Trashed? Series

Your Story

Pt. 3 - Trashed?

I. Introduction

We have been following the escapades of Andy's toys . . . Woody and the gang - Buzz, Rex the dinosaur. Stinky Pete the prospector. Bo Peep. Porky the Piggy Bank and of course Woody a rag doll cowboy, his horse Bullseye and Jessie his cowgirl counterpart. But eventually Andy, grows up and in Toy Story 3 you discover that Andy is leaving for college. He wrestles with getting rid of his beloved toys so, rather than throwing away he goes to a family friend's house and as he pulls up he sees a little girl by the name of Bonnie playing with her toys in the front yard. The movie closes with Andy and Bonnie in the yard playing with all the toys he has loved so much. Then he pulls away and he leaves the toys with Bonnie knowing that she will love them as much as he did. Then Toy Story 4 comes along and chronicles a new toy adventure with Woody and the gang and their new owner Bonnie.

VIDEO

At kindergarten Woody watches as Bonnie creates a new toy out off a spork that had been discarded. She names this new toy "Forky" and when she completes constructions and writes her name on "Forky's" stick feet. However, there is a major problem. Forky keeps trying to return to the trash. With these scenes as a backdrop let me take you to Scripture into a scene that is very similar.

Text: Luke 22:54-62 (GNT)

They arrested Jesus and took him away into the house of the High Priest; and Peter followed at a distance. A fire had been lit in the center of the courtyard, and Peter joined those who were sitting around it. When one of the servant women saw him sitting there at the fire, she looked straight at him and said, “This man too was with Jesus!” But Peter denied it, “Woman, I don't even know him!” After a little while a man noticed Peter and said, “You are one of them, too!” But Peter answered, “Man, I am not!” And about an hour later another man insisted strongly, “There isn't any doubt that this man was with Jesus, because he also is a Galilean!” But Peter answered, “Man, I don't know what you are talking about!” At once, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. The Lord turned around and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered that the Lord had said to him, “Before the rooster crows tonight, you will say three times that you do not know me.” Peter went out and wept bitterly.

I know the last verse says that Peter went out and wept bitterly. But have you ever really stopped and asked yourself how Peter must have really felt? He just betrayed, let down, turned his back on, failed his best friend, life changer, and savior. He did this when Jesus needed him most. How did he really feel after doing this? Can you imagine how he must have felt when Jesus locked eyes with him as the third and final betrayal crossed Peter's lips? All you have to do to discover how he felt is flip to John's account.

John 21:3

Simon Peter said to the others, “I am going fishing.” “We will come with you,” they told him.

I submit to you that this statement reveals how Peter really felt. He came to the conclusion that he had gone to far. That he had crossed a line he could never recover from. It was over. He had publicly failed and fallen. His hopes were dashed. His dreams crushed. Life ruined. Or . . . to put it in Toy Story terms he was trash.

Here are the lessons from Forky and from Peter . . .

How you see yourself matters. Knowing how your Master see you matters more!

Forky saw himself as trash. Therefore, it impacted how he lived and how he acted. He saw himself as trash so, he wanted to live like trash. But notice what Woody said, "Forky is the most important toy to Bonnie. If Forky would have understood how Bonnie saw him, then he would have recognized he wasn't trash to her.

Peter didn't see himself correctly. He saw himself as a failure. He didn't understand that Jesus still saw him as a follower. He saw himself as a denier but Jesus still saw him as a disciple. That's why in Mark 16 when the women who come to the tomb Jesus appears to them and He tells them to go and tell the disciples and Peter that He is alive. He wanted to make sure that Peter understood that He didn't see him as a failure, as a reject, as trash. He singles Peter out to signal that He still believes in him.