March 1927
162
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It should be observed, however, that the tradition that he visited Rome is only tra dition and nothing more, resting as it does partly upon a miscalculation of some o.f the early fathers, who, assume that he went to Rome in 42 A. D., imme diately after his deliverance from prison (Acts 12:17). Shaft says this “is irre concilable with the silence, of Scriptures, and even with the mere fact of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, written in 58, since the letter says not a. word of Peter’s pre vious labors in that city, and he himself never built on other men’s foundations” (Rom 15: 20; 2 Cor. 10:15, 16). ate ¿is? Peter Follows Jesus Mark 1 :14-18, 29-31 B y M abel L. M errill Memory: Verse : . “ They left all, and followed him.” Luke 5:1^® Approach: Show the children a small net or an imitation of one, and explain to them how the:fishermen catch the fish in them. Jesus wants us to follow him and are willing to do everything they can to win others to Him may become fishers of men, and so obey Jesus .and please our heavenly Father. Lesson Story: When Jesus came to this world He had a work to do. He was so great and had such power that He could have done everything that was to be done; but He .chose to give others a chance to help. He knew how much good it would do the helpers to have some, part in the work. Our story today is about the work Jesus did and how He called others to have a part in it. The wicked king had put John the Baptist in prison, because this brave preacher told the king of his great sin against God. But Jesus, the Son of God, of 'whom John spoke, was now ready to preach to the people. So it was; that He came into Galilee. There beside the beautiful blue Sea of Galilee, and up and down the dusty roads, in the fields and in the houses, the Lord from heaven preached the good news of his love. He told the people they should be sorry for their sins, and believe that Jesus had power to forgive their sins. One day as the Lord Jesus walked be side the blue sea He saw a fisherman named Simon, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea. There were many fish in that water and these men made their living by catching and selling fish. Jesus spoke to them as He passed by, and said, “Come ye after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Do you suppose this meant catching men in a net like fish? Jesus wanted men for His kingdom, and He meant to teach His helpers how to bring them. Do you sup pose these two men waited until they had their net full of fishes before they came? No, they left their nets right away and followed Jesus. Simon and Andrew fol lowed Jesus as He walked by the sea, and soon they came to a place a little farther become fishers of men and women, boys ,and girls. We become fishers for souls when we use our time and our tongues in telling others about Jesus and His great love for us. All who be-" long to Jesus, and
constant- companion of Jesus, and the third when at length he was selected as an apostle. The character of Peter is transparent and easily analyzed, and it is doubtless true that no other in Scriptural history is drawn for us more clearly or strongly; He has been styled the prince of the apostles, and indeed seems to have been their leader on every occasion. He is always named first in every list of them, and was their common spokesman. He was hopeful, bold, confident,'cour ageous, frank, impulsive, energetic; vig orous, strong, loving, and faithful to his Master notwithsanding his defection prior to the crucifixion. It is true that he was liable to change and- inconsistency, and because of his pe culiar temperament, he sometimes appear ed forward and rash. Yet, as another says, “his virtues and faults had their com mon root':jn his enthusiastic disposition” and the latter were at length overruled by divine grace into the most beautiful humility and meekness, as evidenced in his two Epistles, The leadership above referred to, how ever, shpuld,not-lead to the supposition that he possessed any supremacy over the other apostles, of which there is no proof. Such supremacy was never conferred up on him by his Master, it was.never claim ed by himself, and was never conceded by his associates (Matt. 23 :8-T2; Acts 15 :13, 14; 2 Cor. 12:11; Gal. 2:11). '. It is true that when Christ referred to the meaning of his name (Matt. 16:18) He said, “Upon this rock I will build my church/’ but He did not intend to teach that His church would he built upon Peter, but upon Himself as confessed by Peter in verse 16 of the same chapter. Peter is careful to affirm this in the first of his tWo epistles (2:4-9). Moreover, when .Christ said, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:19), He invested' him with no power not possessed in common with his brethren, since they also afterward received the same commission (Matt. 18: 18; Jn. 20:23), A key is a badge of power or authority, and, as many Protes tant Commentators have pointed out, to quote the language of one of them, “the apostolic history explains and limits this trust, for it was Peter who opened the door of the Gospel to Israel on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38-42), and to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:34-46).” ' The tradition is that Peter died a mar tyr at Rome about 67 A. D. when about 75 years old. His Lord and Master had predicted a violent death for him (Jno. 21:18, 19), which it is thought came to pass by crucifixion under Nero. It is said that at his own desire, he was crucified head downward, feeling himself unworthy to resemble his Master in his death.
S uggestive Q uestions A What other men were called of .God while they were faithfully going about the humble duties of life? (Ex. 3 :1 ; 1 Kings 19:19-21; Matt. 9:9). For what two purposes are we espe cially called to follow Jesus? (Matt. 11: 28; John 12:26). Who, as a fisher of men, made a special study of the traits and seasons of these fish, and how did he catch them? (1 Cor. 9:20-22). As the result of Jesus’ promise to Peter in Mk. 1 :17, how many fish did Peter catch at one haul some months later ? (Acts 2:4-41). ..May we make our own lack of wisdom or tact an excuse for doing nothing to ward winning others? (Psa. 32:8),. Is “repentance” still a part of thé mes sage we are to preach?: (Lk. 24:47). For what purpose .is- the power of speech given us? (Isa, 50:4). — o — G olden T ext I llustration “Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men” (Mark 1: 17). In a revival meeting a Christian, who had long been a church member, was one of several called upon to pray for the unsaved. “OhjBj Lord !” he petitioned,' “Put thy finger upon, the unsaved.” An inner voice immediately said to him : “You are my finger” ' He realized that he had never mentioned the name of Jesus even to unsaved men who were closely associated with him. He had talk ed everything else but Christ and salva tion. It would be well, in case we have made no move to win a soul, to cut our prayers short and hasten, as this man did, to do the thing which gratitude to Christ for our own salvation demands. Let the prayer be more definitely directed to God for showing us the way of approach and giving us the wisdom from His Word to deal with others, . sfe sis D r . J ames M. G ray CIMON (or Simeon) was the original name of Peter, the son of Jonas, and brother of Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist, as Peter also may have been. A
fisherman by occu pation, he was an in habitant of Bethsa- ida on the Sea of Galilee, though sub sequently he dwelt with his family at Capernaum. His first appear ance in Gospel his tory is in John 1:
35-42, when Andrew, having discovered Jesus to be the Messiah, “first findeth his own brother Simon” and “brought him unto Jesus,” on which occasion it was that the latter, beholding him, said, “Thou shalt be called Cephas,” an Aramaic sur name, whose Greek synonym is Petros, or Peter, meaning “a rock” or “stone.” At this time, also, he received his first call to the discipleship of Jesus, although in common with that of others of the Twelve, this call was twice repeated (see Matt. 4:19; Mark 1:17; Luke 5:3 for the second call and Mark 3:14, 15; Luke 6: 13-16 for the third). Some interpret the second as that when he was chosen to be a
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