Peter's Growth
1 Peter 2:2,
2 Peter 3:18,
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
Peter reminds us, in a good way, that there are no perfect disciples. We are all imperfect and we always are in need to grow in grace. And I remember someone saying,
“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
2 Peter 3:18,
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
Peter reminds us, in a good way, that there are no perfect disciples. We are all imperfect and we always are in need to grow in grace. And I remember someone saying,
"Growing in grace is painfully slow. It doesn't happen as quickly as we would like."
And Peter needed to grow in grace. He writes these two short letters and he does put a strong emphasis upon suffering, but also upon growth. And Peter grew and he wants these new Christians to grow as well. I think he wants to let them know what he learned and that they also, like him, need to grow. But 1 Peter 2:2, notice the growth dynamic that Peter puts focus on here, “Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” And if you turn to 2 Peter 3, again, the same emphasis comes through, this growth dynamic. He wants these Christians to grow. The last thing Peter tells them, the last thing he could say, it's on his heart and mind, is that these Christians are suffering, but he wants them to grow in the midst of their suffering. 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
I think we would all agree that the two most influential and successful men in our Bible, at least from a New Testament perspective, would be Peter and Paul. Peter is mentioned some 50 times, maybe up to 60 times in the book of Acts; in those first 10 chapters Peter comes into focus again and again. In the latter part of Acts, Paul is mentioned, sometimes named Saul, at least 120 times. So both men are very prominent in the book of Acts. But no question, Paul and Peter were dominant preachers and leaders in the early church.
But going back to Peter and the original twelve, when you read through the gospels, whenever the twelve men are mentioned, Peter is always mentioned first. Which indicates again his unique leadership. But if you study the four gospels, just go through them, you would find that Peter, in many different places, stumbles, falls into sin. And you could come away thinking the man didn't really come to a place in his life where he was stable, a man of character, unless you had the book of Acts, and also the epistles that he wrote. I think they testify to the man's growth in grace. He grew, he was immature, at times impulsive, a kind of a no-it-all individual. Someone has described him as, (I think it was Ted Donnelly),
I think we would all agree that the two most influential and successful men in our Bible, at least from a New Testament perspective, would be Peter and Paul. Peter is mentioned some 50 times, maybe up to 60 times in the book of Acts; in those first 10 chapters Peter comes into focus again and again. In the latter part of Acts, Paul is mentioned, sometimes named Saul, at least 120 times. So both men are very prominent in the book of Acts. But no question, Paul and Peter were dominant preachers and leaders in the early church.
But going back to Peter and the original twelve, when you read through the gospels, whenever the twelve men are mentioned, Peter is always mentioned first. Which indicates again his unique leadership. But if you study the four gospels, just go through them, you would find that Peter, in many different places, stumbles, falls into sin. And you could come away thinking the man didn't really come to a place in his life where he was stable, a man of character, unless you had the book of Acts, and also the epistles that he wrote. I think they testify to the man's growth in grace. He grew, he was immature, at times impulsive, a kind of a no-it-all individual. Someone has described him as, (I think it was Ted Donnelly),
"The foot in the mouth apostle."
At least four times he argued, “Who's the greatest?” Remember? Even in the upper room the night that Jesus opened up His heart to them. He's the only apostle, to my knowledge, who is rebuked by Jesus both publicly and privately. But here's the wonderful part of his biography, the man grew. He became a useful, influential servant of God. And there's three areas, I think major areas, where he grew.
I think we can go back to what even transpired in John 21 to think of those two fish miracles. The one when he was first called to be a fisherman, Luke 5, and then John 21, when Jesus comes to him again and to the disciples out in the boat, and He fills that net full of fish. And I think it was for Peter as well, primarily. Peter needed to be reminded that Christ can fill the nets when he can't. Despite his human skill, his expertise, that fisherman couldn't catch fish, not until Christ came along and spoke and performed a miracle. And Jesus was showing Peter by those two fish miracles, “Without me, you can do nothing.” And Peter needed to know that in terms of future ministry, he needed to know he had to depend upon the Lord.
And when he preaches that first big sermon on the day of Pentecost, I'm sure he's thinking, praying, but has this in the back of his mind, “I can do nothing without Christ; without Christ, I can do nothing.” And Christ essentially fills the net with human fish, 3,000 people are saved on the day of Pentecost. But that's a good thing for Peter and all of us to remember; when you witness, when you teach, when you preach, even when we pray, we are in desperate need of the sufficient grace of Christ. “Without me, you can do nothing.” He says we cannot. It's a grace alone, Christ alone salvation.
Second great lesson Peter had to learn, he needed to put on the grace of humility. Jesus exposed his self-confidence in that upper room. He warned them about the rooster, it will crow, and as soon as it does you will have denied Me three times. So Peter foolishly trusted in the arm of flesh. It's interesting when Peter writes his two epistles, he deals with the pride issue. 1 Peter 5:5, “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.” And I guarantee you, Peter knew that by his own bitter experience that he fell into sin because of his own pride. God resists the proud. So Peter does become a changed man. He grows. We know that from his epistles. We know that even from some of the changes that took place in those gospels. But he learned about Christ's all-sufficiency by those two fish miracles. He learned about his pride and the need for humility by his fall.
There's something else Peter needed to learn. He needed to learn about the devil's power and the nature of spiritual warfare. Remember Jesus warned him, “The devil is going to sift you like wheat.” And the devil uses that little servant girl in front of that charcoal fire where he's standing and points him out and the guy caves, he implodes. Peter learns something about the devil's power and seduction. That explains why Peter, again, why in one of his letters, he warns about the devil. 1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert, sober-minded; your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
But again, as weak as Peter was, as many times as he stumbled and fell, he grew in grace. The proud fisherman became a humble shepherd. And it should encourage us, all of us, when we put our trust in Christ, we begin the Christian life, but we should always be growing. We should be praying that we would grow and pray for others that they would grow. What do we pray? We can pray that we grow more humble, that we grow more loving, that we grow more wise in terms of the devil's devices and stratagems.
Thankfully, Peter's sin failures did not totally negate or keep him from growing. But we need to pray that we grow in grace. That's a strong emphasis in Paul's letter. He's very encouraged when he sees God's people growing in grace, growing in faith, growing in love. So we should pray that even in light of Peter for stronger faith, greater love for our Lord, wiser, more alert when it comes to the devil and his tactics.
I think we can go back to what even transpired in John 21 to think of those two fish miracles. The one when he was first called to be a fisherman, Luke 5, and then John 21, when Jesus comes to him again and to the disciples out in the boat, and He fills that net full of fish. And I think it was for Peter as well, primarily. Peter needed to be reminded that Christ can fill the nets when he can't. Despite his human skill, his expertise, that fisherman couldn't catch fish, not until Christ came along and spoke and performed a miracle. And Jesus was showing Peter by those two fish miracles, “Without me, you can do nothing.” And Peter needed to know that in terms of future ministry, he needed to know he had to depend upon the Lord.
And when he preaches that first big sermon on the day of Pentecost, I'm sure he's thinking, praying, but has this in the back of his mind, “I can do nothing without Christ; without Christ, I can do nothing.” And Christ essentially fills the net with human fish, 3,000 people are saved on the day of Pentecost. But that's a good thing for Peter and all of us to remember; when you witness, when you teach, when you preach, even when we pray, we are in desperate need of the sufficient grace of Christ. “Without me, you can do nothing.” He says we cannot. It's a grace alone, Christ alone salvation.
Second great lesson Peter had to learn, he needed to put on the grace of humility. Jesus exposed his self-confidence in that upper room. He warned them about the rooster, it will crow, and as soon as it does you will have denied Me three times. So Peter foolishly trusted in the arm of flesh. It's interesting when Peter writes his two epistles, he deals with the pride issue. 1 Peter 5:5, “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.” And I guarantee you, Peter knew that by his own bitter experience that he fell into sin because of his own pride. God resists the proud. So Peter does become a changed man. He grows. We know that from his epistles. We know that even from some of the changes that took place in those gospels. But he learned about Christ's all-sufficiency by those two fish miracles. He learned about his pride and the need for humility by his fall.
There's something else Peter needed to learn. He needed to learn about the devil's power and the nature of spiritual warfare. Remember Jesus warned him, “The devil is going to sift you like wheat.” And the devil uses that little servant girl in front of that charcoal fire where he's standing and points him out and the guy caves, he implodes. Peter learns something about the devil's power and seduction. That explains why Peter, again, why in one of his letters, he warns about the devil. 1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert, sober-minded; your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
But again, as weak as Peter was, as many times as he stumbled and fell, he grew in grace. The proud fisherman became a humble shepherd. And it should encourage us, all of us, when we put our trust in Christ, we begin the Christian life, but we should always be growing. We should be praying that we would grow and pray for others that they would grow. What do we pray? We can pray that we grow more humble, that we grow more loving, that we grow more wise in terms of the devil's devices and stratagems.
Thankfully, Peter's sin failures did not totally negate or keep him from growing. But we need to pray that we grow in grace. That's a strong emphasis in Paul's letter. He's very encouraged when he sees God's people growing in grace, growing in faith, growing in love. So we should pray that even in light of Peter for stronger faith, greater love for our Lord, wiser, more alert when it comes to the devil and his tactics.
Posted in Pastor Devotional