“Witnessing”

Isaiah 43:1-13

¹ But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  ² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  ³ For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead.  ⁴ Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life.  ⁵ Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.  ⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’  Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—⁷ everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

⁸ Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.  ⁹ All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble.  Which of their gods foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things?  Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right, so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”  ¹⁰ “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.  Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.  ¹¹ I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior.  ¹² I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—I, and not some foreign god among you.  You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.  ¹³ Yes, and from ancient days I am he.  No one can deliver out of my hand.  When I act, who can reverse it?”

Today we will look at sharing what we know about Jesus to people who aren’t familiar with Him.  Specifically, we will look at Peter.

Mark 14:29-31, 53-54, 66-72 (NIV)

²⁹ Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.”

³⁰ “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “today, – yes, tonight – before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.”  ³¹ But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.

⁵³ They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together.  ⁵⁴ Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest.  There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.

⁶⁶ While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. 
⁶⁷ When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.

“You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.

⁶⁸ But he denied it.  “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.

⁶⁹ When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.”  ⁷⁰ Again he denied it.

After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”

⁷¹ He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.”

⁷² Immediately the rooster crowed the second time.  Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.”  And he broke down and wept.

Peter’s denial is intertwined with the story of Jesus’ arrest and trial.  Mark wants to compare and contrast the stories, to see the commonalities and differences.  Peter was being questioned at the same time Jesus was being questioned.

What does it mean to be a faithful and true witness?  The Greek word for witness is the word martyr.  This means to tell the truth in general, but also in particular about Jesus.

We see Peter’s failure to be a witness and how Peter was healed and became a witness and the leader of the early church.

Peter was cursing Jesus in order to get himself out of trouble.  No disciple would ever curse his teacher, his mentor, so Peter couldn’t have been connected to Jesus.  This is a public betrayal.

What do Mark and Peter want us to know about this moment?  We will fail to fully identify ourselves with Jesus, we have failed just like Peter.

The gospel through all of the specific names in the NT is conveying to us an oral history.  Which means there must be witnesses.  The gospel of Mark is focused on Peter.

In Mark we learn the trial of Jesus was happening on the second floor at the same time Peter is on the ground floor being questioned about his faith.  Mark is writing an history of Jesus through the eyes of Peter.

After Peter has been healed, he is able to tell Mark what happened that night and communicates to Mark, the pains of his failures and through an understanding he received from Christ in order to heal himself (Peter).

In John 21, Peter is reinstated.  Jesus appears to the disciples and asks Peter three times, “Do you love me more than these?”  Peter says three times, “Lord I know I love you.”  Peter repents and this is a turning point for him.  Peter will go on and lead the early church.

Here in Christianity, the greatest failure becomes the leader of the early church.  Peter repents and understands the meaning of following Christ.  Forgiveness and grace are supposed to characterize the followers of Christ.

Jesus is saying that the biggest failure, through repenting, becomes the most important leader.  No other cultures or religions in history would allow this sort of repentance and forgiveness.

Peter’s failure as a disciple has created the leader of the early church, who best understands forgiveness and grace, which are the characteristics of the followers of Jesus.

Those who are forgiven much, love much. 

God turned the failures of Peter around so that Peter would teach all of us about grace.  Also because of Peter’s healing, he becomes one of the greatest witnesses of Jesus.

1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Romans 8:38-39  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus is our advocate and is not asking for mercy, but justice.  Jesus more accurately is advocating for us to the Father for mercy, not asking for another chance to get it right, but asking for justice.

You are not pardoned, but you are clothed in righteousness thanks to Jesus.  God looks at Jesus and He sees beauty and justice and is advocating for us.

We don’t have to worry about this, there is no need when you have the best advocate ever.

This week think about God’s grace, which has allowed us to be part of God’s family, have created a care-free attitude in life.  God bless and live in God’s grace.