Quote from Forum Archives on July 3, 2003, 12:16 pm

Posted by: forthrightmag <forthrightmag@...>

Forthright Magazine
www.forthright.net
Going straight to the Cross

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This guy would be last on most lists. But not
God's.
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The Right Man for the Job
by Mike Benson
www.oakhillcoc.org

"And the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan
has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat'"
(Luke 22:31; cf. Matt. 16:23).

He wasn't exactly a great prospect...

His resume had some rather obvious gaps in it. He
was an uneducated fisherman (Acts 4:13; Matt.
4:19). He was impulsive (John 18:10; Matt. 26:50-
51). He was prone to break his word (Matt. 26:53;
Mark 14:29; Matt. 26:74). He started things that
he didn't finish (Matt. 14:28-30). He experienced
fear and doubt (Matt. 14:30-31). He could be
cowardly (Luke 22:54-60a) and undependable (Matt.
26:40-41; Mark 14:37). He couldn't always control
his tongue (Mark 14:71). He couldn't always see
the big picture (Matt. 16:23; John 18:11), but was
often preoccupied with the urgent and immediate.
He was a narrow-minded racist (Acts 2:39; 10:13-
14; Gal. 2:11-14) and a male chauvinist (John
4:27).

Let's be brutally honest -- Simon Peter (Matt.
16:17; John 21:15-17) wasn't the right man for
leading the early church. Right?! The Lord needed
an entirely different breed of man. He required an
uncommon stock -- a man with minor blemishes, a
near-perfect specimen, a spiritual giant -- or did
He (Luke 6:12, 13)?

At Pentecost following the resurrection of Christ,
there was Peter, boldly preaching the first gospel
sermon with his fellow apostles (Acts 2:14; 38,
40). Yes, Peter! But it didn't stop there. The
very same man who fled for his life when he was
identified as a disciple of the Lord was the very
same man who, despite the threat of imprisonment,
fearlessly proclaimed the risen Lord (Acts 3:11-
4:20; 29-31; 5:29).

Think for just a moment -- how can we account for
this incredible transformation? How did this
milquetoast Galilean fisherman become a notable
force in the Kingdom of the first century? More
significantly, what does Peter tell us about
ourselves? Consider:

1. No matter what your previous background, the
Lord can use you as a vessel in His service. Our
faults can be molded and fashioned into virtue.
Failure yesterday is not necessarily fatal
tomorrow. Weakness can become strength. This He
did for Peter, and this He can do with and for
you.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them" (Eph.
2:10; cf. Isa. 64:10).

2. It takes time to become the person Jesus wants
you to become. Evolving a Christ-like spirit is a
lengthy process (1 Pet. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:18; cf. Heb.
5:12ff). No one is shaped into a leader overnight.
Peter certainly wasn't.

In fact, approximately twenty years after His
service during the Lord's personal ministry, Peter
as an apostle, a gospel preacher, and an elder (1
Pet. 5:1) still needed some "internal refinement"
(Gal. 2:11ff). I find that ironic. In Acts 2, on
the birthday of the church, Peter had taught,
"...For the promise is to you and to your
children, and to all who are afar off [i.e.,
Gentiles]" (v. 39). Then some eight to ten years
later it took a vision from heaven (Acts 10:9-16)
to convince him that God, in fact, accepted all
men, including Gentiles, into the faith (Acts
10:34-35; 11:18). And perhaps yet another eight to
ten years later, in Galatians 2, Peter still
struggled with the concept of the Gentile equality
(Gal. 2:11ff).

He was a slower learner. You might say he suffered
from SADD -- spiritual attention deficit disorder.
Growth was an incremental element for Peter. The
same is true for each of us today.

3. Jesus seeks a willing spirit. Peter's problem
wasn't his lack of desire and zeal, it was how he
employed these qualities that often got him into
trouble. One of the reasons Jesus chose Peter was
because he was a man of passion. Granted, his
passion was misdirected at times, but once Peter
came to terms with the concept of the risen Lord
(1 Pet. 1:3), that same fervency was channeled in
a very constructive and powerful way.

The good news is, the Lord sees beyond what we are
to what we can become. We see spiritual resumes
that are tarnished by transgression (Rom. 3:23).
We see rank sinners; Jesus sees holy saints. We
see humiliation; Jesus sees exaltation. We see
despair; Jesus sees a living hope. We see Simon
the crumbling disciple; Jesus saw Peter the rock-
solid leader who would help stabilize the first-
century church.

Dear friend, are you looking for a job?

Do you feel incapable?

Is your work-history marred by defeat?

Yes? Great! (You automatically qualify.)

The Lord is hiring new laborers at this very
moment! You can start your new work NOW (Acts
2:38; 2 Cor. 5:17; 4:16).

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