1. Peter Principle
Years ago, Laurence J. Peter visited several corporations and studied some of their management characteristics. As a result, he came up with a maxim he called "The Peter Principle." The Peter Principle roughly said this: A person is hired by a company and does a good job and he is promoted to a higher level of responsibility. He does a good job there as well and is elevated another notch in the corporation. This happens again and again. Eventually the individual is promoted to a position that they can’t handle. They are promoted to a point where they are incompetent. And once they reach that level of incompetence, they are no longer useful to the company. They no longer have value.
God has a different standard. ALL of us are valuable to him regardless of ability, looks, intelligence; or the “what can you do for me?” mentality.
2. God’s perspective: The world looks on the outside, God on the inside – But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16.7
3. Application to Peter – 1 Corinthians 15.3-5
a. Yeshua (Jesus) spent 40 days affirming his resurrection
b. Yeshua (Jesus) spent 40 days explaining his kingdom (Acts 1.3)
c. Yeshua (Jesus) spent 40 days collecting witnesses of his resurrection
[Nazis were convicted by witnesses – including the witness of photographs
4. One of the great proofs of the resurrection is the change in the disciples (witnesses to the resurrection) – also the change in YOU as a disciple (These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, Acts 17.6 -- Thessalonica)
5. Consider changes in Peter:
I. Peter Put Faith in His Ability (Before the Resurrection)
40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). John 1.40-42
A. Peter Was Skilled
1. As a Fisherman – Boats; Nets; Sea; Fish; Business (Would become a ‘fisher of men’)
2. As a Leader – Confidence; Impetuous; Likable; Action-Oriented; A Man’s Man (not a coward – Malchus’
B. Peter Was Self-Assured
1. Bold in his confession of Yeshua (Jesus) – Matthew 16.18 (You are ‘Rock’)
a. Location – Caesarea Philippi; Gates of Hell
b. Dangerous – pagans and fertility cult
2. Boldness in his Imitation of His Master/Rabbi – Matthew 14.28-29
28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
3. Boldness in Declaring His Loyalty – Matthew 26.34-35
34 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And so said all the disciples.
C. Peter Was Significant
1. The Name Change – Simon to Peter (Cephas/Kefa) – ROCK – Matthew 16.18; Isaiah 51.1
2. Followers and New Names (God’s significance on us)
a. Abram to Abraham
b. Jacob to Israel
c. Shaul to Paul
d. James and John (Sons of Thunder [OKC and Sons of Thunder Section?]
D. Peter’s Slide from Self-Confidence
1. Not any different than the rest of us – Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10.12
Former heavyweight boxer James (Quick) Tillis recalled his 1st day in the Chicago after his arrival from Tulsa. "I got off the bus with two cardboard suitcases under my arms and stopped in front of the Sears Tower. I put my suitcases down and I looked up at the Tower and I said to myself, ‘I’m going to conquer Chicago.’ And when he looked down, the suitcases were gone.
He was a heavyweight boxer. He was a big, bad, scary kind of man. AND he was going to conquer Chicago. But, in the blink of an eye, somebody took all that he owned from him.
2. Confusion in the Arrest of Yeshua (Jesus)
3. Which Led to his denials (Luke 22.54-62 cf. Psalm 1)
4. Which led him back to fishing (John 21.3)
II. Peter Came to Put Faith in His God’s Ability
A. Peter Was a Changed Man
1. Bold Proclamation (Acts 2) in front of:
a. Roman Oppressors who crucified Yeshua (Jesus)
b. Sadducees (High Priests and Perverted Priesthood)
c. Pharisees (some favored him, some did not)
d. The Crowd who demanded his death (36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Acts 2.36)
2. Boldness to keep teaching in spite of Court Rulings – 18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have Acts 4.18-20
3. Boldness in Outreach
• Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, Acts 8.14
• Cornelius in Acts 9.32-11.18
• 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apol′los,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 1 Corinthians 1.12
B. Peter Changed with the Resurrected Messiah
1. He saw the empty tomb and the resurrected Messiah
2. He heard him for forty days – 3 To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God. Acts 1.3
1. Henry David Thoreau, in his classic book, Walden, told of a powerful custom of the Mucclasse Indians. Once each year, they had a village clean up called a “busk.” First they would make new clothes for themselves as well as furniture and cooking utensils. They would keep all of these new things in a building outside of the village. When everything was ready, they would begin their annual spring cleaning.
Every corner of every house was scrubbed. Every stick of furniture was thrown out. Every child’s toy went to the garbage heap. The dirt paths were swept, and the weeds were plucked up. Even the food left over from winter was thrown out. All of the refuse in the village was gathered together into a pile in the center of the village. Then the chief set it on fire. As they watched it burn, they took off their clothes and tossed them into the fire as well. They tended the fire carefully and made sure that every last piece of garbage was burned.
On the fourth morning, they washed and bathed, and dressed in their new clothes. They then gathered again at the heart of the village. The chief started a new fire and from the flames each family took burning sticks home to start their own fires. The old was gone, life was beginning again!
We have a place of renewal – in Christ. It is here that we let go of the old and embrace the new. Indeed, we rise to walk in newness of life (Roman 6.1-4).
2. Kefa (Peter) moved from trusting HIS Ability to trusting His GOD’S Ability
3. His encounter with the resurrected Messiah was key – as with the other disciples
4. The Old Peter was gone, the New Peter was in place
5. How about YOU? Have you encountered the living Messiah? He makes all the difference – He takes away the old and creates the new
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For he who has died is freed from sin. Romans 6.1-7
