We’re all Peter
If you’ve grown up in Church at all you’ve most likely heard of this guy named Peter. He’s the top dog of the twelve disciples even though he often opened up his mouth too much (I can relate). He was the first disciple to profess that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God. He is also the guy that Jesus says will be the rock that Jesus builds His church on. It’s safe to say that Peter is a pretty important guy. Peter is also known for something else. He is known as the guy who denied Jesus three times in the span of like five minutes. If you don’t know the story here it is:
Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:69-75)
We're All Peter
So Peter denies knowing Jesus and it’s safe to say that Peter gets a lot of flak about this. I mean you mention his name and everyone is like, “Oh yea, that guy, I’ve messed up before but at least I’ve never denied Jesus”. I know for me at least I used to think that. I think most of us like to think that we have never or would never deny Jesus, I mean that’s just wrong. But see I think we’re all Peter. I think that multiple times a day we all deny Jesus. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think many of us go through our day and verbally say, “Jesus? Nope, don’t know the guy”. I don’t think that anyone who has faith in what Jesus did for them understands the grace they have received and has a personal relationship with Him could say that. But yet I have come to the conclusion that we all deny Jesus every day.
It is my opinion that to sin you have to deny Jesus. Now I DON’T mean that if you sin it means that don’t personally know Jesus and have a relationship with Him. We all know that Peter actually knew Jesus when said he didn’t, he had just been with Him a few hours before. Denying Jesus doesn’t mean you don’t know him it means that you pretend/lie that you don’t. To sin you have to say to yourself, the situation, and the temptation, that you don’t know Jesus in order to give in and sin. We can’t choose to sin and in the same instance admit to knowing Jesus, it just doesn’t match up. Let me give you an example. Imagine that temptation has a body (I know this is weird just hang with me), ok so imagine that temptation walks up to you and offers itself to you. You can’t say to yourself “Yea I know Jesus” and then accept the temptation. You have to deny one or the other.
My Not So Shinning Moment
You can’t admit to knowing Jesus and choose temptation at the same time because the two are pitted against each other. It would be like this past year when I went to the NCAA basketball tournament where I saw my favorite team the University of North Carolina and my not so favorite team Duke play. I was with my cousins and my uncle who love Duke (please pray for them), and Duke was losing to Lehigh. I felt bad for them so I had to make a decision: a) Deny that I am a North Carolina fan and pretend to cheer for Duke or b) Admit that I am a Tarheel and cheer against them. I couldn’t do both, I couldn’t at the same time scream “I love UNC!” and also yell “Come on Duke”. Why? Because they are opposed to each other, they are the complete opposite, you either deep down like Duke or you deep down like UNC. Deep down the truth is I am a UNC fan; I really didn’t care if Duke won except for my family and grandmother’s sake (she absolutely loves Duke). But in that moment I had to deny the truth that I love UNC in order to cheer on Duke. I had to either put on a mask or be real with the world. It was either put on the fake Duke mask that said I don’t know I’m a UNC fan, a lie. Or be legit and admit that in fact I am absolutely in love with the Tarheels.
It’s like that when we sin. We have to choose to either wear a mask or be legit with the world a choice that could cause us temporary unhappiness but in the end bring the greatest joy. When you are tempted you, like me at the game, also have two options a) Put on a mask and deny that you know Christ, resulting in choosing sin or b) Admit that you know Jesus and therefore withstand the temptation. To sin you have to deny that you know Jesus, even though deep down you really do. You can’t say “Yea I know Jesus”, and at the same time say “Yea I’ll sin”, it just doesn’t work that way. Just like you can’t admit to be a UNC fan and at the same time cheer for Duke, you also admit to knowing Jesus and at the same time sin, you have to deny one or the other, you have to be real or wear a mask. So to sin we have to deny that we know Jesus, and since we all sin we all deny the one person who knew no lengths to make us His.
Remember Who You Are
So next time you are tempted, remember that you aren’t “just sinning” you are denying that you know Jesus, you are pretending that you have no idea who the guy is. You are denying that you know what He has done for you, you are denying you are a disciple of His, and lets be real that’s kinda messed up isn’t it?. But rest in that fact that even though we may deny Him over and over and over by choosing temptation over Him, God never denies that He loves you, accepts you with all your junk, and that you are His because you became His adopted son/daughter when you put your faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.
-Zach Hollifield