Sept 24 2023 How to View Your Failures (to bring you to Faithfulness)

This morning, we are going to close out our series on the Gospel of Mark. I’m not going to go into detail about Holy Week, because we did that 6 months ago.

There is a theme here – about the failure of the disciples – and I’m not going to do it from a negative perspective. Their failure turned into faithfulness.

During this Holy Week, there is a lot of failure that takes place among the disciples. This is 3 chapters in the gospel of Mark.

Bible scholars are in general agreement that the source for Mark’s gospel is Peter. In the first letter of Peter – Peter says – My son, Mark, greets you – and scholars believe that this is this Mark – and that his relationship was like that of Timothy to Paul.

This was probably written around the time of Peter’s death. Peter has a great perspective on failure – His own and that of the other disciples.

Mark’s gospel looks forward. He did not write it to give us a history of the failure of the disciples or how bad they are – he is not concerned about that. He is writing it to real people who know all too well their own failures – and these stories are being used, first, as a caution – because we are all subject to failure – and then as a HOPE! They would have known of Peter’s great success – leading them to Christ and starting their church – and they are struggling with their faith – and they are like, Wow! And they knew that the disciples were brought from faithless to faithful all the way to martyrdom.

Mark 14: 27 Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away, for it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'

Failure was inevitable! God promised that the 12 would fail. Failure happens – As Christians we fail –

But… But… - Guess what – you all will be faithless – you will all fail! No biggie! Not a big deal! After, I will meet you in Galilee

28 But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."

Jesus believes in better things for them in the future. He sees through the immediate failure and to the resurrection.

For us – their failure leads to faithfulness in Christ.

29 Peter said to him, "Even if they all fall away, I will not!" 30 Jesus said to him, "I tell you the truth, today– this very night– before a rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times." 31 But Peter insisted emphatically, "Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you." And all of them said the same thing.

Peter and the others are overconfident. From their misunderstanding of what Jesus is talking about – They are going to crucify me – 3 times Jesus said it – and 3 times they fail.

No no – not me!

Their willpower, determination, and courage do not help them to be faithful. That is really important – because our willpower, determination and courage will never help us to be faithful. We are faithful for one reason – the power of Christ in us – and for them – it is not until after the resurrection that they become faithful.

Denying 3 times – that is really important. The disciples fail in 3s throughout the gospels – First – in understanding – then – Peter denying 3 times –

If we go to vs. 66:

Mark 14:66 Now while Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest's slave girls came by. 67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked directly at him and said, "You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus." 68 But he denied it: "I don't even understand what you're talking about!" (That’s one!) Then he went out to the gateway, and a rooster crowed. 69 When the slave girl saw him, she began again to say to the bystanders, "This man is one of them."

70 But he denied it again. (TWO!) A short time later the bystanders again said to Peter, "You must be one of them, because you are also a Galilean." 71 Then he began to curse, and he swore with an oath, "I do not know this man you are talking about!" (That’s 3!) 72 Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him: "Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he broke down and wept.

Peter knew his failure well. And it really impacted him. We know our failures deeply, don’t we? I know mine deeply – and they grieve us.

Let me say this – if you don’t know your failures deeply – and you are not grieved by them – you have a problem.

But it doesn’t end there. It doesn’t end in knowing and grieving – For some of us, it is easy to live in the grief of our failure – but we don’t have to stay there.

Now, moving out of that requires the resurrection.

Going back to 14:35 – to the Garden of Gethsemane -

35 Going a little farther, he threw himself to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour would pass from him. 36 He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

We have the disciples failure – and it is in contrast to what faithfulness looks like in Jesus. He is struggling – but He is not hiding it.

37 Then he came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn't you stay awake for one hour? 38 Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Now, real quick – He will come back to them 3 times – and all 3 times – they are sleeping.

I want to focus on the last phrase – the spirit is willing – Jesus knows we WANT to be faithful – and I think we want to be faithful. You go to a conference or retreat – or have a quiet time – and sing – I’m Yours – or I surrender all – That is genuine! You mean that! But we have this thing called the flesh – it is humanity – when we find ourselves facing temptations – our humanity – our flesh takes over. Even though we have the heart of faithfulness, we still have this – our emotions, minds, weaknesses, desires, and lusts, and we fail where we don’t want to fail.

All Christians – All true disciples fail – and at times, are faithless.

But here’s the thing – in Christ – we will ultimately be completely faithful. Wholly faithful to Jesus.

Easter morning:

Mark 16: When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought aromatic spices so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, at sunrise, they went to the tomb. 3 They had been asking each other, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled back.

Now, this sounds like all the others – and you hardly ever do Easter from Mark – it is a lot shorter than the other gospels –

5 Then as they went into the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been raised! He is not here. Look, there is the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples, even Peter, that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you."

Just like the other gospels, the women are the first evangelists… It all tracks – it is all very familiar – and then Mark takes a hard right! And, it surprises us! It should surprise us and shock you what is said next:

8 Then they went out and ran from the tomb, for terror and bewilderment had seized them. And they said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Where did THAT come from? That is not in the other gospels.

Don’t think there is something wrong with Mark’s gospel. That is not the point – HERE is the point – and it is an important one – if you look at verse 9

In these pew bibles – there is a bracket – and that bracket goes all the way to the end of the gospel – that is there for a reason – most scholars believe that this is not part of the Gospel of Mark – and numerous reasons to believe – and widely held that that is the case. Mark is doing much more than reporting a story or writing a biography – yes, he does that – but that is not the purpose. His book is a call to discipleship for real people living under Roman persecution and struggling to be faithful.

He is writing this to them! He is not trying to write a best-selling biography – so HE ENDS IT HERE! The ball is in your hand. Here we have this story of failure – and you now, knowing that all this failure you read about turned into incredible faithfulness – and Mark leaves it with us!

Mark is implicitly asking his readers, how will you respond to the announcement of the resurrection.

Similarly, the ending is in line with Mark’s characterization that all those around Him abandoned Him – except the reader – the narrative allows the reader to be with Him all along – from his family rejecting Him to all abandoning Him – the reader is left with Jesus and with a decision to make – what will you do? This is the end of Mark’s story because it is the beginning of discipleship.”

Mark is placing the reader into the story – you need to finish it in your setting like the disciples finished the story. They know how Peter and the other disciples turned out – faithful to death – and we have the same opportunity.

I want to make this practical for us – to take all of this – total failure – and see how we can move forward.

There are all kinds of books, TED talks – posters – about Failure! Failure is not final! Stories of Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron…

Babe struck out more than most!

Abraham Lincoln – and all of his failures!

And there is good in all of that – a lot to be learned. There is a lot of good Christian stuff too – but when it comes to us as disciples – there are some specific things that are important when we talk about failure –

First – Forgiveness. If our failure is connected to sin – it is critical that we use that failure to experience and appreciate God’s forgiveness. In our Christian walk, without forgiveness – without understanding our forgiveness, we don’t move forward. When we fail – it is an opportune time to remember the cross – even if you are not at church – to take communion.

Peter – knowing and remembering your forgiveness is foundational and a catalyst for spiritual transformation. You cannot grow unless you remember your forgiveness.

Second – restoration of our relationship with God. That is a must! To have our relationship with God restored.

The most important thing as a disciple is to have a healthy relationship with God.

When Peter saw Jesus again – Peter do you love me? 3 times! He is restoring this relationship. We can be immediately restored.

With one another – there is a time period, but not with God – it is immediate restoration when we turn back to Him. SO mush of that is learning to live the WITH GOD life. – Just being with Him. We focus on disciplines – but if they don’t become a WITH GOD thing – you don’t have a quiet time or discipline for your prayers just for discipline – it is to be with God.

Finally – we need to let God reaffirm our calling.

Do you love me?

Feed my sheep!

Reaffirmation of His calling. God wants us to understand that no matter how much we fail we are called to do His work. You can come back to Him and He lets you go right back into it. We are called to follow Jesus faithfully – not for success, or to win, or to grow. Our call is to faithfulness – He will say – well done, good and faithful… - that is what He is looking for.

The disciples – the angel said to the women – tell them I will meet them in Galilee – that is where they were called – to the very place – and reaffirms the whole thing.

I want to close with a quote – a poster quote! Someone I know posted on Instagram

Often when you think you are at the end of something – you are at the beginning of something else – Mr. Rogers.