Unfinished: Peter's Story | Called

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How many, let me hear you. How many of you guys have been watching the World Cup?

All right. Welcome to America. Welcome to America. I've watched a few full games, but I've watched a lot more of the extended highlights, which is amazing. Like you can watch all the best parts of the game without any of the lame parts of the game.

And you know what happened, right? It's pretty great. But something that sticks out to me as I watch these soccer games and is that the announcers the entire time are just talking about a handful of these guys out on the field. It's always the same ones. It's the really important players like Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane, Messi.

Even if you don't know soccer, you've heard of Lionel Messi, all the conversations around these guys, which makes sense. These are the guys that do all the really important things in the game, right? And every time they do something impressive, the announcer will always say something. And that's why he's one of the most wonderful people that has ever walked the face of the planet and played this game, you know? Right.

It's one of those things. And YouTube is filled with highlight reels of these guys. Just 20 minutes with hundreds of millions of views of them doing seemingly impossible things with a soccer ball. Shot after shot, amazing passes, headers going in. It's just incredible.

But what if instead of 20 minutes of highlight reels for these guys, they had 20 minute low light reels for these guys? Like all the times they did something really dumb, all the times they tripped over their own feet, all the times their pass was an ugly pass or the ball didn't go in the net, or all of the things that they messed up on and let their team down. Truth is, there's way more video footage of that stuff than there is of the highlight reels. Right? At the last World cup in 22, Lionel Messi led Argentina to the championship and he won the award for the tournament's most valuable player.

And he scored seven goals in the tournament. It was one of the defining performances of his career. But for those seven goals, Messi took 32 shots. Only seven went in. 25 didn't go in.

That means that during one of the greatest performances by one of the greatest players to ever play the game, nearly 8 out of 10 of his shots didn't go in. But we remember the seven because we watched the highlight reel. But a great moment doesn't tell the whole story, does it? And if we go beyond the soccer field, what if we had highlight reels for the rest of their lives, like their marriage reel, their parenting reel? What would their character reel look like?

What would we see in the moments when there are no cameras and no crowds and no soccer ball and no one's watching? What would we see when they're tired or angry or selfish or insecure or afraid? Recently, my son said something in a moment of frustration. He looked at me and he said, everyone at church acts like you're so perfect and great, but you're not.

He's right. He's right. You get the prepared version. You get the prayed over version. You get the version I wrote and rewrote and rewrote until it was exactly what I wanted you to hear.

My family gets the raw footage. They see the impatience or the frustration or the bad attitude. The times I overreact. They see the times that I spoke harshly and wish with everything in me that I could just put it back in, but it's too late.

What you see on Sunday is real. It's just not. All that's real. And all of us are living some version of that, aren't we? The low light reel plays in our heads while the highlight reel is the one that we project in the places that matter most to us.

Because we know how to smile. We know how to give the right answer. We know how to post the good picture on our good side on a good day. We know how to tell the good story. We know how to show people the parts of our lives that we cleaned up.

But when we look in the mirror, or our son says that thing to us that stings but is true, or we lose our temper again, or we go back to that same thing we promised we were done with, we convince ourselves that we're a fraud, that if people knew the real us, they would reject us. Or you fill in the blank with your greatest social fear. And because we view ourselves and others like this, we begin to view God like this, too.

That he must see us the same way we see ourselves. We convince ourselves that we can control the footage God sees, that if we keep the Low lights, hidden. Show him enough of the good stuff. Maybe he'll only see the highlight reel. So we bring him all the highlights.

Our church attendance, our prayers, our good decisions, our acts of service, the moments we got right. We try to edit the footage with the creator of the universe to put things in our favor, only showing part of the truth. And we imagine God standing to applaud. When we get it right, maybe we could tip the scale, earn his affection, save ourselves.

Well, over the next four weeks, we're going to look at the life of a guy named Peter. Peter is one of Jesus closest friends. And when we look at his highlight reel, it's pretty impressive. He's the guy who leaves everything, walks away from his job and livelihood just to follow Jesus. That's how much faith he has.

He's the guy that performs miracles. He walks on water. He got a personal VIP backstage pass to the Transfiguration. He's the guy who looks at Jesus and says, you're the Messiah. And Jesus says, nailed it.

He's the guy who becomes one of the central leaders of the early church. He's the guy who stands up on the day of Pentecost, speaks in a language he's never learned before, preaches the Gospel, and over 3,000 people are baptized that day. That's a pretty incredible highlight reel. But Peter's lowlight reel, it's even more impressive. He's the guy who speaks before he thinks.

He's the guy who tells Jesus how things ought to be and gets rebuked for it. Remember what Jesus said to him? Not a highlight moment. Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. That's a bad day.

He's the guy who really struggled with the fear of man. He's the guy who steps out of the boat and it looks kind of awesome. And then he looks at the wind and the waves and panics and he sinks. He's the guy who falls asleep when Jesus asks him to pray. He's the guy that responds in violence.

And Jesus rebukes him again. He's the guy that says, even if everyone else leaves you, I never will. And then a few hours later, he denies him three times. He's bold in one moment, terrified in the next, faithful. And then he's foolish and courageous.

Then cowardly. He gets it right. And then almost immediately, he gets it wrong. Peter's life is one long series of overcorrections. And what I love about the Bible is the Bible doesn't hide any of that.

It doesn't clean his story up. God doesn't protect Peter's image or his brand. He doesn't edit out the embarrassing parts. He gives us the whole reality. Peter's story isn't a story of a guy who had it all together.

It's the story of a guy who, through highlights and low lights, Jesus patiently kept working on. Because Jesus saw him not as unqualified, just unfinished.

Before we dig in, let's pray.

Father, I thank youk for Peter's story because it reminds us that he was human, just like us.

I pray that yout would encourage us through youh Word today to see us, to see ourselves as yous see us, just unfinished. Thank you that you're still working on us. Help us to be honest with ourselves, to stop hiding what's true and step into your grace. Teach us through your Word now, Lord. In Jesus name.

Amen. Well, Peter was a fisherman by trade. He was a Jewish guy, grew up in Galilee. He would have grown up hearing the Scriptures, attending synagogue, observing the feasts and learning the story of Israel, just like any young Jew. Peter wasn't anyone notable.

He didn't go to seminary, he didn't plan on becoming a pastor. He was just a blue collar guy who made his living with his hands hauling wet nets, handling fish, working long nights on the Sea of Galilee. We know from the Bible that he was married, that he had a bit of a crowded house, living with his wife, his brother and his mother in law. And by the time we meet Peter, his life already seems to have some trajectory, some direction. He's not waiting around for something spectacular to happen.

He's doing what ordinary people do. He's going to work every day and trying to make things work out, providing for his family, building a life. And we first meet him in John 1 and we find out his original name isn't Peter. His birth name was Simon. So Simon's brother is Andrew.

And Andrew becomes a disciple of a guy named John the Baptist. John the Baptist is Jesus cousin. One day Andrew is with John and Jesus walks by and John points at Jesus and says, look, the Lamb of God. That's the Messiah. Well, Andrew gets all fanboy, he gets super excited and he runs off to introduce himself to Jesus.

And after hanging out with Jesus for a day, he is convinced he's the Messiah and he has to go tell his brother. So we read in John 1:41, the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him we have found the Messiah, that is the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, son of John, you will be called Cephas, which when translated is Peter. So is it Peter or Cephas?

Well, Cephas is the Aramaic equivalent to the Greek name Peter. Both of them mean the same thing. Rock. Now, I don't know if you've ever met someone for the first time and the very first sentence out of their mouth was to give you a nickname, but this is a pretty bold social move for Jesus, I think. Just imagine how this may have caught Simon off guard.

Hey, I'm Jesus. What's your name? Simon. Ah, you look more like a Rocky to me. We'll just stick with that.

The next time we see Peter and Jesus interact, Jesus is at Peter's house. Peter's mother in law is sick. We looked at this story when we looked at the book of Mark and Jesus just goes in the other room and grabs her hand and tells her to get up. And she is with, well, and she starts serving the guests. That's pretty awesome day right now.

If I'm Peter, I'm starting to get pretty intrigued by Jesus at this point. My brother's convinced he's the Messiah. Maybe. I'm not sure if he healed mom or gave her a really great pep talk in the other room, but either way, this guy's interesting. I want to know some more.

And so we don't know all that happens between these moments, but the next time we see Peter with Jesus, this is the scene that I want us to spend the rest of our time on today. It's a pivotal moment in Peter's life. This is the day that everything changes for Peter. We pick up in Luke 5, verse 1. One day as Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God.

Luke calls it the Lake of Gennesaret. We know it better as the the Sea of Galilee. It's the same lake. It just depends on which region you're from, what the nickname for this lake is. This is Simon's workplace.

This is the waters that he fishes every night. Verse 2. He Jesus saw at the water's edge two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

So it's probably early morning. Peter and the other fishermen have been out late working all night. We find out here in just a minute they've caught nothing. Now they're back on shore, exhausted, probably frustrated, disappointed. They're cleaning and repairing their nets before putting everything away for the day to probably go home and sleep.

And there, nearby, there's a crowd of people listening to Jesus preach and teach. And the crowd is growing. And Jesus steps into Peter's boat so that with the water and the slope of the land and the lake, it makes like a natural amphitheater to push the boat out on the water and everyone can hear him. Verse 4. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.

Now imagine Peter's been half listening, half working as he cleans up after what felt like a wasted shift on the water. It's fine, I guess, if Jesus wants to use the boat. I mean, he's a nice guy. I probably owe him one for healing my mother in law.

But now he wants me. He wants to tell me how to do my job. Now I'd be thinking, that's cute, Pastor, you clearly don't, you don't know how this works. You don't fish in the daytime, you fish at night. Because I'm a fisherman and I know.

But Peter answers them in a pretty interesting way. Verse 5, he says, Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything, but because you say so, I will let down the nets. Now, I'm going to read between the lines a little bit here. I can't say this with complete confidence, but one thing that we know about Peter from the rest of scripture is he never sugarcoats what comes out of his mouth. And almost always his mouth starts moving long before his brain has caught up.

And this word for master, it's not a formal word, it's like boss. I think Peter has a little tone here, something like, okay, boss, listen, you're a great teacher, I respect you, but. But I've spent my whole life fishing these waters. You know, preaching, I know fishing. And we've already been out here all night and haven't caught anything.

But just to show that you have no idea what you're talking about, boss man, I'll go ahead and do this thing again. I can't confirm this, but I, I imagine this is Pete's way of things. So Verse six, When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. And this is the moment that everything breaks through for Peter, let's look at his response.

Verse 8. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus knees and said, go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man. For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid.

From now on you will fish for people. So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. Now Peter's response is really interesting. Here it isn't. Holy cow, Jesus, you've been holding out on us.

You knew how to fish this whole time. How did you do that? Did you see a ripple in the water? Did you like chum or something? What did you?

You gotta let me in on your secrets. That's not what he did. Peter immediately recognizes that Jesus has done something impossible. And this, combined with the healing of his mother in law, combined with what Andrew said, combined with Jesus teaching, Peter now really believes Jesus is the Messiah. And just like every other time in all of scripture where it's recorded that a person comes into the presence of the holy God, Peter's response is deep fear and humility.

When the prophet Isaiah sees the Lord high and lifted up, it says, he says, woe to me, I am ruined. I'm a man of unclean lips. When Job finally encounters God, he says, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. When Ezekiel sees the glory of God, he falls face down. When John comes face to face with the risen Jesus in the vision that he writes in Revelation, he falls at his feet, it says, as though dead.

Peter responds in the same way. He falls at Jesus feet and says, go away from me, I am a sinful man. He basically says, a guy like me isn't even worthy to look you in the eye. And Jesus, if you knew who I really was, you wouldn't stick around. But notice Jesus response, don't be afraid.

I know, I've seen the footage.

But that thing I just did with the fish, imagine what I could do with you. Let's go. And all at once, Peter goes from self conscious to Jesus conscious. And this changes everything. When he does, the nets, the boat, even the biggest catch of his lifetime, all of it doesn't matter anymore.

We read he left everything behind. See, Jesus knew exactly who Peter was. He knew his past, his sins, his weakness, his thoughtless behavior. He knew also that for the rest of Peter's life he will struggle with all of the same things again and again and again. That he will be a guy who constantly overcorrects.

He comes off the one side of the road until he hits the rumble strip and he jerks the wheel back the other way until he gets to the other side of the road and hits the rumble strip again. And he goes back and forth and back and forth. Jesus knows that Peter is unprepared and unkempt and unworthy and unable. But most importantly, Jesus sees him as unfinished. So what do we learn from Peter?

Peter? I think the first thing is that Jesus isn't asking for our highlight reel. He already knows. He's seen the raw footage. He knows what happened when no one else was watching.

He knows the thing you keep replaying in your head. He knows the words you wish you could take back. He knows. He knows the habits you keep returning to. He knows the fear and anxiety that swallow you up daily, the insecurity that you have convinced yourself that you've figured out how to hide.

He knows the real you. And he's not surprised. And he doesn't even flinch. When Peter sees Jesus for who Jesus is, he says, get away from me. And Jesus, knowing who Peter is all along, says, come with me.

That's the gospel. Jesus calls Peter while he's still impulsive and insecure and overconfident and says dumb things and is fearful and really rough on the edges. Jesus calls Peter, knowing, in fact, that the worst moments of his lowlight reel haven't even happened yet. And knowing all of this, Jesus still says, let's go. Because Jesus sees incredible potential in Peter.

He's not unusable. He's just unfinished. You know, there's a huge difference between being finished and being unfinished. When things are unfinished, we can apologize for them and say they're just not done yet. Finished means there's nothing left to do, nothing to change.

The story's over. Unfinished means the work's still happening. Unfinished means the last chapter hasn't been written yet. Unfinished means what's true about you today does not have to be the final truth about you. So over the next four weeks, we're going to walk with Jesus and Peter and see Jesus patiently work with an unfinished man.

Going to see Peter step out of a boat with incredible faith and sink. We're going to see him deny Jesus three times. But then we're going to see this incredibly beautiful and tender moment with Peter and the risen Jesus on a shoreline in the wreckage of Peter's greatest failure. And we're going to watch Jesus restore him again and again and again. Peter's lowlight reel is going to tell him that he's done.

And again and again, Jesus will still show him that he's unfinished. And maybe that's the one thing you needed to hear today. You're unfinished. The enemy says you're unwanted and Jesus is your unfinished. Your shame says, if people knew, they would walk away from you.

But Jesus says, yeah, I already know, I'm still here. Let's go. Your insecurity says that you're unneeded, you have nothing to offer. But Jesus says, no, you're unfinished. So let's go and I'll show you how I can take even the things that you think you're great at and do far more than you can imagine with them.

Your failure says, you had your chance, you blew it, that's over. But Jesus says, no, no, you're just unfinished.

Your past says, this is who you have always been, this is who you will always be. But Jesus says, you're just unfinished.

Your sin says you're condemned. But Jesus says again and again and again, no, you're just unfinished. Listen to these incredible words from Romans 8. Therefore, since Christ has given himself for us, therefore there is now no condemnation. Let me hear you say no condemnation.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. No condemnation. Not less condemnation, not tolerable condemnation, not delayed condemnation. None. No condemnation in Christ.

Praise God.

Romans 8 continues with this promise for anyone who names Jesus as Lord and Savior. Verse 14. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you receive does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again. Rather, the Spirit you receive brought about your adoption to sonship.

And by him we cry, abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our Spirit that we are God's children now. If we are children, then we are heirs. Heirs of God and coheirs with Christ. I've said this so many times, but Jesus did not save us.

God did not adopt us so that we could be the redheaded stepchild who lives in the basement. We are co heirs with the Creator of the universe. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. In verse 31, Paul asks this question. What then shall we say in response to all these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us? Not because no one will oppose us. Not because life is going to be easy. Not because we will never struggle, suffer or doubt or fail again. But because none of those things gets the final word and closes with this incredible reality.

No, in all these Things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future or any powers, neither the height, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Let me hear you say no condemnation.

Nothing. Not your past, not your failure, not your future, not your fear, not your insecurity, not the raw footage, not the low light real. Nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. But here's the thing we can't miss. Here's the thing we can't miss.

Look at me. Don't miss this. God can absolutely save the broken person that you are, but he cannot save the good person you're pretending to be.

God can absolutely save the broken person that you are, but he cannot save the good person you're pretending to be, because that person doesn't exist.

He already knows the real you.

That's the person he came to save. That's the person he says is unfinished. That's the person he loves. That's the person he's calling into deeper waters to do far more with you than you can even imagine. And some of you are hearing these incredible words and you're wishing that you actually believed them.

Maybe you want to be near to Jesus. You want to want him, you want to follow Him. But the enemy has convinced you that if he were real, then he would certainly not want you.

But we learn from Peter's story that Jesus already knows. And he wants you to know. I already know. I already know. Let's go.

You're just unfinished.

And then some of us have been following Jesus for years, but shame has kept us so covered up, so bound up, so muffled in our faith, that we do come to church and we do listen and we do sing and we do say in Jesus vicinity, but we never actually come to him because we won't let ourselves be known.

Because we can't believe that his grace might really be for us. And if that is you, gosh, hear me. At some point you have to decide whose voice you're going to trust.

When Jesus says there's no condemnation, but you keep condemning yourself, you're deciding that your shame is more trustworthy than his word.

When Jesus says you're loved, but you keep insisting that you're unwanted, you're deciding that your fear tells the truth more than he does. When Jesus says, let's go, follow me, but you keep saying you could never use someone like me. You're not being humble. You're calling him a liar.

So you have a choice. We all do. We've heard what the Bible says. And we have to choose. Will we trust Jesus as Lord?

Trust that the one who spoke the world into being somehow has a cure for our sin? Or will we just keep insisting that our low light real has more power and authority than his grace?

Will you stand?

Our prayer team is going to be available on both sides of the room. And we're going to sing this song. Who you say I am. And as we sing, some of us just need to stop hiding. Some of us need to come and pray with something.

Someone they would love to pray with you. Some of you need to confess what you've been carrying. Some of you need to surrender your life to Jesus. Some of you need to stop watching from the sidelines and actually get in the game. Some of you need to simply stand here and let these words become truth for you.

That you are not your shame. You are not who your failure says you are. You are not who your past says you are. You are who Jesus says you are. Loved and chosen and called and unfinished.

Unfinished. That's all. You're just unfinished.

Will you believe his word over your fear?

Say unfinished. I'm just unfinished. I'm just unfinished.

There's now no condemnation. None. Let's sing these words together.