Peter: Shifted as Wheat (I originally preached this sermon in August 2003)
Luke 22:31-32
We are going to look at the example of Peter this morning and see how God desires to mold us into Christlikeness just as he did with Peter. He usestrials and all sorts of circumstances to do that. Not that all circumstances that happen to us will be good. I heard about a man who always said “This is good.” to everything that happened to him.It seems that he went with his king on a hunting trip. He loaded the guns and the king shot them. Evidentially, he loaded one gun wrong and when it went off it shot the king’s thumb off. Examining the situation, the friend said as usual, “This is good.” Well, the king got mad and threw his friend in jail. “No, this is not good.” About a year later, the king goes on another hunting trip to a area
where there are cannibals. The Cannibals capture him and tie his hands and feet and bound him to a stake to cook.
As they come near, they find the kings finger is shot off. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone less than whole. So, they set the king free.
As he returned home, he felt guilty about putting his friend in jail for a year. So, he goes to the jail and apologizes to his friend. He explained what happened to him. He says, “I’m very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.”
“No, his friend replied, “This is good.”
“What do you mean, This is good.”
“How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?”
“If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you.”
The fact is is that we all go through trials and difficulties. Jesus warned Peter that he would go through a testing period in our Scripture reference today. But, Jesus apparently believed that this process was necessary for Peter. Jesus called it a sifting like wheat.
Sifting is a two stage process I have been told. One step involves tossing the wheat in the air to allow the chaff to blow away in the wind. The second stage involves a sieve that would be used to separate what is valuable and useful from what is not profitable. In this way, the farmer cleans the wheat and prepares it for the market. He is preparing it for a purpose.
God does that with us. He allows people, circumstances, and events in our lives to take place in order to sift us. Notice what Jesus said to Peter in Luke 22:31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon that your faith may not fail. And when you turn back, strengthen your brother.” NIV.
The rest of the sermon is at http://www.sermoncentral.com/Sermon.asp?SermonID=60903
I hope you like it. It was one of my favorite sermons that I preached in Hull, Texas while I was pastor of First Baptist Hull, Hull, Texas
