Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Weight of Failure | New Testament | John 21

Episode Date: December 29, 2023

What should you do when you fail big time? We live in a culture that is quick to cancel and slow to forgive. What would Jesus say about that kind of culture? Is the kingdom of God the same way? Patrick discusses John 21 on today's episode. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: John 21

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. Today is our last day in the New Testament. If you've been following along with us this year, then you've spent 2023 reading, studying, and learning from the entire New Testament, which I think is pretty cool. Maybe it's the first time you've ever made your entire way through the New Testament. That is an amazing accomplishment that God has worked in your life through His grace. Of course, I realize there might also be some of us who told ourselves at the beginning of last year that we'd get all the way through the New Testament. And maybe it hasn't gone as well as you hoped. Maybe you miss some days. Maybe you miss some chapters.

But again, I want to encourage you. God's grace is at work in you. If you don't go to the gym every day, you can still get fit. If God has been working in your life to get you into his word on a consistent basis, I promise you, his spirit is at work inside. of your heart. Now that said, we should be honest about resolutions because we are about to enter resolution season. Research shows that only about 9% of Americans will actually complete their New Year's resolutions. 23% quit after just one week. 43% are out by the end of January. If you are struggling with discipline or half struggle with discipline, just know that you are not on your own.

We're all the same. And at the end of the day, not accomplishing our resolution. is often not that big of a deal. When we talk about eating healthier or going to the gym or reading more books, if we get to the end of the year and we didn't quite accomplish what we want, we might just think, oh, dang it, that's a bummer, but it's not a huge deal.

But what happens in our lives when our failures are big, when our failures lead to weightier consequences, when they actually hurt us, when they hurt the people around us? What happens when we drop the ball big time? What then? In the world we live in today, the answer to failure is, well, a lack of grace. We live in the age of cancel culture. Make a mistake,

say the wrong thing, and you're done. We live in a world where it's good advice to cut ties with people in your life who cause you any trouble. I read a inspirational quote on social media the other day that said, you know, you literally don't have to be friends with someone you don't like. There's advice like that all over the internet about how to cut ties with people who have hurt you, with people who cause you anxiety, with people who are too negative for you. And here's the thing, there are some situations where you do need to cut ties with another person for their personal safety or health or maybe even your own. But those situations are fairly rare, and they're not nearly as superfluous as those posts make them sound. Rather than reserving this

advice for real trauma, real violence, real danger, when you really do need to cut someone up, we've significantly lowered our bar for cutting ties, for canceling people, for walking away from relationships because we are not living in a forgiving culture. We are not living in a gracious culture. So while it may seem like freeing advice in the moment to say, don't be friends with someone you don't like, or create a safe space for yourself by removing difficult people from your life, or you take care of you, what it does on the flip side is it only creates a world where no one's safe, where failure and mistakes aren't really an option, because if you mess up, maybe someone will cut you off. By lowering the bar, we've raised the standard of perfection to a level

that is exhausting and terrifying. And in a world like this, Peter, one of Jesus's disciples, certainly would not have lived up to the standards. Peter, again, was a disciple of Jesus. He was a part of Jesus's inner circle. And throughout scripture, he's named as one of the three disciples that Jesus had an especially close relationship with. But you may remember in Jesus' dire time of need, Peter did not stand by Jesus' side. Instead, he denied Jesus three times again, again and again. Can you imagine the weight of failure that Peter felt? Especially when he realized what he'd done, he swore that he would never deny Jesus. But when the rooster crows, he comes to himself and he realized he did the one thing he didn't want to do. He knew that

he failed Jesus. He knew that he abandoned him. And he knew that Jesus had known that he was going to do it all along. That's a big failure. That's a fracture in a relationship. That's a reason to cause distrust, a reason for Jesus to want to protect himself, to cancel Peter, to tell Peter you're a toxic person and I don't want to be around you and I want nothing to do with you in the future. And yet in John 21, something radically different happens. Peter and Jesus share a meal. This is after his resurrection. And you know that Peter is still hurting because maybe Jesus hasn't talked to him about the obvious elephant in the room. We'll pick up in John 21, verse 15. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

Yes, Lord, he said, you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my lambs. Again, Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He answered, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, take care of my sheep. The third time, Jesus said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you. When you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted. But when you are older, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.

Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to Peter, follow me. Did you catch what happened? Peter denied Jesus three times. And what is Jesus do? He asks Peter three times, do you love me? And Peter is right when he says that Jesus knows all things, that he knows that Peter really does love him. But Jesus isn't asking Peter for his own personal benefit. He's asking Peter, do you love me for the sake of Peter? Can you imagine after a failure like Peter's how you would feel unworthy, like you needed to prove yourself to Jesus, like you might not be fit to be one of his disciples anymore? Instead, Jesus reminds Peter that although he denied him three times, Peter now has the opportunity to reaffirm his love for Jesus three times.

And more importantly, there's an act of grace in this passage. Because after Peter affirms his love for Jesus, Jesus recommissions him as a disciple. He calls Peter to do what he always called Peter to do, to shepherd his flock, to feed his lambs, to take care of this fledgling church that Jesus had launched. Jesus knew before Peter denied him that Peter would fail him. Jesus knew then that there would be future days where Peter would make other mistakes, and yet Jesus is communicating to him. Yes, you will fail. Yes, you will fall short, but I will not cancel you.

I will not cut you off. I will not call you a toxic person. Instead, I have died. I have laid down my life. My blood has covered your sins. My blood has won your forgiveness. And because of that, you can rest assured. that I love you, that I am with you, and that I will never let you go.

As we come to the end of the New Testament together this year, I want you to walk away with that deep affirmation. We all fail. We don't just fail to live up to our resolutions. We fail to live up to God's calling on our lives. And we're all tempted to believe in those moments that just like Peter, we can't be disciples anymore. We can't call ourselves followers of Jesus.

but the one thing the New Testament repeats over and over again is that God's grace is bigger than your sin. His forgiveness is more powerful than your failures. I want you to rest in that promise. Jesus laid down his life for you. He rose to life to give you new life. Yes, you will fail. Yes, you will fall short.

But your failures are far weaker than the strength of his love, his mercy, and his grace. Thank you.