TRUSTING JESUS
24 July 2011
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 14:22-33
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
-- one time Mark Twain was on a visit to the Holy Land with his wife and they were they were staying in Tiberius on the shores of the Sea of Galilee -- It was a moonlit night and the weather was perfect -- and Twain got the romantic idea of taking his wife for a boat ride on the lake.
-- They walked down to the pier by the hotel -- and Twain asked a man sitting in a rowboat how much he would charge to row them out on the water for a little while -- Twain was dressed in his usual white suit, white shoes, and white Texas hat
-- The oarsman looked at him for a moment and evidently decided that he must be a wealthy rancher from the USA -- and he said, "Well, I guess about twenty-five dollars" -- which was an awful lot of money then -- Mark Twain thanked him, and, as he turned away with his wife on his arm, he said, "Now I know why Jesus walked!"
[modified from: Ward Williams, "Walking on Water," SermonNotes.com]
-- this morning I wanted to take a few moments to look at the familiar story of Jesus walking on the water -- this is a miracle that most people are familiar with, even if they are not Christians or don’t read the Bible on a regular basis -- everyone knows the story of Jesus walking on the water
-- but the problem with such stories is that they become too familiar and we lose the mystery and the majesty of what is going on -- so I wanted to take some time to look back at this passage with fresh eyes to see if we can glean any new insights into this old familiar story that we can apply to our lives as we seek to follow Christ
-- before we turn again to this passage, let me take a moment to give you the context and background for this story -- the story of Jesus walking on the water is found in three of the four gospels -- Luke is the only writer who chose to leave it out
-- it happens in the middle of Jesus’ ministry on earth -- we find Jesus on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, probably somewhere near Bethsaida -- and just so you know, sometimes in the Bible you’ll see the Sea of Galilee called the Lake of Genessaret, which is what the Romans called it
-- Jesus has spent the day preaching and teaching the people on a hillside -- but now the day is drawing to a close and the sun is starting to set
-- this has been a day that brought lessons on faith and trust -- not only to the crowd, but also to the disciples -- Andrew and Phillip’s faith had grown as they had watched Jesus do the impossible that day -- when they tried to encourage Him to send the crowd away so they could find something to eat, Jesus took the offering of a little boy -- five loaves of bread and two small fish -- and multiplied them to feed the crowd of over 5,000 people
-- but even though the crowd is fixing to be sent home, the lessons aren’t over -- and now the time has come for the rest of the disciples to learn more about trusting Jesus in all situations
II. Scripture Lesson (Matthew 14:22-33)
-- let’s pick up the story in verse 22 and see what we can learn from this familiar story
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.
-- in one of Aesop’s fables, we read the line, “familiarity breeds contempt” -- the truth of that is no more evident that it is in these verses
-- we read here that Jesus went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray -- that’s something that we see throughout the gospels -- time and time again, Jesus would separate Himself from the crowd -- He would leave His disciples behind -- and He would go off by Himself to pray
-- we’ve seen it so much that we tend to look right past it -- we want to skip ahead to the action -- but this is the action -- this is the real point that is going to be made in this passage
-- everything Jesus did -- everything Jesus said -- all pointed to this moment -- just pause for a second and think about what is happening when Jesus goes up on that mountainside by Himself to pray
-- He is going to God to be reconnected and recharged so that He can continue to minister on earth -- Jesus, who was fully man and fully God, needed to get close and stay close to God in order to live a life pleasing to Him here on earth -- and, if Jesus needed that, then how much more do we need that in our lives?
-- how many times do people come looking for you and they are told, “they’ve gone off to be by themselves and pray?” -- if you’re like me and you’re honest with yourself, that probably doesn’t get said about you very often -- too often our prayers are reactive and not planned like Jesus’ -- we pray when we have a need -- we pray when something goes wrong or when we’ve been taught it’s time to pray, such as before meals -- but we fail to set aside a moment everyday to just go off by ourselves and spend time with God in prayer like Jesus
-- the theme of this entire story about Jesus walking on the water is that we have to stay close to God to get through life -- and that’s what we see modeled for us here in these verses
-- look back at the second part of verse 23
Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
-- here we see the disciples out on the boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee -- it is somewhere between 3:00 and 6:00 am -- but, they’re not asleep because their boat is getting tossed about as they try to make their way to Capernaum -- the wind is blowing and the waves are crashing and they’re all alone out on the sea at night
-- but still, they’re not really afraid -- remember that four of them were fishermen -- Peter and Andrew -- James and John -- they’ve been on the sea in conditions like this before -- they know what they’re doing -- and the other disciples know they have nothing to fear -- they’re putting their faith in the skill of these four fishermen and in the boat they are sitting in
-- but, in the midst of all this, they look out into the night and they see a man walking on the waves and now they get scared -- and I can’t blame them -- think about it -- you’re out there in a boat -- crashing up and down in the waves -- water and wind blasting you in the face -- and it’s pitch black and you can’t see a think -- and all of a sudden, you see a person walking on the top of the water by your boat -- who wouldn’t get scared?
-- Matthew says that they cried out in fear and that Jesus immediately spoke to them -- before we go on, think for a moment about that phrase, “they cried out in fear” -- what does that really mean? -- think about a time in your life when you were in a scary situation -- maybe not even a life or death situation -- but a time when something was going wrong -- you lost a job -- you had a wreck or your car broke down in the middle of the night and you didn’t know what to do -- you were helpless -- what happens then? -- probably, you prayed -- you cried out in fear and said, “God, help me”
-- I think that’s what’s going on in this passage -- when it says the disciples cried out in fear when they saw a man walking past their boat, I imagine their cries were more along the lines of, “God, help us” -- and what happened? -- Jesus immediately spoke
-- when you call out to God -- when you draw near to Him, He draws near to you -- and He immediately comes to you -- that doesn’t mean He’s going to take away the problem or make everything immediately better -- but He’s going to be there with you to take away your fear and to give you the strength you need to continue
-- verse 28
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
-- by all accounts, Peter was the one who had the deepest faith of all the disciples -- he may not have understood everything -- he may not have understood all of Jesus’ teachings -- but he believed -- he had faith
-- and when he realized that this ghostly figure was Jesus, he had one thought in mind -- not to walk on the water -- I don’t think that was Peter’s burning desire -- Peter wanted to be with Jesus -- he wanted to get close to Jesus and getting out of that boat and walking on the water was the only way to do it
-- a lot of times, Peter gets a bad rap in this story -- we read that he got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came towards Jesus -- but when he saw the wind and the waves and realized what he was actually doing, he got scared and began to sink -- and we hear all these messages talking about Peter’s faith and his lack of faith
-- but, think about this -- as the disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee in the midst of the wind and the waves, what were they putting their faith in? -- the boat and the skill of the four fishermen with them
-- and what did Peter do? -- he got out of the boat -- that first step speaks volumes about Peter’s faith and trust in Jesus -- just like the others, he had been trusting in that boat to get them safely to land -- but, when he saw Jesus, the object of his faith changed -- he didn’t worry about that boat anymore -- he didn’t rely on it anymore, because he knew that Jesus would take care of him if he could only get to him -- and if that meant walking on water, then that was what Peter was going to do
-- that’s the point that Jesus is trying to get all of us to -- to stop relying on our boats and to step out and come to Him and trust in Him with everything that we have
-- what boat are you depending on today? -- is it your bank account? -- your family? -- your job? -- your intellect? -- your looks? -- your resources? -- where is your faith?
-- I was in a finance meeting in a church one time, and it became painfully obvious what boat this church was sitting in -- they would not take on a project or a ministry if the money wasn’t already available to cover it -- they refused to step out of their financial boat and to trust that Jesus would take care of them
-- that’s one thing about Peter -- as Jesus said, he may have had little faith, but he had more faith than the 11 who were left sitting in the boat
-- notice once again what Jesus did when someone cried out in fear -- when Peter saw the wind and the waves and began to sink, he cried out in fear and immediately Jesus reached out for him -- this is a promise from God -- when we cry out to Him, He immediately comes to our aid -- when we come towards Jesus, He comes towards us
-- look at what happened -- Peter started to sink and Jesus reached out and caught him and said, “you of little faith -- why did you doubt?” -- now, a lot of people see this as a rebuke -- they read this as Jesus taking Peter to task for sinking in the waves and not trust in Jesus
-- that’s not the way I see it -- I kind of see it as a parental moment -- I remember taking Brooke down to Kim’s parent’s house in Florida when she was really little -- they had a pool at their house, and Brooke had never been in a pool before -- she was so small she had those water wings on -- and we were trying to get her to try to swim
-- most of the time she would just cling to us and we would carry her around the pool -- but one time, she got brave and tried to swim from Kim’s father to me -- just a few feet -- and she was a doing a good job, but all of a sudden, she was just like Peter -- you could see the panic set in -- she got afraid once she realized what she was doing and she cried out and I reached for her and drew her in -- and I remember laughing and saying, “what happened? -- you doing so good” -- that’s what I think happened here with Jesus and Peter
-- I think Jesus was laughing when He said this -- I think He reached out and grabbed Peter’s arm and pulled him up and kind of chuckled, “Peter -- you were doing so good -- why did you doubt?” -- I think Jesus was proud of Peter in that moment
-- Peter may have had little faith, but he had faith -- and Jesus said if we had faith as small as a mustard seed, we could move mountains
-- we read in verses 32 and 33 that when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down, and everyone worshiped Jesus, saying that He was the Son of God
-- let me ask you a question -- how did Peter get back to the boat? -- did he swim? -- when he began to sink and Jesus caught him, did Jesus make him swim back?
-- no, Peter walked back to the boat -- even after being afraid and starting to sink, he still walked on the water back to the boat and climbed in -- how? -- how was he able to do that? -- because he was with Jesus
-- when we are with Jesus, we can do anything -- when we are with Jesus, we can do the impossible -- when we are with Jesus, we can move mountains and walk on water
-- Peter was able to turn around and walk back to the boat because he was with Jesus -- and how did he find Jesus? -- he left the boat and went off by himself to come to Jesus
-- more than anything, that is the take-home message in this passage -- we have to follow the example of Jesus that we saw in verse 23 and the pattern of Peter that we just read about
-- in order to walk with Jesus, we have to go off by ourselves to pray and seek Jesus where He can be found -- we have to listen for His voice -- we have to look for His presence -- we have to seek Him and ask Him to let us come to Him -- and when He says, “come,” we have to get out of our boats and step out on faith and go where Jesus is
-- just one more point and then we’ll bring this to a close -- look back at verse 32
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down
-- when did the wind die down? -- after Jesus climbed into the boat
-- why is that? -- why didn’t Jesus calm the wind when Peter stepped out? -- here Peter is trying to step out in faith and all Jesus had to do was say one word and the wind could have stopped and the sea could have been calm and smooth as glass -- but He didn’t
-- and then, when Peter was in His arms and they were headed back to the boat, why didn’t He calm the wind? -- think about it, while all this is going on -- Peter getting out and walking on the water and Jesus catching him, that boat is still being buffeted by the wind and waves -- it is still being tossed up and around all over the place -- why didn’t Jesus do something about that?
-- because He was trying to make a point -- we’re going to go through storms in our lives -- we’re going to get buffeted by winds of change and waves of doubt -- we’re going to go through hardships in our lives -- it is in these times that our faith is developed -- it is in these times that we learn to trust in Jesus
-- and, then, when He knows that we trust Him -- when He knows that we depend on Him in all situations -- when He knows that we are with Him -- then the winds will die down and the storms cease
-- Jesus let the winds continue to buffet the boat so that the eleven remaining disciples might learn the same lesson that Peter was learning as he walked on the water -- we can make it through anything with Jesus at our side
III. Closing
-- what we do in any given situation says more about what we believe and put our faith in than what we might say
-- there are many people in this world who claim to follow Christ -- there are many people in this world who claim to have put their faith in Jesus -- but when you look at their lives, you see they’re really putting their faith in their boats and not in their Creator
-- Jesus wants us to reach the place where we depend on Him and put our faith and trust in Him in all situations -- when the sea is calm and the weather is nice and when the seas is rough and the winds and the waves are buffeting our lives
-- our natural tendency is to trust in ourselves and our resources -- to put our faith in the things of this world rather than in God -- we build our boats out of materials like families, intellect, looks, finances, and education -- and we ride through life saying we trust in Jesus but never getting out of the boat
-- Jesus calls us to step away from the crowd -- to get out of the boat and to get by ourselves and to seek Him -- because the only way for us to truly succeed and to make it through this life is by staying close to Him and having faith in who He is and what He has done for us
-- so, as I close today, I want to encourage you to take a step of faith -- get out of your boat --whatever it may be -- and come towards Jesus -- trusting that He will do the impossible through your life
-- let’s pray
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