Embracing Failure: Wisdom, Growth, and God's Guidance
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
"Failure is an unavoidable part of our life. No matter how much we don't like it or don't want it, it's just part of our life. We can't avoid it. And to that end, the Bible says this, as we've said every week, 1 John 1 .8. If we claim to be without sin, which is a huge umbrella for lots of different kinds of things, but it's at least, at a minimum, it's about failure. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth isn't in us. Every single one of us can point to a moment where something got the better of us, we made a decision we wish we didn't make." [00:29:26] (26 seconds)
"And the reason why so much of this idea of failure is an intolerable kind of thing is because... is because it's linked very closely to our own fear of loneliness. You see, everybody wants to have some kind of... that we long for validation and approval. And when we fail, we wonder if my contribution to whatever group I belong is enough. And then if we wonder, if we fail, we start wondering, oh my gosh, am I even belongable anymore? And so at its root, all we're wondering about is when we confront failure is, am I going to be alone if I fail?" [00:30:07] (30 seconds)
"But all catastrophes, whether they're personal or public or they're big or they're small, they all have some things that are really similar. And this is the most important one, because the catastrophe itself, it's not a single failure. Everybody who saw the Challenger explosion or any other disaster, whatever it might be, everybody knows it's not a single failure. It's the last failure in a series or a sequence of much smaller failures. We see the final failure. We see the final moment. We see the last failure in a sequence of failures. It's not just that one event happened. It's a whole bunch of other things that happened." [00:30:50] (29 seconds)
"And we also know because there's a long sequence of things, particularly in something like a space shuttle launch, we know there's a long sequence of things that have probably had some yellow flags in it. And what people have to realize is that the stakes of failing are always lower at the beginning of that sequence than at the end of that sequence. Because everything begins to compound and build on itself. And the stakes of failing are much, much less. Stakes of exposure and embarrassment are much, much lower at the beginning of a sequence than at the end of one." [00:31:31] (27 seconds)
"Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders that they gave him. He's like, you know what? Old guys don't know what they're doing. Here's what he says. He consulted the young men who had grown up with him, and were serving him. Now, just to be clear, these are people who are like the fellas. This is the guys, this is the crew. These are people who rode their bikes together, and they like threw rocks at trains, and whatever else they did when they were young, whatever it is that they did, this is that group of people, but it also says they were serving him, which means they might be on the payroll." [00:39:23] (27 seconds)
"Rehoboam doesn't want wisdom. That's not what he's after. He wants something else. He wants something, he wants his own wants. He wants confirmation of his own wants from the people that are around him. You've been right all along. That's what you wanted to do. You know that's what you wanted to do. You should do that. You're better than your dad. He's big and famous, but you're a big deal, too." [00:43:02] (22 seconds)
"What's true about every step on this process from wants to go fever to decisions to catastrophe, what's true about this, what's important to keep in mind is there's always room for God to intervene. Wherever you are, there's always room for God to intervene. Wherever you are, on a sequence of making bad decisions or having already felt the impact of having made that sequence and having it implode on you, there's always room for God to intervene. And the way God intervenes, I'm oversimplifying, but it's nonetheless true. The way God always intervenes is with unconditional love and forgiveness." [00:58:02] (31 seconds)
"Jesus shows up with unconditional love and forgiveness, but that's not the same thing as enabling people's behavior and enabling their own destruction to save their feelings. Now, there's also, there's always room for God to sort of, his intervention to show up, but there's also always room for a wise choice. The next choice can be a wise one. Wherever you might be, even though you might have had a sequence of really dumb things, the next choice can be an incredibly wise choice. You can make that decision. The question you and I have to face about that wise choice, the next choice we make, is which wisdom are you going to utilize?" [01:00:08] (36 seconds)
"The Bible is saying, look, there is, you are not as trustworthy, you and I are not as trustworthy as we think we are. Our own judgment is skewed and we need something outside of us to give us some kind of insight. Lean not on your own understanding in all your ways. Submit to him and he will make your paths. Straight. See what's hard for us sometimes is that God doesn't deal in flattery or people pleasing like we do. He deals in wisdom and truth." [01:01:13] (25 seconds)
"And what God cares about is restoration from and navigation through and the avoidance of hopefully any further catastrophe, because it's so destructive. And we, you and I, we need wisdom we cannot give to ourselves. We have to look to somewhere else. is it that you will look outside of yourself? a confirmation machine, but to the truth about what you really need for a wise choice. Let's pray together." [01:01:43] (37 seconds)
"Jesus, every one of us faces the kind of moments where we want our wants to be wonderful and amazing, and they're not always wonderful. And we confess to you, Father, where we're just looking for confirmation of what we already want. That lacks wisdom, and there's probably another in a sequence of choices that we ought not to make. Father, we're grateful that you come to us with love and forgiveness, that you identify with us. Here's where we are. Let's take our next step together." [01:02:12] (28 seconds)
"And so Father, might we trust in what you have already given us, which is your wisdom and your presence. And so Father, we, as a community of people, we look to you. We confess that our own understanding isn't enough. We look to you. Father, would you hear us now as we, in a moment, we said our own prayer to music. Before we do that, would you allow these words to be sung over you? Would you allow them to be the prayer of your own heart, such that they might become apparent to you in this space?" [01:02:46] (30 seconds)
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"And the reason why so much of this idea of failure is an intolerable kind of thing is because... is because it's linked very closely to our own fear of loneliness. You see, everybody wants to have some kind of... that we long for validation and approval. And when we fail, we wonder if my contribution to whatever group I belong is enough. And then if we wonder, if we fail, we start wondering, oh my gosh, am I even belongable anymore? And so at its root, all we're wondering about is when we confront failure is, am I going to be alone if I fail?" [00:30:07] (30 seconds)
"But all catastrophes, whether they're personal or public or they're big or they're small, they all have some things that are really similar. And this is the most important one, because the catastrophe itself, it's not a single failure. Everybody who saw the Challenger explosion or any other disaster, whatever it might be, everybody knows it's not a single failure. It's the last failure in a series or a sequence of much smaller failures. We see the final failure. We see the final moment. We see the last failure in a sequence of failures. It's not just that one event happened. It's a whole bunch of other things that happened." [00:30:50] (29 seconds)
"And we also know because there's a long sequence of things, particularly in something like a space shuttle launch, we know there's a long sequence of things that have probably had some yellow flags in it. And what people have to realize is that the stakes of failing are always lower at the beginning of that sequence than at the end of that sequence. Because everything begins to compound and build on itself. And the stakes of failing are much, much less. Stakes of exposure and embarrassment are much, much lower at the beginning of a sequence than at the end of one." [00:31:31] (27 seconds)
"Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders that they gave him. He's like, you know what? Old guys don't know what they're doing. Here's what he says. He consulted the young men who had grown up with him, and were serving him. Now, just to be clear, these are people who are like the fellas. This is the guys, this is the crew. These are people who rode their bikes together, and they like threw rocks at trains, and whatever else they did when they were young, whatever it is that they did, this is that group of people, but it also says they were serving him, which means they might be on the payroll." [00:39:23] (27 seconds)
"Rehoboam doesn't want wisdom. That's not what he's after. He wants something else. He wants something, he wants his own wants. He wants confirmation of his own wants from the people that are around him. You've been right all along. That's what you wanted to do. You know that's what you wanted to do. You should do that. You're better than your dad. He's big and famous, but you're a big deal, too." [00:43:02] (22 seconds)
"What's true about every step on this process from wants to go fever to decisions to catastrophe, what's true about this, what's important to keep in mind is there's always room for God to intervene. Wherever you are, there's always room for God to intervene. Wherever you are, on a sequence of making bad decisions or having already felt the impact of having made that sequence and having it implode on you, there's always room for God to intervene. And the way God intervenes, I'm oversimplifying, but it's nonetheless true. The way God always intervenes is with unconditional love and forgiveness." [00:58:02] (31 seconds)
"Jesus shows up with unconditional love and forgiveness, but that's not the same thing as enabling people's behavior and enabling their own destruction to save their feelings. Now, there's also, there's always room for God to sort of, his intervention to show up, but there's also always room for a wise choice. The next choice can be a wise one. Wherever you might be, even though you might have had a sequence of really dumb things, the next choice can be an incredibly wise choice. You can make that decision. The question you and I have to face about that wise choice, the next choice we make, is which wisdom are you going to utilize?" [01:00:08] (36 seconds)
"The Bible is saying, look, there is, you are not as trustworthy, you and I are not as trustworthy as we think we are. Our own judgment is skewed and we need something outside of us to give us some kind of insight. Lean not on your own understanding in all your ways. Submit to him and he will make your paths. Straight. See what's hard for us sometimes is that God doesn't deal in flattery or people pleasing like we do. He deals in wisdom and truth." [01:01:13] (25 seconds)
"And what God cares about is restoration from and navigation through and the avoidance of hopefully any further catastrophe, because it's so destructive. And we, you and I, we need wisdom we cannot give to ourselves. We have to look to somewhere else. is it that you will look outside of yourself? a confirmation machine, but to the truth about what you really need for a wise choice. Let's pray together." [01:01:43] (37 seconds)
"Jesus, every one of us faces the kind of moments where we want our wants to be wonderful and amazing, and they're not always wonderful. And we confess to you, Father, where we're just looking for confirmation of what we already want. That lacks wisdom, and there's probably another in a sequence of choices that we ought not to make. Father, we're grateful that you come to us with love and forgiveness, that you identify with us. Here's where we are. Let's take our next step together." [01:02:12] (28 seconds)
"And so Father, might we trust in what you have already given us, which is your wisdom and your presence. And so Father, we, as a community of people, we look to you. We confess that our own understanding isn't enough. We look to you. Father, would you hear us now as we, in a moment, we said our own prayer to music. Before we do that, would you allow these words to be sung over you? Would you allow them to be the prayer of your own heart, such that they might become apparent to you in this space?" [01:02:46] (30 seconds)
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