Bulletins - Renew Baptist Church

Song
The Stand
From The Inside Out
Refiner's Fire
A crisis of faith is incredibly confronting.
It might be brought on by moral failure.
It might be brought on by a tragedy.
It might be brought on by incredible suffering.
It might be brought on by the threat of persecution.
It may even be brought on by witnessing the suffering of others.
I remember a situation when I was a young teenager.
My family were attending Christian Outreach Centre now Citipoint at Woombye on the Sunshine Coast.
It was the biggest church on the Sunshine Coast.
There was a mission trip that a number of people went on to somewhere in the Indian subcontinent.
As was to be expected there were reports of signs and wonders.
Of conversions and challenges.
But there was also a crisis of faith for at least one person on that trip.
One of the ladies, whose family was quite prominent in the church, stopped coming to church immediately after the trip.
She was overcome with the suffering she saw.
The poverty, the untreated disease and the injustice of the whole situation.
I was told that she could not reconcile the idea of a loving God with what she saw on that trip.
There was a huge gap in her understanding of sin, suffering and the fall of humanity.
Tragically I don’t think she ever returned during my time there.
The Apostle Peter experienced an incredibly humiliating crisis of faith when Jesus was arrested.
He had declared with absolute certainty that he would die for Jesus.
Matthew 26:33-35, Mark 14:29-31, Luke 22:31 and John 13:37 all record that Peter was adamant.
Where ever Jesus went he would go, even to the point of death.
And all four Gospels also tell us that Jesus predicted Peter would deny him.
Let’s pick the story up in
Luke 22:31–34 NLT
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter said, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you, and even to die with you.” But Jesus said, “Peter, let me tell you something. Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”
And then we come to later that evening
Luke 22:54–62 NLT
So they arrested him and led him to the high priest’s home. And Peter followed at a distance. The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter joined them there. A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she said, “This man was one of Jesus’ followers!” But Peter denied it. “Woman,” he said, “I don’t even know him!” After a while someone else looked at him and said, “You must be one of them!” “No, man, I’m not!” Peter retorted. About an hour later someone else insisted, “This must be one of them, because he is a Galilean, too.” But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.
Peter devestated by his failure weeps bitterly.
He has failed.
Jesus will be executed and Peter knows that he abandoned him.
Jesus will be crucified, die and be buried.
At this point in time Peter believes he will live with his failure forever.
How do you think Peter felt when he met the resurrected Jesus?
Amazed, yes
But also scared
John 20:19 tells us that even after Mary Magdalene had told the disciples that she had seen the risen Jesus they were still meeting behind locked doors.
They were afraid of the Jewish leaders.
Regardless of the amazement and the fear there was another noticable feeling that Peter experienced.
The sense of failure, shame, embarrassment.
We see in John 21:17 that Peter was hurt when Jesus asked him a third time, “Peter do you love me?”
Peter was grieved as in distressed that Jesus had to ask him repeatedly.
Remember Jesus had predicted Peter would deny him.
Peter had denied Jesus in a very public setting.
And now here in the presence of the other disciples Peter is asked the hard question.
“Do you love me?”
Even in the midst of the joy of the presence of the risen Christ, Peter has to face his failure.
Let’s not for one moment underestimate the internal conflict that Peter was experiencing.
There is no escape.
John records this encounter
Mark adds an interesting note in Mark 16:7
Mark 16:7 NLT
Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”
Rodney Cooper in the Holman New Testament Commentary makes this interesting comment
Mark (A. I Am the Resurrection and the Life (16:1–8)) It is also interesting that it is Mark, who received his material from Peter, who puts this phrase in his Gospel. Peter, it seems, wanted us to know that no matter what we have done, God’s gracious hand of forgiveness can bring us back. Even in our darkest moments of despair, Jesus is there.
Many others have the same insight.
The angel specifically mentions Peter.
In the midst of the absolute confusion of Peter’s mind the Lord knows that he needs special attention.
This isn’t the, “there, there, ït will be alright” empty comfort.
This is going to be the searching question sort of comfort.
We see that when Jesus restores Peter he looks deep into Peter’s soul.
He asks the question that drives right to the heart of the matter.
John 21:15-17 records that Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?”
Now in the past commentators have made a great deal about the different Greek words used here for love by both Jesus and Peter.
And it seems that this has been overplayed because there is so much disagreement and it is also likely that Jesus and Peter were speaking in Aramaic or possibly Hebrew.
Where as John wrote his Gospel in greek and tended to use the greek words agapao and phileo when speaking of the Father’s love and Jesus’ love somewhat interchangably.
It is the threefold repatition that is more important.
Not the different greek words for love.
As Peter had denied Jesus three times before the Roster crowed, Jesus asked hiim three times, “do you love me?”.
Peter has experienced a crisis of faith.
He has failed the test.
But it is not the end.
Jesus saw this in Luke 22:31-32
Luke 22:31–32 NLT
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”
This is why Jesus says to Peter, “Feed my sheep”
It is Peter’s role to lead the early church.
His rash actions on so many occassions in his three years with Jesus are turned into a clear calling.
“Feed my sheep”
Peter has failed, but he has been restored.
So what does this mean for us?
The crisis of faith will come.
Maybe not as dramatically as for Peter.
Maybe worse.
But that does not have to be the end.
The Chinese word for crisis, is formed with the characters for the word danger and the word opportunity. (The Essentials of Crisis Counselling and Intervention (p xi) )
We will face a crisis of faith.
We may face many.
Do we see this as a danger to be endured?
Or an opportunity for growth?
Ephesians 3:14–21 NLT
When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations Growth, Spiritual
If you are looking for painless ways to grow toward each other and toward maturity, call off the search.
J. Grant Howard
An unknown author once wrote
The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations (Growth, Spiritual) Sometimes we must be hurt in order to grow, We must fail in order to know, We must lose in order to gain, Some lessons are learned best only through pain. Sometimes our vision clears, Only after our eyes are washed with tears. Sometimes we have to be broken, So we can be tender; Sick, so we can rest and think better On things more important than work or fun; Trip near death, so we can assess how we’ve ran. Sometimes we have to suffer lack, So we can know God’s provisions. Feel another’s pain, So we can have a sense of mission. So take heart, my friend, If you don’t understand today, Instead of grumbling, ask God what he means to say. In order to learn, you must endure And learn to see the bigger picture. In order to grow, you must stand Look beyond the hurt, to God’s loving hand That takes what is good And gives what is best And on this blessed thought: rest. As your anxious heart, with questions: wait. God’s hand only gives, what his loving heart dictates. Author unknown
Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me

How do you think Peter felt when he met the resurrected Jesus?

So what does this mean for us?