The Big Failure

January 10, 2015                  NOTES NOT EDITED

Series:  The Big Idea

Title:  The Big Failure

Text:  Matthew 27:45-50

SIS—Failure is inevitable, but it need not be final.

All living beings experience fear.  Psychologists have identified literally thousands of “phobias” (phobia comes from the Greek word for “fear”). 

Some phobias seem comical unless you suffer from them. Like, ablutophobia, or the fear of washing or bathing. That one might be hard to hide in public, unless you suffer from agoraphobia, or the fear of public spaces.  For many, many years people have been asking, “Why did the chicken cross the road?”  We all know the familiar answer to that question, but what many do not know is that the chicken did not suffer from, “agyrophobia—the fear of crossing the street.  Don’t be surprised if you ask someone “why the chicken crossed the road” and they run away screaming because they suffer from “alektorophobia”—the fear of chickens

The list of phobias goes on and on.  Only two letters in the list I read did not have a phobia—“Q” and “V.”  I wonder if these letters have the fear of someone finding a phobia beginning with “Q” or “V?”

The fear of failure is perhaps the most destructive of all fears.  It, marginalizes creativity, paralyzes progress, and it legitimizes status quo—in this order.  We see the devaluation, or marginalization of creativity at work in public education.  When money gets tight—a euphemism for bureaucracy gets bloated—what is the first to get cut?  It is the “arts”—music, painting, dancing, drama, and the like.  Artists and philosophers think outside the box, often challenging the status quo with their avant garde ideas.  Establishment thinkers are happy to see “creative” thinkers pushed to the sidelines. 

People fear “change” partly because they fear anything “new or unfamiliar.”  Human beings crave comfort and security.  Big Ideas challenge the experience of comfort and security.  Yet, ironically, what is new almost always adds comfort and pleasure to our lives—like the “remote control.”  When I was a boy my little brother was the “remote control.”  Sometimes, he was even the antenna for the T.V., holding the “rabbit ears” just right for the best reception.

Where we give into fear, we fossilize.  Without constant adaptation and innovation we face stagnation.  This is true in every area of life from the laboratory to the sanctuary, from plumbing to philosophy.  Breaking new ground is essential for progress—it also generates fear because of the prospect of failure.

What if Thomas Edison would have given into the fear of failure?  I once read where he failed over 700 times when he tried to find a suitable filament for the electric light bulb.  Many people would have stopped far short of 700.  Most, fearing failure, would simply surrender to sitting in the dark.

The history of progress is the history of facing the fear of failure.  Pick the name of any great person in history.  Sigmund Freud was once booed off the stage when he presented his ideas.  Thomas Edison’s teachers said, “He’s too stupid to learn.”  He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.”  Steve Jobs was one fired as the CEO of Apple—the company he created, and worked for years to get it back.  Henry Ford went broke five times before he succeeded.  Even people who know nothing about baseball know about Babe Ruth—holding the record for most home runs in a season for decades at 714.  Only baseball aficionados know he also held the record for 1,330 strike outs.  Ruth said, “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”

Great men, and women, faced their fears and overcame their failures.  Failure is inevitable, but it need not be final.  In fact, what appeared to be “The Biggest Failure” in the history of the universe, by human standards, was actually “The Greatest Victory” in the history of the universe.  This seemingly greatest failure provides the pathway by which every one of us can overcome our failure.  Failure is inevitable.  In fact, the bigger your idea, the bigger will likely be your failure. 

The Bible chronicles the life of God’s heroes portraying them with raw honesty.  After overseeing the greatest building project of all time that God used to save the human race from a flood, Noah is found drunk and naked on a beach by his boys.  Abraham, called “a friend of God” and the “Father of the Faith,” once lied to save his own skin.  David, the most important King in Israel’s history, committed adultery and engineered the murder of Uriah to cover it up.  We all know of Peter’s great failure on the eve of the Lord’s crucifixion.  He declared three times, “I don’t know anything about the man, Jesus!”

The Bible does not sanitize the lives of its heroes.  In fact, the Bible dramatizes them and memorializes them for all time.  The Bible is not a book outlining how men impressed God with their deeds, but how God rescued us from our sins.  That’s what the cross is all about: God’s solution for our failure.  We can learn to overcome our failure by turning to the cross.  Let’s read that together:  Mat. 27:45-50.

1.  Appearances are Deceiving (v. 46)

Some of the most shocking, horrible, and desperate words every spoken on the darkest night in the history of man are the words spoken by Jesus Christ as His mangled, bloodied, near-lifeless body hung upon the cross:

⁴⁵ From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over the whole land.  ^{q 46} About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá  sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken  Me?”

By all appearances, God had forsaken Jesus.  The disciples believed the ministry of Jesus was defeated.  In fact, they felt that way the night before and all, except John, had run away to hide.  Even the bold, bombastic Peter hid in the shadows some distance from the cross.  The disciples not only believed Jesus was defeated, they feared it was only a matter of time the authorities would come for them.  The three years long ministry of the Messiah had failed in their eyes—failed miserably.  Take note of where we next find the disciples:

 ^{John 20:19} In the evening of that first day of the week,  the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because of their fear of the Jews.

The Jews certainly believed the death of Jesus would crush the Messianic movement among the Lord’s followers.  In seeking help from the High Priest and Sanhedrin (ruling body of the Jews) for their plot to end the ministry of Jesus, the Jewish leaders said

^{Jn 11:47-48 47} So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin  and said, “What are we going to do since this man does many signs? ⁴⁸ If we let Him continue in this way, everyone will believe in Him! Then the Romans  will come and remove both our place  and our nation.”

The logic of the Jewish leaders who hated Jesus and His movement seemed airtight—remove the head and the body will die. 

From all earthly appearances, the ministry of Jesus ended with His death.  By all human appearances Jesus had failed, and failed miserably. 

Pope Francis set off a firestorm among “anti-Catholics” when he declared recently, according to many reports, “Jesus was a failure.”  I’m certainly no cheerleader for Pope Francis (or Catholic doctrine in general) but I think many pundits took a cheap shot at the Catholic leader when the accused the Pope of saying, “Jesus was a failure.” What the Pope actually said was this, “if at times our efforts and works seem to fail and produce no fruit, we need to remember that we are followers of Jesus . . . and his life, humanly speaking, ended in failure, in the failure of the cross.” I have to agree with the Pope in this regard, “humanly speaking Jesus was a Big Failure.”

But . . . and this is an important “but,” appearances can be deceiving.  Let’s look carefully at our text again in Matthew 27:46:  About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá  sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken  Me?”

You will notice in the HCSB, as with most modern translations, these words are in bold type.  This is the way that modern translations alert readers that the portion is a quote from the O.T.  This is the first line of Psalm 22, considered a “messianic psalm,” or a psalm that prophetically described the ministry of the Messiah when He would come many years hence.  It was a common teaching method for the Rabbi (as many referred to Jesus) to quote the first line of a Psalm, and the students would finish it.  Let me “finish” the Psalm that begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will bow down before You, ²⁸ for kingship belongs to the Lord; He rules over the nations. ²⁹ All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down; all those who go down to the dust will kneel before Him— even the one who cannot preserve his life. ³⁰ Their descendants will serve Him; the next generation will be told about the Lord. ³¹ They will come and tell a people yet to be born about His righteousness— what He has done.

Did Jesus feel forsaken?  Many scholars and preachers say He did.  I personally do not think He did.  That is not the issue with the words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”  Jesus knew the rest of the Psalm.  He knew the Father.  He knew the Father could not, and would not, abandon Him.  He knew His ministry would not fail.  Jesus felt much pain on the cross.  He felt abandonment, but it was not His abandonment, but the abandonment and isolation every person who has ever lived experienced.

Let’s not miss the main point by travelling too far down the road of speculation.  We know what Psalm Jesus quoted, and we know what the Psalm declared. Psalm 22 declared the “Victory of the Messiah” at the cross, not His failure.  Appearances can be deceiving.  Our failures can appear so large that there seems no way we can overcome them. Keep this in mind:  appearances are deceiving.  I’ll say more about this in a moment.

2.  Failure is Unpleasant (45-46, Psalm 22:12-18)

⁴⁵ From noon until three in the afternoon  darkness came over the whole land.  ^{q 46} About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá  sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken  Me?”

As I said a moment ago, these words point us to Psalm 22 that describes the crucifixion of Jesus seven centuries before it happened.  The Psalm describes the pain of crucifixion:  physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

^{Ps. 22  12} Many bulls surround me; strong ones of Bashan encircle me. ¹³ They open their mouths against me—lions, mauling and roaring. ¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me. ¹⁵ My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You put me into the dust of death. ¹⁶ For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet. ¹⁷ I can count all my bones; people look and stare at me. ¹⁸ They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.

Never had there been a blacker night than this night when God shut off all the light of the heavens as His own Son hung between heaven and earth, life and death, in the most horrible agony imaginable.

I do not want to minimize the agony of the Lord as He bore the weight of the world’s sin upon His body and soul.  Failure always brings pain—physical, emotional, spiritual, and usually all three.  Jesus did “experience” the pain of failure.  He experienced the pain of the failure of the whole world!

Experts have engaged in a forensic study of crucifixion from a medical point of view.  The descriptions in medical journals are too long to examine in this message.  One scholar sums up what historians and forensic physicians support:  “For indeed a death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have [being] horrible and ghastly—dizziness, cramp, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness, traumatic fever, tetanus . . . infected wounds. . . . The unnatural position makes every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, in flamed by exposure, gradually gangrened; the arteries—especially in the head and stomach—became swollen with pressure from a surcharge of blood; and while each variety of misery went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerable pang of burning thirst; and all these physical complications caused and internal excitement and anxiety, which made the prospect of death itself—of death, the unknown enemy, at whose approach man usually shudders most—bear the aspect of a delicious and exquisite release” (S. Farrar, ETDV).

Now, I don’t for one second want to suggest that the pain we experience in our failures comes anywhere near the pain Our Lord endured on the cross.  Any such comparison would be silly at best and sacrilegious at worse.  I do want to point out that failure is unpleasant.  In fact, failure can be downright painful.  Failure can be so painful that many mistakenly seek the release of death.  We fear failure so much because it is so “painful.” As Aristotle points out, “All voluntary actions pursue what is pleasant and avoid what is painful.” (The Rhetoric). 

Failure is unpleasant.  Actually, that is an understatement.  Failure can be excruciating.  The consequences of our mistakes can be almost unbearable.  This week, I read a story that broke my heart.  A father made a mistake.  He failed in the most miserable way one could imagine.  It happened last week in Cincinnati, Ohio.  A father had gone through the regular routine of dropping his 14 years old son off at the bus stop for his regular ride to school.  The 14 year old, for whatever reason or no reason, decided to skip school that day and returned home.  He sneaked through the basement.  His 72 year old father heard the noise and thought it was an intruder.  The man grabbed a .45 caliber handgun and went to investigate. When the father opened the door to the basement, the boy, in what seemed to be a playful gesture according to one source, jumped out of the shadows and said, “Boo!”  This startled the man who never expected his son to be in the basement.  The man fired once killing his son instantly.

The man made a tragic mistake.  The boy made a tragic mistake.  Failure is not without painful consequences.  This is why most people avoid anything that may possibly lead to failure—if they possibly can avoid it.  Sadly, we cannot avoid failure.  Failure is not a matter of “if,” but only “when.”  Failure isn’t always the result of some moral lapse.  Those who attempt great things for God often experience the greatest failures in life.

Thank God for the cross upon which Jesus died and the tomb from which He was raised.  Because Jesus DID NOT fail, failure for us does not need to be final.  We can overcome our failure because Christ already paid the price for everyone on the cross.

Appearances are deceiving.  Failure IS painful.  But,

3.  The Work of Our Redemption is FINISHED! (50; Jn. 19:30)

Look at verse 50:  Jesus shouted again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit.  What did Jesus shout that second time?  Turn to John 19:30:   He said, “It is finished!”

Now, take note that Jesus did not “whisper” in a broken voice.  Jesus did not “mutter” through defeated lips.  The Word of God says He finished His work with one glorious shout that shook both Heaven and earth!  Look back in Matthew at how powerful that shout was! 

⁵¹ Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. ⁵³ And they came out of the tombs after His resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many. ⁵⁴ When the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, “This man really was God’s Son!”

Friends, that’s not a picture of “failure.” That’s a picture of success that shook the cosmos in every direction:  up to heaven, down to hell, all the way back into the primordial past and forward into the forever future.  The overcoming work of Jesus Christ overcomes every failure we have ever had, are having, or ever will have.  We need not fear failure because Jesus has already conquered every one for every one of us! 

Not only did Jesus announce His eternal victory with a shout, He chose His words very carefully.  He did not say, “It is started and now you will have to work to make your lives successful.”  No, no, no!  Jesus said, “It is finished.”  The same grace that saved us from the penalty of our sins gives us sanctifying power over our present sin, and will bring us all the way to heaven where we will be free from even the very presence of our sins.  It is finished—past, present, and future.

The word Jesus used means, “to bring to a complete and successful finish.”  Though English word, “finished,” shouted from the lips of Our Savior serves us well, analysis of the Greek original gives us some added encouragement.  Tetelestai (teh tuh less tie) is in the perfect tense which refers to an event in the past which have effects (or results) that continue indefinitely.  This gives tetelestai the force of meaning, “It is absolutely, completely, fully, irrevocably finished and there is nothing anyone can do to add to what’s been done.”

God’s offer of grace is an eternal gift that reaches back into our past and into our eternal future, covering every point in between.  Failure need not be final, because salvation is a work that is already finished—completely.

This message is titled, “The Big Failure.”  Our failures, as big as they may seem to us or to others, do not qualify as “The Big Failure,” even if we stack them all together.  The Devil holds the eternal dishonor of having the “Biggest Failure.”  The Devil was no doubt smiling as He watched Jesus writhe in agony on the cross, but appearance are deceiving.  The “Big Loser” that day was the Devil and the only way “failure could ever be final” for anyone is if they chose the wrong team in relation to the cross.

Failure will be eternal for all those that reject the free gift of grace Jesus offers through His finished work of the cross.  Today, you can experience victory over all your failure by repenting of your sin (that is, turning away from following the Devil) and receiving the free gift of salvation by surrendering (fully, sacrificially, without any reservation) to Jesus Christ as the Lord (Boss, Leader, Owner, Master) of your life.

Don’t follow “The Biggest Loser.”  Follow Jesus!