How Should We Respond To Failure?

Thank you, Christopher.

Good morning.

Welcome to Christ Community Church.

Bless you for being here today.

I greet you in the name of my Savior and the Savior of my bride.

Bye, Keller.

Have fun.

If you're a student, you're dismissed, of course.

A couple of quick announcements.

This Thursday night, if you are not busy, I'd love to invite you to come to our home.

6 o'clock, 6 to 7.

We have a little Bible study and prayer time.

Now we're doing it on our screen porch.

And this Thursday night it'll be a little different, a little special, because we're going to, since it's the night, literally, Thursday night was the night that Jesus gathered with the disciples and celebrated Jesus' last Passover meal with his dearest friends.

And so I thought we would celebrate the Passover together Thursday night at our home.

So if you are interested in coming and participating, I'd love to invite you to do that.

Okay.

Saturday morning from 9 to 1, we're going to gather at Shelby Farms over near where the horses are and the playground.

There'll be a pavilion there.

You'll see us.

And there'll be lots of things for the kids to do, and we're going to have barbecue.

And really the main purpose is just to enjoy the day and enjoy one another.

So if you can, I sure would love to invite you to come and be a part of that.

And then Sunday is Easter.

Please come.

We'll have a very special morning with some special music.

The kids are doing some things.

And we'll have breakfast.

So we'll start serving breakfast, I guess, around 10 or so.

So please come and be with us next Sunday morning if you can.

Anything I've forgotten?

Everything good?

Okay.

Ma'am?

I don't know.

I don't know.

All right.

Okay.

I'm going to quote that verse again about women being silent in church.

Robin, I was thinking about what you said today and just about the week being filled with special moments and meaning and messages.

Didn't plan that, but anyway.

This morning I was just reading in my Bible, going through the hopefully many of you are reading with me.

And we read about how Jesus sent two of his disciples to go get that donkey.

That was on Sunday morning.

This morning, in the timeline of Jesus, and said, the master needs this.

And um I don't know, that's significant that God needed something.

Because in reality, God needs nothing.

He's complete in himself, he's complete in the Trinity, he needs nothing.

But in his choice to become the God man, to become human, Jesus limited his ability to be completely self-sufficient, and he chose to need.

He needed a drink from that well from that lady.

He needed that boy's lunch.

He needed that donkey.

He needed that fella to carry the cross for him for a part of that journey.

He needed to borrow a grave.

He created the earth.

He didn't need a grave.

Come on.

But he did.

And each of those people embraced that opportunity to meet the need of the Son of God.

Really, I think he would prefer me to say the Son of Man.

Don't you bet that to this very day, 2,000 years later, they're so glad that they did that.

I mean, don't you just know?

Don't know that there's pride, but it's got to feel good to know that I gave him that lunch.

I gave him that cup of water.

I gave him that grave.

I gave him that donkey.

And each one of them gave something unique and specific for the moment.

And just this week, as you go through this week and remember and give thanks, maybe God will give you an opportunity to meet a need in the life of someone that He will interpret as you did it unto me.

Anyway, I want you to think about that.

You ready?

I'm ready.

Okay.

Easter is coming next week.

And Easter conveys lots of different, very significant theological messages.

And we'll talk about one or two of those next week.

But for the last couple of weeks, I've been thinking about what we're going to talk about today.

And I think one of the most significant messages of Easter for me personally is just the simple message that Easter declares, and that is that my failure and your failure are not final.

Our failures are not final.

And I you might think, well, where did what are you talking about?

Where'd you get that?

Well, just as I was reading the last few weeks about all that's going on in the life of Jesus and his last couple of weeks on the earth, it just hit me in a very fresh way how all of the key people in Jesus' life, in particular the twelve, but how each one of those men that knew Jesus, loved Jesus, believed in Jesus, served Jesus, followed Jesus, they failed Jesus a lot.

And they failed Jesus badly.

And I just think sometimes it's good to be reminded of that.

That the people that were closest to Jesus and knew Jesus best and loved Jesus most, they failed Jesus often and they failed Jesus badly.

Let me give you some examples.

I find it very significant that the lady is walking to the well from town, and the disciples are walking from the well to town, and they walk right by that lady.

But they're on a mission.

They have a task.

They've got an objective.

Go get some lunch for Jesus.

And they let the task what?

What mattered most to Jesus?

And that was that lady.

We know that she mattered most to Jesus because when she got to the well, Jesus focused on her.

Wonder what Jesus would have done had 30, 45 minutes later the disciples came back and they said, Jesus said, Where's lunch?

We didn't have time to get lunch because we were ministering to a little sad, marginalized, lonely Samaritan lady.

In your name, Jesus.

But they were so focused on doing the task at hand that they walked right by a lady that needed some loving.

Jesus didn't miss it.

He didn't miss the opportunity, but they did.

I find it interesting that things don't change very much, right?

I mean that we I have a tendency to think that we're so busy now, and we are, um maybe busier than ever, I don't know.

But you know, so much information, so much to do that we can just bypass folk.

But it is an interesting reminder that human beings, in my opinion, don't change very much, haven't changed very much.

So even on this rough and rugged path from here to there, the disciples are like, I got a task.

And so you're kind of Oh, it's me.

I'm not gonna say I I don't see you.

I I don't think that's a new thing.

I think that's an an old, that's our way of being.

Well, let's make it uh let's bring it down to home this week.

Woe does the person that slows down the traffic in the Kroger parking lot or in the Kroger grocery store.

Because everybody's going to get the food to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Get out of my way.

Get out of my way.

Get out of my way.

Don't slow me down.

I got a task.

I'm celebrating the resurrection of my Savior.

And if I need to trample you to accomplish it, or dog cuss you, or speed around so I can get that last parking space, so be it.

Um I think of the time the disciples, they're walking with the one that they had already witnessed numerous times give sight to the blind.

They come across this blind man, you'd think what they might do is go, oh, Jesus, here's another opportunity.

Here's another opportunity.

Jesus, who do you think's the wicked rat in this equation?

Who's sinned?

Is it him or is it his parents?

Can't you feel this, the disappointment in Jesus' face and heart?

You're worrying about who sinned?

Why don't you ask me to do something neat, something life-changing?

They missed the focus.

They missed the whole point.

Jesus was telling them that he was gonna literally suffer, be arrested, and suffer and die.

And most of the disciples could not even hear him speak those words because they were so busy arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

We look at a character in literature like Macbeth, who I don't know if you remember reading Macbeth in high school somewhere along the way, but his tragic flaw was ambition.

Vaulting ambition.

That's the way it goes in the in the play.

And he just stomped on everybody and killed the king, and then killed his best friend, killed everybody, um, to get what he wanted, and in the end, of course, it didn't pay off.

And and so it's interesting that with the and so so he died and he fell.

Um the disciples in the midst of Christ have the exact same flaw.

Yeah.

Vaulting ambition.

Who's gonna sit on the right and who's gonna sit on the left?

It's the exact same.

I've itched my wagon to this up-and-coming future king who's bringing in the kingdom, and I want my seat at the table where I can get my snout in the trough.

And Jesus is going, uh, I was just talking about dying.

Jesus, people in this Samaritan village, they've not welcomed you as you deserve.

I'm not sure they were as concerned about his welcome as they were theirs, but say the word and we'll call down fire and brimstone and demolish them for the glory of God.

Can you, and I could give you example after example.

Peter and James and John are given the incredible privilege of being in the presence of Jesus in his future new creation body in the presence of Moses and Elijah.

You would think they would have the discernment to be taking notes, listening, being quiet, just enjoying the moment.

You want us to build you something?

Y'all need something, y'all need a structure built?

And God the Father had to interrupt him and go, sh just be still, be quiet.

I'm doing something that is beyond your dreams.

Don't mess this up.

Don't mess this up.

Jesus, this Canaanite woman with a demon-possessed daughter, she's bugging us.

Send her away.

That right?

Send this hungry crowd of whiners away.

Send them away.

Jesus, would you stop talking about dying?

We don't like that.

We don't like that.

That's not what messiahs do.

That's not what kings do.

That's not what kings that are ushering in new kingdoms talk about and do.

Jesus, why is Mary anointing you with perfume?

Why number one, why is she in the room?

Number two, why is she touching you?

Number three, why is she wasting money?

Do you see?

Just over and over and over again, those that loved Jesus most, knew him best, and were the most devoted to him, they failed.

They failed.

And I haven't even mentioned when he was arrested, everybody abandoning ship and running for their lives.

I haven't even mentioned Peter denying Jesus multiple times.

Those being so obvious.

My point is simple.

It seems like when you read the Gospels, but really when you read the Bible from beginning to end, what you discover is that the people that know God, love God, and follow God fail a lot.

And the truth be told, that most of them not only failed a lot, they failed badly.

This is another topic for another day, but the bread and fish and the miracles that Jesus performed in front of the disciples, you know, we have a tendency to think, well, if I could see a miraculous thing, well, if I could see a miracle, well, you know, then I would believe.

Again, they saw that over and over and over, and still the next moment they were like, give us more.

It's not enough.

It's almost like they were made of miracle Teflon, where the miracle, the miracles, you know, I realize we live in a world where everybody wants to see a miracle.

I challenge you to see the benefit that those miracles had on anybody in the Bible.

Give me the name of the person whose life was really changed deeply, profoundly long term because they saw or experienced a miracle.

I'm waiting to know the name.

Seems like from beginning to end, God's image bearers continually chose to love, to trust, and to serve themselves instead of loving, trusting, and serving God Himself.

Every age or season or century, whatever time frame you want to choose, every man and woman, young and old, every culture or people group, every family, every person, they all failed.

A lot and badly.

I include Noah.

I include Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and his sons.

I include Moses and David.

I mean, those are the, that's the eighteen in the Old Testament.

Each of them failed a lot, and they failed badly.

Each of them, I think there was a moment when those around them thought, could this be the one?

Could this be the one that's going to, that's going to rise up, that God's going to raise up and use to make right everything that our ancestors messed up.

Just give them a little time.

And when they were given time, what they proved was that they failed a lot and they failed badly.

The greatest example of the failure of image bearers was when Jesus came.

He did nothing but love on people, show kindness to people, tell people the truth, point people to the Father, served people, ministered to people, helped.

He wanted nothing.

He took nothing.

He mistreated no one.

And yet the world said, No thanks.

We don't need your salvation.

And oh, by the way, you've irritated us in offering it, so we're going to kill you.

They failed.

They failed.

What I've come away from in this study is just a couple of thoughts.

One being that I'm convinced that failure is not just a reality in our lives.

It's also a part of God's process of sanctification.

Do we see that?

Do we know that the goal is to run with the horses, is I think Isaiah says.

We're going to run with the horses?

That's the goal.

But before we run with the horses, we've got to learn to crawl.

And then we've got to learn to stand, and then we've got to learn to walk.

And in the crawling and the standing and the walking, we fail a lot.

The question that I think we need to really consider is this.

What are we going to do when we fail?

That's what I'd like for us to think about today and this week.

As we consider the failure of those that knew and loved Jesus most.

What about our failure?

How am I going to respond when I am convicted by the Holy Spirit?

Rebuked by the Word of God.

Confronted by the people of God.

How am I going to respond to that when my failure is identified?

Am I going to bow up in pride?

Fatty and I talked about that this week.

Are we going to bow up in pride and deny and explain and excuse and rationalize and minimize our failure, my failure?

Or am I going to choose humility and own it, ask forgiveness, make things right, and move on?

You know the wonderful thing about, at least for me, the wonderful thing about God's word is that it has taught me many things, one of which being that my failure does not define me.

You understand that?

We live in a world where people's failure defines them.

But according to God's word, our failure does not define us.

The Bible would tell us that what defines us is what God tells us is true.

What God tells us is true about us.

My failure does not define me.

What God says defines me.

I'm not what I do.

I am who God says that I am.

I realize that I live in a world that is trying to convince me that I am who I identify to be.

I am that which I declare to be my truth.

I am who I see myself to be.

But the Bible would tell me that in reality I am who God says I am.

Or think I am or feel that I am.

I am who God says that I am.

Let me give you some examples.

Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Paul says that God promises to use all things, including my failures, for my good, if I will simply love Him and yield to His purposes and plans for my life.

Romans 5 says that God's grace is greater than my failure, and where my failures abound, God's grace abounds even more.

God's word says that God's grace will abound to you and to me, so that in all things at all times, including all of our failures, we will have all that we need so that we abound in our lives.

Colossians chapter 1 says that through Jesus' death, you and I are now holy in the sight of God, without blemish, and free from accusation.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

Isn't that lovely?

You ever worry a little bit?

And not let me go on and hedge you off at the past.

I do.

Do you ever worry a little bit that one day God's going to come back and we're going to have a big judgment situation going on, and I'm going to be accused by God, by those that have gone before me, maybe by some angels that I've somehow aggravated or wronged, maybe by y'all.

Paul says that through Christ's death we are now holy in his sight, without blemish, and we are free from accusation.

And then in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul says that God will keep us till the end, so that we will be thoughtless on the day of Jesus' return because God is faithful.

I love that, not because we're faithful, but because He is faithful.

I appreciate the tense of these verbs.

Yes.

Right?

So they're all in present tense.

You we are already forgiven.

We it it's not like we will be or we will no longer be accused in the future.

It isn't that at all.

If you go back and read all that, it's all present tense.

So these things have already happened.

And time is relative, um, and so it's it's an earthly thing, not a heavenly thing.

So these things are they are it is it is regardless of how you feel, regardless of what someone has just said to you, which can be very painful and accusatory and terrible, but nonetheless, these things already are.

Yes.

And I think that's a place we don't live enough in.

I think you are right.

I can tell you without hesitation that the that most of the people, there's a couple of exceptions, just so that I'm totally truthful, but the overwhelming majority of the people in my life who have impacted me the most are not the people that I put over in this little perfect category.

They're not the ones that have impacted me the most.

I'm not saying that I don't know some that are practically perfect, like Mary Poppins.

And I'm not saying they haven't impacted me, but they're not the ones whose impact has been the most profound.

The people that have impacted me the most are the people who have failed a lot, but they keep getting back up and trying again.

That's the ones that have impacted me.

I heard a man say one time that God makes very long putts with very crooked putters.

I love that.

I love that because it's true in my life.

People that are very crooked butters, God has used them to impact me profoundly.

And I would like to believe that God has used me to impact a few people too.

And I can flat guarantee you I'm a crooked butter.

So what do we do when we fail?

What are we supposed to do when we fail?

Uh there's nobody in this room, and I'm not trying to sound humble, I'm telling you the truth.

There's nobody in this room that has failed as often or as deeply as I have.

And I understand as well as any of you the despair that is associated with knowing that we have failed, that I have failed.

The pain, the disappointment, the shame, the regret that I have caused myself and that I have caused others.

I'm not minimizing or making light of our failure.

Failure comes with a cost.

And I'm not making light of that in any way.

But I do think it's important when we read the gospels and when we read this final week in the life of Jesus and how those that knew Jesus and loved Jesus and followed Jesus best, they failed a lot and they failed badly.

And yet, when you jump to the next, um, well, depending on which gospel you're when you read those, when you read John and you jump to the next book, those people that failed a lot and failed badly were the very ones that God used to turn the world upside down.

That's what their critics said about them.

They have turned the world upside down.

What I mean by that is simply this.

They didn't quit.

Those that knew Jesus and loved Jesus and followed Jesus and failed Jesus a lot and badly.

They understood what I hope that you and I will understand today.

And that is this.

When it comes to failure, what I do next can take many shapes, many options, many sizes.

There's really only one wrong option, one bad option, and that's to quit.

We must not let our failure cause us to quit, because the Bible would declare that failure is not final.

I realize the heaviness, I've experienced the heaviness.

I experience present tense, the heaviness that comes with failure, and yet Jesus says, Come to me, all you that are weary and heavy laden.

Come to me.

Those of you that have failed miserably and are weighted down with that failure, come to me.

Jesus is okay with my failure.

He's okay with your failure.

Don't forget the end of that.

Come to me, and I will give you peace.

Yes.

Jesus came on the promise.

He came for failures.

He said, I did not come for the healthy and the righteous.

I came for those that are unhealthy and sinful.

The images that you see of Jesus in the Gospels.

You see Jesus in uh, Lord help us, I think it's Matthew 18, where these stupid sheep keep wandering off.

And what does Jesus the shepherd do?

He chases after them.

When they wander off, what does Jesus do?

He chases after them.

You see in Luke chapter 15, what does Jesus do in the image of the Father?

Luke 15 · chapter mention

What does he do when the sons leave abandoned ship?

He welcomes them home.

What does Jesus do in the image of a king in Matthew 18 again, where we incur these huge debts because of failure?

Everything goes south, everything falls apart, everything that I've decided was wrong, and I incurred this huge debt.

What does Jesus do?

He's a king that forgives millions and millions of tons of failure.

He's the shepherd that seeks those that fail.

He's the dad that welcomes home failures.

He's the king that forgives failures.

We don't need to quit.

We don't need to quit.

We need to own our failure.

We need to not make excuses.

We need to confess it.

We need to ask forgiveness.

But we just don't need to quit.

My favorite part of the resurrection day story is um for next week, I suppose, but um Peter, who had so betrayed Christ three times, when the women go to the uh tomb, and he is uh he is there, and they he says, Go tell my disciples, go tell somebody about this.

Look, look, look what's happened.

Go tell my disciples.

And Peter.

Especially Peter.

Yeah.

Especially the one who failed the most.

Yes.

Tell him it's okay.

Yes.

Yes.

I love that detail.

That's a good detail.

Thank you.

We don't need to let our failure cause us to quit.

One thing about I've I've been, maybe some people have some of y'all have sort of rebuked me a little bit for being a little too transparent about my dad.

But I don't think he minded me being transparent about him.

He failed a lot in his life as a dad and as a husband.

But one of the great things about my dad was that my dad didn't quit and he ended the last season of his life, the last 15, 20 years, I don't know exactly.

My dad was a great husband.

And my dad was a great dad.

He failed, but he learned from his failure.

He let God forgive him and heal him, and he wound up being a great man, a great husband, and a great dad.

That's the point.

That's the goal.

It's not, oh, he should have never failed.

I should have never failed.

You should have.

That's no good.

That's no good.

When we fail, not if, but when we fail, how am I going to respond?

Those of you that have been terrible mates, one of my dearest, closest, favorite, most wonderful people on the planet was a lady named Miss Sally.

And uh she uh tried marriage, I think, four times, and her response was, Laura, marriage just doesn't agree with me.

But for most of us, for I and I'm not saying anything about that, it was her option, and that's fine.

But for most of us, the option's not.

Well, I tried that and messed that up.

I failed, so I'm gonna move on.

I'll try golf or bunko.

No, it's okay to try manage again.

It's okay.

Just do great the next learn from what you failed at and do good next time.

I was terrible as a parent.

Be a great grandparent.

I was a selfish, money-driven jerk when I was working.

Uh you know, give back now.

We don't have to live in our failure.

We can become different and better.

We can let our failure change us, not block us.

And I'd say one last thing is we got to give other people grace.

We got to accept grace when we fail.

And we got to give other people grace when they fail.

Instead of being shocked and appalled and offended, how dare you fail me! Am I willing to give people grace when they fail?

Like I desperately need it when I fail.

And then start over.

Start over and do something great.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 that God has chosen the foolish and the weak to confound the wise and the strong.

Some of you have dang near, and if you, if it's not you, it's those that you know.

The church maybe has failed you.

Christian leaders have failed you.

I wow, what a shocker.

No, nobody's shocked at that.

But do we give grace to the body of Christ?

Do we give grace to the servants of Christ?

Do we do are do we approach life as if failure is a part of the journey for yourself and for others and respond accordingly?

Anything you want to add, friend?

No.

I'm very thankful that God let me be married to somebody who gives grace when those around them fail.

Especially those that fail a lot and fail badly.

I want to be like that.

I want to learn to be like that.

I want us as a church to learn to be like that.

God wants to use you to do great things.

Maybe not be a pastor or an evangelist or, you know, whatever, I don't know.

But some of us, we've tried things and failed, and then we just let that failure stop us from doing anything else.

I appeal to you, aren't you glad that Peter didn't make that choice?

John didn't make that choice.

Those men failed a lot and badly, but they got back up and they attempted great things for God.

And God honored and blessed that and used them to change the world.

He wants to do that with all of us, if we'll let him.

Okay.

Um Mick and Allison, come up here and help me.

Adam and Sarah, y'all come up here and help me.

Y'all let Narnjou keep this month, so come on.

Come up here and help me.

Y'all come over on this side, please.

We're gonna celebrate the Lord's Supper.

Y'all grab one or the other and stand up here a little closer to me.

Thank you.

I hold in my hands bread and wine, that which represents the body and the blood of our Savior, that which represents the failure of all of God's image bearers, those that were physically present, and those that have come along thereafter, including me and you.

And what these symbols declare is that our failure is not final, that God's grace is greater than our failure, and that there is hope and forgiveness and mercy and welcome offered to every one of us regardless of our failure.

Let's rejoice in that this morning.

And if that is your confidence, I'm trusting in what Jesus did on the cross when he offered his body and shed his blood.

That's what I'm trusting in to get me into heaven.

Not my good deeds, but his good deed.

Not God being impressed with me, but the Father being impressed with the Son.

Not with my righteousness, because I have none.

I'm trusting in the righteousness that Jesus had when he lived on this earth.

If that's your hope, that's your prayer, that's your salvation, then I invite you to come and eat and drink.

We've got, uh you can take some of this bread and take one of the uncovered cups, or you can take the cups that are covered.

Okay?

So let me pray for us.

Father God.

I'm so happy to have been in your house today.

I'm so happy to be a part of a group that does not condemn me for my failure.

I'm so happy to be the child of a God that doesn't condemn me for my failure.

Dear Holy Spirit, would you help us today to believe and embrace what you say to be true about us.

Not what others say or what we say or feel or think, but what you say.

We rejoice in what you did on the cross as our means of forgiveness, our means of righteousness, our means of eternal life.

We bless you for offering that to us and we accept it.

And we eat and we drink today just to remember and to declare to one another that your life and death and resurrection are our hope of salvation and eternal life.

For that we are very grateful.

Amen.

You come.