Comfort Zones

Comfort Zones (IN STORMS)

Matthew 14:22–33 (ESV)

22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,

24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.

25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.

26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear.

27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.

30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”

31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Introduction

Comfort Zones are defined as a place or situation where one feels safe or at ease and without stress.

Comfort zones are not bad things, sometimes they are necessary.

We find rest in comfort zones. We find nourishment. We find encouragement. We find everything we need to survive. So there are times God will place us somewhere that meets all of these qualifications and give us REST. And Rest is a GOOD THING.

However, it is when a comfort zone becomes your only boundary of living that it crosses from healthy and good, to unhealthy and crippling.

So many times I’ve heard that statements from good meaning, Godly individuals, “I’m just to uncomfortable to do _____”

witness

serve

talk to my neighbor about Christ

etc

Our modus operandi becomes “I’ll do— WHATEVER keeps me feeling SAFE, SECURE, COMFORTABLE”

However, we need to understand Comfort Zones can be misleading. And by that I mean literally. A Comfort zone can MIS LEAD you into a path that leaves you spiritually dull and without power.

Sermon after sermon has been preached on this topic, and specifically this portion of scripture. So there really isn’t much about this story or topic that we don’t already know.

So, today my intention is not to bring out some NEW TRUTH, but rather to remind us of an old one.

Sometimes in order to do the things of God and in order to GROW in Faith, you’ve got to step out of the boat. and GET OUT of your COMFORT ZONE.

An interesting bit of information about this story is actually in regards to the proceeding timeline.

Just before the story in our opening scripture we find the story of Jesus feeding the 5 thousand, however what happened right before this was the death of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist.

Matt 14:13 ESV

13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick

So here we have Jesus who had withdrawn to pray and most likely grieve the loss of his cousin, but the people wouldn’t let him.

They followed after him, but we don’t find Jesus rebuking them.

Instead we find in the other gospels that he healed them and ministered to them. Then when it was getting late his disciples came to him and told him to send them away so they can eat.

However Jesus tells them “They need not depart, give ye them to eat”

They responded that they only had “5 loaves and two fishes” and Jesus told them to bring it to him, and He blessed it and broke it and fed the multitude. Then when it was all said and done there was 12 basket full of leftovers.

It was after this entire ordeal that Jesus retreats to pray and sends his disciples onto a ship. The bible says then the winds began to pick up and were ‘against’ or contrary to the boat, and as night was coming to an end Jesus came to his disciples walking on the water.

After some back and forth Jesus call’s Peter out of the boat. You see because there was this tenacity about Peter that I think Jesus really liked. Peter wasn’t happy with the status quo, he wasn’t happy just getting by. There was this deep seated desire to experience the things of God, and he showed he was willing to do whatever it took.

And Peter initiated the calling. Peter said “LORD, if it be you- CALL ME!”

While everyone else was sitting on the boat, in the storm- AFRAID of what COULD happen on the outside of the wood and pitch that was keeping them afloat.

Peter said- if the Lord is OUT THERE, that is where I WANT TO BE.

If the Lord isn’t in the boat- then the boat really isn’t that safe.

But if the Lord is in the middle of the STORM- then there is no place safer.

It wasn’t and couldn’t of been an easy choice for Peter to step out of the comfort and protection of the boat he was in. That boat was a symbol security in there present condition. That boat was their protection. It was the only thing keeping the him from drowning in the water that they was surrounded by.

But nevertheless Jesus said... COME. And Peter stepped out.

Now say what you want about Peter “He had little faith” or “He’s impulsive”

But, let’s just be honest that one act of stepping out showed way more faith than we have at times. He may have got his eyes off of Jesus, but he still stepped out of the boat.

There are times in our lives when God will set us up for an experience to take us where we’ve never been before. You see, being the creatures of habit that we are, it’s so easy to get into a place where we begin to coast in life. We get into a routine. Things are going pretty good. We’re in a comfort zone. And before we know it, we begin to stagnate.

We aren’t really challenged by anything. We are at EASE.

Amos 6:1 ESV

1 “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!

So, the Lord comes along and creates situations to help us to grow and go beyond where we’re at in our walk with Him.

I sort of feel this is where the disciples were. They had already experienced so much of what Jesus could do, but it still every time left them in awe, because they weren’t yielded yet to Jesus.

Mark 6 tells us a different perspective on the same story and after Jesus gets back into the boat it tells us their hearts were ‘hardened’ and they considered not the miracle of the loaves.

So even though Christ had just performed this amazing miracle of feeding 5000+ people. They failed to fully understand and grasp the significance of the miracle. They remained unmoved or resistant and closed off to the message conveyed by it. It speaks to a lack of willingness or resistance to the spiritual and transformative power of the experience.

It was almost like they were SHOCKED Jesus could do this, after seeing EVERYTHING that he had already done and after seeing him just take 5 loaves and 2 fishes and feed realistically over 15000 people.

Why were they so amazed? Because their hearts were hardened which in the original just means ‘unyielding, cold or callused towards’. They hadn’t submitted to Jesus. You see, you can “follow Jesus” and still be un-submitted.

There are plenty of people that go to where Jesus is: church, bible study, etc. But remain having a hardened heart towards God.

But in order to step out of the boat and your comfort zones, you’ve got to soften your heart(yield) to God... because His call is going to take you to uncomfortable places with GLORIOUS outcomes.

Had it not been for this call to Peter who knows if he would have ended up preaching on the day of Pentecost.

It is in Luke 9 we find AFTER the feeding of the 5000, which preceded this event , Peter confesses to Jesus that He is the Christ the Son of the Living God.

It is in our “out of the boat” experiences, its when we “get out of our comfort zones” that God is trying to deal with us and show us who He really is, so that we can say to him “Thou are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”.

Our experiences may lead us to feel like we are drowning in our lives. Maybe there is a storm going on right now in your life, and then suddenly it feels like God is calling you to “step out” of the one thing that brings you peace, because He is trying to show you that if you don’t step out of the boat, you’ll never know what it’s like to walk on the waves of your storm, hand-in-hand with your God.

Peter got to walk on top of the very things that would ensure his demise. But when he trusted in Jesus and stepped out, even though he lost focus for a second, Christ was there through it all.

And He will be there through it all in your life as well. He seeks and desires sincere people that are willing to step out of the boat of safety and comfort and willing to do something “crazy” so that you can see growth in your life.

But the amazing thing is as well, this brings revival. Had it not been for this experience, there may have never been Peter’s confession and without that confession Peter would have never had his Pentecost. Out of the boat situations can lead you to a Pentecost experience.

None of this happens without Christ transforming the inner person of Peter. And none of this happens without Peter making the choice “No More Comfort Zone Excuses”.

Even if I’m going through a storm, even if there is wind raging all around me.

Even if the boat is lulling me into false security, it is safer on the raging seas, in the calling of Christ, than tucked in with the rest of the disciples.

Comfort zones are okay for a period. But they only prepare you for growth, they do not grow you.

Growth comes through stepping out. Growth comes through putting the spirit of man into subjection to the Spirit of Christ.