FaithFail

Intro

Context of where this passage lies

Luke 22:31–34 NIVUK84

31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” 33 But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” 34 Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

Did Jesus’ prayer work?

We believe prayer works. We know it works in the sense that prayer connects us to our heavenly Father and further aligns ourselves with the heart of God.

We know that prayers are not wasted, and that God responds to the pleas of his people in ways we can see and in ways that we will never understand.

However, there’s this lingering question: “Did the prayer of Jesus for Peter work the way we wanted it to work or are we so removed from the purposes of God that our requests and petitions aren’t fulfilled?”

If there’s anyone for whom we would expect prayer to “work” it would be Jesus, right?

Don’t we assume that the prayers of the Son would be answered by the Father because they are one?

I've been struck by the concept that we don't think Jesus’ prayer worked because we refer to Peter's denial as his failure.

Even in some of the commentaries I read this week in which Jesus prayed that Peter's faith wouldn't fail, it referred multiple times to the failure of Peter's faith.

We’re left with the options that either Peter’s faith failed, or Jesus’ prayer did.

Failure vs. Falter

The word that Luke records Jesus using in his prayer that his faith would not "fail" is used twice more in Luke.

First in Luke 16 when Jesus encourages us to "use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone (failed), you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings."

The second time we find this word used is a chapter later in the moment that Jesus dies on the cross. Luke writes, "The sun stopped (failed) shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two."

The word Jesus uses to describe his prayer for Peter means "to come to an end, die out, no longer functioning".

Luke uses this specific word to make it clear to us that to fail is like the status of our finances once we have died: they've come to an end.

It's like the sun when Jesus died on the Cross: it was no longer functioning. When our faith has died out, it's come to an end and it's no longer functioning.

We don't use the word fail that way. We use it to refer to every time we mess up. When I try to jump over a ditch and overestimate my vertical leap and land smack dab in the middle of the ditch, it’s a fail.

When I pick the slow checkout lane - fail.

When I was a youth pastor and tried to show that I was still young, spry and agile. Instead I blow out my ACL in my knee in front of everyone - major fail.

The word fail has become a catch-all for all my mistakes & missteps.

I fail when there is a gap between my understanding and my obedience.

I don't try to excuse my way out of that situation. I'm willing to call it what it is: a failure.

Whenever I choose comfort over calling or preference over faith, I failed.

Failing is so frequent in my own life that I feel like my faith has failed many times. I at least identify myself by my failures.

Perhaps Jesus’ view of failure doesn’t match our own. If it doesn’t, you may be referring to something as a failure that Jesus never would have.

You may be referring to something as a failure that Jesus wouldn't even pray to keep you from. Maybe what you view as failure is something that God wants to bring you into.

I’ve said it many times, and I struggle to remember it when I am facing something incredibly difficult -

There is purpose in the process.

Consider Peter here in this passage:

What was accomplished as a result of this “failure” in Peter’s life? What did it produce?

I believe that God answers prayer and I believe that God answered Jesus' prayer.

I believe God is still answering Jesus' prayer when he prayed for us in John 17 "that all of them may be one."

The prayers of Jesus are one of the only things I believe has kept the Church together through the polarization and divisiveness of the last couple of years.

Has it been easy? No. Has it been pretty? No.

Has the Church given itself over to lesser things than Kingdom issues? Absolutely.

But did we fail? It appears not. Not by Jesus' standard.

We have not come to an end. We're still functioning. I don't just mean that the Church is still meeting, although that does matter.

The Church is still functioning as witnesses and agents of the Kingdom that is in our midst.

Jesus' prayer for us didn't fail and neither did his prayer for Peter, because Peter's faith didn't fail.

Peter’s faith was still functioning. It did not come to an end. Peter denies knowing Jesus, but ultimately, his faith did not fail.

Sifting of our Faith

A faith that falters is not the same as a faith that fails.

Peter will be shaken by the events that are about to unfold, but Jesus makes it clear that these events have been requested by Satan to "sift all of you as wheat."

Sifting is the process of removing the coarse particles from the finer ones. It's where what is undesired is removed from what is sought after. It is, in essence, a crisis of faith.

Peter's faith falters within the crisis, but it does not fail. And because it does not fail, it emerges stronger on the other side.

This same Peter becomes the leader of the early Church. This same Peter preaches boldly at Pentecost and 3,000 are added to the number of disciples. Yes, his faith faltered even after this moment, but it never failed.

Why do we view "falter" as "failure?" Why am I quicker to label something a failure than Jesus is? Why am I quicker to label something finished than Jesus is?

There's a concept within weightlifting that you need to “train to failure” or “go to failure." The idea is that you so overtax the muscle that it is impossible for you to do another rep, to lift any more. However, in our understanding of the word failure, it doesn't mean the muscle is finished for good. You've got another set - you've got more work to do. By Jesus' terminology we could say you “train to falter" and it's a necessary part of growth. Without the strain and overstimulation, the muscle doesn't grow.

Maybe we need to start looking at life and faith the same way.

Let’s consider our "falters" as steps of growth.

Our crises and moments of need are the very tools that God uses to refine our faith and cause it to be stronger on the other side.

We struggle with this because we expect our faith to be perfect. We admit that we won't be perfect, and yet it seems that we're often surprised at the realization of our own struggle.

I think I would have responded just like Peter, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and death."

I would have overestimated my own faithfulness and then assumed that my faith had failed.

Maybe we call it a failure because it takes us by surprise. We overestimate our faithfulness and can't clearly see the work that God is still doing in us and the work that he is still calling us to do.

There’s a Call in the Sifting

After Jesus tells Peter his prayer, he gives him a task. He says that Satan has asked to sift "all of you as wheat,’ but he prays for Peter alone, that his faith - though it falters - would not fail, and that after he has turned back, that he would strengthen the other disciples.

Jesus' prayer was not for the sake of Peter alone, but that his faith would not fail so that he could strengthen the others.

Has your faith failed?

It's faltered, been tested, gone through crises, been sifted, but it's still here.

It's still functioning and within that reality lies a task, a calling- return to strengthen the others.

Recent studies and trends around church attendance, spiritual life, and declining faith say all signs point to spiritual apathy. Faith has faltered.

I often wonder that as we look at our world today, if we modernize, intellectualize, and create terminology and studies around declining faith not to better understand what is taking place, but to excuse our own apathy in our role to be part of the solution.

If we can label and explain the sociological trends that got us to where we are, then we can comprehend it and feel less responsibility to act.

We can just write these issues, trends and people off.

The very people we label as "done with faith" or assume that their faith failed are the very people that Jesus would instruct us to "strengthen after we have turned back."

Jesus provides two answers to the question we may be asking ourselves as we read this passage:

"How can my faith withstand the onslaught of Satan?”

“How can I Stand?”

My prayer this week:

I was angry and frustrated and discouraged

I was praying an angry frustrated prayer.

The primary answer is Jesus' intercession on our behalf. The second answer is that those who falter, but do not fail, will return to strengthen the others.

Did your faith fail? No. You have overestimated your faithfulness at times, but do not underestimate the call that God still has on your life.

Strengthen the brothers.

Encourage those who need encouragement.

Your actions in those moments, determine whether it was a failure or a falter.

I believe Jesus' prayers work, which means there is work for you to do. Remember the words of Winston Churchill:

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."