When I was younger and I worked on the road, we didn't worship. There's this camp that we would go do every single summer. It was outside of, isn't Dry Creek losing any, every, have you been to Dry Creek? Oh yeah, you know about that place then.
So every night there was always, it was nice. It was interesting. There was great booting on the gas station across the street from the camp. That was what I loved about the most.
But they had a night every year that was dressed like your favorite Bible character. And we tell you what, anytime that like youth ministry does dress like your favorite Bible character, what it actually is is you put on mom and dad's bathrobe and a towel in your head and you try to explain this to people. You might or you might be from like super, super church family and you have a Bible costume. Like this is part of your things you might use throughout the year.
But it was same things as much a kids in the bathrobe and the same answers over and over. But one year there was this kid and he was an absolute genius. I can't chant for this move. He walked in and he had taken a white bed sheet and cut two holes in it and thrown it over his body.
It was walking around going, ooh, holy ghost. Ooh, holy ghost. I mean, it's, he was a genius. And if I think about like my favorite people in the Bible, but if I think about my favorite people in the New Testament, especially I love the Apostle Peter.
And I love the Apostle Peter because he typically comes across as a bumbling idiot. He's normal. He makes mistakes. We see him do things that mirror the way that we sometimes do things in our life.
I think I like Peter. And other people like Peter so much because he seems normal. And sometimes we need normal, especially when we're reading the Bible. But he's an everyday person.
And so for the next couple of weeks, what we're going to look at is the story of Peter, because here's the thing. Like we see Peter in the gospels somewhat acting like a buffoon. But if we see Peter in the book of Acts, we see a radically different person. We see a leader.
We see just a tremendous spiritual force. We see a gigantically different person. And I think so much of that happens because of the actions and the relationship and interactions between Peter and Jesus on those last few days of Jesus' life and those first few days of the resurrection. So for the next couple of weeks, we're just going to pop into that moment in Peter's life.
And today we're going to look at Peter's betrayal of Jesus. And what that means to us, what we're going to talk about inside of that is the fact that what Peter was asking Jesus to do was for Jesus to be on his terms. And I want us to think this morning about our terms. And the fact that sometimes our terms can actually be the worst terms.
Because when we set up our terms, what's really going on in our life is that we fail to have a big enough picture of what's going on. In so many ways, our conversation, this interaction that's happening with Peter right now, is that Jesus is big enough 101. We see what's going on in Peter's life when he's learning this. Our terms aren't big enough.
We realize that we set boundaries and what we think is actually possible. So we therefore set limits on what God can do for us in our life. When we live on our terms and we set our terms with Jesus, we end up defining what we believe is our place in the world. And so then we say, well, Jesus, this is what I can do.
This is what is not possible for me. And this is what is impossible for you to do. And we're willing to live on our terms of Jesus' terms. We don't acknowledge our own ability to grow.
And we say, Jesus, I can't get any better than this. And so you're just going to have to deal with this side of me. See, our terms are oftentimes the worst terms. And Peter ends up being very glad that his terms weren't accepted.
A little more information on Peter just to jump into this. Peter's known for his enthusiastic outbursts. I mean, Peter, there's many times you see him, he pulls up Peter. Like, it's what's expected of him.
He's known also for his deep love of Jesus. Peter was counted as one of the three. So Peter, James, and John, is Jesus's inner circle. And they're able to see amazing things as part of this.
He was also in the gospel. He's always listed as the first person in the list of the 12. He led the disciples. And sometimes he goes to Jesus for the disciples.
And sometimes he speaks to other people for the disciples as well. He's seen as their leader. Peter's impulsive. He can arise to heights that are unknown.
But he also has the ability just to descend to the bottom depths. He's normal. He's normal. He's like, you and I.
When we first meet Peter in scripture, it says his name is Simeon. And Simeon in Judaism, it means obedient. When Peter meets Jesus, Jesus changes his name. And he says, from now on, I shall call you Cephas, which is Aramaic for a rock.
And the New Testament, his name is Petros, this Greek for rock. Peter's name is Obedient Rock. And inside of his name, we actually see his story. Just in who he is, that he's obedience.
But then he learns that his obedience actually provides stability, not just for others, but also for himself. But most of all, Peter developed a heart with eyes to see this world in the way that Jesus saw this world. And so let's look at the beginning of this shift today. John chapter 36 to 38 is where we will begin.
And this is at the Last Supper. And it's right before Jesus goes into his final prayer with his disciples and where he tells the many things. But this is what it says. Simeon Peter asked, Lord, where are you going?
And Jesus replied, you can't go with me now, but you will follow me later. But why can't I come now, Lord? He asked, I'm ready to die for you. And Jesus answered, die for me.
I tell you, I tell you the truth, Peter, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me. So Peter's denial of Jesus and who that is. And so a couple of things are going on here. What we really see when we first jump into this is that Peter has a confused devotion.
Jesus has been hinting at this for the last several days. He's been hearing these things. But at this moment, Peter kind of does what he normally does. He inserts himself into the situation.
How many of y'all are the kind of people that have a tendency to insert yourself into situations? You kind of learn the hard way about that works out. Peter's the champ of that. So he starts arguing with Jesus and Jesus, I will follow you no matter what.
And this idea follows, not the idea of discipleship, but this is literally, I will get in line behind you. I will put myself in the queue with you. I'm willing to line jump ahead of you. When I read this, I thought about those old World War II movies, especially with Normandy, when the paratroopers would clip in to that line because they were on that secure line that would actually pull their parachute.
Peter sitting here trying to clip in ahead of Jesus. The only problem is Peter can't die for our sins. He didn't understand what Jesus was doing. He thought Jesus was just trying to make some sort of a statement that something completely different would go on.
In fact, later on in John, we find out that the moment when Peter is arrested, that Jesus is arrested, Peter pulls out a sword and cuts off somebody's ear. He has a completely different picture of what's going on here and a completely different picture of who Jesus is and a completely different picture of what Jesus had going on. Now the terms that he's asking for is he says, I want to die instead of you Jesus. If someone has to sacrifice themselves, let me be the one to sacrifice.
The only problem is Peter's idea of self-sacrifice that isn't big enough. You know, when pressed, you will fall us with Jesus saying, no, you can't even follow me. You can't clip ahead of me. In just a couple of hours, you're gonna deny that you even know who I am.
Like you're not big enough to do this. But we have to think about this on our terms. What can be said about us here? And really what Peter's failing to do here is Peter's failing to let Jesus be Jesus.
And we can apply that to our own lives. When have it been the time, when are the times in our lives where we have failed to let Jesus be Jesus? We've wanted him alongside of us. We might even want him in our line, but we wanna go ahead of him in that line.
We don't realize there are things that only he can do, and we have to be willing to let him stand in that place to do that. Are we willing to let Jesus be Jesus? So what does Peter learn about following Jesus inside of this? So we go forward to chapter 18 to where Peter ends up doing exactly what Jesus said he was gonna do.
So verse 15 through 17 is the first place. This is what it says. Simon Peter followed Jesus as did another one of the disciples. The other disciple was a coining with a high priest.
So he was allowed to enter the high priest courtyard with Jesus. And Peter had to stay outside the gate. Then the disciple who knew the high priest spoke to the woman watching the gate and she let Peter in. And that woman asked Peter, one of that means disciples, are you?
No, I am not. He said, we go forward to verse 25. Meanwhile, Simon Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him, you're not one of his disciples, are you? And he denied it saying, no, I am not.
But one of the household slaves of the high priest, the relative, the man whose ear Peter had cut off asked, didn't I see you out there in the olive grove with Jesus? And again, Peter denied it. And immediately the rooster crowed. See Peter couldn't anticipate all these things going on.
And while Peter was there, he managed to sneak into this first round of trials against Jesus. While he's in there, he realizes that not only did he not anticipate what was going on, but he also realized that he was significantly off-map. Peter was starting to realize the terms he had placed on who Jesus were, were not accurate, and that they were not big enough for the situation. The lesson that we can learn inside of this is, are we really following Jesus?
If we can't see where he's going because we did not let him lead us there, Peter's terms were Jesus following him. Peter never imagined that his terms would there be that different from him choosing to follow Jesus. He realized that Jesus has physically led him into a place that he could have never anticipated. C.A.
Carson says this, a good intentions in a secure room after a good meal are far less attractive in a dark garden with a hostile mob. Peter's terms happened right after the Last Supper, right when Jesus was his closest disciples in the best place. It was most likely in a home that he knew well. We talked about John Mark last week and his relationship to Peter.
This room was probably one of Peter's family's houses. He made some big promises on his home turf. But the second he realized he was off that turf, the trouble was beginning. See, sometimes our intentions and our self assessment vastly outstripped our strengths.
Those are the moments where we realized we need to be following Jesus, not asking Jesus to follow us. Our terms strong enough for when our vision of the world isn't. Peter had built up what he thought was a stable platform that eventually collapsed under its own weight. It wasn't big enough for the world that he lived in.
It was his own construction of it failed. When we asked Jesus to follow us, that's gonna be the inevitable outcome. We're going to build up a world that's not strong enough to hold itself. When we followed Jesus, we realized that he has the ability to build something that's stronger than we could ever have imagined.
Peter's issue, what's actually going on, he's learning in a hard way, is the fact that not just he denied Jesus, but he did so as a disciple. But Peter's denying is not the fact that he knows Jesus, but he's denying the fact that, hey, I've allowed this person to make me inform me who I am. And in his denial, he's actually siding with the enemies of Jesus. Luke, when he tells this story, he adds in a personal detail that I'm being honest with you all.
It's kind of like, when I place myself in this situation, I become heartbroken. It's what Luke says, 22, 60 through 62, this is Peter's last denial. But Peter said, man, I don't know what you were talking about. And immediately while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
At that moment, the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And suddenly the Lord's words flashed through Peter's mind before the rooster crowed tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me. And Peter left the courtyard weeping bitterly. I can't put myself in Peter's spot at that moment, can you?
Just the eye contact, this is the moment where Peter realized that he had put himself in a corner that he had no way out of. I think in many ways, this is Peter's moment of accepting responsibility for himself, and accepting responsibility. He'd been asking Jesus to follow him, instead of him following Jesus. Peter realized he had built a false world, and it had collapsed under its own weight.
But Peter's also now at the place where he will let Jesus be Jesus. And he will accept the fact that Peter now, that Jesus is now going to go and die for him. And there's nothing he can do about it. What's interesting, the whole rooster-crowing thing, is that just a backcountry colloquialism, like what's going on with there?
But what this really signified was, is that there was a moment in the day, in the Roman world, where business could begin. And the kind of saying was, you can't do business until the rooster crows. You can't do business until the rooster crows. And the reason why he was not losing a version of that.
Peter realized that this was now not at the moment of personal issue. This was the moment where authorities were about to take over. And it was about to be things that were out of his control that he could not stop. And this was happening.
There's nothing he can do about it. But he has also realized that Jesus is here to die for him. Because here's the issue with our terms. Now, our terms, we typically say, well, this is the way I like things, we just the way that I want things to be.
And our mind, what they're typically saying is, this is what takes for me to thrive. This is what takes for me to have the good life. This is what takes for me to have every single thing I want to. And we're going to be honest with ourselves.
Typically, we're making terms what we're actually saying is, these are the things I have to have so I can hold on. The only problem is when we get to that point, we're acting and needing the things and living in the mindset of, this is just so I can hold on. We're also saying, Jesus, I don't believe you have a good enough grip. The one thing that we need, we already have.
It's the lesson that Peter learned. It's faithfulness. I think of his name, obedient rock. He's been given every single thing he needs.
He knows the behaviors, he knows the posture he must take. And he's been doing it for the last several years. But what he's learned in this moment is that he cannot provide his own stability, that only Jesus can provide the stability that he needs. And it's time for him to hand that over and allow that to happen.
We already have everything we need. The only thing we have to do is to learn how valuable it actually is. And the best thing for us when we are learning these things is just to be inside and to practice the presence of Christ. To realize that is where we learn what he is like, that's where we learn how strong he is.
And Jesus gave us a gift on the night that we're talking about, the night in which Jesus gave himself up for us. He took bread and gave thanks to God for it. And he broke it and said, this is my body. And as often as you eat of this, do it in remembrance of me.
And he took the cup and gave thanks to God for it. And he said, this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, which we poured out for your sins and sins of me. And as often as you drink of this, do this in remembrance of me. Jesus gives us his presence.
He offers us full access to the truth of who he is and the truth of who God is. That's the only thing we need. That's our rock. It's his presence.
So let's pray together today. Let's pray together today. You're out of your presence and spirit on us as we are gathered here. Also pour them out on these gifts of bread and wine.
Jesus, make them be for us, the body and blood of Christ, so that we may be for the world, the body of Christ redeemed by his blood. Buy your spirit and make us one with each other and one with your entire church until you come back and we feast together at your heavenly banquet. Better servers that come forward.