Zion Lutheran Church
Daring Faith: Dare to Fail
Pastor Jason Miller
Proverbs 22:6
“Train a child in the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”
I Dare you to Fail!
Procrastination, Failure and Shame
Fear of failure doesn’t just limit you but also God’s calling on your life.
“Don’t fear failure, be afraid of not having the chance and you have the chance.” - Cars 3
The Bible is a book filled with failures?
Different Types of Failure
1. Unholy Failure (Moral & Ethical Failure) - we call this “Sin”
Genesis 3
Romans 3:23
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 7:18-20
“For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
2. Holy Failure
Mark 9:14-18, 28-29
14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.
16 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.
17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.
18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
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Q: Why did they ask Jesus privately, why they failed?
Q: WHY WERE THEY OUT THERE PRAYING FOR PEOPLE AND TRYING TO CAST OUT DEMONS IN THE FIRST PLACE????
Matt. 4:19 …. The Call to Follow
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
“Men” is the key word…
#2 Jesus knew there was a process to becoming like him, a process filled with Holy Failure!
#3. Often the best kind of growth comes from failure.
- All sin is failure but not all failure is sin…
What’s a Disciple?
A disciple is a student, learner, an apprentice
Failure and Grit!
“Jesus didn’t choose the best and the brightest… He chose the grittiest!”
#4 What if Jesus purposely called men and women who weren’t afraid to fail because he was inviting them to be a part of a kingdom revolution that was going to invade the kingdom of darkness to bring God’s kingdom of light!
We need to think about failure differently. I’m not the first to say that failure, when approached properly, can be an opportunity for growth. But the way most people interpret this assertion is that mistakes are a necessary evil.
Mistakes aren’t a necessary evil. They aren’t evil at all.
They are an inevitable consequence of doing something new (and, as such, should be seen as valuable; without them, we’d have no originality). And yet, even as I say that embracing failure is an important part of learning, I also acknowledge that acknowledging this truth is not enough.
That’s because failure is painful, and our feelings about this pain tend to screw up our understanding of its worth. To disentangle the good and the bad parts of failure, we have to recognize both the reality of the pain and the benefit of the resulting growth.
- Ed Catmull, Co-Founder Pixar,
#5 Jesus is calling you & me to something holy and supernatural - a daring adventure.
Q: I wonder how many of us don’t ever take the step to follow Jesus because we’re afraid to fail?
Learn from him… his heart and voice, his vision and values.
#6 Jesus didn't call us to make converts... He called us to make disciples!
Matthew 14:22-33
Q: Why was Peter willing to take that risk?
Why We Fail
1). Lack of planning
2). Lack of commitment
3). Lack of training
4). Lack of calling
# 7 Jesus created a culture not of perfection but participation.
THE BIG IDEA
Jesus has called you and me to know, follow and be like Him and failure is part of that calling!
THE BIG CHALLENGE
You’ll never walk on water if you don’t get off the boat.
Will you take that first step?