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A Closer Look At Peter
Simon Peter was a great man of God, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ, a man that was inspired by God to write not 1 but 2 books of His Holy Word.
At first thought it would seem that surely this man was well educated. This man couldn't be just an average everyday man to be able to accomplish a task such as this. Perhaps a quick overview of some of the major points in his life will help us to have a better understanding of this great man and the words that God inspired him to write for even us today.
- KJV Matthew 4:18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
Peter was a fisherman by trade, nothing fancy, had a regular job and we see him return to the water many times throughout the New Testament.
I guess you would consider him just a regular working class citizen, a laborer. Even as Jesus walked up to him, he was busy casting his net into the water. He was hard at work. Just like us, Peter had problems in his life. Typical things, I feel sure that there were times in which his fishing business had "hard times", like many businesses today, there are always "lean" times.
He also dealt with an illness in his family, a sick mother-in-law. Jesus healed her while at Peter's house. She was lying down and it appears that she lived with them. Yeah, he had his own life's struggles alright. Not alot different from many of us today, we can relate to working all day and many times having to come home to deal with some other family type problems.
We also see Peter struggle with his faith. Once when they were fishing they saw Jesus on the water. At first they were afraid but Jesus let them know it was Him.
-CEV Matthew 14:28-30 Peter replied, "Lord, if it is really you, tell me to come to you on the water." "Come on!" Jesus said. Peter then got out of the boat and started walking on the water toward him. But when Peter saw how strong the wind was, he was afraid and started sinking. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted.
So many times we hit these troubled waters we loose sight of the Lord and as we find ourselves sinking, we too cry out "Lord, save me" just like Peter. -CEV Matthew 14:31 Right away, Jesus reached out his hand. He helped Peter up and said, "You surely don't have much faith. Why do you doubt?"
And like so many of us here, the Lord is always there with an outstretched hand ready to save us from whatever we have gotten ourselves into and even though we doubted Him, once the faith issue is dealt with and Jesus is back in our life, things tend to go a lot smoother. -CEV Matthew 14:32 When Jesus and Peter got into the boat, the wind died down.
Just like us here, Peter was intent on learning, sure, he made his mistakes along the way, he did make some bad choices but he did have a love for the Lord and was intent on learning.
Jesus was telling a parable -CEV Matthew 15:10-11 Jesus called the crowd together and said, "Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. The food that you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean."
-CEV Matthew 15:12-14 Then his disciples came over to him and asked, "Do you know that you insulted the Pharisees by what you said?" Jesus answered, "Every plant that my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up by the roots. Stay away from those Pharisees! They are like blind people leading other blind people, and all of them will fall into a ditch."
-CEV Matthew 15:15 Peter replied, "What did you mean when you talked about the things that make people unclean?" Peter didn't understand this parable and asked Jesus to explain it to him. He was intent on learning, finding the truth of life from Jesus.
-CEV Matthew 15:16-18 Jesus then said: Don't any of you know what I am talking about by now? Don't you know that the food you put into your mouth goes into your stomach and then out of your body? But the words that come out of your mouth come from your heart. And they are what make you unfit to worship God.
-CEV Matthew 15:19-20 Out of your heart come evil thoughts, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, vulgar deeds, stealing, telling lies, and insulting others. These are what make you unclean. Eating without washing your hands will not make you unfit to worship God.
Jesus did make couple of points in what He said. 1) it was at this point that animals that had once been considered to be unclean and not to be eaten were now declared suitable for food. and the main point 2) it is what comes out of your mouth that reveals your true heart.
Actions speak so much louder than words but words will reveal your true heart. Even talking about committing bad deeds is considered a bad thing. Peter was learning all of these things first hand from the Master. He had to have learned a lot in his walk with the Lord. Just as we do, we sometimes will not agree with Jesus and what He is saying.
Jesus was telling His disciples of his impending death the night before He was arrested and crucified. -CEV Matthew 16:22 Peter took Jesus aside and told him to stop talking like that. He said, "God would never let this happen to you, Lord!"
until we are corrected... -CEV Matthew 16:23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Satan, get away from me! You're in my way because you think like everyone else and not like God."
Peter also wanted to please his Master. -CEV Matthew 17:3-4 All at once Moses and Elijah were there talking with Jesus. So Peter said to him, "Lord, it is good for us to be here! Let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
Still wanting to learn all that he could about Jesus. He was always asking questions. -CEV Matthew 18:21 Peter came up to the Lord and asked, "How many times should I forgive someone who does something wrong to me? Is seven times enough?" -CEV Matthew 19:27 Peter replied, "Remember, we have left everything to be your followers! What will we get?"
and making bold statements -CEV Matthew 26:33 Peter spoke up, "Even if all the others reject you, I never will!" -CEV Matthew 26:35 But Peter said, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never say I don't know you." All the others said the same thing.
We all tend NOT to have time to spend with the Lord or in doing His work. -CEV Matthew 26:40 He came back and found his disciples sleeping. So he said to Peter, "Can't any of you stay awake with me for just one hour?
For many of us, for one reason or another, there come times of denying to have anything to do with the Lord. -CEV Matthew 26:69-70 While Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, a servant girl came up to him and said, "You were with Jesus from Galilee." But in front of everyone Peter said, "That isn't so! I don't know what you are talking about!"
-CEV Matthew 26:71-73 When Peter had gone out to the gate, another servant girl saw him and said to some people there, "This man was with Jesus from Nazareth." Again Peter denied it, and this time he swore, "I don't even know that man!" A little while later some people standing there walked over to Peter and said, "We know that you are one of them. We can tell it because you talk like someone from Galilee."
-CEV Matthew 26:74 Peter began to curse and swear, "I don't know that man!" Right then a rooster crowed, And like so many of us, we regret our actions. -CEV Matthew 26:75 and Peter remembered that Jesus had said, "Before a rooster crows, you will say three times that you don't know me." Then Peter went out and cried hard.
We should all have a real good understanding about the life of Peter now. He wasn't just a whole lot different than many of us. He had his own set of problems, his own curiosity and his own reasoning, just as we all do and his reasoning , like ours, wasn't always in line with God's and like Peter, you too can be a great person of God.
Like us, the events in his life both good and bad helped shape Peter's faith and beliefs. Peter applied the teachings of Jesus to these lessons of life. Peter was very knowledgeable about Jesus, the truth of life and the tremendous power that accompanies it. It is by his use of the knowledge that he had gained that brought about great wisdom in this ordinary man.
Knowledge is the information learned. Wisdom is what we do with this knowledge. Wisdom is the use of knowledge. A wise man will use this knowledge with a wise course of action, will show good judgment and a good attitude about knowing and using this information.
First we must learn it, then we must live it and then we will love it.
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