Luke chapter 22, verse 31. This may be a passage
that you have read before, or maybe you haven't
read it before. I would encourage you to go and
read the verses before it if you haven't ever
read it, or maybe you hadn't read it in a while.
But Jesus had spent a lot of time with his apostles,
about three years. and he was soon going to be
crucified, and before he was crucified, he was
going to be arrested and beaten and mocked, and
before all this took place, he had this last
meal with his apostles, the Lord's Supper, the
first Lord's Supper. They gathered together,
and he said, look, I'm about to give my life
for you guys, this meal that we celebrate, this
time of Passover. It's about to have a whole
new meaning. There's about to be a whole new
lamb that's going to be sacrificed for you. So
from this moment forward, once I'm crucified
and resurrected, when you have this time of remembrance,
you remember my body that was given for you and
my blood that was shed for you. And that occurred
just a few verses before. And, well, then the
apostles begin to argue amongst themselves about
who's going to be first in the kingdom of heaven,
which one is the most important of the followers
of Jesus. And Jesus kind of tries to settle them
down and says, look, you've got to understand
what your role is as my follower. Jesus said,
look, all of the kings and the other leaders
of the world, they want to dominate those people
that are under them. But Jesus says what you
have to remember is that you are not called to
lord your authority over people, but you are
called to use your authority to serve people.
And so he says you don't need to worry about
who's first. You need to worry about becoming
a servant of all. And that's exactly what Jesus
had done. And that is good instruction for us
because our world will tell us that we need to
strive to be first. that we need to strive to
be best, and if you're not first, you're last.
And Jesus would say, you need to be last. Jesus
would say, if you're not last, you cannot be
first. And so Jesus gives this good instruction.
I mean, just that in and of itself is enough
for us to ponder just those scriptures. But we're
going to look at these next couple, so let's
pray, and then we'll get started. God, we thank
you for your good word. I pray that you would
help us to... Be ready for a new year, dear Lord,
as we just really are ever thinking about the
things we do and choices we make and things we
shouldn't do and things we want to do and all
these things. A lot of these are fresh on our
mind at the start of a new year. And so I pray,
God, that you would help us to be ready to stand
for you and to seek you and to live for you in
this coming year. And I pray that you just bless
these next couple of minutes and these words
that we're going to read. In Jesus' name, I pray
it. Amen. So after Jesus says those things that
I just kind of summed up for us, then he gives
some instruction to Peter. And listen to what
he says in Luke 22, verse 31. He says, Simon,
Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you
like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your
faith may not fail. And when you have turned
back, strengthen. Your brothers. Lord, he told
him, I'm ready to go with you both to prison
and to death. Now, we see lots of times Peter
mentioned in Scripture. He was one of those key
guys. They all weren't important, but Peter,
you know, he was kind of right there. He's mentioned
a lot with Jesus, and he was going to play a
crucial role in starting the church after Jesus
Christ was crucified and resurrected. And Peter,
he was bold. He said, Jesus, I am your right
-hand man. I am here with you. And what is he
says? I'm ready to go with you both to prison
and to death. Whatever you're talking about here,
about whatever Satan wants to do to me, Peter
says, look, I am ready, Jesus. I am ready. I
am yours and I'm ready to live for you. I'm ready
to die for you. I'm ready to suffer in prison
for you. And so he had a certain boldness there.
A certain trust in Jesus. He was ready to do
anything for Jesus. That is until it came time
to do something for Jesus. And maybe this is
a good story for us to reflect on. Because maybe
we're strong in our faith. Maybe we trust in
the Lord. Maybe we believe his word. Maybe we
don't have any doubts about who Jesus is and
we are his follower. But maybe this story is
a reminder to us as we start a new year that
we need to check ourselves. Maybe we're not on
as sure footing as we thought we were. Not that
we doubt Jesus. Not that we question Jesus. Peter
certainly did not doubt who Jesus was. But he
thought he was really ready to stand for Jesus.
He thought he was really on fire for Jesus. Only
to find out that... maybe his faith wasn't as
strong as it needed to be. Maybe he wasn't really
where he needed to be in his walk with Jesus
Christ. And what about you and I? Are we so bold
today to make such a claim? Are we so bold today
to say, I would die for Jesus, and maybe we would.
But the reality is that our faith is often tested,
and it has to be. That's the only way our faith
can be proven. You can say something all day,
every day, but there has to be some test to see
if you really do trust in, believe, know what
you're talking about. Now, you can sit in school
all day under your favorite teacher, professor,
whoever, and at the end of the semester, you
can say, all right, professor, I know everything
that you have told me. I understand every bit
of it. And the professor will say, okay, well
then you get an A, go home. No, that's not what
he does, right? At the end of the semester, he's
going to give you an exam. He's going to give
you a test. And why? Because that's the only
way you can be proven that you do know what he's
talking about. Now, maybe you do. Maybe you ace
that test. But maybe you take that test and you
say, I don't know the answer to that. I don't
remember that. And maybe... In taking the test,
you realize you're not where you need to be.
You didn't know as much as you thought. You weren't
as strong as you thought. And I think God allows
us to go through things sometimes in our life
for that reason. Not that we doubt him or not
that we don't believe that he's powerful or not
that we don't trust him. But God knows our weaknesses.
And what God wants is he wants to make us stronger.
He sees where we're weak in this area and where
we're weak in that area. And sometimes he allows
us to go through some really tough things in
our life. And some of you went through some really
tough things last year. Some of you may go through
some really tough things this year. But we have
to be those who are strong in our faith. And
maybe today we speak as boldly as Peter. But
maybe our day of being sifted is coming. Jesus
says, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you
like wheat. What does that mean? It means Satan
wants to put an obstacle in your way. He wants
to try to shake you. He wants to try to make
you doubt me. He wants to try to make you give
up on me. You are about to be sifted. This is
not going to be a desirable process. This may
not be something that you like. And you're going
to fail. That's what Jesus tells him. He says,
look, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat,
but I have prayed for you so that your faith
may not fail, and you, when you turn back, strengthen
your brothers. When you turn back. Why would
Jesus say that? Because he knew he was going
to turn away. Now, here's something beautiful
in this passage. Okay, first we see a reality,
and that is that there are going to be things
thrown at us in life. That the enemy wants to
make us stumble, wants to make us fall, wants
to make us doubt, wants to make us turn from
the Lord. Just life in itself, not that everything
bad that happens to us is the devil. We don't
need to see the devil behind every corner necessarily.
Life in itself is just hard sometimes. And so
we are sifted. We are grated like a cheese grater.
I mean, man, it's just a painful thing sometimes.
And Jesus says to Peter, he says, look, the devil
wants to sift you like wheat. That is, things
are going to be tough for you. But listen to
the reassurance Jesus gives him here in verse
32. But I have prayed for you. Isn't that a beautiful
thing? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, says to
Peter, but I've prayed for you. The devil wants
to have his way with you, but I have prayed for
you. And what was the prayer? The prayer is that
your faith may not fail. Now, I'm going to tell
you, spoiler alert in the story, Jesus says exactly
what Peter's going to do. He says, you're going
to deny me three times. And guess what Peter
does? He does exactly what Jesus says. Now, did
his faith fail? Well, he had a momentary lapse
in his faith. He had a moment where he could
have stood up and he failed in that area. But
just because he failed in one area, just because
he was disobedient in that area, that didn't
change the fact that he trusted Jesus. That didn't
change the fact that he believed that Jesus was
who he said he was. And his faith did not fail.
Yeah, he sinned. He didn't do right. He didn't
stand up for Jesus in the way that he thought.
But that test that he failed taught him something
he needed to know. It taught him to draw that
much closer to Jesus. And as a result of that,
we see Peter denying Jesus here at the end of
Jesus' life. Then when we flip over into the
book of Acts, we see Peter at the forefront of
starting the new church. He's no longer denying
Jesus, he's proclaiming Jesus. And he could have
never gotten there had he not gone through that
test. So Jesus says, look, what's before you
is difficult, but I have prayed for you, so hang
in there. Now this is a beautiful thing. And
it's even more beautiful, I think, when we flip
over to John 17. You can read that this week
for your homework. When you flip over to John
17, what you're going to find is that Jesus is
going to be praying. He's going to be praying
for his apostles. He's going to pray that the
Lord will watch over them and take care of them
and protect them, not take them out of the world.
He says, look, I know the world is a bad place.
I know it's difficult. But he says, God, don't
take them out of the world, but protect them,
watch over them, use them while they're in this
world. And he says this beautiful prayer for
his apostles. And then right after he finishes
that, he says, and I pray not only for them,
but I pray also for those who come to know me
through them. Well, that's good news. That's
you and me. Jesus prayed for Peter. And guess
what? In John 17, Jesus prays for us. Because
he knew what his followers would have to go through.
He knew how difficult life would be. So maybe
for some of us, this passage needs to be something
to get our attention and say, okay, it's a new
year. We don't know what the new year holds.
There's things that occurred in your life this
year that you would have never dreamed last January
the 1st. And there's probably going to be things.
That happened in your life in 2026. We can't
see them coming. We don't know what they are.
But there's going to be some hard things in our
life. Some really hard things for some of us.
Some things that are not so hard for others.
But there are going to be difficult times in
our life. And we have to be ready for those times.
Maybe for some of us. That sifting like wheat
was 2025. Maybe that time has come and. And maybe
it's our time to turn back. He tells Peter, he
says, look, I've prayed for you so that when
you turn back, you can strengthen your brothers.
Maybe this verse is a call for some of us to
turn back. Maybe in our sifting over the last
year of our life, being sifted, maybe some of
us have denied the Lord in some way, denied to
follow him in some way. That doesn't mean that
we didn't believe in him. No more than it meant
that Peter didn't believe in him. Yeah, Peter
believed in Jesus. He trusted in Jesus. He believed
who he said he was. But he failed in that moment.
And maybe there's been a moment in our 2025.
And maybe today is our call to turn back. And
what does Jesus say? And when you've turned back,
when you've seen the work that I've done in your
life, go and strengthen your brothers. So let
us be prepared for whatever may come our way
in the year that's before us. Let us return to
the Lord and seek him even more, perhaps for
our failures in the year that is behind us. Let
us grow in him and let us be able to strengthen
others in the year to come. Let's pray. God,
we come to you. We thank you for your good word.
And I pray, God, that you would just help us
to be ready for whatever may come. Maybe we...
We think we have a strong faith tonight, and
maybe our faith is pretty strong, but maybe it's
not as strong as we think in the same way that
Peter. He thought he was ready, but you helped
him to see areas where he needed to grow. And
so, dear Lord, I pray that you would help us
to see those areas in our life and to grow in
those areas. Maybe we're coming out of one of
those areas. Maybe we've gone through it in the
last year. God, I pray that we would turn back
to you if we haven't already. that we would turn
back to you, that we would know that you love
us, that we would seek you and ask you to forgive
us, that we would repent, that you'd work in
our life, dear Lord. I pray that you would just
help us to be able to strengthen others that
we encounter, God. I pray that you'd protect
us in the year to come. I pray that you'd protect
this church and all these folks, dear Lord. And
I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.