Tag Archives: Peter

Herod On The Warpath

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HEROD ON THE WARPATH

“That’s when King Herod got it into his head to go after some of the church members. He murdered James, John’s brother. When he was how much it raised his popularity with the Jews, he arrested Peter — all this during Passover Week, mind you — and had him thrown in jail, putting four squads of four soldiers each to guard him. He was planning a public lynching after Passover.

“All the time that Peter was under heavy guard in the jailhouse, the church was praying for him most strenuously.” Acts 12:1-5 (The Message),

Opposition to the church was turning ugly. Up to this point it was a religious struggle but for some reason King Herod chose to get involved. The evidence points to a man who would do anything to gain popularity, even stooping to murder to “suck up” to the Jews. This was the same Herod who tried to get some entertainment out of Jesus when He was on trial for His life.

Having disposed of James to the delight of the anti-Christian Jews, he turned on Peter, planning a public display of his sadistic power after the Passover. Was he suspecting a rescue attempt by the believers? He set a guard out of all proportion to the possibility of one man making a bid to escape!

But there was another power at work which Herod had not taken into account — the church at prayer. While Peter was asleep under guard in the prison, the church was awake and storming the gates of heaven.

One wonders why James had perished but Peter was given time. Is there a powerful lesson in this story for us? Perhaps James’ death caught the church off guard. It was a surprise attack and the church did not have time to mobilise prayer to save him. Peter’s imprisonment, however, bought them time to respond by entreating the intervention of God for him.

Herod might have had a measure of authority on earth but the church at prayer was a power to be reckoned with. Way back in Acts 4, when persecution first broke out against the apostles, Peter and John, the church was learning how to handle the conflict between the kingdom of God and the dominion of darkness.

They engaged the enemy, not flesh and blood but spiritual forces, with the spiritual weapons at their disposal. In Acts 4 we have a record of their prayer — an affirmation that they understood who was in charge, “your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed”, and who was under attack, and an entreaty that He be vindicated through them. If that was the flavour of their prayer then, it would have been the same now.

This was not so much Peter’s life in danger as Jesus being challenged by an inconsequential little human who thought he was in charge. This was the same spirit that energised David to go after Goliath. He saw the heathen giant’s challenge not as merely against the Israelites but against the God whom the Israelites represented. Because the Israelite army did not see it that way, none of them had the courage to take the Philistine champion on. David was not concerned about his own tender age or inexperience. He knew he was covered by the power of a covenant-keeping God!

The Apostle Paul’s experience was a face-to-face encounter with Jesus to answer for his own actions against Him. “‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?'” Acts 9:4b (NIV), but he was persecuting the church, not Jesus, so he thought. Likewise, Herod had unwittingly taken Jesus on by attacking church leaders and history would prove that he would come off second best.

The church understood that Jesus identified with His Body so closely that any attack on them was an attack on Him. Prayer that engages God with the right motive, to promote and uphold His honour, is the most powerful force in the world. God will do whatever it takes to intervene for His own sake because His mercy is His glory on display.

Gazelle

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GAZELLE

“Down the road a way in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, “Gazelle” in our language. She was well known for doing good and helping out. During the time Peter was in the area she became sick and died. Her friends prepared her body for burial and put her in a cool room.”

“Some of the disciples heard that Peter was visiting in nearby Lydda and sent two men to ask if he would be so kind as to come over. Peter got right up and went with them. They took him into the room where Tabitha’s body was laid out. Her old friends, most of them widows, were in the room mourning. They showed Peter pieces of clothing the Gazelle had made while she was with them. Peter put the widows all out of the room. He knelt and prayed. Then he spoke directly to the body. ‘Tabitha, get up,’

“She opened her eyes. When she saw Peter, she sat up. He took her hand and helped her up. Then he called in all the believers and widows and presented her to them alive.” Acts 9:36-41 (The Message).

Peter was at it again, but this time it was a little different. Healing had become a way of life for him but he had never raised anyone from the dead. I wonder how he felt as he made the short trip to Joppa with the two strangers. Was he rehearsing in his mind the times when he had seen Jesus raise the dead? Was he hearing the Master’s commission before He left them? Was he planning his strategy or was he listening to the voice of the Spirit?

No doubt Peter’s confidence in Jesus was strong because he had no reason to doubt either His power or His will to raise this woman to life again. Jesus had done it many times – even Lazarus whose body was already decaying in the tomb.

When he arrived at the house, he found the customary mourners in the room with the body, not hired professionals but old friends who were heartbroken over the death of their companion. She had been a true disciple of Jesus, showing her faith in Him by doing what she could to make the lives of her fellow believers better. They showed Peter the evidence of her love.

As an imitator of Jesus, Peter did what Jesus did when He was called to the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler, to heal his daughter. Jesus sent everyone out of the room except the child’s parents and His three closest disciples. This was not a show for entertainment. This was a stand-off with death and Peter did not need any spectators, not even other believers, to distract him.

It was not his role to engage in battle with death. Jesus had done that on the cross and won. It was there that Satan’s power over death was forever broken. Peter’s role was to enforce that victory by standing on it in this situation. He knelt and prayed, signifying his submission to the Master, and then spoke to the dead woman, “calling those things which are not as though they were.” Just as Jairus’ daughter had done, Tabitha heard and responded and was restored to her friends alive.

There are some truths that we need to get hold of in this story. Tabitha had not died because of some sin in her life or because she did not have enough faith, which are the accusations often levelled at people who do not experience miracles. She was part of a fallen human race which is subject to sickness and death.

It was the Father’s will to display His glory in her healing. Is it still the Father’s will to heal? Yes! Does He still heal? Yes! Does He still raise people from the dead? Yes! Does He raise everyone from the dead? Not now, but He will when Jesus comes! Why does He not heal everyone? He will when Jesus comes! What He does now is only a foretaste of what is to come and must fit into the bigger picture.

“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people and He Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'”
Revelation 21:3-4 (NIV).

Back In The Limelight

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BACK IN THE LIMELIGHT

“Peter went off on a mission to visit all the churches. In the course of his travels, he arrived at Lydda and met with the believers there. He came across a man — his name was Aeneas — who had been in bed eight years, paralysed. Peter said, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!’ And he did it — jumped right out of bed.. Everybody who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him walking around and woke up to the fact that God was alive and active among them.” Acts 9:32-35 (The Message).

With Saul safely out of sight for a while, Peter was back on centre stage. There was no getting away from the fact that he had spent three years in the company of Jesus. He may not have understood all the implications of what this Man had said and done, but Peter had been absorbing it all, none-the-less.

Healing seems to have been his speciality. He had watched Jesus, healed under supervision with Jesus and gone on preaching and healing tours with the other disciples with Jesus’ authorisation. He was trained and equipped to do the works of the kingdom and he was not afraid to get his hands dirty.

Peter may not have been an educated man or a polished preacher but he did what he had been trained to do. Under the unction of the Holy Spirit, he put his Master’s glory on display by applying the rule of God to suffering people. He never let an opportunity go by to dispense God’s mercy to sick people and, by doing so, he could not escape the attention of the people around him.

Where Saul’s fiery preaching aroused opposition, in a less confrontational way so did Peter’s healing ministry. Jesus was alive in the transformation of people through the truth proclaimed and in the healing of the sick and disabled through the demonstration of the power of His name, and no one could dispute that.

The religious authorities had no answer for these phenomena and it put them in a very bad light. They were the ones who had discredited Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God and put Him to death for blasphemy without a careful and honest evaluation of the evidence. As hard as they tried, they could not put out the fires of faith and loyalty to the risen Jesus. They had lost face and their grip on the people. It would not be long before their fury would break out again.

In the meantime the church was enjoying a lull in the storm. The apostles and the believers were making use of every opportunity to spread the Word. The movement was gathering momentum and churches were popping up everywhere. They were dependant on the propagation of this message by word of mouth. They had no convenient Bible to turn to for instruction.

Peter made it his business to move around from church to church to check on their progress and to teach them from his own knowledge and experience, and from his understanding of the Scriptures. Even at this early stage of the church’s history, there were those who slipped in to sow lies and discord among the believers. It has always been so and will always be so.

Like newborn infants, these little groups of believers needed to be nurtured and protected, and the church leaders had their time cut out taking care of them. This was the nature of the first century church — not large congregations meeting in ornate buildings and guided by theologically trained ministers, but little groups of people meeting in homes and doing life together.

Their leadership and lives were simple and unsophisticated. They worshipped and prayed together, shared their experiences and their resources, and encouraged one another as best they could according to their understanding of this new Way. They loved and protected one another in a hostile environment.

This way of life was so foreign to the average person that they were attracted to it and many joined the church in spite of the dangers. It was a place of safety and hope in a dangerous and uncertain world since living under Roman domination was no Sunday School picnic.

Who Do You Think You Are?

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WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

“Peter said, ‘Master, I’m ready for anything with you. I’d go to jail for you. I’d die for you!’

“Jesus said, ‘I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Peter, but before the rooster crows you will have three times denied that you know me.'” Luke 22:33-34 (The Message).

We like to pick Peter out for being cocksure of himself but I don’t think we are any different. There was no problem with his sincerity. He loved the Master and would willingly have given his life for him — in his mind — but, in the real situation, at the mercy of ruthless Roman soldiers, it was a little different.

Peter did not know what it was like to be in that kind of situation. Perhaps even more important was the fact that dying for Jesus then would be pointless. He would be dying for a friend but not as a witness to the truth to which he was testifying. His opportunity would come later when he would give his life for what he believed and preached, that Jesus is the Son of God and that He rose from the dead and is the author of eternal salvation for all who believe in Him.

Peter had a whole lot of living to do and learning the truth about Jesus and the resurrection because that became the pivot of his life and message, and the reason for his obedience and courage, even to the point of dying the same cruel death as his Master.

Peter did not even know that his brash words were prophetic. He did indeed go to jail and to death for Jesus but it was because of his choice to follow Him and not because he was the victim of Jewish leaders’ prejudice. Peter learned his lesson well. He had to go through his own ‘Gethsemane’, humiliating and painful as it was, to be equipped to be an apostle of the good news.

Our own failures and weaknesses seem so drastic and final that we think that they disqualify us from being Jesus’ disciples, and we run from Him in guilt and shame. God has a very different view of our failures. These are the very experiences that equip us to be witnesses for Him.

To what are we really witnessing? Not to our strengths! If we never failed, we would not need the grace which God freely gives to us because of Jesus. This is the marvel and miracle of the gospel. Jesus came to earth because of who we are. There is nothing in us to commend us to God. God’s verdict: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV).

At best we are foul. “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” Isaiah 64:6 (NIV).

Jesus did everything necessary to recue us from our pitiful condition. He paid our debt, washed us clean and presented us to God as His own beloved sons and daughters and gives us the grace to live for Him in His strength, not ours.

We are fools if we think we can do it by ourselves. Peter learned that and so must we if we are to be witnesses of how big He is, and not of how big we are. It only takes our considered decision to follow Him to bring God’s grace into action that energises us to do what we have chosen to do. The choice is ours; the strength is His and we do it together.

We have a union with the Holy Spirit who lives in us so close that, whenever we decide to obey, His power activates our choice and we do it through Him. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me, the life I live in the body, live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (NIV).

Is that not a better option than being self-confident and falling into a deep, dark hole of guilt and shame because I thought I could do it by myself?

A Time of Testing

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THE TIME OF TESTING

“‘Simon, stay on your toes. Satan has tried his best to separate all of you from me, like chaff from wheat. Simon, I’ve prayed for you in particular that you not give in or give out. When you have come through the time of testing, turn to your companions and give them a fresh start.'” Luke 22:31-32 (The Message).

Jesus’ words are packed with insight into God’s ways. It would pay us to understand and heed what He said to Peter.

Firstly, there is great significance in a name. Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter and yet on this occasion He addressed him as “Simon.” To the Hebrew people a name was a prophetic utterance of character. “Simon” means “listener” or “hearing”, but Jesus prophesied that he would become a “rock”. Why did Jesus revert to his old name? It seems that He did this when Peter reverted to behaving like his old self. He was “hearing” but was he heeding the words of Jesus. Jesus was warning him that he was in grave danger of behaving like the old Simon.

Secondly, how strange that Jesus did not pray for Simon to be prevented from being tested! It seems that every time we are tested, both God and Satan have an agenda. Satan’s design was to drive a wedge between Him and His disciples so that their fellowship would be disrupted. God’s agenda was to expose their vulnerability so that they would get to know themselves and put their trust in Him in their weakness.

If we were protected from temptation, we would be as spineless as jelly fish. Even if we give in to temptation, as Peter did, it does not mean that we are disqualified from being Jesus’ disciples. It is a necessary part of our journey to true sonship. How can we grow in our dependence on God if we have no idea of how really weak we are?

Thirdly, temptation is not about strengthening our will power. There would be no benefit in that because God’s purpose is to train us to trust Him, not ourselves. The Apostle Paul tried to wriggle out of his trial which he called his “thorn in the flesh”. He pleaded with God to take it away. Instead, God explained its purpose.

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me…For when I am weak then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV).

Paul’s experience and his explanation help to put our trials in perspective. Where Satan’s agenda is to arouse suspicion and alienate us from God, God’s agenda is to strengthen our reliance on him. Temptation is never from God. James makes that clear. “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.” James 1:13 (NIV). But God is never caught off guard. He gives us the option to give in or trust Him for strength to resist the devil by submitting to Him.

Fourthly, Jesus did not pray Simon out of the test. He prayed that he would come through it without giving up so that he would be able to lift his fellow disciples up when they fell because of his own experience. Gentleness and humility cannot be learned any other way and these are the hallmarks of a disciple, as imitators of Jesus.

Jesus prayed particularly for Simon because he was the natural leader. He was a ‘hearer’ but he needed to be honed into a ‘rock’ so that others could learn from and depend on him in their time of testing.

We can draw great encouragement from Jesus’ words to Peter. From His perspective, Peter’s fall did not spell disaster but growth – getting to know himself and God’s grace. Satan’s agenda is to destroy but if we handle our failures with understanding, they will serve as valuable learning experiences, exposing our vulnerability and strengthening our faith in God.

The same Peter who failed his Master so badly, said this, “In this (his readers’ hope of resurrection) you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV).