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Last updated on
Aug. 6, 2005
When Followers Fail
Delivered April 24, 2005
by Pastor Werner De Jong
Text: John 21:15-19
Main Idea: The risen Jesus comes to those who fail him, not to condemn them, but to offer them forgiveness and a second chance. He does not decommission them, but recommissions them for service.
Purpose: The risen Jesus comes to those who fail him, not to condemn them, but to offer them forgiveness and a second chance. He does not decommission them, but recommissions them for service.
To encourage the listeners that Jesus seeks to rehabilitate his followers when they fail him. To challenge the listeners to confront their failures as a means of spiritual growth.
Introduction: Peter's Failure and Guilt: For the past two Sundays we have considered two post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. The encounters our risen Lord had with his disciples are among the most precious in the Bible. He appeared to Cleopas and his companion on the Emmaus Road, and transformed their sadness and despair into joy and life giving hope. He appeared to Thomas in a house, and transformed his skepticism and doubt into a ground-breaking, vibrant confession of faith.
Today we hear about another post-resurrection appearance of Jesus. This time he appeared to someone who was hurting more deeply than any of these others–to Peter, the leader of the disciples. He appeared to Peter as he was fishing together with some of the disciples on the Sea of Tiberias. We might wonder why Peter was fishing. Although he had been a fisherman, he hadn't fished in three years, not since the day when Jesus appeared to him beside the sea and called him into his service saying, "From now on you will be fishing for people!" Impetuous Peter immediately abandoned his career, left his fishing equipment, and followed Jesus.
But things were much different now. Although they had spent three wonderful years together, it all came to a bitter end. For Peter had failed Jesus terribly on the evening of his trial before the high priest. On the night when Jesus was arrested, he had said to his disciples: "All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered'" (Mark 14:27). But Peter wouldn't hear such talk. He loved Jesus more than he had ever loved anyone before. There was no way he would ever abandon his teacher and friend. After all, hadn't he already relinquished everything in order to follow him? Therefore, in a spirit of sincere self-confidence he suggested that his devotion to Jesus was greater than anyone else's, boasting: "Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will."
Those were brave words, but they were backed up by cowardly action. As Peter stood watching Jesus' trial from a distance, he was asked three times if he was one of Jesus' disciples. Each time he vigorously denied it, just as Jesus had predicted. Then the rooster crowed, and Peter broke down and wept. He wept bitter tears of guilt and shame. He had sincerely wanted to be faithful to Jesus, but now, when Jesus needed a friend more than ever, Peter didn't even have the courage to acknowledge him. Shortly afterward Jesus was crucified, and he died alone, which only compounded Peter's pain. In addition to the great grief this death brought, it also sealed Peter's feelings of failure deep within him. Therefore it is no great surprise when we learn that Peter decided to return to his boat and his nets.
This took place even after the risen Jesus had briefly appeared to Peter twice, together with the other disciples, which must have brought a great measure of relief and joy. But Peter still couldn't get over his personal feelings of failure and inadequacy. Who was he to attempt to serve his great Master now? What place could a weak, shame-faced, fallen disciple have in the service of the risen Son of God? So Peter returned to the only other life he knew, the life of a fisherman.
Failure and the Christian Life: This account provides us with an excellent opportunity to consider the theme of failure in the Christian life. Jesus calls all of his followers, including us, to a life of faithfulness, of steadfast, loving obedience to his will. But what happens when we fail? What happens when we genuinely disappoint the Lord who laid down his life for us in love?
Every human being has experienced failure, sometimes in small things, and sometimes in big things. Like Peter we may know what it is to live with the shame of having deeply disappointed God or a loved one. Some of us may have come to church this morning with internalized feelings of inadequacy because of recent or past failures. As we journey through the Christian life, there are few things that discourage us more than this. Therefore we need to consider this theme, for failure can have devastating effects. It can deflate our passion and our energy to serve God like nothing else can. As Alister McGrath writes, "Those who fail often feel that they are useless and have no place in God's purposes. They are tempted to sit down by the side of the road and travel no further" (The Journey, p. 81). When we are wracked with feelings of guilt, or paralysed by feelings of inadequacy, or overcome with feelings of shame, it is natural to come to the conclusion that we can no longer be of much use to God. Why would God be interested in us, when there are so many more capable people out there? Such feelings may be natural, but thank God they are not true. For such feelings fail to take into account the power and graciousness of God.
Forgiveness and Restoration: The supreme example of how God deals with those who fail him is Peter, and we can learn so much by considering his story. We've already heard that Jesus appeared to Peter and the disciples as they were fishing. Then he had breakfast together with them, a breakfast of charcoaled fish and bread, at the edge of the sea. Jesus himself cooked the meal, and served the disciples. After breakfast Jesus turned his undivided attention to Peter, the one disciple who was more acutely aware than any of the others of how deeply and utterly he had failed him. Jesus took him aside, and privately he asked Peter the same question, three times, "Do you truly love me?" Each time Peter replied, "Yes Lord, you know that I love you."
This was a rather curious exchange. Why did Jesus question Peter's love three times? It seems quite strange until we remember that earlier Peter had three times denied knowing Jesus. Once we make that connection, it becomes evident what Jesus did. In a wonderful act of grace, he came alongside his hurting disciple, and gave Peter the chance to replace each of his three earlier denials with a declaration of love. In approaching Peter in this manner, it is obvious that Jesus forgave him for his past failure. Jesus deliberately sought him out for this purpose, to reassure him that he was still loved, and to restore him to a position of wholeness. If you have ever let someone down and longed for a second chance, for an opportunity to make things right, you can easily imagine how healing it was for Peter to be given the chance to wipe out the painful memory of his three-fold denial with this three-fold declaration of love. We know that healing did come to Peter as a result of this encounter. For the one who thought he had no further place in God's purposes went on to become a great leader in the early church. Just like we saw Thomas do last week. God seems to take great delight in lifting up fallen human beings, in loving them, and in demonstrating how his grace can transform those whom others are quick to write off.
We can all take heart from this story. It teaches us that we are dealing with a gracious and forgiving God who knows our weaknesses. It is hard to believe in God's goodness when we stumble and fail, and are overcome by our own inadequacy. But this story should forever erase that thought from our minds. And it will, if we allow it to speak to our minds. For in Peter's encounter with Jesus we see that Jesus not only took the initiative to seek out a disciple who was reeling from the pain of failure. In his amazing grace Jesus also recommissioned him, and said to him, "there is still a place for you in my service." He didn't have to do that. He had other disciples, other followers. But he wanted Peter, he wanted this man who had let him down during his hour of greatest need. This is a wonderful sign that each person is precious to God, and full of potential, no matter how bad our past failures may be. This becomes very evident when, each time after Peter reaffirmed his love for his Lord, Jesus said to him: "Feed my sheep." Three times Peter denied Jesus, three times he was given the opportunity to express his love, and then three times in his mercy and kindness Jesus said, "I have important work for you to do, Peter." That is the very same spirit in which Jesus approaches us when we fail. He says to us, "I still see potential in you. There is important work I want you to do."
If such kindness is hard for us to believe, it is because we have become accustomed to how our world deals with failure. I don't know if any of you have watched the reality show "The Apprentice," which stars billionaire Donald Trump. I have never seen it myself, but from what I've heard and from the commercials I have seen, the show epitomizes how the world views failure. In the show Trump wants to hire a real life apprentice from a pool of contestants. Week by week he plays them off against one another by putting them through various tests and trials. The climax of each episode comes when Trump has the patronizing pleasure to say to one of the contestants: "You're fired!" On one clip I heard him say to the fired contestant, "There is no room in my company for people who make mistakes." That is how our world views failure. We are surrounded by that message, day in and day out. Failure is unredeemable, it is a cause for dismissal. But we need to know that Jesus doesn't define "success" or "failure" according to the standards of the world. If the apostle Peter had been working for Donald Trump, he would have been fired. Then he never would have become the great leader of the church that he was. But consider how different the approach of Jesus is: he didn't come alongside Peter to decommission him but to recommission him. There we see the very heart of God–God's heart is not to reject those who fail him, God's heart is to restore them. Our God is the God of second chances. When we fail God, we must never forget this fact. Our failures do not lead God to reject us. Rather, God comes to us, with the purpose of forgiving and restoring us.
Failure and Growth: Even more than this, failure actually seems to play a part in God's purposes for us. In the world's eyes failure is only seen as something negative. And we certainly shouldn't suggest that failure is something positive, in the sense that it is something to strive for. But in Jesus' eyes failure is not only negative–it also becomes a potential point for growth. For those who are open to it, yesterday's failure becomes today's opportunity to grow. I once heard George Verwer promoting books at a missionary conference. He picked one up entitled, "Failure: The Back Door to Success." And he said, "You have to buy this book. You have to read it. I haven't read it myself, but the title is enough to excite me." And the title is a good one, and it is exciting–if we are open to learning from our mistakes, true spiritual growth takes place.
But what can we learn from our failures? Many things, of course. But the main truth which failure teaches us, even as it taught Peter, is that we need to rely on God's strength as we seek to serve him. Peter's boastful claim that he would never deny Jesus rested entirely in his self-confidence in his own abilities. He had not yet learned the lesson that Paul taught: "when I am weak, then I am strong." That is one of the great paradoxes of the Christian life. Weakness is the way to success, for when we acknowledge our weakness, then we are ready to turn to Jesus for help, and then all the strength of our Almighty God is made available to us. This also should be an encouragement to us–God delights to take our failures and to transform them into something good. If we are open to keep learning from our failures as we travel through life, we will learn more and more about the God who loves us, and about ourselves. It is a strange paradox, but if we are open to learning from them, our failures can actually lead us to a deeper trust in God.
Honest Acknowledgment: But this leads to a final important point–if we are to learn from our failures, we need to have the courage to confront them honestly. As long as we deny our failures, or try to bury them, we cannot learn from them. In that case they will only keep us down and burden us with feelings of inadequacy. But if they are brought out into the open, even into the very presence of God, then deep healing and spiritual growth are possible.
Being truthful with ourselves can be a painful process, but it is a necessary one. Consider again how Jesus dealt with Peter. He didn't only come to him in a spirit of love, although love for Peter motivated everything Jesus did. He also came to him in a spirit of truth. Jesus' threefold question, "Do you love me?" enabled Peter to put his past behind him precisely because it also reminded Peter of his threefold denial. Peter was hurt by this remembrance. As John writes, Peter felt hurt because Jesus said to him the third time, "Do you love me?"
But this pain was a healing pain. It is never pleasant when our sins are exposed by the holy light of God, but the same light which exposes them also offers the tender warmth of forgiveness and the brilliant splendour of restoration. When we consider the transformation of Peter, it is obvious that Jesus only had his best interests at heart, even if his questions hurt Peter. It was a necessary pain, for the only way forward for Peter was to face the truth of his failure. If he hadn't, it would remain sealed deep within. An analogy can be made to the medical world. If we have a tumour in our bodies, the knife which cuts us open to remove it causes us physical pain. But it is necessary for our well-being. Surgeons do not inflict this pain on us for any other reason than our healing. In the same way God longs to heal us of the wounds of our failures. Jesus approached Peter for that very reason. Today God approaches us by gently sending his Holy Spirit to us to point out to us those areas where we have let him down. Sometimes the Spirit uses other people to speak into our lives. Regardless of how it happens, we have to cooperate with God in this process. We need to be honest with ourselves, and allow God access to our wounds. Our attitude should be like the author of Psalm 139, who wrote: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (v. 24).
When we have the courage to confront the truth about ourselves, we allow God to put us back on our feet. And we can do so with the reassuring confidence that God deals very gently with those who are hurting. There is a beautiful prophecy concerning Jesus in the book of Isaiah which is repeated in the gospel of Matthew. In speaking of Jesus as the Spirit filled servant of God, it says: "He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick" (Mt. 12:20). When we are bruised, Jesus does not come to us to break us, but to heal us. When our inner light is dim and smoldering, Jesus does not come to us to extinguish it, but to fan it into flame. He comes to us to restore us, and in doing so he will do us no harm.
Conclusion: Therefore if you recognize that you have failed God, take heart. You are not inadequate in God's eyes. God will not reject you because you let him down. You still have a place in God's purposes. So much so that God will come to you, and God will seek to draw your attention to your failure, but for only one purpose: to forgive you, to restore you, and to recommission you to do the work he has called you to do. As we struggle along the road of faith we will continue to encounter failure, perhaps in ourselves, perhaps in others, but the wonderful good news is that we travel this road with the God of grace.
After all was said and done between Peter and Jesus, Jesus left him with these words: "Follow me." There has never been a greater healing call to discipleship than those words. And they are the same words which Jesus speaks to us today: "Follow me." You may have failed me, you may have let me down, but if you have courage to face the truth about yourself, and the faith to receive my forgiveness, great growth is possible for you. Indeed, I have great plans in store for you. Come, follow me.