Preach Humbly - Session 2 | 2025 LA Preachers' Conference

Good evening, brothers. Good evening, brothers. All right, I like this pulpit. This is great. Well, brothers, it's a privilege for me to be here with you this evening. I do want to lay my cards on the table because I know this is an LA Preachers' Conference, and I obviously live in Portland, Oregon. But if it's any consolation, before moving to Portland in 2009, I spent most of my life in Southern California as a native. I'm originally from Long Beach, California, so I've got some LA in me.

Admittedly, I woke up this morning, and I was thinking and praying about the conference. I started to think to myself, "Man, how am I going to preach to a room full of pastors?" A room full of men who've likely been serving in ministry, as we've seen, far longer than I have. Men who have been faithfully preaching God's Word longer than I have. So, it's quite weighty. I was thinking to myself, "Man, what am I going to say to a room full of wise, faithful men?" But nonetheless, brothers, God's Word has something for us. So, no matter the messenger, He's got something for us. My aim is to be an encouragement to you tonight, and so let's pray to that end.

Lord, we do recognize that without the aid of the Holy Spirit, everything that we do tonight, everything we do in this conference, will amount to nothing. We would just be men throwing words around in the room, hoping that something sticks. God, we desperately need your help. And so we pray that you would give us the help of the Holy Spirit to open up our eyes and our hearts and our ears to what you have to say to us. We pray, oh God, through your preaching this weekend, that you would convict us, that you would challenge us, that you would correct us, and that you would conform us into the image of our precious Jesus. We pray all these things in His mighty and powerful name. Amen.

This evening, I'd like to spend our time together by looking briefly at three aspects of the life and ministry of the Apostle Peter. My aim is not simply to provide some biographical data about Peter, but rather use Peter's life as a framework for perhaps some pastoral introspection. Peter, in many ways, I completely resonate with. And so to put Peter before your eyes this evening, in many ways, is putting myself before you. To help us focus a little bit this evening and to make this message a bit more sticky, I've divided this sermon into three sections: Rock, Paper, Scissor, which I hope will make sense as we move through it.

Now, a pastor friend of mine asked me to write this sermon for a small group of pastors, and some of you are here this morning, so you've heard this sermon before. But I was asked by this pastor friend to preach it in 15 minutes, which was exceedingly difficult, and I had to cut out a lot. So, you get the unedited version tonight. I hope that this message will serve us. We're going to be bouncing around a bit in our Bibles, which is a bit atypical for me. I typically like to grab a text, preach that text verse by verse. But we're in a room full of pastors that I suspect know their Bibles well, so we're going to bounce around a bit.

The Rock: The Prominence of Peter

So let's begin with the rock, or what you might call the prominence of Peter. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said to Simon:

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. — Matthew 16:18 (CSB)

Now, this is an incredible title that Jesus gives to Peter. But have you ever wondered what it was about Peter that would have persuaded Jesus to platform Peter the way that He did? Because it seems on the front end that Peter was probably the most unlikely candidate for this kind of title. I mean, Peter was not a rabbi. Peter was not a beast at interpreting the Torah. He wasn't the most gifted or the most godly among the disciples. Peter was super rough around the edges, very quick to speak, often slow to listen. He was equal parts reckless and impulsive, self-confident and ambitious. Now, these are the kinds of qualities that would be totally fitting for a self-employed fisherman or an entrepreneur, but this is not the typical prototype for a minister.

And what's crazy is that despite having no formal ministry training, no church leadership skills, no seminary degree, Peter would become one of the most influential and prominent ministers in history. In fact, Simon the fisherman would become Peter the Apostle, an exclusive title and position reserved for only a few men in human history. Simon Peter would eventually come to be known throughout the church as the rock. In fact, it was Jesus Himself who gave Simon the name Peter, or Petros, which means the rock.

And so the question is this: How did Peter go from fisherman to faithful minister, or from rags to righteousness? Well, if we were to ask a kind of church consulting firm and use kind of data and various leadership matrixes, one might deduce that it was because of Peter's radical commitment to Jesus. I mean, after all, in Mark 1:16-20, it tells us that as Jesus was walking along the shoreline, Jesus sees Peter and Andrew sitting in a boat fishing. And out of all of the people in this overpopulated sea area of fishermen, Jesus calls them out of the shoreline and says:

“Follow me,” Jesus told them, “and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat putting their nets in order. Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. — Mark 1:16-20 (CSB)

Peter hears this unique call from Jesus, and he responds. Now, from our human vantage point, we could think maybe it's because Peter was an early adapter. Maybe Peter could see that Jesus was kind of like this startup guru who had kind of like these leadership skills that could grow a successful movement. Maybe that's why Peter was all in. And this makes sense because it seems like Peter was willing to invest everything to follow Jesus. In fact, he gave up everything to follow Jesus in radical obedience. Peter boldly and without reservation gave up his life, his family vocation as a fisherman, which would include his investments, even his reputation, he gave up to follow Jesus in radical commitment.

Another possibility that we might deduce if we were using human data was that Peter's success was owing to his radical imitation of Jesus. You know, there's a lot of people like that. They think, "You know, if I just pattern my life after this particular person or this kind of spiritual guru and do what they do, then I'll also be successful." And you see some of this throughout the Gospels. As Peter continued to follow Jesus and observe His life and ministry and His miraculous works, he was eventually commissioned by Jesus to do the very same things along with all the other disciples, to go and do what Jesus did. The idea being that as Peter observed Jesus through the art of imitation, he could pattern his life and his ministry after his successful Rabbi. So maybe imitation was the key.

Or maybe it was Peter's radical intuition about Jesus. There's also a lot of men like that. This would seem humanly speaking probable because in Mark 8:27-30, which is the turning point in Mark's Gospel, Peter makes this crazy confession concerning the person and ministry of Jesus. Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do the people say that I am?" And they told Him, "John the Baptist. Others say Elijah. Others say one of the prophets." Then He asks them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter answered Him with this incredible intuition:

Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” — Mark 8:29 (CSB)

Peter alone out of all the disciples makes this profound confession that Jesus is the Messiah. And so when you look at these factors, Peter was committed. He was able to imitate Jesus. He had amazing insight as to who Jesus was and what His ministry mission was. Peter had come a long way from an uneducated fisherman to a faithful and fruitful minister of the Gospel. And so from an earthly standpoint, by looking at worldly data, Peter's rise to success would be easy to deduce. It was owing to his own hard work, diligence, and insight. That his success was largely his own doing. And it's highly likely that Peter understood his own success this way, which would account for Peter's many displays of self-confidence that got him into all kinds of trouble.

But brothers, using those kinds of human matrixes or earthly perspectives to determine success is worldly. And we know that that doesn't necessarily port into God's economy, which begs the question, brothers, given Peter's lack of experience and weak resume, what was it about Peter that made him the rock? I think a deep dive into the Gospel accounts, if you know where to look, reveals nothing. Absolutely nothing. There was nothing inherently qualitative about Peter that would warrant this kind of reputation as being the rock. He did nothing. Jesus did everything. In fact, if you remember, it was Jesus who called Peter. And not because Peter had some hidden qualities about him that would help to radically revolutionize the ministry of Jesus. No, Peter was just a man, a flawed man, that Jesus selected to showcase His glory and to reveal that God moves most profoundly with unimpressive people.

And Jesus's call was in every way, brothers, an effectual call. Meaning Peter's radical commitment was owing all to Jesus empowering him to be radically committed. So Peter could not *not* follow Jesus. And then, you know, Peter's famous confession, "You are the Christ." Well, that came not from Peter's natural intuition or his incredible spiritual insight, but from something completely outside of the nothingness of himself. You see, brothers, Peter was in every way a made man, stitched together by God Himself like a potter who uses the nothingness of wet dirt and molds it into a masterpiece. This is how Peter became the rock: by being nothing. And this, brothers, is how we became pastors: by being nothing.

Now, what is true of Peter and how Peter might have interpreted his rise to prominence are likely two very different things. Because of his self-confident, entrepreneur spirit, Peter probably assumed that he was a self-made man or a self-made minister. But no matter how Peter read the situation, the truth is, the man he was and the minister he became was owing all to Jesus. So it was Jesus who platformed Peter because of Jesus's providential prerogative. Peter literally contributed nothing. In fact, the only thing that Peter could take credit for in his ministry was his pride.

The Paper: The Pride of Peter

Which brings us to the paper, or the pride of Peter. Jonathan Edwards says this about pride: he says it's "the most hidden, secret, and deceitful of all lusts and often creeps insensibly into the midst of religion, even sometimes under the guise of humility itself." Brothers, Edwards is right. He's kind of always right. Pride is an elusive sin, and spiritual pride is perhaps the hardest sin for pastors to see because we don't know our own hearts, and because it's extremely difficult to delineate between Gospel ambition and what might actually be spiritual pride. This is why the Scriptures are so helpful for us, especially the Gospels, because they show us exactly what pride looks like. Brothers, spiritual pride looks a lot like Peter.

And the pride of Peter was most profoundly accentuated in the last few days of Jesus's Passion Week. As the pressure began to build for Jesus, Peter's pride began to bloom and become increasingly more pronounced. And so what I want to do is just walk you briefly through this snowball of Peter's self-confidence that played out during that week. In Luke's Gospel, it tells us that just after Jesus mentioned that He was going to be betrayed by one of His disciples and immediately following the institution of the Lord's Supper, the disciples began talking among themselves as to who was going to be the greatest. And there's no doubt that Peter was a part of that conversation, probably driving it, really.

Because Jesus immediately interrupts the conversation and says to Peter specifically in Luke 22:31-34:

“Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” “Lord,” he told him, “I’m ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” “I tell you, Peter,” he said, “the rooster will not crow today until you deny three times that you know me.” — Luke 22:31-34 (CSB)

And even after this sobering warning, Peter still failed to see the hidden sin of pride in his heart, which is why he responded so confidently, "Oh Lord, I'm ready to go to both death and prison. Just say the word, Jesus, and I'm there." Or take for example Mark 14:27-31. While they were out on the Mount of Olives, Jesus told His disciples, "You will all fall away." Peter again failing to see his spiritual pride, said to Him:

Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away, I will not.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “today, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he kept insisting, “If I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And they all said the same thing. — Mark 14:29-31 (CSB)

You see, Peter on paper had all the marks of a courageous, faithful, loving, and loyal disciple. But his self-assessment was clouded by his Gospel ambition and his self-sufficiency, and really, his massive ego. And it is the spiritual pride of Peter that causes him to fold like paper in only a matter of hours after making these bold statements.

Let me just walk you through briefly how Peter's pride and self-confidence played out in real time in this three-fold failure from Mark's Gospel. After Jesus is arrested in the garden and taken away, Peter followed behind Him at a distance into the courtyard. Now, why does Peter even follow Jesus? Who knows? But I think this much is clear: Peter probably had every intention of being there for Jesus when everything went down. Peter, in his own mind, probably talked up this really good game: "I'm gonna ride for Jesus." The fact that he follows even at a distance shows us that he had some intention to stand with Jesus.

But when they arrive, as Jesus is upstairs, you know, facing this trial with these very powerful Jewish authorities, the Sanhedrin and the chief priests, Peter is downstairs in the courtyard standing next to a fire facing a very different kind of trial, one brought by people with no authority and no power. And it's right here around this fire pit where Peter first folds. This servant girl, likely the maidservant of the high priest, looks at Peter as he's warming himself, trying to blend in. She studies his facial features in the flickering fire light. And as her eyes adjust to the dim glow, she starts to recognize him. Despite the shadows bouncing across his face, she figures it out. Though Peter tries to be covert and inconspicuous, this maidservant clearly recognizes him and says, "You were also with the Nazarene, weren't you?"

You see, no matter how much Peter tried to distance himself, it's impossible for him to be covert about his identification. He cannot escape being identified as one of Jesus's own. In fact, from this point forward, Peter will never outrun his association with Jesus. He will forever be branded as part of Jesus's entourage. But Peter, without hesitation and without reservation, just like that, denies Jesus. And it's interesting what he says, if you think about it. Not only does he claim not to know Jesus, he says, "I neither know nor understand what you mean." That's not just denial. That's full-on retreat. He's denying any knowledge or any awareness of the entire situation. So instead of defending his Savior and his friend, he pleads ignorant on every front. And then, realizing that he's in a very vulnerable spot, that he just can't stand and roam around the courtyard unnoticed, Peter physically retreats. He moves away from the center of the courtyard out of the fire light and slips into the gateway where he can hide in the shadows.

Now, I imagine that Peter had no intention of denying Jesus this way. He probably didn't even realize what he was doing in the moment. It was just kind of reflexive. And it wasn't until after he heard the rooster crow that night that it hit him. That sound probably echoed in his ears and likely snapped him back to what Jesus said just hours earlier: "Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times." Peter's denial sets in motion what Jesus had clearly and accurately prophesied. Brothers, Jesus was right. Jesus is always right. And what a bogus denial, if you think about it. I mean, it's one thing to deny Jesus in the face of persecution under the threat of death, but to deny Jesus in front of a teenage maid with zero authority, zero influence, zero power, that's just unimaginably shameful.

But you see, brothers, that right there shows us how Satan gets us. Not with some massive strategic ambush that Peter was ready for and watching for, but through some small, unassuming hiccup, something Peter wasn't even thinking about. He denies Jesus in the darkness of night, standing by a courtyard fire in front of a servant girl, probably 11 years old or something. But it doesn't stop there. As Peter tries to disappear in the shadows, that same maid sees him again. And this time she ropes in others. She gets the crowd. "That guy right there, he's one of them." And again, without hesitation, without even thinking about it, Peter denies again. Now, you would think after hearing the rooster crow the first time that would have snapped him back into reality or at least put him on guard. But no, not with Peter. He digs in deeper with his denial. And then comes the third and final denial. Mark 14:70-71:

But again he denied it. After a little while those standing there said to Peter again, “You certainly are one of them, since you’re also a Galilean.” Then he started to curse and swear, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about!” — Mark 14:70-71 (CSB)

This third time, Peter's accent gives him away. They could tell he's from Galilee because he sounds like Jesus. His words betray him, the same way my words reveal to my Portland church family that I'm in every way from Long Beach. They know I say "the Five" (you know, freeway) and they get mad: "You're so LA!" We speak differently, and the way we speak reveals who we are associated with. And now Peter, desperate and exposed, he swears. You know, he once swore that he would die for Jesus. Now he's swearing to God that he doesn't even know Jesus. Think about how quickly that escalated. And again, just to be clear, this wasn't in front of the Roman governor. This wasn't in front of the Sanhedrin. This wasn't persecution. He swears in front of commoners, a crowd of unimpressive people.

And then it happens immediately. The rooster crowed the second time. And in that split second, Peter remembered everything, and he broke down and he wept. Peter with all of his confidence had collapsed just as Jesus said he would. And you see, this is why Jesus told him in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Peter, watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak." And Peter's flesh was far weaker than he realized, which is why, brothers, he didn't pray. His spiritual pride prevented him from seeing his own need for help. You see, dear pastor, prayer is for desperate people, not confident, not competent people.

And listen, refusing to pray and denying Jesus, I think, speaks less about Peter's self-confidence or lack of courage and more about Peter's misaligned love. You see, I can tell you from firsthand experience, brothers, that spiritual pride is more than a self-esteem issue. It's a love of self issue. Loving what we can accomplish with our own hands. Loving the platforms we acquire because of our giftedness. Loving the praise that we receive for serving the Lord so faithfully. Listen, loving the feeling of not feeling the need for help. But you see that love for self, brothers, has a way of blinding us from seeing just how desperate and needy we are. We don't like being perceived as weak and needy or not having things together. Neither did Peter. So, he entered into the garden and the courtyard full of self-love, pride, and spiritual self-sufficiency, not feeling any need of Jesus, choosing not to pray for help. And the consequence was a loveless rejection of Jesus. And listen, I don't think that Peter's problem was that he didn't love Jesus. The problem was that he loved Jesus less than he loved himself.

And so, as bold as Peter claimed to be, as much devotion as he professed, when the smoke came, Peter folded like paper in a wave of self-love and self-preservation. In fact, from the moment Peter began making these bold confessions that he would die for Jesus, he began falling. And it's quite ironic that with Peter's third denial, he essentially says, "I swear to God, I don't know him, and if I'm lying, let God strike me dead." This really is the exact opposite of what Peter said he would do for Jesus. You see, this is what spiritual pride does to us. It blinds us from reality. It fogs our abilities to have an accurate assessment of ourselves. And it causes us to do and say things that are so backwards and so unthinkable.

The Scissor: The Pruning of Peter

You know, in Luke's Gospel, it tells us that at the same moment when the guards were moving Jesus through the courtyard, that was the same moment of Peter's third denial. And it says that after that third denial, the Lord turned and looked at Peter. So it wasn't just the sound of the rooster's crow that sobered Peter. It was the haunting eyes of Jesus that looked deep into the soul of Peter, the once confessor, now denier. And so this no doubt melted Peter's heart like wax and caused him to break down and weep. And it's this long look from Jesus that I believe began to cut Peter to his core.

Which brings us to the scissor, the pruning of Peter. Brothers, we know from God's Word, and many of us know from personal experience, that the Lord chastens the ones He loves. So, it's only fitting that Jesus would cut Peter both with His eyes and with His words. And we see this cutting with words so clearly in John's Gospel. But before we get to the cutting, I want to show you something that I think is both beautiful and helpful for us to see and to be reminded of. You know, in Mark's Gospel, after Peter's third denial, that really is the last we hear about Peter in Mark's Gospel. There's no other mention of Peter after this failing in Mark's Gospel except for this one tiny little thing. And to help you see it, let me just help establish some context here.

After the death of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and a few other women went to the tomb to care for the body of Jesus. But when they show up, they saw that the stone that covered the tomb was rolled away. And before they entered the tomb, they saw this angel. And in Mark 16:6-7, it tells us that the angel said to them:

“Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they put him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there just as he told you.’” — Mark 16:6-7 (CSB)

Now, did you catch that little tiny detail? The angel said, "Go tell the disciples and Peter." And this here, brothers, is the kindness of the Lord towards the failed minister Peter. Obviously, Peter was wrecked and wondered whether Jesus was willing to forgive him for this three-fold denial. So when the Lord gives the angel the specific directions to inform "the disciples and Peter," it is to initiate restoration with Peter. It is to tell Peter, "Though you failed me, though you denied me, you are still mine and I still love you."

You see, Jesus knew that Peter would have assumed that his denial called into question whether he was still a disciple. I mean, Peter saw what happened to Judas, so he was probably quite clear, "Man, I'm canceled. There's no way Jesus will receive me back." But Jesus had every intention to restore Peter. This here is the persistent love of Jesus that chases down Peter to restore him. You see, it wasn't just the haunting eyes of Jesus. It was Jesus hunting down Peter. Jesus comes after him. It is Jesus who in every way initiates the restoration. And what a great comfort that is for us, dear pastor. If you are His, He will come after you when you fall. Amen. And this is one of the greatest comforts we have as pastors, that though we fall over and over again, He will find us and He will fix us. But fixing, brothers, comes with an incredible pain of pruning.

And we see what that looks like in John chapter 21. Here after the death and resurrection of Jesus, you have this scene where Peter's out in a boat with a few other disciples fishing. They haven't been able to catch anything. And then this man appears on the shoreline, though they don't recognize him yet. And this man tells them, "Throw your net on the other side of the boat." So they do. Then suddenly Peter realizes the man on the shore calling us to throw our nets so that we could catch all this fish, that's Jesus. And he doesn't hesitate. You ever read this narrative and sense the drive in Peter? What does Peter do? He jumps out of the boat and he swims to Jesus. Just think about that for a second.

Peter's last encounter with Jesus was his denial. And now seeing his Lord on the shoreline, the resurrected Lord standing in the flesh, Peter can't wait. He rushes to Jesus in a desperate attempt to make things right. He swims over to Him. And let me just read this exchange for you in John 21:15-17. It's beautiful.

When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Feed my lambs,” he told him. A second time he asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Shepherd my sheep,” he told him. He asked him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved that he asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” “Feed my sheep,” Jesus said. — John 21:15-17 (CSB)

Now listen, as beautiful as this moment of restoration is, Jesus's aim here is to cut Peter with His words. You do understand that, right? A.W. Tozer says this: "It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He's hurt that man deeply." Here Jesus hurts Peter to help Peter. You can almost feel the pain in Peter's voice as he professes his love for Jesus the third time in this crescendo of affection: "Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you."

What is it about these specific questions that cuts Peter so deeply? Well, these questions cut to the soil of Peter's heart. They get to the heart of the problem: Peter's deep love of self. With each question, it snaps him back to the moment when he turned his back on Jesus and forced him to feel the sin of loving himself more than loving his Lord. And it crushes Peter. It convicts Peter, but it corrects Peter. And that's exactly what Peter needed. He needed Jesus to gently hold his heart and like a surgeon, cut out the cancer that was killing him and his future ministry. And when Peter says, "Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you," it's almost as if Peter is saying, "Lord, stop asking me these questions. It hurts too much to hear them. You have effectively excavated all of my misaligned loves. You've searched the deep and hidden compartments of my heart. You can see there are no more competing affections. You know that I love you."

You see, Peter needed Jesus to cut him deeply to realign his affections over and over and over again. That's why Jesus says to him, "Do you love me?" before He ever says, "Feed my sheep." Peter needed to understand that effective, powerful, zealous, fruitful Gospel ministry comes first and foremost from a deep and non-competing love for Jesus, not your giftedness. And here's the thing, loving Jesus "more than these," whatever "these" are for you, has a way of sandpapering off the prideful parts and the self-reliant parts of your hearts. It causes us to be courageous for the right reasons and for the right audience: our Lord Jesus. And I'm not entirely sure how all of that works, but I know from experience that it does work. Peter needed the pain of pruning before being launched back into public ministry. You hear that? So Jesus hurt Peter to help Peter.

Hope After the Good Hurt

And brothers, the question I have for you this evening is this: Have you experienced this kind of hurt from Jesus before? The good hurt. Have you felt the words of Jesus cut you to correct you? Or have you become so accustomed to correcting others with Jesus's words that you have failed to feel His words cut you? If that's you, pastor, you're in a very dangerous place. I have felt this cut in my life many times for the thousands of expressions of spiritual pride that have played out in my very public ministry. For all of my misguided pursuits for platform, God has been so kind to me to crush me, to keep me in loving dependence on Him.

And brothers, it's not lost on me that I'm saying this in a room filled with very faithful, wise, mature, and healthy pastors. And I know that there's probably some of you in this room tonight thinking to yourself, "Who do you think you are? Why would you preach this sermon to us?" I preach it to you tonight. I have seen firsthand the fall of a very gifted and self-confident pastor. A man who I think loved his public ministry of preaching more than he loved his Lord. And sadly, as far as I can tell, outside the divine rescuing work of God, I fear this man has suffered an irrecoverable fall. And I loved this man. Here's the thing: the piety that this man presented in his preaching was exactly what Edwards described: "Pride under the guise of humility itself."

And the thing is, if I knew then what I know now, I would place Peter before his eyes over and over and over again. Every chance I could get. So brothers, I put Peter before you and I put Peter before me this evening because there is hope after the good hurt. After the pruning of Peter's spiritual pride, after the reorienting of his love, after learning to love his own neediness, Peter not only recovers, but he thrives. On the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 4, thousands of people hear Peter preach and they're saved. That is powerful and courageous ministry for the right reason and for the right audience.

But listen to me carefully. It's not the powerful preaching or the number of converts that should capture our attention and provide us hope. No, listen instead to what Jesus says to Peter just after warning him that Satan wants to sift him like wheat. Luke chapter 22, Jesus says:

“Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” — Luke 22:31-32 (CSB)

Did you catch that? "When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." This is huge. Peter's rise, fall, and recovery from pride gives him both the ability and the relatability to strengthen and encourage brothers in the faith who are filled with spiritual pride. Peter's life lesson is an encouragement to pastors like you and me. In fact, in 1 Peter 5:6-10, Peter himself writes this small but powerful word of wisdom. He writes:

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world. The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while. — 1 Peter 5:6-10 (CSB)

Brothers, there is hope after the good hurt. This is why the Lord Jesus platformed Peter the way He did. This is why He allowed Peter's fall. And this is why He orchestrated this beautiful restoration. So that we might see it. So that we might follow the same path. So that we might live a life dedicated to loving Jesus. He alone is worthy of all of our affections. So we must pursue our ministries by gutting out all of our misaligned loves. Because if we don't love Jesus, we will not feed His sheep properly. Amen. Let's pray.

Our Father and our God, we thank you for your warning. We thank you that in Peter we not only see warning, but we see hope and restoration. You have a way of cutting us to correct us and to conform us. And so God, we pray that you would make us welcome the knife if it removes the cancer of spiritual pride. We need it, oh God, because without it, we will not be effective pastors, God. We ask that you would cut us with your words so that you can heal us. So that you could make us faithful to give your life-giving words to the people you have entrusted to our care. We pray these things in the name of our compassionate and mighty King Jesus. Amen.