Apollo 13 was one of the biggest flops in the history of our space
program, and yet it was also one of the most celebrated. Can a
catastrophic failure also be a colossal success? Just ask the three
astronauts of that ill fated flight. It was 1970, and they were on their
way to the moon when an explosion changed their plans radically. For
the next 6 days it took all the ingenuity of these three men, and a vast
ground crew, just to keep them alive. Everything went wrong, and
they could have died a number of different ways. They could have
frozen to death, but they learned that in zero gravity air does not
move, and so if they stayed very still their body would heat up the air
around them, and form a sort of cocoon of warm air.
Had they panicked and moved about they would have frozen.
They could have died of poisoning, or been lost in space, or blown
up. It took 24 hours a day of thinking and improvising just to stay
alive. All over the world people were praying, and they were able to
get back to earth in the lunar module, which was never even designed
for anything but taking them down to the surface of the moon. It was
like crossing the ocean on the Queen Mary, and half way over
deciding to make the rest of the journey in a canoe. They did not get
to the moon, nor did they do any of things they were suppose to do.
None of the goals were achieved. All they did was to get through
dozens of hopeless situations, and survive to tell about it.
Commander James A. Lovell said of this amazing flop of a flight,
"We could've been assured a catastrophe. But the dedication and
knowledge of the ground and the flight crew were such that we were
able to make it a successful failure." President Nixon awarded them
the Medal of Freedom for their successful failure. Peter is the great
example in the New Testament of successful failure. He made the
most blunders of anyone, and yet he survived, and like a cat tossed in
the air, he landed on his feet, and became a loved hero.
In our text we see the flight plan of Peter blow up in his face. He
thinks he is in control of the situation, and has such a grasp of the way
life should go that he has the audacity to take Jesus aside to set Him
straight. Talk about aggressive leadership. Here is a disciple telling
the Master the score. Peter has put his foot in his mouth before, but
never up to the knee. He has become a megalomaniac, that is one who
has grandiose delusions. He has just confessed that Jesus is the Son of
the living God, and that he is the Messiah, yet he begins to rebuke the
Messiah because he does not like what he is saying. Jesus is telling it
like it is, and the truth is not pleasant. He will suffer, be rejected, and
killed. That is not an acceptable program to Peter, and so he takes
Jesus aside to reprogram the plan of God.
There is only one other person in history who had that kind of
pride, and that was Lucifer. No wonder Jesus said to Peter, "Out of
my sight, Satan!" Peter had become a tool of the devil in trying to
reprogram the plan of God. Can a Christian fall so low they can
become an agent of Satan? Yes they can, and it is not just by falling
low, but also, as we see here, by rising too high. Peter was exalted, not
just to the moon, but to the very gates of heaven. Jesus gave him the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and He had the power to bind or loose
on earth, and that would lead to binding or loosing in heaven. Peter's
promotion went to his head, and he began to think that he now had the
authority to even alter the course of the Messiah, and set policy on the
plan of salvation.
Peter was a mere fisherman, but Jesus chose him to be a spiritual
astronaut, and he sent him soaring to the heights of leadership and
power in the kingdom of God. And what does he do? He blows the
mission to pieces by abuse of power. How many other leaders do you
know who were called Satan by the Lord? There were no others.
Peter was the greatest failure in his abusive power. And yet we see
that he not only survives, but he does so quite successfully. He is able
to stay on top as the leader of the 12. He does everything wrong, and
still comes out a winner. He is the most successful failure in the New
Testament. Consider this record of his failure:
1. He lost faith while on the water, and began to sink.
2. He rebuked his own Messiah, and received the strongest rebuke of
anyone.
3. He refused to have his feet washed, and had to be forced to
cooperate.
4. He cut off the ear of Malchus in Gethsemane and needed to be
rebuked.5. He went to sleep when Jesus asked him to watch with Him.
6. He denied his Lord 3 times.
7. He refused to believe the eye witness testimony of the women who
saw Jesus after the resurrection.
8. He fell back into prejudice against the Gentiles even after
Pentecost.
9. He needed to be rebuked by the Apostle Paul for his inconsistency.
These are just his major mistakes and blunders. He had a number
of minor ones as well. You cannot come up with a list like this even for
the scoundrels in the New Testament. Yet, this walking comedy of
errors is not made to wear a dunces hat and sit in the corner. He is
made the leader of the group. Tragen was one of the greatest of the
Caesars, and the senate raised a towering column to record his
victories, but today in Rome you will no longer see the Emperor on
top of that column raised to his honor. You will see instead a statue of
a man with two large keys in his hands-the man called Peter. Peter
fumbled and failed his way to the top, and by so doing, he reveals by
his successful failure just how fallible man can be, and still be used of
God. Consider, for example, that Peter was-
I. AN EXTREMIST.
Keep in mind, Peter was no intellectual scholar like Paul. He was a
man moved by feeling rather than reason, and feelings can be changed
a lot faster than the mind. It takes time to think through an issue, and
weigh the values, and change one's convictions. But it only takes
seconds to go from hot to cold in ones emotions. Peter was always
going from one extreme to the other.
1. On the stormy sea he shouts "bid me come to you Lord on the
water," and a few moments later he is crying out "Lord, save me!"
2. When Jesus came to wash his feet he cries out, "You will never
wash my feet." For an emotional guy like Peter, never is not very long,
for he is soon at the other extreme saying, "Not my feet only, but my
hands and my head." Jesus had to slow him down and explain that the
feet alone are sufficient. Peter is not one to be straddling the fence. He
is totally on one side or the other. He is never middle of the road, but
usually in the ditch on one side or the other. Ask Peter where he
stands, and he says 100% on this side, and while he is saying it, he may
be moving to the other side where he will stand with equal conviction.
This sounds like a terrible weakness for a leader, but it is a weakness
that can be helpful when going through radical transition. The world
of Judaism was being turned upside down, and the pagan world would
be next, and Jesus needed a leader who was not locked into legalism,
but who was open to change, and who could lead others to accept
radical change.
It was a troublesome aspect of his personality that he was such an
extremist, and so inconsistent. Yet it was a necessary ingredient for
what Peter had to lead the church through. He was even inconsistent
in his inconsistency. On one occasion after shifting from being closed
to Gentiles to being open to them, he reverted back again to the old
way, and needed to be rebuked again. Peter must have felt as
frustrated at times as a chameleon crawling across a plaid shirt. He
was not sure what color to be, but he still comes out smelling like a
rose, because his first loyalty was to the Rose Of Sharon, his Lord and
Master.
An impulsive personality like Peter's is bound to get you into
trouble, for you take every feeling of the moment too seriously. You
are moved by some conviction, and you follow your emotions as if it
were the essence of the ages, and in fact, it is only temporary. Peter
feels it so strongly that he will never forsake his Lord that he
proclaims, "I will never be offended because of Thee. All others may
be offended, but you can always count on one, and that is me." Then
the next thing we know, Peter is denying with oaths and curses, "I
never knew the man."
Peter is one of these guys who is always so enthused about
something. It is the answer the world has been looking for. It is the
greatest discovery of our day, the discovery of the decade; the
milestone of the millennium; the highlight of history. Then the next
time you see him, he has forgotten and forsaken the whole thing. These
types are on the mountain top, or down in the valley, and to one
extreme or the other. Peter was always the first in everything. He did
not stop to think things through. While the others were doing that, he
was already first on the water, or first with the sword out, or first with
the words of wisdom, or of folly. As an impulsive man of emotion, he
was faster on the draw than the thinkers. This led to his shooting
himself in the foot frequently, but as J. Oswald Sanders points out,
"He was an extremist, attempting the impossible and often achieving
it."
Peter failed more, but he also succeeded more, because he was
always doing something. It may have been wise or stupid, but the more
he did, the more likely he was to do what was wise. He illustrates the
fact that life is a matter of percentages. If you try a lot you may fail a
lot, but you will also have more success. The man who calls on 100
customers may fail to sell 75 of them, but the 25 he sells to is far
greater than that of the man who only calls on 50, and only has 10
successes. Babe Ruth struck out more than anybody, but he was also
the home run champ of his day. The point is, failure and success are
opposites, but they are linked together. There is a direct connection,
for the rate of failure is often the key to the rate of success.
It can be said of some, he made no mistakes, but then it is likely
that he made nothing else either, for mistakes are the stepping stones
to achievement. Successful people are those who have made plenty of
mistakes, but they have learned from them. The biggest mistake of all
is to so fear making mistakes that you never try. Prov. 14:4 says,
"Where there are no oxen the manager is empty, but from the
strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest." If you want a nice
clean barn, that can be easily done by just not having any animals.
But the goal of the farmer is not a clean barn, but a barn full of
harvest, and to get that you need to struggle with dirt, manure, and
one mess after another. The road to a full barn may mean stepping in
a lot of manure, and the road to success in any area, may be a road
where you step into one mess after another. If you are not willing to
make mistakes and messes, you will never get to the harvest.
The cost of success is the willingness to endure failure. Most of the
successful people make a lot of mistakes as they climb, and could be
called successful failures. A dairy farm with no cows looks clean and
smells nice, but it is a flop compared to the messy, stinky farm of the
man who has cows, and who is producing milk everyday. The
successful life is not the mistake free life, or the mess free life, but the
life where even the messes and mistakes are incorporated into a plan
to reach goals. It may seem wonderful to have a factory where there
is no waste, but it will be of no value. Better is the messy factory
where there is a product being produced.
The elder brother made no foolish mistakes, as did the young
Prodigal, but was he a better man for it? He stayed home and did all
the right things, and ended up a self-righteous brat. The Prodigal
blew it, and was a fool, but he learned from his folly, and came home
to live a life of humble gratitude for love and forgiveness. Which
brother would you most prefer for a friend, neighbor, or relative?
Give me the mistake filled life where there has been victory, rather
than the proud life of one who has no messed up past, but who is about
as much fun as a boil. The mistake ridden life leads to humility, and a
breaking down of that pride that makes one a judgmental legalist.
Jesus loved the publicans and sinners, because they were more open to
grace and forgiveness. The Pharisees were too proud. They did not
need grace and forgiveness. The man who makes no mistakes does not
need a Savior. You can't help the man who never fails, for he does not
need help. It is the fallen who know their need of the helping hand.
The Pharisees were failing successes, but far superior was the
Publican who knew he messed up, and prayed for God to be merciful
to him as a sinner. He was a successful failure, like Peter. And Peter
was not only an extremist, but he was also-
II. AN EXAMPLE.
Peter, with all his weaknesses, was still an example of a type of
leader Jesus is looking for. It is not all the blunders he wants, but He
wants a man of action who gets things done. James and John were the
other two extremists in the group. They were ready to call fire down
from heaven because of the lack of hospitality on the part of the
Samaritans. They were rebuked for their lack of a loving spirit, but
the fact is, these two hot heads along with Peter, the lead hot head,
became the inner circle of Jesus. It could be interpreted that he kept
these three closest to Him because they were the three who needed
constant watching. There may be some truth to this, but the evidence
supports the idea that these three were more aggressive leaders, and
Jesus was training them for special tasks. They were hazards, to be
sure, but Jesus, by choosing them, makes them examples of what the
kingdom of God needs.
People who would rather make a mistake than do nothing for
Christ is what He is looking for. He wants people who may fail, but
who are always ready to act rather than be just passive spectators.
We don't want to take it lightly that Peter is an example of just how
far a believer can go astray. Peter was a channel of God's truth, but
he was also capable of being a channel of Satan's lies. The whole point
of the temptation of Jesus was to get Jesus to take a path that avoided
the cross. Use your supernatural power so you don't have to live on a
mere human level. By miracle you can make stones into bread, and
by miracle you leap off the temple, and have the crowds eating out of
your hand. Just bow to me, and take a short cut to rule the kingdoms
of the world. Why go the hard way, when the easy way is open?
When Jesus heard Peter rebuking Him, and rejecting the way of
the cross, he was hearing Satan again. G. Campbell Morgan has Jesus
responding, "Peter, I know that voice, I know that philosophy. I have
heard that suggestion, not once or twice, but through the years.."
Peter was a mouth piece for Satan. He was trying to get Jesus to
bypass the cross. Peter was being used as a tool of Satan. He was
saying, if you eliminate sacrifice from your plan, there will be a better
way. Jesus had to rebuke him, and make it clear, there is no easy or
better way. The cross is the only way.
It is important that we see an example like Peter, for it reveals a
Christian can be totally off base, and convinced that a satanic view of
reality is the best. A Christian can be a stumbling block and a
hindrance to the kingdom of God. This example is a powerful tool of
education if we use it. Christians often assume that if one is a great
Christian leader they have to be right in all their convictions. A
Christian leader could never promote what is contrary to the mind of
God, they think. Wrong! No Christian is above doing what Peter did,
and the more power a Christian gets, the more likely he will do what
Peter did. His example is for our warning. All Christians, and their
views, need to be examined along side the mind of Christ. Nobody is
Lord but Jesus, and He alone is the supreme authority, and everyone
needs to be evaluated in the light of His example.
The world is full of damaged disciples who have given their loyalty
to a fallible leader rather than to their Lord. Christian leaders fall,
and take wrong turns in their teaching and theology, and their
followers are hurt, and often end up falling away. This does not
happen to Christians who know Peter's example, and know the best
can fall and become obstacles. Where loyalty is to Christ alone, there
is little danger for any leader to lead you astray. It is not on Peter the
solid rock I stand, but on Christ. Peter's example is to protect
Christians from standing on the wrong rock. Peter is a rock all right,
but he is only as stable as his loyalty to Christ is stable. When he gets
off base, he is quick sand, and so you do not build on Peter, but on
Christ.
Peter is an example of how a Christian can be like the devil himself.
It is folly to let Christian failure make you angry at God. Christians
do this all the time. They will say that a Christian did them harm, and
then do the ultimate folly, which is to let a Christians failure cause you
to forsake the solid rock of Christ. Peter is also an example of just
how far a Christian can blow it, and still be a loved leader. This was a
terrible wall that came between Jesus and Peter. You can't call
someone the very devil, and not feel estranged.
Nor can you have such a label put on you, and not feel the strain in the
relationship.
Peter says in his letter that the devil goes about like a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour. And you know Peter felt like he had
just lost an arm and a leg through the lion's jaws in this setting.
Nobody had ever been called Satan by Jesus, and so Peter has the
record for being the worst follower of Jesus. He is an anti-disciple; a
satanic cross-prevention advocate; the bottom of the pile. Yet, he is
restored to fellowship, and to the leadership of the twelve. He is,
beyond a doubt, the most successful failure in the New Testament.
The most successful black leader in our time was Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. What many people do not know is that he was a
successful failure. When he graduated from Boston University School
of Theology, he went to the First Baptist Church of Chattanoga,Tenn.
To candidate, and he failed to impress them. They turned him down.
Little did he know, at the time, that it was the most successful failure
of his career. He went instead to the Dexter Ave. Baptist Church of
Montgomery, Alabama where he was accepted. A few months later
Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus, and started the
revolution that made Dr. King the leading black man of that day.
Because he was in the right place at the right time, due to his failure, it
changed the history of our nation.
I do not doubt that Dr. King was a failure in other areas of his life,
but the fact is Jesus used Dr. King to change history. Peter and Dr.
King, and many others like them, were not used because they were
perfect, but because they would rather fail in trying to follow Christ,
than to succeed in anything else. We can't be reminded too often that
it is better to try and fail than to never try at all. There is a good
chance that you will fail in trying to do the will of Jesus in taking the
Gospel to all people. But if you try to do that which is clearly His will,
even your failure will be successful failure.
