http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2022:24-38&version=NKJV
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2018:1-11&version=NKJV
So as a believer life is all about learning and becoming more like Jesus Christ, and all that is associated with that. This is significantly easier than it sounds. I’ve definitely come to the belief that God is not a “flip switcher” or genie in a bottle at all, although a large part of me wishes He were. Meaning His timetable and will in our lives probably doesn’t line up with our desires and timetable. Also, He custom tailors His approach to each person while intersecting with them while they are still very much in sin.
In my spirit I sincerely want to be more like Jesus and obviously I want to be happy and have certain relationships, opportunities and things. I don’t believe any of this is bad, in and of itself. However, if I’m honest I want these things right now. I mean that’s why I’m praying to God. Right?! Why else pray to God unless you want something now? I further make things worse by accusing God of wrong doing in my life when He doesn’t work on my schedule and in exactly the way I want Him to. Obviously there’s a conflict between my desire for Jesus Christ and the desires of this life.
So what does God do with this? Well in my life, at least, He uses open and closed doors. He also uses opportunities to display holiness. Meaning someone offends me or stirs up anger in me and I have the opportunity to show patience, forgiveness and love or I have the opportunity to react from my flesh. Perhaps I’m too hard on myself, but more times than not I act as a child from my flesh. Now the good news is that God is full of grace, forgiveness, love and mercy. Now if someone has His spirit He can use that spirit to counsel and convict us so that we can hopefully continue to eventually move forward, all the while keeping in mind that the enemy condemns.
Confession time:
Last night I had a great opportunity to show patience and love towards a brother who, from my perspective, wronged a sister in Christ. I then proceeded to patiently and lovingly show him his fault one on one as taught in scripture because I’m such an awesome loving disciple of the teachings of Jesus Christ… NOT!! No of course I allowed my sense of justice, probably mixed with a fair amount of pride, to control my actions. I allowed myself to lose my temper and go off on this guy. I pointed out his wrong to everyone in the group and demonstrated exactly how not to act like Jesus. Worse I have the impression I’m sort of looked up to in this group and so people may now feel emboldened to follow my example. Hopefully I’m respect only a very little and my fault in this situation is clearly seen by all.
Ok so why did I reference the above verses? Well Luke 22 probably happened within less than 24 hours of John 18. In Luke 22 essentially the disciples are still vying for position (who’s the greatest?). Jesus lays out for them a simple formula for greatness in servitude. Then Jesus confronts and prophesies negatively over Peter . Then He goes on with some seemingly strange commands, like sell your cloak and buy a sword (verse 36). To this day I don’t fully understand the meaning behind this, but somehow I don’t think He meant it literally, as verse 38 seems to suggest. To sum it up; Who’s the greatest? Peter’s denial prophesied by Jesus and Jesus talking about acquiring swords. (keep in mind Peter’s also already made the good confession concerning Jesus Christ) Now keep these three points in mind and fast forward to John 18. Peter takes the opportunity to show Jesus that he believes he’s the greatest of the disciples by pulling out a sword and hacking off a ear. As an aside, I somehow doubt Peter was trying to hack off an ear. He was probably trying to hack off his head, but in his fear and the reality of the situation he missed and hit the guy’s ear. Jesus then scolds Peter again.
So keeping all this in mind, if we put ourselves in Peter’s shoes, would we have done any differently? I probably wouldn’t have. Justice and pride dictated that Peter was right to do what he did. He knew who Jesus really was, he already told Jesus he wasn’t on board with His plans regarding His death (even though Jesus also confronted him about this), he wanted to be the greatest of the disciples, Jesus mentioned something about swords and now here’s his big chance. However, Peter was most certainly not in the right.
Here’s the personal application for me:
Justice and pride are certainly not a license to act. Allow God the opportunity to act. His holy spirit is far better at this than any sinner. His conviction leads to true repentance, holiness and growth in others. If necessary take concerns to the person one on one. DO NOT CONFRONT IN GROUPS UNLESS THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER WAY!!!!
