Take a moment and look at the sermon title printed in your bulletin. Do you find it to be a strange title? Do you find it to be a contradiction?
Most of us do not like failure and many of us have been taught – consciously or subconsciously – that failure is not acceptable. In fact, we live in a “one strike and you’re out” environment these days.
I was recently talking with an acquaintance regarding our growing up years. And she noted to me that what used to get us a “slap on the wrist” or a “pat on the bottom” or “grounded” now will get us jail time or probation. For all our talk on tolerance these days there is often little tolerance for much of what in another time and place passed for foolishness. So failure in our day and age is not often tolerated, so how can there be a magnificence to failure?
We have begun 2004 with some ways of getting in shape for God as we: (Overhead 1)
Accept ourselves as God’s greatest creation
Learn to serve and be God’s servant
Discover and accept our place on God’s “team” – the church.
Accept ourselves for who we are while growing in Christian maturity
And this morning we are going to get in shape for the Lord as we let God use all of our life experiences including our failures and disappointments.
It does seem that failure and faith do not go together. But, I would remind us right up front this morning as we approach the Lenten season it was our greatest failure – the failure to obey that resulted in the disobedience that we call sin – that brought Jesus to the Cross and out of the tomb so that we could be free from that failure and be right with God through Christ! Failure is a tool in God’s hands to make things right in us and in this world – now and one day in the future at the final judgment.
Not only does God use our failures he also uses our pain and disappointments to bring others to him. All of us here this morning have experienced pain and disappointment in our lives. Some of that pain and disappointment has come as a result of our choices and some of it from the choices of others.
We have experienced the end of a marriage and the pain of divorce. We have experienced an unexpected pregnancy. We have mourned the loss of a child. All of which has changed our lives. But, God still loves us. God still wants us to be totally His despite the consequences - good and bad - of those choices.
We see this in our text for this morning. It is a familiar text and has often been used to remind us and encourage us that forgiveness is possible no matter what we have done or said because none of us, while we are still living, are beyond God’s forgiving reach and touch.
I want to again read the passage ending with verse 17: “After breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. Once more he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know I love you.”
Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.”
Now what does this passage have to say to us about God’s use of past experiences, especially the painful ones? Let’s start by noticing a couple of things.
First we must pay attention to how Jesus asked the same question three different ways. The first time Jesus asks, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” The second time He asks, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” The third time He again asks, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” What is Jesus asking?
First, He is asking, “Peter do you really love me more than those who are sitting around you?” And who was sitting around Peter? It was some of the remaining disciples. Now let’s stop and think about it for a minute.
Here sits a group of 7 men who have been together with Jesus for three years. They are a diverse group of men. They had their battles and disagreements. Yet, they were first-hand witnesses to the power of God through His Son, Jesus and would soon be given the assignment to go and make other followers of Christ by telling them of what Jesus had done for humanity. Don’t you think these 8 had developed a bond of love and commitment during those three years? But what Jesus wanted to know is, “Do you really love me more than these close friends and colleagues?” And Peter said, “Yes, you know that I really love you more than my brothers in Christ.”
Then Jesus changes the question, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” No comparison this time. A flat out question, “Peter, do you love me?”
Peter do you really, really love me? Do you love me more than anything or anyone else?
Jesus is probing Peter; deeply and thoroughly probing him – his motives, his love, and his intentions. Jesus wanted to know, “Peter, after all that has happened in the past several weeks, after all that you have said and done, do you really, really, still love me?”
Let’s step back for a moment from the scene to consider what is taking place. Let’s try to imagine Peter’s facial expressions and body language. What do you see?
I see a man who is very uncomfortable with what is going on. I can see a man whose gaze flits between the questioner, the ground, and those around him.
I see a man who is internally, and probably externally, shifting in his sandy seat, wishing that he were some place else right now. He is growing uncomfortable as he remembers that dark night of failure when he denied his relationship to Christ.
Perhaps he is in tears. Perhaps there is a longer pause between question and answer than there was the first time. (We don’t know for sure.) But, there is great emotion. Finally, we hear, “Yes, Lord you know I love you!”
But there is more from the questioner. It is the same question this third time, except, except, this time he asks, “Simon son of John, do you like me? And as the text says, “Peter was grieved that Jesus asked the question a third time.” Why was Peter grieved?
Maybe he was grieved for a couple of reasons. First, Peter had twice now responded to the question of sacrificial love for Christ with a statement of brotherly affection. “Yes Lord, I phileo you.”
According to the original text the word for love in the first two questions is agape. It is a word that describes a sacrificial love. I Corinthians 13 uses this form of love.
All three times Peter responds with phileo a term that is descriptive of a brotherly affection. So there is a gap, a gap of meaning, perhaps a gap of commitment between what Jesus is asking and what Peter is indicating. The level of love is not the same. So Jesus decides to change His question and ask, “Simon son of John do you like me?”
Peter is grieved with the question. Why? Maybe he is grieved because he recalls his third response to the question about his involvement with Jesus as he stood outside the courtyard where Jesus had been taken prior to His death and crucifixion. Matthew gives a strong wording to Peter’s third denial as he says in Matthew 26:74, “I swear by God I don’t know him.” Peter’s emphatic oath seems to cement his denial of his relationship with Christ very deeply and with this third question he is reminded of the depth of his denial – his failure.
Another reason that Peter might be grieved is that Jesus changes the level of love in the third question and Peter then realizes that his love for Christ is not what it should be. And by Jesus asking, “Do you like me?” Peter realizes that his love for Christ, and thus his commitment to Christ, needs to be more than it is.
Another item to examine in this passage is the commands which Jesus gives Peter after each question:
First Jesus says, “Then feed my lambs.”
Then He says, “Then take care of my sheep.”
Finally He says, “Then feed my sheep.”
The progression is an interesting one: “Feed lambs, care for sheep, feed sheep.” What is Jesus saying? “Serve me Peter by taking care of those who are following and will also follow me.”
Jesus focuses on two things – loving Him and serving Him. I can see Peter deeply broken and sobbing as the weight of his failure and his disappointment comes down on him in the presence of those who loved him, including Jesus.
And I can see Jesus reaching out to Peter, putting Peter’s face in His hands with great emotions in His own voice, and telling Peter, “feed my sheep.” “Serve me Peter. Serve me.”
Peter acknowledges his failure by his honest answers to Christ’s questions. He cannot hide from Christ. It is an uncomfortable period for Peter because confession is always an uncomfortable time.
But, Jesus does not dwell on the failure. That has been addressed. Confession and repentance has been done. Jesus points Peter toward the future and points Peter in the direction that He wants Peter to go – in service to/for Him.
So what does this passage reveal about how God uses our failures and disappointments for His honor and glory? It is a process that requires the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts to help us face, admit, and let go of our failures and disappointments.
Now several weeks went by between Peter’s denial and this conversation. Peter had been to the empty tomb and as we read in John 20:19-29, he was with the disciples on two different recorded occasions when Jesus appeared to them. In fact John points out in verse 14 that this was “the third time that Jesus had appeared to His disciples since he had been raised from the dead.” So why now does Jesus approach Peter? Why not earlier?
Perhaps a clue is in the actions of verses 7 - 14 of this chapter. These 7 disciples have been fishing all night long and as dawn broken Jesus approaches them from the shoreline about the results. What does verse 4 say? “They had caught nothing all night?” They had failed.
Jesus encourages them to try again specifically on the right hand side of the boat. They reluctantly do so and they get this huge catch of fish.
John then notices that it is Jesus with whom they are speaking and in verse 7 he says to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Peter responds by jumping into the water and swimming to shore. And when Jesus says, “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” it is Peter who jumps back into the water and retrieves the net full of 153 fish, large fish.”
(The same thing happened 3 years earlier at the same location as we read in Luke 5:1-11. And Peter’s response in verse 8 to such a large catch was, “Oh Lord, please leave me – I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.”)
Perhaps Peter’s actions, as one Bible scholar, RVG Tasker suggests, indicates that “more than his six colleagues present with him in the boat [Peter] needs to be personally assured of the forgiveness made possible by Jesus’ death and resurrection, for without that forgiveness he will be unable (and he knows it) to be what Jesus had said that one day He would make him ‘a fisher of men.’”
Let me also suggest this morning that only now was Peter ready to face the Lord and deal with his failure. Why? Because sometimes we are not fully ready to face our failures and disappointments, as we need to. I think of King David and the length of time that had passed between his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan’s confrontation. Perhaps if David would have been confronted with his sin earlier he would have denied it up and down and perhaps Nathan would have found himself on the receiving end of the King’s wrath. So God waited until Peter was ready.
The second thing that this passage reveals is that just as Jesus told Peter to serve by “feeding” those who follow the Lord, so He tells us to “feed the lambs and the sheep.”
Our failures are forgivable and as there is no sin (except the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit) that cannot be forgiven. And when we are forgiven, God can use these experiences to help others as we serve them in His name.
God can use all of our experiences. He wastes nothing! And the Bible is filled with many stories of circumstances that God used to accomplish His purposes and plans.
There is Esther who is chosen queen by a foreign king who signs an order that makes it possible for Esther’s people – to be killed. And her uncle, facing death right in his face, says to her, “… who can say but that you have been elevated to the palace for just such a time as this?”
There is Abraham who is told to move to a new county because he will become the father of a great nation but panics and tells a foreign king that his wife is his sister. Then later on his wife, who believes that she is too old to become a mother, tells Abraham to get their servant girl pregnant. But, despite of all of this, Abraham still believes and God makes him the father of a great nation through whom our salvation comes!
And then there is Mary, a young woman, who is told by an angel that she will have a baby, God’s baby! Mary wonders how since she has never been sexually active with a man. The angel says (basically) “That’s God’s doing.” And so she says, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything that you have said come true.”
One of the great challenges in our time and lives is to see purpose in our lives. So much seems disjointed these days. We sometimes feel as if we are living in different compartments and wonder, as we look back, and look around, and look in at our lives. But, God wastes nothing in His plans and purposes. The key is to align our lives with His purpose!
As we conclude, I want to have you take a few moments and complete an exercise that only you will know the results of, okay? (Overhead 2)
If you want to be in shape for God you need to take stock of your experiences. We need to look at our:
Spiritual experiences… Have you ever been saved? Have you confessed your sins and asked God to forgive you? Are you current in your relationship with Christ?
Painful experiences… God can use our painful experiences in a variety of ways one of which is sharing the pain of someone else that is going through what we have gone through.
Educational experiences… A good education is important. God has given us a mind to use. Poor use of our minds (as well as an unsurrendered mind) can be a hindrance to fulfilling God’s purposes. Perhaps a seminar, workshop, or a class is one of the experiences God is going to use to help you serve Him more completely. God can use your education experiences to make a difference in His name!
Ministry experiences … In other churches, or at other times in the ministry of this church, you have served in different capacities. What are those experiences? Are you still willing to serve in those areas if the Lord would have you?
God wastes nothing in His plans and purposes for us. And that includes our experiences.
Not long ago I was sent an interesting and thought provoking story that illustrates how God can use our experiences to help others come to Him and give our lives meaning and purpose even in the midst of pain, discouragement, and failure.
It is called CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE and was originally sent by a Nicole Madison. It seems that a young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.
She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked. "What’s the point, mother?"
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity--boiling water--but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water. "Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"
The point of the story deals with how we handle the experiences of life. And while there is scientific truth in the results of boiling water’s effect on carrots, eggs, and coffee beans, God wastes nothing in our lives. He uses moments when our hearts turn to mush with grief, disappointment, and sorrow. He uses moments when our attitudes get hard and faith, hope, love and a whole host of other life giving attitudes are locked out.
He uses our experiences, as we let Him, to release His power and His life into not only our own lives but the lives of others because God uses you and me, in all of our circumstances and situations to fulfill His purpose of bringing others to Him just like coffee beans.
This morning you may be at a place where you feel all has been wasted and that life is awful and terrible. You may be at a place where you want to serve the Lord and do more for Him but you are held back by the past. Or you may be at a place where you think that you have nothing that God can use. Think “coffee bean!” Why?
Because just as the coffee bean uses the boiling water to release its flavor and taste (to some of us at least) God wastes nothing in our experiences for His purposes in our lives and in others. He can and does use it all!
So, let all of your experiences – the good, the bad, and the ugly- be used by the Lord so that others can come to Him and so that you will experience the “joy of the Lord” in fresh and exciting ways! Amen.
(The categories of experience are taken from the small group resource, “Developing Your Shape To Serve Others,” published by Zondervan. If you would like the overheads, on ppt, please e-mail me at pastorjim46755@yahoo.com and ask for 020804 svgs.)
