Its been over two months! Time also flies when pressured by life’s issues; its into June already!
We have been discussing leaving spiritual infancy behind and growing, rather, into maturity eating logos meat. Jesus said, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.”
Abiding is exactly what we all want to do! The logos (λογοs) Word contains resurrection meat and the blood of Jesus’ death. We are to eat His flesh and drink His blood by putting His death into our flesh. We are to replace personal preferences by ingesting our new resurrection Life. It’s the great exchange, our limited and lacking life for His righteous, eternal resurrection Life.
This great exchange occurs by grace and faith, God’s grace, our faith. Receiving God’s gift of life is just a starting point; it’s a journey of growing in grace thru our “logos.”
The journey is a process of growing grace into our soul thru His death in us. John the Baptist set a standard for us, “He must increase and I must decrease.” Paul said it this way, “so you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” We are to grow our awareness of both temporal and eternal realities within Jesus’ care! Abiding means absorbing into our person the vitality of Jesus’ Life! Jesus abides in us making His Life in us vital as we abide in Him. This is the effect of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Faith is the evidence of what we don’t see but what we do experience, applying truth into our inner life.
We looked at how Jesus used the Greek logos (λογοs) for both the scripture as well as His own person, the Son of Man and the Son of God! He is providing grace and truth to us, His body; His departure into heaven was replaced by His Holy Spirit and His Apostles and then His written Logos; His Holy Spirit opens up in us His righteous instruction and our faith; He opens up His Logos into us! We are now witnesses of this great exchange ‘till He raptures us out of this earthly domain. His Logos lives in us!
Whether walking in His own sandals upon the earth or walking upon the earth in our sandals, it is still the same Logos! In the first instance Jesus came to show us our salvation through grace and truth. Now the Logos is written on our hearts by His Holy Spirit through scripture so that we can provide sandals glorifying our Father God thru His grace and truth. But whom He uses depends on who is abiding in Him!
We also discussed the breath of God as life’s source, both in Genesis creation and our new birth creation. We must breathe God’s Life into our human soul through the Spirit so that Jesus is organically rooted and structurally grounded into the essence of our being. This is the only way for us to know His truth, setting us free from our corruption and glorifying God. This is another aspect of feeding on the flesh of Jesus while drinking His blood.
The breath of God is the work of the Holy Spirit making real in our human limitations the reality of our living resurrected Jesus even as we live and breathe wearing our own sandals. It is one thing to have knowledge of God’s Logos, it is quite another to expose our inner being to His truth and grace. The Holy Spirit of God lifts up to the Father our own personal limitations granting us His proper grace and truth for our growth and calling. This is what we are referring to as breathing God’s truth and grace into our soul’s vital existence.
We have already discussed these things and now we want to see Peter in this light.
We don’t know Peter well but ample scriptural episodes show his struggle of knowing vs. “being.” The Holy Spirit and Jesus were with Peter before Jesus death; the Holy Spirit was in Peter after the resurrection just as we are in Christ Jesus. Knowing who we are is important to being who we are! We and Peter are called to be who we are in Christ Jesus. Peter provides life patterns to our Lord’s purpose showing us who we are called to be.
Peter was a vulnerable person who could manage a small fishing boat with heavy fishing nets but his heart issues fall short of his physical abilities. He has difficulty switching from being a rough fisherman to being a gentle fisher of men. If God can do it with Peter, there is hope for you and me as well.
We have identified below four episodes in scripture we want to briefly examine for application enabling us to abide in Jesus by eating His flesh and drinking His blood:
1. Peter’s Pride: Matt. 16:13-23, Mark 8:27-33, Luke 9:20-26.
In these above passages Peter and the disciples are with Jesus making a long trek from Bethsaida up the Jordan valley north of Lake Galilee into Caesarea Philippi, located below Mt. Hermon.
When they reach the outskirts of Caesarea Philippi, they made a rest stop where Jesus was praying. Jesus asks the disciples who people are saying He is. Their response included “John the Baptist,” “Elijah,” “Jeremiah” and a “prophet.” Then Jesus asks them who they say He is.
Peter responds: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
“And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”’
When Jesus used the name Simon Bar Jonah he is identifying Peter as the son of natural man. “Bar” is a Hebrew term for son, Jesus is making reference to his humanity, to his world view perspective and not his life with Jesus. But now he is calling him Peter, the person to whom God reveals His truth!
Peter gets a very heavy stroke from Jesus and has to be feeling super good, down into his bones! However, this is not the end of it. Jesus is setting Peter up to show him that he is still very self serving! But the outcome for Peter, as we will see, is learning to become an “overcomer” as he learns to abide in “Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus continues explaining to the disciples about His death as they continue their walk and talk, closer and closer to the place where the transfiguration takes place; Jesus continues explaining to the disciples what the coming days are going to be like:
“From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
“But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan! You are a hinderance to me. For you are not setting you mind on things of God, but on things of men.”
“Simon Bar Jonah,” blessed by Jesus a little earlier as Peter continues to make their way to Caesarea Philippi, “takes Jesus aside,” correcting Him about the events that lie in front of Him in the coming days. Just a little earlier Jesus had blessed Peter because He recognized Jesus as the scriptural Messiah and the Son of God! Peter has had time think about what Jesus had said to him and now presumes to instruct Jesus on a spiritual level. Peter is thinking on a Human level and not spiritual.
There are a couple lessons for us here! First, when we are feeling good about being stroked in front of our peers, we can easily esteem ourselves falsely. Projecting ourselves as spiritual when we are being fleshly makes us embarrass ourselves. We have the tendency to operate out of self-esteem rather than Spiritual humility, which is in our calling. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood refreshes our Spirit and strengthens us in grace.
Living in self-esteem is an area we are to put to death as we make the great exchange of His life in place of our own. Pride can cancel out our inside small voice urging us to make different choices. Created new in Jesus provides us with a spiritual identity exploitable in grace.
Second, how easy, in our humanity, it is to think with a “world view.” In Christ we are equipped with an “Eternal View” which shatters any world view perspective.
When we assert our confidence, we let it overwhelm our weak spiritual condition. But by spiritual focusing, submitting our mind and heart to the logos of God, we erode the influence of our natural man and come alive Spiritually, with an eternal perspective. This is the effect of eating logos meat and abiding in Jesus. Peter has yet to learn this lesson, but he does, as we shall see.
From this point forward Jesus is focused on His death. This is what He is explaining to the disciples. They were in Caesarea Philippi about 6 days before they go up to a spot on a local mountain, probably Mt. Hermon, where Jesus takes Peter, James and John to the Mount of Transfiguration. Here they experience the glory of Christ Jesus and God.
We, like Peter, have to go through these testing episodes to learn the difference between natural self and our new identity in Christ Jesus. I suspect John and James were profiting also from Peter’s personal lessons as well as the other disciples, but more importantly, Jesus takes Peter, John and James to the Mount of Transfiguration where they experience the glory of God and Jesus.
2. Peter’s Identity: Matt. 26:33-34cf, Mk. 14:29-31cf, Lk. 22:31-34cf, John 13:36-38.
John devotes chapters 13 thru 17 describing Jesus’ last night with His disciples, teaching and praying!
Next, Peter has to deal with who he really is in Christ Jesus. We find Jesus and the disciples in Jerusalem in the Upper Room. It is the last evening before Jesus is delivered up to the chief priests for crucifixion. They are having fellowship and a private Passover diner.
As they were having supper and Judas had not yet left the table, Jesus gets up from the table.
Normally there is a servant person who cleans people’s feet when they come in from the outside. None of the disciples took on this task so Jesus sets an example by washing the disciple’s feet one by one. Jesus gets up from the table and removes his outer garment, wrapping a towel around his waist.
Jesus comes to Peter but Peter protests that Jesus should not wash his feet.
“Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”
Right now Peter is hearing Jesus’ words with his ears but not with his heart. We will see later how this changes. Gently, Jesus tells him he doesn’t understand but he will later. Peter has the keys to the kingdom, but still needs clean feet to walk in Jesus’ steps.
Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”
Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but my hands and my head.”
Peter hears the words but they don’t penetrate his heart and mind. How common this is! We respond out of our insecurity and not in the context of what is really happening. Most of us have his problem but reveal it to few. We keep our mouth shut! Peter puts it out there for us to see and hopefully we will rise up and fix it in ourselves!
Peter has been constantly with his Lord for over two years. He believes enough to step out of the boat on to the water but not enough to actually walk on the water. We all have a conviction about God’s reality but it often is only surface deep. This is where eating the flesh and drinking the blood comes in; to abide in Christ while walking in our faith needs to be soul deep!
When we spend meditation time in the Word, not just reading the word, but seeking God in His Logos Word, He promises we will find Him.
John is the only gospel giving us an insight to the teaching Jesus gives to the disciples in the Upper Room during this evening before the crucifixion. In John’s 5 chapters, Jesus is the “Way, the Truth and the Life” and He is “The True Vine.” John 17 is where we have the wonderful prayer of Jesus to our Father God. It is rich reading for us because it shares the sweet intimate relationship we have in Christ until we are raptured out of this condemned worldly place. Peter heard it all in person!
3. Peter’s Self:
Mt. 26:31-35cf, Mk 14:27-31cf, Lk 22:31-34cf, John 13:36-38, 18:15-18, 25-27.
A careful reading of these passages reveals two separate incidents were Peter and the disciples are confronted with Jesus’ challenge concerning their faithfulness over the next few days. In both occasions Peter firmly asserts his faithful commitment to Jesus. But on both occasions Jesus tells him He will deny Him, Peter on both occasions does not accept!
The first occasion occurs in the Upper Room and is recorded in John and Luke. The passage in John occurs after Judas leaves the Upper Room to betray Jesus but Luke’s account suggests Judas was present for the breaking of bread and drinking the wine. John’s account is chronological but Luke’s is topical and not necessarily in a time line of occurrence.
After concluding the breaking of Bread, according to John, Jesus begins to speak about glorifying God and going where the disciples cannot come. Luke’s focus on this discussion relates to the conflict of being highly regard in men’s eyes verses being greater in God’s eyes by becoming a servant like Jesus. The following is from Luke.
Jesus focuses on Peter and tells him of His prayer for him and Satan’s interest in testing Peter. But Peter claims he is already mature enough and ready to die for Jesus if called upon to do so. But Jesus then tells him that he will deny Him 3 times before the rooster crows.
“Simon, Simon, behold Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
Here again we see Peter responding in his own confidence, not in submission; he is not walking in the light of Jesus. Jesus highlights this by calling him by his old name, Simon. Jesus changed his name to Peter but here he calls him “Simon, Simon.” Jesus is reminding Peter of his human habit of being in control and making his own decisions.
This reminds me of my own weakness of using my judgment on a decision when I hear within myself a voice of caution suggesting I’m making the wrong decision. It may be a day later, or maybe a month later when I discover I did make the wrong decision. The voice I heard was God’s voice of fellowship and wisdom. It is amazing how long we repeat our errors before we have the presence of mind to recognize the voice of God. We often hear without recognizing who it is until we see clearly what we did wrong.
As we look at the second occurrence of Peter’s confrontation, our scene moves from the Upper Room to the Mount of Olives. A lot of teaching has transpired in the Upper Room as seen in John and continues as they make their way out of Jerusalem toward the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane.
Many expositors consider John 15 (I am The True Vine) to have taken place in route from the upper room to Mt. Olives. Our Peter passage we are now looking at may have started as they headed out the door of the Upper Room.
After their time of fellowship and breaking of bread, they leave the Upper Room in Jerusalem, departing the city and going down into the Kidron valley and up the other side to the Mt. Olives where is located the garden of Gethsemane. This account is in Matthew.
Jesus is explaining to His disciple friends, what He is about to do will cause them to turn away and become a stumbling block to them.
“And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Then Jesus said to them, “You will fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”
Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.”
Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”
Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.”
This is the second time Peter takes this stand even after hearing Jesus Himself sharing with all the disciples the content of John 14 thru 17 in the Upper Room. No wonder he couldn’t walk on the water!
What about us, can we walk on water? Peter had the physical presence of Jesus for two years, he could at least stand on the water! We have the presence of Jesus in our heart if we have been born again. Peter didn’t have the written of word of God in his hand to turn to any minute of the day but he did have Jesus Himself.
Peter’s solution and ours is replacing our own Self, our own Identity and our own Pride with the power of Jesus’ resurrection life. This is the gift of His grace to us. We should say with Paul, “That I might know him and the power of His resurrection.”
Now we want to move on to episode 4, Peter’s Love. This occurs on the sea of Galilee after Christ’s resurrection. In the above 3 episodes we saw Peter’s Pride, his Identity and his Self portrayed in graphic responses to our Lord’s declarations. Now we are observing a different Peter.
This Peter has denied the Lord Jesus! He has witnessed the suffering death of Jesus and the horrendous beating Jesus endured by His own submission. Peter denied his Lord Jesus three times; he denied his loving relationship, he denied even knowing Him!
Afrer the resurrection Jesus appeared to many people in His resurrection body. Paul makes a partial listing in 1Corinthians 15:5cf. But the first person Jesus appeared to was Peter and then to the other disciples. We have no detail of what this first encounter looked like but Peter had to be in anguish after having denying his Lord without an opportunity for forgiveness and fellowship. But Jesus took care of this; it is the first thing Jesus does when returning to fellowship with His friends and disciples.
The post-resurrection meeting Jesus has with Peter is a prologue to what we now uncover about Peter’s ability to hear and listen. We have no content about Peter’s first meeting with Jesus.
4. Peter’s Love: John 21:15-19.
Jesus announces his presence with a miracle. Peter has gone fishing with his guys on Lake Galilee. They have been out during the night and now it is early morning and they have caught nothing!
Jesus is standing on the shore without being identified. He calls out and asks if they have caught any fish. No, is the reply. The man on the shore says “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”
They cast there net on the right side and it is too full to pull in!
John tells Peter, “It is the Lord!”
Peter put on his clothes, jumps into the sea and rushes toward Jesus.
Jesus is on the beach cooking fish for Peter, Thomas (the twin), Nathanael, James and John, and the two other disciples who were in the boat. Then He begins a conversation with Peter concluding it by walking away from the others with John trailing behind.
The following conversation is recorded in John 21:15-17 but it is not transparent in our English translation. Jesus uses the Greek word for divine love, agape, but Peter responds using phileo, the Greek word that means affectionate love on a more casual or familiar level.
Jesus: “Simon, son of John, do you love (agape) me more than these?”
Peter: “Yes, Lord: you know that I love (phileo) you.”
Jesus: “Feed my lambs.”
Jesus says a second time: “Simon, son of John, do you love (agape) me?”
Peter, a second time: “Yes, Lord: you know that I love (phileo) you.”
Jesus: “Tend my sheep.”
Jesus says to Peter a third time: “Simon, son of John, do you love (phileo) me?”
Peter, a third time: “Lord, you know everything: you know I love (phileo) you.”
Jesus: “Feed my sheep.”
This dialogue between Jesus and Peter is very telling! Peter’s character becomes visible with resolute discernment not previously observed in Peter’s disposition or behavior.
Notice next, Jesus asks Peter the first two times if He loved Him with agape love and Peter responds in the affirmative with an affectionate phileo love. But on the third time, Jesus comes down to Peter’s level, asking if he even has affection for him with an phileo love.
Does Peter still have a mindset of his denial of Jesus? Obviously, it was less than a month ago! Peter’s behavior during this beach scene suggests he is completely changed. Clearly Jesus has reconciled with Peter. Peter is the first person Jesus revealed His physical presence to after His return in a resurrection body! Peter is not now impetuous; he is listening and hearing what Jesus is saying; he is not interrupting with reckless talk. But he is firm about knowing his inadequate agape love.
The scriptures says Peter was “grieved” by Jesus asking him a third time if he loved him and was probably reflected in the tone of his response: “Lord you know everything; you know that I (phileo) love you.” Peter is firm in acknowledging his weak love and is in total submission to what he is hearing from Jesus including “feed my lambs, tend my sheep and feed them.” even after denying Jesus.
Perhaps a month had passed since Peter’s denial of Jesus but it still has to be fresh in Peter’s mind and heart … but now Peter is resolute; he knows the difference between Jesus’ agape love and his own weak affection of phileo love. He is not happy with his phileo love but he recognizes this is what it is. His denial of Jesus confirms it to himself.
But notice also that Jesus once again is addressing Peter not by the name given to him by Jesus but Simon, son of John. Jesus also is acknowledging that Peter is still struggling with 1. Pride, 2. Identity and 3. Self. Simon is still the Peter who has the keys to the kingdom but we don’t see Peter emerge until the Holy Spirit is given and Peter preaches the Lord’s sermon on Pentecost.
Peter has discerned his past behavior in the context of what Jesus has been telling all the disciples from the walk up to the Mount of Transfiguration near Caesarea Philippi to the personal discussions in the Upper Room just before Christ’s crucifixion.
It is easy to identify with Peter. He is portrayed in the scriptures with our frailties even after being “born-again” and created new in Christ Jesus! Peter, just like us, was physically born in spiritual darkness. We are darkened in our understanding, alienated from the life of God because of our spiritual ignorance when physically born. Our heart’s soul had become hardened without God’s Spirit gifting us with Spiritual understanding. But in grace we have been created new in Christ Jesus and called to glorify Him in all we do and say.
Created new in Christ Jesus, the light begins to shine into our heart and soul. But our body is still full of darkness needing us to focus the light of Jesus into our soul so that we begin to spiritually see like Jesus. We need to put on our new identify created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. The logos of God is our physical source and the Holy Spirit is our counselor and guide.
We are given a will to choose. Even though God created us, formed us and made us we must use God’s gift of grace to bring our own body into His likeness. We must learn like Peter to hear and listen in order to do what will glorify our Creator Maker. God’s logos word is our source without which we will remain Simon and not Peter.
Peter breathed in the breath of God to produce the λογοs Word of God making him an effective apostle of God to the early church and us today thru his two written letters in the logos of God! Peter is an example of a dumb sheep needing to learn dependence upon his shepherd. But we are all dumb sheep because without God’s grace to us, none of us can rise in the righteousness of God and Christ. Now, in Christ Jesus, we all stand in grace and are given the power to consume grace making room for more grace to grasp and consume, grace upon grace.
When Jesus askes Peter if he loved Him, Jesus uses the Greek word for divine love, agape. But Peter responds by using the word that means affectionate love on a more casual and familiar level. Then Jesus doubles down on the point and switches over to Peter’s word, “Simon, son of John, do you love (phileo) me?”
Jesus is gently leading Peter out of his “Simonhood,” into the place Jesus has called him to be.
Peter actually was physically walking with Jesus and had the benefit of Jesus’ hands-on help, yet we find him cutting off a man’s ear in the garden. Jesus put it back on the man and no one seemed to notice! Here is grace working in Peter’s behalf! Grace takes care of a problem before it even becomes a problem! This, even before Peter denies Jesus.
God created sheep simply to display who we are and how much we need faith to receive grace and truth and be who each one of us are intended to be.
We have now the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in our jar of clay making our fleshly body the “Temple of God.” Paul tells the saints in Corinth our spirit is joined to the Holy Spirit. That is, the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, takes the Word of God, which we read into our soul, breathing into us our Father God’s truth. The “Logos” Word of God furnishes oxygen into our Spiritual Life thru the Holy Spirit.
But a fundamental piece is for us to not only reading the logos Word but to soak in it and allow His Word to breath truth into our soul.
Being created new in Christ Jesus is a literal reality; it is being generated into a person with Spiritual identity. We are created new with Spiritual capacity to commune with God Spiritually, with a new Spiritual “sense” provided by our regeneration. It is this spiritual capacity we must exercise in the logos Word changing our behavior from a natural flesh person into displaying the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Peter tells us we actually become partakers of God’s own nature. But unless we feed our new Spiritual person with God’s Word, we will not grow as healthy as we will by grasping God’s Word and consuming His grace! The indwelling Holy Spirit confirms and instructs God’s Word to and in us so that we become, according to Peter, living stones joined to the Living Corner Stone, Jesus Himself!
Breathe into us Heavenly Father your breath so that we may put to death our own pride, identity and self so that we may replace it with your agape love glorifying you with your purpose and our calling. Amen!
The God of all grace, who has called you “into” His eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. - Peter