FAILURE 1A

I have heard many sermons and have read many books on success but I have virtually never heard anyone speak or write on failure. So this week I felt I would write on it because I feel very equipped and qualified to write on such a subject. I would consider myself one has has earned a PHD in failure.

If I could describe my life it would be in terms of failures, flops, stumbles, and fumbles. I have made big mistakes and I have done so many dumb things in my life I could write a book. I have failed willfully, foolishly, blindly, hilariously, well intentioned, pridefully, carelessly, shamefully, rebelliously, and I know that I am not alone and that every one of you has failed and will fail. It seems as inevitable as death and taxes as long as we are here on earth. Failure is something we all share in common and we all fail often. Not only that, we fail in many different ways. James 3:2 reminds us “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”

We fail in our words, deeds, thoughts, and attitudes. Because I am a man and not yet perfect I will continue to fail until the day I die. The only guarantee against my future failures is death. Here is what I have learned in more than anything else about failure. The issue in our lives isn't whether we fail but rather whether we profit from it. The issue isn't whether I fall down, it's do I stay down. We all know how to fall down, but do we know how to get back up? Will I be built up or destroyed by it? Failure either makes us or breaks us. In his profound book “the Screw tape letters” C.S. Lewis has the devil speaking to one of his apprentice demons named wormwood say, “Get Christians preoccupied with their failures. From there the battle is won.” Though we all have failure in common, we don’t all profit from it. Some fall down and stay down, others get up and as I have heard it said, "fail forward".

How can we successfully fail?

1. LEARN FROM IT Allow failure to be your teacher. The old saying is that the road to success is paved with failure. What’s important about a mistake is what you learn from it. I love what John Wooden used to say, “It’s what you learn after you know everything that matters.” You can't learn from mistakes you don't make. Jesus honored Peter’s decision to walk on water knowing that he would sink. But He allowed him to fail because it was key to his learning and growth. He learned dependence, trust, and reliance on God alone. I have heard Moses life described like this: The first 30 years Moses thought he was somebody, the next 30 years Moses learned he was a nobody, and the last thirty years he learned that God can take nobodies and make them into somebody’s for His glory! Proverbs 24:16, "for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again."

Let me tell you some of the things I’ve learned through failure: I can’t trust myself, only God; no room for pride, only humility; if I want what I deserve, I’ll get it, if I want what only God can give me, I’ll receive grace and mercy; I’ve learned mercy, compassion, and forgiveness towards others who fail.

2. LET FAILURE DRAW YOU CLOSER TO GOD Failure can be like Gordon MacDonald says, "one of those precious insightful moments when we see ourselves as we really are and see God as He really is". Remember the prodigal son and how it says, “he came to himself”? David fell like Saul, only in his failure he turned to God, repented, asked forgiveness, and was restored.
Psalm 51:1-13, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge...Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation."

Psalm 34:18, "The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 40:17, "Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.
Psalm 50:15, "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."

3. FORGET YOUR FAILURES Paul says in Philippians 3:13, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead."
I am learning to let my past failures become stepping stones instead of tombstones. There is a world of difference in failing lots of times verses saying “I’m a failure.’
Psalm 103:8-14 says to us, "The LORD is merciful and gracious,slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.He will not always chide,nor will he keep his anger forever.He does not deal with us according to our sins,nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." If God says He’s forgotten it, you need to as well. John reminds us, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9). Therefore, I can get back up off the floor with confidence practicing Micah 7:7-10, "But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, "Where is the LORD your God?"

4. KEEP ON RUNNING THE RACE "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." ( Hebrews 12:1)

5. LOOK AHEAD It has been said that you cannot walk backward into the future. Paul says , "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14)."

6.LET GOD USE YOUR FAILURE FOR YOUR GOOD AND AS A LAUNCHPAD FOR HIS LIFE, MINISTRY, AND GLORY TO BE MANIFEST THROUGH YOU In this life God has committed Himself to working with failures, and in the process He brings glory to Himself and, by grace, accomplishes what is for the good of His children. God is for your success.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Philippians 1:6, "I am sure that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion." Romans 8:28-31 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Genesis 50:20, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."

God knows all of your weaknesses, habits, character flaws, ineptitude, inability. He doesn’t go “oh man what am I going to do with Bill, he’s got this problem with his ____. "

Listen to what God can do it for you:
In Mark 10:27 we read, "Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
Ephesians 3:20, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."
God can take all of my sins, my failures, flops, and fumbles and use them all as the ingredients to achieve His glorious purposes in my life!

Remember the great failure of Peter who boasted that he would never deny Jesus and yet denied Him three times? In John 21 we get a beautiful picture of restoration and sending out:
John 21:15-19, "When 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." Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep…"Follow me!"

Human failure opens wide the door through which grace alone can enter. In the midst of shameful failure, Peter found forgiveness and restoration. God’s favor was not granted as a reward for faithfulness, but because of failure. Here is grace greater than all our sins. Romans 5:20 reminds us, "where sin abounds, grace super abounds." In short, you cannot out-sin or out-fail God’s grace!

I am convinced I am utterly unable to live the Christian life. Left to myself I will screw everything up. After 37 years my flesh is still flesh! But God is the God who takes nothing and speaks a universe into existence and takes our failures, turns them around, and brings His glory through them.

I am so encouraged by 2 Corinthians 4:7-11, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body."

God’s work cannot be accomplished by resolution, determination or self-effort—not even by a positive mental attitude. God’s work can only be done in God’s way—by our distrusting of ourselves and completely depending upon His enablement. The greatest truth you can know is what Jesus tells you in John 15:5 “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

Remember what God said to Paul, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." As a result Paul could say, "Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9,10)

Remember dear reader that God does not fail - "Be strong and of good courage, fear not, for the Lord thy God ... will not fail nor forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:6).
God’s Word does not fail - "Not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed" (Joshua 23:14).
God's love and compassion do not fail - "It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, because His compassion's fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22,23)

So if you have fallen down, get up and join me as together we "fail forward".

Pastor Bill