Walking on Water

Matthew 14:22–33 NLT

22 Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. 23 After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. 24 Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. 25 About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” 27 But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” 28 Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” 29 “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. 31 Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” 32 When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

Intro:

To provide some context the setting of today’s narrative is that Jesus had just heard of the death of His cousin and partner in ministry John the Baptist.

So Jesus headed to the mountains to pray and before He had an opportunity to properly grieve there were already large crowds following Him.

Then Jesus performs the miracle of the fishes and loaves were with just five barley loaves and two small fish Jesus blessed it and multiplied it so that tens of thousands of people were fed with plenty of food left over.

It is at this point that today’s lesson begins with the Bible stating that Jesus insisted the disciples get back on the boat and cross over the lake without Him while He stayed and sent the people home. The disciples were obedient and did as Jesus asked. After the people left Jesus finally had an opportunity go to the hills and be alone with the Father in prayer to worship and properly grieve the death of John the Baptist.

There are times saints when we need to deal with something very painful in our lives such as a loss or a need and the Lord will call us to do something for others while we ourselves are suffering in our situations.

This is not because we should suppress our feelings because the Bible teaches the opposite for example in

1 Peter 5:7 ESV

7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

However part of spiritual maturity is knowing that serving others and being obedient to God does not get put on hold because of our personal pain. The work of the Lord is much bigger than our individual experiences.

In the natural this may seem impossible but as mature Christians we know the Lord is always with us in good times and challenging times.

Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV

6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

The Lord will never leave us or forsake us, and we also know that the Lord cares about us and if we are hurting.

I actually have written an entire sermon on this topic and while we could go in depth my point to you today is, we still keep working while we are hurting at times in our walk.

But the good news is the Lord will still always provide us with the time to seek Him and be alone in His presence so that we be healed, refreshed, and grieve if needed.

This is exactly what Jesus did when He wanted to grieve for John the Baptist but instead performed the miracle of the fishes and loaves, sent the disciples away to cross the lake and then stayed after until the people went home. It was at that point that Jesus took advantage of some alone time with the Father which He needed.

The Disciples Were in Trouble

Verse 24 tells us that while Jesus was praying alone it became nightfall and the disciples were now far from land and were fighting heavy waves and strong winds.

Can you imagine how scared and isolated they must have felt fighting strong storms in the pitch-black night? Sure Peter was a fisherman and had no doubt spent a lot of time on that lake. But even fisherman who know the waters and use good judgement on when to go out and when to return to shore will concede that there are times when out of nowhere a heavy storm hits and even in our present day can present great danger for a small boat.

Also some other disciples like Matthew for example were not fisherman at all so while the Bible does not say specifically, this storm could have presented a life or death situation to the disciples.

Has any of you ever done your best to follow the Lord and then found yourself in a situation that was seemingly too intense to handle or faced with obstacles completely out of your own control? I am not talking about times where you may have struggled with holiness or not been clear about what the Lord was saying to you but rather times where you were certain you were following the instructions of the Lord and then at some point during the process you felt isolated, overwhelmed and like you are fighting heavy waves and wind caused by things you do not have control over.

This is the situation which the disciples are in and simply put they are in trouble.

Have Ears to Hear

Verse 25 states that about three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them walking on the water. The disciples were scared and thought He was a ghost until Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid” and “Take courage I am here!”.

Jesus is directly telling the disciples that He is with them and that everything is going to be ok.

God does this for us as well. When we feel isolated, overwhelmed and are dealing with the storms of life Jesus will speak to us and tell us not to be afraid and to be brave because He is with us. As believers we need to learn how to be aware and listen to these messages as well. Please hear this Pastor today, the Lord speaks to us in three primary ways which are by His Spirit, by His Word and by His people.

So might I suggest to you today that the times you are dealing with storms is the absolute worst time to withdraw from church, the reading of His word or worst yet praying and spending time with Him. You see if you are not around His people in church or reading His word which is the Bible or praying and seeking Him in the Spirit than you are much more likely to not receive the encouraging word that Jesus has for you which is I am here, I care and everything is going to be ok.

Faith to Leave the Boat

In verse 28 Peter calls to Jesus by saying, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” Jesus then tells Peter “Yes, come.” So Peter has enough faith in the Lord to do the remarkable which is to step out of the boat and walk on the water.

Can you imagine the faith which Peter must have had to do such a thing? I mean here he is in the middle of a terrible storm and He sees the impossible which is Jesus walking on the water and then asks the Lord if he can join him. I have heard many people over the years say things like they told the Lord that they would go wherever He told them to go and do whatever He told them to do but to leave a boat and attempt to walk on water knowing you could easily drown brings that trust to a whole new level in my opinion.

We will discuss the faith of Peter in more detail shortly but if I can take a moment to say that it takes tremendous faith just to get out of the boat in the first place and for those who chose to trust the Lord and step out of their comfort zone on any level keep up the good work because your efforts are pleasing to the Lord.

You see nowadays, many people are quick to judge the ministry or walk of another believer based purely on physical results. That is because we are a data driven society. We all too often even treat spiritual matters like a business.

I am not putting down anyone because the people who I am talking about are good Christian men and women and do love Jesus and love people but the mindset in the modern church many times is business driven.

And while I do understand that we should do everything with excellence and be good stewards of all the Lord entrusts to us I have said it before and I will say it again that the business of the church is not business it is fulfilling the Great Commission and reaching the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and building communities of believers who reach and disciple other believers who plant new communities of believers who reach and disciple new believers and so on and so forth. Amen!

So do not ever be frustrated or feel less than someone else based on physical results alone but rather look at the things that matter most which is are you doing your best to step out of the boat, trust Jesus and do what you feel like He is calling you to do.

Keep Your Focus on Christ

29 “Yes, come,” Jesus said.

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.

31 Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

32 When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

These verses clearly demonstrate that when we focus on the storm or our circumstances instead of focusing on Jesus then like Peter we will start to sink.

You see Peter was walking on the water until he observed his situation with the natural eye instead of with the supernatural eye. Nothing else had changed only what he chose to focus on.

As we know problems and difficult times will come to all of us in this world. And while we talk about our problems some of the mountains, we need to move are so big that we tend to disqualify ourselves from the possibility of real lasting change.

However, as Jesus told Peter our real issue is a lack of faith.

It is not that we do not have any faith because we do have the faith that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and we have been saved.

Some Christians however will have even more faith to take action and to step out of the boat and begin to walk on the water. And we all say that we believe that the Lord can do anything yet so much of the church does not walk in victory. It is because we need more faith.

So how do we grow our faith?

Romans 10:17 ESV

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

This means the quickest way to grow your faith is to hear the word of God. Well how do you do that? Simply put by reading your Bible, attending church services, and praying in the Spirit.

You see what happens many times is we focus on the problem and forget that Jesus Christ is the solution to every problem. He and He alone has the power and authority to give us eternal life and to fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we may continue His work until He returns.

The Lord is always there for us and will help us when we call on Him but we should get to the point where we know His character and trust Him completely that while we may be in the storm we too can walk on water not because of who we are but because of how good He is.

Let Us Pray

Thank you for joining me and remember our joy is in Jesus!