Title: Prayer In Failure
Date: 2009-03-15
Reference: Psalm 51: 1-12
If you are one of those rare and fortunate persons who has never failed or made a mistake, this message may not be all that helpful. If on the other hand you are able to look back over life and admit making mistakes and know you have failed at times, there is good news. God promises a new day, a new chance, and a new start. Even though there are consequences for our actions in life, with God’s help we can always rise from the ashes and begin again. The Bible says when we have failed, a good place to start is with prayer.
During this Lenten Season we have been examining an aspect of prayer each week. We have learned that prayer is so much more than just asking God for something, or even thanking God for a blessing. There are so many levels of prayer and one important level is being able to pray when things have not gone well, when we have made a mistake or have failed.
Failure is a part of life, and can be an insightful teacher. Failure can make us stronger and teach us lessons we would not learn otherwise. Failure allows us to develop emotional muscles that would never grow if we only succeeded and always had things easy. President Kennedy once said: “Success has many fathers and failure is an orphan no one wants to claim.”
A college in the Midwest actually had a course entitled “Failure 101.” This business course taught students that failure is part of life and the sooner we learn to survive it, and even expect it, the better off we will be.
Joseph Priestly was the son of a preacher and for a time was himself a pastor.
He was always more interested in chemistry than theology. In one of his experiments he learned that the sticky sap of a particular tree could be used to remove writing from paper. In this way he invented the modern eraser. In his findings he wrote: “Our Christian faith resembles an eraser. We are able to receive forgiveness for the sins resulting from our mistakes and failures. God says I will remember them no more. The black marks in our lives can be rubbed out by God’s grace just as an eraser rubs out black marks from paper.” Knowing that we will continue to make errors grieves us, but our faith reminds us we do not have to live life ruled by the reign of error.
Truthfully, we have all experienced spiritual failure, times when we have failed God. In those times we don’t feel like praying but we must. No one enjoys the experience of failure. Sometimes we feel so foolish and it’s hard to forgive ourselves. Our faith assures us that failure doesn’t have to ruin us. God can forgive us, restore us, give us hope, and put us to work for Himself.
On a single night, at the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, two of Jesus’ disciples failed him in dramatic ways. One was Peter and the other was Judas. In Jesus’ greatest hour of need, the two of them not only failed to be with Jesus, they actually turned on him. The other disciples melted away into the shadows that night and were of no help, but it was Peter and Judas who really failed badly.
These two men were strong personalities who were ambitious and influential. Judas was a patriot who understood money matters. He was the treasurer of the group. Peter was the head fisherman whom the other disciples followed naturally. Both chose to follow Jesus as disciples and both made a public commitment to Jesus.
Along the way they both questioned Jesus’ leadership and second guessed the Lord.
When it mattered the most both of them failed miserably. Judas betrayed Jesus and Peter denied even knowing Jesus. Peter went out and wept bitterly and Judas left to commit suicide. Peter actually became closer to Jesus after his failure and Judas took a rope and hanged himself.
Three days after that fateful night Jesus rose from the dead. Peter was restored, his failure was not final. His relationship with Jesus was greater and bigger than his greatest failure. Judas never recovered. Peter was able to recover from his many mistakes because he lived under God’s control. Judas never really relinquished the control of his life to God.
These two men saw Jesus in very different ways. Peter was the first disciple to call Jesus Lord. When Jesus and Peter first met, Jesus told Peter to cash his fishing net out into the deep water for a catch. Peter’s response was: “Lord we’ve fished all night and haven’t had a bite but if you say so, I’ll let down the net.” From the very beginning of their relationship Peter saw Jesus as being the master of ever issue, the Lord of life.
Judas, on the other hand, never called Jesus Lord. He called Jesus Rabbi or teacher. Jesus was a teacher but he was more than that. One doesn’t surrender his life to a teacher, even a good teacher. When Judas failed, his world collapsed because he was at the center of it. Judas was the Lord of his own life. Peter also failed. He felt badly but he didn’t collapse because Jesus was in control and at the center of his life.
I wonder which of the two apostles, Peter or Judas, we most often resemble. As the Psalmist said: “God is kind and takes pity on us.
God is merciful and wipes away our sin. God washes us clean from all the sin, guilt, and mistakes of life. God washes us whiter than snow. God creates pure thoughts and makes us whole and useful again.” Our mistakes and failures are never the last word when we walk with God.
Decades ago Roy Reigles played in a College football game. In that game he received the nickname, “Wrong Way.” Just before half time another player fumbled the ball and Roy recovered. He broke free and began running toward the goal line, toward the wrong goal line. In his excitement all he could hear were the hometown fans calling out “go, go.” Actually they were shouting “no, no.” A teammate tacked him and kept him from scoring for the opposition team. He was humiliated.
At half time the coach made no reference to Roy’s blunder. He closed his talk by saying: “I want the same team on the field as started the first half.” Everyone got up and ran out of the locker room except Roy. He told the coach he couldn’t go back out on the field after his failure. The coach said: “This game isn’t about you. It is about something far bigger. Now get out there, I need you.” Roy played the best second half ever. He was transformed.
When we have failed, even failed badly, God says the same thing.”This isn’t about you. It’s about something much bigger than you. Get back into the game, I need you.” The Grace of God allows us to move beyond failure of all kinds. No matter how badly we have failed, no matter what mistakes we have made, God is the God of new beginnings. The enemy tells us we are finished, there is no future. This is not God’s message to us.
The Apostle Peter was able to receive the Grace of God and be restored. He went on to a long and productive ministry for Christ. I have to believe the same could have been true for Judas. As the Apostle John reminds us in his first letter: “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
When we come to God with a broken heart, praying to God and confessing our sins and mistakes, God receives us the way a loving mother receives a disobedient child. God will love us and bring peace and comfort to our lives. God will quiet us in His love. We carry the scars from the past with us for life. As Christians we may fail badly and wonder if we can ever be of use to Christ again. We know God restores and forgives. We choose to leave our failures behind and daily offer God our talents and gifts. In times the failures of life will be forgotten footnotes. The enemy will always seek to remind us of our failures and force us to live in the past.
There are times, when I remember the past, I blush with embarrassment. Satan would want me to dwell on the past and would want me to believe that God cannot possibly use me today. Sometimes it’s actually easier to forgive someone else than to forgive ourselves. If god is able to forgive our past, why can’t we?
One of our most effective church planters in Romania is actually a former Communist Official who at one time closed churches. He became a Communist Party member at an early age and they really saw some leadership potential in this man. He attended the best schools in Romania and the old Soviet Union, learning organizational skills and leadership principles.
Through the influence of his wife, this man became a Christian believer and was kicked out of the party, lost his job, and all of their comfortable perks. Life was harder but much better and more fulfilling. He said: “I now use the skills the devil taught me to work for God.” He was determined to move past his mistakes. His goal today is to open three new churches for every one he closed. This modern day Apostle Paul is a reminder to each of us how God can help us move past our failures, mistakes and sins.
We earnestly pray to God asking for His forgiveness while giving our lives entirely back to God, for God’s use. We know A Christian is not perfect, a Christian is forgiven.
