Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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One of the hardest facts to face in life is the fact of failing.
As hard as we try, as smart or talented or spiritual you may be; as much as you study, as often as you practice, there are times when you fail.
We miss the mark, we drop the ball, we choose the wrong road.
We may ignore our failings, we may try to hide them, try to deny them.
The wisest of us will try to learn from our failures.
Charlie Brown’s best friend Linus is trying to encourage him after he’s made another fine mess.
He says, “You know, Charlie Brown, they say we learn more from losing than from winning.
Charlie Brown sadly replies, “That must make me the smartest person in the world.
* *Failing never really seems to make me feel any smarter.
But I have learned one very important thing about failing: /everybody fails, but not everybody is a failure./
Plenty of the world’s greatest people have failed miserably before going on to achieve incredible success.
Before he made it big in the auto business, Henry Ford filed for bankruptcy—twice.
Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs, but he also struck out 1330 times.
/Who said it?/
I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career.
I've lost almost 300 games.
26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.
I've failed over and over and over again in my life.
And that is why I succeed.
--Michael Jordan
Just because you fail doesn’t mean you’re a failure.
That’s especially true about your walk with Christ.
Before you become a Christian, you have to admit you are a sinner, that you have failed to live up to God’s righteous standard.
But it’s also true that you and I who are committed to following Christ still fail Him, to one degree or another.
The question is, how can you fail without becoming a failure?
How can we get past our failures and faithfully follow the Lord?
Jesus addressed this issue in a conversation with a man who failed so miserably that we still talk about it today.
What makes it worse is Jesus warns him about his future failure, and he still fails.
Yet this man was certainly no failure.
He proved that you can fail and not be a failure in your relationship with the Lord.
Let’s listen in on a conversation between Jesus and the man who failed--Simon Peter, recorded in *Luke 22:31-34*.
As we listen, let’s pick out some principles for how to fail without becoming a failure.
*PRAYER*
* */How can you fail without becoming a failure?
First of all, Jesus urges Simon: /
*I. **DON’T LET FAILURE DRAG YOU DOWN.
(v.
31)*
Larry Olsen describes a man lost in the desert: “He’s been out of food and water for days.
His lips are swollen, his tongue is swollen, he’s all beat up and bloody.
Some of his bones are almost peeking through.
He’s been scraped and beat by the cactus and sand and sun.
He’s blistered.
As he’s crawling over this little hill he comes across this little plant and props himself up on one bloody elbow, looks down at this plant and says, ‘You know, if things keep going like this I might get discouraged!’”
[i]
Most of us get discouraged a lot easier-especially when it comes to
failure.
Many a Christian has let failure not only discourage them, but drag them down to defeat.
Failure can be a powerful weapon in the hands of the devil.
Maybe this is why Jesus warns Peter /don’t let failure drag you down.
/
* *The scene for this conversation is sometime after Jesus finishes the Last Supper, after Judas has left to betray Jesus, after the disciples argues over who’s the top dog.
Jesus knows what is about to happen, but they have no clue.
Jesus knows Peter will soon fail Him, and yet His heart goes out to the man He named /the Rock.
/I believe it’s with tears blinding His eyes Jesus says /Simon! Simon!
Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat…!/
/ /The /you /here is plural= /ya’ll./
Jesus isn’t just speaking to Peter—He’s saying /all of you will be sifted.
/You know what it means to /sift /don’t you?
It means to separate.
Farmers use to sift grain to separate the wheat from the chaff.
My mom used to have a flour sifter, to separate the soft flour from the lumps.
This kind of separation involves a lot of stirring up and shaking around, which is exactly what’s going to happen to Peter.
Satan wants to shake Peter up, and separate him from his Lord.
How would you respond if Jesus said these words to you? /Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat!
/I know what I would’ve said.
/Lord, You did tell him no, didn’t you?
You wouldn’t let the devil touch me, would you, Lord?/
/ /Apparently Jesus does allow this sifting to occur.
In *vs.
32* Jesus says He’s praying for Peter to stay strong, but He also says …/when you have returned to Me…/
/Peter, my Friend, Satan will sift, you, and you will fail me.
Satan will try to use your failure to discourage you, to defeat you, to destroy you.
But when you fail, Peter don’t forget your failure cannot separate you from my love.
Cling to your faith in Me, and you will make it.
/
/Peter was not the last person Satan wanted to sift.
The devil wants to sift you, too.
He wants /
/to shake you up, to trip you up, to drag you so low you give up.
He wants to shake you and separate you from your Lord.
/
/ Lord, You won’t let that happen, will You?
Jesus, You love me too much to allow me to go through something like this, don’t you? /
/ Ask Job.
A man who had it all, lost it all, walked through the darkest, lowest valleys of suffering, all to prove that you can trust God even when your world falls apart.
/
/ Ask Jeremiah.
A man who lived with visions of death and destruction, and then lives them out when they became reality.
/
/ Ask Peter this question.
A man who promised to die for Jesus who ends up denying he even knows Him.
/
/ Ask them: will God allow you to be sifted?
Will God allow you to fall flat on your face?
/
/ Yes, there are times when He’ll do just that.
In those times you will be tempted to believe Jesus has abandoned you, that He doesn’t love you, that your failure means you and Jesus are finished.
/
/ But that wasn’t true for Job.
It wasn’t true for Jeremiah.
It wasn’t true for Peter.
It will never be true for you.
When you fail (*not if*) it’s not time to feel sorry for yourself, or to let failure drag you down.
It is time to remember that Jesus loves you, even when you fail, because if Jesus didn’t love people who failed *He wouldn’t love any of us.
*/
*/ /*/The only way failing can make you a failure is if you listen to the devil and turn away from the Lord.
Instead, Jesus offers us a better option:/
/ /*II.
TRUST CHRIST TO USE FAILURE TO LIFT YOU UP. (v.
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