"Failure: Learning What Not to Do"
Matthew 14:22-32
INTRO: "The life of Jesus Christ was an absolute failure from every standpoint except God?s. But what seemed to be failure from man?s standpoint was a triumph from God?s standpoint, because God?s purpose is never the same as man?s purpose." (Oswald Chambers; My Utmost For His Highest: August 5)
Heb 13:5
God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
Ps 139:7
7Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
No matter how bad our circumstances may get, or what we ever we go through in this life, if we are saved we have these promises that God will never abandon us.
BODY: Matthew 14:22-32
"He who never makes a mistake never makes anything." Abraham Lincoln
1. Sometimes God will send us into a storm with the purpose of increasing our faith.
Matt 14:22
22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.
Note that Jesus made the disciples, not persuaded, or asked, or motivated, but made. All the while knowing He was sending them into a storm. Just prior to this Jesus had performed the miracle of feeding the five thousand, although it affected the disciples it was nothing compared to what they were about to experience.
When you recognize God as Creator you will admire Him.
When you recognize His wisdom you will learn from Him.
When you discover His strength you will rely on Him.
But only when He saves you, will you worship Him.
Matt 14:25-26
25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It?s a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
Up until this point the disciples had never seen Jesus walk on water. He didn?t walk on water while they road in the boat, and say; "hey guys check this out". So it makes sense that when they saw Jesus "in the night" walking on water for the first time that they would mistakenly think it was a ghost.
We must be careful, if were not looking for God we will miss Him. Remember the promise He will never leave us, nor forsake us.
Matt 14:29-30
29"Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
It?s so easy to criticize Peter for his mistakes, but how many other people do you know of who walked on water? When Peter was walking on the water what were the other eleven disciples doing?
illustration: The #1 selling chair in America is "Lazy Boy". This is an icon of our culture we love to come home from a hard days work and just "veg-out" in front of the T.V. This is where our term couch potato came from, it means to do nothing. And that is exactly what the other eleven disciples were doing, they were "boat-potatoes". Could you imagine trying to market a chair called Risky Boy? Who would buy that? The point is that many times in our Christian life we must take risk for God to increase our faith.
Yes, it was when Peter took his eyes off Jesus that he began to sink. But what did he take his eyes off Jesus to look at? His circumstances! Was the wind blowing when he got out of the boat? Is God only powerful enough to hold us up on calm water (circumstances)? God is more concerned with changing us not our circumstances. He intentionally put the disciples in these adverse circumstances to build their faith.
Matt 14:32-33
32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
After Jesus feed the five thousand they didn’t worship Him, but after He rescued them they couldn’t keep from worshipping Him. Through the storm they came to know the power of Jesus and whole new way they had never experienced before.
A storm is a small price to pay to see God more clearly.
2. Don?t let failure keep you from continuing with God.
Mark 14:32-34
32They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." 33He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch."
Mark 14:37-38
37Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Simon," he said to Peter, "are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? 38Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
Mark 14:41-42
41Returning the third time, he said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"
The one thing that Jesus asked the disciples not to do is exactly the thing they did go to sleep.The sense of having done something irreversible tends to make us despair. The easy thing to do is just quit. God never calls us to do the easy thing because if He did we could do it with out Him.
Notice Jesus didn?t tell the disciples to go back home, or "just forget it". He lovingly told them to get up and let?s go on to the next thing. What is the next thing for us? It is to trust Him absolutely and remember His promises that He has not forsaken us.
3. Don?t allow failure to separate you from God?s people.
Matt 26:35
35But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.
Matt 26:73-75
73After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away."
74Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, "I don’t know the man!"
Immediately a rooster crowed. 75Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
This is rock bottom for Peter. He has turned against everything he believes in, he has now done the worst thing in his life. Denied Jesus Christ. "Wept bitterly" is an understatement at this point in Peter?s life. If he could turn back time and change anything it would be this, but he can?t. Peter must live with what he has done their is nothing he can do to change it. It?s here that Peter learns to true meaning of failure.
John 21:1-3
21:1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: 2Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.
The best thing Peter does after his failure is he doesn?t separate himself from the other disciples. When we fail it?s hard to face up to those around. It would have been easier for Peter to go back home and get away from the disciples, but he stayed with them "together". And it?s a good thing he did because that?s where Jesus appears among the believers. And when he does he overrides Peter?s failure with love. John 21:15
15When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." The most powerful thing that Jesus says to Peter is at the end of this narrative when He says to Peter; "Follow me!" John 21:19. This is what Jesus called Peter to do at the beginning of His ministry. "As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Matt 4:18-19
The call still stood. Even though Peter was a complete failure. Jesus said "Follow Me". Peter goes on to be instrumental in setting up the New Testament Church. He learns from his failures to rely on God for everything, that his personal strength is nothing, but God?s strength through him can accomplish anything.
When it came to ministry Peter learned from his failures how not to do it.
