We’re continuing on with Peter, a close friend of Jesus, and his journey of highs and lows. Peter had great highs with his courage in acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, and how Jesus blessed him for this revelation. However, Peter also faced lows, such as when he reprimanded Jesus for predicting his own suffering and death, which led Jesus to rebuke him. Life can be challenging but try to view your situations from God’s perspective, rather than our human one, recognizing Jesus as the Son of God. Okay let’s jump into Matthew chapter 16.
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Transcription:
Have you ever had a mountaintop experience that was quickly followed by a long stroll in a valley? Like you went from a high to a low? It’s a human thing. Hi. Welcome to the Bible for Busy People. I’m Erica, your host, and this week and next week you and I are going to get to know one of the most relatable humans who ever lived. His name was Peter. He was a close friend of the Lord Jesus, one of his closest friends, and he had many highs and lows as he walked with Jesus. Does that sound familiar? Because it does to me. Peter was a passionate man. Sometimes he was a little impulsive, but the thing that I appreciate the most about his story is that he was a hot mess and Jesus loved him. Anyway, I hope that you receive that today. Whether you’re feeling like a hot mess right now as you’re listening to this podcast, or maybe weeks from now you’re having a hot mess moment. Remember Peter. Remember that he got knocked down in life. He took some really big punches. Sometimes he punched himself in the face, so to speak, but he always got back up and took Jesus’ hand and moved on. Today, I want to invite you to join me in the book of Matthew, Matthew’s gospel chapter 16, verse 13.
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” 15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Now, I want to pitch a tent here because this was a mic drop moment. Okay? I don’t know if there was a silence in this space. The Bible doesn’t tell us. We’re going to read how Jesus replies in seconds here, but I imagine that there were some jaws that dropped in that group. Maybe they were sitting by a fire when this happened and it was night. Maybe they were enjoying a meal together. I don’t know what the scene was, but I can imagine the expressions on the faces of Jesus as followers. Like, wow. They were probably thinking. Peter had the guts to say what we were all thinking, but we were afraid to look at Peter. Wow, dude! I’m imagining some of the thoughts of Jesus’s closest friends. Picking it up in verse 17 now.
Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell[e] will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Now, again, the Bible doesn’t tell us, but I imagine that there was a silence that followed these words. Everybody was in shock and everybody was in awe of what just transpired between them. Jesus admitted that he was the Messiah, God’s son, the Savior of the world, and Peter for all his faults and flaws, and I believe he must’ve been a very gruff person, right? Impatient at times, impulsive. He’s the one who had the guts to say it, what faith he had. Verse 20 now.
Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
So it wasn’t time yet. Alright. I began today’s podcast by talking about the highs and lows of life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had something wonderful happen only a couple days later to find myself almost like I’ve been thrown from the mountaintop into the valley. It’s just a human experience. Sometimes we do it to ourselves. Sometimes life happens and God allows things to happen to us, but we can take comfort in that God uses every single low in our lives. Every valley he uses it, and with the valleys, he walks through them. Psalm 23 says,
Though I walk through the valley…
Right? He’s always taking us through. He’s there, his rod, his staff comfort us so we can be comforted by that. In the midst of the lows, in the midst of the times when we feel like everything has gone wrong, you and I can have peace because of Jesus, because of his presence with us. So, Peter’s just had this incredible high, and now he’s getting ready to enter the valley. Verse 21 now in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 16.
From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. 22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.
Can we just pause there for a second? Peter is now reprimanding Jesus. Oh boy.
“ Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
Is anything worth more than your soul? So Peter goes from being called the rock on whom Jesus is going to build his church to get behind me. Satan.
Oh, I want to wrap up our time together with two questions, and I know you’re going, oh, I get Peter because this is me. So often. The first question I have for you is what are you looking at from a human point of view instead of God’s point of view? And I want to encourage you to give that thing to him today. Say, Lord, please give me your eyes to see this situation from your perspective. The second question I have for you is, who do you say Jesus is? If you don’t know him as the son of God, I want to invite you to get to know him. If something is stirring in your soul today and you’re like, I feel something happening, that is the living God saying, I know you. Get to know me. It will be the best decision you ever make. He’ll be with you through all the highs and lows of your life until next time, you are really loved.
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