Jesus and My Failure

So I had a story from my childhood come to me as I was preparing for the message this week.

And it's one of the most important things that ever happened in my life.

Didn't feel like it at the time, felt like one of the worst things that had ever happened to me at the time.

But you know how when you look back at your life, you can see moments that in at the time were horrible and awful, but now you go, that that was so important.

I'm so glad that happened to me.

And so the story is I was in the eighth grade.

And this is gonna shock some of you.

I was a mouthy little kid.

Like I was just, I was always mouthy.

That would be a perfect word to describe me.

I mouthed off to my teachers, I was mouthy in class, I was just like a walking mouth.

That's just that's just what I was.

And uh in eighth grade, I played on the the basketball team for the eighth grade at my school.

And our eighth grade team, that the school I went to was seventh, eighth, and ninth, because the high school was so full that the ninth graders had to be in the same building as the middle school.

So, you know, usually you're in the eighth grade, you're the oldest, eighth grade was the middle for for me up in Wisconsin, and so I'm playing for the eighth grade team.

We get a chance to scrimmage the ninth grade team, and we beat them, which is awesome, unless you're on the ninth grade team, right?

And so it was one of those moments where I could have handled it with grace.

I could have said, like, hey, you know, good job, guys, but me being you know the mouthy, cocky eighth grader that I was, I started like running my mouth, and I specifically focused on this one kid on the ninth grade team.

Now, looking back, this kid was six foot two, six foot three.

I was five foot four, maybe.

Why did I feel the confidence to mouth off to this kid who I didn't really even know?

I don't know.

I was just like, I was riding high.

And so I mouthed off this kid, he mouthed back, and then I stepped it up, and it was one of those things that started to build, and I think it ended with me saying something like, bring it, which was a stupid thing for me to say.

Like if you tell someone, if you're a man and you tell another man to bring it, you better be ready for whatever he's gonna bring.

And eighth grade mouthing me, I've never been in like a real fight other than with my brothers, which doesn't really fully count.

And so he basically tells me that he's gonna find me at school, and he's he's just gonna beat the ever living daylight out of me.

And he says this.

And I, again, because I'm trying to like hold on to whatever masculinity I've I've faked at this point in time in the conversation, I'm again, I'm like at any time.

And so, anyway, I find out after that exchange that this kid's actually like legit, that he's been expended, he's been expelled multiple times.

I didn't know that.

That he's like, the school's just like littered with kids that he's beat up.

And I'm next on the list, okay?

And so I'm like, what am I gonna do?

What am I gonna do?

And and what I decided to do was trust the commitment of my friends.

That's what I decided to do.

I had two or three guys who were on the team, and they said to me, Justin, don't worry about it.

We've got your back.

Like if he comes up, it's not just gonna be him against you, like we're a team, we're we're with you, you know.

And I'm like, all right, yeah, yeah.

Let's let's go.

And so, you know, a week or so later, I'm in the hallway, shortly before Christmas.

This is one of my favorite Christmas memories, and uh, and sure enough, I turn around from closing my locker, and there's this dude.

Well, it's more like there's this dude, he's here.

And I got two of my two of my guys, one on my left, one on my right, like they're with me, the same guys who said, if anything happens, we are with you.

So I'm like, okay, okay, this is it's happening.

And so he he kind of comes at me and I decide to punch him and I connect.

Doesn't do much.

Doesn't have a whole lot of negligence, it's like very negligible impact on him.

My two buddies, the you know, the ones that have my back, they're just gone.

They are like, they are as far away as possible.

Um, they're basically like manning the line that is forming to watch this fight unfold.

That's what they're doing.

Um, and and then he hits me, has way more impact than my hit had on him.

And then he hits me a few more times.

It's great, my girlfriend was over watching.

That was fun.

And uh, you know, it's like time for me to be like, hey, boom, boom, boom.

I get hit so I don't know how many times I get hit in the face.

I've got like a black eye, bloody nose, I'm bleeding.

And I I was, I mean, he just beat me up.

Just straight up beat me up in front of all my friends, in front of everyone at the school.

And I learned a lot that day.

I really did.

I learned there's like this phrase that's a cliche, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

That is stupid.

That is not that might happen every once in a while.

It is like, first you have to get them to fall.

That's way harder, right?

So it's more like the bigger they are, the harder they hit.

That would be a good phrase.

Um, and so no, I just got straight up pummeled.

But but looking back now, it's like one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life.

Because if there was ever an eighth grade kid who needed to be punched in the face to learn to shut his mouth, it was me.

It was me.

And I'm still trying to learn that lesson in life.

Like it's slowly sinking in.

But it but I I do honestly look back at that moment and and I'm grateful for it.

Now, the the one thing though that still stings, I'll be honest.

The one thing that still stings, physical stuff, that's healed up, I'm fine.

But it's still that feeling of your friends betraying you.

Like here you are, and you're the it's the moment, like it's the moment that everything's been building toward, and you're at your most vulnerable place, and you've got people alongside you who have promised you that they're gonna be with you no matter what, and in that moment they scatter.

Like, like I think I've forgiven them in my heart, because they were 13 at the time, which I think I should keep that in perspective.

But still, to this day, like if I bumped into him, I'd be like, hey, you remember that one time?

When you know, I don't know if you remember this or not, but like you're standing next to me, and that guy punched me in the face, and you like ran away, and you said you have my bag.

It's fine, I'm I'm over it, but it's fine, you know.

The story we're we're looking at today is Jesus in a sort of similar moment, just way more intense.

Things have been building for a while, and he's in a lot of trouble.

And he's in a lot of trouble because of things he's done and things he's said, except instead of being like me, where he's just mouthy and arrogant, he's spoken the truth about God.

And the truth is divisive by nature.

Like people who tell the truth make enemies.

And Jesus has spoken the truth, and he has many enemies, and the moment is coming very soon where he's gonna be face to face with those enemies.

And he's got friends that have promised they will be with him to the end.

And they won't be.

And he knows it.

And so, for context, we're gonna be looking at John chapter 13.

John 13 · chapter mention

This is a moment in Jesus' life often referred to as the Last Supper.

We're calling this series the last meal, where we're just exploring this final night that Jesus has with his friends before he's arrested.

It's so clear that many of the things he's taught them have not sunk in.

They haven't gotten it yet.

And by the way, not getting it is one of the first skills you master as a disciple.

So if you're trying to be a disciple of Jesus and sometimes you just don't get it, congratulations.

Not getting it is something that disciples have to get really good at before they get it.

His disciples haven't gotten it, it hasn't all clicked, and Jesus is trying with this one last night to bring it home for them.

But in the midst of that, he's also painfully aware of the fact that they are going to abandon him when he needs them the most.

And so he decides to address that.

In verse 13, Jesus says, I'm not saying these things to all of you, and he's just gotten done washing their feet and teaching them about service, what it's going to be like to be great in his kingdom.

If you weren't here last week, you can listen to that.

He says, I know the ones I have chosen, but this fulfills the scripture that says, The one who eats my food has turned against me.

I tell you this beforehand, so that when it happens, you will believe that I am the Messiah.

I tell you the truth.

Anyone who welcomes my messenger is welcoming me.

Anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me.

Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.

The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean.

The disciple Jesus loved, that would be John, who wrote this, was sitting next to Jesus at the table.

Simon Peter motioned to him to ask, Who's he talking about?

So that disciple leaned over to Jesus and asked, Lord, who is it?

And Jesus responded, It's the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.

And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him.

And then Jesus told him, Hurry and do what you're going to do.

None of the other disciples at the table knew what Jesus meant, since Judas was their treasurer.

Some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor.

So Judas left at once, going out into the night.

And as soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory.

And God will be glorified because of him.

And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once.

Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer.

And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can't come where I'm going.

So now I'm giving you a new commandment.

Love each other just as I have loved you.

You should love each other.

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

Simon Peter asked, Lord, where are you going?

And Jesus replied, You can't go with me now, but you'll follow me later.

Why can't I come now, Lord?

He asked.

I'm ready to die for you.

And Jesus answered, Die for me.

I tell you the truth, Peter.

Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.

So there's two main disciples that are the focal point of abandoning Jesus in this moment.

You've got Judas and you've got Peter.

Now, Judas we're gonna kind of put to the side because Judas is a little different.

Judas does not mess up, he doesn't fail in the sense that he just has a bad moment.

Judas is actively, deliberately looking for opportunities to betray Jesus.

He is working, intentionally trying to find a chance to bring him down, and it's horrific because he's playing like he's Jesus' friend, he's eating at the table, he let Jesus wash his feet, Jesus dipped some bread into a bowl.

This is part of a Seder meal, which is a meal that they would have had at Passover, and dipping that into the bowl would have been a sign of honor.

He receives that.

He's just faking it, looking for a chance to betray Jesus for his own gain.

That's a whole level of betrayal.

And look, if any of you is like, oh, I'm a lot like Judas, um, you know, we'll have a conversation later.

Come find me later.

And if if that's a situation you're in, just stop it.

Stop doing that.

Don't do that.

But I don't I don't think we have a lot of Judases in the room.

So I'm okay, I'm okay putting Judas to the side right now and focusing instead on Peter.

Because I think we can all relate to what Peter is about to experience.

This story, this situation gives us a really amazing glimpse into how Jesus responds to our failure.

And so, if none of us fail, if if you never struggle with failure, this message is not for you.

You can check out, you can go home right now.

But for the few of us who tend to fail, it's important for us to understand how does Jesus respond to my failure?

You know, Peter makes this bold statement.

He says, I will die for you.

And I think Peter means that.

I think Peter loves Jesus so, so much.

Sometimes I feel like this in my own life.

I love Jesus, I'm just not always very good at loving Jesus.

Like I love him, but I'm bad at loving him sometimes.

And it can be like that with my spouse, it can be like that with my kids, it can be like that with my friends.

Like I can love passionately, but fall very short of expressing that love.

So Peter in his mind, he's so dedicated to Jesus that he can't even envision ever, ever failing Jesus, ever not being there for Jesus.

But Jesus looks at him as Peter makes this declaration, Jesus, I would, I would die for you.

And Jesus says, Peter, before the night is done, you're gonna deny that you even know me.

Not once, not twice, but three times.

I can only imagine what Peter must have been thinking in that moment.

There's some really powerful truths, though, to encourage all of us.

Because we all fail.

We all fall short, but that's just being a human.

And how Jesus responds to us in those moments is really cool.

And so I want to look at a few basic observations that are intended to encourage us when we inevitably fail.

Now, number one is simply this Jesus anticipates our failure.

Jesus anticipates our failure.

Like Peter does not see it coming.

Peter does not believe that he's gonna fail Jesus.

And if you know the story, Jesus gets arrested and Peter grabs a sword and he tries to attack the man that's taking Jesus into custody, cuts his ear off.

I mean, Jesus is like, or Peter rather is is he is on fire for Jesus.

You could say that.

He's passionate, he's fiery, like he's ready to go.

And in his mind, I'll do anything for Jesus.

And I don't know why.

Maybe it was the fact that he had seen Jesus do so many powerful things that he couldn't imagine Jesus not being powerful and seeing Jesus actually arrested and in chains.

Later that night, maybe that just took the wind out of his sails so much that he feels vulnerable for the first time around Jesus in a long time.

But while pretty much all of the disciples run, Peter follows behind.

Peter and John are likely the only two that actually sort of went with Jesus.

John ended up going all the way to the cross, but Peter gets a portion of the way there.

He makes it to where Jesus is being put through this sham of a trial with the high priest.

Peter's sort of watching from afar in a courtyard where people have gathered, and we see this in Matthew chapter 26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

It says, Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, a servant girl came over to him and said, You were one of those with Jesus, the Galilean.

But Peter denied it in front of everyone.

I don't know what you're talking about, he said.

Later out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.

Again, Peter denied it, this time with an oath.

I don't even know the man, he said.

A little later, some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and said, You must be one of them.

We can tell by your Galilean accent.

And Peter swore, A curse on me if I'm lying.

I don't know the man.

And immediately the rooster crowed.

Suddenly Jesus' words flashed through Peter's mind before the rooster crows, You will deny three times that you even know me.

And he went away weeping bitterly.

Weeping bitterly.

He's broken by his failure.

He did not see this coming.

I don't know if you've ever had a moment like that where you fail and it just breaks you because you never thought you could fail at that level.

Like it's it's one thing to be surprised by the failure of others.

Like I was surprised when my friends bailed on me that day.

I was, for a moment, surprised.

But it's a whole other thing when you're surprised and shocked by your own failure.

When you find yourself in a position and you think to yourself, I never would have imagined being here.

I never would have imagined messing up to this degree.

Like, how did this happen?

And we live in a culture and in a world that doesn't like failure, and we don't like failures.

We live in a performance-oriented world where you're often only as good as your most recent accomplishment, or how you've done this week, or this month, or this year.

So we can have a really tough relationship with failure.

But Jesus is not shocked by Peter's failure.

Not at all.

I mean, Peter was so adamant.

Matthew chapter 26 gives us another insight into that conversation, a little bit of a different angle.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

And it says in verse 33 that Peter had declared that night, even if everyone else deserts you, he's like, Jesus, I can sort of see these other guys doing it.

Like that kind of makes sense.

They're weak.

Like I he's he could go.

Come on.

He's he's definitely not going all the way with you.

Let's just be honest.

But Jesus, me?

Even if all of these guys desert you, I will never desert you.

I will never desert you.

And then Jesus says to him, No, you will.

You'll deny me.

Peter's shocked.

He's broken.

He's weeping.

Jesus isn't surprised at all.

What does this tell us about our relationship with Jesus?

Well, it tells us that Jesus understands on the front end that we're going to fail.

And it does not deter anything in regards to what he's going to do for us.

I mean, think about that for a second.

Like, you're Jesus, you've spent years with these guys.

You know that you're about to go to the cross.

And if you believe that even though it's going to be hard, they're going to stick with you till the end.

Like that could be enough emotional motivation to finish the job.

If you're Jesus and you know you're about to face all this pain, but all these guys that you've spent your life pouring into, you've given them everything, you've taught them who God is, you've done miracles.

Like, for some of them, very personally, like you've you've healed their family members.

If you knew and believed in your heart that, but you know what, everyone else might deny me, but they're gonna be with me to the end.

They're gonna be there.

I can get through this because I have their support.

You could see that.

Nope, Jesus knows.

You guys are gonna leave me.

You're gonna scatter.

Peter, I know you think you've got it.

I know you think you're the one.

You're gonna fail me as as intensely as anybody.

And if you're Jesus and you know that, you know that's gonna happen.

Does that not make it a little harder to follow through with the whole going to the cross and suffering and dying thing?

I mean, think about it.

In our lives, we make big commitments to people all the time.

But usually when you make a big commitment to someone, it's in a situation where they make a big commitment to you and you believe they're gonna follow through with it.

Like you're expecting them to hold up their end of the deal.

So your commitment to them is kind of based on your anticipation of them making a commitment to you.

Not many people would stand at an altar and say, I do, to someone passionately if they were like, also, I know they're gonna break their vows, like all of them, real fast.

But yes, I do.

Right?

But that's what Jesus does with us.

It is what he does with us.

He knows we're gonna fail.

And how how incredible does that make his love?

That knowing in advance that you will fail him, knowing in advance that you'll have mistakes, that you will not live up to what he's asked you to do or who he's asked you to be, that he does not back off of his commitment to you.

He doesn't waver in his ability to suffer for you, that his love for you does not, it doesn't go down a notch or a whole bunch of notches, like we would all do if someone abandoned us, that Jesus could look you in the eye and he could say the same thing to you as Peter.

He could say, I know you're gonna fail me.

You you will not live up to even your own expectations as far as how passionate you are about me, but I love you anyway.

I will die for you anyway.

This does not change my course, one iota.

How incredible is that kind of love! Yeah, honestly.

Clap if you failed, okay?

Clap if you failed.

We would do so well as people.

We would do so well to have the ability just to anticipate our own failure.

Or to anticipate the failures of others.

To not be so shocked when we mess up, to realize that, oh, Jesus saw this coming, of course I'm going to fail.

I can pick up the pieces and move on and not let it get us in this downward spiral like it so often happens.

So, number one, Jesus anticipates our failure.

Number two, Jesus understands our failure.

This is huge.

He doesn't just know that we're gonna fail, he knows why we're going to fail.

We very often make mistakes and then we we look back on what happened?

Like, what happened?

Like, our ability to process our failure is really hard, isn't it?

Like, have you ever known someone who cannot come to the conclusion that it was their fault?

Like they do not have that capacity.

Don't nudge anyone sitting next to you.

That's always the thing right now.

Don't do that.

But like we've all known people like that.

I know people like that who, if they make a mistake, if they say something that's wrong, that's just hurtful, if they do something that's hurtful, it they can't process that they're the one in the wrong.

It's just it would fry their microchip for some reason.

And so they they end up doing these things where it's like, well, I had to do that, you know?

Or I did that because it was justified, because.

You did this, and I was just, I'm, that's just the way it was.

Like, they can't, they can't just say, I was wrong, I made a mistake, I failed.

And so they have to rationalize it to where it's someone else's fault.

They have to shift blame.

They become a victim, and it's like, I did that, but I did that because you did that to me, and I had to do that, and it's just this big mess.

It's hard for us to process our our failure appropriately.

Like, have you ever been blamed for someone else's mistake?

Okay, I'll give you a story.

I got permission to share this story because I want to say this on the front end.

My wife makes very few mistakes.

She I'm serious.

I don't even know if she's in the room right now, but if you are, you know I got your permission this morning to share this story.

I've shared this story a handful of times.

Um I did share it in a marriage class fairly recently, but in this room I haven't shared it in a long time.

So it's it's it's okay.

Some of you have heard this before.

But when Megan and I first got married, we were 21 and 20.

We lived in this one room, not one bedroom.

It was a one-room apartment, just a studio apartment in Kansas City, Missouri.

And uh and we were we were just poor.

We were poor, but we loved each other.

We had love.

You know, when you're poor, but you have love, that gets you through like a week, and then you're hungry, and you're like, we gotta eat.

No, it was good.

We uh we really did love each other.

And so it was kind of fun because we were building our life, we were building our our our marriage, and we learned quickly that we value very different things.

And so Megan sent me to the store to to buy a few things.

She had a list for me, and on the list, you know, this is us moving into a home together for the first time, was a plunger.

She said, buy a plunger.

We didn't have a plunger, you gotta have a plunger.

So I'm like, all right, I'm gonna get a plunger.

And I walk into the little plunger section, and there's not like that many choices, it's not like a whole row of plungers, right?

But I saw this one, and it was black, and it was a bellows plunger, which are the ones they look like an accordion.

Like they look like they can get something done.

It's like industrial grade.

And I'm thinking, well, if I'm gonna buy a plunger, I'm gonna buy one that I know I can count on.

Because if you're using a plunger, it's usually an emergency.

So I bought it and I brought it home, and then this is the first thing that Megan said.

She said, Oh, it's so ugly.

And I was like, well, it's a plunger.

You know, I don't imagine it's gonna be a featured part of a home tour.

Like, is it it's not gonna double as a centerpiece on our kitchen table?

I can't imagine, like, it's if there's anything in your house, it's okay being ugly.

It's your plunger.

And so I just kind of was like, yeah, I mean, but it's the one I got.

So, fast forward a few months into our marriage.

It's it's very, very cold in Kansas City, Missouri, and it's the middle of the winter, and our toilet is overflowing.

And Megan yells, Justin, the toilet's overflowing.

And I'm like, Great, I great news.

We have a plunger.

Let's use it.

And then she went, we don't.

And I was like, What do you mean?

I've I distinctly remember going to the store a few months back.

I bought a plunger, I can visualize it, big black bellows plunger, it's awesome.

And she was like, No, I I uh I may have thrown it away.

And this is by the way, while water is overflowing into our like we're standing in the bathroom, water's gone.

I'm like, what do you mean you threw you threw it away?

Why'd you throw it away?

She's like, because I didn't like it.

It was ugly.

I told you that.

And I was like, yeah, but it's a plunger.

And we're like, this is the first fight we've had as a married couple.

Like our first major fight was about a plunger.

Like we are, volume is is raising, and and she goes, This is where it got like to a different level, because I'm mad.

I'm just like, why would you throw it away?

She's you know what?

You actually threw it away.

And I said, What are you talking about?

Again, while water is just like rising up our legs in the bathroom.

Like, what are you talking about?

She said, Well, I put it in the trash, but you're the one who takes the trash to the dumpster, so you threw it away.

What?

So I just at that point, I'm like, that's it.

I'm done with this conversation.

I walked out the door, I drove to Walmart and I bought the exact same plunger, and I came back, and there we go.

But I was like, you can't pin this one on me, okay?

I didn't throw the plunger, I did not throw the plunger away.

And she's like, Well, you put it in the dumpster.

Like, okay.

Sometimes, especially when our emotions are are high, we have this tendency to shift blame.

Right?

We don't like to feel like we are the one that messed up.

Now, Megan would, if you talk to her, she has no stories of me shifting blame.

There's definitely not one story of me saying, like, well, really, it's your fault.

Just trust me on that.

Don't ask her, but trust me.

Um, I have so many.

It's hard for us to process failure.

We don't like to feel like we're the one who made the mistake.

But Jesus actually really helps us do that.

Because if you don't process your failure appropriately, you won't respond to your failure appropriately.

There's no way to live life without failing.

But if you can if you can process failure the right way and then respond to it in the right way, you can actually come out the other side of it stronger, better, smarter, more prepared for success.

But if you can't process it, that'll never happen.

So Jesus has this amazing way to not only anticipate our failures, but to understand them.

Hebrews chapter 4 says that we have this great high priest who has entered heaven, Jesus, the Son of God.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

Let us hold firmly to what we believe.

This high priest of ours understands our weaknesses.

For he faced all the same testings we do, yet he didn't sin.

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.

There we will receive his mercy, we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Jesus understands our weakness.

But this is talking about more than just compassion.

It's not that Jesus just understands, like, oh, you know, poor you, you're having a hard day.

No, he understands the dynamics at play when we mess up.

Later that very night of his last meal with his disciples, he asked his friends to pray for him.

He said, Please pray for me.

And they they couldn't even do that.

They kept falling asleep.

And Matthew chapter 26 says he returned to find his disciples and found them sleeping.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

Couldn't you, men, keep watch with me for one hour?

He asked Peter.

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.

And then he says this powerful thing.

This is so powerful.

He says, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Jesus, in this one moment, just helps us understand the dynamics at play when we fail.

As followers of Jesus, if you've given your life to Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you.

You do.

You may not feel like it, you may not see a lot of evidence of it all the time, but if you have put your faith in Jesus, the Spirit of God is inside of you, and given time and obedience and just life and this process that in like spiritual language is called sanctification, the process where you're becoming what you already are, a child of God.

That spirit will begin to motivate the way you think, the things you do more than the old you, which is often in scripture called the flesh.

Flesh is this blanket term that just means who we are apart from God.

It's our desires, it's our thoughts, it's our tendencies, it's just the way we behave apart from the spirit of God.

And we become Jesus followers, we get the spirit, but the flesh doesn't exactly go away.

In fact, sometimes it's hard to be a Jesus follower because now it's like there's two of us in battle all the time, and the right one doesn't always win.

We have our spirit and we have our flesh, and they desire different things.

Galatians chapter 5 teaches us that, that the spirit desires different things than the flesh.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

The flesh actually desires what is contrary to the spirit.

And so we're kind of at war with ourselves.

And Jesus looks at his disciples in this moment of failure, like he just said, pray for me.

Pray for me.

And they're asleep.

But here's what he says to him.

So your spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak.

Jesus recognizes that the failure that they have is not from a faulty spirit, it's the failure of their flesh.

And he's able in that moment to see those two distinct truths.

And even though, yes, he addresses their failure, he also commends their spirit.

He says, You have willing spirits, but your flesh is weak.

If we could see ourselves the same way, if we had the ability to see ourselves and others with that dynamic at play, it would save us from so much frustration.

We have this tendency, I've talked about this before.

If you want to picture like the flesh you right here, this is the you you were born as.

Apart from God, these are your natural tendencies, your natural desires.

Usually when someone in our culture says, I was born this way, they were talking about this person, that birth.

They're not talking about the person they were born as when they were born again, right?

So you were born, you have all these desires, you have a nature, but then you you give your life to Jesus, now you're born again.

And there's a new you right here, and it has the spirit inside of it, and and that you desires different things.

So it's like there's two of you.

Which one is is the real you?

We almost always think this one's the real us, the flesh.

Because when we say something like, I was born this way, this is just who I am, we're always talking about those desires.

But Jesus would say, No, this is the real you.

Because this is the you that will live on in eternity.

The flesh, you will die.

The spirit, you will not.

What if we could see that?

What if we could understand that?

Like when someone says, I'm an alcoholic, it's like, no, you are not an alcoholic.

Your flesh is addicted to alcohol.

Your spirit doesn't need a drink to cope with life.

When we say something leaving like, oh, I have a I have an anger problem.

No, no, no, your flesh has an anger problem.

That's not who you are.

That's your flesh.

Don't don't give the flesh authority over your whole identity.

Your spirit does not have an anger problem.

It's flesh.

And if we could see ourselves like that, and in moments of failure, just be like, man, my flesh, oh, I hate you, flesh.

You're gonna die one day, and it's true.

But have like Jesus the perspective that there's a spirit there, and that spirit is good, and that spirit has been redeemed by God, and that spirit is willing, and that spirit will one day win out.

But right now, the flesh sometimes wins.

Jesus could look at his disciples and go, flesh.

But you have a willing spirit.

What if we could see ourselves and others the same way?

That would help us process and understand our failure to where instead of living life just completely uh in shock and maybe even self-deprecating, self-hating because we failed, we failed.

It's like, no, I didn't fail, my flesh failed.

And that's not a cop-out, that's not an excuse, that's an acknowledgement that I need the spirit to overtake the flesh, but it hasn't happened yet, not fully.

And I can give myself some grace and I can give other people grace, just like Jesus gave his disciples grace because the spirit can be willing, but the flesh can be weak.

Jesus helps us process and understand our failure.

One final thing as we as we wrap up.

Jesus redeems our failure.

He redeems it.

I have a friend who's a really uh passionate like business owner.

And he was telling me a story about this guy that he knows or at least is aware of that invests in companies.

And he's a big investor.

But he has a rule, and his rule is that he will not invest in a company led by someone who's never had a company fail.

He won't do it.

If somebody is like some hot shot and and they are like, man, I started this company and just millions of dollars and blah blah blah, he's like, cool.

Have you ever had a company go under?

Nah, never.

Not gonna work with you.

You think no, you you want to invest money in people who don't fail, right?

That makes sense.

This guy goes, no, if you've never failed, if you've never actually hit rock bottom, this guy just believes that there's some part of you that believes you never can.

And he's like, that's not how life works.

I want to work with people who have failed and bounced back.

That's someone I can trust.

You cannot avoid failure in life.

But if you go to Jesus with your failure, if you process it with him, he can redeem it.

And he does that very thing with Peter.

He does that very exact thing.

In John chapter 21, Peter is still so dejected by his failure.

John 21 · chapter mention

And so he goes back to fishing, which is what Jesus called him out of.

Jesus called him out of fishing and into ministry, and Peter just thinks, I'm going to go back to fishing.

So it says, when they had finished eating, they've just gotten done fishing, a miracle has happened.

Jesus shows up at the shore and he cooks them breakfast with the fish that he miraculously caught.

It says, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

Yes, Lord, he said, You know that I love you.

So he said, Feed my lambs.

Again, Jesus asked, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

He answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

Jesus said, Take care of my sheep.

The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Peter was hurt.

Because Jesus asked him the third time, Do you love me?

He said, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you.

And Jesus said, Feed my sheep.

Very truly I tell you, when you were younger, you dressed yourself, you went where you wanted.

But when you're old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.

Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.

And then he said to him, Follow me, gave him that call that he'd given him originally.

Be my disciple, follow me.

It's a really beautiful exchange.

We could talk about it for hours.

We're not going to.

It's hurtful to Peter that Jesus makes him affirm his love three times.

Why a third time?

Well, how many times did Jesus deny Peter?

Or rather, did Peter deny Jesus?

Three times.

Alright, the third time, I swear I don't even know you.

Jesus makes Peter affirm his love three times.

Peter at the moment didn't understand it, but it's Jesus redeeming that whole exchange that happened earlier.

Where three times Peter denies that he even knows him.

I love you, Jesus.

I love you.

Yes, I love you.

So it comes full circle.

See what happens here.

I love that it's it's cooking.

And worship team, you guys can make your way out.

I love that it's it's like a cooking moment.

Jesus actually cooks them breakfast.

And I've used this metaphor before, it's just my favorite one, so I'm gonna use it a bunch more in life.

Um I love that this is cooking because I think it's like the perfect metaphor to understand what it's like to take our failures to God.

Some of you are probably really good cooks.

You can make some good stuff.

I'm not.

I'm not.

We got a grill this summer.

We got a black, uh, I think it's called a blackstone grill.

Anyone have one of those?

Blackstone grills?

Yeah, not many?

Cool.

Um well I have one.

I'm a grill guy now.

And uh I it also has a smoker, and I've never used one of those.

I'm I'm working on it.

It's it's harder than I thought it would be.

I've ruined a lot of stuff, but I've cooked a few things decently.

Like I'm getting okay at a few things.

Stir fry, pretty good at it, so you know there's that.

But I'm the kind of person that if you handed me something really nice, like if you said, Justin, here's a top-of-the-line, like expensive steak, I would say, get someone else to grill it.

I'm going to ruin it.

Right?

Because that's how we are as people sometimes.

We can be handed amazing ingredients and still mess it up.

We can fail so easily.

But have you ever seen one of those shows, like a cooking competition show where like they take these master chefs, and it's always the same.

My life, my wife loves these shows.

It's always the same.

It's like, hey, here's a bunch of garbage.

Make something out of it.

And you would think they'd be like, there's just no way, but somehow they do it.

Somehow they take these terrible ingredients and they make it into something where you're like, I would eat that.

Maybe we don't have to give God good ingredients for Him to make something great out of us.

I think the biggest tragedy in our failure, when I speak to people who are in a place of failure, is that they they, out of shame, out of guilt, out of embarrassment, whatever it is, maybe even pride, they will not take their failure to the Lord and say, God, here it is.

Here's my failure, here's my mistake, I own it.

I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna try to dress it up, I'm not gonna try to make it look better than it is.

It is, here it is, it's ugly.

But can you take this and will you make something out of it?

And God the Father is like a master chef on a level none of us can understand because he can take our brokenness, he can take our misery, he can take our pain, he can take our failure, he can take our shortcomings, he can take our sin.

And if we give it to him and we trust him with it and just say, Lord, it's yours, do something with it.

He will turn it and transform it into something amazing, and he will make us better because of it.

That's who he is, that's what he does.

We just have to bring it to him.

And so, as we close, we've got some baptisms to do to finish up.

But as we close, I just want to I want to ask you this morning do you have any failures that you're holding on to?

And maybe you don't.

Maybe you're like, no, great, awesome.

Stay there as long as possible.

But at least be like Jesus and anticipate the fact that you might fail one day.

But if you do, if you have any failure, any guilt, any sin, any struggle, any shame, any moment where you haven't lived up, and you're you're you're holding on to that, you're carrying that, it's weighing you down, it you feel ashamed, guilty, you feel less.

That's not from God.

What is from God is Him saying, Hey, will you bring it to me?

Because I I knew you were gonna fail.

I'm not shocked or surprised.

I understand why you failed, you have flesh.

And more importantly, if you give it to me, I will redeem it, I will turn it around, and I will reaffirm who you are in my eyes.

Just give me your failure.

And so if that's you this morning, I just want to encourage you to pray.

We're about to pray, to pray right now and just say, Lord, it's I'm done with this.

I'm done carrying this, I'm dropping it.

My failure, it's yours.

Take it, throw it away, or transform it into something that I need.

But I'm not carrying this anymore.

And if you don't know Jesus, if you've never given your life to him, we're about to see two people get baptized, unless one of them got sick and didn't show up, which sometimes does happen during the morning.

So I mean, just no.

Um, but like if when you see these people get baptized, it's one of the first steps they're taking in a decision to follow Jesus with their whole life.

And usually in those decisions, there's a lot of failure that's often tried to keep them from this moment.

So many people let their mistakes and their failures keep them from coming to God, not realizing that that's why we come to God.

And so if you haven't given your life to Jesus and you feel like, man, I maybe I want to, maybe I believe in him in the sense that I think he's real, but I haven't brought myself to him because I just don't feel good enough.

You don't have to be good enough.

See, Peter thought that Jesus needed Peter to die for Jesus, but Jesus didn't need that.

Jesus didn't need Peter to die for him.

Peter needed Jesus to die for Peter, just like you need Jesus.

Your failures do not undercut his ability to do what he's doing in this world.

He just wants you, all of you.

And so if you're letting anything hold you back from him, just let that go.

Give your life to him, receive him into your life.

Go sign up to be baptized, go all in with Jesus and watch what he does in your life.

He will take it all, he will transform it all, and he's amazing.

So let's pray.

Father, thank you so much for this morning.

Thank you for every person here.

Thank you for every person, Lord, that that knows you and knows that what we're talking about is true.

But I'm sure even for many of us who have followed you for years, it's still so easy for us to hold on to our failures and our mistakes and to kind of keep them from you because we just don't, Lord, we feel so ashamed and embarrassed we don't know what to do.

I pray that you would help us release all of that, to give it all to you, Father, to trust you with all of it, to allow you to help us process our mistakes and our shortcomings.

And Father, if there's anyone here, anyone watching that hasn't given their life to you, I pray that happens this morning.

Lord, not out of guilt, not out of shame, but out of a desire for freedom, out of a desire, Lord, to recognize that we do need your help, that you're not asking us to clean ourselves up and come to you with all of our problems solved.

You actually ask us to come to you exactly as we are, broken and in need.

Just like Peter was broken and in need.

You showed up, you cooked him a meal, and you called him to follow you.

We thank you, Lord, for your love and who you are, and the fact that even though we fail you, you never fail us.

It's your name, Jesus.

We pray.

Amen.