Various Scriptures - The Significance of Peter

Matthew 16:13-20

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.

Message: The Significance of Peter

What the Lord is Saying: The rock that is mentioned is most likely Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. Catholicism believes this to be the justification of the institution of the papacy and the pope as lead bishop in the Roman church. But Peter did play a great role as being the first Apostle to confess the faith of Jesus as the Christ, the first Apostle to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, and the first Apostle to preach to the Jews on Pentecost. And he gave us part of God's word with 1 and 2 Peter, and this is the basis of Mark's gospel. 

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I Peter 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Message: The Apostle of Hope

What the Lord is Saying: Peter is said to be the Apostle of Hope. Hope is the confidence we have in the fulfillment of God's promises. It reminds us that God is incapable of breaking His pledges to us. This reality in our lives sustains faith in our hearts. What God says is true. 

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I Peter 1:4-5

4 to [obtain] an inheritance [which] is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Message: A Hope Kept in Heaven

What the Lord is Saying: I Peter mostly written in AD 60 address Christian suffering. In suffering, we focus on what will be birthed at the end of suffering and in this suffering the time frame of it will be limited. Some suffering on this earth is short, like pain in childbirth and after it comes a baby. As bad as things are they will not be forever. I think of this often in people like Joni or even my dad now who is suffering with such back pain and sorrow, not able to get himself out of it. Not allowing himself to get himself out of it. Almost content with it I feel at times. He wouldn't say so, and yet he isn't doing anything to change. The mind is so powerful. To hear of people like Rob's wife who is always happy and smiling. Give me hope God, not only when things are easy, but when they are hard. 

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I Peter 2:4-8

4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For this is contained in Scripture:

“BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."

7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,

“THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone." 

8 and,

“A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE;"

for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

Message: Living Stones in A Spiritual House

What the Lord is Saying: Christ is the foundation upon which the church is built. We are the church. As in today's passage and elsewhere physical objects are used to describe something non-physical or give us a picture of what God is in our life. "I am the living water." "I am the bread of life." These are metaphors used constantly in scripture. Jesus is our corner stone and so he stands out from others. 

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I Peter 2:13-14

13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.

Message: Submission to Authority

What the Lord is Saying: We live in a culture that often does not like authority and yet we are called as Christians to submit ourselves to authority. Women are called to submit to their husbands, something else which is often misunderstood and often under attack. We are under authority those who punish evildoers and praise those who do right. I am not sure if that refers to all of our authorities. I think we need to be careful of simply saying if there is any injustice that we don't have to submit. I struggled through this with COVID, not so much what we were being told but the way the church we were attending was responding to it, but maybe they were taking a harder stance than I cared for. Is this black and white? I just wonder if we sometimes look for ways to be disobedient and maybe we need to default to obedience rather than disobedience. 

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I Peter 5:1-5

1 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Message: Shepherding the Flock of God

What the Lord is Saying: Christians need to submit to authorities, but also those with authority need to exercise rule and authority over the church. It is our elders, as this passage notes that is exercising this authority over people and we as Christians need to look to them. Elders need to be called to their role (verse 2) and not be serving because they are under compulsion. Also in their roles they are not to be domineering or doing their job just to get some sort of profit from it. We need to have humble men in service and not those that are using their roles to have some sort of power over others. 

Summary: Peter reminds us that our hope is Christ, our hope through suffering and difficulties, and we are like stones, firm in our role in Christ and we need to submit to authorities as we trust God to establish authorities to glorify Him. 

Romans 9:30-33 - The Faith of the Gentiles

Romans 9:30-33 -30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 just as it is written,
     “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
     And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

Message: Faith versus works.

Time: Romulus founded ancient Rome about 753 BC. By 600 BC it had become a wealthy, flourishing city with a monarch. Around 500 BC, the monarch was overthrown. A republic resulted and after war, Rome became the only great power in the Mediterranean, succeeding the empire of Alexander the Great. Before and after the birth of Christ, Rome's dominion continued to expand to about two thirds the size of the continental US. At the time Paul wrote, Rome had a population of about 1,000,000. Most were slaves. It was a vast empire, but had many religions present. It is unknown how the church started in Rome, but Gentiles and Jews both were involved. Paul was writing to address a problem, but he wanted to be there and perhaps, make Rome his base for his missionary journey's

What the Lord is Saying:

Summary of Chapter 9
As I end my study of Chapter 9, I remember where I have come from in this chapter.

This chapter has been about Paul first expressing his deep love for Israel. I pray that I would always have a deep love for all people. Paul wanted the best for Israel. He wanted them to be of faith. Paul mentions in verse 3 and 4, "3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises." He is right. Adoption as sons belongs to Israel. That is not saying that they are the only ones that should be adopted, but it is saying that adoption belongs to them. They were set apart for a purpose. But, God proceeds to show that God elects and has compassion on who He wants. Being chosen by God is not based upon one's heritage or birth. People have it in their hearts a desire to not please God and turn to their own way. For those, God gives them over to their desires. But, I can also be confident that God will preserve his remnant.

A lot of things are said in this chapter of significance because we don't ever need to think that God has somehow failed.

• Verse 6 - It is not as though the Word of God has failed
• Verse 8 - Children are not children by flesh but by promise
• Verse 14 - There is no injustice with God
• Verse 16 - It depends on God who has Mercy
• Verse 17 - God's power will be demonstrated and His name will be proclaimed - It is always for God's glory. 
• Verse 20 - We are the clay, He is the potter. The potter makes the decisions. The clay doesn't ask "Why?"
• Verse 23 - God is about securing vessels of mercy. God does not create people for hell. 

I believe their are significant truths in Chapter 9. And the overriding truth is I must let God be God. God's name is honored and proclaimed on high in this chapter. God is to be trusted and His ways are always right. But, don't for a minute think that I pray less, like for the souls of others. Chapter 9 doesn't go against other commands. By reading these truths, they don't then diminish other truths. God loves people. He loves all people. But, the reality is not everyone will receive the "Word of Promise." 

Concluding thoughts 

The outline that I have been using:

1. 9:30-33 Pursuit of righteousness
1. 9:30-31 Success by faith. Failure by works.
2. 9:32-33 The stumbling stone

In these concluding thoughts of verses 30-33, I see words that are familiar. Paul is reminding us that those that attain righteousness do it by faith and not by performance. Recently, I took a moment to think about a phrase of what it means to be a new person in Christ. In these verses here is the reminder that we don't pursue God by righteousness. We don't pursue him on our own. We have faith and that is how righteousness is received. Everyone wants to be right in life, but it isn't by our doing, but by Christ's perfect doing. So I voice these thoughts:

When you look at the life of Jesus you see people that followed Him. He taught people truths. He spoke like no other person. And along the way He called out or recognized the faith that people had it in Him. Having faith in Him was significant.

He was tempted, but he did not sin. Yet, he knew he was on a mission, to the cross. He did not deserve death, but He knew He must submit to the Father because He knew it was His purpose. At the end of his time on the cross, Jesus said, "it is finished." What did, "it is finished" mean?

Remember previously, when there was sin, God demanded that a sacrifice must take place. A perfect, clean animal, such as a lamb, had to shed its blood, in order to provide a substitionary death for a person sinning in their life. To sin is to break God's laws. Sin is lawlessness. Yet, a Messiah was always promised to one day come and remove sin once and for all. The prophets always spoke of a future Messiah, such as the prophet Isaiah. This Messiah would once and for all remove the penalty of sin. Jesus fulfilled the prophecy's spoken by the prophets. Jesus is the Messiah.

It is finished meant that the sins of everyone had been paid for on the cross where Jesus died. But Jesus did not stay dead. He rose from the dead, thus conquering death. By placing your faith in Christ, you are stating that you are unable to be or become accepted by God on your own because though you do good things in life, you have sinned and therefore you are not perfect and God requires perfection or a perfect substitution for sin. No amount of obedience to the Laws of God will take away the sin you have in your life. When you place your faith in Christ, your old life or your life up to the point, this life of sin and doing things that are against God's laws and commandments, that old life of you trying to be obedient to the law, thinking that obedience will remove or make up for your sin. That old life is gone. That old life is dead. That old life is no more. Just as Christ had died on the cross and rose again, when He rose from the dead sin had been paid for and taken care of. Now, in Christ, we are, it could be said, born again. We are new. There is no longer a stain of sin on our lives. We no longer have a debt that we must pay because of the sins we have committed. Sin no longer has any reign or control over us. We are new. Glory hallelujah. This doesn't mean that we never sin again. But we have acknowledged our sin, we have confessed our sin before God and He forgives us because of the faith we have in Him. We are brand new.

If I should stand before God (though I wouldn't stand, I would fall on my face and not even be able to stand up and look up before the Almighty God, but hypothetically) and He said to me, "Chris, why should I let you into paradise or heaven?" I would not bring out my resume and point out to Him all of the things that I have done. I would not point out how I have observed His laws and commandments because no matter what I have done, the problem is I have sinned. I have lied. I have not honored God all the days of my life. I have not loved God all the days of my life. I have not respected all of His commandments all of the time. I would not boast in my own works. I would say to Him, "I have not done anything of value to earn your favor. There is nothing special about me. I have simply placed my faith and trust in what Your Son did on the cross for me. I am trusting in what Jesus has done and Him alone."

Those are some words I wrote to a lady in Florida that asked about what it means to be a new creature in Christ, that the old has gone away.  In verse 30, we are reminded that it is not through our observing or obedience that we attain something. It is through God and God alone. We have faith and then He ushers in His righteousness.

Stumbled over the stumbling stone
However, there is one phrase in verse 32 that stands out to its meaning. "They stumbled over the stumbling stone." This is interesting. Paul makes a note that people don't pursue righteousness by faith. I think it could even be said that this isn't natural. Or it doesn't become natural because of the world that we live in. Instead people think it is pursued by works. This is why evangelism is so important, to help people see that it is not by works.

And so in these verses is a great truth. People stumbled. For Paul, his readers stumbled. The obstacle in their life is pursuing God by works. This is really a key verse for so many other faiths, like Mormonism that are so quick to say that they are about faith but then set up all these works in their faith or hoops to jump through. And thus, people, start living life like it is jumping through hoops.

This too was prophesied by Isaiah. Isaiah 8:13-15, " 13 “It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread. 14 “Then He shall become a sanctuary; But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 “Many will stumble over them, Then they will fall and be broken; They will even be snared and caught.” Wow, that is amazing. What a beautiful predictor of what will happen. People will stumble or the stone will strike and be received in our lives.

Psalm 118:22, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone." That's great. I now understand that verse. Some people will look at Jesus and he will be a stumbling stone and even a rock of offense (offensive), but to others Jesus will be, as it says in Isaiah 28:16, "Therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed."

Promise: Take joy in looking at who Christ is and why he came. He came to save sinners.