I have been thinking about the life of Peter and something that I believe speaks powerfully to the Church, and particularly to leaders in our generation.
Peter became one of the great apostolic fathers in the birthing of the early Church nearly two thousand years ago. He stood on the Day of Pentecost and boldly proclaimed Jesus Christ, and about three thousand people responded. He became a courageous witness of the resurrection and one of the foundational leaders of the emerging Church.
Yet when we look closely at Peter’s journey, we discover something interesting.
Peter was strongly rebuked, reproved, corrected, humbled, and even confronted publicly, and yet he did not turn away from Jesus or abandon the process.
Peter wasn’t perfect.
He was passionate, but sometimes presumptuous.
Yet Peter remained close enough to Jesus to be corrected by Him.
And perhaps that was one of the secrets of what Peter eventually became.
REVELATION DOES NOT PUT US BEYOND CORRECTION
One of the most remarkable examples occurs in Matthew 16.
Jesus asks His disciples: “Who do you say that I am?”
Peter responds: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus tells Peter that flesh and blood had not revealed this to him, but His Father in heaven. Jesus then speaks those well-known words about the rock upon which He would build His Church.
What a moment!
Peter had received genuine revelation from God.
But only a few verses later, when Jesus begins explaining that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and rise again, Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes Him.
Jesus responds with some of the strongest words Peter would ever hear:
“Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me…” Matthew 16:23
There is an important lesson here:
Yesterday’s revelation does not exempt us from today’s correction.
Being used by God does not mean everything we think, say, or do is automatically right.
Giftedness does not eliminate our need for character development.
Anointing does not eliminate accountability.
And revelation does not make us uncorrectable.
PETER STAYED
Imagine how Peter could have responded.
He could have become offended.
But Peter stayed.
That may be one of the most overlooked qualities of his life. Peter stayed close enough to Jesus to keep being corrected.
Too often today, when people are corrected, challenged, or confronted, their immediate response is to leave.
Leave the church.
Certainly, there are times when unhealthy, manipulative, controlling, or abusive relationships must be addressed. Biblical submission never requires us to tolerate spiritual abuse.
But there is also a danger on the opposite side. We can become so afraid of unhealthy authority that we reject healthy correction.
Sometimes we call something “toxic” simply because it made us uncomfortable.
Sometimes we call something “rejection” when God may be using it as correction.
And sometimes we walk away from the very relationships God intended to use to mature us.
GOD PRUNES FRUITFUL BRANCHES
Jesus gives us another important picture in John 15:
“Every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” John 15:2
Pruning can be uncomfortable. Things we have become accustomed to may be cut away.
Attitudes may be confronted.
Motives may be exposed.
Self-confidence may have to die.
But the Gardener sees something in the branch that the branch cannot yet see in itself. He sees future fruit.
I have learned through the years that there are things God will allow in our lives, not to destroy us, but to develop us.
The Book of Hebrews says:
“For whom the LORD loves He chastens…”
That phrase is important: “trained by it.”
We can go through correction without being changed by correction.
The question is not merely: Have I been corrected?
The greater question is: What is correction producing in me?
BITTER OR BETTER?
True character is often revealed by how we respond when someone tells us something we don’t want to hear.
Or can I come before God and sincerely pray: “Lord, is there something here You want me to see?”
But even when someone delivers correction imperfectly, there may still be something God wants us to learn. The mature person learns to separate the method of delivery from the possibility of truth.
“He who receives correction is prudent.” Proverbs 15:5“Rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool.” Proverbs 17:10
PETER’S FAILURE BECAME HIS CLASSROOM
Peter had boldly declared: “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.”
There was sincerity in Peter’s statement. But there was also self-confidence.
Jesus knew Peter better than Peter knew himself. Before morning, Peter denied Jesus three times. The man who believed he was stronger than everyone else discovered the weakness of his own flesh.
Luke tells us that after Peter’s final denial, Jesus turned and looked at him.
Peter remembered Jesus’ words. And he went out and wept bitterly. Something broke in Peter that night.
But Jesus had already told him:
“Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you… and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” Luke 22:31–32
Jesus saw beyond Peter’s failure.
He saw the apostolic father Peter would become. He saw beyond the fisherman.
FROM FISHERMAN TO SHEPHERD
After the resurrection, Jesus meets Peter beside the Sea of Galilee. Three times Jesus asks him: “Do you love Me?”
“Feed My lambs.”
The one who had denied Jesus three times is given three opportunities to reaffirm his love.
But restoration wasn’t merely about making Peter feel better. Restoration was connected to responsibility. Jesus was taking a broken fisherman and forming a shepherd.
Peter’s failure did not disqualify him. It humbled him. And perhaps Peter could now shepherd broken people differently because he knew what it was to be broken himself.
He could strengthen others because Jesus had strengthened him.
His wound became wisdom.
EVEN APOSTLES NEED CORRECTION
Peter’s correction did not end after Pentecost. Years later, Peter was already a respected apostolic leader when Paul tells us in Galatians 2:11
“I withstood him to his face…”
Think about that.
Peter had walked with Jesus.
And Peter could still be corrected.
If Peter wasn’t beyond correction, neither are we. One of the dangers of increased influence is that we can gradually surround ourselves with people who tell us what we want to hear.
The larger the platform becomes, the smaller the circle of people may become who feel free to tell us the truth. That is dangerous.
If nobody can question us anymore, challenge us anymore, or lovingly confront us anymore, we may not have become more mature. We may simply have become more insulated.
BETTER TO WALK WITH A LIMP
This reminds me of another theme I’ve taught through the years concerning Jacob wrestling with God.
He came out walking with a limp. But he also came out with a new name. Sometimes we would rather have our old walk than God’s new identity because transformation can be painful.
Yet I would rather walk with a limp after encountering God than walk confidently in my own strength without Him.
Peter had his own kind of limp.
He would never forget the courtyard.
But neither would he forget breakfast beside the sea.
He would never forget: “Do you love Me?” And: “Feed My sheep.”
Peter eventually became the man who would write:
“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God…” 1 Peter 5:5–6
CORRECTION IS NOT REJECTION
This is something I believe we desperately need to recover. Correction is not necessarily rejection. A father’s correction can actually be evidence of relationship.
Hebrews 12 connects God’s discipline directly to sonship. A loving father does not discipline because he hates his child.
Likewise, God sometimes loves us enough to confront what would eventually destroy us.
He loves us enough to prune what would limit our fruitfulness.
The question is: Will we stay in the process?
WHEN YOU HAVE RETURNED, STRENGTHEN YOUR BRETHREN
I especially love Jesus’ words to Peter:
“When you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
God wasn’t merely restoring Peter for Peter. He was restoring Peter for the people Peter would eventually strengthen.
Peter’s correction was preparation for his calling.
His breaking was preparation for his building.
There comes a point when God wants to take what He has worked in us and begin working it through us for others. That is the journey from simply being gifted to becoming trustworthy.
From disciple to father.
ARE WE STILL CORRECTABLE?
So perhaps one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is not simply: “Am I called?” “Am I gifted?” or even: “Is God using me?”
The question may be: “Am I still correctable?”
Can God still interrupt me?
Those are questions of character.
After all these years of ministry, I remain convinced that God is far more interested in who we are becoming than merely what we are accomplishing.
Platforms come and go.
I have often said: While men reach for thrones to build their own kingdoms, Jesus reached for a towel to wash men’s feet.
The Kingdom of God is built differently.
It is built through humility.
Peter’s life reminds us:
You can be rebuked and still be loved.
And sometimes the correction we resist today may actually be preparing us for the responsibility God desires to entrust to us tomorrow.
Don’t despise the pruning.
Stay close to Jesus.
Because sometimes correction isn’t an interruption of our calling. It is part of God’s preparation for it.
BY DOUG STRINGER