Introduction: There is little question that Michael Jordan is truly the best basketball player that ever lived. Jordan’s NBA career statistics are mind-boggling. His resume as an athlete is astounding. His salary and income as a player for the Chicago Bulls is equally hard to fathom.

• He used to make over $300,000 a game:

• $10,000 a minute assuming he averaged about 30 minutes a game.

• Assuming $40 million in endorsements next year, he was making $178,100 a day, working or not.
• Assuming he slept 7 hours per night, he made $52,000 every night while visions of sugarplums danced in his head.
• If he went to a movie, it cost him $9.00 (with no popcorn), but he made $18,550 while he was there.
• If he decided to have a 5 minute egg, he made $618.00 while it was boiling.
• He made $7,415.00 per hour more than the minimum wage.
• He made $3,710.00 while watching an episode of "Friends."
• If he wanted to save up for a new Acura NSX ($90,000), it would take him a whole 12 hours.
• If someone had to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have to hand him $2.00 every second.
• He probably paid around $200.00 for a nice round of golf but he was reimbursed $33,390.00 for that round.
• If you were given a tenth of a penny for every dollar he made. You would be living comfortably at $65,000 per year. Last year he made twice as much as all our past presidents for all their terms combined.

Amazing, isn’t it! But: Jordan will have to save 100% of his income for 270 years to have a net worth equivalent to Bill Gates! You could see that and say, "Nerds Rule!" You might be reminded, though, that no matter how successful you are there’s always someone else who is more successful than you.

Our culture, regardless of how we want to pretend otherwise, thrives on and feeds a passion for success. That same mindset feeds our Christian culture also. You can go to most Christian book stores or Christian book sections in a store and you will see book after book on how to succeed as a Christian, especially as a Christian leader. John Maxwell has become the key figure of such a proposition. He speaks to thousands and thousands of people, especially pastors, on how to be a successful leader. He said recently, "The greatest gift a leader can give people is to lift them up to higher ground."

I don’t disagree that we need models as Christians who excel in leadership. What I want you to see today is that the best leadership decision you will ever make is the one you make to let God lift you up when you’ve failed. While being successful may be something a few people experience, all of us know what it is to fail. I want you to meet this morning the Michael Jordan and Bill Gates of failure—the Apostle Peter. Peter failed in a way all of us as Christians know—Peter failed to have courage when he was surprised by conflict. The failure to maintain the stamina of our convictions when we are blindsided by a conflict, particularly a moral conflict, is something we can all share.

This morning I want us to revisit this story of Peter’s denial of Jesus. Then after we explore the story for ourselves, let’s apply its principles for our own lives.

To get the fuller picture of this story you need to go back a few hours and for us a few chapters. The event we return to is Peter’s statement of his refusal to deny his relationship with Jesus in John 13:36-38: "Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, where are You going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later. Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a cock shall not crow, until you deny Me three times.'’ Remember that in this chapter Jesus has washed the disciples' feet. When Jesus came to Peter he couldn't imagine Jesus lowering Himself to wash his feet so he refused Him. Jesus told him that if He didn’t wash his feet then he had no part as His disciple. Peter responded with such emotion, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." (John 13:9). When Jesus informed the group that one among them would betray Him, Peter affirmed his sole allegiance to Jesus, even if everyone else should fail. He said, "I will lay down my life for you." Jesus responded, "Will you lay down your life for me? Listen very closely, Peter, a rooster will not crow before you deny me not once but three times."

We are not told what Peter’s reaction was, for John records only Jesus’ words that He spoke contained in John 14 through John 17. In John 18 we find Jesus and his disciples leaving the room where they had shared the last supper and going to a garden which we know as Gethsemane. While they are there Judas escorts a contingent of Roman soldiers and Jewish leaders to the garden to arrest Jesus. Jesus identifies himself as the one they are seeking and asks that they let the others go. Now listen to verses 10 and 11: "Simon Peter therefore having a sword, drew it, and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. Jesus therefore said to Peter, ‘Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?’" Peter came to the garden with Jesus, not to pray but to fight. In his emotion this time he doesn’t just speak his allegiance, but he attacks an aggressor! In the face of Jesus’ arrest Peter was ready to die! He wasn’t giving up without a fight!

When all the others had gone Peter still followed Jesus. There was another disciple who followed as they took Jesus away but we are not sure who it was. It could have been John. We just don’t know. Peter and this unnamed disciple follow Jesus to the home of the High Priest whose name was Caiaphas. The homes of people of power like Caiaphas had a walled access to the street with a small gate through which you entered. The courtyard was open, facing a series of rooms where guests were received and business was conducted. It was in such a room that Jesus was taken to be interrogated by the Jews.

As Peter and the unnamed disciple got to the gate the unnamed disciple enters without a problem. The slave-girl knows the first disciple but doesn’t know Peter. As she lets Peter in she asks him a question phased in such a way to get a negative answer, "You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?" Before he even thought, Peter said, "I am not." Denial number one. Understand that Peter has affirmed his faithfulness to Jesus when no one else did or was even asked. He had carried a sword and used it to defend Jesus when they were surrounded. When all the others had ran out into the night Peter followed Jesus, risking his life. Yet when a teenager at the gate asks a thoughtless question, "You with Him, too?" Peter failed.

I can only imagine how Peter felt. He may have felt like an alcoholic who has been sober for a long time and has taken that first drink again. The guilt and failure come sweeping in ready to drag you back down. So Peter, already having failed once, tries to blend into the crowd and gathers around the fire warming himself. In the light of the fire the slaves and officers begin looking at Peter. He was not one of their group and obviously unknown to them. They can’t figure out why he’s there. Then they ask, "You are not also one of his disciples, are you?" Before he could gather his courage Peter lost it again and said, "I am not." Denial number two.

How long before the last question was asked we don’t know. One of the group ,a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off says, "Did I not see you in the garden with Him?" Again, when you’ve blown it twice, what’s one more time? Peter says, "No!" Then as soon as he says that a rooster crows. John doesn’t record Peter’s reaction. Luke in his gospel does. "And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had told him, ‘Before a cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly." (Luke 22:61-62).

Peter, unable to recover from the moral freefall, denies his relationship with Jesus. When the rooster crowed the eyes of Jesus met his. When His eyes met Peter’s the full effect of the guilt, the shame, the failure flooded his own heart and he left the fire and the crowd in absolute grief. Isn’t it amazing – it was the question of a teenager, the comfort of a crowd and an accusation by an unknown that attributed to the downfall of a truly courageous follower of Jesus Christ.

Often when we think of the denial of Peter we imagine it in some very public, openly brazen denial. As if Peter were on the witness stand and when asked about his knowledge of Jesus he lies. Instead, rather than under the full lights of a courtroom, his denials occur in the dim shadows of the courtyard with only a low fire to expose his identity. What this says to us is that rather than our failures to obey Jesus being ones that are front page headlines, they are really subtle leaks that eventually sink our character. We would very likely, as Peter, die for our faith in the face of an open aggressor. It’s the little things that make us cowards.

For example, marital infidelity doesn’t start in a motel room; it starts with a wink, a touch or a smile. Stealing from a company doesn’t begin with thousands and millions; it starts with hundreds. Lying about problems doesn’t just happen like a John Grisham novel. It starts with a word or sentence that’s just not the whole truth. You don’t wake up one day and choose to be an alcoholic lying on the floor of the bathroom too drunk to find the commode. You start at a party when everyone is having fun and telling you, "Just one won’t hurt." Realizing as a Christian you stand for nothing any more doesn’t begin when you sign a deal you know isn’t worth the paper it is written on. It starts with what you meant to do to make it right but you didn’t. Walking away from a lifetime of being a devoted Christian doesn’t occur as an earthquake like a 10 on the Richter Scale. No, it starts with a shift so simple it’s hardly noticed.

We all have our slave-girl’s question, subtle accusations from a crowd and unknown irritations that can diffuse our courage and make us cowards.

There is a pattern to our failure. It starts with arrogance. That feeling of smugness of apparent success or invincibility. Like Peter’s, "I’ll die for you" statement. Then there follows the unanticipated, blindsided, surprise attack catastrophe. "You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?" Almost instantly the consequences of failure erupt -- prosperity, security, reputation, health, relationships, to name a few—are lost. What follows the clear evidence of failure? Sometimes blame for others, denial, bitterness and anger, defiance and retribution. Peter, though, "wept bitterly."

For some people the pattern of failure is altered with repentance and drastic change. The failure of Peter proved to be a wake-up call and a new humility rose up out of his sorrow. Peter will be transformed by the Risen Lord! Our Lord offered Peter forgiveness for his failure. Peter would write in his epistle, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time" (I Peter 5:5-6).

Centuries ago, John Chrysostom wrote, "The danger is not that we should fall…but that we should remain on the ground." When you fall from failure there is grace to get up. What can we do to get up from failure and learn from our failure? One author advises:

• "Get perspective. The ‘awfulness’ of failure is easily blown out of proportion. A failure at work, for example, does not equal failure as a person. The apostle Paul held the right perspective when he described himself as ‘hard pressed on every side, but not crushed" (2 Cor. 4:8).
• "Get rid of it. Often we assume responsibility for failures we neither caused nor could prevent, such as rude restaurant service. Get rid of the martyr complex and place blame where it belongs. We also need to get rid of failure by forgiving—forgiving everyone involved, forgiving ourselves, and asking God’s forgiveness if we are at fault.
• "Get it out in the open. Airing our failures reveals we are not alone. Herein lies part of the effectiveness of the twelve-step movement. Whether we talk about our failure to friends or to God, the results are a lightening of the load and a sense of being understood and accepted.
• "Get new goals. By placing unrealistic expectations upon ourselves, we guarantee failure. Those expectations often take the form of a do-list. Before making our ‘impossible dream’ list, we would benefit from asking God what He wants us to do with our week and waiting for His answer.
• "Get back in the game. Christian recording artists Bill and Gloria Gaither found that as they became increasingly successful, it became harder to tolerate failure. ‘The temptation is to stay with the status quo and not do anything to rock the boat,’ said Gloria, ‘but if we succumb to that temptation, we might as well give up. I hope we’ll always have the courage to take risks.’"

I might add, be sure that the first thing you get is grace. Phillip Yancey closes his book What’s So Amazing About Grace with this powerful story: "Bill Moyers’ documentary film on the hymn "Amazing Grace" includes a scene filmed in Wembley Stadium in London. Various musical groups, mostly rock bands, had gathered together in celebration of the changes in South Africa, and for some reason the promoters scheduled an opera singer, Jessye Norman, as the closing act.

"The film cuts back and forth between scenes of the unruly crowd in the stadium and Jessye Norman being interviewed. For twelve hours groups like Guns ‘n’ Roses have blasted the crowd through banks of speakers, riling up fans already high on booze and dope. The crowd yells for more curtain calls, and the rock groups oblige. Meanwhile, Jessye Norman sits in her dressing room discussing "Amazing Grace" with Moyers.

"In the film, Jessye Norman tells Bill Moyers that John Newton may have borrowed an old tune sung by the slaves themselves, redeeming the song, just as he had been redeemed.

"Finally, the time comes for her to sing. A single circle of light follows Norman, a majestic African-American woman wearing a flowing African dashiki, as she strolls onstage. No backup band, no musical instruments, just Jessye. The crowd stirs, restless. Few recognize the opera diva. A voice yells for more Guns ‘n’ Roses. Others take up the cry. The scene is getting ugly.

"Alone, a capella, Jessye Norman begins to sing, very slowly:

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost but now am found—

Was blind, but now I see.

"A remarkable thing happens in Wembley Stadium that night. Several thousand raucous fans fall silent before her aria of grace.

"By the time Norman reaches the second verse, ‘’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved…,’ the soprano had the crowd in her hands.

"By the time she reaches the third verse, ‘’Tis grace has brought me safe this far, And grace will lead me home,’ several thousand fans are singing along, digging far back in nearly lost memories for words they heard long ago.

"When we’ve been there then thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

Than when we first begun.

"Jessye Norman later confessed she had no idea what power descended on Wembley Stadium that night. I think I know. The world thirsts for grace. When grace descends, the world falls silent before it."

Peter really is the failure we all know and we all know his failure. We know it because it’s ours. The question is, "Do we know the grace Peter found?" It really is amazing because in God’s grace and because of God’s grace failure is never final.

Sunday, March 14, 1999

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org.

*Discipleship Journal "Redeeming Failure," Issue 109, was also a resource for this message.