Good morning. Happy Easter.
It's traditional on Easter morning to say a little refrain.
I say Jesus is risen and you say he is risen indeed.
So let's try this.
Jesus is risen.
That's pretty good. Pretty good.
Well done.
Welcome. My name is Chris.
If you are here for the first time, if you're here for the baptism,
you're just really, really welcome.
We're going to be having a great time down at the beach afterwards.
Make sure you come and join us.
You don't want to miss out on the fun.
So that means we're going to be a shorter service this morning,
which some of you will be pleased about.
And I'm going to try and do this in 15 minutes.
So you can time me if you want to.
But we just really want to look at this passage
and think a little bit about what Easter really means for us,
Resurrection Sunday.
So I don't know this week if you've been watching the news,
but it's been a great week for United Airlines.
Their CEO had just been announced by PR Week
as Communicator of the Year.
United Airlines' image and profits have been increasing.
And then there was that unfortunate incident
that happened during the week.
And their CEO was taken from praise to ridicule
in just a matter of minutes.
You know, he spent the last few days
trying to apologize to everybody
to try and cover the damage done to his reputation
and the reputation of the company.
Somebody once said,
it takes 20 years to build a reputation
and five minutes to ruin it, right?
And you don't have to be a CEO of a company
to realize that.
Because this story that we're going to look at today,
we're going to be looking at the Easter story
through the lens of Peter,
is very much a story of failure and resurrection.
Okay?
Failure and resurrection.
And we see in the story of the cross
the ultimate failure,
but the ultimate resurrection.
And as the kids showed us,
Jesus dying on the cross
to every one of his disciples
looked like the utter greatest failure
they could have been.
They couldn't have imagined that three days later
their whole lives would be changed and turned around.
And so this morning,
I'm not here to kind of prove to you
the literal resurrection of Jesus,
even though I think the evidence is strong
and that is something that we as a church
really believe.
But I want to show you the impact
that Jesus' resurrection and death
can have on you by looking through Peter.
Peter, who's a guy who,
like some of the big banks,
he thought he was too big to fail.
And so Simon Peter,
we're going to look at him,
he was a rough fisherman.
He's been hanging around with Jesus
for quite a while,
and he's gone through so much with him,
and you get to the night
where Jesus is about to be arrested and killed,
and Jesus says,
I'm going to die,
and you guys, my friends,
you're going to run away and leave me.
And Peter looks around at all the other guys
who are with him and says,
yeah, they may leave you,
but I'm not going to,
because you know I'm Peter,
and I know how to do this thing.
I'm the special one.
You see, even if they fall away,
I'm not going to,
because you've just got to know what I'm like.
And Jesus doesn't say,
well, thanks, mate.
At least I can count on you, Peter.
He says, Peter,
you don't know yourself.
You're going to deny me three times
before the rooster crows.
And Peter's in denial.
He says, no, Jesus,
don't underestimate me here.
He says, you're looking at Commando Pete here.
He says, I'll die with you.
You know, I'm tougher than a seal.
I'm more loyal than a Mac user.
He, some of you are Mac users out there.
But he's like many of us,
even as Christians,
we think we can make it ourselves.
Maybe just have a little bit of Jesus help,
a bit of religion on the way,
but actually basically, fundamentally,
I can rely on myself to get through life.
24 hours later,
Jesus is arrested.
Peter follows him into enemy territory.
The high priest's courtyard.
And there's a fire burning.
And Peter, great Peter, gets scared.
And a little servant girl comes up to him
and challenges him.
And in his fear, he denies Jesus.
Not just once, not just twice,
but three times.
To somebody who, in Peter's mind,
would have been the lowest of the low,
a little servant girl.
And big Peter can't even defend
and stand up for Jesus then.
The rooster crows.
And at that moment,
I can just imagine how Peter felt.
He's like,
what have I done?
How could I be so stupid?
You complete wombat, Peter.
Couldn't even stand up to a little servant girl.
And he breaks down
and he cries.
I don't know if any of you
have ever been there.
Like, anyone ever said things
which afterwards you think,
why on earth did I say that?
That was not going to get anywhere.
Or have you,
anyone ever wanted to be brave
and then found yourself a coward
in the heat of the moment?
Anyone ever got angry
when you wanted just to hold your tongue
and be patient?
Anyone like that?
Anyone like me like that?
You know,
maybe you'd even promised
that you'd diet or exercise
or read your Bible regularly
and suddenly,
you had so many great plans
and in the moment,
you failed.
Because you see,
this story is not just about Peter.
Every one of us is like Peter
because secretly,
we all live deep down
with a sense
that we're not fully
the person we should be.
And when we rely on ourselves,
it's a bit like trying to balance
an elephant on an egg.
Sooner or later,
you're going to crack.
And Bill Gates,
Microsoft,
we're getting Mac and Microsoft in here,
so it's okay for all of you.
Bill Gates said,
success is a lousy teacher.
It makes smart people
think they can't lose.
But failure is God's way
of putting a mirror before you,
showing you yourself,
showing you that you're weaker
than you thought you were.
You may be more sinful
than you realized.
You're more in need of mercy
and grace
than you could understand.
Failure is the gateway to reality,
the pathway to humility,
and the doorway to receiving grace.
You get that?
Failure is the gateway to reality,
the pathway to humility,
and the doorway to receiving grace.
When you see it.
You see,
what we need
in our failure,
in the things that we know
that we mess up in,
we need forgiveness for our guilt,
we need honor for our shame.
And I don't know how you try
and deal with things.
You know,
I do a number of different things
to deal with my guilt
and my shame
in different areas.
Sometimes it's denial.
It wasn't me.
Sometimes I just blame everybody else.
You know,
you started it.
But what Peter does here
is another thing that I do,
which is he goes into avoidance mode.
Really interesting.
When Peter's right
at the lowest point,
do you know what he does?
He goes off fishing.
You know why he goes fishing?
He goes fishing
because that's the one thing
he thinks he can do really well.
You know,
he's a good fisherman.
And so,
that's very much like many of us.
You know,
when you have failings
in your family life
or failings in your spiritual life
or failings in your relationships,
many of us then
run into our work
or run into our studies
to try and excel there,
to cover up,
to hide from the shame of failure
in other areas of our lives.
That's what Peter's doing.
And the thing is,
for Peter,
if Jesus died
but didn't resurrect,
then Peter was left by himself
to deal with all his guilt
and shame by himself.
He'd have to prove himself
by working hard,
trying to remove it,
hiding from it.
Because if there's no resurrection,
your sin against God
can never be forgiven.
Because it's just you
left by yourself
trying to make amends.
But the amazing thing
of Easter Sunday,
of Resurrection Sunday,
is that Jesus has risen.
He did rise.
On the cross,
he was shamed
and declared guilty
so that you
could be to go free.
You know,
guilt for a crime
has a punishment
and the punishment
for our unkindness
was death.
But Jesus took it
for you
and for me.
You see,
he gives you forgiveness
for your guilt,
which nobody else
can give you.
You can't remove it
by yourself.
You need to have forgiveness
from outside
and Jesus offers that.
But it's not just forgiveness
for your guilt,
it's also honour
for your shame.
Because you know,
you can be forgiven
by someone,
but the shame remains
because they just
don't quite trust you
again with anything.
Anyone been there?
But at that night,
really interesting,
Peter's going fishing.
Do you know what happens?
Peter can't even
catch a fish.
The one thing
he thought he was good at,
he can't even do that.
What a loser.
And then Jesus turns up
at Peter's lowest point
and do you know what?
He's by a fire
cooking fish,
which is really interesting
because Peter's
failed at fishing
and Jesus provides the fish.
Peter failed at faith
by a fire
and Jesus lights
another fire.
And the risen Jesus
comes to Peter,
puts his arm around him
and says,
hey, let's go for a chat,
shall we?
And you know,
I don't know if anyone
has ever done that with you,
but at that moment,
knowing what's happened to me,
I'd be thinking,
okay, what's the lecture
that's coming?
Okay.
What other words
you're going to give me now?
Okay.
You're going to tell me,
I told you so, Peter.
Is that what he's going to say?
Well,
he asks him three questions.
Three devastating questions.
He says,
Simon,
do you love me?
Ooh,
there's a bit of history
to that question.
Do you love me?
Now,
that kind of question
is the kind of question
like saying to your son
who's playing video games
all evening,
have you done your homework?
It's not asking for the answer,
it's exposing you,
right?
It's exposing you.
And Peter says,
you know that I love you.
And Jesus asks him again,
Peter,
do you love me?
And Peter replies the same.
And the third time
Jesus asks him,
Peter's grieved
because Jesus is exposing
the fact that Peter
actually wasn't as great
as he thought he was.
And Jesus brings him
to the point of confessing,
I want to follow you,
I want to love you,
but I'm weak.
There's no more
Mr. Big Guy Peter now.
He's like,
you know everything.
You know what's happened
over these last 24 hours.
You know what's happened.
You know everything.
You know the stuff I've done.
There's no hiding.
And you know,
that's an unpleasant place to be.
But Jesus says,
he says three times,
feed my sheep,
tend my sheep,
feed my lambs.
What he's saying
is Jesus saying,
okay,
you've seen my need of me
and now I can use you.
Now I can use you.
Because if you think
you can be okay with God
by trying hard,
by being good,
by helping grannies
across the road occasionally
just to make yourself
feel good about yourself,
Jesus knows everything.
He knows everything.
You know,
it's like a giant TV screen
plastered across the wall of heaven.
He's watching your every thought,
your every action,
your every word,
every time you interact
with your parents,
every time you interact
with your kids,
with your spouse,
with your colleagues,
what you actually think about them,
not what you really say to them.
It's all taped.
And at the end of time,
he'll play back that tape
on the screen
with the whole of heaven watching.
And I wonder how you'll feel
at that point.
I know how I'd feel.
I'd be going,
I hope this doesn't go onto Netflix.
because there's no hiding.
But in that shame of exposure,
the only way out of shame
is if someone with greater honor
gives you honor
to remove your shame.
You know,
if in your work
you make a mistake
and the boss shows your mistakes
in front of all your colleagues
and you feel about that big,
you can work really hard
to try and make up for the mistake,
to try and prove
that you're not as bad as that.
But nothing can actually
remove your shame
until your boss comes
and honors you
and praises you
in front of everybody else
and entrusts
the most valuable task to you.
Right?
Jesus doesn't just forgive Peter.
He entrusts him.
He honors him
by entrusting him
with the most important task
that he had,
which was the task
of looking after his followers,
his sheep.
You see,
what Peter feared from God,
from Jesus,
was rejection and condemnation.
What Jesus gave him
was forgiveness and honor.
In the resurrection,
in the resurrection,
Jesus is honored
as the victor over death,
as the name above
every other name,
the one before whom
every knee will bow
in the whole world.
God,
and yet that one
with great honor
comes to you
and comes to me
and says,
if you recognize your need,
like Peter,
say,
I can't rely on myself.
I need to turn to you.
He not only forgives your guilt,
he not only removes your shame,
and he honors you
and says,
now you're in the place
I can use you.
Now I can entrust you
with my mission.
The Bible says
he gives you a new name,
he gives you a new identity,
and he calls you his child.
And that's what the baptism
is going to be about.
That's what baptism is about,
people with a new identity
and a new name.
So let me just finish
with asking a couple of questions.
words,
where does your honor come from?
Where does your honor come from?
Does it come from your job?
From your achievements?
From what other people
think about you?
Because if it's anything
other than a risen Jesus
who is honored,
sooner or later,
in five minutes,
your honor could be destroyed
by one foolish action
that you do.
And you'll be left
trying to prove yourself
again and again.
But the amazing message
of Easter
is that Jesus
not only died
for your sin,
he rose again
to give you
a new hope,
a new future,
and your failure
is the beginning
of victory.
If you face it honestly,
if you turn to Christ
and say,
I need you.
Forgive me.
And receive grace
in your time of need.
Many people say
that Christianity
is a crutch.
It's true.
Christianity is a crutch.
But if you've got
a broken leg,
having a crutch
is a pretty good idea.
The problem is
if you have a broken leg
and say,
I don't need a crutch,
you're going to have
to lean on something
and you're going to look
pretty stupid
just hopping around
everywhere by yourself.
Because you're not going
to be able to get on
in life.
Because guilt
and shame
will hold you.
But the celebration
of Easter
is no guilt,
no shame.
There is a resurrected Lord
who honors us.
And when you come
and see your utter need
of him,
he says,
I'm going to use you.
Your failure
is not defeat.
I will turn it
into victory.
I am the one
who is risen.
Let me pray.
Father,
I pray for those
of us here
who don't know you.
Who don't know
how amazing it is
to be honored
and given
a new identity,
a new start
with you.
I pray that they
would see
that relying
on ourselves
really
is just
such an empty
way to live.
I pray for those
of us
who are Christians.
So often
we think
we have to be
so strong
to try
and do everything
by ourselves
and we forget
that you
work in our weakness.
I pray
that you'd help
us to see
the beauty
of your honor,
to see
that a resurrected
Jesus
has the power
to change
all of our
failures
into joy
and into
new life.
Lord,
thank you
that you took
Peter from
the pit
and you then
used him
so powerfully
and he knew
that it was
nothing to do
with himself.
Help us
to be people
who realize
that you want
to use us
and it's not
to do with
how great
we are
but it's
how great
our risen
saviour is.
In Jesus'
name.
Amen.