Lessons from Peter: Christian Obedience & Faith

Spending time with many of you makes me wonder, “Why do we do such stupid things from time to time” or for some of you “more often than not”? I mean why do people lick a frozen flag pole? Why do people try to carry every Walmart bag in at the same time? Why do people who are in debt up to their eyeballs get a payday loan that will cost them more in the long run?

That Walmart bag thing is mine! Anyone do that? I only want to make one trip, and usually a bag breaks or I can’t open the door because my hands are full and I have to set a bag down and can’t pick it up again and have to go back anyway and it actually takes longer. Why do we do dumb things?

I have thought of a few excuses. Maybe, just maybe, we don’t know better. Maybe we are lazy and want to take a shortcut. We want to prove a point. We think we will get away with it this time. We are spoiled and we are going to get what we want. Sometimes, we do things because there are no immediate consequences. Many times, it is a pride thing.

Let’s read from Matthew 16:15-27

Who is my favorite bible character besides Jesus? Peter! My man Peter walked on water. The dude got out of a boat when no one else would and walked on water. The dude also cut of the ear of one of the men arresting Jesus in the Garden on the night before His crucifixion.

Peter not only got out of the boat and walked on water, but he also sank because in the middle of the waves, he stopped looking at Jesus and began to sink, but he knew what to do, he cried out to Jesus for help. Peter, the guy who cut off the ear of the man arresting Jesus, lied to a young girl about knowing Jesus. Not only did he lie to her, he called down curses on those saying that he knew Jesus and swore (lied) about knowing Jesus.

Peter was quick, but kind of self-serving. He had it all figured out until he didn’t. We can be a lot like Peter and let’s dive into how we are Brainy Boneheads. Point #1 tells us….

1. Sometimes we get it right.

Matthew 16:15-18

Luke 10:25-28

Back in December of 1990, I was at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Our reserve unit was called to active duty because, Sadaam Hussein, the ruler of Iraq, sent his troops into Kuwait and killed many of the people there, because he wanted Iraq to own that piece of land.

While at Camp Lejeune, we had a lot of training from physical fitness training to weapons training. We did a lot of live firing. We did a lot of learning certain phrases in the Iraqi language. Phrases that would tell the enemy to put down their weapons and put their hands in the air. We had training on different customs of the Saudi Arabians, since that is where we were going. One of those customs was if you say something like, “Hey, let’s go get some lunch.” Then you were buying everyone’s lunch.

One day we were having some training on what to expect if we decide to attack because Iraq was refusing to leave Kuwait. The instructor was telling us that we would bomb the front lines and cut off the supply lines to the Iraqi troops in Kuwait. That we would work to gain control of the skies by bombing their military airfields. When the instructor was finished, he asked, “Are there any questions”? In the Marines, when someone asks if there are any questions, that just means that you better understand it because the instructor was done. Well, my buddy Sammy Franklin had a question and he raised his hand. He was called on and Sammy said, “When all this is going on, why not go ‘hey, diddle diddle right up the middle and bomb Baghdad?”

The look on the instructor’s face said it all. Sammy had it right, because that is what the Allied Forces were going to do, but no one was supposed to know, so that it didn’t get leaked and Iraq was not ready.

Peter got it right too and what Peter proclaimed was not for everyone to know just yet. The foundation of our Christian belief is that Jesus is the Messiah. That Jesus was sent from God to save the world, not from slavery, oppression or trials, but from their sin. And even though Peter had it right, he still didn’t.

And our next point tells us that….

2. Sometimes we get it wrong.

Matthew 16:21-23

I don’t know about you, but if I were going to put a label on who gets it wrong most of the time, it would be meteorologists. I mean we had guesses, terrible forecasts of snow-maggeden. Anywhere from 4 to 24 inches of snow for our forecast. I mean come on. The closest they get to anything being right is the temperature.

When Davis was in high school, he was considering being a meteorologist. I told him that would be great. One of two positions that you rarely have to be right. The other one is a politician and ain’t none of them right. I am just sayin’.

As Christians, we think we know most of what the bible teaches. We think that we know, black and white, when things are ok and when they are not. We become judgmental, which is wrong. We put rules on people that are not in the bible and guess what?!!? We need to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Jesus showed compassion to the lowly, but was very much to the point with the religious leaders.

One minute Peter has it all together. “You are the Messiah. The Holy One of God” and the next minute he is being rebuked by Jesus, because he wasn’t thinking about anything but Jesus being an Earthly king.

Peter put his understanding of who Jesus was supposed to be and tried to correct Jesus. Any of you ever do that? Of course not. Right? You don’t ever think you know what is better in your life than what God knows, do you? I love the scene in Bruce Almighty when “God” asks “Bruce”, “You’ve had my power for a little over a week now. How many people have you helped”? “I took care of a few things. I righted a few wrongs in my own life first, okay? I was gonna help the others.”

Can I tell you something? It really isn’t a secret, but we sure have a hard time living it. “Life ain’t about you.” Life is about serving the Lord. Bringing glory and honor to His Name. We make life so much about us that when things don’t go our way, we get upset and want to know where God is. We give God about 2 hours a week of our time. That is right about 1.2%. You want to know where God is in your life? How about you make some time for Him other than church time?

We get it so wrong sometimes. Sometimes we get it right. Here is what is very important for us to know and that is our last point.

3. Following is not a “sometimes”, it is an “always”!

Matthew 16:24-27

Luke 9:62

I love it when God will give me something to share that really inspired me. I was going to share about restaurants messing up your order and if that was okay with you. I was going to ask you if it isn’t okay for the restaurant to follow your order sometimes or on occasion?

If you are a parent or a leader of a crew at your job, is it ok with you if those under your “charge” only follows directions sometimes? I think that it is important for all of us to understand that part time compliance is not compliance. It is important that if we follow on a sometimes then we really are not following.

Stacy messaged me the Sunday night and told me that I needed to watch an acceptance speech by Jelly Roll. I think that I have watched about 10 times. I am going to share it with you now.

I don’t know Jelly Roll’s lifestyle. What I see is a man that had hit rock bottom and told the world that Jesus saved him and that Jesus is for everyone. “Jesus, I hear you and I am listening Lord. I am listening Lord.”

I think of all the opportunities that I have had to talk about Jesus and how many times I kept my mouth shut. All the times that I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to share my faith and I didn’t. All the times I heard the Lord and didn’t say anything. Either I am following or I am not. Forgive me Lord when I fail you. Forgive me Lord, when I let You down.

Any of you ever fail? Any of you ever feel like God is telling you to follow and you say, “I will follow you here but not there.” I will follow as long as I don’t have to go anywhere or do anything out of my comfort zone. Truly following God will get you out of your comfort zone. You gotta be all in. Are you all in?

Being a Brainy Bonehead