From where i was seated I couldn't hear the sermon well. I sat on the platform at Western Seminary's graduation listening to Dr Stiles, the monitors turned 180 degrees away from me. Bits and pieces floated and settled in my palms where i began to reconstruct what the Spirit reconstructed to me: Jeff, you need to be a better failure in life. It occurred to me that successes in God's society happen on the otherside of failure.
I thought of Jesus. In the light of the crucifixion, Jesus life and ministry was a colossal failure, at least in the eyes of the populace. The cross appeared for all intents and purposes to say FAILURE. This was rejection at its worst. This was humiliation and poverty at its lowest. Death on a tree was synonymous with curse. Jesus went forth and failed. And did it briliantly might i add. But on the other side of failure. God raised him up. It was God raising up the body of Jesus Christ that makes his story more than a sob story, it makes it redeemable and re-creational. But that is God's part. God does the success, redemption, power stuff in our life. We do the failure part.
I find it odd that we think of Paul and Jesus as being successful. Paul was another case-study in failing well. Few people in his world imagined him to be popular or wealthy, accomplished or a man of noteriety. No, his world chased him out of their cities, beat him senseless, pelted him to death, undermined his teachings. Big time failure. I wrote "Your Best Life Now" in block bold letters and put it over 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 it sounded so funny. They were obedient to God and failed to men. Paul risked it all (and failed). "For me to live is Christ and die is gain." "I die daily" "I am crucified with Christ." Statements like this make it clear to me that he was not publishing self-books or personal spiritual empowerment books. So much of pop-culture Christian literature today is anti-gospel and pro-self, packaged albeit in a Christian cover. Paul was not using Jesus as a spiritual steroid that would give him advantage above his business competitors. Paul was letting Jesus use him to advance Jesus' kingdom against the kingdom of darkness. Paul's personal dreams and visions failed, but from the rubble of his failure, God raised up churches and advanced his cause.
The message I heard at Western Seminary's graduation motivated me to want to fail more in my life. I have experienced a few failures, but i dont think i have enough.
The last words that Steve said were, "go forth and fail soon and fail often."
So I am getting really excited about failing. I think . . .
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