Who was Peter?

Who was the man believers know as the Apostle Peter? Before we dive into his letters of teaching, reproof, and exhortation to the church, we wanted to pause and learn more about this man who Jesus Christ chose to be the earthly foundation of the Church.  Peter would go on to become the Church's first pastor, a fierce defender of the gospel, a fearless missionary, and a martyr. Join us as we look into the life of this incredible man and the letters that he wrote to the Church he loved so much!

Transcript

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Welcome to drippings from the honeycomb, the official podcast of Another 12 ministries. We are so glad that you have decided to join us as we enjoy the sweetness of God's word, one verse at a time. Hello, and welcome to season three of drippings from the honeycomb. I am so excited to welcome you into this new season, we're going to take a look at a new book of the Bible, that's going to have all kinds of teaching and new characters to learn about. And learning is something that always makes me very excited. I like to learn new things I like to learn about new people. I like to see the ways that God is working in his kingdom, I like to hear the teachings of those that God spoke to through the Holy Spirit, so that I can be more like Jesus so that the sanctification process that I'm going through as a person can continue to grow, and that hopefully through my sharing these podcasts with you, you will also grow in your sanctification walk and become more like Jesus Christ. In Season One, we took a long walk through the book of Matthew, looking at verses in each chapter of the book. And that was a really blessed thing to do. It was encouraging. We learned about Jesus, we saw what he did in his ministry. And then in season two, we jumped into the Old Testament, and we had a look at the kinsman redeemer, this idea of Jesus being our Redeemer, but we looked at it through the book of Ruth. And we got to see this incredible story of Ruth and Boaz, this picture of what Jesus would do for the church. But more than that, to learn about two of the great ancestors of Jesus Himself. And so this was really a study that helped us to focus in on what it looks like to be redeemed by the kinsman redeemer, and what that means for us as believers. In this new season, we're going to take a look at the writings of a pivotal figure in Christianity. And that figure is no one less than the apostle Peter himself, we're going to take a journey through his two epistles to the church. And before we jump into the actual scripture that he wrote, which is an incredible pastoral letter to the church that is relevant for churches today, just like it was relevant for churches back when he wrote it, we're going to take a look at the man himself, who he was, how he was connected to Jesus and what He did for the Kingdom. After Jesus ascended into heaven. Peter was an iconic figure, he played an amazing role in the foundation of the church, in the ministry of Jesus. And he left some incredible teaching for those of us who are followers of the king here today, to learn from, to augment our lives to to help us grow closer to Jesus, and to help us in our wait for the return of the king, when he will take us home to be with him. So who was Peter anyway? Who was this man that ultimately turned into the foundation of the church? Well, first of all, Peter was a Jew. He was a Jew living in Israel. At the time when Jesus ministry started, he is in every list of the disciples mentioned in the New Testament. And in those lists, his name is the first one mentioned, showing that he had a certain degree of authority amongst the group of disciples, most likely he was the leader of that group. Even during Jesus's ministry, he would have been kind of the mouthpiece of the disciples, he would have been looked at as the ringleader, the one who represented the ideas of the group if the group of disciples was having a discussion, and Jesus asked them a question, oftentimes, we see in Scripture that Peter answers for the group. And even above that, we see that Peter is in this inner circle, that is really close to Jesus, this circle that consisted of Peter, James and John, when the other disciples are left behind at the Transfiguration. Peter, James and John go with him in the garden of Gethsemane, Peter, James and John, pray separately from the rest of the disciples, but still fall asleep and are unable to wait with Jesus. So we see this kind of inner core, this trio of men, of whom Peter is the leader, and also the leader of the entire group of 12 disciples and he would eventually become the leader of all of the disciples post Jesus resurrection, all of the people who would follow Jesus, not just the 12 and he would become the first pastor of the church of Jerusalem. But he was a fisherman. He was a rough, tough tumble guy. He was used to dealing with bad weather fishing in the middle of the night, doing a difficult, dirty, dangerous job. He was probably not the most well spoken individual. And we see that echoed in the fact that when he denied Jesus, he added oaths to his denial of Jesus. He added strong language, Peter was definitely a wear your heart on your sleeve kind of individual. There was no wondering where you stood with Peter, you knew he was a type A personality, go go go all the time. In fact, one characteristic that we see about Peter repeated throughout the pages of the New Testament is that he often put his foot in his mouth, he spoke without thinking. He was rash and brash, he was hardened, he was bold, he was brave. But he was also far too often ready to leap without looking. And we see that he recognized his own sin nature. When Jesus met Peter, and performed the miracle of the fish that we see recorded in Luke five, eight, where they caught all of these fish and that holding him to the shore, Peter is immediately confronted with the reality of who he is. And he asks Jesus to depart from him, not because he doesn't want to follow Jesus, not because he's unimpressed by Jesus, not because he doesn't believe in the fact that Jesus has some sort of power that is outside of this world, because he's just witnessed this incredible miracle. But he wants Jesus to leave him specifically, because he is a sinner. And he recognizes that he is a sinner, and he recognizes that he is standing in the presence of something greater than himself. And so his immediate response is to fall down before Jesus and ask him to leave, go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinner, depending on your translation, it'll read differently. But this is something that you cannot overlook. Peter was acutely aware of the position of his own heart as it related to God. It's not that we hear that Peter was some sort of evil Jewish man, or even that Peter didn't care about the Jewish customs, or even that Peter didn't keep the feasts or keep the customs. In fact, there's evidence in the scripture to suggest that he did that he did live a life that followed the Jewish practices. But he recognized that within himself, he was full of sin. And He recognized that that kind of sin did not belong in the presence of someone that was wholly someone that was powerful, someone that was possibly the Messiah. But that didn't matter to Jesus. Jesus had selected Peter to be one of His followers. And he called Peter to follow him. And Peter did. Peter left everything that he had, he left his business, he left his livelihood, and he went and followed Jesus. He was very much an imperfect man. But Peter lived out his faith with sincerity. In fact, it was Peter that God the Father chose to reveal the true identity of Jesus to Peter was the one who made the declaration that Jesus was the Son of God. And Jesus noted that, that Peter was blessed because God the Father had selected him to reveal this truth about Jesus. And then Jesus went on to declare that Peter would be the foundation of the church. Now, of course, we know that Jesus sanctified the church, Jesus purchased the church, Jesus, of course, is the head of the church. But on Earth, after Jesus would ascend, there would need to be a foundation for the church, there would need to be someone that would bring this church from a fledgling group of 150 or so people that we find at Pentecost, to the many 10s of 1000s, that the church would grow to within just a few years of Jesus ascension, and that person was Peter. And that selection was not made by Peter, but it was made by Jesus Christ, who is God. Now, please understand, because there is much misinformation about Peter, across the broad spectrum of the world. Peter was not infallible. Peter was not without sin. Peter, by his own admission, acknowledged that he was a sinful man. Peter had big, big faith and he had big, big failures. Peter was a man who lived all out. And sometimes that sin nature that seems sin nature that made him fall down in the boat and asked Jesus to leave him cropped up in his life and cost him a failure. It cost him a failure while he followed Jesus on this earth. It cost him failures at Jesus trial when he denied him. It even cost him failures during the foundation of the church, where he struggled to resolve the differences between the Jewish Christians who still followed the Torah and the Jewish lifestyle and The gentile Christians who did not. And we know that because Paul writes about his disagreement and reproving of Peter. And so Peter was not an infallible person. Peter made mistakes until the day he died. Peter had a sin nature until the day he died. But Peter was a stalwart follower of Jesus Christ. He was the first among many who would follow Jesus. He was the first pastor, among many pastors who would shepherd the church of Jesus Christ. And God specifically chose him for that position. And so his words must be given significant weight. Peter was a man of extreme loyalty, Peter vowed to die rather than desert Jesus. In fact, he even separated himself from his fellow disciples by saying, even if everybody else falls away from you, I will never leave you. And we know from the scriptures that Peter was sifted by Satan. We know that Jesus specifically told Peter that Satan had asked permission of God to sift Peter, like wheat. You know why? Because Satan attacks those who are strong, Satan attacks those who can make a difference for the Kingdom. And Satan wanted to attack Peter and God allowed that attack, because it was used by God to turn Peter into the man that God wanted him to be into the pillar that would ultimately be the foundational support for the Church of Jesus Christ. Peter was the one who stepped up and physically defended Jesus. At the Garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus was arrested, he risked execution by striking a servant of the high priest. He was not afraid to stand up for his Lord and Savior. But that same Peter while being sifted by Satan, denied Jesus with an oath during his trial, but we see the loyalty of Peter restored as he leaves that place and weeps bitterly over his sin. This sinful man who loved Jesus who wanted to follow Jesus who was willing to die for Jesus, who was a fallible man and unlike his Lord failed, under the pressure of the sifting of Satan wept bitterly, he recognized his sin again, just like in the boat, and he wept over the weakness of his flesh. But when Jesus rose, he ran to that tomb. When Jesus appeared, He was restored to relationship with Jesus through Jesus forgiveness. And it was Peter, who was called by the Holy Spirit to speak at Pentecost. It was Peter who was called to be the head of the Jerusalem church. It was Peter who authored scripture. It was Peter who even validated the writings of Paul as scripture. And just like his Savior, He died a martyr's death, serving Jesus Christ and serving the church. Since Peter's death, critics have never stopped maligning, Peter, critics have never stopped doubting Peter, there has always been someone who has had something negative to say about this incredible man. But if Jesus Christ Himself proclaimed that His Messiahship was revealed to Peter by God the Father, and that Peter was to be the foundation of his church. If Jesus Christ chose this man, then those of us who follow Jesus as our Lord and Savior, have no right to question our Lord's decision. Peter was the original pastor of the church, Peter wrote letters to us to the church at large, so that we would have guidance, and we would know how to grow in our faith. Over the coming episodes, we're going to take a long walk through the two letters of Peter to the church, and we're going to see what he had to say about our growth. We're going to see what he had to say about living out our faith boldly, we're going to see what he had to say about suffering for the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and about waiting patiently and actively for the return of our King to take us home to be with him. I hope you enjoyed this episode of drippings from the honeycomb. If you would like to learn more about another 12 ministries and the work that we are doing to train youth ministry leaders to bring the Gospel to young people, visit another twelve.org. If you would like to support our ministry, click on the Donate link in the description below.