Cell on 18/3/16 "Failure" (Study 44)

We first talked about "success" and whether we regarded ourselves as successful people. There was a general reluctance to call ourselves "successful". But Eugene made the excellent point that success would be achieved if we could hear the "Well done, good and faithful servant" of Christ at the end. We know that there are some aspects of our lives that are more successful than others, whether spiritual or secular. I shared that I thought success could be defined in terms of discipleship - in FFMC we have defined a disciple as "one who is in the process of becoming all that Christ has called him or her to be and do. There is a longing to follow Christ (Lk 14:27), know Him (Jn 10:14) and become increasingly like Him (Mt 10:25, Lk 6:40, 2 Cor 3:18). We are successful when we are faithful disciples. We do fail morally as well as in terms of not achieving task-oriented goals, although the distinction between these categories of failure can be blurred (e.g can one fail in the task of being a parent and not fail morally at the same time?) 

Peter's moral failure in Luke 22 had at least 4 aspects: 

1. A denial of objective truth ("I do not know him")

2. A personal, relational betrayal of his Lord

3. A broken promise ("I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death")

4. A setting forth of his comfort and life as being superior to Christ

Failure can be good when it leads (Lk 22:61-62) to regret, repentance and remembrance of Christ's words to us. It is bad if we regret in a way that takes God out of the equation. 2 Cor 7:8-11 is a helpful passage that tells us that we can react to our failures with godly sorrow leading to repentance and action, or worldly (godless) sorrow that brings spiritual death.

Jesus knew that Peter would betray him, and He knew that Peter would be restored.(Lk 22:31-34). We can be assured that God can turn our failures to our spiritual good if we take them in the right spirit. This assurance should encourage us that there is no failure too deep for God to redeem. We still do take responsibility for our weakness and mistakes, but there should be the sense that God works through our failures for our ultimate good.

When we fail, and suffer discipline, our attitude to God according to Hebrews 12 should be of love (of a child to his/her father), endurance, submission, respect (which goes beyond resentful submission but also rests of the high character of the one submitted to) as well as underst

anding of the good purposes of God in disciplining us.

Here's a pic of Joyce with her matcha birthday cake! (actual birthday on Sunday 20/3)