"From Here to There: Get Out the Boat"

Propositional Statement

God can use one person who desires to get out of the boat to change those in the boat.

Introduction

David Wells wrote:

“Movements must exhibit three characteristics: (1) there must be a commonly owned direction; (2) there must be a common basis on which that direction is owned, and (3) there must be an espirit that in forms and motivates those who are thus joined—their common cause.”

The church, God’s body in the earth tasked with carrying on Jesus’ ministry has been through a myriad of seasons. After the descent of the Holy Spirit, the church began in the upper room with approximately 150 members. Time progressed and the church began spreading throughout the known world at that time. There are fifty two (52) where the “church” gathers to worship, but the questions is how many weeks do we spend “outside” the walls doing the ministry of evangelism and outreach. Its funny how we want people to come to “church” but they never see “church” outside the walls of the sanctuary.

The Winds of Change

The ministry of Jesus is spreading, confirming what John the Baptizer said in John 3:30:

John 3:30 ERV

He must increase, but I must decrease.

Subsequently, John the Baptist is beheaded by Herod and his head was delivered to Salome on a platter for her to look at. Jesus grieves over his cousin’s death, withdraws to pray, but the crowds still follow him, thus he heals those who were sick among them. He challenges the disciples to feed the hungry crowd, but all they had was a sack lunch. Jesus provided for the crowd and they had twelve (12) baskets left over, showing that God does supply our need according to his riches. Jesus instructs his disciples to get in the boat and go over to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. While Jesus went up to the mountain, a place of peace and revelation, his disciples were on the sea which in the Old Testament is a place of terror. While he prayed, the disciples were met with the “perfect storm.” They were in God’s perfect will, indicating that obeying God can sometimes lead to rough sailing. Nevertheless, it can only reach you by diving design and permission. Mark’s account says that Jesus saw them as they were “making headway painfully (Mark 6:48). Jesus’ seemingly absence from his disciples does not mean he was not mindful of their needs. No doubt Jesus is interceding for them, as Paul told the Roman believers (Rom. 8:34). Jesus comes walking to them on the sea in the midst of the battering waves and whipping winds, which was the source of the disciples distress. The waves and wind that battered the boat is the same thing that Jesus walked in and on. Whatever has you in distress, Jesus’ presence in the midst of it shows his divine authority. While the disciples panicked painfully, in their panic they see a ghost that looks like Jesus…it is strange how we seek Jesus in our panic, and when he appears we still live in a state of panic. Jesus comforts them first, then he addresses their circumstances.

Desire

In the midst of the wind and a boat full of panicky disciples, Peter desired validation for his faith by making a seemingly impossible request to “come to him on the water.” All twelve disciples were gripped with fear in the boat but it was Peter who desired walk on the water like Jesus. Peter didn’t want to merely be protected from trouble; he wanted to experience something with Jesus that he’d never dreamed possible. It would seem that Peter’s request was tinged with doubt, but really it was saturated with faith. Most would translate at first glance that Peter is doubting, but he is actually asking Jesus to “enable me to do the same thing you are doing.” He refers to this ghost as “Lord (κύριος), one who exercises supernatural authority over mankind. At this point, Peter even before confessing him as Christ, saw Jesus as “Lord” who has all authority. “How you view Christ during chaotic seasons determines how your address him in the chaotic season.”

Peter is to be commended for his belief that Jesus could make him walk on water, but his confidence was that of a baby just learning to walk. Twice in Matthew, the hypocrites would ask for a sign to back up Jesus’ claims (12:38-45; 16:1-4). Both times Jesus denied them, because he knew they would not believe him even if he provided the sign. He had not come to put on impressive shows in an attempt to create faith where none existed. However, faith did exist in Peter, although it was small. Jesus, like a patience parent teaching a baby to walk, allowed Peter this demonstration of his power to nurture Peter’s faith to the next level of maturity. He commanded Peter, Come. The word come here is erochmai (ἔρχομαι), meaning to proceed on a course, with a destination in view. “The real revelation here is that in telling Peter to come, both he and the water had to obey the Messiah-King.”

Practical Application: The desire to be and do like Christ is in every Christian, but it takes a real desire test your “sea legs.”

Distraction produces doubt

Jesus agrees and Peter steps “out” of the boat and “on” the water no doubt against logic and doubt that existed in the boat with the other disciples. Even before he takes that step out of the boat, the other disciples possibly tried to keep him in the boat based on their assessment of the situation. The waves were beating on the boat and the men as a result of the winds that were blowing at the time. There were plenty of reasons to stay in the boat that no one would fault Peter for staying and trying to battle the winds and the waves. There were plenty of reason to stay with the other disciples and continue panicking and bailing water out of the boat. There were plenty of reasons to stay in the boat because was Peter really sure that was Jesus, or had the winds whisked away his perception or reality. People in the boat will find reason to keep you in the boat, but you have to have a reason to step out and on the water. As Peter walked, Matthew says that Peter “saw” the wind, became afraid, and began to sink. The tension here is that Peter was willing to withstand the “wind” in the boat, but he became afraid when he stepped out in the wind to walk. What Peter could see with his physical eyes, became larger in his mind than what can be seen only through the “eyes” of a faith-filled heart. There is a healthy, respectful fear we need to have before the Lord (Prov. 1:7), but the fear we feel toward anything that seems bigger than the Lord is a sign of small faith. Peter begins to “doubt” not in Jesus’ ability, but in his ability to continue due to the strong winds blowing around him rather than the water below. The word “doubt” (from Greek distazō) suggest the idea of trying to go in two different directions at one or of serving two different masters simultaneously. Peter’s underdeveloped faith feared the storm more than the Lord, so the Lord allowed him to sink into a dark, angry sea. Jesus was always teaching his disciples. Every moment, every conversation, and every demonstration were intended to develop his church’s foundational leaders.

In that moment of terror, Peter called out with the most basic expression of faith possible to save him. The word save is soza (σῴζω) meaning to rescue from danger and to restore to a former state of safety and well being. The Lord loves that kind of of cry, because it is a sign that the person has come to the end of self-reliance and realizes there is nowhere else to turn but the Lord. Whether from the unbeliever who knows he is helpless on his own or from the believer who has been self-striving for years and has only met with frustration and failure the simple cry. (Ps 18:16; 69:1-3; 144:7). Jesus answered Peter’s cry immediately by reaching out grabbing him. The issue here was not the amount of Peter’s faith, but Peter’s culpability. The smallest faith in the right object is effective. Jesus was chiding Peter, not his faith. The problem was that his faith was supplanted by doubt. In all this time, even Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends, had not learned to trust the king fully.

Practical Application: Distractions create doubts that act as weights to cause us to sink in what Jesus empowers us to walk on.

Deliverance leads to Worship

God had evidently sent a storm primarily for this test, for the wind stopped as soon as Jesus and Peter climbed into the boat. Jesus Has Authority to Settle Any Crisis (14:32) As soon as they enter the boat, the wind grows still. Stilling storms was a sign of God’s authority in the biblical record (see Davies and Allison 1991:509–10). The disciples may recall an earlier occasion on which Jesus simply commanded and the storm died down (8:26); this time, however, the storm acts out of respect for him—apparently without so much as requiring a word on his part11 This a sign of Jesus’ authority, and it indicated the lesson was over. Followers of Jesus in fact regularly experience a combination of faith and doubt. For now, however, Matthew wants to focus on the positive side of the disciples’ response and on the proper answer to the question of who Jesus is. There is a new reverence and understanding of Jesus reach a new high. Jesus is the very Son of God, exercising prerogatives reserved in the Old Testament for Yahweh himself (Job 9:8; Ps. 77:19). Why would Jesus intentionally let his followers go through such a fearful situation? Look at what happened when he saved them. The disciples worshiped, proskyneo (προσκυνέω), to express in attitude or gesture one’s complete dependence on or submission to a high authority figure, (fall down and) worship, do obeisance to, prostrate oneself before, do reverence to welcome respectfully. God appreciates our baby steps of faith, but as we grow he expects more than baby steps. When we recognize Jesus’ works, thereby learning more of his character, the appropriate response is to worship him. This will deepen our relationship of faith with the Lord we love.