The phrase “Epic Fail” has gained some traction in the last couple of years especially in social media. #epicfail is a popular hashtag. Here are a couple of examples of #epicfail hashtags on twitter.
Saw a lady this morning in her workout gear walking briskly while smoking and on her cell phone! #epicfail
A five year old just did math quicker than me…#epicfail
The CIA director couldn't keep his affair a secret? Isn't that the first thing they teach a spy? #epicfail
And there are thousands more. Failure is a part of life. We expect failure. Nobody is perfect. I have said before that if there was a youtube video of every sinful thing that every person who attends this church has ever done and we were going to show it here, nobody would come. And for good reason. But God has this video, so to speak. He knows every good or bad thing that you’ve ever done. The truth is that without failure there would be no redemption. There would be no forgiveness, no mercy and certainly no grace.
Failure is a part of life. We tweet about failure. Failure can be funny.
But often failure isn’t funny. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb said, "I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work." Dan Pierce a blogger who contributes on his site, “Single Dad Laughing” wrote a piece called, “16 Ways I Blew My Marriage.” He says and I quote, “You know what blows big time? The other night I was sitting with my family, most of whom are very successfully married. We were going in a circle giving our best marriage advice to my little sister on the eve of her wedding. It’s somewhat of a family tradition. But that’s not what blows. What really blows is that I realized I don’t have any good marriage advice to give. After all, I’ve never had a successful marriage out of the two marriages I did have. And so…I realized…I don’t have marriage advice to give, but I have plenty of “keep your marriage from ending” advice and that might be almost as good.”
These are his 16 points, based on his two failed marriages, for not blowing a marriage:
1. Don’t Stop Holding Her Hand
2. Don’t Stop Trying To Be Attractive
3. Don’t Always Point Out Her Weaknesses
4. Don’t Stop Cooking For Her
5. Don’t Yell At Your Spouse
6. Don’t Call Names
7. Don’t Be Stingy With Your Money
8. Don’t Argue In Front Of The Kids
9. Don’t Encourage Each Other To Stop Working Out
10. Don’t Go To The Bathroom And Leave The Door Open
11. Don’t Stop Kissing Her
12. Don’t Stop Having Fun Together
13. Don’t Pressure Each Other
14. Don’t Label Each Other With Negative Labels
15. Don’t Skip Out On Things That Are Important To Her
16. Don’t Emotionally Distance Yourself After A Fight
Now, I may not agree with all of these points or think that every point on this list is valid for keeping a marriage together, but, the reason I shared this, is because he’s an example of someone who has learned from his failure.
A few weeks ago we took a look at the lives of Judas and Peter. Both men spent three years with Jesus. They listened to the same sermons, they saw the same miracles, they walked and talked with Jesus. But they had completely different experiences with Jesus. While Peter was getting out of the boat, asking challenging questions, and seeking to spend as much time with Jesus as he could, Judas stayed in the boat, criticized what people did for Jesus and spent time conceiving of how he could betray him. Peter failed at his promise to stick by Jesus and to defend him even if it cost him his life. Peter denied knowing Jesus when his life was on the line. Judas failed Jesus by betraying him to the authorities who would be responsible for his execution. So both guys failed. But here’s the big difference between the two guys. Peter learned from his failure. He allowed Jesus to forgive him. He would never deny Jesus again. But Judas didn’t. He failed as Peter did, but, he allowed his sin to consume him. He took his life and we don’t know whether he experienced the forgiveness of God or not. Peter allowed his life to be a witness for the Grace of Jesus, Judas didn’t.
Paul also talks to us about failure. There were some folks who were following Paul on his journeys and once he left a church or a city to go somewhere else, these guys would try to undermine his authority by saying things like, “Paul isn’t one of the original Apostles’, he didn’t actually walk with Jesus, or hear his teaching in person.” And they would bring up his past about persecuting Christians, they would talk about the stoning of Stephen and the other atrocities that Saul arranged and led as a Pharisee. They would claim that Saul was responsible for the murder of Jesus because he was a member of the Sanhedrin the Jewish court that originally convicted Jesus of breaking the law. So everywhere Paul went to teach the Word, he had to confront these accusations, and make his case that even though his past was severely flawed, he was called by God to be an Apostle and to teach the Word of God to these early followers.
In order to make the claim that he was an Apostle who was just as genuine as the other Apostles of Jesus, he felt he needed to discuss his personal experiences with God. Paul called it boasting, and he didn’t like to do it, but, he felt that those who heard his witness needed to know without any doubt that he was speaking with the authority of God. In 2 Corinthians he shares about an experience he had that was unique to him he says, “This boasting will do no good, but I must go on. I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord. I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows. Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know that I was caught upto paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.” 2 Corinthians 12:1-4
Paul wanted the church in Corinth to understand one thing. He was a genuine Apostle with the authority of God to teach His truth. This is the only reason he included this experience in his letter to them. Now, if I made a similar claim, if I said, “Church, I’ve been to heaven and I’ve seen things that I’m not allowed to share with you, so just trust me on this” I doubt you would believe me and with good reason. But, Paul was able to back up his revelation and visions with miracles, just like the other Apostles could.
If I said, “Church, I’ve been to heaven and I’ve seen things that I’m not allowed to share with you, so just trust me on this” and then healed a few people you knew were sick, lame or demon possessed my testimony about spending time with God in heaven would be credible. Paul could do that. He could’ve spent hours writing to the church in Corinth about all the miraculous stuff that he did for God but he didn’t. Paul was uncomfortable boasting about his power. We like to get credit for stuff we do. I was chewed out once by a member of the church because I left her name off of a thank you list of names in the church bulletin. There isn’t anything wrong with being appreciated. In fact we need to be appreciated. It’s a part of our human make up, but, it’s not appropriate to seek it.
Paul continues in 2 Corinthians, “That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses. If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
We don’t know what this “thorn in the flesh” is. Some say it’s a sin that Paul struggled with that he couldn't overcome, or some say it was a physical flaw like a speech impediment, but, I don’t think that’s what his weakness was. He tells us what the reason was for this flaw. It was to keep him from becoming proud.
I don’t know anyone who boasts about their weaknesses. We like to talk about our strengths. During my interview with the search team last year, they asked me what I considered my strengths to be, but, when it came to my weaknesses they wanted to hear from Kristi. We don’t like to discuss our weaknesses. So I find it odd that here this is what Paul really wants to talk about. In the middle of his discussion about proving to the church in Corinth that he is an Apostle in every way like the other original Apostles and that he has the same authority in Jesus to teach the Word of God as they do, he wants them to consider his weaknesses. But why?
He tells us, “so that the power of Christ can work through me.” The power of God to redeem lives and transform people isn’t evident in our strengths. If we can do it, then what do we need God for? Redemption’s power is made evident in the weak becoming strong. Our testimony is most powerful when our weakness is displayed for all to see and the redeeming power of God is just as public. Paul didn’t specifically identify his flaws and for good reason. If he had then only those who have dealt with a similar weakness would identify with his teaching, but, as it is, we all know we’re flawed, and so this Scripture speaks to all of us. “When I am weak, then I am strong.”
James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”
I believe that many followers have no idea what this “great power of prayer” is about simply because they refuse to confess sins to each other. Acknowledging our flaws is such a scary thing for us that we just don’t it. Our failure to confess sin is worse than our sin because we are limiting the evidence of the power of God in our lives. Understand, God’s power is limited by no one, but the evidence of His power in our life is limited by our unwillingness to confess sin. His power has to be seen in other venues if we don’t allow his power to be seen in our weaknesses.
We have all experienced sin and failure. If I were to ask you what you consider to be your weakest, darkest moment, we would have a diverse range of sins and burdens mentioned. We may not all be struggling with the same sin, but, we all sin. Sin, every sin, is evil. So we have all failed miserably in holiness and purity. I’m going call out some sins and declare them publicly, and since I’m not going to ask you to publicly identify your failure, quietly you can. Can you identify with any of these failures?
Have you used God’s name in vain? Are you addicted to alcohol or drugs? Have you ever been drunk or high? Have you ever cheated to get a passing grade? Have you gone through a divorce? Have you lost your virginity? Have you had sex or are in an intimate relationship with someone you’re not married to? Have you experimented sexually with someone of the same sex? Have you spread a rumor? Have you told a dirty joke or laughed at one? Have you had an abortion? Have you lied to your parents? Have you lied to your spouse? Have you taken something that doesn’t belong to you?
Can you personally identify with any of these failures? You want to know a shocker? I can; with several of them. But here’s the thing we have to keep in mind. And this is the most important thing, because if you’re anything like me and you’re kind of feeling like crap right now, this is vital for you to understand. EVEN IN YOUR FAILURE, YOU ARE LOVED. God loves you. Here’s what the Bible says, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
This is a great reminder for all of us failures. God's love is unconditional. He doesn't remove love because of your failure or give you some love just when you succeed. He loves you because He made you. Paul made his case that even with his failures, God was using Him to unleash His power on the earth. God loves flawed people, because God loves people.
Last week, Kristi and I cleaned out our basement. We had stacks of boxes that we haven’t been through in a few years, and we needed to clear out some space. We have a lot of junk that we ended up throwing out, but, we also came across some things that made us laugh and remember some good times. I was going through some old Christmas and Birthday cards from years ago, most of them we threw out, but, I kept some. You know what Christmas and Birthday cards I placed in my keepsake box? I kept the cards that my kids made. One card was written by Kyla when she was about five or six years old. The first thing I noticed about the pink card is that it opens up backwards. She had some stickers that she placed on it, they don’t line up just right. The stickers on the front say, “I Love You” and she drew a heart underneath the stickers. On one half of the inside of the card she glued a yellow piece of paper and drew a heart in the middle of it and then placed little dolphin stickers and another flower around the heart, I’m not sure what the dolphins are for. And then on the other side she wrote in purple marker, “You make me happy when I see you love kyla” She had to redo the word “make” and scribbled out her mistake.
There’s not a place in the world that sells cards that would place this card up for sale. Most people wouldn’t give it a second look, but, for me, this card is priceless.
I think we’re a lot like this card. We’re flawed. We open up backwards. The stickers don’t line up right. Sometimes, like random dolphin stickers, we don’t do things that quite make sense, and while we may try to scribble out the mistakes the evidence of our failure is all too evident for all to see. And this is the flawed card we present to God. But do you think for a minute when Kyla gave me this card, as she looked up at me with her big brown eyes and outstretched arms that I noticed all the flaws on the card?
I received the card from her, I read the words and I picked up my lovely daughter and I hugged her, and I said, “you make me happy when I see you, too.” This was a moment of joy and happiness. When you present your flawed life in His presence just because you’re happy to be with Him, don’t you think that God will be happy to spend time with you, too? No matter how messed up or ugly you think or feel you are, you are priceless to God and nothing in all creation can separate you from His love. And what is even more awesome to consider is that through your flaws, weaknesses and failures the power of God to overcome these things in your life is made evident for all to see.
Are you living as a flawed witness for the Gospel of Jesus? Is the power of God evident in your life for all to see? Colossians 2:12 says, “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.”
This new life is what I’m talking about. It’s not a perfect life, it’s a flawed, messed up, backwards kind of life, and only the power of God who raised Christ from the dead can transform it into a soul destined for heaven. You won’t live with God in heaven without a relationship with Jesus Christ. I pray you make the decision to follow Him today. I hope that you experience the power of God in your life by confessing your sin to another follower and then pray with the power that comes from the righteousness of a flawed but humbled heart.
