His Gospel Is Peace: No Fear of Failure

The Second Sunday in Advent

December 8, 2024

Luke 3:1-20

 “His Gospel Is Peace: No Fear of Failure”

Many people feel a great deal of pressure at this time of year. We don’t always articulate this, but we certainly feel it. Think of Clark Griswold in the holiday classic, “Christmas Vacation.” All he wants to do is provide his family with a “fun, old-fashioned, family Christmas.” But his plans unravel everywhere he turns as things descend into chaos. There may be something of Clark Griswold in each one of us as we try to make this the best Christmas ever for our loved ones. Church workers feel this as well as we strive to make special worship services in this season the best they can be with moving sermons, stirring music, beautiful liturgies that check all the boxes. For all of us, it can sometimes feel like the stakes of this season are high, and there’s no room for failure. Understood in this way, the Advent and Christmas season isn’t any different from any other season of the year. The pressures of life, the fear of messing things up, or missing out, or wasting an opportunity and somehow failing are real. Maybe this is the burden that you are carrying right now. If so, there is good news for you. In Jesus, the Prince of Peace, we need have no fear of failure. Our preaching series for this Advent and Christmas season, “His Gospel Is Peace,” continues today with “No Fear of Failure.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

On this Second Sunday in Advent, in the Scripture lessons for today we hear from different individuals through whom the Lord spoke to his people. In the Old Testament lesson (Malachi 3:1-7b), we hear from the prophet, Malachi, the last prophet before a 400-year period of silence when there was no prophetic Word from the Lord. We hear from Paul the apostle in the Epistle lesson (Philippians 1:2-11) as he writes to believers in the city of Philippi, encouraging them in faith. And in the Gospel lesson (Luke 3:1-20), we hear from John the Baptist, who was called by God to “prepare the way of the Lord, [and] make his paths straight.” John was the fulfillment of that promised messenger of whom Malachi spoke hundreds of years before. But I have to wonder if, in the course of their life and ministry, these individuals ever struggled with fear of failure. Did they ever feel like they didn’t measure up, or that what God called them to do was going nowhere? That the message they were called to proclaim was falling on deaf ears? We do know that many of those whom the Lord raised up to be his chosen messengers and carry his Word to the people struggled with such feelings. We read about this in various places in Scripture. So if these individuals dealt with fear of failure, then we are in very good company.

Once again in this blessed Advent season, we rejoice in the truth that God chose to enter into our world filled with fear and failure; to become one of us; to experience on every level what it means to be human except for sin (Hebrews 2:17; 4:15). If this is true – and it is – how does this change things with the pressure in life that we feel, whether at the holidays or any other time? How does the advent of Christ, who has made the love of God for us real and tangible, affect our fears of failure? Christ’s coming has the effect of putting failure into the proper perspective. All of those people – Malachi, Paul, John the Baptist – were, like us, flesh and blood human beings. They had their good days and bad days. Like them, we, too have been entrusted with a message. It is a message that literally changed the world and it continues to change lives as the good news of forgiveness, life and salvation in Jesus reaches out to people of every generation.

We have the capacity to use life in ways that are good and bring blessing to others. We also have the capacity to use life in ways that can royally mess things up. Many of you have seen what this looks like in real time, and you know first-hand the pain it can bring. And yet, with our Advent Lord at our side, with the ultimate victory in Christ guaranteed through his death and resurrection for us, how far can we fall, even if we fail completely? If Christ, who is for us, has overcome the world, then no failure of ours – even our most mind-blowing, miserable failure – can ever be the end of the world. It may feel like that at the time, but it’s not. Even then, the hand of Jesus reaches out to rescue and transform. Because Jesus’ Gospel is peace, God in Christ creates opportunity within failure. Failure can, in fact, become our friend because through it God is hitting the reset button in our lives, reshaping us for the future – a future made bright through Jesus. By drawing near to sinners in Christ, God has made clear his love for failing and flailing humanity. In our weakness, in our mistakes, in our shortcoming and failures, the forgiving love of Jesus is always there for us.

In different ways and in different forms, we all feel pressure this time of year. Maybe it’s all the things on our holiday to-do list, or the company coming to your house, or the travel that you’ll be doing, or the work project looming over you. Whatever it is, the pressure is there and the stakes feel high. Failure doesn’t feel like an option. We live with a lot of “what if’s” in life that rob us of present joy. What if the bad thing actually happens? What if your plans don’t work out? What if that worst case scenario comes to life? What if failure makes an appearance in this season? It might, but if it does, do not be afraid. Even if failure does make an appearance, Someone else is guaranteed to arrive right along with it. That Someone is Jesus, whom John said he wasn’t worthy to stoop down and untie his sandals. But Jesus himself would stoop down to wash the feet of his disciples (John 13:1ff.), and offer his life on the cross for all of our what if’s, our failures, our sins. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we can answer Malachi’s question with confidence: “But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?” (Malachi 3:2a). The presence of Jesus puts weakness in its place. Jesus shrinks the stakes of our problems down to size, and he makes failure itself our friend. In every struggle, in every season of life, we have the promise of his never-failing mercy and his grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

In Jesus, because his Gospel is peace, there is no fear of failure. Amen.