Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 1 Study # 3
February 4, 2007
Lincolnton, N.C.
(Download Audio)

• I. The "Relative" Contributions to Peter's View of Jesus.
  • A. He was a witness to Jesus' exorcisms and healings.
  • B. He was a witness to Jesus' total commitment to the proclamation of the Word of God.
  • C. He was a dissatisfied man -- and he was afraid.
• II. The Major Contributions to Peter's View of Jesus.
  • A. Jesus deliberately kept showing up where Peter could not ignore Him.
    • 1. There was a huge number of people whose lives had been significantly changed by Jesus' actions and teaching, but the vast majority of them accepted the good and went about their business.
    • 2. Peter was among these who accepted the good and continued with his life as he had lived it.
    • 3. But Jesus had decided that Peter was to be a vessel of honor in His Father's House, so He deliberately chose to "show up" where Peter was.
    • 4. Peter began to see a special interest by Jesus in him.
  • B. Jesus made sure that Peter "felt" the pressure of Judgment.
    • 1. Everyone "feels" this pressure: it is the root of the "fear of death" that keeps men in bondage all of their lives.
    • 2. Most people "bury" the "feeling" if they can; some develop crippling phobias because they cannot "bury" it; and all develop "fang" tactics in the face of it.
    • 3. Jesus commandeered Peter's boat, requested his assistance in getting it in place so that He could teach, and made Peter's fear a fundamental point of focus as He made Himself the answer to the fear.
  • C. Jesus forced Peter deal with some very basic issues.
    • 1. What did Peter think of the " word " of Jesus?
      • a. The text tells us that Jesus publicly instructed Peter to move out into the deep.
      • b. The background of the exorcisms and healings was totally focused upon the "authority" of Jesus' words.
      • c. Was Peter going to "go along with" his personal frustration and weariness, or was he going to permit the "authoritative word" to determine his behavior?
    • 2. What was Peter to do with his fear ?
      • a. Jesus' instruction was to move out into the deep.
        • 1) It is no accident that Paul sought the development of the Ephesians in their grasp of the "depth" of God's love (Ephesians 3:18) and that Jesus by-passed those in Thyatira who had entered into the "depths of Satan" (Revelation 2:24): this is fundamental to long-term discipleship.
        • 2) This was the "felt" level of Peter's fears, but it was driven by the reality of the "Lake".
          • a) Most folks simply do not seek the reason for their fears; they just try to avoid them.
          • b) But the bottom line for all fear is the absence of the purity of the Love of God and the terror that His love is like ours.
        • 3) This was, however, also a deliberate confrontation of Peter's typical method of handling his fears: Peter was a boastful, "fearless", man.
          • a) Option one: refuse the "authoritative word" because "we have spent all night fishing and have caught nothing."
          • b) Option two: swallow the terror and act on the "word".
      • b. As uncomfortable as it was, Peter found himself unable to refuse the "word".
  • D. Jesus provided Peter with an experience that topped everything Peter had ever experienced as a fisherman.
    • 1. Why did Jesus not respond to Peter's lack of success in fishing by simply pointing to it and arguing for the emptiness of such a life?
    • 2. Why did Jesus make Peter so incredibly successful this one time?
      • a. First, "disciples" have to have a potent "positive" motivation to actually be disciples.
        • 1) No one can ever become a disciple if fear is the motivation.
          • a) Fear is self-centered and brings out the "fangs".
          • b) Discipleship is fundamentally a "love" issue.
        • 2) Only those can develop as disciples who are caught by the Love of God.
        • 3) If Jesus had argued on the basis of Peter's failure and dissatisfaction, all He would have gotten was a Judas.
      • b. Second, "disciples" have to be persuaded of Jesus' real ability to solve the problems of life.
        • 1) Persuasion requires evidence.
        • 2) The evidence has to exist in the realm of the person who is being summoned to make a decision.
      • c. Third, "disciples" are people who have walked away from life as they have defined and pursued it.
        • 1) This does not mean that no one is a disciple who continues in the vocation in which he was called (1 Corinthians 7:20).
        • 2) But it definitely does mean no one is a disciple who continues to see the vocation in the same way he once saw it.
          • a) Most people see their vocations as the "means of life".
          • b) Disciples see their vocations as the "arena of service" to the God of Life.
        • 3) Disciples are people who let God direct their "vocational" choices.