All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
"Put your sword away!
Matt 26:51-53 51 Suddenly, one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and cut off the ear of the chief priest's servant. 52 Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword away! All who use a sword will be killed by a sword. 53 Don't you think that I could call on my Father to send more than twelve legions of angels to help me now?
We know this man to be Peter. When Jesus said to him, "Put your sword away! All who use a sword will be killed by a sword.” What do you believe He was telling not only Peter but, the rest of us? In John 18 and here we see Peter acted without hesitation. He acted out of his flesh. At that point he thought he was, protecting Jesus. Yet, we know that later he would deny even knowing the Lord. Why?
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Permalink Reply by a servant (Chris) on
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I believe Jesus was telling Peter and us, if you act out of our flesh, you will fail. When we judge others, that is how you will be judged. The way you treat others, it will come back on you. You reap what you sow in other words. When Jesus was with Peter he had such courage. And, so when he was away from Jesus, he was not so bold. From that we can all see when we separate ourselves from the Lord, we will be over our heads, and our actions will prove that.
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Permalink Reply by Colby on
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Chris,
Here is the Apostle Peter attempting to intercede on Jesus' behalf with the Roman soldiers and temple authorities. He means well, of course, acting impulsively as he often does. But, Jesus, throughout his journey to the cross, is completely in command of the situation. Our Lord set the Passion in motion by voluntarily presenting himself for arrest knowing his fate. Jesus stops Peter, saying to him, "Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” (John 18:11)
I sometimes marvel that Jesus picks someone as imperfect and improbable as Peter for the starring role as his first disciple. But it’s brilliant really. Because as different and unique as every one of us is, we’re all Peter. Every single one of us is Peter. Peter is us in all of our human foibles.
Loved by Jesus just exactly as we are--foibles, faults and failures; judged worthy by Jesus to be his disciples, however improbable that may seem; called by Jesus to the totally overwhelming, and seemingly impossible work of catching and feeding his people; and graced by Jesus with absolutely astonishing abundance.
Faith, hope and love,
Colby
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Colby
I must agree with you, we all have some Peter in us. And, as you have shared it is not a bad thing. His Passion for Jesus is without question. We see in Matt 16:16-17 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you... and on through v 19. Then in v 22-23 22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s. Felt like I had been there done that.
Also, to the point of Jesus in Complete Control. Can you image having your ear removed, then having a part in arresting the Man who calmly put it back on. And, the way in other books Jesus telling the soldiers you have no need for these other men, only Me. The same calm when sleeping in the boat. Facing a much different circumstance, yet it is that "calm" that He has and gives to us, when we are in need.
And, we see with Paul, having to talk to Peter about his behavior with Gentiles. The same actions acting out of flesh. To see who Jesus chose, shows us all what True Hope we have in Christ. We may be flawed in so many ways. Yet, Jesus and His Love Shines through them all.
Lord Bless you Brother
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Chris,
John MacArthur's commentary on the Gospel of Matthew includes a chapter about St. Peter aptly titled, "The Restoration of a Sinning Saint." I would like to share some excerpts with you, including MacArthur's observation that St. Peter's "own human will was a barrier to obeying the Lord's will." We will first look at his denial of the Lord; then turn to the incident with the sword. There is a valuable lesson for all of us here, and that is not to let our own stubborness and egos get in the way of doing the will of God.
"Peter's denial of the Lord is usually look on as a great tragedy, which it obviously was. But viewed in the light of Peter's repentance and the Lord's gracious forgiveness, the story also brings great encouragement.
In the history of redemption, few saints have falled to the depths of sin and unfaithfulness that Peter did in denying Jesus. Yet few saints have been so powerfully used by God as Peter was after he repented and wast restored. The account of his denial is a sobering testimony to the weakness of the flesh, but it is also an encouraging testimony to God's grace. Even in the extremity of His children's sin, the Lord is there to forgive and to restore."
Next, MacArthur turns his attention to St. Peter's impulsive act of drawing his sword and cutting off the ear of the slave of the high priest, hoping to prevent the arrest of Jesus, which is the topic of your original post. In doing so, he was trying to thwart God's plan, disregarding the will of Jesus. Peter was trying to prevent the arrest and death of Jesus in clear defiance of the plan that God had laid out for his son.
"Sensing no need to ask the Lord's advice or help, he took matters into his own hands. ...
Although Jesus had repeatedly taught his disciples that it was the Father's plan for Him to suffer, die, and be raised, Peter refused to believe Him. And because it was not in Peter's plan for his Master to be harmed, he was willing to defy both human and divine authority in drawing his sword against those who came to arrest Jesus....
Peter could not accept the word of the Lord because he was so controlled by his ego and self-sufficiency that he felt infallible. ...
His own human will was a barrier to obeying the Lord's will."
Source: "Matthew 24-28: New Testament Commentary," by John MacArthur, Jr.
http://www.amazon.com/MacArthur-Testament-Commentary-Macarthur-eboo...Faith, hope and love,
Colby
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True. It's a blessing to be able to associate with other believers in the workplace, school and other social settings.
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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on
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Chris-
52 Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword away! All who use a sword will be killed by a sword.
God does not want to be defended by force and/or violence. As Christians we must not resort to such tactics. We must be able to suffer for the Gospel.
This brings up a very important question. As Christians can we defend ourselves, physically or with weapons?
It is my biblical conviction that we should be willing to die for the Gospel, when we are being persecuted for the Gospel. But if someone simply wants to rob me or hurt my family and me, then defending ourselves is acceptable as long as we do not move from defending ourselves to abusing a perpetrator.
“For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:16
Paul was going to suffer for being a follower of Christ. This is the Gospel that is not popular. We want our best life now, but our best life, should be a life where we are faithful to the calling of God in our lives, in the midts of persecution. We can have peace that goes beyond human understanding and Joy through it all.
“All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” 2 Timothy 3:12.
Should we lift up arms then and defend ourselves, no, we should never do that. As Stephen, we must look up to the sky and ask that he forgive our aggressors, for they do not know what they do. Jesus has given us the ability to do that.
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Permalink Reply by dean burrows on
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I often wondered why the statement of going out to buy a sword and then the idea that we should not use it.
Then it became clear to me that there isn't a double message as I had thought for a long time. It is plain and simple. We are to be prepared to defend ourselves our family and our community . Throughout scripture we must use peaceful and loving methods whenever and whereever possable. How many times was Jesus attacked how many times did He calmly show the truth. Yet remember the vendors in the temple Jesus stopped and braided the lash. He planned His move.
The question I have is what if the soldiers ignored the miracle preformed before them- the attaching of the ear- and atttacked the disciples could things have been different. Would Jesus have allowed His desciples to be slaughtered. My personal thought no He would have not .
We must in trust of our Lord to enter any situation with calm resolve and trust that The Spirit will guide us and protect us. Just as Jesus demonstrated.
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Dean,
Thank you for mentioning the instruction Christ gave the Apostles to go out and buy a sword before He ascended into Heaven. We have a real battle going on now and we need to be willing to fight for the right to worship as we choose. Many would like us to forget that instruction.
Christ knew that these days would be difficult. There are too many Christians who would rather that we live in peace. I would prefer that, as well, but with all the things that are happening, we need to arm ourselves and be prepared to fight for what our country was founded on...God's Word.
We, as Christians, haven't been doing that lately, with devastating consequences to our nation and to our citizens.We have buried our heads in the sand, expecting God to defend our rights. We have allowed God to be kicked out of school, and out of our government. We are allowing evil to rule in our country. A study of
Deut 28 gives us instruction and consequences of our actions. Verses 1-14 is a perfect example of how we should live in this wonderful country of ours and all of the blessings we will receive when we live according to these verses. The rest of the chapter, verses 15-68 tells us what to expect if we don't follow the instructions in the first 14 verses of the chapter.
More and more we turn away from God's Word, as a nation. Then end cannot be good if we continue in the path we are traveling. Each one of us needs to make a decision today. Will we stay on the path that we are on or will we, as a nation, turn back to God? We need to make a commitment to God regarding this road we are on. Will we let God rule, or will we join the people who are trying to depose God in His rule of our nation? Our decision needs to be one that we stand by. Either we will allow God to rule, or we will allow Satan to rule. We need to develop what Colby mentioned in another thread. We need to develop a Christian worldview. We need to stick by this way of living.
Jesus knew we would be faced with these decisions one day and He to care to warn us. We need to heed that warning, before it's too late. We need to stand by what we believe and fight for the right to have our nation God led.
May God strengthen us to pick up those swords and fight for what we believe in.
Blessings to our great nation, that we might turn it from the path it is on.....
It starts with each of us.
Rita
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