Peter replied: ‘We must obey God rather than human beings!’ Acts 5:29
Friends, one of the great privileges of being a priest is getting to go into school regularly. This week I was in St Michael’s teaching RE on the question: ‘Why did Jesus die?’. What a great question to be thinking through. Going into St Michael’s always takes me back to my time there, basically the building hasn’t really changed. As I went into one of the RE classes it reminded me of one of the old-fashioned ways we used to get taught. Back when I was at school, the teacher would write a question on the blackboard—they don’t have those anymore!—and then the pupils—including me—would struggle away trying to write a good answer. The teacher would be wandering around, and they would usually pick someone who had got the answer just right to go and write their answer on the board. Now, I was listening to something on the internet this week and in Japan they do it the other way round. If you’re struggling you go up to the board and you write out your answer; sounds terrifying, right! However, what is so interesting is it isn’t about discipline, or shame, or anything else negative. The Western guy who was watching it said the students were trying to draw 3D cubes, and one kid couldn’t, for the life of him, get it so the teacher sent him to the board. He’d try and the teacher would ask the class if the kid had got it right they’d look up and say ‘no’. This went on and on and the Western observer was getting embarrassed for the kid, but the Japanese kid wasn’t embarrassed at all. He had a lot of goes but just before the end of class the kid finished his latest attempt. The teacher asked the class if the kid had got it right; they looked up and said ‘yes’ and started clapping and cheering. In the West if we don’t get something right our temptation is to think we’re failed and give up. But in the East they would say you’re not failing, you’re struggling, and if you keep struggling you will get it right, the failure is to stop struggling because if you stop struggling you will never get it right. This morning, I want us to see, that: Failure is not final, and losing is not lasting. That, as Christians, we are free to struggle but we are not free to stop. What the Scriptures show us this morning is that failure is only final if we stop.
Our first reading this morning is from the Book of Acts. What did we hear? That the Apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin—the Jewish ruling council—and the council says:‘We told you to stop!’ And the Apostles basically say:‘We can’t!’ The Jewish leaders said ‘[We told you to stop] Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching’. ‘Why won’t you stop?’ The Apostles are in the middle of a great struggle. Yes, they have seen some success, people have been coming to faith but they have also been struggling through some pretty tough times and there have been some failures. The council says: ‘We told you to stop, why won’t you stop?’ And the Apostles say, ‘[We can’t:] We must obey God rather than human beings!’. ‘God has given us a job to do, we’re struggling right now, we’re not where God wants us, we’ve not arrived at the destination God has called us to and, if we stop now in the midst of the struggle that will be a failure. As Christians, we are free to struggle, but—if we want to be Jesus’ followers—we are not free to stop. Failure is only final if we stop.’ And who is it that says this, Peter the Apostle who has learned this lesson the hard way.
This morning had a long Gospel reading (John 21:1-14), but that was only the first part of it there wasn’t room for the whole story. What happens in the section that was left-off was this: Jesus takes Peter off for a one-to-one chat. Remember Peter has denied even knowing Jesus three times and so three times Jesus asks Peter ‘Do you love me?’ Three times Peter says: ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Then Jesus gives Peter a command: ‘Shepherd my sheep… that is look after my people’. Let’s pause there for a moment and just reflect on that, we know this story so well, that it’s easy to over look it. The truth of this story should be a great encouragement to all of us. It’s amazing but it’s true, God made one of the biggest failures as an Apostle the leader of His Church! Time after time Peter messes up, Peter fails again and again. On the biggest night of His life when He has just received Communion from Jesus at the Last Supper; when Jesus has just washed His feet; and after Peter has made a huge and impassioned promise to never leave Jesus… that same night Peter denies even knowing Jesus… not once but three times! How must Peter have felt when He woke up the morning after? A complete and utter failure! You can imagine Peter thought: ’My job, my calling, my place in the Kingdom is over, it’s done! Failure is final! I’m out! I’m finished! It’s over!’ And so what does Peter do… He goes back to his job. He’s failed as an Apostle, as a disciple, as a Christian, so, in our Gospel reading we find this: ‘I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter [said]’. ‘Failure is final, I can’t be what God has called me to be so I’m going back to the one thing I can do, I’m going fishing.’ And yet, Peter is so wrong if that is what he thought. Jesus appears to the apostles again, lovingly taking Peter aside, and slowly, gently, and deliberately, forgives Peter his failures and puts him back where he belongs, back where Jesus wants him, as leader of God’s people. Jesus impresses on Peter—in that amazing encounter--that sin does not disqualify us from following Jesus; that falling short does not mean we’re out; that failure is not final, unless we stop struggling. Peter knows from first hand experience—the only experience that really matters—that failure is not final, and losing is not lasting. And so as the Sanhedrin interrogates him, in our reading in Acts, Peter knows what he must do, and, importantly, what he must not do! The council says: ‘We told you to stop…why won’t you stop?’ And Peter says, ‘[We can’t:] We must obey God rather than human beings! God has given us a job to do, we’re struggling right now and if we stop now in the midst of the struggle that will be a failure; but as Christians we are free to struggle but we not free to stop!
How amazingly relevant are our readings this morning to each of us! You—each person reading this—has been called by God! You have been asked to live a life following Him to do something and to be something which only you can do. You may well be struggling with it—I know I do—you may well be hitting failure after failure! However, God has a destination in mind for you and if you’re not there yet—even if you’re struggling with it—you can not stop. Your failure does not disqualify you it just means you haven’t arrived yet. Failure is not final and losing is not lasting… failure is only final if you stop. What are you struggling with at the moment? Are you finding living life as a Christian hard? As you look back over the last week, the last month, the last year do you see more failure than success? Do you look back and see only struggle with no obvious sign of progress? Are relationships hard? Is prayer seemingly impossible? Is life just one hard knock after another? Then look to Peter and find in him an example. Look to Jesus who picked Peter up after failure after failure and set him back on his feet whispering: ‘I love you, don’t give up!’. Failure is not final and losing is not lasting. As Christians we are free to struggle but we not free to stop. Failure is only final if we stop… so don’t stop. Ask Jesus this morning to pick you up, dust you off, and give you the strength to go again. When life says: ‘I told you to stop, why won’t you stop?’ Answer with Peter, ‘I can’t: I must obey God rather than human beings!’ Can’t stop. Won’t stop. Amen (from Fr Mike).