Faith Forces a Decision

Why did he show up?  What was it that made the Apostle Peter show up on the night when Jesus was first put on trial?  He had just completed about 3 years with Jesus, heard the teachings, shown flashes that he understood what Jesus was there to do, and seemed to be on track in his faith.  He had eaten a nice meal with the Savior and was told bluntly at that time that he would fall away and deny that he knew Jesus.  He had just spent the night with Jesus, dozing off repeatedly while Jesus stayed up all night praying fervently about the next few hours.

Yet he still showed up after Jesus's arrest.  The Bible says that he even followed behind the procession to the high priest's house that night at a distance.  He wouldn't get close to his mentor, yet he couldn't break away either.  Later he was there in a courtyard sitting by a fire as Jesus met with the first group of his accusers.  They accused, taunted, and mocked Jesus, and all the while Peter listened in as this was going on.  I would imagine he was nervous, perhaps too nervous to get closer to the action and too nervous to leave.

And in that moment Peter was unfortunate to discover what Jesus had really come to do.  During that cold night, he began to see that Jesus's purpose in that moment was to force Peter to decide which way he would go, whether the way of the world or by the Way.  Jesus always, eventually, forces us all to make that decision.  During his several hours of waiting by the fire, it is possible some of Jesus's words flashed across his memory.

 Luke 22:31-34 (NLT)

³¹ “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. ³² But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”

³³ Peter said, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you, and even to die with you.”
³⁴ But Jesus said, “Peter, let me tell you something. Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

The point is, at some point all of us have to decide which side we are on.  And our decision will be tested.  

Saying that we follow Jesus is one thing.  

Following Him with our life is something entirely different.

So as Peter is sitting by the fire, he is approached 3 times by people who recognize him.  The first recognized Peter after the fire is lit, and Peter denies knowing Jesus.  This must have only heightened Peter's anxiety.  He probably wondered if, in admitting that he knew Jesus, he would be put on trial as well.  Yet something made him stay there by the fire.  I wonder if he was still attempting to have the best of both worlds:  the benefits of knowing Jesus with none of the pain.

About an hour later, someone else approached and recognized Peter, stating again that he "must be one of them!"  Yet again Peter denied knowing Jesus.  Peter then had an hour to think about that.  It must have been absolute torment to think about what he had just said, twice!  Remember, Jesus himself had looked Peter in the eye and said that this would happen.  I'm certain he remembered that prediction.

And finally, about an hour later someone around the fire commented that Peter "must be one of them" because he was Galilean just like the others.  Impulsive Peter then loudly proclaimed that he didn't know what the guy was talking about.

A rooster crowed, and Peter's world turned upside down.

Then Jesus, in the midst of being accused by the crowd, turned and locked eyes with Peter.  That look must have been one of the most terrible looks in all of history.  I don't believe it was a look of anger or hate since that wasn't Jesus's way.  Instead, it was the knowing look of one who has been betrayed and knew it was coming.

The point is this:  to be a follower of Jesus requires your life.  In a spiritual sense, you and I are to die to ourselves and be reborn as a new person.  That happens with the decision to follow.  But many Americans stop at this stage as though they have crossed the finish line of some race.  They think that a decision to allow Jesus in their life is it, and that they can go on living a life of comfort.  But Jesus never promised that sort of thing to us.  In fact, here's what He said about Himself:

 Luke 12:50-52 New Living Translation (NLT)
⁵⁰ I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. ⁵¹ Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! ⁵² From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.

To divide people against each other means that all of us face a very real choice.  We will either follow Jesus with our lives or we won't.  I've seen this in a very real sense in talking to people about Jesus.  Simply mentioning His name generally elicits one of two reactions.  Either the person is interested and peaceful, or they get angry at the mention of His name.  Personally, the interactions I have seen fit into one of those categories.  There hasn't been an in-between.

Attending church does not necessarily indicate that you have fallen on one side or the other, either.   
Each Saturday and Sunday, lots of people in the Houston area go to church.  For many, it fulfills a mental checkoff on a list that they did it and have done God a favor in doing so, or it is part of the local culture to attend church.  Many of these may think that they've made a decision for Jesus,  yet there isn't life change to indicate that that decision was real.  They live and talk one way on Sunday (or whatever day they attend church), and a completely different way on every other day of the week.

When we lived in the Northwest, the majority don't go to church but for maybe 1-2 times for year.  They claim to believe, yet they don't regularly pray, don't know what the Bible says, and can't point to anything that has changed in their lives as a result of knowing the Lord.  Thinking of this in terms of earthly relationships, that is like getting married and then never spending time with your spouse.  Or, it is like saying someone is your best friend but then never talking to them or spending time with them.  How can you say you have a relationship with Jesus if you never spend regular time with Him?

Peter had a tough choice to make that evening, and he chose incorrectly.  He tried to make a happy medium only to discover that a happy medium in following the Lord does not exist.  You are either all in, or you are not.  

I know when Peter fled the fire pit area that he was grieved by the decision he had made.  In fact, vs 62 says that Peter was "weeping bitterly" as he walked away.  That might have been the most difficult night of his entire life.  In his mind it was over.  The Lord was right in what He had said about Peter betraying Him.  Peter wasn't as strong as he thought he was.  What now?  What did this mean for him?

Peter did what most of us would have done at this point, making the pragmatic decision to return to his former line of work.  Jesus was dead, right?  He had correctly predicted Peter's denial.  What else was there?  So we find Peter back in his fishing boat, exactly where he started when the Lord found him originally.

John 21 recounts the sweet reunion between Peter and Jesus, where Jesus forgave and restored Peter in the company of 6 other disciples.  Peter's life was never the same from that moment on.  In fact, if you read the book of Acts there are times where he seems like a different guy altogether.  He is powerful in speech, faces opposition fearlessly, and proclaims the most important things Jesus taught with certainty.  He had betrayed the Savior to his face and been forgiven for it, and was on a mission in the world as a result.

As it was with Peter, so it should be with us.  If and when we decide to follow Jesus, things will be different.  We will think differently, look at the world differently, and behave differently.  Sin is rooted up and rooted out, friendships we maintain might look different or change altogether, and our speech may change as we talk about different things than we used to.  To be reborn is no small thing.  In being reborn we are being remade.  The road we used to follow is closed.  A new path has opened, and we can only travel on one road or the other one. 

I encourage you to examine your life closely.  Is there evidence that you have faith in Jesus Christ?  What is that evidence?  And remember, this evidence you mention should be something others can see, so we are not talking about ideas floating through your head that nobody but you can see.  We are talking instead about outward, visible evidence.  Jesus said a tree is known by the fruit that is produced.  He also said that the words you speak indicate what is in your heart.  Do you know him, or did you just pray a prayer and nothing else changed?

Jesus comes into our lives not to make us nice people, but to make us new.  A decision is required.  Will you allow Him to do that?  Will you allow Him to tear you down and rebuild you in His image.  That is what is required, and you and I should not take that decision lightly.

Faith in Waiting

Our current hurtle related to our move to Everett is in waiting to sell the house.  It has been on the market for 2 weeks now, but we haven't had anyone look at it in a week.  This has been discouraging to us for a variety of reasons, but primarily because we are looking toward what is coming.  We have a house picked out in Everett which also still hasn't sold.  The owners will not do a contract with us as long as our current house hasn't sold, so we wait.  We also are without options in moving forward without selling this house since we don't have enough money to put down on a purchase now.  Essentially, we are boxed in and believe the Lord is leading us down a very specific path that only He can orchestrate.  We are praying that the Lord will continue to reserve that house for us and that He will send the right buyer at the right time. 

The Lord has been reminding us about what it means to have faith.  Hebrews 11:1 says:   

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

In thinking about people in the Bible who had to wait, I see many:

• Abram was told that he would have a child and that his decendents would be "as numerous as the stars in the sky."  Yet Abraham waited for many years before his wife was able to have a child for him. 
• Noah was told to build an ark because a flood was coming.  The ark took him 100 years to build and when he finished it, the flood came.  He likely endured a lot of doubt over those 100 years.
• The Israelites had to wait before taking the city of Jericho.  They had to march around the city for 6 days, and on the 7th day they had to march 7 times and blow trumpets and shout at the end.  Only then did the walls come down.
• David was crowned king by the Lord, but had to wait for years and years in exile, even living in caves and in towns occupied by the enemies of Israel.  Although he was given numerous opportunities to kill king Saul, whom the Lord had rejected, he chose instead to wait on the Lord's provision.
• Joseph was shown that he would be a great leader and that his family would be subservient to him.  However he was soon sold into slavery by his brothers.  After working his way out of slavery he had a position of status in the house of his master, only to be falsely accused of trying to take advantage of his master's wife.  He was thrown into prison and stayed there for several years.  He was only made second in command of Egypt after a 13 year wait.
• Moses waited in the desert tending sheep for 40 years prior to being called to assist in setting his people free from slavery in Egypt.
• Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus as he was pursuing Christians so that he could throw them in prison.  He was struck blind, told to go into Damascus, and wait.  He waited 3 days in his blindness before the Lord sent a messenger to free him from it.
• The disciples had to wait 3 days to see Jesus resurrected from the dead.  Although He had told them He would die and be raised to life, they had to experience a wait prior to that happening.

There are literally too many examples of waiting in the scriptures to list them all here.  Yet a pattern emerges:  God calls the person, gives them some information, and then somewhere in there they have to wait on Him to clear the path for them.  In each case, God received the glory from it because He himself did it and the person did not.   Waiting is normal, but it is not easy.

Now we have to confront the issue of faith. 

If you have little faith, little will happen.

• Matthew 13- When visiting his hometown, Jesus noted that the people there did not believe he was the Messiah.  As a result, "he only did a few miracles there because of their unbelief." 
• Matthew 17- Jesus' own disciples were unable to cast out a demon.  Jesus noted their lack of faith.
• James 2- 
  
  ¹⁴ What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ¹⁵ Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, ¹⁶ and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
  ¹⁷ So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

If you have much faith, much will happen. 

• Matthew 9- Jesus healed a woman who had been dealing with a physical illness for many years.  He commented that "her faith had made her well."
• Matthew 15- The faith of a Gentile woman caused Jesus to cast a demon out of her daughter.
• Mark 10- Jesus heals a blind man, commenting that "his faith had made him well."
• Luke 7- A Roman centurion's servant was healed from a distance by Jesus.  Jesus commented that he "had not seen faith like this in all of Israel."

The Lord has an extensive track record of giving us some details to get us moving and then making us wait on something.  The wait develops the faith, because "faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen."  You have no evidence.  There appears to be no progress being made.  And yet our Lord is working behind the scenes on our behalf, only asking that we wait on Him and put our very hope in Him.  At this point, your actions matter.  Will you work yourself to death trying to make things happen on your own?  That didn't work for Abram, who conceived a child with his wife's servant during his wait, even though the Lord had made it clear that his wife would have the child.  Or alternatively, will you wait, pray, and hope? 

May the Lord receive glory for what He does in making our move happen.  While we periodically struggle with discouragement and impatience, He has also set things up to where only He can deliver us through this storm.  He is a great God.