THE CORRECT RESPONSE AS THE DISCIPLE OF JESUS
John 18:15-27
By Lay Pastor Jusuf Wibisono Lemah Putro, Sunday, October 25, 2020
Shalom,
All praises are only to God in the highest and holiest place because He is the King of kings who is always with us wherever we are. Let’s be assured that He will give blessings to us, His people, through the Word that we hear and we can get to know Him more day by day, especially in these last days.
What blessings of God's Word do we receive today? John 18: 15-27 write, "...Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, “You are not also one of this Man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. Therefore they said to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not!” One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of him whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him” Peter then denied again; and immediately a rooster crowed.”
The Word of God gives us blessings and advice as the followers of God to respond to His Word, not to reject, let alone deny it, like Peter did. We should be faithful to follow Him like a rooster crowing faithfully every morning to wake us up to pray and get closer to Him.
Before the denial took place, Jesus had warned Peter, “Simon, Simon, Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22: 31-32).
Furthermore, Jesus set an example for Peter (as well as the other disciples) by praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. But what happened? While Jesus prayed earnestly and His sweat was like blood dripping on the ground, Peter, John and James (Matt. 26:32) fell asleep (Luke 22:45). Jesus then reminded them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (v. 46).
Very clearly, Jesus had reminded Peter to pray that he would not fall into temptation and even failed in his faith. Peter should have done His command but in reality he did not respond well. It is not easy to do every command of God's Word but we are given the strength from above; likewise, Jesus in His humanity was given strength by an angel from heaven when He was filled with fear, thus He prayed more seriously (v. 43).
Application: In order not to let trials cause our faith to fail, we must listen, meditate on the meaning and message of God's Word, then we keep and carried it out. When we pray in our weaknesses, God will surely give us strength to overcome challenges and trials so that we will not deny, reject and leave Him. Do you know that near the end of His life, Jesus had to face Judas Iscariot who betrayed and sold Him, as well as Peter, who denied Him? How do we react to Him especially in these last days when challenges and tests in our health, finance and social keep on attacking us? Can we withstand them? To be able to thrive through the ongoing upheavels and to remain stand firm before Him, we must keep on the watch and pray without ceasing (Luke 21:36).
How should we respond to the Word of God? Prov. 4: 20-23 say, “My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; ... Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” Remember, heart and mouth are related to each other – “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. 10:10). Therefore we should guard our hearts so that they are not filled with worldly matters.
When Peter saw his Master being arrested, he followed Him from afar and then warmed himself by the fire together with other people, but ended up in denying Him (Luke 22: 54-62). Unfortunately, when Jesus’ death was approaching, Peter turned away from Him because he did not keep in his heart the words of his Master to watch and pray; as a result he failed the test. Supposedly, out of the three questions asked to Peter whether he knew Jesus, after he failed to answer the first one correctly, the second question served as a remedy, but Peter failed again; however, he was still given the third chance, yet he continued to deny Jesus. Mercifully Jesus turned to Peter, looked him in the eye and just then he remembered the words of his Master. Afterwards, He went outside and wept bitterly.
Application: Always remember to keep God's Word in our hearts that we can use it as a “weapon” to win out any test.
Prior to Peter’s denial tragedy, Jesus once turned to him and rebuked him harshly because he was not thinking about God's thoughts, but rather what men thought instead (Matt. 16: 21-23). At that time Peter "patronized" Jesus and felt deserving of being a "hero" as to prevent Jesus from experiencing the passion of the cross. Furthermore, Jesus said that those who want to follow Him (become His disciples) must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him (v. 24). Apparently Peter was afraid of losing his life (v. 25) so he refused the cross.
Application: Our thoughts and feelings must be the same as those of Jesus (Phil. 2: 5) so that we will always be united in His cross and become happy disciples.
Take an example of Joshua who was triumphant because he kept the Word of God in his heart and guarded it with all vigilance. The Lord advised Joshua not to be afraid, nor be dismayed in facing his enemies but always spoke the Law and meditated it day and night. By doing so, the LORD was with him and his journey was successful and fortunate (Josh. 1: 8-9). Likewise, when Jesus was tempted by Satan three times, Jesus won because he always returned to the Word and answered "It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”” (Matt. 4: 4).
Our hearts must become a permanent vessel of God's Word so that we have "weapons" against the powers and rulers of this dark world as well as against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). God is our refuge because only close to Him we are calm (Ps. 62: 2). Conversely, if we move away from the cross of Christ and instead going to the fire (the warmth of the world) to be in association with worldly people and we don’t have the word of God in our hearts, we will surely lose the battle against trials and temptations, whereas God has promised that together with the Lamb we will all defeat the enemies (Rev. 17:14).
Peter was the disciple of Jesus who turned away from his Master when Jesus was about to suffer and die on the cross, even though at first he spontaneously left his job for Jesus (Matt. 4: 18-20). Let us remain enthusiastic in serving and following the Lord faithfully until the end of our lives. If we are still alive when the last trumpet sounds, we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye and death will be swallowed up in victory (1 Cor. 15: 52-54).
Let us respond to God's call by obeying and doing His commands. The benchmark of His faithful disciple is having a heart filled with His word, the Holy Spirit and His love. Having all these, we will overcome challenges and trials raised by the enemy. We are even more than the conquerors because He loves us (Rom. 8:37). Amen.
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