Skip to main content

What Do We Do When We Fail?

2 weeks!?! They let me preach 2 weeks in a row! So I'm continuing to post portions here for those of you who did not benefit from hearing the dulcet tones of my tenor voice. 

I have heard it called the biggest failure in Pete's life.

It’s not like we don’t have other moments to choose from. This is the guy that cut off a Roman soldier’s ear. Noble, but bad form Peter. Pete was the one who tried to keep Jesus from washing his feet. He tried to set up tents for Moses and Elijah. In other words, he talked when he should have been silent. He walked on water…almost. And let’s not forget that he denied he even knew Jesus..(cough)…three times. Oh, and Jesus once referred to him as the devil.

So, go ahead and pick any of Peter’s Greatest Hits and decide which one was his biggest failure. Oh, there’s also another failure recorded in the book of Acts when Peter decided he wanted to only eat kosher, even as God invited him to a meat buffet. Then Paul called out Peter in his letter to the Galatians, basically for being a hypocrite.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Peter, a man of God.

But before I get to his biggest failure, let me ask you a question. What if your life were to be written down like we have Pete’s? What if all your highs and lows were recorded, for people to read throughout all of history? How would you fare? What chapters would you want left out? What episodes would you want to be able to explain to people as they read through and judged you without being there? (That Roman soldier…ha…he had it comin’.)

Let’s not forget that Peter was a flesh and blood man. He may have been a big, unschooled fisherman, but he received an invitation from God. There had to be a reason. Even as Peter fumbled along, trying to keep up with Jesus, clearly there was something in him that God saw of quality.

What do we do when we fail?

What was Pete’s biggest failure? Let’s set the picture.

Jesus has been raised from the dead. The same Jesus that Peter chose to follow, to leave his livelihood behind for, the one he attacked a Roman soldier for. This was the Jesus he betrayed and felt immense guilt over. This was the Jesus he saw resurrected. At least a few times.

Let me read John 21 to you and see if you catch it.

Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. 2 Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.
3 Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”
“We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.

It’d be easy to assume the failure was in not catching anything. I would offer the bigger failure was in going fishing at all. If you are someone who sometimes fishes for fish, don’t get offended and storm out. I’m not saying that fishing is a sin. But let’s put this in perspective for ol’ Pete.

Peter was a fisherman by trade before Jesus called him. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all record Peter and Andrew leaving their nets behind. Luke emphasizes that they left behind everything. This was total liquidation. It was a going-out-of-business sale. What was Peter doing, going out fishing? Where did this equipment come from?

We’re not given the idea this is just a relaxing, toes-in-the-sand, let’s see what happens adventure. This is 7 men going out with nets at night, which is when the business fishermen liked to fish. This is a day at the office, working for the previous employer.

I’ve had people comment in my presence that I could do other things besides ministry. I’m never quite sure what they are suggesting. I’ve always assumed the best, they were merely complimenting my ability to support a family in other sectors of life. And there have been days when I have thought….I could do something else….hmmm…

But the truth of the matter is that I have been called to youth ministry. I have been called by God. It is a calling I take very seriously. In fact, I have two rules I share with people when they are considering youth ministry. The first rule is…run (as far and as fast in the other direction as you can.) Think Jonah; God said go this way and he went that way. If you choose to ignore rule #1, the listen to rule #2; commit at the beginning to stay until the end.

This is what I would offer to any of you as well when accepting a call from God to do anything. It doesn’t have to be a pastor. I’ve got news for all of you. Each of you has been called! Each of you, accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior, has accepted His call on your life.

This is what I would have said to Peter. Your calling is not done. In fact, if anything, it has just started. Put the fishing nets down and go do what Jesus told you to do. It doesn’t matter that he messed up…big.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl

Patience

I am more than halfway through the last year of dropping one of my children off at school. It's my eighth grade daughter, for anyone keeping track of my family.  See, next year she will be at the high school, and her brother will drive her. He says that it's not cool for seniors to drive their freshman sister to school, but I bet it's cooler than being dropped off by your mom in a minivan.  So rather than groan about this daily responsibility, I've been reminiscing about what the drop-off line used to look like, way back in elementary school. Once our children were about halfway through their elementary years, the drop-off line became a test of patience.  Do you know which group you do not want to get caught behind in the parent drop-off line at an elementary school? The kindergartners. These little ones are barely able to walk, but now we put them in the high-pressure situation of trying to unbuckle their seat-belt, grab their backpack (which might be as tall as they a

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his robe. I’d