Peter was known as one of the pillars of the first church of our Lord Jesus.
Jesus said this to Peter in:
Matthew 16: 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Some believe when Jesus told Peter that on this rock, he will build his church that Peter whose name means rock that he would be the foundation of Jesus’ church. That whatever Peter binds on earth will be bound in heaven and will be the keys of church doctrine and its salvation.
If this is true, we should also look what Jesus told Peter after he acknowledge that he was the Christ the Son of the living God.
Matthew 16: 21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!" 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
If Peter was to bind on earth that Jesus will not be killed than our salvation would never be loose in heaven. But Jesus rebuked Peter for having a mind that wants what Satan desires the things of man and not having a mind for the things of God.
So, Peter is not the rock of Christ church it was what Peter acknowledged that is the rock, the foundation of the church, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Because what Peter said was not his own it was from God.
17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
The rock of the church is having faith in Jesus as Christ the Lord, the Son of the living God. It’s not following Peter or Paul or any man, but Jesus alone. That is what Paul teaches in the beginning of 1 Corinthians.
As we read stories of Peter, we need to look at what the Holy Spirit wants us to learn from them and to examine ourselves to see if we have the same tendency to do what Peter said and did as things of man.
We already learn Peter was not afraid to rebuke the one he called the living Son of God because he felt he knew what was better to do than God.
Peter also did things that had no purpose or meaning to God. We learn this when Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain to pray, and Peter saw the transfiguration of Jesus and saw Moses and Elijah.
Matthew 17: 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
Why did Peter want to build a shelter for them? In Mark’s version it said that Peter did not know what to say because he was frightened and in Luke it said that Peter did not know what he was saying.
What Peter was feeling was an overwhelming awe of Jesus’ glory, the same way he felt when Jesus filled his fishing net miraculously with fish he was overcome by fear at the glory of Jesus and did not know what to do in his presence.
This time in fear Peter wanted to build a shelter for Jesus thinking this would please him.
But God stopped Peter and covered him in cloud so he could not see and told him that Jesus was his Son whom he loves and well pleased in, just listen to him.
So, do you have those same inclinations as Peter, to do something you think will please Jesus or do something because you feel guilty and want to do something because you feel you owe God, or do you do things for Jesus because you think his agenda is your agenda?
Peter did this when he promised Jesus, he would die for him but instead denied him 3 times because Jesus did not fulfil his agenda.
What God wants us to do is to know him by just listening to his Son whom he loves and is well pleased in.
The Holy Spirit does not control our choices, he reveals God’s choices to us from Scripture and making us responsible for our choices. We learn this from the story in Acts when Peter was shown in a vision that God made all things clean. That there was no favoritism between Jews and Gentile believers, but in Galatians 2, Paul rebuked Peter for favoring his Jewish brothers and not his Gentile brothers. The Holy Spirit did not make Peter choose what was right with God, Peter chose to follow the things of man.
That is why Paul tells us in Philippians to work out your salvation with fear and trembling because the measure of faith we use God will use to measure us.
Be safe in Jesus.
Ps. Glenn