Beware of bragging or of singing which brags of your devotion or obedience; do we really know our own hearts? Each time he answered, Peter said "You know." NOW he knows that he doesn't know, but that God DOES know his heart. Might God allow us to likewise fall on our faces so that we might learn what we are really like? If this happens to you, is it the end of the world? Because of his life before he believed, how did Paul feel about himself, I Cor. 15:9, I Tim. 1:15? So can God even take the worst thing you've done and bring some good out of it by humbling you? Is it good that we know how sinful we really are? If we have never fallen badly, we may be tempted to look at others who fall and say, "I'd never do that!" or "If they were REALLY a Christian they wouldn't have done that." This is pride; how does God feel about pride? Prov. 8:13, 16:5, James 4:6.
Peter later exhorts elders in the church to shepherd the flock of God, I Pet. 5:1-5. Identifying himself as their fellow elder, could Peter have been the first pope as the Catholics believe? Here we see the role of the leaders in the church; exercising oversight (Strong's: oversee, beware, look diligently). This does not indicate the idea of authority. Not "lording it over" again stresses not exercising dominion or authority over people. I Tim. 5:17 speaks of "elders who rule well"; rule, according to Strong's, has the idea to be in charge, to manage, to lead.
18-19 What does 19 say about Peter's death? I wonder what Jesus emphasized, if that last statement was "FOLLOW me!" or "follow ME!" How do you think Peter felt when Jesus predicted his death, then gave that command? Dread? Or excitement that Jesus would let him serve Him in spite of his previous failure? Willingness to die in serving Him to make up for his previous failure, and after seeing and understanding how Jesus died for him?
20-23 Typically, Peter just can't keep his mouth shut; he immediately follows up this heavy-duty conversation with another "blurt," as he often does. This time Jesus chides him, in effect telling him, "that's none of YOUR business, YOU worry about doing what I just told YOU!" Is God's plan the same for every believer? Can we know that God will do in someone else's life the same thing He did for you? I have had people tell me this with certainty. We can get side-tracked trying to figure out God's will about things He has NOT told us, and end up ignoring what He HAS told us about His will.
Do you think Peter continued to have a problem with his mouth, being too quick to speak, blurting, saying inappropriate things, even after he was filled with the Spirit? When we become believers, do our personality flaws instantly disappear? But might they get better and gradually disappear over time? How does this happen? Does this happen with ALL believers? Why or why not? Does God use people with flaws and sins? Will God answer all our questions? Is it His will that we understand everything? Sometimes we don't seem to get answers, but maybe God wants us to keep digging and thinking and eventually we discover the answer.
How did the falsehood about John get started? What happens when we repeat things with slightly different wording? Might this happen innocently OR purposefully? Might we add a certain tone of voice or facial expression to add our opinion to the information we are passing along, which may tend to flavor that information? Is it wrong to share or pass on information about others, or to inquire about others? At what point does this become gossip? What IS gossip? In talking about the problem of gossip in the church, the Bible mentions two types: 1)an idle busybody, a tattler, a meddler, overseeing others' affairs, busy in other people's affairs, to talk at length and to little purpose, chatter foolishly and without real understanding, speak boastingly and maliciously; and 2)a malicious gossip, a false accuser, a slanderer. The Bible speaks against both types of gossip. How can we share information without falling into either of these traps?
24 Does the Bible contain errors? How do we know? In many places the Bible claims to be true, to be inspired by God, even though written by men. Ps. 119:160, Heb. 6:18. If it is not all true, how can we know what parts ARE true? If it is not all true, but yet it claims to be true, is it a good or trustworthy book, or even a book worth studying?
25 Did John or the other writers attempt to record everything Jesus said and did? Were we given every detail about the events that are recorded? Why did they record the parts they did? Was anything left out that was important for us to know? Although penned by over 40 men, who is the author of the Bible? Zech. 7:12, II Tim. 3:16, Heb. 3:7-8, I Pet. 1:10-11, II Pet. 1:21.
Copyright 2006 Jan Young