“Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'” Matthew 16:16
In the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he wrote: “…God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty…” (1:27) When Paul writes such things, we need to ask ourselves the question, “Why?” Why is it important that we need to see this total contradiction by this present “world” system to that which is revealed in Scripture as being “God’s way?” Isaiah gives us the answer when he declared: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways, My ways,’ says the Lord.” (55:8) The fact that God is Holy is the primary reason for which that there is an eternal, and fundamentally opposite way of thinking between sinful man and God. God’s holiness separates Him as Creator and Redeemer from all that is of creation, and in particular, all that has anything to do with sin. When Christ calls mankind to “Be holy as your Father in Heaven is holy,” He is admonishing, encouraging, even commanding man, to turn away from that which has its origin in sinful man, to seek FIRST the kingdom of God, of Christ, embracing and living by the eternal truth. The call to man is not just to know about God, Christ, and the things of God, but to FOLLOW Christ, denying oneself, taking up one’s cross daily, to follow Him, hear and obey Him. It is a call to come out, come forth, from the world, sin, and Satan, to live and dwell in the light of Christ’s countenance by His indwelling Spirit. It was David Livingstone who summed this up so precisely: “I follow Thee, my Lord, and glory in Thy Cross, I gladly leave the world behind and count all gain as loss.” In light of this great reality of not only preferring the words and declarations of God in Christ, but of choosing to follow Christ by submitting to His authority, trusting Him for the grace and power to love and serve Him, what is the potential of a life, even one which seemingly has so very many limitations, and insignificance from a worldly standpoint? The answer lies in the example of Simon Son of Jonah, who was renamed by Christ as being “Peter,” which meant stone or rock. Though Scripture does not declare that Jesus would build His house upon this “rock” of Peter, since Christ Himself is the very foundation, cornerstone, and Builder of the church, Peter’s name given to him by Christ is prophetical in that the Lord declares what Peter would BECOME in the sight of God, revealed in his works, by the grace of God given to him. Christ did not call a perfect man to follow Him when He called Peter. He called a man who was a sinner like all men, with glaring flaws of character and devotion. But that which would characterize Peter, perhaps above all else, which God saw in him, was a man who would unhesitatingly embrace the opportunity at hand to know God, serve and love Him. When Andrew, Peter’s brother sought him to tell him that he had found the Messiah, there was no hesitation in Peter to come and see. Already he was a disciple to John the Baptist, but when he met Christ, all things changed. Why?
When Jesus, sometime later, would ask His disciples who He was, Peter would respond: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Did Peter fully realize what he was saying in the limitations of his understanding? No. The key to Peter’s potential to become a pillar of the living church of God, one of the twelve apostles, is revealed by Christ’s words: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 16:17) Peter’s realized potential would come by the intervention of God.
Dear Father, Grant us Your fulness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.