Untitled Sermon (5)

Matthew 14:22–33 ESV

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 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. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Christ sends the disciples into the boat ahead of Him and He dismisses the crowds. I am not too sure why they did not row the boat back to Jesus as it drifted. Maybe Christ told them to leave Him behind and that He would catch up, but regardless of what was said Jesus was left behind as the boat drifted away taken by the waves caused by the wind.

Jesus commands the environment. We have seen where Jesus has caused the winds of a storm to become calm. Which wind is caused by massive differences in temperatures of the earths atmosphere. Hot air pushes up and colder air rushes in to take its place which causes wind. So calming a violent storm is far more impressive than just causing the clouds to disappear. Then we see Jesus healing those who are sick, those who are afflicted by blindness, deafness, and are lame, and we even see Him bring the dead back to life. So Jesus has control over the body. Now we find Jesus doing the impossible. Walking on water. You may have seen videos of people skimming across water, you may have seen videos of people running into water appearing to be able to walk on the surface for a moment, but it is all an illusion. No one can walk on water. Water is a liquid, and a liquid will always give way to a solid when the solid is heavier than the surface tension of the liquid. Paper may float on water, but a human cannot. As a human would place their feet in the water, the liquid molecules would move. Jesus, being the controller of the universe, likely (in my mind at least) caused the molecules to obey Him and held together enabling Jesus to walk on them. Not turning into a solid as would be ice or some other form of solid, but rather held their Master in the air.

As Jesus approaches the boat, the disciples respond as any reasonable human would. “Its a ghost!” Anyone ever see a ghost? Unlikely. When our body expires, our souls depart this world. We either enter the joys of our Master, or we are cast out into outer darkness (depending on where you have placed your trust). So was it a ghost? Certainly not. This was Christ that they were seeing.

-Why do you think that disciples minds immediately went to “its a ghost” rather than realizing that it must be God walking across the water? After all God is with them and has performed many miracles before their eyes. I’ll tell you. Remember when Jesus fed the 5,000, then He turned around and fed the 4,000? When He fed the 5, the disciples said “how are we going to do this??” Then He did it with leftovers. It came to the 4,000 and what did they say? “How are we going to do this!?” What do you mean how? Jesus just showed you how, but they did not believe. They did not understand. They were not paying attention, and their hearts had not fully grasped it yet. God was with them.

Jesus announced that it was Him, and Peter replied “If it really is you, command me to come out there to you.” It seems as if Peter was a little sceptical here, but I believe Peter was simply wishing to partake in the experience with Christ. He had enough faith that it was Christ that he got out of the boat and stepped down into the water were he would surely drown had it not of been Jesus on the water.

Peter was an experienced fisherman. He would have been cautious of a storm, but so long as you are in a boat and the boat stays intact then you should be good. Standing on the water itself was something no human had ever done…EVER. Peter had gone where no one had gone before. Halfway through his journey between the boat and the Lord, though, he panicked. He began to look around at the series of events that were at hand. He saw the large waves and the wind and clouds. He felt the rain and the spray of the sea hit his body as gusts of wind blew across his body, and he became afraid. As he focused on what was going around him he began to sink. He began to slip into a perilous situation. He had one resort. Cry out to the Lord for help.

Jesus immediately rescued Peter. He did not let him sink, He did not even let his head go under water. Jesus grabbed Peters hand, and pulled him back to his feet the moment he cried out for help.

Where were the other disciples? They were in the boat. Did they have the courage and the faith to step out in the waters? No. But Peter did. Peter did not fail in this story. He lost focus and became fearful in the situation, but he had the faith to step out and he had the faith to cry out when his luck had ran out.

In life, if we have faith, we are going to have to step out of the boat onto the choppy waters. Each turn of life is highly uncertain. We have aspirations of how we want things to go, how we want things to turn out, but nothing is for certain. We have to have the faith it takes to step out or we will never get anywhere. Just as the other disciples never had the water walking experience with Jesus as Peter did, we will never have our own water walking faith filled experience if we do not walk out in faith.

If God saves you from all of the hard times before you go through them, how will your faith grow? If you do not lift weights (Or at least heavy items) you will not grow stronger. If you do not run regularly you will never be a track star. If you do not read and write, you will never write a novel. If you do not practice______ then you will never be successful. If God does not lead you into difficult situations from time to time then your faith will not grow and be strong as it should be. When we walk out in faith, things will likely get rocky at times, but the Christ who called to walk out in faith will surely help you through the tough times. Peter did not fail when he began to sink, he just lost focus. When life starts to bare down on us, and we begin focusing on the waves the rise higher and higher, do not be afraid to cry out to Christ as Peter did. He will be an arms reach away.