By Pastor Greg
On the way home from church, a
little girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, the preacher's sermon
this morning confused me." The
mother said, "Oh! Why is that?" The girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?"
"Yes, that's true," the mother replied. "He also said that God lives within us. Is that true,
too?" Again, the mother replied, "Yes." "Well," said
the girl. "If God is bigger than us and he lives in us, wouldn't he show
through?"
Yes, you would expect God to “Show
Through,” especially for those who claim
to be Christians. Yet even the Apostle
Peter had moments of weakness. Look how
he responds when Jesus is arrested.
(John 18:15-27) 15 Simon Peter followed
Jesus, as did another of the disciples. That other disciple was acquainted with
the high priest, so he was allowed to enter the high priest’s courtyard with
Jesus. 16 Peter had to stay outside the gate. Then the disciple
who knew the high priest spoke to the woman watching at the gate, and she let
Peter in. 17 The woman asked Peter, “You’re not one of that
man’s disciples, are you?” “No,” he said, “I am not.” 18 Because
it was cold, the household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire.
They stood around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming
himself.
19 Inside, the high priest
began asking Jesus about his followers and what he had been teaching them. 20 Jesus
replied, “Everyone knows what I teach. I have preached regularly in the
synagogues and the Temple, where the people gather. I have not spoken in
secret. 21 Why are you asking me this question? Ask those who
heard me. They know what I said.” 22 Then one of the Temple
guards standing nearby slapped Jesus across the face. “Is that the way to
answer the high priest?” he demanded. 23 Jesus replied, “If I
said anything wrong, you must prove it. But if I’m speaking the truth, why are
you beating me?” 24 Then Annas bound Jesus and sent him to
Caiaphas, the high priest.
25 Meanwhile, as Simon
Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again, “You’re
not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it, saying, “No, I am not.” 26 But
one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear
Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you out there in the olive grove with
Jesus?” 27 Again Peter denied it. And immediately a rooster
crowed. [1]
Peter denied knowing Jesus. He did this three times. Bible teachers give many different reasons
for this, but the bigger question is why would he
do such a thing, especially after he had called Jesus the Messiah (Matthew
16:16)? Jesus even warned Peter this was
going to happen, yet the Lord forgives him even before it happened (Luke
22:31-32).
Have you ever wondered why Jesus
would forgive Peter ahead of time? Why
would Jesus extend His hand in grace to Peter knowing that he would deny any
association with the Lord? The Lord’s
forgiveness even extends to Peter’s usefulness in the Kingdom. Jesus extends a hand to Peter along the
shoreline in Galilee, calling him to “Feed My sheep” (see John 21:15).
There is something in this
exchange between Peter and Jesus that we cannot overlook. Peter’s commitment to Jesus had wavered, yet the Lord offered him Grace; the
Lord forgave this sin. I say we cannot ignore this exchange because the Lord does not
show favoritism (see Acts 10:34). If He
offered grace to Peter, Jesus would offer
that same grace to others as well. If
someone else stumbles in their faith, they will find the same grace Jesus
extended to Peter.
The Apostle Paul understood
this. He did more than denying knowing Jesus. He tried to undermine the earthly work of
Jesus. Paul persecuted Christians and
stood by while good Christian people were murdered (the stoning of Stephen in
Acts 8:1). Yet when confronted by the
risen Christ, Jesus offers grace, and
even commissions Paul to spread the Good news of the cross.
I do need to point out that in
both these cases, these men repented of their sin; they recognized what they
had done was wrong. For sure, Jesus
doesn’t offer grace to the person who is unremorseful – someone who refuses to admit
what they did was wrong – but when a person has the courage to admit their sin,
Jesus offers grace … even if they sin over and over again.
Still, the question remains; why
would our Savior offer grace to the Christian who sins? I mean, doesn’t it seem like He is letting
them off the hook? Surely the Christians
should know better. They didn’t allow
God to show through. Why does the Lord offer
Grace?
Paul suggests we view salvation as
a changed nature (2 Corinthians 5:17).
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new
person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! [2] And since we have a new nature, our actions
and behaviors should naturally reflect this.
Our actions and behaviors do not change our nature, as we discussed last week, however, our nature should
affect our behavior. A changed person
should change their attitudes and behaviors (see Romans 13:14 and Galatians
3:27). Paul describes this as putting on
New Clothes. These new clothes (attitudes and behaviors)
reflect our new nature (clothe yourselves
with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love – Colossians 3:12, 14). Unfortunately, even though a New Life has begun, our actions sometimes
reflect the “old person.” Yet these old
actions and behaviors are merely a reflection of our old nature; they do not
indicate we have lost our new nature. Paul even admits to this struggle from time
to time (see Romans 7).
So, a Christian will have bad
days. A Christian will wake in the
morning, forget to dress in humility, and then struggle with pride and
selfishness the rest of the day. It’s
not their nature that has changed;
they simply put on the wrong
attitude. The good news is that when the
Christian realizes what they have done, they can ask the Lord to forgive them,
over and over again. And the Lord offers
grace. He can do this because it was not
the nature of the person that has
changed, but merely a reflection of old
behaviors and actions.
The Lord Knows this. He knows we will struggle with old attitudes
and actions. He knew Peter would have a
weak moment. He knows that we will have
a weak moment. He knows we will misbehave
as adopted children in the Family of God.
Sure, we will disobey – struggle to live in a way that reflects our new nature – but we never stop being
God’s Children. This is why Jesus could
offer grace to Peter. This is why the
Lord extended forgiveness to Paul. This
is why He does the same for you and me.
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