Peter and the Shaping of a Movement Catalyst
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I’m working through the book of Acts. Some fresh (unedited) thoughts on how God shapes movement leaders over the whole course of their lives.
We have so much information about Peter’s life and development. What can we learn about how God shapes movement leaders over the whole course of their lives?
1. The call
Peter began this journey at Jesus’ feet acknowledging his weakness and sinfulness (Luke 5:1-11). The miracle of the catch of fish revealed Jesus’ power and authority in the world that Peter dominated. Peter’s response was to fall at Jesus’ feet and confess not just his weakness, but his sinfulness.
What qualified Peter was not his abilities and experience or his godliness. He was qualified because he surrendered to Jesus’ gracious call. This is the first and most important lesson of leadership in a movement. It is the foundation and heart.
Jesus gave Peter just two responsibilities. Follow me and learn to fish for people. Jesus is building a missionary movement that will go to the ends of the earth.
2. The training
Movement leaders are made on the road with other disciples learning to be like Jesus and learning to do what Jesus did.
Peter learned as he watched Jesus move from town to town, healing the sick, casting out demons, proclaiming the kingdom and calling everyone to repent and believe. Peter not only watched, Jesus sent him out to do what he did.
Yet Peter could not accept that the Messiah would die a shameful death, cursed by God and deserted by his closest companions, giving up his life as a ransom for many.
Peter had three years with unrivalled access to Jesus and yet he failed.
3. The devastation
Jesus knew Satan would sift Peter like wheat Jesus knew Peter’s faith would fail, so he prayed for Peter and urged him to turn again to God and become the rock who strengthens his brothers (Luke 22:31-32). Jesus knew that Peter would never grasp the reality of God’s grace until he had faced the reality of his sinfulness. Only then would he become a rock on which Jesus would build a movement.
Peter’s transformation did not begin with the coming of the Holy Spirit in pow- er. We forget that it began with his failure, repentance and restoration by the risen Lord.
4. The transformation
The Spirit fell upon a man who was called and trained by Jesus. A man whom God had shown the reality of his sinful heart. A man who had turned back to God and heard his call renewed. For forty days Jesus had walked him through the scriptures to explain what the Messiah had to suffer and rise again and how the gospel must go to the ends of the earth. When the Spirit fell at Pentecost, Peter was ready.
We see his transformation when he stands to proclaim the gospel at Pentecost to the city that has crucified his Lord just weeks before. We see his courage before the same authorities who handed Jesus over to Romans.
The apostle who had led the way in denying Jesus now led the way in fearless proclamation enduring imprisonment and violence. Despited the attacks every day, in the temple and from house to house, the apostles did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ (Acts 5:42).
Jerusalem was the base for an expanding movement. Under Peter’s leadership, the churches spread throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Galilee and Samaria, and on the coastal plain to the west—in Lydda, Joppa, Caesarea, Ptolemais. Through a ministry focused on prayer and the Word, Peter multiplied and strengthened disciples and church communities wherever he went.
Yet God had more for Peter.
5. The renewal
Jerusalem was the centre. Under Peter’s leadership, thousands had joined the movement across the city. The church had withstood the persecution, even thrived because of it. Surely the Gentiles now would be drawn into the light of Jerusalem as the Scriptures foretold?
It was over ten years since the command to go to the nations was given. The Samaritans and the Ethiopian eunuch represented those on the edges of Judaism. There was no focused Gentile mission, there was not certainty on how to include the Gentiles within a Jewish movement.
Peter is away from the city getting further and further into Gentile territory. Je- sus has a plan to move his mission forward. On the rooftop in Joppa and then in Cornelius’ house Peter is unravelled and remade in the space of a few days. It is a work of God, not Peter. Yet Peter remains open to what God is doing, he does not rest on his position, his achievements, his credentials. He’s in Caesarea the pagan city and centre of Roman power. He’s out on the fringes, out of his comfort zone, open to God, not relying on his past achievements.
The solution doesn’t come from Peter or any of the apostles. God intervenes and unravels Peter as the Spirit falls on Cornelius and a household of Gentiles. The Lord is still shaping and remaking Peter who will now lead the way with the Jewish believers in Jerusalem so they can embrace God’s heart for the nations and get moving again.
6. The handoff
Movements thrive when the founding figures are continually releasing authority and responsibility to new leaders and affirming new streams of discipleship over which they have no direct control. Peter had to learn how to release authority and responsibility to others and how to embrace what God was doing in raising up new leaders beyond his sphere of influence.
The Seven. Peter led the way in the appointment of the Seven who oversaw the distribution of food to widows in the community (Acts 6:1-7. ). It soon became clear that at least two of the Seven would also play a pioneering role in the mission. Stephen’s teach- ing and martyrdom prepared the way for the movement’s expansion. Philip’s unplanned mission to Samaria broke the bounds of Judaism. Peter and John we the first apostles to embrace Philip’s initiative and extend the work into new Samaritan villages.
Paul. God raised up a leader without Peter’s direct involvement who would rival him in achievement. Paul pioneered a whole new stream of Gentile disciples and churches with all the trouble it caused. Paul tells how they clashed publicly in Anti- och over Peter’s inconsistency in welcoming the Gentiles (Gal 2:11-14). Yet by the time of the Jerusalem council, Peter led the way in winning acceptance Paul’s mission to the Gentiles (Acts 15:7-10).
James and the elders. For over a decade Peter led the movement based in Jerusalem. Over time he released the leadership of the church over to James, the Lord’s brother and the elders. Then in 41/42 AD, pursued by Herod he fled the city (Acts 12:17). He was able to return to Jerusalem in AD 48, but James is in charge of the church and the proceedings at the Council.
Peter prepared the way for the Seven and for James and the elders of Jerusalem. He embraced and welcomed the Gentile mission led by Paul and others.
7. The finale
Luke doesn’t tell us where Peter went after he fled Jerusalem. Paul knows about the pioneering ministry of Peter and his wife (1 Cor 9:5; Gal 2:11-14.). Early traditions point to the northern regions of Asia Minor as one of Peter’s mission fields. His first letter is addressed to the believers in Asia Minor—those from Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. These churches may have been the fruit of his mission. Peter could also have travelled to the larger Jewish communities of Antioch in Syria, Alexandria in Egypt and Ephesus in Asia. There is a strong tradition that by the mid-60s AD, at the end of his life, Peter was in Rome where he was crucified by Nero.
Jesus shaped Peter over the whole course of his life. He learned how to make disciples and follow his Lord, on the road. God turned his greatest failure into an opportunity to transform him from the inside out. He boldly led a movement that reached the city of Jerusalem and gave away authority and responsibility to others. He kept pushing out beyond the centre of Judaism until God opened his heart and the door to the Gentile mission. He embraced the initiatives and breakthroughs of others. He refused to settle down but kept pressing into unreached fields until his life was taken from him.
UPDATE: There may be another principle called, “Unqualified". Jesus goes looking for unqualified people on the fringes. The breakthroughs in the movement of God always occur on the fringe, not the centre.
