Both successes and failures can define our ministries. Ministries will have both, and neither is bad on its own. However, each carries hidden temptations that can shift the center of our ministry. Over time, successes can become how we measure God’s approval of our ministry (and sometimes even our lives). Success can be a cruel master that propels us to achieve the next level and shape what direction our ministry takes. It often becomes our identity.
Failures can be equally defining. While they can be an important part of learning, our failures can also knock us off course and cause us to lose confidence. When we fail, we can be tempted to give up. We can shy away from obeying Jesus because we fear that we will fail again.
As I’ve been reading through Rooted’s newest curriculum, The Apostle Peter, I’ve reflected upon how much Peter’s successes and failures shaped him in the Gospel of Mark. But more than that, I am struck by how, in his letters, those successes and failures were displaced by something far more powerful: Grace.
Great Success and Utter Failure
Throughout Mark’s Gospel, Peter seems to stand a head above the other disciples. He is among Jesus’ inner circle, alongside James and John, and he often acts as the representative for the whole group. Famously, he is the first of the disciples to proclaim that Jesus is the Christ. Peter performs miracles, proclaims the gospel, and even sees the glorified Jesus.
I think Peter’s confidence in his success as Jesus’ disciple is at its strongest the night before Jesus’ crucifixion. When Jesus tells his disciples that they will all fall away, Peter says, “Even though they all fall away, I will not” (Mark 14:29). When Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him three times, Peter is even more emphatic: “If I must die with you, I will not deny you” (Mark 14:30). Consistent with his usual pattern, Peter leads the way for all the disciples to proclaim that they would never fail Jesus (Mark 14:31).
But hours later, after Jesus has been arrested, Peter denies Jesus, just as Jesus foretold. It doesn’t happen in a flattering way either. Bold, strong Peter denies Jesus to a child—a servant girl in the temple. He doesn’t just run away and forsake Jesus. He invokes curses on himself and denies he ever knew Jesus (Mark 14:71). And after his denial, Peter “broke down and wept” (Mark 14:72).
The True Grace of God
If you have ever failed someone, you’ve probably felt the same temptation I have: run away and never look back. How could I ever face that person again? Would they even want to be associated with me anymore? Yet, when the women went to Jesus’ tomb on Sunday morning, the angels had a word from Jesus to the disciples: “Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee” (Mark 16:7).
I can only imagine how those words might have hit Peter. Jesus said he wanted to see me? You mean, he’s not done with me yet? On the night Jesus was betrayed, Peter had set himself apart as a model disciple who would never fall away. On the morning Jesus rises again, he sets Peter apart as a model of God’s grace and mercy. Peter’s failure leads him to be the humble recipient of God’s grace: “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5).
God’s Grace From Beginning to End
Jesus’ grace and mercy toward Peter had a transformational effect on his ministry. For Peter, grace encompassed the whole of the Christian life. Grace comes to us first because of the salvation that Jesus accomplished (1 Pet. 1:10). God’s power has gifted us with everything we need for life and godliness as through our knowledge of him (2 Pet. 1:3). And even more grace is waiting for us when Jesus returns (1 Pet. 1:13).
Throughout the Gospels, it seems that Peter and many of the disciples desire to elevate themselves to be the premier disciples of Jesus. After his profound experience of Jesus’ grace, Peter becomes a “fellow elder” and one with “a faith of equal standing…by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 5:1; 2 Pet. 1:1). Peter’s identity is built on what God has done for him, rather than the successes and failures of his ministry.
Receive God’s Grace and Give It to Your Students
Over our years in ministry, God’s grace can be displaced as the heartbeat of our ministry. Success can lead us to rely on our own strength and pedigree. Failure can leave us limping, unsure of our ability to lead God’s people. As we consider Peter’s life, both his great successes and utter failures, let it shape us to look to Jesus’ all-encompassing grace for us.
And let it shape our ministry to our students. I love how Peter concludes 1 Peter. “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Pet. 5:10). Just as Peter has received grace from Jesus, he points his readers to a Savior who will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish them by his grace. Throughout Peter’s letters and Mark’s Gospel, we see a Jesus who does just this.
Your students need this Jesus as much as you do. As they navigate successes and failures in their own lives, they need to know that God’s grace is a ballast for them. As author Jerry Bridges so helpfully says, they need to know that “our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”1
- Bridges, Jerry. The Disciplines of Grace. NavPress, 2018. 19. ↩︎
We are thrilled to announce Rooted’s latest yearlong youth ministry curriculum: The Apostle Peter! This study includes a survey of the Gospel of Mark (selected passages covering the book from start to finish) along with full studies of 1 and 2 Peter. We invite you to download the Lesson 1 guides to preview the study.
