Annual Sermons Volume 1
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DEALING WITH FAILURE
“Go tell His disciples, and Peter…..”Get Mark and bring him with you” (Mk. 16:7, 2 Tim. 4:11)
A young man in the last century was born in poverty. His mother died when he was a baby. He had very little opportunity for any formal education. He entered politics and ran for the state legislature and was defeated. He entered business, but a worthless partner put him into bankruptcy. He fell in love with a girl, but she died. He later married another, but it was an unhappy marriage. He ran for Congress and was elected, but was defeated when he ran for re-election. He worked for an appointment to the U.S. Senate and was defeated. He ran for Vice President and was defeated. But Abraham Lincoln went on to become our sixteenth President and, by most estimates, the greatest American of all time. No one succeeds all the time. The only people who do not fail are the ones who do not try anything.
The home run king of baseball is Babe Ruth. He hit 714 home runs. But he is also the strikeout king. He struck out 1330 times. The best pitcher in baseball history was Cy Young. He won 511 games. But Cy Young lost almost as many games as he won. During the French and Indian War, at Fort Necessity, a young American officer surrendered to the enemy; but we do not remember George Washington as one who lost to the French.
Our two passages, separated by over ten years, concern John Mark, the author of the second Gospel. He had a bad first half; surrendering to full time mission work and quitting when the going got rough. But he had a good second half. He rose above failure and when Paul was awaiting death, he wanted Mark by his side. John Mark, Abraham Lincoln, Babe Ruth, Cy Young and George Washington were men who learned to cope with failure. Another highway sign on the road to the Abundant Life is Don’t Be Defeated By Defeats. Failures are like temptations and taxes, the first thing we must do is expect them. The mature Christian is not one who never fails; he or she is one who has learned to rise above failures and go on climbing upward to victory, using even these failures as stepping stones.
I. WHY DO WE FAIL?
There are really only two reasons for failure and both of these were evident in recent political events. Mr. Nixon, if what we heard about Watergate was true, failed because he did the wrong thing. Sometimes failure is our fault. It may come from shoddy preparation, lack of discipline, careless attention to details, insufficient skill, dishonesty or lack of true dedication. But failure can also come, through no fault of ours, when we have done our best. It is this kind of failure which bruises the ego and breeds discouragement that hurts the most. We have to face the painful fact that our best wasn’t good enough.
B. WHEN DO WE LET FAILURES DEFEAT US?
Sooner or later, if you live long enough, you are going to fail. The significant thing is not failure, but what we allow failure to do to us. The tragedy of failure comes when we do not constructively deal with it; when we mishandle it; when we let it beat us to our knees. Many of you have failed to rise above some of your failures in your social life, in business, in your home, in your spiritual life - and you are thus living far below your potential. Why is this? In what ways do we let defeats defeat us?
We mishandle failure when we use it as an excuse to wallow in self pity. Failure, as I said, bruises the ego. It is a sharp blow to our pride. We lose part of our self respect and instead of pulling ourselves together, nurse this low self regard with self pity. We feel sorry for ourselves and want others to feel sorry for us. And, wallowing in self pity, we make life miserable for ourselves and all those around us. Nobody likes a crybaby - especially when he or she is forty years old. Even a crybaby doesn’t like a crybaby.
We mishandle failure when we make it an excuse for alibis. Our pride won’t let us take the blame so we look around until we can put the blame on someone or something else. When God confronted Adam with his sin, Adam said, “The woman YOU gave me made me do it.” When God confronted Eve, she said, “The snake made me do it.” This beat still goes on...”I didn’t make the team, because the coach doesn’t like me. I didn’t make good grades, because the teacher’s tests are too hard. I didn’t get the promotion, because the boss has his favorites. Our church doesn’t baptize as many as that church, because our church field is far more difficult than theirs...”
We mishandle failure when we become discouraged and quit. The devil has many tool, says an old proverb, but the handle that fits them all is discouragement. And discouragement, most of the time, is the fruit of failure.
When we quit and become satisfied with just enough effort to get by, or when we junk our dreams, we are truly failures. If Lincoln had let his early failures beat him into submission, we would not honor him as the greatest American of all time. What if Babe Ruth had let his strikeouts discourage him; Cy Young, his losses; or George Washington, his surrender? Where would they be if they had quit? Failures can get us down, but don’t let them keep you down. Don’t lick you wounds with self pity. Don’t make an excuse, but stand up to your failures like a man.
And above all - don’t quit. Remember that:
No one is beaten ‘til he quits / No one is through ‘til he stops / No matter how hard failure hits / No matter how often he drops / A fellow is not down ‘til he lies / In the dust and refuses to rise / Fate may bang him around / And batter him ‘til he is sore / But it is never said that he’s down / While he bobs up serenely for more / A fellow is not dead ‘til he dies/ Nor done ‘til he no longer tries (Author Unknown)
C. HOW CAN WE RISE ABOVE OUR FAILURES?
Earl Nightingale tells of a little boy who was leading his sister up a rough mountain trail. She was having a hard time of it and complained, “This isn’t even a path. It’s all rocky and bumpy!” “Sure,” he answered, “the bumps are what you climb on.”
Jesus Christ does not just enable us to live with failure; He enables us to use our failures as stepping stones to the abundant life. Failures, like troubles, are the bumps we climb on. In the face of failures, which are our fault or which come even though we have done our best, we can quote Romans 8:28 and affirm that even these can work together for our good. In the game of life, remember that God always gives us the second half.
In the 1929 Rose Bowl, California center, Roy Riegels picked up a fumble and began running with it- the wrong way. A teammate caught him on the 10 yard line. But on the next play his quarterback was sacked in the end zone giving Georgia Tech two point. Tech won the game 8 to 7. His name is still synonymous with failure, but few remember he was later elected captain of the California team; he went on to coach high school ball; and the interest generated on radio and in the newspaper is seen by some as the milestone, when America began to be interested in college football.
Jesus Christ gives us victory in the second half. One sad fact about modern Christianity is that so many of God’s people are content to just “get by.” Failure has crippled us and prevents us from reaching our true potential. Jesus never said, “I came to help you get by, “ but “I came to give you life more abundantly.” Paul never said, “I’m getting by,” as though it was a victory to stay out of jail or a mental health clinic.” How then can our failures become stepping stones?
The best thing about failure is that it makes us teachable. In defeat we are often humble and receptive. Success breeds pride and pride gives us a know-it-all attitude which makes us un-teachable. Old Harry Truman was right when he said, “It’s what you learn after you know it all, that counts.” And all too often it is not until defeat brings us down, that we are low enough to learn. Failures can and should bring us wisdom. As we analyze the reasons for our failures, we often find the path to success.
After failing hundreds of times to produce an incandescent bulb, Thomas Edison said those failures taught him what would not work.
Arthur Gordon, one preacher besides Billy Graham and Norman Vincent Peale, whose works are published by the Reader’s Digest. When, as a young man, fresh out of Georgia, he went to New York and tried his hand at writing, the first year brought nothing but rejection slips. He was a failure, so he thought, and he gave up his dream of becoming a writer. Months later, having dinner with an executive of IBM, he shared his so-called failure. The executive changed the course of his life with his response.
He said, “Son, you need to double your rate of failure. You need to write more than ever. You are making the common mistake of thinking of failure as an enemy of success. But it isn’t. Failure is a teacher - a harsh one, but the best one. Every one of those rejected manuscripts was rejected for a reason. Go back and find out why and you will learn to write.” And then he added, “You will find success on the far side of failure.” Henry Ford, Sr., said, “Failure is only the opportunity more intelligently to begin again. There is no disgrace in honest failure.
There is disgrace in fearing to fail.” Failure can often teach us patience and perseverance. It is our impatience that makes us quit. We want everything to happen yesterday. The true source of impatience is laziness. We want everything to happen the easy way. Failure often teaches us that things worth having are worth working for. Inspired by failure, we redouble our efforts. We learn determination and Robert H. Schuller is right, “Great people are just ordinary people with an extraordinary amount of determination.”
Failure teaches us to rethink our goals. Sometimes we fail because we are unrealistically reaching for things God never intended for us to have. Failure can be the hand of God closing a door in our face. It is God’s way of saying, “My child, this is not the road I want you to travel.” But whenever God closes one door, He always opens another and when failures lead us to blocked paths, many times God is trying to get us on another path. If you lost your job, God probably has a better job for you. If you lost your boyfriend or girlfriend, God has someone else for you.
Remember that failure is often is often only apparent and is really a prelude to victory. When Jesus died on the cross, His life was an apparent failure. You could have put all his followers in this room. Judea was as intolerant, Galilee as worldly, the Pharisees as proud, and the Romans as cruel as when He began His ministry. He died a criminal’s death, laughed at by His enemies and forsaken by His friends. But the cross was a prelude to the resurrection and to Pentecost. On the cross He won the victory over evil.
Young Stephen, in the eighth chapter of Acts, preached the gospel. But he made no converts. The congregation turned on him, threw him to the ground and dropped stones on him until he died. In love he asked God to forgive his murderers. His life seems wasted. But it was anything but that. Young Saul, who voted for his death and who held the coats of those who dropped the stones, was converted soon after that and became Christ’s mightiest apostle. He never got away from the influence of Stephen. He died in an apparent defeat which was a prelude to victory.
Most of all, failures can teach us the love and mercy of God.
A.J. Cronin was the director of a large hospital. In that hospital was little boy on the edge of death. He needed trained nurses around the clock. A tube was in his little throat and all the nurses were advised that if the tube came out they would have to replace it immediately. They all consented to do this if necessary.
Late one night as a very young nurse sat with the boy, he suddenly jerked the tube out. She panicked and ran for help, but when they returned the boy was dead. Dr. Cronin called her to his office and dressed her down from head to foot. He told her she was fired and would never get a job anywhere again in the field of nursing. Then he said, “What do you have to say for yourself?” Her only reply was, “I am so sorry. Please give me another chance.” That night Cronin had a dream of Jesus saying from the cross, “Father forgive them”- a verse that helped lead him to Jesus. The next day he called the girl in and gave her the chance she wanted. She went on from there to become the director of nursing for a hospital on the mission field.
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