THE EXPERIENCE OF PETER

David Wright

John 21: 1-17; 1 Peter 5: 1-7; 2 Peter 1: 12-18

Peter was one who was sovereignly taken up by the Lord; he was “first … Peter”, Matt 10: 2. The experiences of Peter with the Lord in the gospels are recorded for our education. It is not to expose Peter, but for us to learn from his experiences. I think Mr. Taylor used an expression in relation to him that God had invested much in the way of overheads in Peter. I think what he meant by that was that there were times when Peter was adjusted but it was to make him fit for the Lord’s service in the launching of this dispensation in which we are, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter took the lead in the Acts, and there was much power in his ministry and discernment. He was able to discern the deception of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, and he was able to rebuke Simon in Acts 8 for thinking that he could have part in the laying on of hands, and receiving the gift of the Spirit for money. Peter had discernment in relation to those things, and he acted accordingly.

Where we read in John 21, we see Peter receiving his commission, and we also see another set of circumstances in which he was adjusted. Peter was sovereignly taken up to lead the saints, and I read the accounts in the epistles because I believe that in them we see the fruit of his exercises and of his adjustment by the Lord. Peter, looking back on this experience, would have remembered at first-hand the knowledge of the Lord Jesus in His service of love to him; he would have seen the perfect One who was the Leader and the One who was the Shepherd. The first thing in this chapter is that Peter said, “I go to fish” and others followed him. I think through the experience that he had here, he would have been adjusted in relation to leadership. Leadership among the saints of God cannot be carried out on partisan lines. They went, and there was no fruit in the expedition at all – they caught nothing. Peter went off on an independent line, and there was nothing for God in it. Then in the early morning, “Jesus stood on the shore; the disciples however did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore says to them, Children, having ye anything to eat? They answered him, No”. I think that was a humbling experience for them. The Lord had served them in love many times before, but now he says “Have ye anything to eat?” and they had to say “No”. The reason for that was that Peter had gone off on an independent line.

However, we see the service of grace, of the true Shepherd, in this chapter. Peter speaks feelingly in his epistle of returning “to the shepherd and overseer of your souls”, 1 Peter 2: 25. The Lord did not immediately rebuke Peter, but He said “Cast the net at the right side of the ship”. Peter was now acting under the direction of the Lord, and there was immediate fruit from it – a hundred and fifty three great fishes. A great number, but it was possible to number them. There was distinction about each one of them, there was quality there, maybe relating to the crowd of names in the upper room in Acts 1. John has in mind quality in his gospel. So under the Lord’s own touch, there is fruit, a hundred and fifty three great fishes. John recognises the Lord, and then Peter recognising the Lord, casts himself into the sea, and they dragged the net full of fishes to the land, and “When therefore they went out on to the land, they see a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it”. Who supplied that, dear brethren? The Lord himself provided that, in grace. He says, “Bring of the fishes”, but He brings in food. If the saints are to be built up in the most holy faith, in whatever circumstances may prevail, it is important to bring in food to build up the spiritual constitution. The Lord says, “Come and dine” – what grace! There is still no word of rebuke, but there was that which had been provided by the Lord Himself, secured under His own direction, and there was food to meet the situation for the moment.

Now after that experience, the Lord Jesus addresses Peter. He says to him, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He says to him, Yea Lord; thou knowest that I am attached to thee. He says to him, Feed my lambs”. Peter has gained first-hand knowledge of the way the Lord did things Himself, the way He brought in food. So it is interesting to see in relation to Peter’s commission, it is feeding the lambs, feeding the sheep, and shepherding the sheep. The Lord probes Peter three times in relation to his love for Himself. I think another thing that Peter would realise is that he could not rightly serve the saints unless the motive was affection for Christ. Notice the little word “my” here – “Feed my lambs”, “Shepherd my sheep”, “Feed my sheep”. They belong to the Lord. They were not Peter’s. The Lord would say, ‘they are mine’. I think Peter would understand that they were precious to the Lord, and they became precious to ‘Peter. It is interesting that he is not told to shepherd the lambs; I suppose that a lamb instinctively keeps near its mother. But sometimes those of us who are older need shepherding in this way. This was an experience of Peter which more fully fitted him for the service which was before him.

I thought that in the first epistle, Peter had learnt experimentally at first-hand under the Lord, and he was reflecting that, in his service of shepherding the saints, in the character of it. One thing that a shepherd will never ever contemplate is the scattering of the sheep. Peter addresses the elders here, but he does not address them as an apostle, he addresses them as a fellow-elder. That is, he would take his place alongside them. They would enter feelingly in relation to what he was saying. “I exhort, who am their fellow-elder and witness of the sufferings of the Christ, who also am partaker of the glory about to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God”. Peter would remember the word of the Lord, “Shepherd my sheep”. He says to the elders here, it is the flock of God, it is not your flock, it belongs to God. Let us get some sense, beloved brethren, of the preciousness of what there is for God in the saints. He values them. There has never been a time when this character of shepherding is more needed. I feel that for myself. And the brethren will pardon me for being practical, but I feel that we know the truth so well but sometimes I feel that I am found wanting in the practice of it, and in doing things in the way in which the Lord would do things. He says, “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising oversight, not by necessity, but willingly; not for base gain but readily”. That would bring out that the source and motive of it was love – love for Christ and love for the sheep. The elders were not to set themselves above the flock, or to look down on them, or to speak down to them. The elders would be drawing alongside, in order that the sheep might be shepherded in relation to the will of God for them for the moment, that they might have their part effectively in the testimony. Peter says, “not as lording it over your possessions, but being models for the flock”. There is a certain moral authority in one who is a model. Peter speaks in his epistle of the Lord as a Model for us in suffering, and we are to follow in His steps. The Lord is a Model for us in shepherding. So such persons as these elders would set out the features of Christ, and thus there is moral power in what they are able to do. That is, the thing is set out in themselves, and it carries moral authority – “Ye shall receive the unfading crown of glory”.

In the next section, there is a word for the younger ones, “Likewise ye younger, be subject to the elder”. It is a good thing – I have found for myself – to draw alongside older ones who have been in the testimony many years, to get the gain of their experience. There are many, in a generation fast passing off the scene, who knew what it was to sit under the ministry of Mr Taylor, which I have not known, and it is good to get the gain of their experiences and exercises. I was speaking to a brother the other day, about the reality of the exercises passed through in relation to the ministry about the worship of the Holy Spirit. I commented to him that I was glad to get the gain of his experience in that way, and he said that as a younger man, he had always tried to draw on the experience of the saints who had gone through the exercise of the Eternal Sonship question. These are very real things, beloved brethren. There is a wealth of experience among those who have been in the path for longer than ourselves. Paul could speak about those who were in Christ before him, and the respect that he had for them. Let us retain respect therefore for the elder saints who have had real experience with God, and who can help us to get the gain of it.

And then there is a word for all of us: “all of you bind on humility towards one another”. Now that is young and old. It does not come to me naturally. Beloved brethren, I speak feelingly: how many local eruptions would there be if we were in the gain of this verse, “all of you bind on humility towards one another”? It is not something to be put on for a special occasion, but it is something that is to be characteristic at all times. It was a feature of Christ Himself of course, One who humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death (see Phil 2: 8), and that the death of the cross. He did not need to be humbled, He humbled Himself. We, because of what we are, often need to be humbled. The thing is to accept it under the mighty hand of God, so that we can be maintained in this attitude towards one another.

This all has to do with the service of shepherding I believe, so that it is carried out in this character. It is not for self-aggrandisement, but the Lord was One who was among them as One who served in all lowliness. It says that, “God sets himself against the proud”; what a definite statement that is, “God sets himself against the proud, but to the humble gives grace”. There is recompense in that. He gives us grace in whatever circumstances we may find ourselves. So Peter says, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the due time”. That is a principle with God. Who humbled Himself like the Lord Jesus did? Yet He has been given “a name, that which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow”, Phil 2: 9,10. He has been exalted on high, and has ascended up through the heavens, and His glory has filled every heaven through which He has passed. Such is the greatness of the Man of God’s choice, He stands out in His distinction, and He stands out as a Model to us in everything.

“Having cast all your care upon him, for he cares about you”. That we can know One who cares about us makes us restful. Each of us here should be conscious that the Lord cares about us, that we have known something first-hand of the shepherd service of Christ to us. I can say that I have experienced the shepherd service of Christ through brothers who I regard as fathers, and I respect them for that. Certain adjustments have been brought in; I can remember preaching as a younger man, and afterwards there was just a fatherly touch of adjustment, and that has become a strongpoint in my heart in relation to the truth of what they said. So there is One who cares about us. May we be conscious of that, and be restful in relation to it.

In the second epistle, I thought we saw the service of Peter in feeding the sheep. He is about to put off his earthly tabernacle, he is about to pass off the scene, and he says, I want to stir you up. “Wherefore I will be careful to put you always in mind of these things, although knowing them and established in the present truth”. The present truth I suppose, would have included the ministry of Paul. “But I account it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance”. Now, there is nothing to stir up the hearts of the saints more than the presentation of Christ Himself. It is only Christ that can touch a chord in our hearts; his own unique touch. In John 21, they did not ask who He was, they knew who He was. It was His own unique touch, beloved brethren, and it is only that which is able to stir us. Peter, in his service of feeding the sheep, knew that. So he says, ‘I am going to pass off the scene, but there is something I want to leave with you, that you can refer to at any time, in the canon of scripture’, and we can call upon it today, where we are in Grangemouth, we can call upon this scripture for the edification and upbuilding of the most holy faith of the saints.

There is a challenge too as to what I could leave among the saints in the way of an impression of Christ through my own experience, which is what Peter did here. He was going to leave it to bear fruit in the saints, in whatever circumstances they might pass through. It was in relation to his experience on the holy mountain, the mount of transfiguration. It is not called the holy mountain in the gospel, but Peter calls it the holy mountain here, because he could look back on it and see that that place was where the presence of God had been known, it was a holy mountain. It was an impression that had matured with him through his life. The negative experiences in the gospel are all left out here; the three tabernacles are not referred to. He says, I want to draw attention to the One who is beyond any other. I want to draw attention to the greatness of the One who is the Man of God’s choice. So the voice was uttered from the excellent glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matt 3: 17. As passing off the scene, Peter would say, I would leave this impression with you, that there is no one who is to be compared to the Lord Jesus. What rich impressions of Christ he would leave. There is nothing other than the presentation of Christ which will stir the affections of the saints. It is something that we should be exercised about in the last days, that we are drawn increasingly to and attracted to the Person of the Lord Jesus. He is our bond. We have spoken earlier of the Christian circle, but it is not what is social in the Christian circle that holds us; it is the fact that Christ is the centre, and that we have come to know Him and to love Him, and are drawn to Him. Therefore he is the Truth, He is the bond, and He is what will hold us. Peter says, I am presenting that Man to you. He is carrying out the service of feeding the sheep. He has shepherded the sheep, and now he feeds them. He was adjusted in John 21 in relation to how that service was to be carried out.

Well, beloved brethren, I feel tested by these things, but they are practical, they are real. We need to work towards them, to the end that the enemy’s efforts at the present time to destroy any sense of the representation of the assembly might fail, that we might be held together through Christ being the centre, and that we might have love and respect for what He has among the saints. They are His, they are not ours; they are His and if we serve them at all, it must be out of affection for Christ and affection for one another.

May God bless the word to us.

GRANGEMOUTH

8 March 2003