Failures Part 2                                         John 13:6-8

Last week we looked at failures of mankind as demonstrated through a study of the disciples. This week I when I went to work on today’s message I found I had a lot more notes on the topic so I decided to do a part two.

Today’s reading shows us two of our failures through Peter’s actions. “’No’ said Peter, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’” (John 13:8) This washing of Peter’s feet by Jesus is a representation, a shadow of Jesus washing our sins away by his blood at the cross. We know this because of the next line, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

For us to be with Jesus, for us to be God’s children and inheritors of heaven we need to allow Jesus to wash away our sins. How do we do this? We’re told in Acts 4:12, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Here is the first failure demonstrated here by Peter. We’re told only Jesus can save us and yet countless people have rejected this for a variety of reasons. As I thought about that it occurred to me that most of the reasons I came up with can actually be consolidated into just one; we don’t like to think of ourselves in a negative or sinful light. “I don’t think God would condemn me; I do the best I can.” “Basically, I’m not sinful, I try my best.” Reality is our best falls short of the perfection of God. Reality is we need the washing of Jesus.

We know we need Jesus so again I ask how do we get washed by him, he’s not standing in front of us. Acts 16:31, “…Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…” Salvation comes simply, believe in Jesus. But this involves admitting we are not all powerful, that we do not have ultimate control over our destiny. And for some, admitting there is something beyond this life.

This is another failure Peter exposes, men like to think of themselves as the most powerful force in the universe. But our inventions, technology; our ability to force our will on nature is pale when compared to the power of Almighty God.

Looking into Luke’s gospel we find in Luke 22 Jesus and his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus goes off to pray and when he returns, he finds his followers asleep. Luke 22:46, “’Why are you sleeping?’ he asked them. ‘Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation.’”

The disciples were tired, I get it. We all can get tired and pulled under by life and it trials, but this is when we need Jesus. This is when we need to pray because this is when we are most vulnerable to the deceiver.

I want us to notice something here in what Jesus says, “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” We learn in Luke 4 when Jesus is in the wilderness, all men will be tempted by the deceiver. Temptation is part of our existence. Man’s failure is thinking we can keep temptation at a distance by ourselves, that we never will allow ourselves to fall into what tempts us. Maybe we’re having a difficult time in our relationship, we need to pray; pray for God to heal our relationship but also pray for God to protect us from Satan or we may start to look to an inappropriate relationship. We may be looking to an advancement. Pray for God to open the door but also pray for God to keep the deceiver at a distance or we may start the unchristian behavior of putting others down in order to make ourselves look better.

In Matthew 26 Jesus is arrested and we are told how Peter denies him. In this account Peter doesn’t just politely say “I don’t know the man.” Matthew 26:74 “Then he began to call down curses and he swore to them, ‘I don’t know the man.’”

Maybe we don’t actually call down curses from heaven to deny Jesus but I bet we’ve all denied him at least once. Peter was afraid of being taken by the crowd if he admitted to being a follower of Jesus. Don’t we sometimes feel afraid or at least uncomfortable admitting our allegiance to Christ? Have we been in conversations when the topic of faith or God comes up, and if the attitude of the others is negative toward God or his existence have we just kept quiet because we didn’t want the hassle? Are there times when we thought “My faith is personal, I don’t want to discuss it,”? Aren’t these ways in which we deny Jesus? Isn’t this another failure of men, especially of those who know him and call him their Lord and Savior?

Now as we look to events that happen after Jesus resurrection we find John chapter 21. We find Peter overwhelmed by both his sin and the enormity of the responsibilities given to him by Jesus. John 20:22, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Peter and the others feeling unsure and unprepared to go into the world professing Jesus decide to go back to what they know and deem safe, fishing.

Men may understand God’s plan and accept Christ but when they realize this is just the first step in the life of a Christian they hesitate. Acts 1:8, “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. ”I believe in God. I go to church. I have a cross in my house. Evangelize, talk of God, let others know I believe, actually engage in the name of Christ, that’s different, I’m not doing that.” We can tend to bury our faith. We can tend to live exactly as we always have, do the things we’ve always done, rely on familiar ways. Mankind’s failure is not fully embracing God. Mankind’s failure is not opening ourselves up to God. Mankind’s failure is clinging to the familiar and safe and not letting God change us, not letting God lead us to the sometimes uncomfortable work of his kingdom.

The last thing in my notes came from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Galatians 2:12, “For before certain men came from Jesus Peter used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.”

Peter knew of Jesus command to “love your neighbor.” Peter knew God’s grace was meant for the Gentiles too. But he withdrew from this conviction because others of faith didn’t understand this. A failure of men is our backing away from our spiritual convictions because other believers disagree with us.

Several years ago the Holy Spirit led me to see that Jesus two commandments; Love God and love your neighbors, are the lens we need to use when we examine all of scripture. I will engage with kindness and friendship whether someone is Muslim, atheist or LGBTQ all in the name of Christ and all for the kingdom of God. A few weeks ago someone told me I was wrong because all these people were unsavable. I was shocked and saddened that a man of God was telling me this. Over the years I have had heated debates with people and with other ministers over this. At times I thought it would be so much easier if I just kept my mouth shut. But I believe it was God through his Spirit that opened my eyes to the depth of meaning in Jesus commandments. I believe it is God in heaven who showed me how these words of Christ are to instruct me, how they are to influence me, how they are to lead me and how they are to be the focal point of my actions, my words, my life and my ministry.

Last week we saw several of the failures of men. This week we see other failures as demonstrated by the disciples; especially Peter. Jesus is my Lord and Savior and I study him to understand the depth of God’s love and how I am to respond to the miracle of my salvation. Peter, I love reading about Peter. This imperfect, hardheaded man shows me the realities of the world and of men.

While Jesus shows us what we should be doing, Peter very often shows us where we fail at it. Today Peter shows us mankind can be arrogant and self-centered, unwilling to admit we sin before God. He shows us we like to think of ourselves as masters of our own destiny, all powerful in our own lives, refusing to admit we need Jesus. He shows us we refuse to be diligent about keeping Jesus as our focus. And last, Peter shows us it can be hard to follow Jesus, hard to live out the convictions we know to be true; and it can be oh so easy to keep our mouths shut about our faith so we can avoid conflict and save ourselves from being uncomfortable with others.

If we look at all the examples from last week and those today, Jesus never denies any of these men; they are his. As believers never think God denies you, you are his always and forever.

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God bless,

Amen.