Following the Way of Jesus (6)

The King is Among Us - He Walks on Water!

Matthew 14:22–33 NIV84

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

This passage begins with an ordinary boat ride at the end of an amazing but busy day where Jesus’ had fed “five thousand men, besides women and children” with “five loaves and two fish” and ended in an equally amazing feat of observing Jesus and then Peter walking on water.

Figuratively, to “walk on water” is to perform an impossible or godlike task: “So, asking someone to complete some kind of difficult task or project by a certain iminent deadline might make someone feel as though you were asking him to walk on water.”

Humans, ordinarily speaking cant walk on water! because the force of gravity overcomes the so-called “surface tension” of water, making us sink.

So this is clearly a miracle and no one but a God could perform it and the disciples knew this which is why they respond so awesomely to the greatest revelation to their souls, that they have had until now, falling down to worship Jesus saying, “Truly you are the Son of God” (v. 33).

Now, this was not the first time Jesus had been referred to in this way!

the Father had said this of Jesus at His baptism (Matt 3:17) and

the demons at Gadara acknowledged Him, however reluctantly as “the Son of God” (Matt 8:29).

However. this was the first time the twelve unequivocally declared their Master Jesus, to be God’s Son, which took them one styep further from Mark 8:27 when they had observed Jesus calming the storm and said: “who is this, that even teh winds and waves obey Him”(Matt 8:27).

So this miracle, provides positive proof to the disciples that Jesus is more than just a man and in this passage we see a series of events which demonstrates that He was indeed, “the Son of God”; God manifest in the flesh!

A. WE LEARN HOW GREAT A KING HE IS!

1. He was in complete control of events - “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. ”

The passage suggests some reluctance on the disciples part here - Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side.

They were after all tired at the end of a long day and the crowds, though they had been dismissed by Jesus would still be mingling round and needing support.

Also, perhaps the wind was picking up and the waves were beginning to foam, and so understandably they were reluctant.

And, Jesus? He ”went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.” All the while keeping his supernatural eye (because John tells us they were about “three and a half miles away”(John 6:19) upon the little boat that was in difficulty on the Sea of Galilee!

Can you imagine how the disciples must be feeling?

Bewildered? Frustrated? Disillusioned? Afraid? - Yes, all of this and more because they were here because of their obedience of Jesus and rowing for their lives!

And, here they are facing the prospect of death in this dark and wild arena, whilst the only one who could save them was safely back on shore?

And remember their belief that Jesus could save them was not wishful thinking,

They were aware of His power to master the elements for He had previously calmed a similar storm, when He “rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm” (Matt. 8:26).

But now He was miles away and there appeared to be no way He could get to them.

2. He is in complete control of natural elements - “During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

The night was divided into four watches to be observed. The first was from six to nine, the second from nine to twelve, the third from twelve to three, and the fourth from three to six. So “the fourth watch of the night” was a time just before dawn, indicating the disciples had been at sea for at least nine hours, most of the time battling the wind storm. Can you imagine how exhausted they were?

And now they are “terrified” by what they thought was a “ghost…walking on the lake”.

In their moment of crisis, faith understandably was failing them.

Their faith history was full of stories of the Lord intervening to protect His people through seas and storms and rivers. Their songs and Psalms speak of the Lord’s great power over teh forces of nature and His protection in extreme ciurcumstances.

They had forgotten how Jesus had informed them about their heavenly Father knowing all their needs before they asked Him (Matt. 6:32) and that not even a single sparrow “will fall to the ground apart from your Father” and that “the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matt 10:29–30).

All they could think of was their danger and all they could feel was fear.

But Jesus had not forgotten the disciples, and He came to them through the very danger that threatened to destroy them, walking on the sea.

He could not physically see them from the mountain or through the stormy darkness, but He knew exactly where they were and He says to them, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

God’s vision is not like ours, because “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good” (Prov. 15:3).

“There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13).

He knows us! His eye is upon us.

“Why should I feel discouraged, Why should the shadows come, Why should my heart be lonely, And long for heaven, heaven and home, When, when Jesus is my portion, My constant Friend is He; Oh, oh-oh, his eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watched, watched it over me.

I sing because I’m happy (happy) I sing because I’m free (free free free) For His eye, his eye is on the sparrow, And I know, I know He watches over me.”

3. He has the power to save us, whatever the extremity of our situation - “Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.....Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Jesus did not walk on the water to teach the disciples how to do it.

Peter tried after all and failed; and there is no record of any of the others ever doing it at all. No, the Lord walked on water to save them in their great need!

Jesus did not have to walk on the water to save them, but His doing so gave them an unforgettable reminder of the power and extent of His divine protection.

It was not to teach them to walk on water but to teach them that God can and will act on behalf of His own.

This reminds us that Jesus is willing to do whatever is necessary to rescue His children, in their distress!

We will never find ourselves in a place where Christ cannot find us; and no storm is too severe for Him to save us from it.

He protects His own! He will never forsake His own (Heb. 13:5). However dark the night; however rough the storm of our lives; however threatening and frightening, we are never beyond our Saviour’s care or His reach!

And indeed, even when impetuousity and curiousity gets the better of us, as it did with Peter here, and even if the disciple are beset with “little faith” and are guilty of doubting, even then Jesus is willing and ready to reach out a hand and save us from our own foolishness. After all weak and little faith is better than no faith at all!

4. He is Worthy of our Worship - “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

The most spectacular miracle was accomplished without Jesus saying a word or raising a hand.

The moment He and Peter got into the boat with the other disciples, the wind stopped. It was as if the wind was simply waiting for the miracle to be finished; and when it had served its purpose, it stopped.

Just as instantaneously, “the boat was at the land to which they were going” (John 6:21). Astonishing! They had been three and a half miles out to sea and the storm was still raging as fiercely as ever; but in an instant it stopped and the boat was at its destination.

On the basis of normal human experience it is hardly surprising that the disciples “were greatly astonished” (Mark 6:51).

But the disciples had been having astounding displays of Jesus’ miraculous power for two years, and for them these remarkable events should not have been astonishing.

We learn from Mark that their amazement resulted from their not having “gained any insight from the incident of the loaves”—or from Jesus’ earlier stilling of the storm or from any other great work He had done—because “their heart was hardened” (Mark 6:52). Yet in that moment those same hearts were softened and those eyes opened as they had never been before; and those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”

They were now more than simply amazed, as the crowds and they themselves had always been.

They were taken past amazement to worship, which is what Jesus’ signs and miracles were intended to produce.

At last they were beginning to see Jesus as the One whom God highly exalted and on whom He bestowed the name which is above every name, and at whose name “every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9–11).

B. WE LEARN HOW TO ACT AS WE EXERCISE FAITH IN OUR KING!

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

We know that Peter could be brash and impulsive.

He often spoke before he thought things through and he was too confident in his native qualities of strength and loyalty to sustain him through faith’s trials.

nd ultimately though his adventure in faith, failed here, his actions arose out of a loving heart; a confidence in Jesus and His divine abilties and his real joy at this sudden and unexpected delivery from death!

Indeed he did not recklessly jump into the water expecting to be able to walk on it; he asked for permission and received it!

He knew Jesus had the power to enable him to walk on the water, but he did not presume to attempt the feat without His express instruction. Peter’s request was an act of affection built on confident faith.

It’s important for us to grasp this, for though Peter can be faulted for many things, we must not fail to see the love, courage, and faith than so often motivated his actions.

Even though he showed brashness and later cowardice in the arrest and then in the trial of Jesus, denying his Lord while in the courtyard when challenged by a servant girl, Peter was nevertheless there, as close to Him as he could get, evewn whilst the rest of the disciples had fled.

And again at the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter’s suggestion “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Matt. 17:4). though misinformed and misguided, arose from a genuine devotion of Jesus and a sincere desire to be with Him!

And then when Peter resisted Jesus’ washing his feet it was not because of pride, but because, in his deep humility, he felt so unworthy of the Lord, stooping so low to wash his feet! Indeed, when Jesus explained the significance of what He was doing, Peter said, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head” (John 13:9).

Peter’s faith was enough to get him out of the boat, even if it was not enough to enable him to walk on water for very long! This shows that Peter was a man of faith! His longing was to be with Jesus and to follow in His footsteps, however difficult the way because wherever Jesus was, there Peter wanted to be, so if that meant walking on water, bring it on!

This is so very instructive for us as followers of the way of Jesus.

John Ortberg wrote an excellent book entitled, “If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat!” which provides the believer with wonderful lessons on discipleship and becoming the people Jesus calls us to be.

Ortberg draws an analogy in this way – The boat is where you are now. The water is the next step you need to take in your Christian journey to get to where you need to be, BUT to get there, you need to get out of the boat.

Once we get out of the boat, the Lord will take us where our faith will allow us to go, and when our faith fails us, we will begin to sink. At this point, we call out to Jesus to “save us” and He is there, revealing his care, compassion, power and faithfulness to deliver us from the trial opf faith. It is in trials of faith that we discover the limitations of our faith but also the unlimited measure of the grace of Jesus Christ to deliver us!

John Ortberg says: “The decision to grow always involves a choice between risk and comfort. This means that to be a follower of Jesus you must renounce comfort as the ultimate value of your life.” ― If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat

1. To grow in our faith in King Jesus our faith needs to be tested!

Sometimes even by being severely tested as in this case! - “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, that God has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12).

We walk by faith, not sight(2 Cor 5:7). And the purpose of the gospel is to bring us into what Paul called, “the obedience that comes from faith”(Rom 1:5). Because of our love for Jesus and our desire for the glory of God we want to walk with Jesus and obey Him. To become like Him! This creates within us a restless energy in which we like Paul, “press on” to know Christ more - Philippians 3, “to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”(Phil 3:8-14).

2. To grow in our faith in King Jesus our faith is stimulated by discontent!

To grow in our relationship with Jesus we can’t be content with where we are now. We need to get to know Christ even more; to get out of the boat. Just as when Peter saw Jesus, he became immediately dissatisfied with being in the boat, because he wanted to be with Jesus, and so even if foolhardy, he at least had the faith and courage to walk on the water and go toward Jesus. All of the apostles could have gotten out of the boat that night, if they wanted to be with Jesus badly enough, but only one did!

If we are to grow in our relationship with Jesus we can’t be content with where we are right now on our journey with Him, we must have a desire to change, move to next level, to grow spiritually. We must love God so much we want to step outside our comfort zone. What the writer to the Hebrews called “going outside of the camp, bearing the disgrace that he bore”(Heb. 13:12-14). The camp is a secure place; safe, comfortable, in which we can hide but outside we are vulnerable, at risk and clearly identified as a follower of Jesus!

But the wonderful thing is that when we put ourselves on the line for Jesus, Paul reminds is of His all-sufficient grace to help us in our weaknesses - - 2 Cor. 12:9-10 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

3. To grow in our faith with Jesus, we must overcome our fears!

We know that Peter successfully walked on the water until his fear became greater than his faith, and he began to sink. He did however overcome his initial fears and got out and that enabled him to move on just a little in his journey of faith.

He overcame his fears by focusing not on himself but His Lord who said to him, as he would say to us: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

And has he been able to retain his faith and focus on Jesus he would have stayed afloat! - “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Fear is inevitable, sometimes necessary in life but in our Christian lives, Jesus, whilst acknowledging that fear will be a problem to fight; faith is the anitidote to fear - “Do not be afraid” is the repeated refrain of the Bible and Paul enjoins the Christian in Philippians 4:4-6 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

We will be afraid sometimes, but we can’t allow fear, even the fear of death to paralyze us into inaction or prevent us from doing the good things that we should do, as God commands us. In 1 Jn. 5:4, the Apostle says: “this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” For John talks about the love of the world as “the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.” but our faith teaches us that “the world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:15-17.

Peter like the others had feared death in the darkness of the storm and yet amazingly now, he sees Jesus walking on water and he is not afraid of dying anymore - at least for a brief moment. His faith overcame his fear!

4. To grow in our faith in King Jesus we must stay focused on Him!

The next thing we can notice from this incident that to grow in our relationship with Jesus, we have to stay focused on Him, even as we get out of boat, bcause if we take our eyes of Him we can so easily sink!

as soon as Peter changed his focus away from Jesus to the waves, he began to sink!

Heb. 12:1-2 commands us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”, not on things of the world, like the “sins that easily entangle” and tangible and physical issues that may not be sinful but are part of this life andits frustrations but rather focus on the reward in heaven, the finishing line, where Jesus is!

If we are to keep walking on the water of life, we must focus on Jesus and ignore the distractions of sin that want to pull us down, as Paul puts it, we are enlisted in the army of Jesus and find out how to please our “commanding officer”(2 Tim. 2:4).

5. To grow in our faith in King Jesus we need to recover quickly from our failings!

And finally, as we grow in relationship with Jesus, we acknowledge that we will sometimes “sink” but the lesson from this incident is that, Jesus will catch us, restore us and we can move on!

Peter began well, then his faith failed him, but he never gave up! He kept doing his best as a faithful servant of Jesus; triumphing in faith and sometimes failing, big time but he became one of the “pillars” of the Early Church and Jesus said of him as He confidently annouced that He was “the Christ, the Son of the LIving God” that, “you are Peter, and upn this rock, I will build my church”(Matt 16:16-18).

“Failure does not shape you; the way you respond to failure shapes you.” ― John Ortberg Jr., If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat

And so we learn from Peter that failure does not need to define us as disciples of Jesus. When we fall down, we get up again and in our walk with Jesus, we draw near to Him again and seek to give Him our best! Aware of our weakness and inadequacies but equally aware of the grace and strengh that God supplies to provide us with “everything we need for life and godlienss in our knowledge” of Christ(2Pet 1:3-4).

Conclusion:

The journey of faith is not easy. There will be storms; you will experience dangers; ther will be fears as we lay our lives on the line for Jesus. But let us elarn this from the Apostle Paul, when writing to the Corinthians, he described his life is this way - “I die every day”(1 Cor. 15:31). He laid his life down on the line for Jesus every day. To stick with the analogy, Paul like Peter kept getting out of the boat, to become a better follower of Jesus!

So let’s look again at Phil. 3:7-21, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.ess toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

As Christians, we must get out of the boat every day, and do better in our service to God never stop trying, never stop pushing ourselves until we cross the finishing line, “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

“A career may end with retirement and lots of “toys.” A calling isn’t over until the day you die.” ― John Ortberg Jr., If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat