Young Adult Vision Night 2026 (2)

Matthew 14:22-33

Introduction

Question: Have you ever stepped into something new knowing you weren’t ready, but trusting the person who told you to go anyway?

Story: The first thing that came to mind for me was bombing my first hill on a bike. My best friend growing up was the opposite of me, he was outgoing and adventurous. I was reserved and cautious. He always pushed me out of my comfort zone. When you got to the end of the street he lived on you could veer right and go to his house or go straight down this extremely steep hill to another house. This friend of mine challenged me one day to hop on his bike and go down this hill. I reluctantly said yes and with no helmet I started down the hill. I knew I had never done this before nor was I really ready to do it. I overcame that initial fear because I trusted my friend. This story doesn’t end well, I was going so fast that I froze and instead of focusing on the road, all I could look at was the ditch that was coming at me. As you know, our bodies follow our eyes so I smoked this ditch and went flying over the handle bars. Be careful who you trust.

Think about kids swimming for the first time. The past couple of summers my oldest son has been taking swimming lessons and I got to watch him jump off a diving board for the first time and swim to the ladder. Why did he initially jump in? His swim instructor was in the water waiting for him and to help him. He trusted her with his life! Thank you Claire Justus.

If I had to boil down today’s message to one word it would be trust.

Transition:

To help us understand the power of trust but more importantly the power of the object of our trust we are going to read the story of Jesus and Peter walking on water in Matt. 14:22-33. If you have your Bibles or phones please turn there with me.

MPT

This is what is going on in this short narrative; Jesus, immediately preceding the feeding of the five thousand, sends his disciples into a storm and walks on water to reveal their faith in Him and his identity as the anticipated Son of God.

Read the Text

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 14

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone. 24 Meanwhile, the boat was already some distance from land, battered by the waves, because the wind was against them. 25 Jesus came toward them walking on the sea very early in the morning. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and they cried out in fear.

27 Immediately Jesus spoke to them. “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

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

29 He said, “Come.”

And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those in the boat worshiped him and said, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Context (v. 22-26)

General Context

Matthew 14 falls into the timeline of Jesus’ Galilean ministry that focused on the towns surrounding the Sea of Galilee. He is performing miracles and boldly proclaiming the good news while calling people to repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus is progressively becoming more and more polarizing and his opposition is becoming more and more intense. Jesus has been training up his disciples and taking opportunities to reveal to them specific truths about his ministry, teachings, and his identity. To this point, Jesus has only been rightfully identified as the Son of God by God himself at his baptism and Satan in the wilderness at his temptation. His disciples still have not fully wrapped their hearts and minds around his deity.

Specific Context

Within this specific text the word “immediately” is repeated three times. It separates the text into three distinct sections and we are going to focus on verses 22-26 first because it provides the setting for the main idea and supporting points that will come from the middle section.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 14

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

Immediately preceding what? Outside of the passion events (Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection) in the four gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) only one other event is recorded in all four gospels which is the feeding of the five thousand. Matthew writes in a more chronological order and states in chapter 14 that Jesus had just recieved the news that John The Baptist was beheaded. JTB was a distant relative, he baptised Jesus, and he was the one who prepared the way for Jesus’ ministry. Jesus responds by seeking a remote place to be alone to spend time with the Father in prayer. Because his ministry was so polarizing, crowds were following him and heard about where he was going to find solitude. Jesus having compassion on the crowds, takes time to heal the sick and miraculously feed the 5,000 men (not including women and children) with five loaves and two fish. Jesus then sends his disciples away by boat and dismisses the crowd in order to seek solitude to pray as he initially planned on doing. The text here states that Jesus prayed well into the night and that the boat was some distance from land. One commentator states that the disciples could have been in the boat anywhere from 6 hours or more without Jesus in the middle of the night. John’s gospel records that the disciples had rowed three or four miles and Mark records they were in the middle of the sea. The sea of Galilee is vulnerable to severe windstorms that cause violent and turbulent conditions on the water. The sea itself is a low-lying body of water that is surrounded by steep mountains. The cold downdrafts from the mountains mix with the warm air over the sea to create chaos in minutes. The boat was getting rocked. The word battered (v. 24) can also be translated torture or torment. The wind was against them, they were exhausted, and their leader was not in the boat. Two important things Jesus does in this section. First, Jesus made them get into the boat that would experience difficulties. The word made is a strong verb and can also be translated compelled. Jesus seeing their distress and hardship (second thing) came toward them in a way that only he could by walking on the sea. The disciples don’t see Jesus but a ghost, an apparition and they are terrified. Not a great night nor a great ending to the miracle of feeding the five thousand for the disciples.

MIS

Trusting Jesus through a posture of worship moves us to go where He calls.

Point One

Trusting Jesus to climb out of the boat

(v. 29) “And climbing out of the boat”. Why can Peter climb out of the boat because Jesus clearly reveals himself and invites Peter to come to him.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 14

27 Immediately Jesus spoke to them. “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

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

29 He said, “Come.”

Some of you may still be stuck with the thought that Jesus made them get into boat and face the storm. It is through the storm that Jesus draws near to them and reveals himself. Maybe you are asking why all the chaos and drama, isn’t there a simpler way to do this? My response back is why are we so stubborn and hard of heart? We should marvel at the lengths that Jesus goes to draw near to us and call us to himself. Jesus says have courage and don’t be afraid but that is only possible because he states “it is I”. This self revelation has direct similarities to how God revealed himself to Moses in Exodus three.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 3

13 Then Moses asked God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?”

14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM., This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”

Peter in true Peter fashion answers this revelation by giving us a peak into the doubts they were wrestling with because he states, “Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to you on the water” and Jesus simply says one word, “come”. Young Adults, we are not Peter or the original disciples. We have the Word of God that clearly reveals Jesus and his invitation to us to follow him wherever he leads. The question is, will we get out of the boat? The boat is representing safety, security, and comfort. Of course you want to be on a boat in the middle of the sea being battered by waves but Jesus’ presence is not in the boat. Are we willing to leave our comforts to draw near to him? You can’t accidently climb out of a boat, you must trust him to step out.

Point Two

Trusting Jesus to take the steps

(v. 29) “Peter started walking on the water”. Jesus did not call Peter to do something he himself had never done before. It was Jesus who first walked on the water and it is Jesus who gives Peter the ability to walk on the sea. As far as we know, only two people have ever walked on water, Jesus and Peter. Also, this is of course the first time Peter has ever walked on water. How did Peter walk on the water? One step of faith at a time.

Illustration: I read a book last fall on Christian Leadership and the author asks ministry leaders to consider if they are giving their people a menu or a map. A menu is a list of items or things that you consume while a map shows a path to a certain destination. He asks leaders if they are waiters or tour guides? I have a heart to be a tour guide, to give you the map with the destination being Christ and to help you walk out that trail one step at a time. But you have to take the steps.

For someone of you I truly believe God is calling you to do something or go somewhere where you have never walked or gone. Do it by faith, trusting him every step of the way. We cannot forsake the small steps because they lead to the big steps. Some of you just need to devote daily by reading your Bible and engaging in prayer with the Lord. I believe the biggest impact one will have in their church or small group hinges on their personal devotion or their abiding relationship with Jesus because it starts there. John 15: 5, “I am the vine, you are the branch. He who abides in my bears much fruit because apart from me you can do nothing.” Maybe its sharing with that coworker or family member that God has burdened you for, maybe its sharing that burden in your life that is plaguing you with the people you are in community with. Maybe its just being more consistent in your Life Group and giving rather than just consuming. What is that next step in your faith?

Point Three

Trusting Jesus by looking solely at Him

(v.29) “Came toward Jesus”. You cannot come toward something if you are not looking at that something or someone. Jesus first came toward the disciples therefore, Peter is able to come toward Jesus by fixing his sight on Him. He is the reason we do everything that we do. All of the serving, lesson prepping, praying, and encouragement is all for him. Hebrews 12:2 states,

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 12

2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Illustration: There is a game we used to play when I was a coach at a summer soccer camp called the Gauntlet. We would take groups of kids and line them up to run through a line of other kids and coaches on either side who had soccer balls. The kids and coaches on the side had one goal and that was to kick the balls and hit the kids running by. The kids running one goal was to get to the end without getting hit by a ball. Just imagine that I gave you all balls and decided to run down the aisle while you tried hitting me (don’t get too excited). The kids easiest to hit were those that looked at the sides trying to dodge the balls coming at them. The kids hardest to hit were the ones who just looked at the finish line and ran. For us, Jesus is at the finish line and some of us aren’t looking at him but at all the distractions and pleasures of life and we are not drawing near to Him. Peter looked away at the strength of the wind and his trust can replaced with fear and he started to sink. Some of us are looking at Jesus but still fill like we are sinking because life is just hitting us hard. Either way, Jesus is faithful to reach out to us and take a hold of us when we cry out to him for salvation. Nothing can separate us from his love.

Vision:

I believe God is calling our ministry to get out of the boat, take that next step in faith, and keep our eyes on Jesus. We have to do this with each other in biblical community. Sometimes we can’t see the rungs to get out of the boat so we need friends to throw us out. Sometimes we need friends to help us discern that next step and take the steps with us. Sometimes we need friends to remind us to look to Jesus and to race toward him. There is a difference when Jesus is in the boat and not in the boat. There is a difference when the presence of Jesus is Lord over your life or not. When he is not in the boat there is chaos, turmoil, and they are ruled by fear. When he is in the boat there is peace, worship, and devotion. This is the first time the disciples confess Jesus as the Son of God. Is Jesus the Son of God the object of your faith and at the center of your worship?