Let us not fail due to lack of preparation!

Over 12,500 members and guests from Hesse / Rhineland Palatinate / Saarland and the countries of Greece, Luxembourg, Turkey, and Cyprus took part—either in person or by video transmission—in a divine service on Good Friday, 3 April 2015. Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider based his sermon, which he delivered in the city hall of Kassel, Germany, on a passage from Luke 22: 61-62: “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ So Peter went out and wept bitterly.”

Jesus’ preparation led Him to victory in His time of trial

“Good Friday is not necessarily the most popular celebration for Christians, because most of them think, ‘Oh, but that is rather a dreadful day. People are always talking about blood, suffering, and wounds,'” said Chief Apostle Schneider as he began the divine service. However, the reaction of Jesus in His time of trial was far more important than the suffering itself. “Here I must always admire the Lord. He handled this in such masterful fashion,” said the Chief Apostle appreciatively.

The Chief Apostle went on to explain: “The Lord Jesus prepared Himself very intensively for this time of trial, for this day.” He then illustrated three elements of how Jesus had prepared Himself:

• He inquired into the will of God. “In the time beforehand He occupied Himself very intensively with the will of His Father. Again and again He searched and asked and investigated and contemplated: ‘What is it that the Father actually wants?'”
• He humbly asked for help. “He was well aware: ‘I will not manage this on My own. I cannot do this. I absolutely need the help of My Father.’ He was very humble and knew that He would never be able to handle this without God.”
• He wrestled with Himself. “And then, when things became really serious—or when He became aware, ‘Now the end is coming’—He wrestled very intensively with Himself and concluded: ‘I must do the will of My Father!'”

Without preparation, Peter failed in his time of trial

Peter did not follow the example of Jesus. “He too came into a time of affliction, but failed completely. How did that happen? Why was one of them so strong and the other so weak? It was all about being prepared,” explained Chief Apostle Schneider.

• He resisted the plan of God. “When the Lord told him what was to occur, namely that He would have to suffer and that He would have to die, Peter said, ‘No! There is no way that will happen!'”
• He rejected help. “Peter was very sure of himself. When the Lord warned him—’Be careful! You will betray Me and deny Me!’—Peter said, ‘Me!? I will never deny You!'”
• He fell asleep in sadness instead of fighting. “And whereas Jesus wrestled intensively with Himself, what did Peter do? He slept! Holy Scripture relates that he and the other disciples were ‘sleeping from sorrow.'”

We could become weak like Peter

“So what does this have to do with us in our time today? Peter’s denial is also relevant for us.” Chief Apostle Schneider then drew a parallel to Peter. “We too believe in the Lord Jesus. We too believe in the gospel. We too love the Lord. However,” said the Chief Apostle, “At times we too are just as weak as Peter was.”

• We look for excuses and try to blame our neighbour. “We sin, but we never want to admit it. And then we invent all kinds of excuses, and even accuse our neighbour. At times we hide for some very foolish reasons.”
• We look for the easy way out, instead of putting the doctrine into practice. “But then afflictions and difficult moments come our way and we begin to think, ‘Oh well, in this case I simply cannot act in accordance with the gospel.'”
• We are not always true disciples. “As children of God we are to give testimony of the activity and power of our Lord. Do we always give such testimony? We celebrate Holy Communion. The Lord Jesus Himself said, ‘By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.’ And at times, when we look into the congregations, we see the various issues that still exist, all the things that have not yet been forgiven, and the situations where there is no reconciliation, and we wonder, ‘What has become of our love and unity?'”

Paying attention to our preparation

“Do you see how weak Peter was? That also happens to us.” Chief Apostle Schneider then pointed to the love of Jesus. “Jesus only looks at us with His full love. So let us now become aware: ‘Indeed, Lord, I have also been weak.’ And then the Lord Jesus forgives us.”

“But you can do better the next time! Pay attention to your preparation. Just think about Peter. Why was he so weak? His preparation was not in order. The Lord does not make any reproaches to us whatsoever. He forgives us. Nothing has changed about His love. But He does have a wish for you and me: “Please try to do better next time when it comes to your preparation. Take a moment to occupy yourself very intimately with the will of God. What is it that the Lord wants? The Lord Jesus Himself said that we would be persecuted for the sake of God’s word. We are in this world. And it is God’s will that we should live in this world. And that is just how it is in this world: if we choose to live in accordance with the gospel and follow it diligently, if we really desire to be honest and truly seek to forgive, if we desire to heed the Ten Commandments in all seriousness, our lives will not be easy,” said the Chief Apostle in summary.