GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 16

Our  book this month  is a continuation of “Chiseled by the Master’s Hand ~ Lessons From the Life of Peter,” by Erwin  Lutzer.  Dr. Lutzer is  Canadian-born and served as Senior Pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years, until his retirement in 2016.   He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Moody Church.  He’s written many books and has radio and internet teaching programs.

ONE WITH THE SOVEREIGN MASTER

(Matthew 17:24-27)

CHRIST’S SOVEREIGN POWER

In the Creation account God gave man dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea.  We see His authority over the beasts of the field when He rode down the Mount of Olives on an unbroken colt.  That animal was controlled by the One who rode on its back.

Christ also controlled the birds of the air and the roosters perched on hilltops.  The night of Peter’s betrayal all of the roosters were kept silent until Peter had denied the Lord three times, and then one rooster was allowed to cry out.  There are many stories that illustrate Christ’s control of the fish.  We already noted that He performed a miracle when he asked Peter to “launch out into the deep for a catch.” In John 21 there was a similar miracle when 153 fish were caught at Christ’s command.

Here again, Christ shows that He is Lord of the common experiences of life.  Notice how the Master controlled three events that had to coincide for this miracle to occur:

FIRST, He directed someone to lose a coin.   A stater—or shekel—is the exact amount that He and Peter would need to pay their tax.  We don’t know who lost it.  Was it a child?  Did the coin fall over the side of a boat?  Did it slip through someone’s pocket along the shore?  (Or did Jesus simply make it there?) However it got there, it was under the divine control of the Lord who intended to use it for His own purposes.  In this case someone’s loss would be Peter’s gain.

SECOND, He directed the fish to the coin.  To the fish this glittering object looked like a delicious dinner.  We don’t know whether this creature of the sea grasped for the coin as the object was sinking in the water or whether the coin was already resting on the bottom of the lake.  Regardless, as the fish reached for its expected morsel, the object stuck in it’s mouth.  That fish did not know that it carried its cargo for Christ.

THIRD, The Lord directed the fish to Peter’s hook.  Though the sea was filled with thousands of fish, the text says that Peter was to open the mouth of the FIRST  fish he would catch, and it would have the coin.  The timing of this event brought together various contingencies all directed by a precision that only the King of kings   and Lord of lords was capable of.

Imagine Peter going to the Sea of Galilee and casting his hook.  Perhaps young boys surrounded him and asked him questions, and Peter explained,  “Just watch!  The first fish I catch will have a shekel in its mouth!”  The boys would be disbelieving until the fish was caught, Peter opened its mouth, and THERE was the promised coin!

Whenever Peter fished in obedience to Christ, he always caught something.  He came to the same lake as before, used the same equipment, and had the same hopes — but everything had changed.  Even fishing had a different meaning if it was done for Christ.  All of nature responds to the “divine impulse.”

FINALLY, Christ is sovereign over His followers.  He told Peter what to do and expected obedience.  If He is King, we are servants;  if He is our Master, we are His disciples, and if we should speak on His behalf – as Peter did to the tax collector — we had better know His mind. Since He is no longer physically present on earth, we can properly represent Him only when we spend time poring over His words in the New Testament. 

“If you abide in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.”  (John 8:31).

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John 15:5

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

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John 15:1-2

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.   Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

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John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.   And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

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John 15:7

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

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Luke 9:23

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

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Luke 9:62

But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

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John 8:12

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

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1 John 1:5

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

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