Going for Growth

Learning From Peter

Ken Clarke

• Publisher: IVP
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781844745463
• eBook ISBN: 9781844747191
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christianity

Volatile. Cowardly. Slow on the uptake.
As a follower of Jesus, Peter didn't have a lot going for him. Yet he became a passionate preacher and an extraordinary leader, and the rock on which Christ built his church.
Bishop Ken Clarke believes that Jesus works the same kind of transformation in his followers today.
In this warm-hearted and deeply encouraging book, he draws out lessons from Peter's life for us today. He equips enthusiastic disciples and growing leaders to keep their focus, handle failure and fulfil their potential in God's service.

1. The double vision of Jesus

‘My parents have been the major influence on my Christian life.’ This was the reply I received some years ago when I was interviewing several people for a post as Curate in our parish. I cannot think of any Christian parent who wouldn’t be thankful to the Lord if one of their children said the same.

We are all influenced by others. As you think about your own life, who have been the strongest and most powerful influences? Perhaps your experience of parenting was quite different from my curate and so it may have been another member of the family, a friend, a school teacher or a work colleague who had the strongest and most powerful influence. Perhaps it was someone at an Alpha or Christianity Explored course, a youth worker, a pastor, a teacher in Sunday school, a Scripture Union worker or leader?

Pause

Take a few moments to reflect and thank the Lord for those who have influenced you positively in your Christian lives. Consider specifically how they helped or inspired you.

Peter was one of the inner core of disciples who had the privilege of being with Jesus, not only during Christ’s three years of public ministry but at several pivotal points in his life. As we will see, Peter was present during the transfiguration experience. Later in his life he was with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was one of the few disciples who continued to follow Jesus after his arrest in the Garden. Peter, with James and John, formed the inner circle. If we were to ask Peter who had most influenced his life, without any hesit­ation he would surely say, ‘Jesus Christ.’ Peter’s preaching and teaching were utterly focused on Jesus. Peter proclaimed that ‘there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12). When the Lord was using him in healing, he declared, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!’ (Acts 3:6). In his epistles he wrote about Christ. Jesus Christ was the single most important person, and the greatest most powerful influence, in Peter’s life.

However, although Peter was there at so many of the crucial points in the life of Christ, his presence was not always helpful. At times he was an embarrassment to himself, his Lord and others. In the pages of the Bible we see Peter the encourager and loyal follower. We see Peter the abysmal failure. We see Peter the disciple who was a dramatic dis­appointment. But how did his journey with Jesus begin?

It all started with a look...

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas’ (which, when translated, is Peter).

(John 1:40–42)

We can learn so much from how someone looks at us. Have you ever been introduced to someone and they have not even looked at you, let alone engaged with you? His or her eyes are staring at someone else across the room or the hall. The person says, ‘I’m pleased to meet you,’ but their body language – or more precisely, their eye language – is conveying the opposite message.

There can be so much in a look. Husbands and wives know only too well that look from a spouse which conveys a powerful message. Not one word is spoken but a great deal has been communicated. I remember attending a wedding reception where the father of the groom, in his post-dinner speech, made this controversial claim: ‘When God invented women, he invented the look!’ No doubt the groom’s mother would have shared the same insight about men! Whatever the origin, it is undoubtedly true that there can be so much in a look.

Jesus looked at Peter. I wonder what Jesus was thinking as he did so. Was he thinking, ‘I’m going to have some challenge with you!’? Many youth leaders have had the experience of surveying a group of young people gathered to set off on a holiday or activity, and immediately they can discern the person who will push everyone to their limits. There is always one at every youth camp! It is the same in many churches. As leaders we look at them for the first time and we think to ourselves, ‘This one is going to be a stretch.’ (Or perhaps it’s another leader we are looking at!) Is that the kind of response Jesus has as he meets Simon?

You are...you will be

I think we have a hint of how Jesus was thinking from the words he spoke. ‘You are Simon son of John, you will be called Cephas (which, when translated, is Peter).’ The Methodist preacher, Dr Sangster, preached a sermon on these words, entitled ‘The Double Vision of Jesus’. Jesus says, ‘You are, but you will be.’ Jesus sees double. He sees this man not only as he is at this precise moment, but also as what he can be and will be. He sees what he will become. That is how Jesus sees everyone. He looks at us and sees us not just as we are now, but as what we can become in him and through him. One preacher speaking on the life of Peter called his sermon ‘The Pebble who became a Rock’. That is exactly what happened. Many people would not have shown any interest in this rough, tough, uncouth and unpredictable fisherman, but Jesus saw potential.

Jesus sees a person’s value

Jesus sees potential in people whom others would write off. He values each and every person. He did not dismiss an ordinary person like Simon Peter. Others would have. No matter how Peter felt about himself, Jesus loved him and saw what he could be. With Jesus, each person is of immense value. His love is for all. His death was for the whole world. His hands reach out to every hand. His heart connects with each human heart.

The power of one

In a culture, even within the church, which can be preoccupied with big numbers, we need to recapture this Jesus vision of seeing the potential and the value of one. In Northern Ireland, and the wider UK, we have seen a growing disillusionment with politics and politicians. During one general election in the Republic of Ireland, I remember seeing car stickers which read: ‘Don’t vote, it will only encourage them!’ The disillusionment is reflected in a low turnout at elections. Why? Part of the reason is because people feel that their vote doesn’t matter. However, I wonder if the real reason is that people feel they don’t matter. They have decided that one person can’t make a difference. The Christian gospel disagrees. The gospel never underestimates the power of one, because Jesus doesn’t.

One person does matter! In the stories of Jesus, the one lost sheep mattered to the shepherd. The one lost coin mattered to the owner. The one son who was lost still mattered to the father. One matters. One vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England. One vote gave America the English language rather than German. One vote gave Adolf Hitler control of the Nazi Party. Never underestimate the power of one. The kingdom of God grows one by one. That young boy we meet, that girl in our school, that man who lives across the road, that woman who works in the same office, that young person who comes along for the first time to an event we have organized, that old person who no-one ever seems to visit. Each person matters to Jesus Christ.

One life filled with Christ’s life can make a difference. One life filled with the awesome power of the Holy Spirit can make a huge impact. Simon Peter, one man, an uncouth fisherman, was used by Christ to change the course of this world’s history. Esther, one woman with one voice, but surrendered to God, saved an entire nation (her story is told in the Book of Esther in the Old Testament). Boris Pasternak, the Russian poet, wrote, ‘It is not revolutions and upheavals that clear the road to new and better days, but someone’s soul inspired and ablaze.’

The man Simon Peter met inspired his soul. Peter’s life and faith were set on fire by this woodworker from Nazareth. Jesus looked at him and saw him not only as he was. He looked with his double vision and he saw what Simon could become...one of the greatest Christian leaders the world has ever seen.

Jesus takes us and he makes us

Why is this message so important at this time? Because many people today feel they are of no worth and that they have no worth. They feel that they don’t matter to anybody. They are just a statistic or a number. They feel second class and of no value to anyone. Like a currency, they are devalued at the whims of others. They have the mindset of a reject. Perhaps that is how you are thinking. Does that describe how you feel about yourself? Isn’t it extraordinary that in so many societies today, individualism is rampant and yet individuals feel worthless, useless, undervalued and devalued?

Life is full of surprises. In my own life I can certainly verify the truth of that statement. The expected failed to materialize...the unexpected unfolded and startled me. In preparing the material for this book, and in reading about Peter in the New Testament, I made an extraordinary discovery. Although I was looking at Peter’s life and actions, actually I was learning so much more about Jesus. I have been impacted by the vision, compassion, patience and love of Jesus for a loser. His encouragement is incredible. His model of teaching is impeccable. Jesus brings out the potential in Peter. He trains him, prays for him, helps him get up and get going again. Looking at Peter means we are looking at what Jesus can do in the life of an ordinary unpolished person, a rough diamond. It is impressive, exciting and inspiring. We look at Peter. We marvel at Jesus. That is the way Peter would have wanted it to be. His passion, like that of John the Baptist, was to point people to Jesus.

How many of us are where we are because someone saw potential in us? They did not write us off as others might have done. They prayed for us, encouraged us and were patient with us. They didn’t give up on us. I remember at a Scripture Union weekend, when I was about fourteen years old, one of my school teachers was required to discipline me...and rightly so! It was the middle of the night and I had behaved so badly. I deserved it! He could have written me off for my selfish behaviour. But he didn’t. He never gave up on me. To this day he keeps in touch.

The Scripture Union leader who led me to Christ in 1961 still prays for me every week. I receive a Christmas card from him every Christmas and he will write on it, ‘Praying for you.’ I know he means it. He really is praying for me, every single week since I was twelve years old. I can think of several people who have been praying for me for fifty years. I am so thankful for them. They are a reflection of the Lord who sees potential in each person and longs to see that potential fulfilled. Whoever we are, wherever we are, whatever age we are, Jesus sees potential in us. He has set his sights on us. He calls us to follow. He has promised to be with us. He gives us gifts. He looks at us with his double vision and sees what we can become.

Pushy, self-confident and brash

Peter was not the shy, quiet type. His fiery temperament was quite obvious and he couldn’t disguise it. There was little that was subtle or nuanced about this fisherman. He wore his feelings on his sleeve. His tongue was overactive. His claims were non-productive. He was tactless and lacked self-control. With Peter there were no back doors. He just spoke out, gave out and, on occasions, lashed out! As a consequence there was often fallout from his words and actions.

If we were choosing a scene from nature to illustrate Peter’s temperament and personality, it would be a massive volcano rather than a tranquil, wave-less lake. And the volcano is not an extinct one! Peter’s personality was pushy, self-confident and brash. He was impulsive and explosive. He was hot-tempered in his attitude to other people and situations. He was undisciplined and acted on impulse rather than reason. He had a hot head and cold feet. He would speak now and think later, as his mind and his mouth did not always engage with one another.

In John 13, Jesus seeks to prepare his disciples for his departure. Peter asks the Lord where he is going and, having been told that he cannot follow now:

Peter asked, ‘Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’

Then Jesus answered, ‘Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!’

(John 13:37–38)

Jesus was absolutely right – Peter was way off the mark. This is typical Peter, making extravagant claims, rash promises and hasty responses. When the rubber hit the road, he denied the Lord, just as Jesus predicted, and once again his mouth and his intention rushed ahead of his foolish actions.

The volcano erupts

Let us take another example: the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was arrested. The circumstances are important. John 18 describes what happened. Jesus has been wrestling in prayer. He walks across the Kidron Valley with his disciples to a garden. But another group journeys to the same place at the same time. We have the Jesus group and the Judas group. Jesus is with his disciples. Judas is with his group of Roman soldiers, police and some Pharisees. It is night-time, so it is dark. But there is a greater darkness than that of the night. Judas unbelievably betrays Jesus with a kiss. A sign of greeting, trust and welcome becomes a sign of desertion and betrayal. The betrayal of an enemy is one thing. The betrayal of a friend is quite another. Peter understandably is not just angry, he’s furious. He lashes out, not with his fists but with a sword. He strikes the Chief Priest’s servant, Malchus, cutting off his right ear.

From what we know of Peter, and based on his track record, I suspect he was aiming at the man’s throat, but missed! Peter the volcano had erupted. Once again reaction had preceded reason. This was Peter – instant, spontaneous, sudden, hot-tempered. Do you know anyone like that in your family, among your circle of friends or in your church, cell group or Christian Union? The sort of person who is the first to grab and open the post, who indeed will sometimes run out to the postman because they cannot wait until he comes? They want to be the centre of attention, stand up at the front, feature in all the photographs and be the most prominent person. They are given to exaggeration. A light shower of rain is described as a ‘thunderstorm’, and a ray of sunshine constitutes a ‘heat wave’. They tell the truth, the whole truth and a little bit more than the truth. That was Peter. Yet Jesus looks at him, sees the potential in him and calls him to be a disciple. He doesn’t reject him. He trains him, teaches him, prays for him and loves him.

Jesus does the same with us. He is patient with us when others may be impatient. He perseveres with us when others would give up.

Personality

We hear much nowadays about different personality types. Perhaps some of us have experienced the Myers-Briggs assessment, a process of understanding more fully our own personality type, whether we are introvert or extrovert, and so on. It can be enormously helpful for a couple, a leadership team or any group of people who work together, to walk a Myers-Briggs journey. It will certainly result in a deeper appreciation of how other people ‘tick’. Team dynamics and relationships can enter a new depth of quality, leading to more productive and constructive ministry.

In Western society and culture today, there is almost an obsession with self-obsession, self-awareness, self-assessment, self-development, self improvement and so on. We approach such issues in different ways according to our personal beliefs and personalities, but the personality type doesn’t matter to Jesus. He loves all of us. The story of Peter illustrates that whoever we are, whatever personality we have, Jesus can take us and change us. This is the message of his dealings with Peter. Jesus Christ can take a person and totally transform that person, yet at the same time use and shape their personality and temperament so that they become more like him. Jesus sees potential and he knows what can happen through one person. He saw in Peter what Peter didn’t see in himself. Jesus still looks with those same eyes and sees in us what we cannot see. Thank God for the double vision of Jesus!

Do we have double vision?

As we look at people, do we see them not only as they are, but also as what they may become? Do we see worth and potential? This is the Jesus way, the Christian way. In the very first meeting of Jesus and Peter, we learn this important principle.

We are to have that same double vision and follow Jesus’ example. Effective and fruitful Christian workers and leaders see people not just as they are, but as what they can become in Christ...people from different racial, political and cultural backgrounds, people with different temperaments and person­alities. Is this the kind of double vision which is a mark of our leadership?

Sometimes we reject people in Christian work and ministry. We reach overhasty conclusions about some people and dismiss them too speedily. I wonder how many would have lived differently had they met someone in the church like Jesus, someone who cared for them and saw their potential. How different life would be for some people if, instead of rejection, they had met someone who had looked at them with the eyes of Jesus. Perhaps a more frequent prayer, as we pray for each other, should be that all who claim to follow Jesus will be people who have the double vision of Jesus. Pray too for more double-vision churches!

Pray for more of this kind of vision in each other and in the church worldwide. Each person we meet has potential which is God-given and which can be realized...

• the lonely student in lectures who never seems to have a friend;
• the new person in the office who is finding those first few weeks difficult;
• the friend who seems so tactless;
• the work colleague with the big mouth;
• the neighbour who doesn’t always say or do the most helpful thing.

We see people differently when we look at them with the eyes of Jesus. He also saw the potential in John. Others might have discarded a disciple who urged Jesus to call fire down from heaven and burn the Samaritans out of one of their villages. It seems hard to believe he is the same person who has become known as an apostle of love. Again and again in his epistles, John encourages us to be generous in our love for one another.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

(1 John 3:16)

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

(1 John 3:18)

The old days have gone. Jesus saw what John could become. Barnabas was also a double-vision man. He was willing to run with a fiery intellectual from Tarsus and give him opportunities for ministry when others were more hesitant and cautious. He nurtured the young leader and rejoiced to see him grow and develop. Thank God for Barnabas and for all who practise his ministry of patient encouragement.

With Jesus’ kind of potential-spotting vision, opportunities are maximized and unnecessary pain and...

Table of contents

• Going for Growth
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Potential When God looks at me, what does he see?
• 1. The double vision of Jesus
• 2. Called to make disciples
• 3. Feed my sheep
• Keeping focus So many voices clamour for attention. How can we hear the whispers of God?
• 4. Help! I’m too busy!
• 5. Listen to him...focus on him
• 6. What is that to you?
• Handling failure Is there a way back up for me when I fall?
• 7. The breaking can be the making
• 8. Forgiven and forgiving
• Forward into God’s future What will my life as an authentic leader look like?
• 9. Do you love me?
• 10. Pride and prejudice
• 11. The priority of obedience
• 12. The 3G leader
• 13. Peter’s ABC...humility, not celebrity
• Postscript
• Notes