Sift as Wheat. Luke 22:31-38 In the kingdom of God, things are reversed from the natural and accepted way of determining importance today. Loyalty to our Lord Jesus Christ makes delegated authority possible in His time, not according to our self-estimation or that of other people. Those who are committed to genuine service for our Lord and people do not engage in mere token service, but are faithful servants who are humbled and grateful to the Lord for the privilege of serving.
Luke’s account of the night in the upper room and then at the Garden of Gethsemane leaves out some things written in the other Gospel accounts and puts in some things the others left out. This doesn’t indicate disharmony but rather a unique harmony that emphasizes certain things that are consistent with the theme of the Gospel. For example, in this chapter, consistent with the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the only record of our Lord sweating “as it were” great drops of blood falling to the ground. Those kinds of brief statements would likely have a greater impact on skeptical intellectual Greeks than on emotional and religious Jews.
When the Lord Jesus spoke to Peter and called him “Simon,” his name before he followed the Lord, He went back to the basis of our faith. The use of the name Simon twice emphasized the importance of what He was going to say. In verse thirty-one, the word “you” is plural, meaning “you all,” which would mean Satan wanted to sift (crush) all of the disciples as wheat. He wants to do that to all who follow the Lord. In verse thirty-two, the Lord spoke of Simon in a singular “you” as He told him that He was praying that Peter’s lapse of faith would not be terminal. In contrast to Judas, Jesus’ prayer was that he would turn back to loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the result of what he experienced would ultimately be beneficial and strengthening to other believers.
All that happens to us as individuals affects not only ourselves and our families but also others. Commitment to God and His word will be tested many times throughout our lives. A life of active faith has a positive effect on suffering, sorrowing, and insecure saints who are undergoing trials that discourage them. Not everyone has the same strength of faith that those who have been tested, passed through similar trials, and persevered have.
One of the biggest challenges we face in our walk with the Lord is when something unforeseen and completely unexpected happens in a moment. Our first reaction may not be good, but when we take time to speak to God, even for a brief moment, and realize He was with us in previous testing times, our immediate response is to call upon the name of the Lord and ask Him to meet our present need.
The betrayal of Judas was that he was disloyal and unfaithful to the Lord. His focus, even when he traveled with the Lord, was on his own self-interests. He was conscious of the sin of betraying “innocent blood” and was acutely aware of his evil, but he never returned to the Lord in repentance and a desire for mercy. Peter denied that he told the truth. His repentance was real, and his restoration of fellowship with the Lord was a conversion and commitment to the truth.
Satan’s desire and tactics haven’t changed. What he wanted to happen to Peter and those disciples, he wants to happen to us. He wants to sift (crush as in grinding) us as wheat so we cannot “reproduce” through the preaching of the Gospel. Even though Peter and the disciples were all quite sure they would remain faithful to the Lord, later that same night, they forsook Him and fled. All of us who know and love the Lord must be sure we don’t boast of ourselves and our faithfulness. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Because Peter boasted of his unswerving faithfulness to the Lord, no matter what other people would do, his failure was greater than that of the others. We must learn not to trust in ourselves and, in particular, not to boast of our commitment. “Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he falls.” Our only source of spiritual and lasting strength is the Lord Jesus Christ.
One thing about those disciples: after that first failure, every one of them was tested in extreme ways and died faithful to the Lord and His truth despite all the pressures that were put upon them. The first time they went out preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, they were well accepted. They didn’t even have to take things with them, but ate at other people’s tables and slept in other people’s beds. They didn’t even have to change their clothes. The Lord told them that night that from now on, they had to be ready for Satan to attack them in any way he could.
They would need to supply their own food and a change of clothing, and He warned them they would be in danger. In a figurative sense, they would need a sword if they were going to survive the enemy's attacks. Opposition would be both open and subtle. Relying on their own wisdom and skills would not be enough to defeat their enemies. They would need divine power.
Isaiah’s prophecy about being numbered with the transgressors meant that not only would the Lord be considered a criminal, but those who followed Him would also be considered criminals because of their association with Him. The Gospel of John, chapters 13 through 17, tells us much more about what the Lord Jesus taught that night in the upper room. Our sword is the sword of the word of God. Our work today is to serve our Lord Jesus Christ, and in serving other people in His name, we also serve Him. To make the word of God real to us, we have to “buy the truth and sell it not.” Unfelt truth is usually quite easy to detect when someone speaks with authority about things they have never experienced.
The words people say may be true, but they are not truths learned using a well-used sword. When God’s servants go out to do the King’s business, we must be prepared to use whatever we have to meet our needs without asking anyone for help, doing what God has sent us to do. Our souls need to be fed continually on spiritual food from the scriptures. Our spirits need to be in close communion with God to be kept safely and soundly in the truth of God and the obligation to pass on the truth God has given us for the benefit of others.