Sermon

March 14, 2001
Midweek Lenten Sermon

Follow Jesus-With Self-Control

(Luke 22:54-62) Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance.⁵⁵ But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.⁵⁶ A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him."⁵⁷ But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said.⁵⁸ A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied.⁵⁹ About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean."⁶⁰ Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.⁶¹ The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times."⁶² And he went outside and wept bitterly.

In Christ Jesus, through whose strength alone we can do all things, dear fellow redeemed,

Of all the Christians you know, who among them best personifies what it means to be a Christian-a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? And as long as I'm asking a tough question, let me ask you this, what qualities or virtues makes the person you're thinking of your best candidate? If we had time to hear all our various answers today, I have no doubt that we would soon discover that many of us have chosen a Christian who has among other qualities, the virtue of self-control. Many of us are thinking of the person who has a quiet, calm, steady composure which helps that person to keep his or her cool even in the most difficult of situations.

Our choice is supported by Scripture. In the fifth chapter of his letter to the Galatians, Paul includes self-control as one of the nine fruits of the Spirit. Love is first on the list; self-control is last, but certainly not least.

Our Savior had this virtue. During the hours that led up to our Lord's crucifixion, Jesus himself displayed an amazing amount of self-control. Peter, on the other hand, presents us with a classic example of losing control in a pressure situation. For this reason, Peter's denial of his Lord and the Savior's response to that denial provide us all with the reminder and the incentive to FOLLOW JESUS with Self-Control, never relying on self, but always relying on Jesus.

Let's begin with Peter. Matthew tells us that after Jesus was arrested, the disciples all deserted Jesus and fled. Apparently, Peter and John each had a change of heart. For both of them showed up later at the palace of the high priest where Jesus was on trial. The gatekeeper at the palace knew John and let both of the disciples in. John entered the palace, leaving Peter by himself out in the courtyard surrounded by people who were hostile to Jesus-not a good situation as Peter would soon discover.

Because it was chilly evening, Peter joined the servants of the high priest around a fire in the courtyard, expecting to remain incognito. But a guess what! "A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight," and she recognized him. "She looked closely at him and said, 'This man was with him'" (V. 56). Peter's response was the bold-faced lie of a coward: "Woman, I don't know him" (v. 57). A little later another recognized him and pointed him out. Peter told another lie. This one coupled with an oath. But still it wasn't over. About an hour later he was confronted again. "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean" (v.59). Peter's accent had betrayed him. This time Peter not only swore; he cursed, asking God to damn him, if he were telling a lie.

How did Peter ever allow himself to get into such a predicament? We get a bit of clue from something that happened earlier that same evening. While Jesus and the disciples were still at the table in the upper room, Jesus warned Peter that Satan was about to tempt him severely. Remember how Peter responded? -with a brash pledge of allegiance. The other disciples might fall away, but not Peter. "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you" he insisted (Matthew 26:35).

Peter's boast betrayed a serious weakness. He grossly overestimated his own strength. He relied on himself, substituting confidence in self for the confidence of faith. There's a big difference between the two, as Peter found out the hard way.

That same vain confidence can jeopardize our relationship with Jesus. Like Peter we often choose to put ourselves in the company of people who do not share our faith in Christ. This doesn't have to be a bad thing. In fact it can be a wonderful opportunity to share our Savior's Word with others. But is that what we are doing in our relationships with unbelievers-sharing the Word? Are we letting our faith have an influence on the people around us, or as in the case of Peter, is the company we are keeping having a bad influence on us? What do we say to the coworker who constantly misuses the Savior's name? What do we say to the acquaintance whose lifestyle makes a mockery out of God's gifts of marriage and sex? If like Peter, we find ourselves relying on our own self-confidence rather than the confidence of faith, then, like Peter we most likely have no self-control in these situations. In other words, rather than calmly, steadily sharing God's will and his truth day after day, we go incognito with our Christian faith, perhaps even to the point of sounding and acting like the unbelievers around us in which case we are keeping the wrong kind of company.

Maybe our only consolation is that we aren't as "out of control" as Peter was. At least we haven't called God's curse down upon ourselves. Or have we? Listen to what Jesus says: "Whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven" (Matthew 10:32?33). Our lack of self-control is a sin that makes us deserving of eternal punishment whether we curse ourselves or not. The rooster has crowed, my friends, and we are standing with Peter in the courtyard, guilty of denying and disowning our Savior.

That is what's going on out here with Peter and us. But let me take you inside the palace of the high priest where Jesus is on trial for his life. He is being subjected to pressures, the likes which we will never know. The Savior's enemies are looking to make their charges stick, but they have no evidence against Jesus. False witness after false witness commits perjury and still they have nothing against Jesus. Finally they make do with a trumped-up charge. In a false display of righteous indignation, the high priest tears his clothes and accuses Jesus of blasphemy for claiming to be the "Christ, the Son of God" (Matthew 26:64).

But not even then did the pressure let up. Luke tells us, "The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and demanded, 'Prophesy! Who hit you?' And they said many other insulting things to him" (Luke 22:63-65). And in response to all this, Jesus said nothing, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, "As a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7). Peter would later write, "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to [God] who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:23). Jesus never lost his composure. As one whose saving work it was to live his life perfectly in our place, Jesus remained in perfect self-control.

He maintained his self-control inside the palace with his enemies and he maintained that same self-control when he left the palace and looked into the face of the disciple who had just disowned him. Luke says, "The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him...And he went outside and wept bitterly" (vv.61-62).

Have you ever tried to imagine what that look was like? Certainly it was not a scowl that said, "Peter, how could you?" Nor was it a some kind of smirk that said "I told you so." It was a look of concern that sprang from a heart filled with love for a disciple who had let his self-confidence destroy his self-control. It was a look that brought Peter to his senses. It didn't drive him to despair. It drove him to his knees to shed tears of repentance. It was a look that said, "Peter, you've denied me, but I'll never deny you."

Jesus can and does make such a promise not only to Peter but to all of us sinners, because his perfect self-control substitutes for our total lack of the same. Jesus will never deny us, because "Surely he took up our infirmities," including our overconfidence that sometimes finds us in company where we don't belong and then hiding our identity as his disciples. Jesus will never deny us, because "...he was crushed for our iniquities...and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:4-5). Because this is the gospel truth, God judges us, not on the basis of the way we behave when we give in to pressures of temptation and disown and deny our Lord. Rather, God always judges us on the basis of how Jesus conducted himself perfectly when he faced and overcame the kind of pressure we could never endure. For the sake of Jesus, God sees us as people who are fit for heaven, people who are in perfect self-control of their lives.

God sees us this way for Jesus sake, and because he does we want to strive to live this way for Jesus' sake, to thank him for taking our sins away and to praise him for giving us his holiness. We want the self-control that defined his life as our Savior to define ours as his followers. This will happen as each day we look into the mirror of God's law and recognize how completely sinful and how completely helpless we are by ourselves. This will happen as each day we recall that look of Jesus, that inviting look that says, "I love you. I'm concerned about you. Bring your sins, all of them to me and rest in my forgiveness." It's that look and that love of Jesus that makes all the difference in our lives. For us Christians, self-control does not mean that self is in control, it means that Jesus' love is in control of my self and your self. When we count on this all-sufficient grace of Christ to make us holy in God's sight, then we find the confidence to say with the Apostle Paul, "I can do all things through [Jesus] who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). It is this strength of Jesus that enables us to exercise real self-control. It is this strength that gives us the courage to dare to be different and to stand up for Christ in any and every situation that calls on us to do so. This is how we want to, this is how we can follow Jesus day after day by always relying on his pardon and his power until, finally, we get to see the look of forgiving love on the Savior's face in person and forever. Amen.