Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to the leaders notebook with Dr. Mark Rutland. Dr. Rutland is a world renowned leadership expert. He is a New York Times best selling author and he has served as the president of two universities. The Leaders Notebook is brought to you by Global Servants. For more information about Global Servants, please Visit our website, globalservants.org Here is your host, Dr. Mark Rutland.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: If you have your bibles, if you'll take those, please turn, I want you to turn to Luke chapter five.
Then we'll turn to Galatians chapter two.
We've been doing this whole series.
The concept is that there's a St. Paul movie, but there are all these other people that are mentioned in the cast. There's a King David movie that there's all these other people mentioned in the cast. Tonight it's the St. Peter movie and all the others also mentioned in the cast.
I'm not going to tell you who it's about next week, but next week, as Pastor has already said, will be the final episode in this series. And I've been so gratified with your response to it all and your attendance has been wonderful. Thank you so much for being here so consistently. And now, just before we read our scripture, we've also begun. Is there anybody here tonight that has not made a single episode of this series, of this spring series? This is your first time. All right, good. We're glad you're here. Well, every time, every week, I've highlighted some character actor, some person who was just one of those people that spent their whole career. Also mentioning the cast, they weren't Tom Cruise or anybody like that. They just were in a lot of movies.
And there's a Jewish actor named Daniel Stern. He was born in 1957 to a Jewish family in Bethesda, Maryland. He was in many, many movies, television shows, a writer, director.
He created, wrote and starred in his own TV series, but he never became the star of anything.
Now he is an accomplished sculptor and painter. Here's one of his more whimsical sculptures. He's actually very good. Here's one of his sculpt sculptures.
Isn't that great?
And here's another picture of him working on a new sculpture in his studio. There he is. Are you beginning to recognize him? Maybe not, but maybe you'll recognize him as the hapless Marv in Home Alone.
There are many, many people know Macaulay Culkin from that movie, but they don't know Daniel Stern. But Daniel Stern, a great part of the success of that movie.
Well, if you have your Bibles, Luke Chapter five. And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon Jesus to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, that's of course, the Sea of Galilee, as we call it, which is not a sea but a lake.
And saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, that is, of course, Simon Peter, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And Jesus sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now, when he had left off speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon, answering, said unto him, master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and and their net break. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him at the draft of the fishes which they had taken.
And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, fear not from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
And when they had there and. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed Jesus. Please notice the last two verses. Jesus spoke to Simon Peter, and they all.
He doesn't even mention James and John in the last verse.
And they forsook all and followed him. Now turn, if you will, to Galatians, chapter two.
Paul is writing now, obviously.
Then, 14 years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. And I went by revelation and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run in vain. But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And that because of false brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage, to whom we gave place by subjection.
No, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. But of these who seem to be somewhat whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me. God accepteth no man's person.
For they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me.
As the next Methodist, that verse appeals to me hugely.
But contrary wise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was committed unto Simon Peter. For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles.
And when James, Cephas, that is Simon Peter and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should remember the poor. The same which I always was forward to do. And when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed for before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
Well, let's pray. Lord, in the next few moments, I pray that your spirit will move in our midst. Teach us, O Lord, that we may get profit to our souls in Jesus name. We believe you for it. Amen. Amen. And Amen.
I want to try to deal tonight with several people mentioned in the also mentioned in the cast of Simon Peter.
Now, it goes without saying, and yet I suppose it needs to be said the two after Jesus himself, the two preeminent luminaries of the New Testament Church were Simon Peter and Paul.
Simon Peter, the official unofficial leader of the Jewish Church based in Jerusalem.
Paul, the official leader of the of the Gentile Church scattering out across the Mediterranean basin, the center and focus of which was at Antioch, but it scattered then all over the Mediterranean basin, even as far as Rome.
The. The Church, the. The Roman Catholic Church considers St. Peter to be the first pope. It's. It. It's a specious logic really, to be frank with you, but he was certainly the preeminent leader of the church, but not officially.
The administrative bishop of Jerusalem, to whom people reported was not Simon Peter. Simon Peter was the leader of influence.
He was the apostle.
He had been even the head of the church. The 12.
He had been Jesus associate pastor.
And with Jesus gone, bodily gone, St. Peter was what he was. He was the great man. He was St. Peter.
But I want to talk about some of those also mentioned in the cast.
The first is a pair of brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, about whom we just read.
Jesus gave some of his disciples nicknames. It's an interesting leadership habit to nickname some of your followers. Jesus gave three of them nicknames, and two were these brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. He nicknamed them Borneges.
It is translated into English, the sons of Thunder.
But the problem with the word is that it isn't exactly Hebrew.
It is apparently a confluence of two Aramaic words which a Hebrew writer took and then gives the translation. It translates as the sons of thunder, but it probably is Bani Reges, which means Bani means the sons of. Yes, in Aramaic, regaz can mean thunder, but it's a literary kind of thunder.
Like you say, that guy just thunders when he laughs. It doesn't mean he thunders.
It can also be translated rage.
The sons of thunder are the sons of rage. It can mean the tumult of a mob, the thundering group of people that are raging about something.
It is the phrase not in. Not in Aramaic, obviously, but in Hebrew. In the book of Genesis, the concept is used when Joseph dismisses his brothers to go back and get their father and come back to Egypt. The last thing he says to them is, don't argue on the way.
Now, why would he say that unless he knew that they were constantly arguing with each other?
So what did Jesus mean when he nicknamed James and John the sons of thunder? Born nudges.
It means that. It could mean, I have a great friend. I love him. He is my dear friend who lives in another state.
When he laughs in a restaurant, it's like some kind of a TV ad. Everybody turns to look and see what's going on. He has the most booming, loud laughter.
So maybe they just laugh real loud and Jesus thought it was funny.
It could be that they bickered, as brothers often do.
And I had two friends in high school that played on the same football team with me, and we had a very difficult time focusing their anger on the opposition.
So when I read this about James and John, we don't really know what it was about them, but there was something explosive about these two guys.
And when we begin to talk about them as. As individuals. Also mentioned in the cast, James, the son of Zebedee, the younger brother of John, we really know very little about. And his story is abruptly abbreviated by Herod in Acts, chapter 12, verse 2. Herod. It just says, Herod killed James with a sword.
And seeing that it pleased the Jewish religious leaders. He made up his mind to arrest Simon Peter.
Do you see the also mention in the cast nature of that?
James murder, violent murder with a sword is actually by the writer of the book of Acts. Luke is actually sort of.
It's terrible to say it, but it's not really the important thing. The important thing is that it leads to the arrest of St. Peter.
James is. James is. His story is abbreviated. He is one of the great apostles. He is one of the first Christian martyrs. Not the first, but one of. And a great man. But he is simply that guy who's kind of, kind of mentioned in the cast.
And then there is his brother John in Jesus structure of his disciples. Of the 12 disciples. He has 12 disciples, but he has an inner circle of three. Peter and James and John, the three that he called in the boat that day in Luke chapter five.
They're his executive staff.
They're not just the other 12 or the other nine are there, but these three. They're the top guys of the top guys.
It is they who go with Jesus onto the mount of transfiguration. James is there, John and Peter.
It is interesting that these two sons of thunder when Jesus is transfigured before them and appearing with them are Moses and Elijah. It's such a, an amazing moment.
They are surrounded with this supernatural cloud of revelation.
I mean, how do they know it's Moses and Elijah?
It's not a church of God retreat. They're not wearing name tags.
It's revelation. They simply know. And they're hearing the twin heroes of Hebrew, of Hebrew culture and history talk with Messiah. His face and garments are glowing. They're hearing the dean of all the prophets and Moses talking with Jesus. It must have been a mind blowing experience for these three Jewish men. Isn't it interesting though?
James and John don't say anything.
The sons of thunder are quiet.
It's Peter who always, throughout his entire career, stands up when he should be seated, speaks when he should be quiet. And he says, lord, it's great for us to be here. This is wonderful. We're going to make three tabernacles. One for Moses and one for Elijah and one for you.
And he fully expects Jesus to say, well, if you think so, you know, between Moses and Elijah, wow, I don't know.
Instead what happens is that God thunders over the heads of the sons of thunder.
And he says to Simon Peter, basically he says, be silent, shut up.
He says, this is my son.
This is not Moses and Elijah with you now.
This is my son.
That moment is shared only by Peter and James and John, James. Then subsequently, after Jesus death and resurrection, James is murdered with the sword.
John, then, having shared that moment with Simon Peter, now shares another desperate moment with Simon Peter.
Simon Peter's failure.
He denies Christ, having been told that he would deny Christ, having pounded his chest and said, I'll never. I never will. I never will.
It is not Simon Peter who goes out to Calvary to watch his savior die. It's John.
John is at the foot of the cross. And it is into John's hands from the cross that Jesus commits his own mother.
He says to his.
To John, he says, look, behold your mother.
She's your mother now. And he says to his mother, behold your son. And he doesn't mean himself. He means John.
And presumably, as scripture seems to indicate, Mary lives the rest of her life in John's house.
So John has lived through the failure of Simon Peter.
But Simon Peter, even in his failure, is. This is the star of the movie.
The movie shifts to become about Simon Peter's failure. And here's good, faithful John, who takes the mother of Christ into his home and goes out to the foot of the cross. But he's still kind of.
There's. Simon Peter has betrayed Jesus. Oh, yeah, John's here, too.
Then there is the resurrection.
And this is fascinating.
So Peter and James and John have been childhood friends. They grew up in a small village, Capernaum. I've been there many, many times. Nearly 50 times. It's a small village. It was always a small village, a fishing village.
And they knew each other always. They went into business together, they worked together. They grew up as boys together.
And John reveals to us that there was some level of competition between them because when Mary and the women come and say, the stone has been rolled away and the body of Christ is gone, Peter and John run to the grave.
And John cannot stop himself from recording that he outran Peter.
But then he says, however, it was Peter that went into the grave.
So the first person into the grave was Peter. But John just can't.
He can't quit. He just says, I just, you know. Yes, he's the star of the movie.
I just want you to know I'm faster than he is.
It's so male.
Then there is this moment at the Sea of Galilee where the disciples are influenced by Simon Peter to go back to Galilee and go fishing.
Peter says, look, I'm freaked out.
Everything's gone wrong. Jesus is dead. All these stories about his resurrection, I just can't live like this. He says, I'm going fishing.
And the others, including John, say, we're coming with you.
They fish all night. John, chapter 21. And somebody on the beach yells, have you caught anything? And they said, no, we haven't caught anything. Cast your net on the right side and you will catch. And they do. And when they pull up, it's full of fish. Do you see? Jesus has recreated the scene that we just read.
And it is in that moment that John, not Peter, John realizes John has a revelation that it's Jesus. He says, that's Jesus, but it's Peter that dives in.
So it's always, almost like always, the story is about Simon Peter, but John is the one that has this revelation.
There is then this moment of the healing at the gate. Beautiful.
After the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In the upper room, Peter and John walk toward the gate. Beautiful. And there's a beggar there. They are together. John's there, but he's just in the play.
It's Peter who says, such as we have, we give unto thee.
Rise in the name of Jesus and walk. And the man is healed.
So John is the closest person for the life of Simon Peter.
He is his closest friend, business associate. They're professional fishermen. They own boats, and they travel together in the three years with Jesus. They stay together after Jesus, and they are the closest two people in the entire story of the Christ event and the founding of the church.
There is then this final moment between Peter and John, and it is again, almost a little bit a part of the competition between them. But we now see it from Peter's side.
Jesus says to Simon Peter, the day is going to come when they're going to bind your hands and lead you away, and they're going to take you where you don't want to go, signifying unto him the means by which he would die, that he's going to be crucified.
And Peter chose to be crucified upside down, as tradition tells us. It's not in scripture.
And Peter then points at John and says, what about him?
These guys just amuse me because I can just.
I can just see guys. I mean, St. Peter, St. John, but these are guys.
I can see any two men doing this says, you're going to be crucified. I am. Well, what about John?
And Jesus says, that's none of your business.
He said, if I choose for him to stay alive until I return, what is that to you?
That's. That has nothing to do with you. And John then editorializes about himself.
He says this then began to be a rumor in the church that I would live until Jesus returned. But that's not what Jesus said.
So it's this fascinating interaction between Peter and John.
So that deals with the sons of Zebedee.
Now there is a third. We didn't read about him, but there is a third person in the story. I want to mention to you, not spend a lot of time, but I have mentioned him already. That is James, the administrative bishop at Jerusalem. And that is not James the brother of John. It is James, the brother of Jesus.
He shares a relationship with Peter after the resurrection. Remember, Jesus brothers were not fully persuaded that he was. They thought he was beside himself.
They said, you know, he's.
He's losing it.
But when he was crucified, dead, buried and raised again, the Bible tells us one of the first people he appeared to was his brother James.
And his brother James became the real administrative bishop at Jerusalem.
But still even his episcopal authority was under the.
Under the shadow of the leadership of St. Peter.
So they shared a relationship.
But it was James who really was the.
The official authority of the church at Jerusalem.
And when the council at Jerusalem was assembled to decide what to do with the Gentiles that Paul was went into Christ, what do we do? Do we make them Jews? Do all the men have to be circumcised?
What do we do with all these people? And they call Paul together. They call Peter. Peter testifies about what happened at Cornelius House. Paul tells about what's happening in Antioch and elsewhere.
And then it says James renders his decision.
It was James, the brother of Jesus, who gave the decision. One writer makes a big point of the fact that the word should not be translated decided. But this is my opinion.
But even if you translate it that way, when the Supreme Court makes a decision, they call it their opinion, but it's not so the opinion of James, the decision, the judgment of James at the Council of Jerusalem. He is a character actor in the St. Peter movie. But he is of extreme importance because he's the brother of Christ in the first place. And in the second place, he is truly the titular head of the church at Jerusalem.
Now we come to a person who is star of his own movie.
But I want you to see him as also mentioned in the cast of the St. Peter movie. And that's Paul.
Paul the apostle now becomes the other end of the seesaw.
St. Peter's there in Jerusalem.
He is the thousands. Don't forget this. There were thousands and thousands. Even. Some of. Even some priests and Levites had been converted who were Jewish believers in Jerusalem. Thousands of them. Five thousand on one day.
So we know there are thousands that are in Jerusalem. And Peter is the.
He's the. The vicar of Christ. He's the. He was with Jesus. He was the leader of the apostolic community. Now he's the spokesman. And subsequent to Pentecost, it's Peter who preaches the Pentecost message. Peter steps into the leadership subsequent to Pentecost. So he's there.
But now what's happening is that the winds of revival have shifted to the West.
Now what's happening is really happening in gentile cities. Ephesus and Corinth and Athens and Rome and into Asia Minor, Galatia and these places. It's explosive.
Whole communities, whole towns torn into uproar, riot, revival, thousands under the Ministry of St. Paul.
The key place, the mission center of the Gentile Church, is Antioch.
And there's this great leadership there. And Paul is one of the people there at that place.
Peter and James, the brother of Jesus, come up down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and they step into the milieu of egalitarian Christianity that's being created at Antioch. They just sit with the Gentiles. They eat with them. They don't follow the laws, the dietary laws. They eat what's served. They don't go through all the ceremonial washing their hands. Everything is fine until some Jewish leaders from the church in Jerusalem arrive in Antioch and Peter and James and even Barnabas.
Peter and James and Barnabas now leave. And they won't eat with the Gentiles anymore. They eat with the Jews. And so this guy who is in Peter's shadow rebukes him, and he says, when those people weren't here, you ate over here with us.
Now you only want to be over there. Now you want to separate yourself. Now you want to be segregated into these two tribes. And I rebuke you. He says he rebuked him to his face.
And here's a little bit of a sad note. It's the last time that Peter is ever mentioned.
And we know historically, traditionally, that he was crucified upside down at Rome.
But Paul's position in Peter's movie now becomes a point of conflict and friction.
Now, there is one other person that I'd like to mention in the.
In the St. Peter movie.
His name is Judas Iscariot.
He was probably the fourth most prominent of all the apostles, Peter and James and John.
And Judas Iscariot was the cfo so you have the executive staff, and he was the treasurer. It says he kept the purse.
He was stealing out of the purse, he was palming out of the purse.
But he was one of the 12, and he was probably the fourth most prominent of everybody in that.
Well, let's deal with one thing first of all.
What is his name? Judas Iscariot. What does that even mean?
There is no Hebrew word Iscariot. There is no English word Iscariot. There is no Greek or Latin word Iscariot. It is the combination of two Hebrew words. Ish.
Adam called himself Ish, a man, a person, a self, a male self. Ish.
Kirios. Kirios. It was a village due west of the Dead sea and about 45 miles south of Jerusalem.
And so he was Ish Karyoth, the man from Kyrios. That's all it means. Judas, that curios guy, he's that guy from curiosity. And that's very different because most of the other disciples were from where? Galilee.
Up by the Galilee. He's from the Dead Sea region, down in the. In the Judean desert.
So I want to bring this to conclusion tonight.
We sort of ramble. I sort of just pointed out some other people in the Peter movie. But how do we connect them?
How does it all come together?
What I would like to be like is St. Paul, who I identify more with is Simon Peter.
He was a giant, a genius.
Look at. Read 1, 2 and 3, Peter. Read the letters, read the language.
Beautiful language. Where did that come from?
Where did that come from? We know that he was a professional fisherman without education. The Pharisees said they saw that he was ignorant and unlearned. Read 1, 2, and 3 Peter. Read it in English.
It's brilliant. Where does that come from?
He was.
He was a great leader. He was a martyr to the faith. He was Jesus best friend on the road for three years. He was. Yes, there was Peter and James and John, but really it was Jesus and Peter and other people were mentioned in the cast.
The great interaction from the very beginning is between Jesus and Peter.
And yet at the moment of Jesus crucifixion, it's Peter who fails and fails wretchedly, having been told that he would and denying it all these other lightweights, they may fail you. I'll go with you right to the cross.
Jesus said, you will deny me three times. Before dawn, before the cock crows, I want you to search your heart for a moment.
Have you ever committed a sin that you swore you would never commit again?
Have you ever said okay, okay. I wasn't ready.
Okay, that caught me off guard. I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready. Just let it come again.
And you failed. Again, you say, okay, that's two, but I won't do it again.
I believe that after every time he said that, I don't know Jesus, I don't know Jesus. The third time he cursed.
Do you know Jesus? No. Do you know Jesus? No. Do you know Jesus? Hell, no.
They said, well, now we believe you.
And I think that after every time he said, I'll be ready next time.
I'll be ready next time, he failed. He failed wretchedly because of why he was afraid for his life.
Peter was never tempted with money, sex or power.
He was tempted with self preservation.
He failed. But in John, chapter 21, by the sea of Galilee, in the presence of John and the other disciples, he found forgiveness and restoration.
What did Judas Iscariot do that Peter didn't do?
He betrayed Jesus not three times, but once.
He betrayed Jesus not for fear, but for greed.
Is fear of your life a more noble motive than fear of poverty?
I'm not sure that what Judas did is actually technically worse.
What makes the failure of Judas so utterly, eternally final?
What makes it so fatal?
It is that he won't, like Simon Peter, wait for the restoration.
He jumps the gun on the grace of God.
We don't know this. We'll never know. Maybe my theology on this is weak or wrong or whatever. I don't know.
But I always wonder if Judas had just waited.
What if he had gone out to the foot of the cross and there, under the bleeding, dying form of his Savior, if he'd have said, oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I don't know why I did that.
The money wasn't even worth it. Please, will you forgive me?
I'm not running for congress on this. I'm just saying maybe.
What if Jesus had looked down and said, of course I forgive you. I forgive these Romans.
I forgive the scribes and the Pharisees. I forgive them. I forgive you.
Did you betray me with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver? I forgive you.
You'll be with me in paradise.
What? Why did Peter find restoration renewal?
I'm just saying they.
Why couldn't it have been Judas Iscariot at the gate. Beautiful. That said to the crippled man such as I have, I give unto thee, rise and be healed.
There was nothing about Judas sin, as I can understand, was nothing about Judas sin in itself that precluded him ever being used again.
Otherwise, Peter's sin would have precluded his being used again.
But Peter waited on the restoration of grace and Judas took it out of God's hand.
Also mentioned in the cast of the St. Peter movie is this hard and fast, never give an inch cleric named St. Paul.
And he appears in the middle of the St. Peter movie and gradually the movie shifts to become the Paul movie.
Also mentioned in the cast, James and John, these two rowdy guys. That Jesus said, you're like thunder. You're just like thunder all the time.
James, who became the martyr and was killed with the sword.
And John, this loud, rowdy teenager who was always fighting with his brother, became the contemplative mystic of Christian religion who wrote the book of Revelation 1, 2, and 3, John, and the Gospel of John.
I wonder when Mrs. Zebedee was saying, james and John, will you quit fighting?
I wonder if it ever occurred to her that St. John would be one of the most famous religious figures of all time.
But really, he was mentioned in this. He was mentioned in the St. Peter movie.
And then there is James, the brother of Jesus, who had to see his brother crucified and raised from the dead before he'd believe, who became the first bishop of the Church of Jerusalem.
And then there is this tragic, hopeless, pathetic, wretched man, Judas Iscariot, who plucked the saving grace of God out of God's hands and took his life.
I don't know who you are. I don't know everything about you. I don't know what you've done or where you've been. But I want you to listen to Dr. Mark tonight.
There is nothing that you can do to short circuit the grace of God by your sin, except to put an end to it.
When you say, I refuse to believe the grace of God can ever, ever, ever forgive me again.
Then Judas said to himself, what is there left to live for?
St. Peter said, I have failed and failed miserably.
But there he is on the beach.
He beckons me.
He summons me back into his presence.
You cannot out sin the grace of God.
You can slam the window on the hand of grace.
[00:40:54] Speaker A: You've been listening to the leader's notebook with Dr. Mark Rutland. You can follow Dr. Rutland on x@dr. Mark Rutland or visit his website, Dr.markrutland.com, where you can find information about his materials and his app. Join us next week for another episode of the Leader's Notebook.
