Faith Under Pressure

by maywoodspiritualfriends

The Scripture passage corresponding to today’s YouTube video is quite long. Below, it is summarized in bullet points to make it easier to study.

Matthew 26:69-75

  • Peter sits outside in the courtyard.
  • A female servant identifies Peter as a follower of Jesus.
  • Peter denies knowing Jesus.
  • Another female servant identifies Peter again.
  • Peter denies knowing Jesus a second time, with an oath.
  • Bystanders recognize Peter’s accent and accuse him of being a follower of Jesus.
  • Peter denies knowing Jesus a third time, cursing and swearing.
  • The cock crows, and Peter remembers Jesus’s prophecy about his denials.
  • Peter goes out and weeps bitterly.

The disciples most mentioned in Matthew’s Gospel are Peter and Judas. Both of them are considered in today’s scripture reading.

The way the Bible paints its heroes reveals its reliability as a truthful account of the events. Ancient literature never treated their heroes with such honesty and transparency as does the Bible.

Jesus predicted that Peter would deny him three times. In the first two instances, Peter denied Jesus to a woman, and the third was to a crowd.

After that, he went out and wept bitterly, realizing he had failed his best friend and Savior.

Rudy Ross and I discuss in today’s YouTube video our fears of betraying denying the Lord under intense stress. It’s worth considering how we might behave in such a situation.

Let’s remember that Jesus gives us a prayer: “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6.13).

God will never tempt us to sin or turn our back on Him. However, He acknowledges our frailness and our inability to remain faithful. Thus, we pray: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Matthew 27:1-10

  • The chief priests and elders conspire against Jesus to bring about his death.
  • Jesus is bound and handed over to Pilate the governor.
  • Judas, seeing Jesus condemned, repents and returns the thirty pieces of silver.
  • Judas admits to sinning by betraying innocent blood.
  • The chief priests and elders dismiss Judas’s guilt and responsibility.
  • Judas throws the silver in the temple and hangs himself.
  • The chief priests use the silver to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.
  • The field is called the Field of Blood.
  • This fulfills the prophecy of Jeremiah about the thirty pieces of silver and the potter’s field.

The arrest and trial of Jesus present a series of contrasts. The disciples run for their lives. Peter denies Jesus. Judas betrays him.

When Peter recognizes what he has done, he repents with deep sorrow. When Judas realizes what he has done, he repents but takes his own life. Apparently, Judas’s sorrow did not lead him to Christ, but rather to despair.

The religious authorities present another contrast in the story. Religious individuals are supposed to be dedicated to God, not to self-interest and earthly power.

Unfortunately, power and spiritual pride are very deceptive motivations. Many religious leaders over the centuries have been found to be unfaithful to God because they were captured by self-interest, power, and pride.

The Power of Prayer

We’ve already taken a brief look at Jesus’s instruction in the Lord’s Prayer about asking God to deliver us from the influence of evil and our own inability to remain faithful to Him.

Let’s recall that Jesus told the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane how to stay faithful to Him rather than fail in our faithfulness and loyalty to him.

“Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26.41).

Bill Bright was the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. Dr. Bright talked about spiritual breathing, and his thoughts are instructive about prayer and our dependence on the Lord.

Bright said we don’t just take one big breath on Sunday and hold it throughout the week; rather, we pray in and out all the time every day.

If we approach our connection with God through prayer like spiritual breathing, we will come closer to being protected from the temptations of self-interest, power, and pride.

YouTube Discussion

Rudy Ross and I discussed this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.

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