October 11, 2015 NOTES NOT EDITED
The Gift of Failure
2Kings 6:1-7
SIS—Failure can
be success in progress by practicing four powerful principles.
A little boy got a
new pair of ice skates and headed for the local skating rink. He donned
his new treasures and headed for the ice. As soon as he hit the ice – boom –
down he went for the first time. He struggled to pull himself up using
the rail. No sooner was he up and - boom - down he went again. This
went on for quite some time. The kids face was bruised and cut. A lady
who had watched this little boy skated over to him and said sympathetically,
“Honey, why don’t you quit before you get really hurt.” The little boy
answered defiantly, “Lady, I didn’t get these skates to learn how to quit, I
got them to learn how to skate!”
I think the little
boy could teach us all a good lesson – failure,
sometimes many
failures – are the key to mastering life.
We all fail
sometimes–some more than others.
Perhaps you have
been in a marriage that has failed. Perhaps you have experienced some
great moral failure. Perhaps you have been in a business venture that
failed. You may be hurting from a failed relationship. Our question
tonight is: How Can We Overcome
Failure? How can we keep failure from becoming final?
The Bible gives us
the answer. Let’s read it together: 2 Ki 6:1-7
This is by far one
of the most intriguing and enlightening miracles in the Bible. It is a
short, tightly packed pericope that at first seems out of place in the stream
of thought. Upon further investigation, it becomes clear that this
passage is a rich vane of positive principles for overcoming failure.
Robert Burns, a
Scotish Romanitcist wrote a poem entitled, “To A Mouse.” Later the
American novelist, John Steinbeck, wrote a book inspired by Burns poem.
Later the book, Of Mice and Men,
was made into an award-winning motion picture. In Burns poem he
poetically describes a farmer who unknowingly, and without malice, plows up the
nest of a field mouse. The farmer is so very sad because his necessity for
making a living caused another creature much grief. The farmer in the
poem consoles himself by reasoning that the mouse had not planned his domicile
well. That leads to these famous lines (translated from Scottish baroque
to English):
The best laid plan of mice and men, often go awry!
Failure at some
time in your life is inevitable, but it need not be final. When even your “best
laid plan goes awry,” you do not have to give in or give up. Four powerful principles from our passage
this morning can turn “obstacles
into opportunities, scars into stars, and disappointments into God’s design for
success.”
HERE’S MY MOTTO FOR LIFE: “If my heart is right and I do right God will bless it. If my
heart is right and I do wrong, God will fix it. . . .either way, I win!”
You simply can’t go wrong when you go
for Jesus! Our text gives us four powerful, positive,
principles for dealing with failure, and letting failure lead us to success.
1.
First, Don’t Be Afraid to Try! (vv. 1-4)
6 The sons of
the prophets said to Elisha, “Please
notice that the place where we live under your supervision is too small for us. 2 Please
let us go to the Jordan where we can each get a log and can build ourselves a
place to live there.” “Go,” he said. 3 Then one said, “Please
come with your servants.” “I’ll come,” he answered.
4 So he went with them, and when
they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.
I
thank God for an important lesson my Dad taught me, “The only person who never fails, is the person who never does
anything!” What a wise man my father was! I wished I’d paid
more attention.
How
many of you know that “Any successful life requires risk?” Have you considered the “risk” that Jesus took in
becoming man? What if He had not taken the risk of leaving the glory of heaven,
being born of a virgin, living a sinless life, dying an agonizing death?
Without that risk, there would never have been a resurrection!
The fear of failure will
sterilize our witness,
paralyze our potential, and
fossilize our faith.
The
abundant life is indeed full of risks. Charles Swindoll points out, “All who fly risk crashing. All who
drive risk colliding. All who run risk falling. All who walk risk
stumbling. All who live risk something.”
Dr.
Henry Link, a psychiatrist, once pointed out, “I venture to say that at the bottom of most fears [failures] is an
overactive mind.” Some people can give you a thousand different ways
in which an idea will fail. That itself, dooms great ideas to failure.
Some people spend
so much time analyzing the risks, that they never take the plunge. You
can easily become paralyzed by thinking too much about “what might happen.” Abundant life is
full of risks, but remember: “You’ll
never fly until you try!”
The mere act of
living is a risk. Yet, not to risk . . . is to guarantee mediocrity in life. Avoiding
risk is to guarantee missing the best life offers.
Notice verse 1
. There is a problem
–not enough space.
Notice verse 2
. There is a proposal
–let’s build. Notice verse 4. There is perspiration –“they . . . cut
down trees!” This is the first step in dealing with failure–NEVER BE
AFRAID TO TRY SOMETHING! There is a
blessing formula here in verses 1-4:
Imagination (v2)
+ Perspiration (vv 2,4) = Accomplishment (felled trees)
Never be afraid
to try.
Wouldn’t you rather
fail at a “Big Idea” than succeed with ideas that do not matter?
2.
Don’t Be Afraid to Admit Your Failures (v 5)
As one of
them was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water, and he
cried out, “Oh, my master, it was borrowed!”
Take responsibility when you fail.
Admission is not weakness, it is wisdom. Again, The
Book of Proverbs gives us wise counsel:
Prov. 28:13 tells us “The
one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces
them will find mercy.”
Can I paint you a
really ridiculous picture? This young disciple was chopping down trees.
He was really going to town. Timber . . . timber . . . timber.
Single-handedly he was thinning out the forest. Then the axehead flies
off. Instead of admitting what happens, he just begins to swing harder
with the axe handle. Harder and harder he beats against the tree.
Blisters form on his hand and beads of sweat on his brow. He works
harder and more feverishly–but you never hear the word “timber.” His axe
has no edge.
My friends, who are you fooling if you keep
beating at life with a
blunt axe handle. Sin blunts your axhead and the sooner you confess your sin,
the sooner you can get the edge back and continue chopping down trees.
Perspiration
without inspiration is folly.
I say,
“better it is to admit your failure then to foolishly wail away at life with a
blunt character. You only end up frustrated and exhausted. The
proof of a cutting edge Christian
character is fallen trees, not blisters from beating the trees.
You can’t fool God. He knows when you have lost your edge. Admit
it, so that healing and help can come your way.
We need to get
honest in church. We need to take off our masks.
The masks we wear
impair our vision and impede our spiritual growth. Christianity is about
reality and truth, not vanity and deception:
It’s not what
you say that counts, Nor merely what you do;
Your words may
seem genuine, your deeds be not a few.
Yet, after all,
God looks within, and sees the inner “YOU.”
Your doctrine may
be error free, your creed be all so true.
Yet God looks
past all these to see, If you, yourself, are true.
BE TRUE TO YOURSELF
and TO GOD–ADMIT WHEN YOU’VE FAILED.
Here’s a little secret: “God already knows your failure.”
3.
Don’t Fix the Blame - Fix the Problem (v 6)
Then the man
of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When
he showed him the place, the man of God cut a stick, threw it there, and made
the iron float.
Notice: Elisha took
action, not offense. The young disciple could have blamed someone else, perhaps
the owner of the axe. But, he did not. You must remember that an
iron axe head was quite expensive and this one disciple’s action jeopardized
the entire project. This young disciple was the responsibility of Elisha.
His carelessness could have caused great difficulty for the Prophet.
Elisha had every right to be upset and angry. He could have
taken this opportunity to “dress down the young disciple.” This seemed to
be a perfect opportunity for Elisha to “give
the young lad a piece of his mind!” Instead, Elisha gave the
young man a “piece of his heart!”
It is human nature
when trouble comes our way to look for someone to blame. If the disciple would have started to fix
the blame, or if the other disciples
concentrated on fixing the blame, or if the prophet Elisha would have tried to
fix the blame–nobody would have been available to “fix the problem!”
The axe head would still be at the bottom of the lake! Too many people in church are too busy pointing
fingers, when they should be “lending a hand!”
The Bible says, “Bear one another’s burdens.” It doesn’t say, “Be faithful and diligent to blame one
another.”
I read a story just the other day that
illustrates the human propensity to “fix the blame, instead of fixing the
problem.” A young man was having a really bad day. He lost his job
and he wrecked the car. Yet, in
spite of all the trials and
tribulations, he took it like a man–and blamed everything on his wife!
I might remind you,
this is nothing new. Remember in the Garden of Eden. When God asked Adam
and Eve why they disobeyed Him and ate the fruit from the forbidden tree, each
in turn promptly fixed the blame on someone else. Adam blamed Eve.
Eve blamed the snake, and the
snake said, “Flip Wilson made me do it!” Not really that’s a joke
for people over 40!
It is human nature
when trouble hits to “Fix the blame.” If you want freedom from
failure–DON’T “Fix the blame, fix the
problem.”
John
Wooden was the
spectacular basketball coach at the University of California, Los Angelos
(UCLA). Wooden’s remarkable teams set several records–most consecutive
victories, most consecutive national championships, and most consecutive NCAA
basketball tournament victories. Wooden
knew how to win at basketball. He also gives us a powerful
statement on how to win at life. Coach Wooden said, “Nobody is ever
defeated until he [or she] starts blaming someone else!” Don’t look for someone to blame, look
for a way to fix the problem. The Bigger
Your Idea, the bigger problems you can expect.
If you want to win
at life, “Don’t play the blame game!”
When failure falls upon you, don’t fix
the blame fix the problem!
4.
Fourth, to gain freedom from failure Don’t Just Stand There–Do Something!
(V7)
So often we find
ourselves in situations where we need God to intervene. It does
absolutely no good to sit and soak in a tub of self-pity. Often, God will
put the miracle we need right in plain sight. Just like, Elisha made the
iron float. Notice however what it says in verse 7:
Then he said,
“Pick it up.” So he reached out and took it.
Success in life
often requires that we “do something.” God gives us our salvation for free, and
then tells us to “work out our
righteousness with fear and trembling!” There simply is no
substitute for HARD WORK! God can and will multiply even our
feeblest efforts. With rare exceptions, God blesses us only after we make
some effort to participate in our own blessing by planting a seed of faith.
God could have made
the iron axe head jump right up onto the handle. In fact, God could have
made the axe chop down all the trees. In fact, God could have completed
the whole project by Himself .
God could have–but He didn’t! God has chosen to make His people partners in the Kingdom, not puppets
in His court.
God does the hard stuff–He made the iron float. But, God is so wonderful and gracious–He lets us have part in finding freedom from failure.
I remember a lady
who lived with a lazy husband. He didn’t have a job—and, he didn’t want
one. One day, in tears, the wife said, "I'm
ashamed of the way we live. My father
pays our rent, my mother buys all of our food, my sister buys our clothes, my
aunt bought us a car. I'm just so ashamed." Her husband rolled over on the
couch to look at her. "You should be ashamed," he agreed. "Those
two worthless brothers of yours never give us a thing!"
God has never used a lazy person. The Bible says (Prov 13:4) The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
Remember
Dr. Henry Link,
the psychiatrist I quoted earlier that said, “I venture to say that at the bottom of most fears [failures] is an overactive mind.”
He completed that sentence by saying ,
“and underactive body.” If God only wanted you to “think big ideas,”
you’d have only a head and no body. God
gave us feet to get us to the mountain and hands to hold the shovels to move
the mountains.
To say it
another way: “There ain’t no such thing as a FREE LUNCH!
This is why gambling, sweepstakes, and
the lottery are so wrong. They violate God’s command to earn a living by
the “sweat of your brow!” Inspiration
without perspiration leads to frustration. Jesus was clear. He did NOT
say, “Watch me move that
mountain.” He DID say, “With faith, we can move mountains!” (Mt.
17:20).
As Christians we
must always be mindful of our heritage. We are created in the image of God.
We are NOT NOW, NOR NEVER WILL BE God, or even gODS. We are
however, filled with God’s Spirit. We have great potential to do much
good – the key is that word “DO.” God cannot bless us if
we “do nothing.” No matter how many times God multiplies nothing – it
still comes out nothing! To get blessed we must “Do Our Part.”
Nobody can do everything, but every one can to do SOMEthing.
Most people have
“no ideas” for changing the world.
Consequently, nothing happens. Some people have “little ideas” for
changing the world; and, little things happen.
What God is looking for are disciples like those disciples of Elisha,
who had a “Big Idea.” That “big idea”
led to a “big failure,” but that “big failure” led to an even bigger “miracle.”
The
failure was the greatest gift those disciples could have received that day. As I said earlier, from a Christian
perspective, failure is success in
progress. The bigger your idea, the
bigger the risk of failure, but the greater the potential to see the miraculous
Hand of God move in unimaginable ways.
If we, I am talking
about you and I. I am talking about this
church. I am talking about right here,
right now. If we want to see God move in
a miraculous way we need to have an idea so big that if God doesn’t
intervene, it will fail miserably. Such
a big idea will face challenges along the way . . . but, I guarantee you
this: there is no challenge so big that God is not bigger still. The same
God that can make a stick float, can make iron float. Failure is never final for the follower of
Christ. God will not call you to leap
into His arms and fail to catch you. God isn’t looking for “successful
people.” God is looking for people
willing to be a success. All the glory
for any success always goes to God. Any
man can make a stick float, but only God can make iron float.
If you have a “Big
Idea” you will be challenged in life—and you may fail miserably many
times. But, if you don’t have a “Big
Idea” you are pursuing, your life may be safer, but it will never be
satisfying. Don’t worry about trying and failing—worry about failing to try! If
you have failed, just step back up to the place that you failed, repent, and
begin living the life God intends for you to live.
If you have failed
in GIVING—start tithing!
If you have failed
in SERVING–start serving!
If you have failed
in LIVING–start confessing!
If you have failed
in READING YOU BIBLE–start in Mark.
If you have failed
in PRAYING–start today!
DON’T SIT STEWING
IN SELF-PITY–DO SOMETHING!
Don’t fear failure.
You can be free from failure. Failure is success in progress.
Don’t be afraid
to try.
Don’t be afraid
to admit when you fail.
Don’t fix the
blame – fix the problem.;
Don’t just stand
there – do something.
