“Success And Failure”
1 Corinthians 4:2
INTRODUCTION: Everybody wants to be successful … or a part of something successful. BUT … I had to ask myself, “What does SUCCESSFUL mean?”
You want to be a “successful” parent … RIGHT? (our series on Sunday nights) What does that mean? Does it mean that your kids grow up to be doctors, lawyers, preachers, teachers? Are you a “successful” parent if your son is still a bag-boy at Publix at the age of 28? If your children haven’t come to Christ, have you been a “successful” parent? What determines “success”?
You want to be a “successful” husband/wife … RIGHT? What does that mean? Does it mean that you have no problems in your marriage? Are you a “successful” wife if your husband doesn’t attend church with you? Are you a “successful” husband if your wife won’t let you buy that new pick-up truck you’ve always wanted?
How do we determine “success”, anyway? Many people determine “success” by comparing themselves with other people. They think that if you can’t buy what other people have, then you aren’t successful.
Some people think that you’re not “successful” if you haven’t climbed as far up the ladder of “success” as somebody else.
Some Pastors have a problem with this. What determines a “successful” Pastor? The size of his church … the number of baptisms a year … his salary … his prestige in the community … the vehicle he drives?
Let me give you a verse that might help you. 1 Corinthians 4:2 – All turn. NOTICE that, it doesn’t say “successful” … but “faithful”.
God looks at “success” differently than we do. When God looks at you, He doesn’t look to see how “successful” you’ve been … but how “faithful” you’ve been.
NOW … let me answer some of the questions I raised earlier. Does it mean you are a FAILURE as a parent if your children don’t turn out the way you expect them to … the way you raised them? NO! NOT IF you have been FAITHFUL to God in being the Christian parent you ought to be. Does it mean you are a FAILURE as a husband/wife if your mate isn’t all that he/she should be? NO! NOT IF you have been FAITHFUL to God in being the Christian husband/wife you ought to be.
Certainly, we are going to make mistakes in life. And do you know what? God understands that. Everybody has failed in the Christian life … EXCEPT one person … Jesus. Jesus sees your FAILURES differently than we do. AND … He sees SUCCESS differently than we do.
What is the most important thing to our Lord? “faithfulness”. AND … MAYBE you are more of a SUCCESS, and less of a FAILURE than you think you are.
I want us this morning to take a look at some “Successful Failures” in the Bible. Somebody once said, “If there’s one thing I’m successful at … it’s failing!” Let’s take a look at some FAMOUS FAILURES:
1.-ISAIAH – Isaiah 6:8-12 – all turn
God told Isaiah to preach a very unpopular message … a message of REPENTANCE. Right from the beginning, God told him that he was going to FAIL! There wouldn’t be any repentance … only judgment. Isaiah was going on a suicide mission!
Isaiah failed to turn the nation of Israel to God. AND … he considered himself a FAILURE. He ended up sawed in half for his efforts … killed as a martyr … thinking he was a failure.
YET … How do WE see Isaiah? Isaiah was one of the greatest Hebrew writers who ever lived. What he wrote, was to be completed and fulfilled by Christ Himself. Over & over we read in the New Testament that what Jesus did was “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah.” Jesus quoted Isaiah when He preached. It’s quite an honor to be quoted in a sermon … and Isaiah was quoted by Jesus … the utmost honor!
John the Baptist quoted Isaiah as his text for his sermons on repentance. Philip quoted from Isaiah when he witnessed to the Ethiopian eunuch to show him Christ. Paul used Isaiah’s writings to turn the Gentiles to Christ … quoting him 5 times in the book of Romans. The study of prophecy is incomplete without the book of Isaiah.
A FAILURE? Maybe in the eyes of the world. Maybe even in his own eyes. BUT … not in the eyes of God. WHY? BECAUSE … Isaiah was “faithful”. AND … that’s what counts most to God. 1 Cor. 4:2 – “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
2.- JEREMIAH – Jeremiah 11:19, 12:6
Jeremiah was called by God when he was a young man … a young “Preacher-Boy”. It’s tough when you’re young in the ministry. By all human standards, Jeremiah was a FAILURE in the ministry.
o The townspeople ordered him to leave town, or they would kill him.
o His family rejected him because of his call to the ministry.
o He was accused of treason, and the authorities wanted to kill him.
o Instead, they put him in prison … in and out of prison all his life.
o He needed love & understanding … but God forbid him to marry.
o He wrote the book of Jeremiah … but the King destroyed it.
o He cried a lot … known as the “Weeping Prophet”
Jeremiah felt that he was a complete FAILURE in the ministry. BUT … was he? He had one of the greatest honors ever paid to any man. Matthew 16:13-14 – ribbon.
This was his honor … they thought that Jesus was Jeremiah come back to life! They compared Jesus to Jeremiah! Would people ever mistake you … for Jesus? They did Jeremiah! 1 Cor. 4:2 – “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
Was Jeremiah a FAILURE? Not in God’s eyes. WHY? “Jeremiah, you’re not a failure. They looked at Jesus, and thought it was you!” You’re not a failure when others can see Jesus in you.
3.- PETER – Matthew 26:31-35
You remember Peter. He’s the one who:
o Took his eyes off Jesus, and began to sink, while walking on water (I never would have gotten out of the boat!).
o Rebuked Jesus when Jesus talked about His coming death and crucifixion.
o Jesus said to him, “Get thee behind Me, Satan.”
o Told Jesus that, even though everybody else would fail Jesus, he never would. YET … he denied Him 3 times.
o Was the one who doubted when he saw the empty tomb.
Poor Peter … he must have thought he was a first-class FAILURE. Did Peter fail the Lord? YES … many times. Was Peter a FAILURE? NEVER! WHY? BECAUSE … he didn’t let his past failures hinder him in going on for the Lord. THAT’S WHEN we become a FAILURE … when we are DOWN … and fail to get back up.
Peter didn’t let his past failures get in his way in the future. What did he do?
o When he preached, thousands were converted.
o He wrote 2 books of the New Testament.
o He was instrumental in the founding and building up of churches.
o He built up Christians in the faith.
Peter wasn’t a FAILURE … WHY? Because he didn’t let his failures defeat him. 1 Cor. 4:2 – “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
4.- JESUS
Maybe YOU consider yourself to be a FAILURE. Even JESUS, by the world’s standards is considered a FAILURE:
o He was executed as a criminal.
o He was condemned as a traitor to the Jews.
o He was rejected by His own people … even by most of His family.
o When He died, His followers fled for their lives.
5.- YOU
Maybe you have failed God MANY TIMES in your life. Does that make you a FAILURE? NO … only if you let your failures keep you from going on with the Lord … only if you give up.
In one sense, we’re ALL failures. We’re all SINNERS (failures) … saved by the grace of God. BUT … It’s when we wallow in self-pity … it’s when we dwell on our past mistakes … it’s when we let our failures defeat us … that we become FAILURES.
Did you know that you’re very SPECIAL to God? Do you know that you’re worth a lot to God? God loved YOU so much that He was willing to sacrifice His Son Jesus for you. Jesus loved you so much that He was willing to be tortured on the cross for you.
Lots of people don’t do much FOR GOD, because they don’t think they’re not worth much TO GOD. God made you SPECIAL. Psalm 139:14 – “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works;”
God made you SPECIAL. Some of us are tall, some short (“Sawed off, and hammered down”). Some of us are fluffy (“I’m not too fat, I’m just too short”), some skinny. God had a reason for making you the way He did. Some are shy & reserved, some are outgoing. Some are introverted, some are extroverted. Some are handsome, some are so ugly that only their mother could think their beautiful. Some are smart, some are not-so-smart.
God made you the way He did for a special reason … though maybe you would have had Him make a few adjustments to your looks or character. God didn’t make you the way you are for you to be a FAILURE … but to be a SUCCESS.
Who are you to question how God made you? Romans 9:20 – “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” Who do you think you are to question God?
SUCCESS isn’t determined by how you look … how much you have … how much SUCCESS you have achieved in this world. God determines SUCCESS by FAITHFULNESS … regardless of the outcome. 1 Cor. 4:2 – “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
CONCLUSION:
Don’t ever give up in your Christian life. Be FAITHFUL to God. Leave the final outcome to God.
Be FAITHFUL to:
o PRAY for those things you have no control over.
o TRUST GOD to do what only He can do.
o DO what God has called you to do.
o BE what God has called you to be.
o LIVE like God has called you to live.
God measures success and failure differently than we do. Don’t determine success or failure by comparing yourself with others. God looks at SUCCESS as FAITHFULNESS. Philip. 3:13-14 – “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, [14] I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
That’s SUCCESS in God’s eyes!
STAND – PRAYER
HYMN - #198 – “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”
OUTLINE FOR HANDOUT:
“Success And Failure”
INTRODUCTION: Everybody wants to be “successful”.
- 1 Corinthians 4:2 – How God looks at “success”.
Some “Successful Failures”:
1.- ISAIAH – Isaiah 6:8-12
- Isaiah failed to turn the nation to God.
- YET … Isaiah was one of the greatest prophets of God.
- Isaiah was a failure in his own eyes … but not in the eyes of God … BECAUSE … he was FAITHFUL to God.
2.- JEREMIAH – Jeremiah 11:19, 12:6
- Jeremiah felt like he was a failure in the ministry.
- Look at the honor they gave him – Matthew 16:13-14
- Would anybody mistake you … for Jesus?
- You’re not a failure when others can see Jesus in you.
3.- PETER – Matthew 26:31-35
- Peter failed the Lord many times … Was he a failure?
- Peter never let his past failures defeat him.
4.- JESUS
- He was a failure according to the world’s standards of success.
5.- YOU
- We are ALL failures in the fact that we’re sinners.
- It’s only when we let our failures defeat us, that we become failures.
- You are very special to God – Psalm 139:14
- God didn’t make you the way you are for you to be a failure … but a success.
- Don’t question God as to how He made you – Romans 9:10
- God determines success by faithfulness.
CONCLUSION:
- Don’t ever give up … be faithful … leave the final outcome to God.
- God measures success differently than we do.
- Philippians 3:13-14 – “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, [14] I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
PRISCILLA BAPTIST CHURCH – Ray Scott, Pastor
