Sermon nuggets Thur Nov 20
Theme- Failure
Verses- John 18:25-27 As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, "You are not one of his disciples, are you?" He denied it, saying, "I am not."
One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, "Didn't I see you with him in the olive grove?"
Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.
Failure
All of us unfortunately, made promises that we didn’t keep. Maybe they were important promises to people we loved. Maybe it was a promise to ourselves. It likely was a promise to God. The worse scenario was when Adam and Eve made the promise not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Israel continued to promise to do away with idols.
When we break a promise that we make with a sincerity we feel like a failure. We are embarrassed, angry, discouraged, and humiliated, depending on the one to whom we made the promise. Any promise broken to God is sin.
I promised to meet someone at a resturant by a certain time. I was late but easliy forgiven. It was not so easy when on another occation I completely forgot the appointment and the person was waiting and eventually left. It wasn't until the next day I realized I had broken the promise and felt much worse. The greater the offense in my mind, the worse I felt.
Those promises are still failures to carry out what I indendent but my desire to do so was there. Carelessness was the problem. But my mind went back to my college days when I was upset with a persistant insurance saleman who wanted to meet with me. I was fed up with repeatedly saying no until the day I was to leave town. I set up the appointment to meet with him and had no intention to do so. At first I was feeling justified standing up a pesty salesman, but then the conviction of my broken promise had to lead to my confession that it was indeed sin. I lied to him. Yet lying, not forgetting, was the offense to him and to God.
Peter was standing with the soldiers outside of the courtroom in the courtyard warming himself by the fire. He was definitely in enemy territory. Perhaps he felt like a spy. It is the job of a spy to lie and hide and pretend he is something he is not. He wants the others to believe he is one of them so he can get information that will ultimately be helpful for his cause.
What was Peter’s cause here? We can only guess. It certainly wasn’t to gather a group to allow for Jesus escape. I believe he saw his best friend arrested and put himself in danger while he wanted to see what happened to Him. He is a believer among unbelievers standing with them and pretending he is one of them. It is hard to maintain a strong faith when we are pretending to be like the world.
M.R. DeHann, in the Daily Bread, told the story of one farmer bothered by some crows that were eating up his young corn, so he loaded his shotgun and crawled unseen along the fence row, ready and waiting for them to return.
He had a very “sociable” parrot who made friends with every bird. Seeing the crows coming, the parrot flew over to greet them. He joined them, just being sociable of course. His owner saw the crows but didn’t notice the family pet. He took careful aim and shot. When he climbed over the fence to pick up the crows he found the stunned parrot badly ruffled and with a broken wing, but still alive. Tenderly he carried it home. The children saw that their pet was injured and they tearfully asked, “What happened to Polly, Father?”
Before he could answer the parrot spoke up, “Bad company, Bad company.”
Many get into trouble traveling with the wrong crowd. Peter didn’t really want to accept them, but he wanted to hide his true identity. When confronted it was to his advantage, he thought, to lie. He did it once already and so it was easier to do again.
Having denied Jesus once and then a second time, he was confronted with a relative of the one whose ear he cut off. The denial was not a mumble or looking to the ground embarrassed, but was the type of lie that looked the other into the face and said with a vow that he did not know the man. According to the other Gospel accounts we see it was done with a curse. It was with swearing.
Peter didn’t realize what he was doing until the rooster crowed. Now all of the sudden the focus changed from protection to conviction of sin. He was revealed to him that the very thing Jesus said would happen him happened. He didn’t want it to happen. In the presence of the company of believers he made a public statement that he would not be like them he would die first, and here he was not only hiding, but swearing and denying his Lord.
What are ways we might deny before others that we are really His follower? Is it in subtle ways or ways that are more direct? Lewd jokes, cursing, going to places with the friends that no one would have a clue you were be a Christian? Could it be in private? When we have made promises that we will change have we kept our promise to the Lord, or broken it?
I think we are all like Peter in various ways and have failed Him. But the good news is that even in our failures there is hope. There is a way back into His grace and the joy of experiencing his renewed love is more than comforting. There is great rejoicing in forgiveness. Forgiveness is only granted to those who admit they have failed.
Pastor Dale
