Are We a Success Yet Matthew 26:31-35, 69-75
Overview
Are We a Success Yet?
The world measures success by money, achievements, influence, and accolades. By those standards, even the Apostle Paul—executed alone in a Roman dungeon—and Jesus himself—born in a feeding trough, abandoned by his followers, crucified between two criminals—would not appear successful. Yet Scripture tells a strikingly different story, one shot through with human failure and divine grace.
In Matthew 26:31-35, Jesus warns his disciples, quoting Zechariah 13:7: "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered." This is a direct messianic prophecy—the just judgment of God for sin falling upon the Shepherd himself. Peter protests boldly that he will never desert Jesus, but by Matthew 26:69-75, confronted not by soldiers but by a servant girl, he denies his Lord three times. The Greek word for "deny" here means total abandonment. By the third denial, Peter even calls down God's death upon himself if he is lying. Then the rooster crows, and Peter weeps bitterly.
The Bible is remarkably honest about failure. Abraham and Sarah's mistreatment of Hagar; Aaron's golden calf; Joseph's brothers; Achan's theft; David's adultery and cover-up murder; the failures of Israel's kings; Judas's betraying kiss; the failures Paul confronts in his churches and the Lord rebukes through John in Revelation. Even Adam and Eve—the two people most likely to succeed, placed in paradise with clear instructions and God's presence—failed. And so do we. God gives us his perfect standard, and we sin against him in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and left undone. We failed yesterday, we are failing today, and we will fail this week. That is the honest truth about us.
But God in his grace did not give up on Peter, and he does not give up on us. In John 21:15-17, the risen Jesus meets Peter on the shore. Twice Jesus asks, "Do you agape me?"—the highest, self-sacrificial love. Twice Peter, conscious of his sin, can only answer, "You know that I phileo you"—I love you as a friend. The third time, Jesus meets Peter where he is, asking, "Do you even phileo me?" Peter is hurt, but Jesus does not cast him aside. He restores him and commissions him: "Feed my sheep." On the cross, Jesus took every one of our failures upon himself—what we have done, what we do, and what we will do—and paid the price in full. In the waters of Baptism, he claims us as his own and sends us out, calling us to return daily in repentance and rise to newness of life. When God looks at us, he sees us cloaked in the righteous garment of Christ. By that righteousness—not our own—we are already a success. We have already arrived.
Transcript
You're open your Bible, please, with me to the 26th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. 0s
Success. Success. There really is a great emphasis upon being a success in life, isn't there? 7s
Why we tend to hold up people that are successful. And the world has worldly standards 19s
for how success is defined. We tend to measure success by financial resources or achievements 29s
or influence or amount of awards that a person amasses. Success. And that when you take the world's 39s
standards and you apply it to people. Well, one wonders about their success, right? 54s
I think of the Apostle Paul. In worldly standards, the Apostle Paul wasn't too successful, 66s
was he? After all, he ends his life. He's in a Roman dungeon. He's awaiting execution. 74s
Pretty much everybody has deserted him. Really only Luke is left. And there's Paul. 81s
How his life ends. Execute. That doesn't really strike you as a success. 89s
I think of Jesus. Jesus born amongst the animals. He's placed in a feeding 99s
trough for his crib. He calls together a small group of men and he pours his life into these men. 106s
For three years, he teaches them and teaches them and teaches them. And yet, despite all of his 116s
teaching, they just never seem to get it. Why he shows them all of these miracles? Isn't 123s
credible teaching? And yet in the end, he winds up hanging between two criminals crucified 131s
and his little band of followers runs and flees. Why you take the world's standards for success? 139s
And you apply it to Jesus. Jesus doesn't look too successful. 153s
Does he? I think of children in the back seat of a car. Is there on the vacation trip? 162s
And they say, are we there yet? Are we there yet? When it comes to success, 174s
are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we successful? In all of our individual lives, 182s
are we successful? Are we there yet? Have you ever noticed? Have you ever noticed how much the Bible 193s
talks about failure? You're going to notice all the examples of failure in the Bible? 208s
Well, look with me at their text for this morning from Matthew chapter 26, verse 30, 220s
when they had sung the hymn, they went out to the mount of allows. Now to set the context here, 228s
this is just before Jesus goes to the cross. He's in the upper room with his disciples. He's revealed 235s
that one of them is going to portray them. And Judas says, surely not I, Rabbi. They then 242s
celebrate Holy Communion. At this Passover celebration, Jesus institutes the sacrament of Holy 248s
Communion for the very first time. They sing the hymn and now they leave. Verse 31, 254s
then Jesus said to them, you will all become deserters because of me this night. For it is written, 263s
I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. This is a prophecy from 273s
Zechariah 13. I'm just a little aside here. Some prophecies are what are called typical prophecies. 282s
That means that there's a partial fulfillment and then the later fulfillment in Jesus Christ. They're 290s
called typical. So you've got two fulfillment. You've got a preliminary fulfillment and then the 298s
fulfillment in the Messiah. That's a typical prophecy. There's other prophecies that are 306s
direct messianic prophecies. Where the fulfillment is solely in Jesus Christ. There's absolutely no other 311s
fulfillment in He playcels in Scripture. There's no preliminary fulfillment. This is a direct 320s
messianic prophecy that's speaking about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. Jesus quotes them Zechariah 13. 327s
Let's break it down. Verse 31 again, then Jesus said to them, you will all become deserters because 339s
of me this night. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. 345s
I will strike the shepherd. Who's the shepherd? The Messiah. What is the striking? 357s
That's the justice of God that falls upon the Savior. The justice of God for sin. 365s
Where the Messiah takes upon himself the punishment for sin and the judgment for God from God. 376s
The just judgment of God falls upon the shepherd. I will strike the shepherd and the sheep. 384s
Those are the apostles and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. 393s
Jump down, please, diverse 56 of chapter 26. You already see the fulfillment. 400s
But all this has taken place so that the Scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled 408s
then all the disciples deserted him and fled. Verse 32, 414s
but after I'm raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee. So the flock then that's scattered 425s
out of fear because of the events of the crucifixion. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to draw them 432s
back together again. So the scattered will be drawn together after he rises again. 440s
33 Peter said to him, 448s
though all become deserters because of you, all never desert you. 452s
Jesus said to him, truly I tell you this very night before the cock crows. You will deny me 458s
three times. That word there deny means to totally abandon. 464s
Total denial. It's not a partial denial here. It's a word that means the total denial. So Jesus 471s
has before the cock crows three times you're going to totally deny me. Totally abandoned. 477s
35 Peter said to him, even though I must die with you. 489s
I will not totally deny you. And so said all the disciples. 494s
Okay, turn over now into verse 69. Verse 69, chapter 26. 505s
Now Peter was outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came to him and said, you also were with 514s
Jesus together, Leanne, but he denied it before all of them saying, I do not know what you're 519s
talking about. Notice that Peter here is not confronted with the soldiers here. He's confronted 525s
with a servant girl. And very quickly, he goes into the total denial. He then repeats it. Verse 71, 531s
when he went out to the porch, another servant girl saw him and she said to the bystanders, 540s
this man was with Jesus of Nazareth. Again, he denied it with an oath. I do not know the man. 545s
- After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, certainly you are, 553s
also one of them, your accent, betrays you. Then he began to curse and he swore an oath. 560s
I do not know the man at that moment, the cock crowed. That word there for curse is an incredibly 568s
strong word. It means to literally call death upon yourself by the hand of God. This is not a curse word 576s
as we think of curse words here. This is Peter saying that if I am denying Jesus here, 586s
I don't know him. This is a calling down upon himself, death by God. I don't know the man. If I'm lying to you, 593s
then may God strike me dead right here. Then he gives the opposite of the curse. He swore an oath. 612s
That means to pledge truthfulness. He's standing there. And he says, I don't know him. 625s
And if I know him, then may God strike me down dead at this very moment. And I pledge to you 634s
truthfully. I don't know him. Curse and pledge. 643s
Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said before the cock crowes, you will deny me three times 656s
and he went out and wept bitterly. Failure. Failure. If you ever noticed, 662s
how much the Bible talks about failure. 681s
What you've got Abraham and Sarah and their treatment of Higar. Failure. 691s
It's got all the people in the Old Testament and all of their idolatry failure. 702s
You've got air informing the golden calf there as Moses was delayed coming down from the mountain. 710s
And so they decide to make themselves their own God that has led them thus far. Failure. 718s
You've got the brothers of Joseph that throw him in a pit. Treat him absolutely, 729s
terribly failure. You've got aching who steals the gold failure. You've got David and his adultery 735s
and then covering up his adultery by the act of ordering the murder of the husband of the one 745s
that he had had adultery with failure. You've got the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah 753s
and all of their leadership failings failure. You've got Judas who betrays our Lord with a kiss 759s
failure. You have Paul honestly exhorting and examining the church in the day and lifting up 768s
the sin in the church. You see the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ giving John. 780s
The very word to say in Revelation critical of the failure of the churches. 789s
Have you ever noticed how much the Bible talks about failure? 800s
I don't know if they do it anymore. But in high school, at least I remember when you get 817s
your yearbook, you vote before the yearbook. You know those categories of most likely? 825s
I don't know if they still do that again but do you ever remember voting for the 833s
most likely to why? To succeed. They never was a vote of the most likely to fail. It was the most 842s
likely to succeed. Nate Schürden writes that if Adam and Eve were involved in that process, 854s
they would have been voted most likely to succeed. Consider that a moment. They're placed in the 866s
role. They have clear instructions by God of what it is that they are to do and not to do. 883s
God is with them. If there are ever two people that could be voted most likely to succeed, 893s
it's Adam and Eve. Is that him and Eve? What do they do? They fail. They fail. 906s
God says, eat of every tree. You don't need a this tree. They pluck exactly from that tree. 922s
They're not content with being the created. They want to be the creator. 928s
Sin enters the world and God's just judgment for sin comes upon the world death itself. 934s
They pluck of the forbidden fruit. They're failures. They're failures. 943s
All of us are failures. All of us. God gives us his perfect standard and we sin against him and thought 959s
in word and indeed by what we've done and by what we have left undone. We have all failed. 971s
We're going to fail today. We're failing right now. We'll fail this week. You know why? 985s
Because we're all failures. How's that for a motivational moment? 1000s
We're all failures. But God and His grace didn't give up on the failure 1015s
Peter and he doesn't give up on us. Turn over. Would you please to the gospel of John 1028s
verse 21. That's page 101 in the Pew edition. The gospel of John 1042s
chapter 21. This is now after the cross. It's after the resurrection and what we have here 1050s
is one of the resurrection appearances of our Lord. We pick up in verse 15. 1062s
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, Son of John, 1070s
do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said to him 1076s
feed my lands. When Jesus turns to Peter, he says, do you agape me? Agape is the highest form of love. 1086s
That's self sacrificial love. Peter responds and he says, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. 1097s
But he doesn't use agape. He uses folale. So Jesus says, do you love me? Peter? Agape love? 1105s
Peter says, you know I folale you are. Folale is friendship love. Friendship love. Friendship 1117s
ademeration. Then goes on. 17 or 16. A second time, he said to him, Simon, Son of John, 1128s
do you agape me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I folale you. 1138s
You see, Peter does not consider himself worthy to say, I agape you. So highest form of love. Peter 1146s
stands his own sinfulness here. And so at best he's saying, I love you with a friendship love. 1155s
He verse 17, he said him the third time. Simon, someone Son of John, do you love me? 1163s
But now Jesus doesn't say agape there. Jesus says, Simon Son of John, do you folale me? 1173s
What's he saying, Peter? He's calling into question, Peter's ability to even love him with a 1181s
friendship type of affection and a friendship type of love. Jesus changes then the love term that 1189s
he uses. He turns the third time and says, do you? Do you even love me? Peter with the love that 1198s
have for a friend? Scripture says, Peter felt hurt because you said to him the third time. 1207s
Do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. 1218s
Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Peter denies the Lord three times. Jesus post resurrection 1231s
appearance. Communicates to Peter. Peter you don't agape me, do you? 1246s
In fact, Peter you don't really even folate on me. But Peter hears my threefold command to you 1257s
and in his grace he commissions the sinner, Peter, for his work and restores him to minister. 1269s
The story is not over for us either because when Jesus Christ went to the cross he took 1286s
all of our failures upon him. All of our sin in thought and word indeed, what we've done, 1292s
what we do and what we will do and he paid the price. He took all of our failure upon him and in the 1301s
letters of baptism. He claims us as his own and commissions us. sinners we are. Not even 1311s
being able to folate on him if we're honest. He commissions us as we are and he sends us forth 1327s
and he calls us to return to our baptism each and every day in repentance to rise to 1338s
newness of life and to be sent forth once again to have the identity that is ours as his child. 1345s
The world has all kinds of standards of striving for success, all kinds of standards. 1357s
But God looks at us and sees us cloaked in the righteous garment of Jesus Christ. 1374s
And he sees the perfect life of Jesus. He sees the beautiful white righteous garment of Christ when he looks at us and when he looks at us. 1385s
What does he see? 1402s
He sees the success. Not because of what we've done, but because of the garment of Christ. 1408s
Are we there yet? 1426s
Are you and I are we? 1431s
Are we a success? 1434s
You understand, right? 1441s
You've already arrived. 1446s
You've already arrived. 1450s
You've already arrived. 1476s