How To Face My Failures
Matthew 26:30-35
Sooner or later everyone in this sanctuary will fail at something. There are some here today who have had more failures than successes. Failure is a universal experience. If failure is such a universal experience, then I am sure you would agree that it is important for us to know how to deal with it when it comes.
In Matthew 26 Peter assured The Lord Jesus that he would not deny Him even if it ment death. Then in John 21 we find Peter going fishing which led to the others going with him, then in verse three we read these words, "that night they caught nothing."
What we find in these passages of scriptures is that the greatest of saints faced times of failure in their lives.
In one scripture we here Peter boasting about how brave he is and then failing to stand up for The Lord Jesus when the pressure is on.
Then we here Peter, say something like this, "Listen. I am going to go crazy sitting around here. I can’t keep this up. I know what I do best and that is fishing. I’m going fishing." So the other six disciples thought that was a good idea and they decided to tag along. Apparently it was not a good night for fishing. All night long they lowered their nets and pulled up their nets. They lowered them and pulled them up. All night long they struggled with those nets and caught nothing. It was a night of failure. Can you imagine the feelings brewing in that boat that night? "I thought Peter knew how to fish. Has he lost his touch? I am not sure he deserves to be our leader any longer. One thing after another goes wrong." It was a long night of failure.
I know what just crossed your mind. Someone in this sanctuary just sat back in his seat and thought, "That will never happen to me. I am too successful." Oh, yes it will. And it will happen when you least expect it. You will have a time in your life when you will fail.
Part of our problem is we live in a success driven culture. Success seems to have become our national religion. Everyone wants and expects to be successful. We are all OK as long as we feel we are successful; but our problems come when we fail. We don’t know how to handle failure. We need an understanding of what to do when we fail. It is impossible for us to be successful all the time. Therefore, I believe we need to know what the Bible tells us about failure. You see, we believe that if we serve God we never fail at anything, our lives will be a complete success. The fact is there will be times in our lives when we will fail at something. God does not abandon us when we fail in our service to him. In fact that is when God can really bless us. Many times it is only after we fail that we realize that we need God’s help to succeed. Something you need to remember is, that " your failures are not final "!!! You also need to realize that " just because you fail at something does not make you a failure " !!!
The primary problem with failure is that it takes many forms. There are many faces to failure. Sometimes failure comes to us in a disappointment. Sometimes it comes as the result of someone letting us down. It may come because a child has taken the wrong road. It may come because a mate has been unfaithful. It may come when we actually have messed up. When any of those or other things happen, we feel like we have failed. It doesn’t take much to make us feel like we are failures. There will be times in our lives when we will feel like failures. How can I face my failures and work through them? If we are going to face our failures and overcome them then we must ask ourselves three question:
I. IS GOD SURPRISED WHEN WE FAIL IN OUR SERVICE TO HIM?
No, Jesus knew that Peter would deny Him. Look at Verse 34 At what Jesus Told Peter. Jesus predicted the denial of Peter that would take place later. Now Look at Peter’s Confidence in Verse 35, Even if I have to die for you I will not deny you. Peter was to confident in himself. Peter’s confidence was in himself and not God’s strength and ability to keep him. Peter thought that he was ready for the test. But when the pressure was on he failed. What happened to Peter he relied upon the flesh.
From Failure to Success
Peter the failure was made into a success by the grace of God. On the day of Pentecost God poured down the Holy Spirit on Peter and the other disciples. They received great power, boldness, and enlightenment, and throughout the book of Acts you read about Peter standing up for God. He rejoiced when he was beaten. And tradition tells us that he faithfully suffered martyrdom for his Lord.
Peter and all the other disciples failed. They failed miserably at the crucial time. They failed right after expressing their covenant loyalty and right before the crucifixion of Jesus. Peter failed to watch with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. He failed to pray in the garden. He failed to pay heed to Jesus’s instructions to watch and pray, lest he enter into temptation.
Yet Peter did not remain a failure. God enabled him to persevere. He was restored and made a success. He became wheat, not chaff. He became the rock man. The church was built upon this rock man and all the other apostles. As Jesus had predicted, he began to strengthen others after his conversion.
And this Peter is strengthening us even now. In 2 Peter 1:10 we read, "Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall." And in 1 Peter 5:8 he says, "Humble yourselves." What is he telling us? Peter is saying, Please, humble yourselves. I was arrogant and proud. I told Jesus that I loved him more than anybody else. I told him to count on me. I told him to forget about James and John and Matthew and even my own brother Andrew. I told Jesus they may fail you but I never would. But I was proud and arrogant. I did not know what I was talking about. I was individualistic, puffed up with pride, living in unreality. I did not pay any attention to Jesus and his words.
So here in 1 Peter 5:8, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter writes to the church, "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God." Then he writes, "Be self-controlled." Why? He was not. "Be self-controlled and alert . . " vigilant and sober. Why? He was not. Peter had been baptized in himself. He had contradicted The Lord Jesus Christ. So he says, "Be self-controlled and alert; your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." This practical exhortation comes from the pen of St. Peter who experienced the vigorous shaking of Satan. And then he writes, "Resist him, standing firm in your faith."
If we are going to succeed in our service for God we must not trust in our own strength and ability. We must look to God for His strength and ability.
Romans 7:18
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
II. WHY DO THESE TIMES OF FAILURE DEVASTATE US?
1. Our times of failure seem to point out our imperfections.
We don’t know how to be imperfect. We are told from the time we are little through adulthood that we must be perfect. We must always be strong; we cannot show any weakness; we must always be successful.
I believe there are times when God has to teach us a lesson. Philippians 3:12, "Not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Paul said that he keeps working toward becoming all that Christ intended him to be and failure is part of the process of becoming all that God wants us to be. So, have the courage to be imperfect.
2. Our problem comes when we mistake failing with being a failure.
How many failings does it take to be a failure? How many? You see. I may fail a lot but that does not make me a failure. The only time that I become a failure is when I give up. When I give up, then I am a failure. When you quit or give up that ’s when you become a failure.
Walt Disney was fired in his early career from a newspaper because he did not have any creative ideas.
Thomas A. Edison failed more than 1000 times in an attempt to invent a light bulb before he was actually successful. He later wrote these words, "When everyone else is giving up on a problem, that is the time to begin."
Every one of us in this sanctuary will have a time in our life when we fail. There may even be someone who is foolish enough to think that because of that failing that we are a failure. When is a failure a failure? You only become a failure when you quit trying.
III. SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO WITH FAILURE?
1. Make God a part of it.
No, I do not believe or mean that God causes us to fail. But when we have those times of failure in our lives, we are to bring God into the experience. Read with me Philippians 3:8, "I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ." What does Paul mean? I believe that when we let God be involved in our lives, it allows us to keep everything in proper perspective. When you put your failings in proper perspective, when you compare them to eternity, then failure is not always failure. In God’s economy there is no such thing as failure. There is only the potential for growth.
In my life I have experienced a few failures--one that comes to mind is my early college education. I enrolled in Pharmacy. Pharmacy requires a student to take a lot of sciences. I began taking the science courses and did not do very well. In my high school studies, I had done very well in the science courses, but in college I wasn’t doing very well. After two years of struggling in this area I came home from college feeling like a failure. My mother, being the encouraging mother that she was, would not let me drop out of school. She made me go back and finish that semester. During that time I attended an on campus revival and rededicated my life to Christ. With a lot of help from a few people, I began to realize that I was probably in the wrong field of study. I changed majors into a field of study away from the sciences and began to excel. Was I a failure? Of course not. I just had a few failings, but God continued to work in my life. He nudged me. He encouraged me. He brought me into contact with some people who helped me. He helped me find myself. When I brought God into my failings, He helped me see that I was not a failure.
2. Learn and grow from the failings.
Failures are for growing. Read with me Philippians 3:10, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His suffering." Our failings help us understand the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings. Someone has said, "Success is built upon a mount of failure.":
3. We must forget our failures or put our failures behind us.
The problem most of us have with our failures is that we can’t forget them. We continue to relive them or punish ourselves with our failures. Read with me Philippians 3:13, "This one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead I press on toward the goal to win the prize . . "
The story in our passage of scripture does not end with the phrase, "That night they caught no fish." There standing on the shore was Jesus. He called out to them, "Have you caught any fish?" They replied that even though they had fished all night they had caught nothing. Jesus told them to put down their nets on the right side. And they put their nets down as they were told and when they pulled them up they were so heavy with fish that they nearly broke. Where is Jesus when you fail? He is on the sea shore. When your life’s story is finally told, you will see that there were no failures, only the hand of a loving, guiding God, refining and building you up into the person He wants you to be, because it is in failure that God does His finest work in the hearts of His children.
Sermon By: Pastor Jim Mooney Pastor of theCrenshaw Church of God
E-mail jomooney@bellsouth.net
