Denial

Introduction

Defeat is something we have all experienced. Some of us have felt the sting of defeat more than we want to recount. With each defeat we replay the events over and over trying to piece together what happened. With the defeat comes a carving away of our confidence. Enough defeats may lead a person to believe that they are not worth much.

The worst football defeat in history occurred on October 7, 1916. Georgia Tech Engineers played the Cumberland College Bulldogs. The final score was 222-0. A little background: Cumberland had shut down its football program the previous year, but the head coach had signed a contract to play Georgia Tech before the program closed. There was a clause in the contract that failure to play the game would result in Cumberland paying Tech $3,000. So George E. Allen gathered 14 baseball players to travel from Lebanon, TN to Atlanta, GA to play the game. The head coach of Tech was John Heisman and he had no mercy on the team from Tennessee.

The box score reveals the following statistics. Cumberland threw 18 passes completing 2 for 14 total yards. They also threw 6 interceptions. They ran the ball 27 times for a net gain of negative 96 yards. And they fumbled the ball 9 times. Georgia Tech did not throw a single pass. Georgia Tech ran the ball 40 times and gained 1,620 yards and scored 32 running touchdowns. They only completed 30 out of 32 extra points. So complete was the defeating of Cumberland College that the writer for the Journal on that day wrote the following line: “As a general rule, the only thing necessary for a touchdown was to give a Tech back the ball and holler, ‘Here he comes’ and ‘There he goes.’”

It must have been a long trip from Atlanta to Lebanon. Defeat comes in so many ways. Especially painful is defeat which we bring on ourselves—defeat that comes from a lack of character or a bad decision or the inability to carry through. But perhaps the worst type of defeat is that which comes when you are sure of something and it doesn’t happen. That kind of defeat is especially bitter. Confident in your abilities; confident in your thinking; confident in your motives and then you are defeated. Bitterness. Shame. Embarrassment. Failure. Lost.

This kind of defeat finds itself often in our sin. So sure that we will not do the wrong thing and then we do. So confident of our faith and then we fail. Shame. We isolate ourselves. We live in shameful defeat. We give up and we quit trying. We may pretend but we are certain that no one will understand and worst of all we let ourselves down. We are going to look at this kind of defeat today. There is good news—God wipes away the tears.

The Spiritual Battle

Jesus and the disciples are still in the upper room when Jesus warns Peter about the upcoming events. Luke’s arrangement of material helps us to see that Peter may be the one who is trying to sway his fellow disciples that he is the greatest. Jesus interrupts that conversation by emphasizing the importance of serving rather than trying to find ways to get what you want. Notice that Jesus calls Peter by his given name rather than the name Jesus gave him. This would have certainly gotten Peter’s attention. Similar to when momma used your full name and not just your first name. Jesus warns Peter. Peter replies in full confidence.

Notice a couple of things. First, the spiritual battle between good and evil is ongoing and outside our knowledge. Satan asked for permission to pick Peter apart—not just Peter but them all. The “you” is plural. But Jesus’ words are specifically for Peter. The fact that Satan had to ask for permission demonstrates who has the real power. Second, Jesus prays for Peter and his disciples but each one must choose to follow. Peter speaks with great confidence that he is ready for prison even death. Jesus knows what is going to happen. Peter will deny knowing Jesus not once, not twice, but three times. Peter is not as ready as he thinks he is.

Jesus is arrested and the trauma of that event gives way to curiosity about what is going to happen. Peter stays close to Jesus. He is in the courtyard of the high priest’s residence. Verse 56 tells us that a servant girl saw Peter. She stared at him. She is trying to place him and when she does, she announces that Peter belongs to Jesus. Luke says that Peter denied Jesus. The word that Luke uses carries two ideas—denial in the form of disputing a claim and the idea of rejecting or abandoning something. This is a strong denial about knowing Jesus.

A second time he is accused of being one of Jesus’ disciples and again he denies that truth. The third time his obvious Galilean clothing and accent betray him. Why else would a Galilean be in this courtyard except that he is connected with Jesus? Peter for the third time denies knowing Jesus and as he is speaking the rooster crows. We don’t know how but Jesus too is in the courtyard. Some speculate he is being taken from one part of the house to another. Others speculate that he’s outside while there are deliberations going on. The third denial results in Jesus looking at Peter. Shame. Embarrassment. Bitterness. Peter leaves the courtyard.

Lessons

We could speak of Peter’s weakness. We could shake our heads and cluck our tongues and wonder how such bravado of the upper room could so quickly give way to cowardice in the courtyard. But there is one problem with that approach. Too many of us have had our own Peter experience. We are in the break room at work or the lunch room at school or at the water cooler with our co-workers and suddenly the conversation turns to a subject that is threatening. Threatening to your faith. To say anything is to put yourself in the position of being looked down on or being ridiculed or be ostracized or worse being treated as some kind of “religious” freak. And we nod in approval to what is being said or we laugh to deflect attention. We’ve been there and we have either overtly or through our silence denied that we knew Jesus.

It’s easy to make ourselves feel better or superior as long as we take Peter down a notch or two. Only the person who doesn’t care can read this text and not feel the shame and bitterness of Peter’s tears. Only a person who refuses to acknowledge the truth about self will divert attention away from the truth that there has been a bit of Peter in us at some point. So here is our focus for today.

Verse 32 tells us that Jesus warned Peter what was coming. Peter didn’t believe it. He was confident that he could pass any test. He didn’t. But here is the beauty of this text: Jesus knew that Peter would not pass the test. But Jesus also knew that Peter would return. Jesus knew that when Peter came back there was a job for him to do. It doesn’t matter when or how you denied that you knew Jesus. Jesus says there is a way back and there is something to do. We know the story of Peter’s restoration to the plan of God. And we know that he was the first among the disciples to speak. Almost one-third of the book of Acts is about Peter.

Peter failed when the pressure was on. Most of us have. But he did not fail in his heart. King David failed when the pressure was on, but he did not fail in his heart. Moses failed when the pressure was on, but he did not fail in his heart. John Mark failed when the pressure was on, but he did not fail in his heart. Abraham failed when the pressure was on, but he did not fail in his heart. The people of faith in Scripture failed on numerous occasions but God used every one of them to accomplish his will. You may have failed when the pressure was on, but you did not fail in your heart. A moment’s failure does not mean that you are ruined. Weep your bitter tears, but know that Jesus is stronger than your failure and there is work for you to do.

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