Title: Rooster Crowing / Luke 22:54-62
Content 珥?Sound
Luke 22:54-62
The appearance of the disciples who preached the gospel in the poor environment of the church at first, regardless of who they were, was wonderful. All the twelve disciples loved Jesus and devoted their lives to Jesus until they became martyrs. However, it was Peter who played the role of a great pillar among the disciples and led the early church.
Although Peter was sometimes impatient and made many mistakes, he was very crude and full of humanity. Jesus loved Peter. Today's text is set in an event that occurred shortly after Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane by the soldiers sent by the high priest.
1. stand far away
Jesus was captured by the temple guards and taken to the house of the high priest. All the disciples fled, but Peter was far away and worried about what was going to happen to Jesus and followed him. There may have been no other way, but it is meaningful to say that the Bible followed far away. It's about keeping a distance from Jesus. This means keeping a reasonable distance. Faith is being close to Jesus every day, not keeping a reasonable distance. In fact, the measure of faith is the distance between Jesus and me. Specifically, what is the distance between me and Jesus?
The distance from the Word is the distance from Jesus. A life of keeping the Bible close at hand, longing for the Word, reading the Word, and meditating on the Word is a life of drawing closer to Jesus. The next question is how much you keep and practice the Word. In fact, those who read the Word closely and earnestly obey Jesus and strive to live according to the Word. To draw near to the Word is to draw near to Jesus.
The distance from the church is the distance from Jesus. It's not about how close I am to the church where I live, but how close my life is to the church. A person who always goes to church is a person of good faith anyway. If the church is far away in my heart, the distance from Jesus is also far away. If any event at church has absolutely nothing to do with me, and if I am completely indifferent to any prayer meeting at church, wouldn't that be a far cry from the church? As a result, they are far from Jesus.
The distance from the saints is the distance from Jesus. Those who want to be close to Jesus always stay close to the saints. Faith that has no fellowship at all with such thoughts as 'I am qualitatively different from you' is like a seed scattered by the roadside. No matter how busy the schedule, those who have fellowship with the saints are people of good faith. When we meet the saints and talk about the church, we talk about faith, and we talk about prayer, our faith grows and we become closer to Jesus.
People's lives and lives change depending on who they are close to and what they are close to. A man named 'Onesimus' was Philemon's servant, stealing his master's money and running away to prison. His future had nothing but death. However, on the road to ruin, I met the Apostle Paul. As I had no choice but to meet the Apostle Paul in a small prison and talk to him every day, my thoughts, my heart, and my life changed in the end. Later, he became a great figure indispensable to the early church.
Therefore, Jesus is someone you should always be close to, and you should not go far away from it. Even Peter followed Jesus at a distance, until he eventually denied Jesus.
2. By the bonfire
Peter, who was following him from a distance, joined together in a place where people were gathering around a bonfire. At that time, seeing Peter's reflection in the light of the campfire, a servant girl said, 'This man is one with him'. Peter was astonished. So I reluctantly deny it. 'I don't know who he is.'
A little later another man turns to Peter. 'You're the cabal too. I have seen it.' Peter denies louder. 'This man, I am not that hand'
About an hour later, another person speaks out loud. “I look at the clothes you are wearing and you are a Galilean, and you are one with that Galilean,” Peter answers again. 'This man, I don't know what you're talking about.' In the Gospel of Matthew, it is recorded that he cursed and swore, 'I do not know the man' (26:74). Peter must have reacted like this because it was urgent, but his original heart is sometimes revealed when it is urgent.
As I read these words, I am reminded of what I experienced in a hot spring a long time ago. There were not many people in the hot spring bath, so there were about 7-8 people including me. Some of them were in their early 60s, and three or four seemed to know each other. And one of them had lost his hair, and it seemed like a friend he had not seen in a long time. Their conversation went like this.
Are you going to church these days?
By Bored......
I'm meeting friends these days... I'm fishing... I'm busy...
I can't do that either. So you go to church...
Then, the hairless friend slowly raised his voice and started swearing at all the believers.
I came to Japan these days, and there is something...
Those who say what it is or what it is...
Religious wars in the Middle East...,
I'd rather help those in need...
The man who said he was going to church because he was bored just moaned and didn't say anything. There was not even one person to answer because one person was constantly shooting at them. But what could a 'tired church-goer' have to say? After the bald-headed person, who was constantly swearing at him, left saying he was going first, I saw the 'boring man' grumbling to himself as if he was still upset.
Another is that believers must have a solid reason for their faith. You can only laugh at people who are so reckless and aggressive, but how can you expect powerful faith from someone who answers 'I go to church because I'm bored' to the question 'Why do you go to church?' At least I should have a clear answer for myself as to why I believe in Jesus. Otherwise, you will end up becoming 'a person who goes to church because you are bored' without realizing it in your life. It is to become 'I am not' like Peter.
You will not be able to live with 'Jesus, Jesus' always in the field of busy life. But Jesus must be at the center of us. Peter, who followed Jesus from afar, had no choice but to deny Jesus in the field of life. I hope that you will become the faith that always walks with Jesus in the Word and prayer.
3. Dawn chicken sound
When I sit down like this and deny that I don't know Jesus three times, the rooster of the dawn is a bitch! and cried. At that moment, Peter remembered the words of Jesus. At the time when he said, 'Today, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.' Jesus, who was passing by with his hands tied to the soldiers, looked at Peter.
These words fill my heart. At the time Peter denied Jesus, Jesus was passing by and looking at Peter. What were the eyes of Jesus like? What was Peter's eyes like when he met Jesus?
When Jesus had the last supper with his disciples, he said, “All of you must forsake me” (Matthew 26:31). Then Peter answered. 'Even if everyone forsakes you, I will never forsake you', Jesus said at that time. 'Tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.' How upset Peter was... So, I confess again. 'Even if I die with you, I will not deny you.' But in the end, Peter denied that he knew Jesus at all.
Peter ran outside. And then wept. I shed tears of repentance. I could not forget the eyes of Jesus, who looked at me with compassion. I said that I would follow you even to the point of death with the Lord.... Even if the whole world denied Jesus, I shouted out loud that I would never deny Him... How could I say that I did not know Jesus? .. Peter wept as he remembered the word of the Lord at the sound of a rooster at dawn.
However, God took the lacking Peter and made him a great minister of the early church. The Lord loved the image of Peter who was weeping and contending for his weakness. Although he denied that he did not know the Lord in an emergency due to human weakness, the love of Jesus was at the center of Peter's contrite and weeping. I had a passion to live for the Lord. What the Lord saw was not the current state of the fallen, but the future image of him who would carry out his mission. Although he fell now, the Lord, seeing the faith in Peter, lifted him up and put him on high.
There are times when we too become Peter in the field of our lives. I hope you hear the crowing every time. It was the sound of a rooster at dawn that sent a warning signal to Peter, who was gradually stepping aside in an urgent situation. It was the sound that woke Peter up.
Dear saints who spend Advent, Advent is the season to hear the sound of the rooster at dawn. Please do not lose the Lord in your busy schedule. Whenever I try to say 'I don't know him' because I'm busy, I want you to hear the rooster. I pray that you will become blessed saints who spend Advent as a season closer to the Lord and a season to be with the Lord.
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