Living Love: Part 3 (Free To Fail)
Notes
Transcript
Free To Fail
Free To Fail
I want to talk to you today about FAILING! I know, that is a crazy way to approach my topic today but it is true! If we are all honest . . we hate to fail.
Why is that? Why is it that we hate to fail? If we went around the room today and everyone answered that question we would get a host of different answers . . . and some of them may not even be very good answers. What do I mean? Because we might hear . . . failing just stinks! And, you know what I agree that it stinks . . . but why does it stink? Why do we hate to fail?
I believe that the reason we hate to fail is because our failure may cause us to feel and look badly! Depending on where you are at, who is watching, what your situation in life is at that present moment . . . they can all be factors in how we handle failure. It can be very embarrassing!
You see, failure opens our eyes to the fact that we are not in control as much as we would like to believe we are and therefore we experience the feelings of vulnerability!
Vulnerability can be a very scary thing to many if not all of us; and it’s not a place that most of us want to be in our lives . . . it is a place that we probably avoid most of the time. But it is exactly a place where God can do His best work in our lives.
Just think about this: if everything that we did in life was successful . . . would we ever learn anything? Would we ever learn to trust God? Would we ever learn to trust others? And, bottom line . . . if we are not trusting God then we are in for some deep trouble! If we are not trusting God then we are placing our trust in something else and we are going to lose our way pretty quickly.
But; once we have failed and we have experienced the love, the grace, the mercy, the forgiveness, and the acceptance of God . . . in our vulnerability . . . then things can start changing in our lives.
Today, we are going to talk about failure, how it works, and what God can do with it.
A couple of questions just to get us thinking this morning: How many of you have failed? No, don’t answer that . . . we all know that we have all failed . . . so please don’t raise your hands because then we will all realize who has taken a shower and who hasn’t!
No, really! We know we have all failed at one point or another. When you failed . . . how did you deal with your failure in the past? Did you handle it well? How do you handle it now? We all have our moments!
I had one just the other day when I was trying to put some de-icing cable on my roof! Long story short! It was an epic fail and if you want to know the jist of the story then you’ll just have to have lunch with Kaylene and I . . . I will promise you a good laugh anyway!
And No! I did not handle it well because it was one of those things that I should not have done! Now I can laugh . . . the other day I was not laughing . . . believe me!
But Further! Our failures can be opportunities! Opportunities to learn from our mistakes and failures . . . opportunities to ask not “Who am I now that I’ve failed?” but “Who is God leading me to become?”
I want each of you think about some things! If you have a piece of paper, your notepad on your phone or tablet . . . write down some of these things. If not just think through these things with me . . .
What was your first job?
Do you have good memories or bad memories of the experience?
Now, we have had a couple of weeks of talking about Living Love.
The first week I challenged you to be thankful and express that to someone. I also asked you to look at quitting something to make more room for God to do something in your life.
Last week, I challenged you to act on courage and take steps to share your testimony with someone, to stand up and speak truth in your life on something that is biblical truth . . . something that God is speaking to you through His Word!
Now, hopefully you have been following along with these things as we are taking steps in learning to Live Love out loud in our lives.
Today, I want to look initially at John 21:15-19. Let’s read that together! Would you stand with me today as we read the Word of God Together!
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. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
You may take your seats!
After reading this passage I want us to think about the history of Peter and Jesus.
Remember, the key to this is Peter denying Jesus 3x! Denying that he even knew Jesus after he had sworn such allegiance to Jesus earlier
Why do you think that Jesus asked Peter this same question “Do you truly love me?” three different times?
We won’t go deep into everything here but in the first two times he uses the word love here he uses the word agape (divine love) and the third time he uses the word phileo (friendship and fondness). Both of these words represent a high aspect of love but a good case can be made for the difference Jesus was emphasizing.
Jesus wasn’t concerned about Peter’s attachment to Jesus, but he was concerned about his will to love at all costs and that’s why Jesus changed the term in the third question making it more of a probing question. Jesus not only challenged his love but would be implying that it was superficial. That is the reason for Peter’s distress when questioned the third time.
In short . . . this challenge to Peter demanded a total renewal of his loyalty and reaffirmed his responsibilities.
What does it say about God that Jesus takes Peter back as a disciple? What does it say about Peter that he accepts his reinstatement?
It speaks greatly about God and Jesus forgiveness, His graciousness, and His mercy. It speaks greatly of what He sees and knows of Peter.
As far as Peter . . . it speaks of his humility and of his great love for Jesus.
If you were Peter, how would you have responded to Jesus’ questions? There are a whole host of things that run through my mind as I ponder this question. Answers like, “Yes, I do!” Answers like, “I’m trying but I feel like I keep failing!” These are just a couple.
A few questions:
Have you ever utterly failed? What happened?
Does God lead us into failures? Yes/No?
Whatever that answer is, I know this!
Romans 8:28 says . . .
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.
So, even in our failures God is working to bring about good in us that love him. He uses our failures, when we are vulnerable, to teach us things about ourselves, about God, about life, and about others!
Because of God’s work in our lives . . . we are no longer defined by our failures. We are defined by Christ.
Think about the example of Peter and Jesus! Peter failed Jesus in a very critical time in His life, but Peter was not defined by this “major” failure in his life. No! Jesus saw greater things in Him and used those failures to cause him to rise to something greater!
Because most of us are afraid of failing, we end up faking it and acting like somebody who isn’t us. Have you ever play-acted to be someone you’re not? Who or what did you pretend to be?
Growing up I moved around quite often, and one time in the 8th grade after another move to Big Springs NE, I was trying to fit in . . .
When are you tempted to fake it? What/who are you tempted to act like? And, what does it say about who you are afraid to become?
Do you what your calling is? What are you doing to be faithful to that calling?
We have seen that Jesus gave people nicknames, such as Peter. We have seen that these nicknames are not based off of who the person used to be, but on who the person was becoming.
Write down your most “epic” fail . . . a failure that is hard to shake . . . one that follows you around and causes regret. Don’t show it to anyone unless you choose to.
Now, right down a nickname based off of that failure . . . be as honest as you can.
Now, search your heart and write down a nickname that you think Jesus would give you based on who you are becoming.
How are these nicknames different? How are they related? How can you tell when a nickname comes from God and when it comes from elsewhere?
God calls us to be greater than our failures! God calls us to be greater than our own selfish dreams and schemes! He calls us to raise up and answer the call . . . that we are His workmanship, His greatest creation!
God calls us like living stones, which are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, as we offering ourselves as spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.
As God calls us, we are those who trust in Him , who will never be put to shame. We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, declaring the praises of Him who called you out of darkness in to His wonderful light.
As God calls, once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Closing Prayer
“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’