That Is Why You Fail Part 1 Series

That Is Why You Fail!

Scripture: Matt. 12:34, 37; Proverbs 18:21; James 3:3-10;

Introduction

Jesus said that our words reveal our character and our beliefs. In Matthew 12:33-37 Jesus said “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the Day of Judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:33-37) He said that we will speak what we believe in our hearts which will in fact show others who we are if they are listening close to us. If you listen to a person long enough they will reveal what is in their hearts – beliefs or unbelief. The title of my message this morning is “That Is Why You Fail.” As you think about this title, I want you to also consider the importance of words as I will be focusing on three different roles that words play in our lives. The first role is how we use them; the second role focuses on who we use them with; and the third role is who we allow to speak words into us. If I do not finish this message this morning, I will finish it next week.

This morning I want you to picture someone telling you “That Is Why You Fail!” and what your response would be to hearing those words. I did not use the word “failed” as in past tense, but “fail” which includes past, present and if nothing changes, future. If someone told you this would those words crush you or light a fire up under you to ensure that you do not fail again in the manner in which you had previously? What would your response be?

The title of this message comes from the words Yoda spoke to the young Jedi Luke Skywalker who had sought him out to be his trainer. If you recall from the movie, “The Empire Strikes Back”, Luke Skywalker separated from his friends so that he could find the Jedi Master Yoda who could complete his training to be a Jedi himself. When Luke landed on Yoda’s planet, he landed in a swamp and his ship sunk into the muddy water. As Yoda began to train Luke, there was one scene when Yoda asked Luke to use the force to raise his ship out of the swamp. Luke makes a statement about being willing to try to raise his ship but Yoda cuts him off and says to him, “Do or do not – there is no try!” Can you imagine what our lives would be like if we operated under the belief that we will Do or do not and simply stop trying? “Try” is defined as “to make an effort to complete something.” The key words are make effort. You don’t have to complete anything, just make the effort. There are many things that have gone uncompleted because people only make the effort – they tried. Stop trying!!! Do or do not!!!

I want to pause here and make a point. We reward “trying” and I am not saying that it is wrong. When kids “try” we congratulate them. When they do not make good grades and they tells us that they are “trying their best” we comfort them. We have jobs where we “try to meet the objectives” in order to keep our jobs but sometimes the objectives are just too high. “I ‘tried” my best but I just could not do it” is what is often said. What would happen if we started operating with a mentality of do or do not, there is no trying? I know many of you are probably thinking that our world and all of the creativity came from people who were willing to “try” something new. My response would be the creativity came from people who were willing to “do” something new. Do you see the difference? If we stop trying and commit to doing we will accomplish so much more. But let me get back on track and I will do a separate message one day on trying if the Lord allows.

After the Jedi Master Yoda tells Luke to “do or do not – there is no try” Luke of course “tries” anyway. He stretches forth his hand, closes his eyes and concentrates on raising the ship. After “trying” the ships sinks further into the muddy water and Luke gets frustrated and gives up. He tells Yoda, “I can’t, it’s too big – we will never get it out now!” Yoda began to teach Luke that it was not about the size of the ship but the force operating in and around him. Yoda tells Luke that he needed to “unlearn” what he knew. Exasperated, Luke stands up and says “You want the impossible!” (How many of you know that we serve a God that makes the impossible possible?) Yoda then raises the ship out of the muddy swamp and sets it on land. Luke, being surprised that Yoda did it, tells him “I don’t believe it!” That is when Yoda tells Luke, “That is why you fail!” He told Luke that he did not believe within and that is why he failed, not just situation with his ship, but also in his past and his future unless he changed.