How to Handle Failure
- last week we talked about our weaknesses - the limitations
in our lives that we didn't choose and that we can't control
- next week we're going to talk about how to deal with
temptations
- but this morning I'm going to zoom into one of the
most personal and difficult areas in life - the area of our failures
- the things in life that we call mistakes, bad choices,
regrets, self-inflicted wounds
- the things in life that the Bible calls sin
-
- as you look around you this morning, we all have something
in common - we're all sinners
- the only thing that's different are the details
- you're a sinner, I'm a sinner
- as one person said, in a parody of the self-esteem
manual titled I'm Okay, You're Okay, he said we need to write
a book called You're Not Okay, and I'm Not Okay
- all of us have regrets
- the details are different
- the degrees are different
- whether or not others know the details is different
- but we're all in the same boat - our natures are identical
- there is not much difference between us
-
- you and I look pretty good to each other
- but if you got past the fa�ade in my life, you'd find
some pretty ugly things
- if I managed to get past the fa�ade in your life, I'd
probably be surprised at what I found
- C.S. Lewis said, "Think of me as a fellow-patient
in the same hospital who, having been admitted a little earlier, could
give some advice"
-
- if we were to hand out pieces of paper, and ask you
to anonymously write down the current and past failures of your life,
and if we were to bring the notes to the front of this church and read
them aloud, we would have a very interesting catalog of sins
- if somehow we could transpose and project the failures
of each of our lives and project them on this screen, we would experience
two emotions
- first, shock at how many failures were listed
- second, relief that we're not alone
-
- the Bible says:
- (Jeremiah 17:9 NLT) The human heart is most deceitful
and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
- every single person in this room this morning either
has a current secret sin that you are hiding, or else a regret from
your past life that you wish you could change
- Thomas Aquinas once said, "The act of sin may
pass, and yet the guilt remains"
- the Bible says in Psalm 38:4:
- (Psalms 38:4) My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden
too heavy to bear.
-
- this morning, I would premise that we are all experts
in failure
- we all have secrets and regrets - current and past
- with which we have to deal
- I'd like to help you become an expert in dealing with
failure
- this is an area of expertise that you and I are going
to use over and over and over again
- so I'd like this morning to give you four steps to
expertly deal with failure
- when a truck with hazardous materials tips over, crews
exist that can arrive in minutes and clear up that hazardous waste
- I'd like to give you four steps this morning that you
can take to deal with the hazardous waste in your life
- they're not magical steps, but rather they're biblical
principles on how to handle failure
- STEP NUMBER ONE: ACCEPT THE FACT THAT GOD
UNDERSTANDS YOUR FAILURE
- it's incredibly hard to cope with failure in life as
long as you believe that you're an isolated case, and that nobody will
understand what's gone wrong in your life
- the fact is, you're right - other people might be surprised
by the failures in your life
- but God isn't
-
- Psalm 103:13-14 says:
- (Psalm 103:13 NLT) The LORD is like a father to his
children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
- (Psalm 103:14 NLT) For he understands how weak we are;
he knows we are only dust.
- when God looks at your life and sees your failures,
he's not surprised
- he remembers what you're made of
- he knows that that you've inherited a sinful nature
- God isn't shocked in the least by the failures in your
life!
-
- in fact, based on the people God tends to use, I'd
say that he more than understands failures - he uses them!
- he took a habitual liar and made him the father of
Israel
- he took a murderer with a tendency toward anger and
put him in charge of leading Israel around the desert for forty years
- he called an adulterer and murderer a man after his
own heart
- Jesus took a loose canon who couldn't resist an opportunity
to shoot off his mouth, and appointed him the rock on which he'd build
his church
- it's pretty hard to find anyone that God used in a
powerful way who didn't fail in a dramatic fashion
- and God not only isn't surprised, God is actually a
specialist in using broken people to accomplish his purposes
-
- I remember as a teenager wrestling with an area of
sin in my life
- I became convinced that I was alone in my sin - nobody
else would understand, and certainly not God
- I remember finally summoning the courage to talk to
my friends about my failure, only to discover that it was an area of
struggle in their life too
- and I remember discovering that not only did other
people understand, God understood too
-
- John 2 says:
- (John 2:24 NLT) But Jesus didn't trust them, because
he knew what people were really like.
- (John 2:25 NLT) No one needed to tell him about human
nature.
- listen: God is never surprised by your failures
- he knows them better than you know them
- he saw them coming long before they happened
- what an amazing fact that God understands your failures
and sins - no matter how severe they may be!
- that's the first step in dealing with your weakness
- accept that God understands your failure
-
- STEP NUMBER TWO: BELIEVE THAT GOD'S LOVE
AND FORGIVENESS CAN HANDLE YOUR FAILURE
- believe that no matter how big or severe your sins
and failures are, God's love and forgiveness can handle it
- Isaiah 1:18 says:
- (Isaiah 1:18 NLT) "Come now; let us argue this
out," says the LORD. "No matter how deep the stain of your
sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow.
Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as
wool."
- the picture is of God as the expert dry-cleaner of
souls
- no matter how permanently stained your soul is with
failure, there is no failure too catastrophic that God can't completely
wipe it off your permanent record
- not only does God obliterate the stain, he obliterates
the record
-
- Romans 5:20 says:
- (Romans 5:20) But where sin increased, grace increased
all the more.
- this could literally be translated, "Where sin
is present, God's grace and forgiveness are even more present"
- the more we sin, the more God shows us his kindness
and forgiveness
- God's love and forgiveness can handle your failures
and more
-
- someone asked theologian Karl Barth what he would say
to Adolf Hitler, and he replied: "Jesus Christ died for your sins"
- Ron Nikkel, who heads up Prison Fellowship International,
gives a message to prisoners in which he says:
- "We don't know who will make it into heaven. Jesus
indicated a lot of people will face surprises: 'Not everyone who says
to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven.' But
we do know that some thieves and murderers will be there. Jesus promised
heaven to the thief on the cross, and the apostle Paul was an accomplice
to murder."
-
- grace has no limit!
- we never have to worry that our sins are too great!
- Paul wrote:
- (1 Timothy 1:13) Even though I was once a blasphemer
and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted
in ignorance and unbelief.
- (1 Timothy 1:14) The grace of our Lord was poured out
on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
- (1 Timothy 1:15) Here is a trustworthy saying that
deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of
whom I am the worst.
- one of the devil's most dangerous lies is that our
sins are too great for God's grace
- let me tell you this morning - God's grace has no limits!
- no matter what sins you have committed, in the distant
past or even in the recent past, God's grace is able to cover those
sins and more
-
- Edwin Lutzer wrote, "Christ's death on the cross
included a sacrifice for all our sins, past, present, and future.
Every sin that you will ever commit has already been paid for.There
is no sin you will every commit which has not already been included
in Christ's death."
- in fact, he says, "The greatest blunder of Christians
is not their failure when trying to live for Christ; a greater mistake
is that they do not understand God's provision for sin, defeat, and
guilt. We are successful to the extent that we understand God's remedy
for failure."
-
- this morning, I'm inviting you to realize that God
can handle your failures
- I don't know what they are, but God does
- I might be surprised at what you've done, but God isn't
- he knows
- and his love and forgiveness can handle anything you've
done - no exceptions
- God's forgiveness is as good for big sins as it is
for small ones
-
- step one is to accept the fact that God understands
your failures
- step two is to believe that God's love and forgiveness
can handle your failures
- STEP THREE: CONFESS YOUR FAILURE TO GOD
- (1 John 1:8) If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us.
- (1 John 1:9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
- the word confess carries the meaning of agreeing
with God and admitting our failures
- the minute we come and confess our sins to God, what
we're doing is agreeing with him about our true condition
- and at that point, God says, "I'll forgive you.
I'll never let you down in this respect. Time after time, when you confess
your sins to me, I'll forgive you and purify you time after time"
-
- some of you have never done this
- perhaps you view God as some ogre who can't wait to
slam his fist down on you in condemnation
- the fact is that God isn't surprised by your failures
- God's grace and forgiveness are big enough to deal
with your failures
- and God has promised that if you come to him and say,
"I can't do it on my own. I lead a very imperfect life. I know
I'm not good enough. But I realize that you're offering me forgiveness
as I confess my failures and follow your son Jesus."
- if you come to him, God can forgive your failures,
no matter how severe they may be
-
- some of you think that God's tired of you
- but God never becomes weary of hearing us confess our
sins
- you might get tired of confessing them, but God never
tires of hearing them confessed and forgiving you
- Isaiah 44:22 says:
- (Isaiah 44:22 NLT) I have swept away your sins like
the morning mists. I have scattered your offenses like the clouds. Oh,
return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free.
-
- listen this morning: God is not angry with you
- he is not displeased with you if you depend solely
on the death and life of Christ for your acceptance
- the real question is this morning: have you forgiven
yourself?
- if Christ has paid the penalty for all of your failures,
why should you add continual regret to his work?
- accept that God understands your failures
- believe that God's love and forgiveness can handle
your failures
- and confess them to God
-
- I can tell you how liberating it is to experience God's
forgiveness on a fresh and continual basis
- every day as I confess my sins it's as if I'm given
a fresh and complete start
- that's God's nature
- it's his promise
- it doesn't mean that there won't be natural consequences
to your failures: there always are
- but it does mean that if we confess our failures, God
will never hold them against us
-
- STEP NUMBER FOUR: DETERMINE WHAT IT IS THAT
GOD WANTS TO ACCOMPLISH THROUGH YOUR FAILURE
- you're going to say, "What are you talking about?
How could God accomplish anything through my failures?"
- but what you don't realize is that God is able to use
our weaknesses, mistakes, and sins
- he is a specialist who is able to work even our failures
into his plans
-
- Gordon MacDonald, a man who himself has experienced
catastrophic failure, writes, "Broken-world experiences are usually
the turn-around moments ushering people into greater and more powerful
performances of character, courage, and achievement."
- failures are, as one person says, the graduate school
of character development
- a football coach said of his team, "We learn almost
nothing in victory; but we learn much in defeat"
-
- Moses was a man who was connected, educated, and talented
- but it was only after his world was broken and rebuilt
that he became useful to God
- "In pain, failure, and brokenness, God does his
finest work in the lives of people" (Gordon MacDonald)
- God never wastes a hurt, and he never wastes a failure
- he wants to take even your failures and turn them into
something beautiful in your life
-
- God understands your failures
- his love and forgiveness are big enough to handle your
failures, and more
- he invites us to confess our sins and to even grow
as a result of the failures in your life
- I imagined with you earlier what would happen if everyone
here wrote down their sins and failures on a slip of paper and handed
them in
- but I'll tell you what happened here a couple of weeks
ago at a concert of prayer
- on that day, we actually wrote down on our failures
on a piece of paper
- and then one by one, we came to the front of the platform
here and deposited the list of sins - the charges against us - into
the shredder
- I read the verse pronouncing God's forgiveness, and
we sang a verse of an old hymn:
- My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought,
- My sin, not in part but the whole,
- Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,
- Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
- and then we moved on
-
- I want you to take your greatest failure in life
- I'd like you this morning to close your eyes and bring
it to God - to confess it to him
- and then I want you to claim Christ's promise of forgiveness
- shred that failure in your mind - it's gone forever
- (Psalms 103:12) as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
- and I'd like the privilege of announcing Christ's forgiveness
this morning for the worst thing that you've ever done
-
- Father:
- Corrie Ten Boom once said, "When we confess our
sins, God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever. Then God
places a sign out there that says No Fishing Allowed"
- as we come to you this morning, we confess our sins
- we give you our greatest failures, and our deepest
regrets
- and we claim your promise to take them and cast them
into the deepest ocean
- remove them from us as far as the east is from the
west
- no matter how deep the stain is of our sins, remove
it
- obliterate the record of past wrongs
- and make us pure before you, in Jesus' name. Amen.
