, as “stones,” are being built into a spiritual house. Jesus builds his church out of us. He builds his church out of people like you, like me, and like Peter.
2. Peter was “a fragile stone,” an imperfect, even sinful, example of a follower of Jesus. So are all of us. Just as Peter was a fragile and weak rock, so are we. But guess what? God still chooses us. God still wants to use us. And more than that, He wants to use us to construct a body, a temple, a holy priesthood, and a church. Our failures, weaknesses, sins, and shortcomings are not barriers to God using us. I asked earlier what kind of church you end up with when you build it using people like Peter. Well, you get a church like us. You get the church you see.
3. At a pastor’s meeting, an old pastor stood up to give his testimony and many there were surprised at what he said. Here is his testimony: “I am a lay pastor of a small, not-growing church. I am not ordained. I am not seminary trained. I was asked to leave both Bible colleges I attended. I am divorced and remarried. On any given day I am capable of being a jerk with my wife and family. I am terminally insecure, which causes me to compensate with bouts of arrogance. At times people irritate me, and I hide from them. I am impulsive, which causes me say things I shouldn’t and make promises I cannot keep. I am inconsistent. My walk with Christ is a stuttering, stumbling, bumbling attempt to follow Him. At times His presence is so real I can’t stop the tears, and then, without warning, I can’t find Him. Some days my faith is strong, impenetrable, and immovable—and some days my faith is weak, pathetic, helpless, knocked about like a paper cup floating on the ocean in the middle of a hurricane. I have been a Christian for 45 years. I am familiar with the vocabulary of faith, and I am often asked to give advice about matters of faith. But I am still a mess. I am light-years away from being able to say with Paul, “Copy me.” I am 56 years old and still struggling—a flawed, clumsy, unstable follower of Jesus. A bona fide failure.” Doesn’t this sound like how Peter must have felt at times? Doesn’t this sound like we feel sometimes?
Conclusion
1. Peter’s biggest failure no doubt is his denying Jesus three times. Running away at Jesus’ arrest was nothing compared to denying that he even knew Jesus. Look at our story today. Here we have the disciples encounter Jesus on the beach after a night of unsuccessful fishing. They don’t recognize him at first, but once Jesus tells them to let their nets down again and they catch an abundance of fish, John realizes who it is that told them to do so. He says to Peter, “It is the Lord.” What does Peter do? He leaps into the water and swims to shore. He doesn’t bother to come with the others as they row into shore. He and the other disciples end up having breakfast with their risen Lord.
2. Jesus asks Peter three times: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” And each time Peter answers: “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Except for the last time when Peter is sad because Jesus keeps asking him the same question. Then he says: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Three times Jesus asks him. Peter denied Jesus three times. One mirrors the other. Jesus is redeeming Peter from his earlier failure. “Three times had Peter openly denied his Lord, and three times did Jesus draws from him the assurance of his love and loyalty, by pressing home that pointed question, like a barbed arrow, to his wounded heart. Jesus, before the assembled disciples, brought out the depth of Peter’s penitence, and showed how thoroughly humbled the once boasting disciple was.” “Instead of rebuking Peter for his failures, Christ was giving him another chance to prove himself. Christ is not looking at Peter’s past. He is looking at what Peter can do for the future. Christ is not concerned about Peter’s resume. He is concerned about Peter’s redemption.” “Peter’s failures were turned into fame, his defeat into victory, not because of human initiative, but because of the divine initiative.”
3. Just like Peter’s earlier failure can be forgiven and redeemed, so can ours. God doesn’t stop using us because of mistakes we make, failures we suffer, and sins we commit. We should not let past failures keep us from serving God in the present because God forgives and redeems. We should not let potential future failures keep us from serving because just as God calls, He also equips. We should not let the failures of others in the church keep us from allowing them to serve because can forgive and redeem them just as He did us. God calls to forgive as well.
4. Ultimately it’s not about us, our weaknesses or our strengths. Ultimately it’s all about God. Ultimately it’s about the fact that God builds His church. He builds it out of us. He builds it using us. But He is the builder. Ultimately we should allow our failures, and yes, even our sins, to throw us back into the arms of our merciful God, for He is the only one who can redeem us, forgive, and continue to use despite our sins, failures and shortcomings.
5. God can use even our failures to His glory. Let me tell you one more story. One day the apostle Paul was in Jerusalem and was staying with the family of a young man named Mark. Mark got interested with the mission of the church. So he decided to ask Paul and his uncle Barnabas if he could join them in their missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas probably thought that Mark could be of help with their luggage as they journey from one place to another. So they accepted Mark’s proposal. As a result, Mark joined them in their journey. And so far Mark had been a good help both to Paul and Barnabas. Until they reached the place of Cyprus. Mark has heard about the persecution in this place, and he became overwhelmed with fear and discouragement, and wavered for a time in his purpose to give himself wholeheartedly to the Lord’s work. Mark decided to go home at a time when his services were needed most by the apostles. When Mark got home, he probably wanted to stay out of his friends at the church, fearing for their scrutiny of why he is home. He probably entered through the backdoor of their house, trying to evade anyone. When his mother asked him why he is home, Mark was probably embarrassed to say that he became discouraged after experiencing hardships in God’s work. Mark was a failure. Until someone in Jerusalem tapped him on his shoulder, tried to encourage him, and told him that his services were needed at the church at Jerusalem. And that someone is no other than Peter himself. And as we know, Mark became the writer of one of the four Gospels. Peter experienced what it is like to fail. But he also experienced what is like to be given another chance. He experienced how Christ came early that morning to turn his failures into victory. He experienced how to be forgiven by Christ and be entrusted with the same responsibility where he once failed. And now Peter could do the same thing to Mark. And you know what? He can do the same thing with you and with me. Because it is not about our weaknesses and strengths but about what God can do with them. For we are all fragile stones, and it is out of these stones that Christ chooses to build his church.
