God Will Move Us Beyond Our Failures
1 Corinthians 1:25-29 For the foolishness of God is wiser
than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of
you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of
noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise;
God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly
things of this world and the despised things —and the things that are not —to
nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
A preacher was teaching a Bible study class and he took a
large piece of paper and made a black dot in the center of it with a marking
pen. Then he held the paper up before the group and asked them what they saw.
One person quickly replied, “I see a black mark.” “Right,” the preacher
replied. “What else do you see?” Complete silence prevailed. “Don’t you see
anything other than the dot?” he asked. A chorus of noes came from the class.
“You have completely overlooked the most important thing of all, the sheet of
paper.” Then he made the application. He said that in life we are often
distracted by small, dot-like disappointments or painful experiences, and we
are prone to forget the innumerable blessings we receive from the hand of the
Lord. But like the sheet of paper, the good things are far more important than
the hardships and difficulties that dominate our attention.
Richard W. Dehaan once said:
“As you travel down life’s pathway, may this ever be
your goal: Keep your eye upon the doughnut, and not upon the hole!”
It is far too easy to become sidetracked by the black
marks we may see on someone’s life instead of the totality of their lives. God
has chosen to work through people who have stains on their lives.
Isaiah 41:9 I took you from the ends of the earth, from its
farthest corners I called you. I said, ’You are my servant’; I have chosen you
and have not rejected you.
GOD USES PEOPLE WHO HAVE FAILED
IT CLARIFIES WHERE THE GLORY BELONGS
God gets all the glory in our salvation and He is
determined to get all the glory in our service for Him. When one failure sees
another failure, who has overcome his failures he’s interested!
Gene Culver was a Southern Baptist Evangelist who went to
be with Jesus back in the mid-’90s. He was a former Hell’s Angel who had a
powerful testimony. He told how 18 of his buddies died while he was in the
gang. At each of their funerals, the rest of the gang would file by the grave.
Gene told how, he would kick dirt in the grave and say to his departed buddy,
“I’ll see you in Hell!” Gene was a rough dude who met Jesus one day and it
radically changed him. It was amazing to watch him share his testimony and see
lost people stream to the altars to give their lives to Christ. A pastor in
Mississippi had Gene in to do a revival. On a Tuesday night, he shared his
testimony, the back pew was filled with bikers from a nearby motorcycle gang.
The pastor admitted to being a little uneasy. When Gene gave the invitation,
three of those bikers left their buddies sides and walked down the center aisle
of the church to be saved. Gene demonstrated that God could use failures. Even
a former Hell’s Angel!
PEOPLE WHO HAVE FAILED HAVE LEARNED TO RELY ON GOD.
Those who are most gifted and capable often end up failing
because they don’t depend on Christ; while those who seem far less talented end
up succeeding because they know the only way they can succeed is to let God do
it.
God does not want people to be attracted to us and look to
us instead of Him. We are to guard against people depending on us instead of on
the Lord. People can and do often fall. If our allegiance and our trust and
hope are in a Person and he falls so does our hope. But if our hope is rooted
solely in Christ and one of our leaders falls, then we are grieved but we do
not lose faith and become cynical and mistrusting. Christ will never fail you.
William Murray Ohara spent many of his younger years
traveling with his mother to spread their atheistic views. His mother led a
successful campaign to remove prayer and bible reading from public schools.
Little William was in the middle of the famous lawsuit that banned praying and
bible reading in our schools. Now years later and a life-changing conversion
experience, William is an evangelist spreading the good news of Jesus. His
testimony and many more like him leave the world scratching their heads saying,
“The only explanation is God!”
FAILURES ARE ALL GOD HAS TO CHOOSE FROM
How many of you here this morning have never failed at
anything? It looks like if God is going to use anyone in this room, He’s going
to have to use failure.
There was a guy, a general, who lost two-thirds of all the
battles he fought in the American Revolution. George Washington. He
won the war.
There was another guy who graduated 42nd out of a
class of 43. Then he went out and conquered Europe. Napoleon.
There’s a guy who lost almost every election he ran for – 10 or
12 – until finally he was elected President. Abraham Lincoln. He
lost more than he won.
Thomas Edison tried over 200 different
elements before he figured out what was the right formula to use in the light
bulb. Over 200 failures before he had success.
In 21 years, Babe Ruth hit 714 home
runs, but he struck out 1330 times, he set a world record for five consecutive
strikeouts during a world series. He struck out nearly twice as often as he hit
a home run. He once said, "Never let the fear of striking out keep you from
taking a swing."
The Bible says we need to stop making excuses, admit when
it’s our fault and get on with life. You will discover that people who are very
good at making excuses are rarely good at anything else. When God called
me, He called someone who knew about failure. My 3rd marriage had just ended in
divorce. I had tried and failed to start my own business at least 6 times. I
had spent about a year in Nashville trying to break into the music business,
only to give up and leave.
Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of
my heart and my portion forever.
There is a big difference in saying to ourselves, “I have failed three times.” And say to ourselves, “I am a failure.” Do you know when we blow it? It is when we cease to follow Christ. You might attribute failure in a given area, to such and such a reason; but the real reason is that you did not have your eyes on Jesus. Give your failures to God this morning and see what He will do with them. He will cleanse you, mend you and then send you.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord
with all your heart and
lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to
him, and he will make your paths straight.
When you try something and leave God out of the picture,
it will only reap more failure. Give it to God and He can turn what could have
been a failure into a great success.
John 15:6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is
thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and
burned
God can use you!
When you turn to Him and He fills you with His spirit then
you have within you something you never had before. You have God’s grace
through His Holy Spirit. Your desires change. Your motivations change. You
change.
Of the twelve disciples, only one of them ultimately
failed and that was Judas; the one we probably would have picked as the most
capable. Judas failed because he never fully trusted in Jesus to begin with.
The Bible says he was a thief. He could have been used, but he never faced his
failures by giving them to God. He hedged on God for his agenda.
The rest Jesus took and turn into an army of preachers
that turned the world upside down. He can use you as well. If you have failed;
you are qualified. This is not to magnify your failure, but it is to magnify
the God whose grace is so awesomely sufficient that he can make somebodies out
of nobodies, who tells everybody about Him.
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