Has anyone here seen ET? I know, it is getting to be a really old movie these days! I don’t particularly think it was a great movie, but I was intrigued by how my sister felt about it. When she was younger she could not stand the sight of ET. To her credit, ET wasn’t exactly the cuddliest looking fellow was he? His big flat head could extend a few feet past his body and his little creepy fingers could light up.
When we were stateside (Home from Africa) we would often stay at my grandparents, who live up in Massillon Ohio. They have a pretty big house with a fully furnished basement. The basement is a great place to hang out, but when the lights are out, it can be pretty creepy. Well, my sister had made up her mind that ET lived in the basement. She would not go down there without someone being with her.
Naturally, my brother and I “Encouraged” her false idea of ET living in the basement and would often try to get her into the dark basement to face her fears. We were being good older brothers trying to help her overcome a false idea right?
When we perceive something to be true, we accept it as reality. ET didn’t live in the basement, but Kari was sure of it.
All of us can agree that the way we perceive something determines our response to it. If this is true, then isn’t it also true that an incorrect perception can lead to an incorrect response to the same thing? Think about it for a moment. Anytime we don’t see clearly, we have an inappropriate response. For example, someone has probably said something rude to you because he thought you did something rude to him. But maybe you didn’t do anything at all—he just thought you did. His incorrect perception led to an incorrect response. Maybe you have had an enormous argument with a friend, or have even seen a relationship end because a friend perceived something that wasn’t true. Does anyone know what I’m talking about here? (Have students raise their hands if they've experienced something like that.) An incorrect perception can lead to an incorrect response.
There is a famous quote I want to introduce to you. It’s from a theologian named A. W. Tozer. Tozer said: "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." (Repeat the quote.) I think that is true. Think about it. If you’ve been in relationships that ended over a misunderstanding, if you’ve lost a friend because she thought something was true about you that was not true, then what about the relationship you have with God? If we don’t perceive God correctly, then the way we respond to God is wrong. This is true of everyone. We all have some sort of picture of God. A way we think about God. A Godview. But what if our Godview isn’t right? Then everything about how we respond to God isn’t right either, is it?
Take a look at some of the following Godviews and think about how they might cause a person to
respond to the world around them. Open your envelopes and tell me how that view of God would affect you.
- God is a judge waiting to punish people when they step out of line.
- God blesses good people with lots of money.
- God is so in love with me that He will always answer my prayers the way I want Him to.
- God is really mysterious and does not understand human emotion.
- God has a specific plan for me that includes where I spend every minute of every day.
- God is preoccupied with running the world and really doesn’t care what I do with my time.
I am often reminded about how badly people can misunderstand God. Have you heard of Westborough Baptist Church? They are the people that picket military funerals. This guy is angry because somewhere in his Godview, oddly enough, he saw a God who says it’s okay to hate people as long as you hate them for the right reasons. Phelps hates gay people and it pushes him to doing extreme things.
What about Harold Camping? He has predicted that the world was going to end in 1994, this past Saturday, and now has updated it again to October 21, 2011.
How do people get so twisted? Aren’t we all reading the same Bible?
I wonder what these people would think about my Godview. Is my Godview wrong? I mean, we would all agree that their Godview got scrambled, but what about mine? How do I know it’s right? I could say my view is in alignment with the Bible, but they would probably have Scriptures to back up their point of view also (Although they are twisted and out of context). People have used the Bible to do and say a lot of crazy things. So how do we begin to have the right perception of God, and how do we even know if we have the right perception?
Over the next few weeks, I want us to wrestle with that question. I want us to think about how we think about God. I think Tozer was onto something. How we think about God really is the most important thing about us.
We are going to take a look at Peter and what sculpted his Godview. We know a little about him from what Scripture tells us. We know he came from an Israeli town called “Bethsadia” that would be the modern-day equivalent of Podunk. He was just a lowly fisherman. He was not an exceptional student in school. He wasn’t noted for his talents. Yet Peter was one of 12 guys invited to follow Jesus.
It wasn’t easy for Peter. He sometimes had great moments of clarity, but he also stuck his foot in his mouth several times. In Matthew 16:13-17, Jesus is traveling in a region called Caesarea Philippi. He and his disciples are walking along, and suddenly Jesus asks them a very important question. He wants to know what people are saying about Him. “Who do people say that I am?” He asked. The disciples came back with an assortment of responses that basically showed there were many rumors about who Jesus is. Then Jesus asks the disciples a more personal question: “Who do you say that I am?”
Peter steps up boldly—because Peter was just a bold kind of guy. And Peter says: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16 NIV). Good job, Peter! Extra points. Gold stars. You’re right. Jesus actually calls Peter blessed because of this answer.
But then Jesus goes on to explain what it means to be the Son of the Living God. Jesus says there will be suffering and that He will be killed. Then Peter actually takes Jesus aside, and the Bible says that Peter “rebukes” Jesus. Peter actually tells Jesus, “Look, You must have it wrong. That’s not how it works out for God. God is all-powerful. Surely God will not suffer and be put to death!” Peter’s view of God was somewhat true but not completely accurate.
If we skip ahead in the story, we see that even after following Jesus, watching Jesus perform miracles and hearing Jesus teach, Peter still has a somewhat distorted Godview. Peter is with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane on the night when a crowd of men comes to arrest Him. When the servants of the high priest grab Jesus to take Him away, Peter steps up and comes to Jesus’ defense. In fact, in a moment when all the others are confused, Peter moves into action. The Bible tells us: Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear (John 18:10 NIV).
But in a moment when Peter thought he was doing the right thing, Jesus confronts him. Jesus tells Peter he’s acted incorrectly. Peter was confused. Think about it: It would be kind of like arriving at the big battle scene in Braveheart only to find out that William Wallace wasn’t going to fight after all, but was going to surrender and let himself be tortured.
After Jesus’ arrest He was taken before Annas the high priest for questioning. On the way into the temple, a woman at the gate asks Peter: “You’re not one of his disciples, are you?” (John 18:17 NIV).
Maybe it was the tone of her voice, or maybe it was the fact that he was looking at Jesus in a new light now that He was being dragged into the temple like a thief, but for whatever reason Peter decided that this Jesus, the Jesus he’d just watched be arrested, was one he wasn’t sure he wanted to be associated with, one he wasn’t sure he wanted to follow. He answered the woman saying, “I am not” (John 18:17 NIV).
Once Peter was inside the temple gates, he sat nearby listening in. Still, things did not go the way he expected. He listened as the priest talked down to Jesus. He heard when the temple guards slapped Jesus across the face. Peter must have thought about how all this time he had been following God, the all-powerful, and he thought he was on the winning team. But at this point in the game, it looked like everything was falling apart. And then it happened again, a group of people asked Peter, “You’re not one of his disciples, are you?” and again Peter denied it saying, “I am not” (John 18:25 NIV).
Some of you know this story well. You know that Jesus predicted Peter’s denial and that Peter went on to deny Jesus a third time. But think about this for a moment. Sometimes we rush past this part. Here is a guy who just a few hours earlier was cutting off a guy’s ear to fight on Jesus’ behalf. Here’s a guy who stood up when everyone else was silent and said, “You are the Christ.” On some level Peter had always been one of Jesus’ closest followers, but here he is pretending he doesn’t even know Jesus. Was Peter right? Did he know Jesus, really?
Can you know someone but not really know that person? Think about it. Who are some of your closest friends? Who are the people in your life who know you well, and you know them well? Did you start off knowing everything about them? Do you really know everything now? We learn about people in the context of our relationship with them. We live life with them. We go through good times and some really tough times with them. We see what makes them happy and what makes them sad. It’s a process, a normal process of being in a relationship with someone. And in that relationship, there are times when someone doesn’t act or think the way we think they will.
That’s where Peter was. He knew Jesus, but there was so much about Jesus Peter thought he knew and really didn’t. The Jesus who was now arrested wasn’t the Jesus he thought he knew. He never expected Jesus to submit to beatings. He never expected Jesus to allow Himself to be so degraded. He never expected to watch Jesus die on a cross!
The disciples expected Jesus to be an earthly savior. They thought He would take on a throne here on earth and rule. Peter’s perception of Jesus was wrong and it led to a wrong idea about reality.
After Peter’s denial, Jesus was crucified, and on the third day He rose from the grave. And one morning, after Jesus has risen, He comes to the Sea of Galilee looking for His disciples. I have to think He is especially interested in finding Peter because after making a grand entrance and after eating with the disciples beside the sea, Jesus calls Peter aside for a very interesting conversation.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?”
He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” (John 21:15-19 NIV).
So what happens? Jesus basically tells Peter that even though Peter denied knowing Him, Jesus still wants Peter to be the one who advances the church. And in fact, Peter does advance the church. Shortly after this conversation, Peter preached and 3,000 people were saved. Peter was the leader of the church in Jerusalem—which was kind of the church headquarters. And not only that, but Peter went on to die for the sake of the gospel. Many people believed that Peter died on a cross as well while trying to advance the gospel of Jesus. Although Peter asked that his be an upside-down cross because he felt unworthy of dying the same way Jesus died.
So how does Peter go from being the guy who wouldn’t admit to knowing Jesus to being the guy who was willing to die for Him? His Godview changed. As his perception of Jesus changed, and as he began to see Jesus in new ways, Peter's way of responding to Jesus changed as well. Once he had seen Jesus get up from the dead, everything was different. His perception of Jesus now demanded his entire life.
Perhaps more interesting to me is that Peter's perception of God was capable of change. Often times, our posture before God is that we know and understand Him. We think we have God figured out. This wasn’t true for Peter. Peter was a follower of Jesus for years, but clearly had an incomplete, sometimes even inaccurate Godview. This is true of many of us. It is possible to be a Christian and have an inaccurate view of God. It’s possible to grow up in church and have an inaccurate view of God. It’s even possible to read your Bible and know the teachings and miracles of Jesus and still have an inaccurate view of God.
Have you ever cleaned out your closet, but gotten stuck looking through old photos or things
that bring back memories? Things always seem to have been simpler in the past don’t they? The world was a big place, but it wasn’t something that you had to face. Our perception of the world was much different.
You can’t continue to live with that mindset though. You will one day have to accept that the world is changing as you change. You will have to face it without your parent’s protection one day.
There was a person that came out to Africa to work as a 2 year journeymen. Journeymen live with only the basics. They are intertwined with the culture in the area that they minister. This one guy had not updated his view of the world. He had still been living at home (Even though he was in his 30’s), Mom cooked all the meals, washed his cloths, and basically dressed him! He didn’t last a week.
Our perception of the world has to grow up as we grow up. In the same way, the Jesus we know at 15 has to be different than the Jesus we knew when we were 5. The Jesus we relate to at 25 has to be different than the Jesus we knew when we were 15. Not because He changes, but because we discover more about Him. He’s bigger.
As we close, I wonder what ways your view of God needs to change. How is your picture of God different today than it was 10 years ago? Because if your picture of God isn’t changing and growing as you grow, if it isn’t changing as you get to know more about God, then you may be like Peter in the garden, watching from the sidelines as your Godview gets blown out of the water. You may be missing out on God completely.
But when our Godview is in line, when our perceptions start to be made right, then things on the outside start to change too.
Let me ask you a question, does your behavior need to change? Maybe you have some kind of habit or addiction, or maybe there is something about your personality or the way you react to people that you want to fix. Perhaps it’s not your behavior that you should be focusing on. Maybe instead you need to change your perception of God. Because your behavior will begin to change when you see God differently. Peter’s did!
Many times we try to fix our behavior, and we don’t really think about our Godview. But when we open the Bible, we discover God works the opposite way. God shows up and changes the way people think about Him more than He shows up just to change the way people behave. He is always trying to get people to understand Him, to know His true nature and be filled with a sense of wonder.
I don’t know about you, but I generally don’t want to know God; I just want to skip ahead to knowing what God wants me to do. Is your life being molded by a list of rules? Do you do things because you “have” to in order to be a good Christian? Or do you do things to honor God and your relationship with Him?
Isn’t this why many of us in this room rebel against God. It’s not actually Him we are rebelling against—it’s all the rules we think we have to follow. What if, over the next few weeks, we focused on changing our view of God and making sure we know God, not just all of the things we have been told about Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment