Water Walking 101
Matthew 14:22-33
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/WaterWalking.html
This is the second storm we’ve come to in our Matthew study. The first was in chapter 8 when Jesus was asleep in the boat and the disciples woke Him up crying, “Master, we perish!” That message was called “The Storm Before the Calm.”
At least Jesus was present in that storm, but this time He’s nowhere to be found. His presence is not apparent. And we all go thru storms where it seems God is not in it, and cannot be reached. What do you do then?
4 Assurances:
1. Jesus has allowed this storm to be.
v. 22 “Constrained” is a strong word which means to compel or to drive. The disciples wanted to stay where they were after the great miracle of the loaves and fishes they had just been a part of, but Jesus made them leave.
Joke—Boy Scout was late for troop meeting. When questioned about his tardiness he explained that he was doing his good deed for the day. “I spent a good while helping an old lady across the street.” His scoutmaster replied, “why would that take so long?” “She didn’t want to cross the street!”
Jesus constrained them to go, knowing their course would intersect a great storm. We know now that had they stayed they would have been tempted to ride His coattails and never leave His side. We are all attracted to power…but Jesus wanted the disciples to be able to stand on their own, even without His presence. He proved He could walk on water, but wanted to show them they could do the same thru faith. The point is that sometimes God will send us into a storm of testing, and at the same time He is delivering us from a storm of temptation. He may be sparing you from something worse you could not foresee.
You see, God is more concerned with our spiritual growth than our personal comfort. He loves us just as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way. He sees down the road and He is molding us in His image step by step. In the first storm He was present, in the second storm He proved to be there, but they couldn’t see Him at first. Peter learned to look to Jesus, even when he couldn’t see Him!
Jesus knew that down the road Peter would one day be crucified upside down, and John will be boiled in a cauldron of oil, James will be beheaded in Jerusalem, Luke will hang from an olive tree in Greece, Mark will be dragged to death in the streets of Alexandria, and so on. So Jesus takes them all thru a gradual process of bigger and bigger storms along their journey.
The disciples may have been scared to death, but in the end they realized they went thru this storm not because they were out of God’s will, but because they were IN His will.
Some storms are for correction as in the case of Jonah.
Some are for perfection such as in this storm.
The first assurance we have in the storm is that Jesus has allowed this storm to be. The second assurance…
2. Jesus is praying for me.
When I am in the place of peril, Jesus is in the place of prayer.
v. 23-24 What a contrast between their two locations. The Gospel of Mark says that Jesus could see them toiling in rowing. He’s on this mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee and He can see the storm and the disciples in it. They can’t see Jesus, but He can see them. And the Bible says that Jesus ever liveth to make intercession for us. He isn’t surprised by what comes upon us…He’s there watching and praying for us!
Ill.—A little boy got in trouble and his mother disciplined him. He was mad at his mom for this. At bedtime he knelt with his mother by his bedside and asked God to bless daddy, sissy, and bubby, his dog, cat, fish, and friends, but not his mother. At the end of the prayer he smirked at his mom and said, “I guess you noticed you weren’t in it!”
The good news for us tonite is that no matter what we’ve done against Him, Jesus is praying, and we’re in His prayer!
Assurance #1 is that Jesus allowed this storm to be. Assurance #2 is that Jesus is praying for me…
3. Jesus will come to me in His own time.
v. 25-27 The 4th watch of the night is between 3 AM and dawn. It’s the darkest part of the night. Liberals say the disciples actually saw Jesus walking on the shore, and like a mirage they imagined He was walking on the water. But the Bible says they were in the midst of the sea, which would be miles from the shore, in the darkest part of the night. I wish the liberals would spend the time they spend concocting such nonsense in prayer instead, or in church!
I’m just simple enough to believe that God walked on the water just the Bible says. I believe that every drop of water in that sea held hands to uphold the lovely Son of God! I believe that gravity itself answers to Jesus, and that this great miracle was a small thing for Him!
Ill.—a little girl met her newborn baby brother, just home from the hospital. Momma taught her how to support the head, but of course she had to test why that is. Somebody asked her how she liked her new brother. She said, “He’s ok, but his head’s not screwed on right.”
And liberal theologians are no better, who would cause God’s people to doubt the truth of God and His Word!
Why did Jesus come to them in this manner, walking on the water? In part it was to show them that what they feared the most was under His control. The waves that were over their heads were under His feet…and I don’t care what storm you are going thru, whether financial, familial, emotional or physical…He’s on top of it!
What you fear the most may actually bring you closer to Jesus. That raging sea was nothing but a sidewalk that brought Jesus closer to them, and could bring them closer to Jesus if they would get out of the boat in faith!
They thought it was ghost at first.
Joke—2 security guards worked at a hospital morgue. It was eerie. The first asked, “do you believe in ghosts?” The second replied, “no, but I’m a-scared of ‘em!”
It looked like things couldn’t get worse in this storm, and now here comes a ghost! Why would they think it is a ghost? Because they were living in fear instead of living by faith. Faith would have assumed it was Christ, the One Who just worked the great miracle before their eyes on the hillside. But since they couldn’t see Him, they didn’t believe. They needed to learn that faith is believing in something you CAN’T see.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
We say, “I don’t see how God is in this!” Exactly! What a great opportunity to exercise faith!
Had they not already seen Jesus calm a storm before? Did not the waves lie down peacefully like a whipped pup? They had good reason to believe in faith during this storm…and so do you!
Don’t let your imagination run wild w/ paranoia. The devil works in the realm of the mind. Don’t live in fear, live by faith!
We can be assured that Jesus allows storms to be for a reason, and He is praying for us, and will come to us in His own time…
4. The storms of life can help me grow in faith.
v. 28-31 On that boat that night was the loud but lovable Simon Peter. What must the others have thought of him as he began to step out. “Boy, he’s pulled some crazy stunts in his day, but this is just too much!” But as he confidently jumps out his feet land on water that feels like concrete! Can you imagine how fun that would be?
It’s easy to criticize him for taking His eyes off the Lord and sinking, but at least he got out of the boat. The church today is filled w/ ‘boat people’, but there is a great need for water walkers! We need risk takers who make attempts, who try and fail, and get back up again. We need a big challenge. If we aim at nothing we’re sure to hit it!
For the record, I think it’s good that Peter sank, knowing his pride the way we do. Could you imagine living with him if he had not? He would have been the Barney Fife of the New Testament! He would have started a church and called it “Water Walker Baptist Temple!”
God is not looking for perfection, just for someone to get out of the boat and try something once in a while. So how about you? Ever been out on visitation? Would you give it a try? Ever witnessed to someone? Will you give it a go? Ever taken the first 10% out of your paycheck and set it aside before paying all your other bills? Are you willing to make an attempt and see if it’s really true that you can’t out give God?
Peter learned a lot that day…about himself and about the Lord. He learned that when fears rise, faith dies. He learned to keep His eyes on Jesus and not on the storm, and you can be a water walker!
Fear is looking at God thru your circumstances, but faith is looking at your circumstances thru God! We need to live above the circumstances, not under them.
Your storm may be for correction or for perfection, but Jesus allowed it to be, and allowed your paths to cross, and while you are in the place of peril, Jesus is in the place of prayer…He may seem far away, but He’ll come to you in His own time, and He’ll use this storm to increase your faith!
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/WaterWalking.html
