From Fear to Faith: Lessons from the Life of Peter

By:  Dale Weckbacher

2 Timothy 1:7

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

(ESV)

One of my favorite characters in the Bible is Peter.  This is because I find Peter someone I can relate to for even though Peter was someone who walked with Jesus and heard all His teachings, he still had a habit of opening his mouth before thinking.  In fact, Peter has the distinction of being someone who was silenced and interrupted by all three persons of the Trinity. 

1)      God the Father (Matthew 17:1-8) – Caught up in the moment of seeing Jesus in all his glory at the Transfiguration, Peter’s initial response is to build an earthly shrine at the sight where the event occurred.  While this would appear to be something great and a way to remember this great event, his response failed to consider the greater purpose.  In Matthew16:28 Jesus tells his disciples that some among them would not die until they saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.  Since all of those with Jesus at that time have died, Jesus was referring to the transfiguration which occurred in the next chapter.  In other words, the purpose of the transfiguration was to give Peter, James, and John a glimpse of Jesus in his Glory, confirming he is God in the flesh.  Therefore, before Peter could build some cult movement worshiping at the sight of the transfiguration, Jesus had to silence him.  We must be cautious not to worship glorious events where we experience the presence of God but to worship the God behind these events.

2)      God the Son (Matthew 16:13-23) – After making a profession of faith that Jesus is the Christ (Matthew 16:16), Peter rebukes Jesus for foretelling his death, how he would die for theirs and our sins, and rise from the dead declaring victory over sin and death (Hebrews 2:14).  Jesus response to Peter was not a rebuke of Peter, but a rebuke of Satan, the one placing the thought of rebuking Jesus in the mind of Peter (Matthew 16:23).  Romans 12:1-2 reminds us to allow our minds to be renewed by God. 

3)      God the Holy Spirit (Acts 10) – The early church was mostly Jewish.  In fact, it was referred to as “The Way” (Acts 9:2) or thought of as a sect of Judaism.  However, the vision given to Peter in Acts10:9-16 was to teach Peter that the Gospel was for all humanity and not just the Jews.  At the home of Cornelius, Peter begins by sharing the Gospel as he most likely usually did when asked to speak with someone but in this instance, he was speaking with someone who had already come to believe and fear God (Acts 10:1-2).  While sharing the Gospel was not bad, God had something else in mind for Cornelius, the receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-46).  While we may believe we have everything figured out, often God, who knows all has other plans for us.

What I find most encouraging about the life of Peter is how he in the short span of 50 days was transformed from a man of fear to a man of faith. 

In yet another instance of Peter disagreeing with Jesus, we see Jesus telling Peter he will deny Him three times before the rooster crows (Matthew 26:31-35).  While Peter denied that he would ever deny Jesus, Jesus knew the fear in Peter’s heart and that when facing possible death due to his belief in Jesus as the Christ, would deny Him.

However, just 50 days later at Pentecost, we see this once fearful Peter speaking to some of the very people who were calling for Jesus to be crucified, boldly declaring who Jesus is and accusing them of having Him crucified (Acts 2:22-24).  However, Peter also teaches them that all that occurred was in accordance to the plan of God.  However, we must ask the question, what occurred during those 50 days that caused this miraculous transformation in the Life of Peter.

1)      Peter repented of his sin (Matthew 26:75) – Right after the realization of his sin of denying Jesus, Peter wept bitterly, repenting of his sin.  This is the direct opposite of the response of Judas when he realized his betrayal would lead to Jesus’ death (Matthew 27:3-5).  Later after his resurrection Jesus let Peter know he was forgiven and would have an important role in spreading the good news of the Gospel (John 21:15-19).  This repentance and forgiveness meant Peter no longer had to fear rejection by God.

2)      Peter saw the risen Lord (Luke 24:36-49) – Imagine the shock of seeing a beloved friend that you presumed was dead suddenly appear in front of you.  No wonder the disciples, including Peter thought they saw a ghost.  However, after they realized it was indeed Jesus, they no doubt remembered Jesus frequent teaching about how he must die and come back from the dead to receive full forgiveness of their sins.  While we do not physically see the risen Lord today when we accept Jesus as our Savior, we do so in faith believing the written accounts in the Gospels by those who did physically see Him and learn at His feet.  In fact, scripture tells us that those who come to know Jesus by faith without actually seeing Him are blessed (John 20:29).  However, Peter seeing the risen Lord no doubt alleviated much of his fear.

3)      The filling with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4) – When Jesus appeared to His disciples after his resurrection, he ended by telling them to remain in the city of Jerusalem until they were clothed or filled with power from on high.  Even though seeing the risen Lord alleviated much of their fear, Jesus knew he was leaving them and that they would need the Holy Spirit to empower them to fearlessly spread the good news of the Gospel.  For this reason, once fearful Peter could with power and authority declare the Gospel to some of those calling for Jesus’ crucifixion and 3000 were saved (Acts2:40-41). 

There is much fear in our world as evidenced by how people have reacted to the election of Donald Trump as President.  However, fear is not of God and not how the people of God are to live their lives (2 Timothy 1:7).  We therefore must follow the example of Peter and learn to live lives of faith and not fear by repenting of our sins, meeting the risen Lord through His Word, the Bible, and allowing the Holy Spirit to fill us, not to speak in tongues, but to receive empowerment of the Holy Spirit to better serve our Lord.