Walking with Peter: First Encounter

A. Introduction: Story of Gideon (Judges 6:1-16); Story of David (I Samuel 16:1-13)

1. What is the common thread in these two scriptures? How we perceive ourselves or others is different than the way God does. We tend to focus on the external to in judging others or ourselves. God focuses on the internal. Reread I Samuel 16:7. Other examples: Moses (Exodus chapters 3 and 4) and Jeremiah (chapter 1)

B. Background - John 1:35-39 - Point out that the following is a more detailed account of the calling of Jesus’ first disciples. Events that transpired before the brief “they left their nets to follow Jesus” accounts seen in Matthew and Mark. John and Luke give a more detailed account.

Summary of what’s going on. John the Baptist is hanging out with two of his disciples (Andrew and probably John). Jesus walks by. John the Baptist tells them “The guy I’ve been telling you about? The Lamb of God? The Messiah? There He is.” The two leave John the Baptist to follow Jesus. The two keep their distance behind Jesus. He turns around and sees them following Him and asks them “What do you looking for?” Good question! There’s sermon in that question! What do you seek from Jesus? What are you looking for? Andrew and John probably very nervous and tongue tied spit out - “Where are you staying?” Jesus smiled and said “Come and see.” The two spend the rest of the day with Jesus.

2. What do you suppose Jesus and the two followers of John the Baptist talked about? If you could spend a couple of hours talking face to face with Jesus what would you talk about? What would you ask Him? One question I would ask Him would be, what was it like being human?

C. More Background - Read verses 40-42

Andrew goes looking for his brother. Where do you think he found him? Cleaning fish, repairing his boat, mending his nets, etc. Andrew tells Simon “We’ve found Him! We’ve found Him!” Simon - “Found who?” Andrew - “The Messiah!”

3. What do you suppose Simon’s response was to Andrew’s discovery? My thoughts - Simon said “Yeah right! You’ve been hanging around that crazy John the Baptist fella too long! Andrew - “Come see for yourself” Andrew brought Simon to Jesus.

D. First encounter - The first meeting of Jesus and Simon. This is a big deal moment.

4. When Simon looked at Jesus for the first time, what did he see? A Messiah? On the outside what did Jesus look like? Average guy. No different than any other guy from Nazareth. What did a Messiah suppose to look like? You think Simon was convinced by what he saw that Jesus was the Messiah? I don’t. I don’t think Simon was impressed by what he saw of Jesus.

John, the author of this gospel, makes a point to write that when Andrew brought Simon to Jesus, “Jesus looked at him.”

5. When Jesus looked at Simon, what did He see? A muddy dude smelling of fish? Answer is found in what Jesus said to Simon. Read rest of verse 42. Cephas - Aramaic for rock/stone. Peter - Greek for rock/stone.

6. Why did Jesus name Simon, “Rock”? Simon probably wondered the same thing. What characteristics do you associate with the word “rock”? Strong-willed, unshakable, obstinate, won’t back down.

Jesus looked at Simon, much like God looked at Gideon, David, Moses, and Jeremiah. He looked beyond the exterior. Beyond mud and smell of fish. Jesus looked deep into the heart and soul of Simon. What did He see? He saw a man with a lot of faults (quick temper, impulsive nature, quick tongued, and numerous more negatives.) Jesus didn’t stop there. He looked deeper. And there He saw potential. He saw boldness, steadfastness, determination, strength, all the qualities necessary for Simon to be the leader of His church. What Jesus saw when He first met Simon was not Simon the fisherman but Peter the Rock on whom His Church would be built and the gates of Hell would NOT prevail against him.

7. At this moment in time, did Simon see in himself what Jesus saw? No.

Question to ponder this week - If Jesus was standing in front of you and looked at you, what would He see? Do you see in yourself what He sees?