Starting Over Again: Owning It

[podcast]http://www.revkwon.com/podcast/starting-over_owning-it.mp3[/podcast] Last week we started this series called, “Starting Over” whereby we started talking about the various dimensions of starting over after failing or after making a mistake. The purpose was for this series is so that you can see how God really uses our failures to bring His glory unfold here on earth. I believe that the next time will be better than the last time, when we plan for it to be. You all know that I’m the furthest from perfect. By no means do I hold the bar of perfect. This week, we’re going to dive into the first step in starting over: owning our failures and mistakes. One reason history repeats itself is that we don’t own our parts of our history. And the reason you don’t own it is there’s nothing to own—it wasn’t your fault! But if something important has come to an end and you are starting over, you must look back and own your part in order to move ahead. Your best bet for a successful future is to own your share of the past. Have you ever blamed somebody else for your failings and shortcomings? Like have you ever said something like, “if my parents were richer… If I had the same opportunities… If I didn’t have to deal with xyz…” I know so many people who would rather blame somebody or something else for their shortcomings and failures than to take the blame for themselves. I’m sure you can tell me hundreds of stories you’ve experienced where people would easily blame others than take the blame for themselves. I’m reminded of a statement by Donald Rumsfeld, our former Secretary of Defense. He said, “Don’t blame the boss. He has enough problems.” I always thought that to be funny. It’s funny because it’s so true. We so easily blame somebody else. But when we boil it down to why, it’s simple: our ancestors did it. Haha. It’s also blame. When we look at Genesis 3, the writer talks about the “Fall.” I want to encourage you to read the passage on your own later, but for now I want to give you the highlights. Serpent tells Eve to eat the fruit. Eve eats it and then gives it to her husband, Adam. Then they hear God coming, and they hide. But here’s the great part of the story, they hid in the most obvious places. I want to make this clear as part of the story. Adam, Eve, and the serpent all get caught and despite that, it was God who was fixing the mess. Isn’t that beautiful? I think that’s wonderful. I always asked myself why God fixed the mess, even though Adam and Eve never owned their mistakes. They never took responsibility for messing up. They just kept pointing their fingers. I contemplated this thought long and hard in prayer and came to the conclusion that the story ended with God fixing the problem because God was the one who went looking. He blesses despite our stupidity and our cowardice because God loves much more than we can mess up. This is not license for us to go out and intentionally mess up. Not at all. In fact, messing up has consequences. The repercussions of Adam and Eve messing up and having God to come and fix the mess was that they lost paradise. They were cursed to die, but they were cursed to die only after they toiled long and hard to survive and produce offspring. So if you think about it, our ancestors really show us that life generally sucks because we are mistake and failure ridden as part of our genetic make up. But that’s not the point. The point is that God is looking for you despite your failures and your mistakes. You need to hold that in faith because that is the prerequisite of starting over. If God is looking for us after we screw up. If God is the one who comes knocking on our hearts door through the blood of Jesus on the cross, then we must naturally, as a response to God, simply need to own our mistakes and open up our hearts to God. I believe that Starting Over Again is much easier and far better when, and only when we own our failure and mistakes and come before God knowing that we messed up. It makes us stronger for it I want to look at Luke 22 where we can see how “owning” our failures and mistakes changes us and makes us better in the long run when we start over.  Let’s go to Luke 22:31-34 31?“Simon, Simon, behold,?Satan demanded to have you,?that he might sift you like wheat,?32?but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again,?strengthen your brothers.”?33?Peter?said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both?to prison and?to death.”?34?Jesus?said,?“I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.” (Luke 22:31-34) Jesus and his disciples just had their last meal together. This is the night before Jesus is crucified. The dinner conversation was maudy, at best. I want you to see the commitment Peter makes to Jesus just one night before Jesus is crucified. Mind you, Jesus is Peter’s best friend. This is something best friends should say. But like many best-friends, you know Jesus knew Peter better than Peter knew himself. Jesus predicts that Peter will deny even knowing Jesus three times! I love the promise Jesus gives to Peter despite knowing that Peter will fail miserably: but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again,?strengthen your brothers. This is the love of Jesus people. This is happening right now. When you mess up epically because that’s the type of person you, Jesus is praying that you will have enough sensibility to return from it. Again, I’m not saying that there will be no repercussions. I don’t think I can make that any clearer because I’m certain some of you will hear this as an assurance that messing up doesn’t come with pain or payment. However, Jesus says the next time around, when you start over again, you will need to strengthen your brothers… Have you ever thought for a moment that the reason you failed or made the mistakes you made was so that you would be able to come back from it in the glory of God and then be able to help those who may be facing the same dilemma you faced in your epic failure? I think this is really important for all of us to keep in mind. Part of the reason we are compelled to start over is so that we can be the source of strength to those people who are walking precariously along the same lines we are. I want to see how Peter owns his failure. Let’s go down about twenty verses to verse 54. 54?Then they seized him [Jesus] and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house,?and Peter was following at a distance.?55?And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of?the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. I want to note, right here in verse 55 that what is about to come changes Peter’s life forever. ?56?Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.”?57?But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”?58?And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” Here, two servants, the lowliest of ranks compels Peter to lie about his involvement with Jesus. This is the same man that said he would follow Jesus to the death. This is a mistake? Nobody was doing anything to Peter. Peter wasn’t being interrogated. Nothing. Let’s continue. ?59?And after an interval of about an hour still another?insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.”60?But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.? I want you to know what really happened because Luke cleans it up for us. But when we look at this same verse from the Book of Matthew, Matthew writes Peter as saying, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know the man!” You know what this means. Peter’s mistake was that in denying Jesus, which was a small mistake, the bigger mistake was that he was telling God to come and strike him dead if he knew Jesus. The problem was that Peter knew Jesus. I want to talk about why Peter was hiding in the court yard? It’s like hiding in plain sight. The Pharisees took Jesus to the High Priest’s home and Peter decided to follow. Which is fine, there is nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is that when he got “caught” he decided to stay right where he was. More than that, because he hasn’t played hide and seek since he was a kid that could be forgivable. But did you see everybody’s reaction to Peter’s mistake—nobody believed him anyways. It is one thing to mess up, it is completely another to deny that you messed up. People don’t believe you when you don’t think ownership of your mistakes, so why are we trying to hide from it, number one; secondly, why are we trying to deflect, when nobody is going to believe us? I just think, if Peter had the guts to man up, would things have gone differently? I want to read what’s next, verse 61. 61?And the Lord turned and?looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him,?“Before the rooster crows today, you will?deny me three times.”?62?And he went out and wept bitterly. (Luke 22:54-62) I said this earlier when we were talking about Adam and Eve, but its apparent here again—Jesus looked at Peter. God is looking. He is looking for you. He always was looking for you. It was as if when Jesus, who is God, looked at Peter and found Peter, something changed within Peter. Verse 62 says that Peter went out and wept bitterly, which indicates Peter was repentant and taking ownership for his failure. I mean, why else would you cry? It’s apparent that Peter owned that he failed as a disciple and a friend. He was unable to stand up for his Lord for even 12 hours. He owned that failure. It’s from this humiliating failure that Peter learned to own it. He remembers that this is the point where Jesus told him that owning this failure would make him a leader, to help those who have failed or are on the verge of failing. We can’t blame our way into a better future. Blame enables us to smuggle our issues into our futures. Blame sets us up for a repeat performance. Purity of heart brings clarity of thought. If you want to take all of yourself into the future as you start over, you’ve got to come out of hiding. It’s painful. It’s shameful. But it’s beneficial. Besides, admitting sets other people free as well.