Life's Roller Coaster

Hey guys! Be checking back for my next newsletter and an update on Fall Getaway. I will post it soon. Until then, here is the talk I gave at the athletes Bible study tonight. 

I know some people like roller coasters. I however, am not one of those people. I’m always the one who gets talked into going on one and ends up shrieking the whole time while holding onto whoever I’m sitting next to with a death grip. While I don’t love riding roller coasters I do like watching YouTube videos of people freaking out on roller coasters. I have no idea how I stumbled upon this video but it strangely relates to what we’re talking about tonight so here it is. Enjoy!

Ok, it’s kind of sad. I do feel bad for the kid, but I also find it hilarious so I can’t help but laugh a little. It’s a funny video, but in all honesty some of you feel this way in your relationship with God. One minute you’re doing fine and the next minute you’re being catapulted every which way struggling to stay in your seat. The Christian walk seems more like a bunch of ups and downs than a steady go to you can put your complete trust in. And you look next to you and you see fellow Christians enjoying the ride, but not just the times of calm. They love all of it. The ups and downs. The stomach turning flips. Everything. And you might be thinking, “What am I missing? What are these other Christians understanding that I’m just not getting? How do I tolerate the ups and downs that come with following Jesus?” These are all valid questions because let’s face it: giving your life to Christ does not mean everything is going to be perfect. It usually means quite the opposite.

The past few weeks we’ve been looking at people who have interacted with Jesus. People who have answered the question, “Who do you say that I am?” Tonight we’re going to look at Simon Peter who actually directly answered that question Jesus asks in Matthew. Peter ended up doing great things for God, but his ride was a little bumpy. He rode the roller coaster of life with Christ and not all of it was pretty. We’ll be flipping around a bit tonight, but let’s start in Matthew 4:18-20.

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fisherman. ‘Come follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.”

So here is the first time we see Peter enter the picture. Here is what we know about him: He was a common man. He was a fisherman which means he probably wasn’t very educated. His name was originally Simon until Jesus renames him Peter which we’ll talk more about later on. And finally, he had a brother named Andrew. I love his response when Jesus asks Peter to follow him. He immediately leaves his net and follows Jesus. Peter may not have known exactly what he was getting into, but he knew this man was worth following and he dropped everything to do it. Flip ahead a few chapters to Matthew 16:13-18.

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’  Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

I want to touch on a few things in this section. First, Peter understood who Jesus was. He was able to answer the question with confidence. He knew that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Because he knew this to be true he spent his life following Jesus. Second, Jesus renames him Peter which literally in Greek means, “rock.” Jesus tells Peter that he will build his church on him and not even the power of hell could shake it. If you read on in Acts you get to see what Jesus says about him come true, but before any of those things happen the roller coaster takes its toll.Turn to Matthew 26:69-75. Here is the famous passage in which Peter denies knowing Christ which Jesus predicts a few verses earlier.

“Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. ‘You also were with Jesus of Galilee,’ she said. But he denied it before them all. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said. Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, ‘This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ He denied it again, with an oath, ‘I don’t know the man!’ After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, ‘Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away.’ Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, ‘I don’t know the man!’ Immediately the rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: ‘Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly.”

So here Peter is, after following Jesus and claiming that he is the Son of God, denying that he even knows him. He’s seen him do miracles, he’s heard his teachings, he’s committed his life to serving Jesus and he then denies even knowing him. And he doesn’t say it. He swears it with an oath and even calls down curses on himself. That’s pretty bad. I can’t imagine having one of my worst moments recorded in the Bible for millions of people to read throughout history. And to be honest it gets even worse because after this Jesus is crucified. There was no reconciliation, no chance to take it back, to say he was sorry. He didn’t get to make it right. The good news is that Jesus didn’t stay dead and Jesus didn’t leave Peter to wallow in this horrible thing he had done. After Jesus rose from the grave he appeared to Peter. We see this interaction in John 21 the very last chapter of the very last gospel. Here’s the background. After Jesus rises from the dead he appears to Mary Magdelene, Thomas, and some of his disciples. The third time Jesus appears to his disciples is recorded in John 21 and this time Peter was in that group. They were fishing early in the morning and a man stood on shore. He asks them if they had caught any fish and they said no. The man then tells them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. They do and ending up hauling in a huge amount of fish, so large they couldn’t even pull the net in. The disciples end up recognizing Jesus and Peter takes off his cloak and jumps in the water to swim to shore. He was so eager to see Jesus he couldn’t wait for the boat to come in. Let’s pick it up in verse 15:

“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my lambs.’ Again Jesus said, ‘Simon, son of John, do you truly love me?’ He answered, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Take care of my sheep.’ The third time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, ‘Follow me!’”

I find it interesting that Jesus ends the same way he started with Peter, asking him to follow. We get to see in Acts after Jesus ascends to heaven Peter really becoming the rock of the church. He builds them up, speaking boldly of Jesus Christ and the gospel. He even ends up imprisoned because of his message. And eventually ends up being martyred at an old age after a life spent serving Christ.

I think we can learn many things from Peter’s life but there are 3 main things that stuck out to me as I read.

ONE: The Christian life is full of ups and downs. So often we expect that following God means life will be easy, free from the bumps in the road. But we see from Peter that isn’t the case. Not only do bad things happen but there will be a lot of days I don’t FEEL like following Jesus. I know that has been true of me in the past and honestly it usually leads me to do dumb things like when Peter denied even knowing Christ. There may be times when we feel like we’re falling out of our seat like the chubby kid falling off the roller coaster. We know we’re strapped in, secure in the love of Christ, but we FEEL like we’re slipping. We panic because this ride didn’t go like we expected. It’s harder than we thought. It’s lonelier. It’s different. It’s fill in the blank… The point is so often we let the way we feel about our relationship with God dictate our actions. Do you keep hearing that word? FEEL? Our emotions often lie to us. My emotions tell me, “You can’t feel God near? He must far from you. You feel weary of doing the right thing? Just give up... just give in. You feel like a failure? God must think that’s true too.” When our emotions lie we must stand on truth. When Peter was fearful of crowds and claiming Jesus as his friend he should have remembered the truth: “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” If that’s true he would have known there was nothing to fear. The first thing to remember from Peter’s life: don’t let the ups and downs dictate your relationship with God. He’s the safety belt that will always keep you from slipping… even if you FEEL like you’re falling.

      TWO: Following Jesus is a daily choice. Because our emotions lie to us, we will be tempted to worship other things. We will be tempted to serve other gods and give up following Jesus. It’s not by accident the very first and last thing Jesus says to Peter is “follow me.” It’s a choice we have to make every day. It’s like I keep saying: we must constantly answer the question: “Who do you say that I am?” Because when we answer that question we make a choice about who he is. And when we make a choice about who he is action follows. Either we drop everything and follow him or we choose to go our own way.

      THREE: You can always run to Jesus. Maybe some of you are thinking, “I’m in a low on this Christian life roller coaster because I’ve messed up bad. Like denying Jesus bad. I can’t come to Jesus because my sin is awful” Peter denied Christ three times and the very next time he saw him what did he do? He jumped out of a boat and swam to him because Peter knew that because of the cross and because of the resurrection his sin was washed away. His faults were not counted against him. He was completely loved, accepted, and valued by Jesus because his love alone and not the things he had done. Some of you guys need to jump out of the boat and swim to him. Your sin doesn’t have to separate you from God if you would just confess it (which he is faithful to forgive) and run to him.

So in the highs and lows there is hope. We know the Christian life won’t be easy and it certainly won’t be perfect but the good news is Jesus. He’s constant and his love is unconditional. Peter ended up getting it! Turn with me to 1 Peter 1:3-9. This is what he writes about our living hope:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had 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 result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Wow… that’s awesome. You have an inheritance than can never perish, spoil, or fade. Believing that with all your heart is going to allow you to be the lady in the video rather than the chubby kid tossed around by the ride: You’ll be laughing through the ups and downs of the Christian life because when you place your hope in Jesus Christ you are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy even when you must suffer grief in all kinds of trials.