What Does Success Look Like to You?
If success means many different things to people, what does success look like to you? Who defines it anyway?
Let’s read what the Bible says about success and failure in John 21.
After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea Tiberius, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.”They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.
When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.
Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him,“Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him,“Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him,“Follow me.”
Local tennis legend Naomi Osaka turned pro at just 16 years old. She was introduced to the sport by her Haitian father and supported by her Japanese mother. She rose to fame at 23 by becoming a 4 time grand slam champ. She’s held the #1 ranking, while earning millions upon millions of dollars. To many many she would have appeared undoubtedly, quite successful.
Yet, after winning the first round of the 2021 French Open, she suddenly withdrew. She decided not to talk to the media and racked up $15,000 in fines, as well as threats of expulsion from future grand slam events. What happened?
Despite all of her “success” including:
- trophies,
- fame and
- fortune,
she had suffered long bouts of depression dating back to 2018 and has had difficulties coping with it ever since.
She’s been praised by celebrities and fellow tennis pros. saying, “her courage to share the depths of her depression is actually a big success.”
While other tennis pros, questioned her withdrawal from media appearances stating it was ‘just part of the job’.
Peter was also familiar with the scrutiny of the public eye on his spectacular successes and horrendous failures. He correctly answered that Jesus is the Son of God when the Lord Jesus asked the disciples. Yet a few breaths later, Peter brashly thought he needed to “correct” the Son of God when Jesus was talking about the cross, to which Jesus said to him “get behind me, Satan!”.
We may not bounce between the level of success and failure that Naomi Osaka and Peter experienced, but all of us have, and will experience failure.
And so, Because we all fail we must follow Jesus’ success.
We all fail for 3 reasons.
- Our self-righteousness is insufficient.
- Our past is insufficient.
- Our love is insufficient.
Our self-righteousness is insufficient
Peter and other disciples were fishermen before they became disciples of Jesus. After Jesus was crucified and resurrected from the dead, they went back to what they knew best …. fishing.
Taking matters into their own hands, they got back in the boat, looking for a catch.
Peter was used to taking matters into his own hands. He once cut off a servant’s ear in the garden of gethsemane arrogantly thinking he had to defend Jesus the creator of the universe. Swing and a miss.
The same, bold and brash Peter denied Jesus 3 times. The big fisherman, who had once said “even though they all fall away, I will not”, refused to confess Christ even to a little girl. Failure. Even more shocking, he actually began cursing in order to protect himself. All massive failures.
Back in the boat after all of these failures, Peter leads a team of 4 pro fisherman and 3 other disciples to bring in a catch to sell at the market the next morning. They had done this successfully for years so many times before. Surely, this, was something they could do in their sleep, right? Nope. Failure. These experienced fishermen went out all night but caught nothing.
Peter saw that stacking up past accomplishments and self righteousness proved futile when faced by the Lord’s power and authority. A man who asked and answered so many questions dared not ask the Lord Jesus this one, “Who are you?”
Like Peter it’s easy to look to our very best qualities or talents to prove ourselves “worthy” in this world; to give us a sense of significance; of right standing or righteousness. But, if we’re honest, there are times when even the things we are most confident in and proud of don’t measure up and fail us.
Christians:
Are you looking at your own actions or service to prove your worth, your righteousness? For example, do we ever feel as if we’ve earned God’s acceptance by how long we’ve attended this church, or what kinds of ministry activities we do?
What about activities in other organizations? Or with your family?
Is your worthiness based on comparing yourself to others?
Non-Christians:
Are things going well in your life? There will be times when you will not be doing well. Do you ever get the sense that everything in life is not all about you? That you are not the captain of your own ship?
If you find yourself making excuses or explaining away your failures, is there lasting success in that?
We don’t have to look to our righteousness or success as the basis for our worth. It’s not the success we need.
When We Know Our Best is NOT Enough
But some of us may be struggling with a seemingly opposite problem.
We know that our best is not enough.
Because of our failures we may feel hopeless, worthless, ugly. There is no way anyone, let alone God could ever love us or forgive us. Some might say, you don’t know my past. What I’ve done and where I’ve been is unforgivable. God’s got good news for us.
Our Past is Insufficient
After all these failures, soaked and smelling like fish, Peter and the disciples were coming face to face with the Lord Jesus, whom they had all deserted and abandoned, and whom Peter had denied 3 times. How would you respond if you were Jesus?
Personally, I might suggest some sandy beach crawls, followed by push ups, sit ups, team boat carries and a few long out and back swims for reinstatement as Christ’s disciples. After all they had all abandoned and denied the Lord.
Instead, Jesus gave them a large catch of fish and made them breakfast. This beach breakfast probably reminded Peter of another meal. The last passover dinner before the crucifixion, before Peter denied Jesus three times.
Servanthood Looks Like…
At that evening meal, Jesus showed Peter and the disciples a perfect example of servanthood carried out in humility. In some of the last free moments before he was to be killed, Jesus perfectly humbled himself like the lowest of household servants to wash the disciples’ filthy feet.
In response to this loving act, Peter tries to command Jesus, “You will never wash my feet”. And then after Peter learned that this was actually a good thing, he tries to lay out exactly how the Lord should clean Peter. The charcoal fire on the beach may also have reminded Peter of another fire, the fire … in darkness … surrounded by strangers where Peter denied Jesus three times.
The bread that Jesus gave them on the shore that morning may have reminded Simon Peter of the bread at the evening passover meal we just talked about. The bread Jesus broke saying ‘this is my body’, feeding Peter and Judas and the others who would betray and abandon him.
By showing Peter and the disciples all of these things, Jesus shows he knows of all of their failures.
He sees it all. What has been done in the dark isn’t hidden from him. And yet he isn’t casting them aside and looking for new disciples. Instead, he is welcoming them to a new meal, in the light of day.
Personal Failure
It was 2008 and I was a headstrong young man who loved to start new things driven by a need to succeed. I believed God would bless my faith driven endeavors to start my own business and start a new church while relying on my good health and one young friend to power me on. I raised the sails of selfish ambition and set sail.
It was anything but smooth sailing. The 2008 recession was raging. Without a team, what insight or counsel could I turn to? I was calling the shots. I made really bad business decisions that left me exhausted.
My actions resulted in severe business and personal financial failure: having to declare bankruptcy, I lost my home, my car and suffered through the shame of all of that.
The worst part was seeing the church that I had co-founded collapse.
With relationships severed, I sunk down into a deep depression …. brought low by sickness, I was homeless, and feeling alone.
In hindsight, I know that God planned everything to break me. My self righteous religious foundation shattered. And in his love, he showed me that the many pieces of failure floating around me weren’t the end. His loving discipline was with me through everything.
Our worth and significance isn’t determined by our failures. God loves you. God accepts you. It has nothing to do with your performance and everything to do with his success. Our hope is in God who never changes. There is no failure or shame that God’s grace through Christ is unable to overcome.
God’s love for us is overwhelming, but our love for him is insufficient.
In John verses 15-17 the original language reveals 2 very different words agapaō and phileō for love that provide greater insight into the Q&A session between Jesus and Simon, son of John.
Q: Jesus asks Simon, ‘Do you love me more than these?’
Jesus was most likely pointing out the abundance of fish and fishing when he asked about these, but the word he uses, agape, expresses the highest form of love that comes from God.
A: Simon Peter responds, ‘I like you.’ He uses the word phileō that represents a lower form of love.
Q: Jesus asks again, ‘Do you love me?’ (highest kind of love)
A: Simon Peter replies ‘I like you.’ (lesser love)
And then
Q: Jesus asks, ‘Do you like me?’
A: Simon Peter breaks down and acknowledges that Jesus knows everything. You know that I like you.
We just saw that our love doesn’t measure up, yet Jesus still accepts our love. There was no need for another question.
American pastor John McCarthur points out that God accepts our limited love. God uses our weak love to feed others in need as we follow him in his mission.
Kintsugi
Kintsugi results in what many consider to be beloved art that has made it around the world. Broken pieces of pottery are glued together with lacquer while the seams are painted with gold or silver powder. Just as the broken pieces of bowls are restored to use, the Lord Jesus selects the broken pieces in our lives and lovingly lacquers them back together so that we can shine like gold as we follow him.
For the Christians hearing this, we don’t have to wait until we feel like we are completely loving, to follow the Lord in loving actions. Because of the binding lacquer of Christ’s greater love, we can extend a heart-felt ‘hello’ even when our own love feels incomplete and broken; even when it’s inconvenient and we’re tired. Because of Christ’s greater love, we can put our selfish thoughts to death and instead offer to pray with someone you don’t know, especially when you feel powerless to serve anyone but yourself.
And for those looking at our lives wondering if this love we talk about is real, please know that Christians are imperfect, broken people with imperfect, broken love following a perfect loving Christ. Try not to look at the cracks in the lives and love of Christians, but look to the Lord Jesus’s greater love that binds us together.
We’ve seen how our cracks point out our complete brokenness
- Our self-righteousness is insufficient.
- Our past is insufficient.
- Our love is insufficient.
What is Jesus Success?
And so, we must follow Jesus’ success. But we haven’t talked about what Jesus’ success actually is. What was Jesus’ goal during his ministry? What was he heading toward? It was the cross. The cross is Jesus’ success. And Jesus was calling Peter, and us, to follow his success.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
John 21:18
Lasting Success Looks Like…
Peter would stretch out his hands to be carried somewhere he didn’t want to go. That’s really a picture of Peter’s death by crucifixion on a cross. But how is that a success? All of us, inherently crave and pursue the kind of success where our will, what we want is done, and where our glory and selfish desires are exalted above God and everyone else. And that is why we always will fail. Because the only success that can truly provide the lasting recognition and satisfaction we all deeply long for, is the everlasting love of God. All other forms of success will fail and fade away. So how was Peter, who failed so many times, able to achieve Jesus’ success?
Jesus was Taken Somewhere He Didn’t Want to Go
Because the Lord Jesus was also taken somewhere he didn’t want to go. Because in the garden of Gethsemane, facing rejection on calvary’s cross, Jesus was able to successfully pray “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Jesus took on our failures and shame, even though he succeeded in loving God and us with the perfect agape love Peter admitted he could not give. And it was Jesus’ love that gave Peter the power he needed to follow. Christians, God loves you and God accepts you on the basis of Jesus’ life and success, not on your own
Jesus Success is Available to ALL Who Believe
Jesus’ success extends to all who will believe in him. By successfully defeating death and the grave, his perfect love went beyond every single failure in our lives. He suffered the shame and rejection we know we deserve on the cross and rose three days later to show us the sufficiency of his success. The Lord offers to clothes us with his righteousness, his beauty, his success. He moves us closer towards himself, towards his mission and ultimately to a place we think we do not want to go but that we need. Serving him in humility as he wills. Because that is the true lasting, satisfying success.
Peace During Troubling Times