The Credentials Of The Apostle Peter (Part 1) Series

The Credentials Of The Apostle Peter

(Part 1 – His Ministry)

II Peter 1:16-21

Generally, when a minister is ordained he will meet with the Presbytery (or ordination council as some may call it) prior to the formal ordination service. This is a time when others who have already been through the ordination process have the opportunity to share words of encouragement and/or question the candidate concerning his beliefs and doctrinal views. Once all comments have been made and questions have been answered, the Presbytery will vote on whether or not to recommend the candidate for ordination.

When I went through this process, one question that I was asked stands out about all others. A wise older pastor spoke up and said, “if we take this vote and you are not recommended for ordination what will you do?" I responded by stating that regardless of their decision I was going to continue to preach the Gospel because Jesus called me to do so.

In my study there are two documents that are very precious to me. One is a Certificate of Ordination, and the other is a License Into The Gospel Ministry. Every day when I enter my office, those documents are a constant reminder that the congregation of Mt. Olive Baptist Church and a group of well-respected ministers had though enough of me to endorse my ministry.

As wonderful and humbling as that is, it cannot even begin to compare to the sense of awe that I experience every time I think that Jesus Christ Himself chose, called, and commissioned me to represent Him.

Sadly, there are many people, filling pulpits, pastoring churches, and running religious organizations that were never truly called by the Lord; even worse is the reality that many of them have never truly been born again.

It seems that every time we turn on a tv or radio or log on to the internet we are confronted with false prophets and teachers. Though this phenomenon is abundant in our day, it is not anything new. In fact, Peter dealt with the influence of false teachers over 1900 years ago.

In the closing verses of 2 Peter chapter 1 and throughout the entirety of 2 Peter chapter 2, the Apostle defends the authenticity of his ministry and confronts the actions of false prophets that were seeking to harm Christ’s Church. I would like to take some time and listen to Peter’s defense and examine “The Credential Of The Apostle Peter”.

Credentials speak of “an achievement, personal quality, or aspect of a person's background, used to indicate that they are qualified for something". If there was ever a man qualified to share the good news of Jesus it was Simon Peter. He was a man who had first-hand experience concerning the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus. Peter was there for the duration and knew without any doubt that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah.

During his time walking with Jesus Peter certainly had some moments of failure. Perhaps the most severe was the fact that he denied even knowing Jesus on the eve of the Crucifixion. Thankfully, as a result of the longsuffering of his Savior, Peter returned to Jesus and experienced restoration. In fact, the word restoration does not fully articulate the amazing transformation that happened in Peter’s life after he encountered Jesus after His resurrection. If you compare this man before and after the resurrection, you do not just see a changed man, you see a completely different man. The Gospels, Acts and his own Epistles reveal that Peter spent the remainder of his life sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in fact he would ultimately lose his life in defense and service of his Lord.

The ministry that Peter was involved in and the message that he shared stand in contrast to the false prophets that were infiltrating and harming the church when he wrote this letter. I invite you to look with me to v16-18 as we examine:

I. THE MINISTRY OF THE APOSTLE PETER

In our day, anyone can start a so called "ministry". There are hundreds of thousands of ministries here in America. But just because you call an organization a church that doesn't mean that Jesus is in it. In fact many "ministries" that wear the name Christian are anything but that. This was not the case for Peter; when you examine his ministry you see that it was endorsed by the Savior. Notice:

A. IT WAS AN APPOINTED MINISTRY

Peter was called personally by Jesus and He was commissioned by Him. It was the desire of His Lord that Peter spend his days spreading the good news concerning God’s Kingdom. Notice that:

1) HE WAS APPOINTED TO EVANGELIZE

When Jesus first called Peter to be one of His Disciples, Jesus said to him “follow Me and I will make you to become a fisher of men” (Matthew 4:19). Prior to meeting Jesus, Peter had spent his days catching fish. It is apparent that he had been successful in this endeavor. But, when he met Jesus, everything changed.