To The One Who Feels Like A Screwup

Have you ever had someone in class who blurts everything out? Like everyone’s about to raise their hand to give an answer, and that person blurts the answer out? 

I don’t know about you, but I would get mad if I knew an answer, and I was ready for the teacher to ask me for an answer, and then from the back I heard, “It’s 72. The answer’s 72.”

Then you go onto the next subject. And this time the teacher asks something you really know. About 10 hands shoot up to answer a question, but yet again from the back you hear, “World War I. It’s World War 1.”

No one likes a blurt.

But today I want to tell you about a blurt. A blurt in the Bible. His name was Peter. And Peter was an ordinary guy. An ordinary guy who sometimes liked to blurt out some dumb things. But Jesus still used Him.

Peter was a fisherman. He was this ordinary fisherman who screwed up a lot, but God still called him.

One thing you need to know about Peter: he was bold. And sometimes he did things without really thinking first. He wouldn’t realize what he just did or what he just said until after the fact.

Prime example: In Matthew 14, Jesus tells the disciple to go on ahead in this boat while he stayed back to pray. So you know Jesus… He eventually comes walking out on the water toward them. They start freaking out like, “Yo, there’s a dude, a ghost, something coming toward us right now.” 

But Peter just goes, “Hey Jesus. Is that you? If that’s cool w/ you, help me walk on water.”

Like what?? How did Peter think of that? But like I said, he often liked to speak first, think second. So you know, he’s walking out on the water, and then it finally registers what he’s doing, and he goes, “Ahh!!! Master, save me!!!”

Like Peter… what’s wrong with you, boy?

But what does Jesus do? He doesn’t hesitate. He reaches down and extends his hand to help Peter.

But poor Peter. He just keeps doing this. This blurting out and then realizing he probably shouldn’t have said what he did. 

In Matthew 15, Jesus is teaching, and Peter just blurts out, “I just don’t get it. Put it in plain language.” Dang, Peter.

Jump forward a few chapters to Matthew 26. Jesus is telling his disciples, “Before the night’s over, you’re going to fall to pieces because of what happens to me.”

But Peter blurts out, “Me? Oh no, Jesus. Even if everyone else falls to pieces on account of you, I won’t. I’m ya boy.”

Jesus says, “You’re going to deny me three times just tonight alone.”

So here’s Jesus - knowing he’s going to go be put on a cross and die, knowing that this disciple, this friend of His named Peter is going to deny him, but yet He still tells Peter to come to a garden with Him so He can pray. But guess what Peter does…. 

He falls ASLEEP!! Three times!!!! Jesus literally tells him in Matthew, “There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.”

Okay. Ouchtown. Population: Peter.

And then as if that isn’t enough, the people come to take Jesus away to be crucified, and Peter does the only logical thing he knows how to do: *whicchhhaaaa* whips out a sword and cuts a dude’s ear off.

Can you imagine it? Jesus goes over. He’s lookin for the ear of the dude. He picks it up, puts it back on the dude, and shakes his head at Peter. AND THEN as if Peter hasn’t already screwed up enough and blurted out enough things, he denies Jesus three times to people. They go, “Oh, you know Jesus?” He goes, “No.” Repeatedly this happens.

So after all these instances, you got to wonder when they were sitting around talking that one night and Jesus asked them, “Who do you say I am?” and Peter goes, “You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” they were all probably like, “Wait. Peter got a question right?!?! He didn’t screw it up?? It’s a miracle! Great job, Peter.”

That’s the same night Jesus told Peter that he was a rock. He said, “This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.” And this is after Peter blurted out some stupid things.

If you’re like me, you’re wondering, how could Jesus use Peter? Why did Jesus pick Peter? Peter messed up a lot. He was just an ordinary fisherman! Jesus could have picked out a king or a successful business owner. Why did he pick out an ordinary fisherman who didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut sometimes?

Listen here real closely: it’s because Jesus knew that Peter had faith. He wasn’t perfect. But he had faith in Jesus. Behind all the messups, the blurt-outs, and the dumb decisions was a faithful heart. That’s what Jesus saw. And that’s what Jesus looks for in you.

After Peter denied Jesus three times and Jesus was raised from the dead and came back, Jesus made an appearance to go see his friends. They were out fishing, going back to what they always did. They didn’t know it was Jesus at first, but when one of the disciples said it was him, Peter didn’t think twice (per usual ;)) and he jumped into the water and swam toward shore to see Jesus - even after all he had done.

Jesus made breakfast for them. But instead of asking Peter why he did what he did, why he denied him, why he lied, He just asked Peter if he loved Him. He asked Peter three times, and after Peter said yes every time, Jesus told him, “Then go feed my sheep.”

So why am I telling you this? I’m telling you this because… 

Even when you blurt it, He still blesses. Even when you blurt out mean things about yourself, self-sabotaging words or hurtful things to other people. When you blurt out lies or judgments or gossip or slander, He still wants to bless you. Even through those screwups. 

It doesn’t matter what you’ve blurted out loud or even in your mind. Maybe that you’re not good enough or that you’re nothin’ compared to so and so. God’s not asking why you did it. Why you said it. Why you thought it. He’s just asking if you love Him enough to stop it.

God doesn’t want you to be like so and so. He didn’t want Peter to be somebody else. He chose Peter to be the rock He built His church upon even after all the mess-ups, the words he blurted out, the dumb, hurtful things he did. God sees that same potential in YOU, an ordinary person.

Why? Because God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called.

And he’s calling you. He’s calling me. To do what? To love Him. To love people. To be fishers of men.

That’s the point!! It’s not about impressing the popular kids or being the best at every sport or trying to win over the people that keep hurting you time and time again. It’s about giving Jesus enough space in your heart to overcome all the screwups you’ve had in your life. It’s about loving Him enough to let Him take over the reigns in your life.

Some of you don’t like who you are. Some of you don’t even know who you are. Some of you are more stuck on living into what others want for you rather than who God has made you to truly be. If you feel alone in that, look at Peter.

But more than that, know that God can use you to do mighty things. Be the rock!! Let Him build the church upon your life. Love Him enough to let Him into your heart.

Peter went on to become one of the primary leaders of the earthly church. God doesn’t need you to have the biggest brains or the most charming personality. God needs you to have faith. To love Him. And then He needs you to feed his sheep - to be a disciple.

I know what it’s like to feel so small. Like maybe I don’t matter. Or I couldn’t possibly have the influence like that person has. But Jesus isn’t asking us to be like them. He’s asking us to love Him. When we love Him, we should want to do something about it. Feed His sheep.

Look at it like this: When you love someone here on earth, you want to do something about it. You want to get married and let everyone know that they are yours for forever. 

Jesus is the same way. We should love Him so much that we should want to do something about it. To feed His sheep. To tell people about Him. It doesn’t matter what we’ve blurted out in the past, it doesn’t matter what screw-ups we’ll have in the future. For right now, he’s asking us to love Him and tell others about that love.

So will you do it? Will you let God in so that He can wipe away all those blurt-outs and mistakes or will you let the weight of all you’ve done leave you sitting in a fishing boat doing things you’ve always done? That could have been Peter’s story. But instead he jumped out of that boat and swam towards Jesus. Then he led the church. And now the church is here!

Because an ordinary person was used by God to do extraordinary things.

God wants the same for you. 

Do you believe it?