SERIES
Sojourn: Toward an Enduring City
2016-09-18T08:00:00-05:00
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright (c)2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. http://www.esv.org
As we worshiped together on Sunday, we explored the question “Who was Peter?” We looked at Peter through the windows of faith, failure, forgiveness, and future glory. As we reflect on the love of Christ in restoring Peter, let’s explore two aspects of God’s forgiveness.
Peter was the outspoken leader of the Twelve. He made a grand confession and witnessed great miracles. He made big promises, but on that fateful night, by a charcoal fire, Peter repeatedly denied even knowing Jesus. Under pressure, the rock cracked. What would Peter do? Where would he go? John 21 reminds us of the source of forgiveness. The passage illustrates, not just how we respond to our failures, but how Jesus does. The risen Christ goes looking for Peter and finds him where He originally found him: in a boat fishing. Seeing Jesus, Peter abandons a miraculous catch of fish (and a perfectly good boat) and jumps into the water to swim toward his Lord. Peter’s plunge reminds us: if we have faith in Jesus, not even our greatest failures should keep us from running toward the One who ran toward us. When we fail, do we remember that Jesus Christ is the only source of forgiveness? Can we say, as Peter did on another occasion, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68)? Where else to do we go looking for the forgiveness that is found in Christ alone?
The passage also reminds us of the setting of forgiveness. When Peter makes it to shore, he discovers that Jesus has prepared a charcoal fire. The setting would surely take him back to his moment of shameful failure. This might seem like a cruel reenactment, but the Lord takes us through the pain of our sin—not around it—to experience His forgiveness. Jesus, who delights to eat with His weary, failing sojourners, transforms the setting from a fire of failure to a fire of fellowship. He meets us in our frailty and transforms our failures into moments of forgiveness that grow our faith. When we fail, do we realize that the setting of our sin is the very place where the Lord intends to meet us with His life-transforming grace?
As sojourners, the Lord is teaching us that He often does His most amazing work when we fail. Our sin can humble us, but a sweeter humility comes when we are humbled by the grace of God. The forgiveness of Christ teaches Peter to shift his confidence from his undying love for Jesus to Jesus’ dying love for him. The love of Jesus redefines and recommissions Peter for the road ahead. As Brent reminded us on Sunday, “Failures will lead to future glory if faith and forgiveness have their way with us.” As we consider our failures—past, present, and future—what would it look like for faith and forgiveness to have their way with us?