Walking With Peter: Second Encounter

1. a) If Jesus was standing in front of you and looked at you, what would He see?

Physical appearance? Greg Crawford - 30 lbs. overweight, receding hairline, arthritic knees, can’t run more than a minute without gasping for breath? Jesus - Nope! Can’t use you.
Bank account? Archivist. Middle class professional job. Jesus - Can’t use you. Don’t make enough coin.
Your faults/weaknesses? Greg, you got issues. You’re introverted. Lead a dull, boring life. Can’t use you.
Your heart? Sees a heart passionate for Him. Totally in love with Him. Desire to have an on-going relationship with Him. Also sees potential. Sees that Greg has unique qualities/gifts/talents to serve. Qualities/gifts/talents that He created in me and in you so that we can serve Him in our unique way. Jesus - I can use you!

b) Do you see in yourself what He sees? Or are all you see are the first three?

Personal testimony - A while back, God looked deep into my heart. Saw potential in me to be a servant of His. He saw that I had the knowledge/gift/skill to be a teacher. I was like, Whoa!, wait a minute. At the time, I was a major introvert. Didn’t like crowds. Didn’t go out of my way to talk to people. I sure didn’t like standing in front of people where everybody’s eyes were on me. When I did, I’d get these tics. It took some convincing by the Holy Spirit and peer pressure, but I gave in. Taught Sunday School class. It was great!. No nervousness. No tics. It was if as I had been doing it for years. God taught me something about the areas of my life that I considered to be weaknesses/faults (my personality). Where I am weak, He makes me strong. Point out Apostle Paul. In Corinthians 12, Paul refers to a thorn in His that he perceived to be a weakness. It made life difficult and Paul wanted God to remove it. God refused to remove the thorn/weakness. Why? What kind of person would we be if we had no weaknesses? Prideful, arrogant, egotistical. We would no longer need God. God’s response to Paul. II Corinth. 12:9 - My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Another way of saying it - Don’t worry about your weakness, I got your slack! I’m still somewhat introverted. I’m still not crazy about standing up in front of people and talking. It’s still a weakness. But when the opportunity arises for me to speak God’s Word … God’s strength takes over my weakness. Like spinach to Popeye. Anyone with a similar testimony?

Read I Corinthians 1:25-31. Who did Jesus call to be his disciples? The most educated men of the age? Wealthiest? The mightiest? Who did He choose to be the first leader of His Church? Peter - an uneducated, smelly, muddy fisherman who had a quick temper and a quick tongue. Peter had weaknesses. Jesus knew they were there. Now if Peter would only trust Jesus, he could overcome those weaknesses and be the Rock Christ saw him to be. But first, Peter had to follow Jesus. After their first encounter, I don’t think Peter is convinced enough to be a follower of Jesus. I don’t think he was convinced that Jesus was the Messiah or that he himself was a “rock.” Peter went back to fishing. Turn to Luke and you’ll see.

Read Luke 5:1-11

2. Jesus was preaching the Word of God to the people along the lake of Gennaseret. He saw two boats and fishermen cleaning their nets. Jesus stepped into one of the boats. Whose boat did he get into? Simon’s. Coincidence? Evidence of Jesus’ persistence. Doesn’t take no for answer very easily. Ask Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, Jonah.

Simon heard Jesus’ teaching probably for the first time. He heard Jesus teach the Gospel – repentance from sins and what the kingdom of heaven was really like.

3. After speaking to the people from Simon’s boat, what did Jesus tell Simon to do? Go out to deep water, put out your nets, and catch some fish. What was Simon’s response? We’ve been trying all night and haven’t caught a single fish, but because you say so we’ll try one more time. How would you characterize His response? What happened next? Simon caught so many fish it took two boats to bring them in. The weight of the fish began to sink the boats.

4. Verse 8. What did Simon say to Jesus? Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man

Why did he say this? Expressed respect for Jesus. He acknowledged Jesus has his superior/master. Simon also acknowledged that there was something special about Jesus. Something different. Something he may/may not have picked up on the first time they met but now was confirmed to be true. It took a miracle to convince Simon that Jesus was more than your average man.

How did Simon see himself? He saw his weakness. He was not a rock. He was a dirty, rotten sinner not fit to be in the same universe as Jesus. Simon pleaded with Jesus to leave because He should have nothing to do with someone as despicable as him. Was what Simon said about himself true? Yes. In acknowledging that he was a sinner, Simon had taken his first step in starting a relationship with Christ/becoming a follower of Christ.

5. What was Jesus’ response to Simon’s words? You’re right Simon. You are a filthy, degenerate sinner. You are not good enough/holy enough to be one of my followers. And walked away. No … Jesus picked Simon up, looked him in the eye and said “Don’t be afraid …” Jesus gave Simon assurance. I’m not going to strike you down. He also gave Simon a new purpose in life

How did Jesus see Simon? Jesus looked beyond Simon’s faults/weaknesses, looked into his heart, and saw a fisher of men - “from now on you will catch men.”

What did Simon do next? Dropped his nets along with James and John, left everything, and followed Jesus. What does everything mean? They left their jobs and families. See Mark 1:19-20.

Application:
1) Do not allow what you perceive to be weaknesses/shortcomings to become obstacles in you serving God. Pray that God will replace your weaknesses/shortcomings with His strength.
2) Know that God does not judge us on the basis of our appearance, personality, wealth, talents, skills, etc. He looks at the heart. Ex. Lottie Moon – weaknesses single, female, full height of 4 feet 3 inches, racism. She became the patron saint of Southern Baptist missions. What does He see when He look in your heart? Do you see what He sees?
3) If you do not know who Jesus REALLY is, do so now. Pray, study the Scriptures, talk to someone who does know Him. Like Peter, you will be amazed and humbled at what you discover about Jesus … and about yourself - both good and bad. When Peter first met Jesus, he didn’t know for certain who Jesus REALLY was. During their second encounter, Peter got a good idea who Jesus really was. Over the next three years, as Peter developed a relationship with Jesus, he learned more about Christ … and about himself - both good and bad.