What Does The Bible Say About Success and Failure?

What does the Bible say about Success And Failure_ Matt: [00:00:00] Well, good evening and welcome to Crowd Church. Uh, my name is Matt Edmundson and beside me, uh, in life and in church, uh, is my beautiful wife, uh, Sharon Edmundson. Hi everyone. And it's great that we are doing this together, babe. Always great that we're doing this together. Uh, so yeah, welcome to Crowd Church. If this is your first time with us, let me just explain. Crowd is an online church. We do digital church. Yes, we do. Uh, it's a little bit different because we don't meet in a building, we meet online, but it's the same kind of idea. Uh, we have a talk, we have a little bit of worship music, and then where we do things a little bit differently is we then talk about the talk, uh, which we affectionately call Conversation Street. So welcome here. Now, babe. I was gonna say to you, um, it'd be good to say hi to the folks in the comments, but then I've just realized you can't actually see them. Sharon: I can't see them. No, no. Last week I was [00:01:00] hosting and I had them in front of me, but they were so small that I had to clear into the camera. This week, I just can't see them so Matt: at all. Okay, so we still, this is something we still obviously need to resolve, but uh, yeah, Warren, and welcome to you. Do say hello in the comments. Uh, it'd be great to hear from you. Uh, just so you know, babe, Matt Crew is here. He says, anyone else loving the half term sun? Uh, we've got Sarah Withers, which is great. We've got Sadaf in the comments, so make sure you come say hi. It'd be great to say hello to you. Uh, and wherever you are watching this, even if you don't say hello in the comments, I hope you're having a fantastic day. Uh, an interesting Sunday to say the least. So, um, how's your day go? I've not caught up with you yet, sweetie. How, how's your day gone so far? Sharon: It's been quite busy already. Um. Before church this morning. Um, I recorded a talk for a few weeks time and then I went to church and then we're part of a, a COVID survey. So someone came to the house, did [00:02:00] questionnaires and COVID tests. Then I've been to see some friends and now I'm here, so, yeah. Yeah, Matt: absolutely. Absolutely. Sharon: I've been British. I do feel the need just to talk about today's weather, if you'll indulge me for a moment. I was out on my way to friends and it absolutely chucked it down and the road in front of me turned into a river. I was glad I was in my car. Matt: Okay, well, uh, I'm glad you're in the car as well then, because you'd be looking very different now if you were a drowned rat. Right. Exactly. We've got Graham in the comments guy. Hey, good day, Graham. Uh, Matt basically said Sharon and technology do no comment. Now, to be fair, Matt, this was not Sharon's fault. This is actually my fault. So, um, it's just the way we've got it set up for her. Uh, so there you go. So babe, why don't you tell folks, uh, as well as about the weather, what is happening in today's live stream? Sharon: Well, we have, uh, a very handsome, talented [00:03:00] speaker today, uh, talking about what does the Bible say about success and failure. From there, we're gonna go straight into a psalm. Um, and during this song. Uh, you can either join in with the words and sing along if you want to, or just use it as an opportunity to think about what our lovely speaker has been talking about. Write your questions and your comments in the comments. Um, and then after that, uh, me and Matt are gonna be back to talk about his talk and any of your comments and questions. Matt: Yeah, absolutely. So we are today talking about success and failure, which for me is a fascinating topic. Uh, I get asked about it a lot and the reason I get asked about it a lot is because, well, I both do crowds with my fabulous team, my beautiful wife, um, but also we, uh, run our own company as well, don't we, sweetie? Sharon: Yeah, well, more youth than those, but yes. Yeah. Matt: Yeah. So we do that thing where we have, um, we [00:04:00] have a company, we're entrepreneurs, we're business leaders. Um, and the business is doing all right actually. Um, and then we also do Crowd. And it's interesting the conversations we get into about success. And I dunno if you can hear it coming down my microphone, but I can definitely hear the wind is a blowing, let me tell you. Uh, so if you can hear that, do forgive me. It's not my fault. It's the wind's fault. Uh, Matt's put here. Go on. Sharon: Oh, I was gonna say, I never get asked about success and failure. I'm not sure what that says. Matt: Maybe it's just the circles that we run in. Uh, maybe, maybe. So we're gonna get into all of that, uh, after the talk. So without further ado, uh, we'll jump straight into it. Now, just to give you a bit of a heads up, we are in a series call. What does the Bible say about, uh, which is where we look at topics like success and failure. We looked last week, um, at, what did we look at last week? It is totally slipped on mind. I know. Next week we're looking at cancer. Friendship, Video: friendship, friendship. Matt: That's right. We looked at friendship last week. [00:05:00] Next week we're looking at cancer. We're taking these really big topics and going, has the Bible got anything to help us with this? And this week is success and failure. Uh, so like Sharon said, enjoy the talk. Take notes, write your questions, write your comments down. Um, after the talk, Sean and I will be back with Conversation Street. So without further ado, let me press the, press the right button here and let's go for it.[00:06:00] What does the Bible say about success and failure? What a great question. Now, recently I was a guest on somebody's podcast and they asked me a very simple question. They said, Matt, are successful. Now, on the outside I say, it's a simple question, but actually when you try and answer it, it becomes a little bit more complicated. 'cause first thing we have to do is we have to understand what the word successful actually means. Now, according to the Cambridge dictionary, which as far as I know knows [00:07:00] everything, uh, it means, uh, the achieving of the results wanted or hoped for, which, when you think about it, is quite a broad definition, isn't it? For example. I was successful when I turned on my computer to record this talk. Sure. I achieved the desired rule, uh, results, uh, that I wanted the desired outcome. I wanted the computer to turn on. I wanted the recording to start and away we went. But does that really make me successful? And what is the dictionary definition of the word failure? Well, again, according to Cambridge Dictionary, it tells us that failure is the fact of someone or something not succeeding. In other words, failure is the opposite of success. And for many years, I think subconsciously I saw it like that, very black and white, very binary. You either succeeded or you failed. Success was good. Failure [00:08:00] was bad, and it was as simple as that. But then of course life happens, doesn't it? And you realize that maybe there is more to it than that. And when you dig into the Bible, you definitely see there is more to it. So let me introduce to you another term into the mix, right? Let me just throw something else in here. As the Bible doesn't often use the word successful, but it does use the word fruitful a lot. So when talking about success, the Bible compares it to a tree that bears fruit. And I actually think this is quite a beautiful picture of success. So if as Cambridge tells us, success is about achieving a goal. Then the question then becomes, well, what goal should I be trying to achieve? And how do I measure success? What is success in [00:09:00] God's eyes? What goal should we as Christians be trying to achieve, to use biblical language? What should we be bearing fruit in? Lots of questions, right? And this is just how my brain works. So according to the Bible, God wants us to bear fruits in lots of areas. And here's a non-exhaustive list, uh, that I've, you know, you can find us from a couple of verses. Here we go. Meditating in God's Word, Prayer, generosity, faith, being strong in him. Love, joy. It's an interesting one, isn't it? Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and check this one out. Self-control. Oh, yes. Uh. That's an amazing one to be in there, isn't it? Self-control. A biblical, a biblically successful life that's not easy to say is characterized by self-control. The exact opposite [00:10:00] of what most people think a successful life is. So how do I measure success? Well. I can look at these areas in my life, you know, love and joy and self-control, and ask how much fruit am I bearing in each of these areas? How successful am I at being a man of self-control, of being a gentle man? And notice none of these that we've talked about so far talks about how much money you have in the bank, or even if you're married with kids. So let's dig into this a little bit more, because there's a principle here that I think is critical for us, uh, to understand when it comes to being successful in life. And it ties success into the idea of meaning and purpose, which we talk a lot about here at Crowd Church. So, to do this, I want to, I wanna get in, as they would say in Liverpool. I wanna listen into a conversation that Jesus was having with a Crowd of people just like us in [00:11:00] John's Gospel. A bunch of the Crowd said to Jesus, who are you? They asked just, what have I been telling you from the beginning? Jesus replied, I have much to say in judgment of you, but he who sent me is trustworthy and what I have heard from him, I tell the world they did not understand that he was telling them about his father. So Jesus said, when you have lifted up the son of man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own, but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who has sent me is with me. He has not left me alone for, I always do what pleases him. Even as he spoke, many believed in him. It's a really fascinating verse of scripture, isn't it? And for me, these verses contain the essence of everything. I think we [00:12:00] need to be successful to find a life of purpose and meaning, and to live it out. The first thing they said to Jesus, who are you? And Jesus, Jesus knew who he was. Well, that's a question of identity. The second thing Jesus knew exactly why he was here. That is tied into purpose. The third thing we learned from this piece of scripture is Jesus fulfilled that purpose. He, he always did what pleased God. And the fourth thing we learned from this piece of scripture is that Jesus knew he couldn't do this on his own, that God was with him in this quest. And so for me, if you break it right down, these four things I think are what you need to know about being successful. Find out who you are. Find out the reason God has you here on planet Earth, and then work really, really hard together with [00:13:00] him at achieving that purpose. The apostle Paul put it this way, he said, not that I've already obtained all of this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. You see, Paul knew who he was. He knew why he was here, and he also knew that he hadn't obtained everything yet. He hadn't arrived at his goal, he said. So he pressed on. He kept on working to take a hold of that for which Christ Jesus took a hold of him. So fundamental to all of this then is the belief that God actually wants you to be successful. He wants you to achieve this purpose, this plan that he has for you. So Jesus put it this way. In the gospel of John, he said, you did not choose me. But I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear [00:14:00] fruit, and that your fruit should abide or should remain as some translation says. That's interesting, isn't it? Jesus appointed us to bear fruit, bear fruit, be successful, but again, we have to take this in balance because that doesn't mean a big house with a fancy car success. Biblical success bearing fruit is about doing those things that please God. It is about taking a hold of that for which Christ Jesus took a hold of you. But notice we also talked about how, uh, in this, in the fourth point, Jesus knew he couldn't do all of this on his own. And if Jesus couldn't do all of this on his own, you and I have no chance of doing it on our own. Right? Jesus talked about this again with the disciples. He was talking to them about vines, you know, like grape vines. And for them it was an excellent analogy because they were often surrounded by grape vines. Don't see that many of them in Liverpool, if I'm honest with [00:15:00] you. We do have one in our back garden, but they're not that common. But at the time they were. And Jesus makes this really obvious point that a branch cannot bear fruit unless it is connected to the vine or the trunk, maybe as we would call it. But then Jesus himself calls, well, Jesus then calls himself the vine. And he says this, yes, I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who remaining me and I in them will produce much fruit for apart from me. You can do nothing. That's quite a star statement, isn't it? If true success is about fulfilling the call of God on your life, about fulfilling the purpose in your, fulfilling your purpose in Christ, then it makes sense that you can't do it apart from Him, that you need him, that we need His grace, his strength, [00:16:00] his wisdom. We need the Holy Spirit living in us to do this, and we especially need to be grafted in the vine if we are to understand who we are, our identity, our purpose, because outside of Him, outside of Jesus, I don't think it really makes sense and apart from him, but we can't really do a whole great deal. So with all of that said, I wanna look at failure because it's great to talk about success, about how God wants us to bear fruit. It's exciting, it's full of possibility and promise. Uh, but if you are like me, well, you have good days and bad days. You have days, uh, and probably lots of days where you, where you don't feel like you are actually bearing an awful lot of fruit, uh, and maybe often feel like the exact opposite of being successful, that we have in fact failed again in some way. Now, there are different types of failure. There are, um, there's moral [00:17:00] failure, for example, that we experience and the Bible calls this sin. And for that there is forgiveness and there is restoration in the eyes of God. It's what the Bible calls repentance or the turning around, uh, from that. But there are other failures too that we can experience. And I do wonder if we need to reframe failure in our thinking and stop seeing it may be so much of a bad thing all the time. Now, I know we all know it's not great to fail your exams at school or to fail your driving test like I did twice before. Passing on my third go. Don't tell anybody. I'm a much better driver as a result. Um, I don't want to fail as being a husband or a parent. And it's a nightmare. I mean, an unmitigated nightmare when the internet fails in our house, right? So failure can be bad, but is failure always a bad thing? Now [00:18:00] the obvious example that I think about this is when I watched each of our kids, we've got three kids and I watched each of them learn to walk when they were babies. I lost count of how many times they fell. You know, they got up blam, they're on the floor again. How many times did they fall? How many times did they fail? But you know what? It never stopped them because all three of them can walk. Now. In fact, it didn't stop any of us. 'cause I can still walk. We kept going. Like Paul, we pressed on. In other words, without failure we would never have succeeded. We would never have achieved any kind of success. Each failure, we learn something and we adapted and we went again. So to do this, I think we need to see the other side of failure and we have to understand, uh, that failure.[00:19:00] Well, failure might actually lead to a being a huge success, which is quite a fascinating comp, uh, fascinating idea, isn't it? I mean, what do I mean by this? So, lemme tell you a story. Years ago, the company I worked for was up for sale and both Sharon and I felt like God spoke to us about how he was gonna give us that company. Now I appreciate that's quite an extraordinary thing to say, uh, and it's quite an extraordinary thing that we had to deal with. So Sharon and I didn't really tell anybody. We kept it to ourselves. And then I did everything I could possibly do to try and buy that company, but it wasn't enough and the owner sold it to someone else and quite rightly so, um, but not only was it sold to someone else, but I actually ended up leaving that company due to differences with the new owner, which I appreciate is a statement which is [00:20:00] loaded. Um, so here I am, right thinking that God would give us the company, but the reality for myself and Sharon was so different because it was in the hands of somebody else and I didn't even work there anymore. It looked like a complete failure on my part. And so I was asking questions like, God, have I missed it? Somewhere along the way. But you see, this is where faith comes in, the belief that God is actually bigger than circumstances and that God. Is ultimately faithful to his promises. Now, after I left, what actually happened was I started my own company and I worked very hard to try and grow that, but I did keep trusting that God was somehow in this and in control, and to cut along. And frankly, very, very fascinating story, short, five years later, the [00:21:00] company was actually given to me just as God had said. I didn't have to buy a single thing. I didn't have to manipulate anything. I just worked hard and trusted God. I put my faith in a faithful God and trusted that he would work despite the apparent failure that I was facing. And he turned it around in a way that only he, Kurt. Now there's a chapter in the Bible that is a bit like, well, it's a bit like a Hall of Fame. Uh, it's a book called Hebrews. And in there in chapter 11, uh, there are some verses that talk about like the who's who of faith and how they overthrew kingdoms and ruled with justice and how they shut the mouths of lions, quenched flames of fire turned weakness into strength, and even saw people raised from the debt. All fantastic stuff. And we actually [00:22:00] celebrate people like this, don't we? That we see all the amazing stuff that's going on and we celebrate and we shout. But the second half of the chapter talks about how those who were tortured, abused, and persecuted, how talks about people who were wrongly imprisoned, even stoned to death. Uh, he talks about how people were destitute and broke and poor. It's not what you would call a glamorous list. And if I'm honest. These. Well, we don't tend to celebrate people like this, do we? We don't tend to celebrate things that look like failure, the opposite of success. Yet this is what the Bible said about all of those. They were too good for this world, and God had something better in mind. They were too good for this world. That I think throws out most of what we know [00:23:00] about success. You see, if success is about, uh, knowing who you are and fulfilling the purposes of God, then what we actually have to do, well, we have to look at success in the time span of eternity, which means not everything makes sense now. Not everything will appear to go right now, but in the midst of it as Christians. We can trust God and that ultimately his will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So when you think about Jesus' life, well that doesn't appear to end well either, does it? Especially if you're not a fan of the whole idea of the resurrection of Christ. You see, without the resurrection, it seems like a total failure. His, you know, Jesus' whole life was leading up to this one point, and at that point, he is crucified in the most horrific of ways. Not a great ending, if I'm honest with you. But what did Christ do on that cross when things were [00:24:00] at its bleakest where failure seemed at its strongest, says in the Gospel of Luke that Jesus shouted, father, I entrust my spirit into your hands. And with those words, he breathed his last. Jesus trusted everything to God knowing that ultimately God had something better. It didn't look like it at the time. It didn't feel like it, but when you look into the history of eternity, it makes sense. And failure was not the end of the story here. And so Jesus entrusts what's gonna happen to God? And God turned the failure into success. Jesus ultimately gets the victory. He has the win. I don't mean spoil the end of the story if you've not read the end of the Gospels, but in fact he does If as I believe the resurrection is true. [00:25:00] You see, I believe we serve a God who can term failure in success. We can entrust. Whatever we face to him. And whilst it is in no way on the same level that Jesus faced on the cross, I knew that when I lost my job from the company that I thought God was gonna give me, despite me having no money and a newborn baby and all the other stresses of life at that time, the one thing that I could do, I could entrust the whole thing to God. It wasn't easy. But in the end where people see failure, God sees an opportunity to do something quite or quite extraordinary, something that is life, life-changing, really amazing. And that's my story. So going back to the podcast that I mentioned at the start, let me ask you the same question. Are you successful now? [00:26:00] My answer to that question was a resounding yes. But I had to clarify to my host, I'm not successful because of the car I drive, or my job, or because I recently sold one of my companies. You see, the way I view success, well that's, that's just a little bit different to how most people view it. Video: Let the. My, let the king of my heart be the shadow I hide.[00:27:00] You are good. You good? Let the king of my heart be the inside. Let the king of my heart,[00:28:00] the.[00:29:00] You are.[00:30:00] Matt: Very good. Love that song. I wrote that in the comments, king of my heart. You are good. Absolutely. So welcome to Conversation Street, uh, with my beautiful wife and myself, uh, my bride and I. Uh, we get to talk about success and [00:31:00] failure. Uh, and actually, uh, this is, uh, you, you'll get to see it all in real time here because actually that was babe, the first time you'd heard that talk, right? Uh, it was, Sharon: yeah. Normally I like to, um, listen to them in advance, but I, this was kind of sprung on me a little bit today, so I, I didn't have the opportunity. Matt: It was, and normally, uh, you critique my talks as well, so we get to hear what you actually thought and what was good, what was bad, what next time I should change. Uh, and so, uh, you'll get to hear all of that conversation as we talk about the talk success and failure. So if you have any questions, thoughts, or comments, um, please, if you haven't done so already, please write 'em in the comments as we go along. Uh, I know that a few things have been written already. Uh, which we are gonna get into. Sadaf has asked a usually brilliant question. Uh, Matt Crew has thrown in some, uh, side winded comments, which actually I thought was quite fascinating. Um, and so yeah, we're gonna get into all of those. So should we dig into it, babe? Video: Okay. Matt: On a scale I, [00:32:00] one to 10, how, how was the talk? Sharon: It was fabulous. No, I, I did actually, I really enjoyed it. Um, I really love the contrast of what the world's view of success is compared with the biblical version, Video: because Sharon: I think in the world's version, there's the, to be successful, you have to be like the top of your game to be, um. Yeah, like a very successful businessman or, or whatever it is. Mm. Not just business, Do you know what I mean? And maybe have made loads of money and have loads of influence and have loads of followers, but it's like actually there's only a few people that can achieve those top positions. So it's quite exclusive in a way. Video: Mm. Sharon: Whereas the biblical definition is so inclusive. It's like if you are the top of your game, then it applies to you. But also if you are stuck at home with a long-term illness or if you're a stay at home parent or it just, if you've got other stuff going on, it's like everyone has the opportunity to be successful. And I found that quite refreshing. [00:33:00] Matt: See now that's why you host with me. 'cause you pull out all these wonderful little nuggets, which I think is great. So, um, I think you're right. I think it actually is super inclusive, isn't it? And it's, um. It takes the pressure off. I mean, I talk about business and I talked about the example in the company just 'cause that's what I know now. You, you know, watching this, you may be in business, you may not be in business. In fact, I got a text message from my wife during the talk, which made, made it clear that I need to make sure that you understand that Sharon is not in any way a business leader. Sharon: I'm not. I really not. Matt: Just to clarify, uh, it's me that does the day to day. Uh, but you know, we're, we're joined together. I Sharon: slip in with ideas, occasion. Matt: You do, you tell me what I can do and what I can't do sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, when I ask you, which is not all the time, I'm not gonna lie. So, um, one of the questions here, Sadaf, uh, wrote, which I thought was a, is a good place to start. We all have the tendency to, let me put this on the screen. Actually. We all have the [00:34:00] tendency to overemphasize our successes. Uh, and even our failures. How does the Bible help us to avoid these pitfalls? Essentially, our pride. Oh, I don't understand why that's so big. So have a think about that while I change. Sharon: Yeah. So from previous experience. Yeah, we Matt: go, Sharon: Sadaf has probably got a really good answer to this question, right? I'm just trying to read it again. Matt: Oh, it's gone now. Sharon: Oh. So it's how do we avoid, Matt: so we all have the tendency to overemphasize our successes, our successes, and even our failures. How does the Bible help us to avoid these pitfalls, essentially our pride? Sharon: Hmm. That is a very good question, isn't it? As usual things better, I think. Um, one of the points that you mentioned in your talk, I've been writing notes, was the whole thing of actually relying on God in all that we do. And I think if we, if we are doing that and we are relying on God [00:35:00] for that. I think it is harder to be pride and but also recognizing that any gifts and talents that we do have are from him in, in the first place. Video: Mm-hmm. Sharon: Um, it's like obviously we can work with the raw material that we've been given, but actually yeah, we were given that we were given the opportunities and the connections and all those sort of things. So I think that might be one way of helping avoid that pitfall. Matt: Yeah, that's a good point. That is a good point. What Sharon: do you Video: want? Matt: Yeah, I think it's an interesting one, isn't it? 'cause when I read the question I was like, actually this is, we have a tendency to, I think, sometimes to brag about our failures. Uh, sorry, our successes until a few years ago, we rarely talked about our failures. And it's almost now like failure has become a badge of honor. Do you know what I mean? Um, in, in some respects in how we talk about it, but I think. And I think we, we can foral this in the church world. I was thinking about, you know, it's [00:36:00] easy to stand up in the front of church and say, listen, we had 5,000 people turn up to a service last week, which was fab. You know, and you tell all the good stories. Um, and you even a book, you know, you read a book and books were inspiring and they tell all the stories, uh, and they celebrate all the successes, but they don't always talk about that. You know, the church leader doesn't stand up and say, oh, we only had 40 people last week instead of 700, or, um, you know, that. And we tend to avoid those stories a little bit. And I think it's quite a fascinating part of our humanity that feels like, um, because we don't like to talk about failing because we don't like to be perceived, I guess, as failing. We like to be perceived as being successful. We tell the stories often with that. They used to call it the evangel. Kind of thing, didn't they? Where they, where you sort of, you sort of talk about things in terms of massive figures. Um, and I find it, I find it a quite an interesting part of humanity and I, I find [00:37:00] it, um, I think, you know, you could trace that. I mean, you are talking about truth in a couple of weeks, aren't you? And that ability to actually just be straight and to talk truthful, um, it's quite a rare gift I think. Uh, but yeah, Sharon: I'd love to know what Sadaf thoughts are on this, because I'm sure she has something. Or do you want me to tell Matt: you what she's put in the comments? Sharon: Yes, please. Matt: So Sadaf has said if pressing on achieving is a good thing, is it Okay, this is another question. This is not the answer to the first one. Oh, is it okay to be a billionaire in a world where such poverty exists? Sharon: Oh, that is a good question as well, isn't it? And she says here, ask him Matt: for a friend. Hashtag Jeff. Brilliant. Sharon: Yeah. Um, taking out the word billionaire, I think from a biblical point of view, you see people who are rich and God is [00:38:00] approving of, and actually God has given them riches. If you think of people like King Solomon Video: mm-hmm. Sharon: And you also people who are poor and God also commends and you see people who are both rich and poor, who God doesn't commend. So I don't think it's so much about how much money you've got, it's more to do with your heart attitude and what. What you then do with it? Are you just keeping it all for yourself? Are you being selfish or are you being generous with that? I, I don't think, from what I see in the Bible, God has a problem with us having stuff, but he does have a problem with us not sharing that stuff and not, uh, meeting the needs of those around us. Have you got any other thoughts on that one? Matt: Yeah, I think it's a fascinating question 'cause I think for me, wealth is relative, right? So, um, it's easy I think for us in middle class England to go, right? Uh, let's look at some of the billionaires and go, [00:39:00] you should do more with your money, right? You should be more generous, you should give more, you should pay more taxes. And it's easy to make that assumption. It's easy to make that cry because from our point of view, they have way more than we do and they should therefore share it. But I think when 99% of the world looks at middle class England, they say the same thing. Mm-hmm. Uh, and you see, we are looking at the, the guy that has more than us, but the people are looking at us 'cause we have way more than them. And they're going, you guys need to share this. Um, and so, uh, you then come down to questions like, for example, England, reducing the amount of its GDP, which it gives to overseas aid, which was, you know, one of those things which was in very small print in the newspapers. I think it's a bit of a travesty because we have so much wealth and I think sometimes it's easy to look forward, look at others and say, you should do, it's very difficult to look inwards and go, what should I do? And, uh, I think, I think that's more of an interesting [00:40:00] question for me. It is when I turn it internally, um, I do, I I agree totally. I mean, what we were talking about this earlier, weren't we that, um. When it comes to success. In fact, why don't you tell people I said to you, we're gonna talk about success and failure. What was the first thing that came into your head? Sharon: Um, there's a par Was it the parable that mm-hmm. Is that the one you're referring to? Yeah. There's a parable that Jesus told about, um, a man who was going away to another place to be made king, and he was gonna then come back again. But before he went, he gave out, uh, different amounts of money to different people, um, with the idea that they invested it for him while he was away, so that when he came back, the investment would've increased. So he goes away and comes back and, um, one of the servants comes to him and says, look, I've invested this money, I've got all this. I've made it work for you. Here's your money back with the extra. And another one came and did the same. And then another one was like, oh, I was a bit, I was [00:41:00] scared. I was scared of you. So actually I've just sort of hidden the money on a shelf and I'm just giving you back what you've. And, um, the king was really angry about this 'cause he's like, you could have at least just stuck it in the bank if you weren't gonna do anything else and got some money back. Um, and I think the thing that we were talking about was that there was a different amount given to each person. They weren't all given the same thing. Mm-hmm. Video: Um, Sharon: but they were all expected to do something with what they've been given. And, uh, we were just talking about how in life we, we don't have all the same gifts and skills or the same personality or, um, any of those things. And it can be easy to, I guess, look at other, like, compare ourselves with other people and go, oh, well they've, um, you know, I, I can't do what they're doing. Or, um, yeah. And just not to do anything. Um, but that whole sense of actually we have, God has given us something and we are meant to [00:42:00] do something with it for him. Um. Yeah, I've kind of forgotten where I was going with that Now. Do you wanna pick up on that? What bits of moments? Matt: I think that's, I think that's exactly right and that was the bit we were talking about is actually in the parable of the talents. Not everybody was, was given the same thing. And I think, um, I think that's important to note actually. And in, in the kingdom of God, people are given different talents and they are given different amounts of talents. I've not been blessed with the talent to sing, right. I just, I just haven't, it's a small thing for me as much as I'd like it to be bigger. Um, but my talent, it seems is in digital and that's what we do at work and that's, you know, where we've ended up with Crowd. And so now I'm not, you know, Ogilvy, I'm not some big meat multimedia agency that's turning over millions of, got loads of stuff. But what we do is we make use of what we've been given and the talents that we do have, and we work hard with those. Um, [00:43:00] and I think that was the other point of that parable, wasn't it, that we were, we were pulling out that actually. You, you, there are different talents given to different people, different amounts, but ultimately you have to work with what God has given you. You, you can't just sort of hide it away and just, you know, either protect you or protect you or not do anything with it. You've, you've actually gotta do something. Mm-hmm. Uh, which in a world which is try very hard to avoid. The to-do list is, is quite an interesting conversation to be having right now. That for, for me, that whole parable is a mixture of god's, God's gift, God's grace, and my hard work. Do you know what I mean? And, and somehow making all of that Yeah. Come together. I think Sharon: it's as questions we can go off into extremes of, uh, we can go to the extreme of, well, God loves me regardless and, uh, he's gracious and he's loving, so I don't need to do anything. Or we can have the opposite extreme of trying to. Work really [00:44:00] hard to get his favor, but I, I think the Bible brings actually both of those together. It brings that, um, it's like God is the one who gives us identity. He gives us unconditional acceptance and love all through Jesus. But at the same time, we are then expected to go and do the, do his work on earth. We're not just meant to just like, sit by ourselves. And, uh, it's the same with money. He does bless us with things. Uh, the Bible talks about how God meets all of our needs according to his riches. So he, it's like he gives us what he needs, but it then goes on to say so that you've got an overflow to give out to other people. So again, it's getting that balance between, um. Not hoarding everything to yourself, but making sure you share it. But then avoiding the other extreme where we don't take any time for ourselves or enjoy any of the things God's given us because we are so busy giving [00:45:00] it away. I think the Bible brings quite a good balance to, well, all areas of life really. Matt: Yeah, that's a very good point. Very good point. And again, just bringing this back, there's a really interesting parable in Mark's gospel called the Parable of the Sower, and this is where Jesus talks about how a man goes and sows seed and he sows it in different places by the wayside, and it gets devoured and it in shallow soil and it springs up and has the, I mean, we talked about the Bible saying it's like bearing fruit and it has this sort of quick, you know, springs up, but because it has no root, it has the appearance of success, but there's no root, there's no character, and so it quickly dies away. We see that a lot in the modern world. And then it talks about, um. The, the person that sort of has root, has developed success, kind of builds, but the things around them also build and sort of slowly choke off, like the deceitfulness of riches, the, the care for the things and, uh, the, the, the worries of this world, the anxiety of life. And it kind of [00:46:00] chokes things. But the interesting thing about this parable is it says, and then some bare fruit, some 60, some 30, and some a hundred fold. And I find that fascinating as well, because we will, we will have different levels of fruitfulness or different levels of success. And Jesus seems fine with this. It's almost like it's been ordained. Do you know what I mean? That, um, that we will have this sort of different level of success. Uh, so yeah. Just throwing that one out there. Now, Nicola said Video: mm-hmm. Matt: Um, in the comments, uh, I, I, I read out a little list, I dunno if you remember, of things that the Bible says that we are to bear fruit in. Mm-hmm. Um. And I read out what is affectionately known in the church world as the fruits of the spirit. In other words, the, the things that happen in you and should happen in you and through you as you walk with God and grown the things of God, one of which was self-control. Uh, and Nico Lipt, his self-control is a tough one. Uh, and one of the comments I said was that [00:47:00] success, a biblically successful life is marked by self-control, uh, which I find quite fascinating. So Nicholas put his self-control as a tough one. Anything to add to that? Sharon: I think possibly different ones of us will find different ones of those. Things on the list a challenge. I think for some people it might be self-control. For other people, it might be patience for, yeah. I'm trying to remember what the list now is, but yeah, I, I do suspect that we've all got slightly different ones that we struggle with on there. And I, I think that is where we need God's grace, isn't it? I Video: think Sharon: all of them are not about, like, seeing this list and going, right, I've gotta be these things. Now it is like, okay, God, I really need your help in this area. You've gotta do something. And we cooperate with God, but we, we let his spirit work in us. Uh, because I don't think we can just change ourselves just by putting a lot of effort in. Matt: Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, it's [00:48:00] very, very true. Very true. But self-control I think is probably, for me, one of the trickiest ones, uh, out of all of them, uh, especially when it comes to a packet of biscuits. But that's another story. Um, Matt says here to the question, are you successful? He said, yes, I am successful because of God's grace. Sharon: Mm-hmm. Matt: Yeah. Which is what you were just saying really, wasn't it? Sharon: Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. It is. It is by God's grace, isn't it? That? Matt: Mm. Sharon: We are able to do any of this stuff. I Matt: think so that's a lot about success. Let's talk about failure for a little minute here, um, because that was the second half of the talk, um, was talking about failure and this idea maybe that a, you probably have to redefine it, I think because mm-hmm. Um, I, for for many years, um, talked about success and failure as binary. Success was good, failure was bad. Do you wanna throw any further thoughts into this idea? Sharon: Yeah, I think, um, so I'm a, a teacher. I teach, [00:49:00] uh, women who can't speak English to speak English. Um, one of the things I've noticed with a lot of them is that when they make mistakes and get stuff wrong, it's like they're apologizing. Um, and it's not, it's not a moral failure. So it's like, why are you apologizing? You, you don't need to apologize for this, but there is this kind of thing of, I've gotta get it right all the time. But actually, um, on the training course to be a teacher, one of the things that you're taught is that actually failure is a positive and that when your students fail, if you can just help them. If you can point out like, oh, there, there's a, there's a problem with this. And get them to think about, okay, what is the problem? Get 'em to try and work it out for themselves and like figure out the answer. Actually, by doing that and having, having made the failure and having them to correct it and work it out and wrestle with it, actually the learning goes deeper. Uh, so it might not be as instant, but actually long term that is better. And when different students make [00:50:00] mistakes in front of each other, actually it allows the whole class to learn from that because they're like, oh, they have to think why was that wrong? Um, and then correct it. Um, yeah. So we're actually taught that that is a positive in that scenario. Matt: Yeah. And it is interesting. That's what you are taught now because I think for the longest when I was at school, you had to, you know, the, the thing that they taught you was to color between the lines and that that actually wasn't very helpful, uh, for someone like me. Um, so yeah. It's interesting, isn't it? And this redefining failure, especially if we've experienced failure and things that have gone wrong or gone badly, I just, and this is where God's grace comes in. It is just got, it's not the end. Do you know what I mean? And it's not the end of the story. So Sadaf here has been busy on YouTube, comments, writing all kinds of things. Um, so, uh, she said today's topic made me think of King David, who had many successes, but also fundamental failures. [00:51:00] Yes, he did. Uh, he failed as a father and as a king. Uh, in fact, he's failed as a man of God as well. But that, you know, we can get into a whole bunch of stuff about how David failed. Um, but he also had a lot of successes. But he said, I, she says, I love the charge he gave to his son Solomon, who again, had lots of successes, but a lot of failures. I mean, there's, you know, there's a lot going on here. Uh, and the charge that David said to his son, uh, I've got it up here, one Kings two, two, I am going where everyone on Earth must someday go. That's an interesting way to say, I'm, I'm, you know, I'm off. Um, take courage and be a man. Observe the requirements of the Lord your God, and follow all his ways. Keep the decrees, commands, regulations, and laws written in the law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go. Now what's interesting about this is, uh, that [00:52:00] when Solomon did that, he was actually successful. When he veered away from that, that's when he became a bit of a plonker. Um, uh, it's what it says in the mat translation. And so what do you think, babe, about this whole idea of, um, about this charge that David gave Solomon? So observe the requirements of the Lord your God and follow in all his ways. Keep the decrees, commands, regulations and laws written in the law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go. What do you think that that means for us in modern day England, uh, and the rest of the world? Sharon: I think it means that because God is the creator, he has set. Up the way that the world works. So he knows the best way for relationships to work for our business, for our bodies. He knows the best way for everything to work. So when we're listening to him and cooperating with him, [00:53:00] we're flowing with how things are created to be. So there is that sense that is gonna be more successful. It doesn't mean that everything's gonna be easy because we've also got this sense of that actually because of, um, sin in the world. Actually. There's that element of where the, the world is broken. So we've got these two things all the time. Um, and I think there is a differentiation between the, the moral things and the moral failure is a bit different to, um, like maybe learning a new skill and. Like you are failing at that. Moral failure is more of a, like a rebellion against God. Video: Mm-hmm. The Sharon: other failure that you've been talking about is more, we're trying new stuff and, you know, we're getting out of our comfort zone and actually we just keep making mistakes in it. I, I think those two things are different as well. Matt: Yeah. Sharon: I'm not sure if I've gone off the [00:54:00] question now. Matt: No, no. I think it's a very, very good answer. Um, they always say that, uh, what's it, faith is spelled RISK, um, or risk, uh, if you're like me and can't actually spell. Um, but, you know, you can't really have faith without taking a risk and risk implies that there's a possibility of failure. But I think you're right. I think God has a created world order. And when we work with God, when we pursue his purposes, which in my, you know, we talked about this, the definition of success, pursuing the things and purposes of God. Um, which again, just as an aside, we, we were talking about this earlier and we are gonna do a, uh, a session on what does the Bible say about calling and purpose, because it's very, it's all very well and good saying actually success is. Fulfilling the purposes of God for your life, but it's like, how do I know what they are? So we're gonna get into that. So make sure you subscribe and stay tuned as we get into all those kind of things. Um, so Nicholas put here, my point about self-control is that I'm incredibly good at helping people, but knowing when to say no and not be used is a tough one [00:55:00] that I don't always succeed in. And this is fascinating because actually what Nicola is saying here, actually the areas that I'm good at, I'm successful at, I can also fail at. Do you see what I mean? And actually, some of my greatest strengths can be, be my greatest weaknesses. Video: Yeah. Matt: Uh, and I think that is very insightful, Nicola, uh, very insightful. Sharon: And I think that's true for a lot of us, isn't it? Where our strengths can tip over into that of being our weakness as well. It's like if you've got someone who's really, really compassionate, um, which might be where Nicola is coming from as well. Um. You being compassionate isn't a great thing, but actually you can let other people's troubles weigh you down and that's not a good thing. Um, and then somebody else who might be like, uh, on the opposite end of the scale, who might be really, um, much more logical and uh, [00:56:00] less emotional, might not get pulled down those lines, but then actually can't always relate to where people are at. So yeah, and I think that's where we need other people around us to help share their strengths so that they, they can teach us a little bit and yeah, cover our weaknesses, help cover those for us. Matt: Absolutely. In fact, Nicola's written in the comments, yes and yay. Uh, and on the subjective community, if you, uh, don't have a church and you, but you want to get a bit more involved in Crowd, we would love to see you. We have a weekly, uh, small group. Uh, we do them online so you can join in from anywhere in the world. Uh, and, uh, yeah, it'd be great to see you. If you wanna know more, do drop as a line. Uh, you can do that via Crowd Church, the website, um, or you can do it via the WhatsApp number, which is also on our website. Just let us know. Uh, if you would like to join in, uh, we do them on Zoom, so, you know, feel free to join in. So finally, we've got a few, you've got like 60 seconds to answer this one last [00:57:00] question. You ready? No pressure. No pressure. But here we go. Biblical success is the transformation of our inner lives. Comment go. Sharon: Sounds great. Matt: Yes. Uh, in assures yes, Sharon: yes, yes. The short answer is yes, and I think yeah. But then, uh, it's like the inner life then out works into everything that we do. Matt: Absolutely. Yeah. It Sharon: starts with the nm word life and then works out. Matt: Absolutely. Sharon: Great comment. Whoever said that, Matt: that, uh, said that obviously. Uh, so yes. Uh, to use a biblical terminology, a tree is known by its fruit. So if the tree is good, you have good fruit. If the tree is bad, you're gonna have bad fruit. So, uh, what's on the inside has to be good and strong. So yes, a biblical success is a transformation of our own lives, especially when you think about the fruit of the spirit, uh, which we talked about earlier. So, whew, that was a quick answer to that question. I feel [00:58:00] like we could talk about that for much longer. Right. Let's end it right there. So. Uh, that is the end of Conversation Street. Thank you, babe. That was an i, a very fun conversation. Welcome. Always liked talking to you. Uh, it's always fun, Video: quite like, uh, we should, Matt: we should probably do it more often now. The kids are leaving and going to uni. We're gonna have to, aren't we? So, um, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's another, you know, what does the Bible say about how to do life once the kids have gone to university? That's what we're looking at at the moment. Anyway. Uh, next week, uh, we are looking at the topic of cancer. Can you believe it? What does the Bible say about cancer? Now, obviously, I say obviously, um, it doesn't actually use the word cancer, but what from the Bible can we learn? What principles can we learn? Uh, if we have cancer or if we know somebody that has cancer, uh, phenomenal, uh, topic to get into. Next week is gonna be slightly different because we're not gonna have a talk per se. I get to [00:59:00] interview. Uh, the beautiful and amazing Annie Edin who had breast cancer. She's a Christian, uh, and, uh, in fact they, her Tony's been on the podcast before and they both lead the church down in London, say on the podcast, on the live stream before. Uh, and so she gets to share her story. We managed to take a 50 minute interview, condense it down to 20. We will be sharing the full interview in due course and I'll be joined by Chris and Sue Holcomb, uh, who I'll, like, I'll let them explain next week why they're hosting, but they have a lot of knowledge about cancer and the medical aspect of things. So we're gonna get into the medical side. We're gonna get into Crispin, and we're gonna mix all of this together and come up with next week's livestream. I'm totally looking forward to it 'cause it's quite an unusual topic. To do in a church service. Um, but you know, it's one that we're gonna do. So babe, uh, how are we gonna close out the service? Sharon: We've got another song coming, uh, and I can't actually remember what it is, but I'm sure it'll be great. [01:00:00] Matt: The song Yes, is called Grace Alone. Once the song has finished, the live stream will end automatically. So this is gonna be it from myself and Sharon. Thanks so much for being with us. Uh, bless you. Like I say, if you wanna know more about the midweek community that we do online, please come join us. Um, uh, get in touch. You can see the web address there. Actually above Sharon said, not above my head, but Sharon said, great to see you. Yeah, yeah, Crowd Church. The WhatsApp number will also come upon the screen as we do the worship. Uh, but yeah, hopefully we will see you next week. Thanks so much for joining us. Bye for now. Sharon: Okay, bye.