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| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Dr. Wes Bredenhof > There shouldn't be a stark contrast between Master and disciple | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) Psalm 27:1-3 Psalm 19:6 (after the law of God) Psalm 27:4-6 Hymn 81 Psalm 150 Scripture reading: Acts 4:1-22 Text: John 18:15-27 |
Beloved congregation of Christ,
Some of you know what it means to be an apprentice. There are apprenticeships for a wide range of professions, including construction, auto mechanics, hairdressing, and carpentry. An apprenticeship is usually a few years and in that time you work under a supervisor who is an experienced person in your trade. If you’re an apprentice, your goal is to get to the same level of expertise as the person training you.
That’s a good illustration of what the Bible means by discipleship. Apprentices have to learn theory, they often have to take classes. Disciples of Christ have to learn the key teachings of the Bible. But just like apprentices in the trades, disciples ultimately aim to be like their master. If we’re disciples of our Lord Jesus, we want to be like him.
That was why the original disciples of Jesus in the New Testament spent so much time with him. The twelve spent three years shadowing their Master. They listened to him teach and preach. They watched him heal and show compassion to the broken. The twelve were his closest followers and they aspired to walk in his footsteps. Among them was Peter.
We all know Peter as the brash and outspoken one of the twelve. Peter wanted to stand out among the twelve as the most faithful disciple. Back in John 13, Peter said he would lay down his life for the Lord Jesus. That’s commitment. But Christ responded, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.”
We see that prophecy being fulfilled in our text this morning. As it is fulfilled, it’s set against the background of Christ doing something completely different. Sandwiched between Peter’s denials we have Christ before Annas the high priest. What he says and what Peter says couldn’t be more different. A disciple should be like his Master, but here what we have instead is a stark contrast. That contrast is what we’re going to explore this morning. I preach to you God’s Word, There shouldn’t be a stark contrast between Master and disciple – and yet there is!
We’ll consider:
- The cold hard facts
- The meaning behind those facts
Our text contains events described in the other gospels. But one thing that stands out about John’s narrative is that it’s quite clinical, detached from any emotion. For example, Luke tells us of how Jesus looked at Peter after he had denied him. Matthew and Mark both tell us that Peter denied Christ vehemently with an oath, taking God’s Name in vain to deny Jesus. Then afterwards, we’re told, he broke down and wept bitterly. John’s Gospel on the whole definitely includes emotion – it’s where we find that famous verse, “Jesus wept.” But here in this scene, it’s just cold hard facts. The Holy Spirit is bringing us another angle on the events that unfold in these verses. But let’s first look closer at the events themselves.
Our passage is like a sandwich. Peter’s denials form the bread on the outside. So it begins with Peter’s first denial in verse 15 and onwards. Verse 15 says that “Simon Peter followed Jesus…” One of the most common literary devices in John’s gospel is irony and we have it here too. It’s ironic because the word “followed” is often used of what a disciple does. A disciple follows his Master, and Peter has been following Jesus for the past three years. Now he follows Jesus to the palace of the high priest, but in what comes next his discipleship is drawn into question.
Along with Peter was another disciple. He isn’t named here, but many commentators conclude it was likely John, the author of the gospel. Probably. This other disciple was somehow known to the high priest so he had insider access, whereas Peter initially had to stand outside. But eventually the other disciple was able to get Peter inside the courtyard of the palace as well.
The girl who let him in recognized Peter and so she asked whether he wasn’t also one of his disciples. Here Peter had an opportunity to identify himself with his suffering Master. Here he had an opportunity to put into action the words he spoke in John 13 about being prepared even to die for his Lord. But no, instead, he denies being associated with Jesus as one of his disciples. When he does this, he is disloyal to the Lord he followed for the past three years, but he also lies. Rather than show himself to be a follower of the one who called himself “the Truth” in John 14:6, he appears to be a child of the father of lies. And now he’s standing there warming himself around the fire, oblivious to the fact that he’s put himself on the track to further lies, further denials of Christ and his relationship to him. Once you tell a lie, you often have to tell more lies to support that first lie. One lie is often not enough.
But before we get to the other two lies, we shift our attention to the inside of the sandwich. There we see the Master, our Lord Jesus. There we see truth-telling.
Jesus is before Annas. Annas had been deposed as high priest by the Romans, but he was still regarded as a sort of emeritus high priest by the Jews. They highly respected him. So they sent Jesus to him first for a sort of preliminary hearing, before sending him on to Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, who was the ruling high priest.
In verse 19, Annas is interrogating Jesus, particularly about his disciples and his teaching. He seems to be interested in his numbers and influence. He’s not interested in whether or not Jesus spoke the truth. This is about power and control rather than truth. It’s truth that really needs to be considered when someone is facing charges.
It’s truth that Jesus brings out in his response to Annas. He says he preached and taught publicly in synagogues and in the temple. Jesus didn’t say anything secretly. But wait a minute, you might think, didn’t Jesus spend private time with his disciples? Didn’t he teach them at those moments? Yes, he sure did, but what he means here is that everything he said to his disciples in private was consistent with everything he said in public. There was no conspiracy going on in the background. There was no message for the disciples which contradicted his public message or anything like that. With Jesus, what you saw was what you got. The truth of who he was and what he said in private lined up with the truth of who he was and what he said in public. And there were plenty of witnesses to the things he’d said and taught. If he’s facing charges, then the proper thing to do is bring those witnesses forward. In fact, Jewish law stated that witnesses for the defense should be called first. Where are the witnesses? Instead, here we are with these highly unusual legal proceedings at something like 3:00 in the morning. It’s all under the cover of darkness. Witnesses would shine the light of the truth, but no one is interested in the truth. They want the darkness and they want the lies.
In reaction to Jesus’ response, one of the Jewish religious officials slaps him with an open hand. It’s important to note how this was illegal. Jewish law protected the accused from violence during legal proceedings. But with Jesus that all goes out the window. And this religious official says, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” But the real question is: “Is this how you treat the ultimate High Priest, the Christ of God? You slap the Son of God, God in the flesh? How dare you!”
Then in verse 23, Christ again comes back at the Jewish leaders. If this is supposed to be about him on trial, then bring on the witnesses. If he was not speaking the truth, let the witnesses give their testimony about that. But if he was speaking the truth, then why slap him around? And he had been speaking the truth, so their violence is unjustified. But we don’t hear any answer from Annas or any of the other Jewish leaders. Because, again, the truth doesn’t matter to them. What matters to them is that Jesus must die. They’ve been plotting that for a long time already and they’re not going to let a pesky detail like the truth get in the way of what they want. That’s how sin is. Regardless of truth, sin wants its way. Regardless of reason, sin demands its fulfillment. We see it in our own lives all the time, don’t we?
In verse 24, we read of Jesus’ next destination. He goes from Annas the emeritus high priest to Caiaphas the ruling high priest. This was probably in the same palace complex, just in a different wing. Notice how they again had him bound. They did this because they believed Jesus was a threat, that he was dangerous. As our Lord’s Supper form says, he was bound that we might be set free.
Now we flip over to the other side of the sandwich and our attention goes from the Master to his disciple again. The Master has just been speaking truth, taking his stand on truth. What will his disciple do as he’s standing there warming himself like everyone else on this cold spring very early morning?
Someone from the group asks him again whether he’s one of the disciples. Again he denies it. Again he lies. Then there’s this servant of the high priest. He’s a relative of Malchus. Malchus was the man whose ear Peter had sliced off in the Garden of Gethsemane a few hours earlier. This servant had been there, he’d witnessed it. Peter’s face was hard to forget. Even in the dim light of the charcoal fire, he recognizes Peter from the garden. He was with Jesus, he is one of his disciples. Again Peter denies it. A third time he lies about his association with his Lord and Master.
“And at once a rooster crowed.” Just like Jesus said would happen. Peter would deny him three times and then the rooster would sound off. We know Peter heard it from the other gospels. We know how he reacted. But we especially need to keep in mind that Jesus heard it. And he knew what it meant. He knew what had just happened. The crowing of the rooster signals the beginning of a new day and Jesus’ day begins with denial by one of his disciples, not just once, but three times. As he enters into the day of his death, he does so knowing he has been abandoned by his followers. Even his most outspoken and devoted disciple has lied to put a distance between them.
Now those are the cold hard facts about what’s happening in our passage. But what’s the meaning behind them?
There’s this huge contrast between Master and disciple. Our Lord is the Truth incarnate and we see it here too. Not a lie comes from his lips. Everything is rock solid truth. But then we see the disciple and he’s lying and denying his Master. In our passage, every word coming from his mouth is a lie. This isn’t the way it should be.
Jesus said in Luke 6:40, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” Peter has been with Jesus for three years. If you think about apprenticeships these days, they’re usually 3-4 years. That’s usually long enough to fully train someone. After that time, the disciple should be like his teacher. He should be a truth-teller, regardless of the costs to his person and reputation. But that’s not what we see with Peter.
What we need to see right now is that there’s a reason behind this. It has everything to do with the gospel and with our salvation. Part of Christ’s suffering God’s wrath in our place was that he was to be abandoned by those closest to him. Those who experience hell are going to have every blessing of this life withdrawn from them. That includes relationships with others. Every person in hell experiences it in isolation, cut off from all relationships. So when Christ descended into our hell, when he experienced hell in our place, he had to experience it the same way. Peter’s lies and denials of Jesus were part of Christ’s suffering what we deserve for our sins. He drank the full cup of hell to pay for all our sins, including for every time we’ve told lies and even for any time we’ve ever pulled a Peter and denied our Saviour. As we look to Christ in faith and trust in him, it’s all covered with what he did in our place.
So the gospel is there on the outside of the sandwich that makes up our passage. But it’s also on the inside. Christ always told the truth and stood on the truth. He was perfectly obedient to the ninth commandment. As our Catechism says, the ninth commandment requires that we love the truth and always speak and confess it honestly. We fail time and again to do that, don’t we? We twist the truth, we tell little white lies, we make omissions, and on it goes. When we trust in Christ, it’s all forgiven, but we also have his obedience as our righteousness before God. If we’re trusting in Jesus, we can be confident that God looks at us and sees us as truth-tellers and truth-confessers, just like our Saviour is.
So what happens here in John 18 is meant to put the gospel in front of us again. But the Holy Spirit also wants us to be confronted with the need for us to strive for consistency in our discipleship. For all of us who are disciples of Jesus, there’s not supposed to be this huge contrast between us and him. Because he’s perfectly holy and sinless and we’re not, there’s always going to be some contrast in this age between us and him. But what we long for is to see that contrast grow less and less stark. We want to reduce the distance between the way our Master is and the way we are. The only way we can do that is by prayerfully relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, the one who lives in him and in us.
You and I aren’t Peter in his particular situation. That was a unique moment in redemptive history where Peter was part of God’s plan for our salvation. Yet there can be moments where, like Peter, we’re called to bear witness to our Saviour and our relationship to him. When I was in my early teens, if you’d asked me I probably would have said I was a Christian. But I probably would only have said that if I knew that you were also a church-going person and there’d be no consequences to saying it. I worked at McDonalds back in the day. Oftentimes I’d be asked where I go to school. I could have said “Parkland Immanuel Christian School,” but instead I’d say, “My parents send me to a private school.” In that environment I was ashamed to admit I went to a Christian school. I didn’t want to be identified with that. So I said, “private school” – it sounded kind of elite. And if they asked me which private school, I’d say, “Oh, just a small one you’ve probably never heard of.” That was wrong. I wasn’t totally lying, but I also wasn’t totally telling the truth. If I really was a Christian, I should have been able to speak the truth and be willing to bear the consequences as a follower of the Saviour who not only suffered and died for me, but also lived a perfect life in my place.
Maybe you haven’t had a situation identical to what I experienced, but there are plenty of similar scenarios. A co-worker asks what you got up to on your Sunday. You leave out the fact that you went to church. Someone invites you to do something on a Wednesday evening. You don’t mention that you go to catechism classes on Wednesdays [or whatever night catechism classes are held in your church]. Your boss asks you to come in and work a Sunday shift. You tell him you can’t because it’s your family time. All of these are opportunities for us to be identified with Christ. We should pray and ask for the Holy Spirit to help us make use of these opportunities, to be bold, and so reflect the fact that we are disciples of the one who called himself the Truth.
In Romans 1:16, the apostle Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” As we read the book of Acts, certainly we do see Paul’s great boldness in witnessing for Christ everywhere he went. He was never ashamed to be associated with him.
And as for Peter, as you may know, what’s in our passage isn’t the end of his story. Later in the Gospel of John, we’ll see this beautiful moment when Christ restores him. There’s grace for the disciple who embraced the lie and denied his Lord. Sin doesn’t get the last word, grace does. And then as we get into the book of Acts, we see a completely transformed Peter. In what we read from Acts 4, Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. And both he and John preach the gospel boldly. Then they’re confronted by the Jewish religious leaders, the same ones who put Jesus to death. Those leaders warn them to stop speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus – the implication is that there’ll be serious consequences if they don’t. Then we get those remarkable words in Acts 4:19-20, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Because they were filled with Christ’s Spirit, they were now compelled to speak the truth about him. Loved ones, that’s why we have to pray to be filled with the same Spirit. We have to pray that the Spirit who compelled Peter and John would also compel us in every situation to be like our Master and bear witness to the truth of the gospel.
Identity is a big buzz word these days. People identify as this and as that. Christians have been talking about identity long before it was trendy to do so. Our identity is to be in Christ. The Bible teaches us to self-identify as disciples of Jesus. As we do that, may God help us to grow in reducing the contrast between our Master and us. AMEN.
PRAYER
Our Father in heaven,
We’re thankful to you for Jesus our Saviour. Thank you for his perfect truth-telling in our place. Thank you for the way he descended into our hell, bearing the reproach and isolation we deserve for our sins. We’re especially grateful that we have your grace in him to cover every time we haven’t used the opportunity to identify with our Lord. We thank you for calling us to be his disciples. Please strengthen us with the Holy Spirit so we have the courage and strength to always be bold in our interactions with the world. Please give us help with the Spirit so we would never be ashamed of our Master. Help us so we would never be ashamed of the gospel. Please use our witness in this world to draw more people to yourself in praise of your glory and majesty.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Dr. Wes Bredenhof, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
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