Ok, once again there are no birthdays or anniversaries to tell you about but I do have one important reminder...revival starts next Sunday and will run through Friday the 21st. Also, don’t forget we will have small "finger" foods....hopefully not made of real fingers on Sunday and a full out potluck on Friday night. So, hopefully everyone can make it for that. Right now I have my work schedule arranged so I will be able to be here and I am looking forward to it. Also, don’t forget about the flyers we have in the back for revival. We only have a week to get the word out so let’s make them all disappear today. If you really want to be annoying go to Wal-Mart and start putting them on the windshields of cars...that really annoys me when people do that. Of course I am kidding...our goal isn’t to annoy people but let’s make the flyers disappear today and put them up where people will notice them.
Second, there is a new list out on the bulletin board...going back to last week it is our "help wanted" list. These are some ideas where you can get plugged in and help out. First, let me say that I appreciate all the work that you do around here. Those of you who clean the building, prepare communion, study for Sunday School lessons, teach our kids...all of these things are very much appreciated. I do not want to seem as if I am downplaying or unappreciative of what goes on around here. I am and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. However, there is much more to be done and to be frank...we need your help. Perhaps number one on the list is I am looking for someone to handle our ministry to Randy and the other Airmen in his unit. It is a pretty simple ministry to get involved in. You simply need to box up the shipment of items and take them to the post office. You will be reimbursed for the postage. The simple fact of the matter is that Anne, being pregnant can’t lift the boxes to take them into the post office and with church, work, and school, I am already pressed for time. So, if you have the time and are willing to take over this ministry then talk to me and I will be happy to turn it over to you. There are other things on the list as well so just let me know and we’ll get you involved and plugged in.
We’re starting a new series today and we are going to start out with a little bit of audience participation....another quiz. You all know that I am a bit of a television watcher...or I used to be...so we’re going to play a little bit of trivia and the question is...what 80’s TV show had these words at the beginning:
In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the…A-Team.
Man, I loved that show when I was a kid. They fired like 3,000 rounds of ammunition an episode...and no one ever got hit...either America was a little bit more innocent then and some would debate me on that....or they were lousy shots. Now, some of you...you have been anxiously awaiting the start of this new series on the apostles and you are asking the question...what in the world does the A-Team have to do with the apostles? Well, I’m going to tell you.
Just by the very name....we assume that the A-Team was the best of the best...after all...they were the "A" Team. But....the apostles...they weren’t the best of the best...so I am calling this series the "C" Team. Think back to school when you were getting grades...what did "C" mean? It meant average...nothing spectacular but nothing horrible either. It meant everyday, average Joe grades. And, that, my friends is exactly what the apostles were....everyday, common, average Joes.
One of my professors in my summer classes...well he took offense to my statement to that affect. He promptly pointed out to me that the apostles were responsible for writing much of the New Testament and for the spread of Christianity....I think I offended him a little bit but....the truth remains...the apostles...all of them....with the exception of Paul....they were not educated past the minimum level.
Rob Bell, who is the founding pastor of Mars Hill church in Michigan, he puts this concept very well. He is an innovator in teaching and has founded a company called Nooma that puts out different DVD’s that are designed to teach in new and innovative ways. In the eighth video his company put out called "Dust", he illustrates how very unexceptional the apostles were.
Rob spends some that in that video talking about the educational system of the Semitic world. All boys started out with a very basic education and when they reached a certain age the best of the best got to go on and those that weren’t so intelligent…they learned a trade…like fishing. Those who went on went to a second school and of those the best of the best of the best…if a rabbi thought that they were worth it….the rabbi would tell them…”Follow me.”
So...hopefully we get the point...the apostles...there was nothing wonderful about them...at least intellectually. They were not the best of the best...they were ordinary, average, everyday Joes...some were fishermen...one was a hated and despised tax collector...but...God used these very ordinary average men to turn the world upside down and to grow his church...to be the founding fathers of the Christian faith and for the next few weeks we are going to take a look at and do some character studies of some of these apostles....and today we begin with the leader of what we are calling the "C" Team...Peter.
Let me ask you...when you think of Peter...what do you think of? What is the one episode that we think of while he was with Christ? If you were to ask me that question then the answer would be his denial of his not just his Lord...but his friend. I have a friend named Gavin...the closest thing to a brother that I have in this world...and I cannot imagine denying that I know him...regardless of the situation. Yet, in the most well known episode of Peter in the Gospels...we find him doing exactly that to his friend. Do you see why Peter is not the best of the best?
But, we are not going to talk about Peter’s denial of Christ today. Instead, turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 14:22....we’re going to look at an instance where Peter got it semi-right....at least more right than the other apostles did. Again, we’ll be reading out of Matthew 14:22 and we’ll read down through verse 33.
So, how can we say that Peter got this semi-right? I mean, he started to sink...his faith wavered...he looked around at the winds and the waves...and he began to sink...how in the world can we say that Peter even got this close to right? I will answer that question with another question...where in the world where the other apostles? Did they step out of the boat and start walking to Jesus? Did they even risk the winds and the waves? That is where I think Peter got it right...he was willing to step out of the boat.
I can remember a time when it took a great step of faith for me to step out of the boat so to speak. I don’t remember exactly how old I was but I wasn’t very old at all and I was being taught to swim. I was standing on the edge of the water...and my dad was in the water. I had two choices...I could either stay right where I was at...safe and sound...no risk involved...or I could jump to my father...and there was some risk involved there. It took some talking to me...but I eventually got out of the boat so to speak and jumped.
The same can be said about my call to the ministry...I don’t know if I ever told you this story before but if I have...here goes again. I had completed two years of school at Western Kentucky University and I was actually majoring in History. When Anne and I got married and I moved to California I quit school for a couple of years. I began to get involved in church again and I began to get to know our pastor in California and I began to feel the pull to the ministry. I was driving down the freeway one day, listening to a Christian radio station, and I heard an advertisement for Hope International University...which would be the school I would eventually graduate from. At that instant God impressed on me that I needed to call to get more information about the school. I remember literally saying out loud: "Ok, God, I’ll look it up on the net later and I’ll call." However, God was calling me at that instant to get out of the boat and pick up my phone. I was nothing special. Like Peter and the rest of the apostles I was average at best. But, God was telling me to get out of the boat...to leave my position of relative safety and to do something risky for him.
Maybe you have had similar experiences. You might not have been called to the ministry but maybe there has been an instance in your life where you have been relatively safe...and God told you to leave that position of safety and to get out on the water with him...where things are a little bit riskier. Maybe it was an instance where you didn’t have a lot of spare money but God called you to give generously to the church or to the ministry. Maybe it was a change of churches...maybe it was a move in your life from one town to another....whatever it may be...I think all of us who have answered the call to follow Christ have at one point or another been called to leave a position of relative safety and to come to Him.
So, let’s take a look at everyday average Peter and the part of this narrative that he got right....leaving the boat.
We read in verse 28 that Peter tells Jesus that if it is Him on the water to COMMAND him to come out onto the water...if you are reading from the KJV today it says to bid him to come on the water....the NIV says "tell me to come"...the same goes for the New Living Translation....in the New Revised Standard Version the word again is "command." Do you see the pattern here....Peter, by stepping out onto the water is responding to a command given to him by Jesus....Jesus tells him to Come and he goes. The original language here implies a command or an order. Let me give you some of the additional uses in the New Testament of this word....when the Council asks Pilate to command that Jesus’ tomb to be sealed and a guard posted to keep the disciples from stealing Jesus’ body...this word is used in the same tense and person...and what happened? The tomb was sealed and a guard was posted. And in Acts 25...when Festus explains to Agrippa how he conducted Paul’s trial....and how he commanded that Paul be kept until his appeal to Caesar could be heard...this same word is used and what happened...Paul was held until he could be sent to Caesar.
You see, Peter, this average, everyday Joe who was called by Jesus....who was at his boat...living the life of a fisherman...the one who had not been selected by a rabbi to continue his education....this one that was hand picked by Christ to follow him...he recognized something...when Jesus gives a command...then you need to follow it. This apostle that has often been looked down on for his lack of faith, his lack of understanding...I think his loyalty and obedience is often overlooked. Yes, Peter got it wrong a lot of times…maybe more times than he actually got it right…but in this instance…when he stepped out of the boat…he was responding to a command given by his Master.
This is one of the things that I think that God would want us to take from this today…as we begin this series on what I am calling the “C” team…I think that God would want us to notice how Peter responded to the command of Jesus. He wasn’t afraid to step out of the boat…he didn’t stay with the rest of the apostles…he obeyed.
But, there is one other thing that I think we can take from this…Peter not only obeyed the command of Jesus…but he actually solicited that command. When we read the text…what did we read? He asked Jesus to command him to come out onto the water. Peter basically asked for the order…he asked for the assignment…and when he received the order then he had to obey.
I’m sure you have heard the old saying: Be careful what you ask for because what? Because you just might get it. The same goes for us: we need to be careful what we ask God to order us to do because….once we receive our orders…then we have no choice but to carry them out.
Let me tell you what I think God is looking for: God is looking for people who are so fearless…who are so unafraid of failure…whose faith is so strong and so deep…they beg for the tough assignments. Here we have the leader of the apostles…and he asks to walk on the water to Jesus…things don’t get much tougher than that…have you ever tried to walk on water? It’s impossible unless you’re these two guys:
Rick Pitino, Billy Gillespie, and Billy Donavan are all sitting on a riverbank fishing. Pitino runs out of bait so he gets up, walks across the river to the bait shop and gets some. He then walks back. Gillespie also runs out of bait gets up and walks across the river and buys some more and then walks back. Billy Donavan runs out…gets up, tries to walk across the river and promptly goes under and drowns. Pitino then looks at Gillespie and asks…do you think we should have told him where the rocks are?
Can you tell I don’t like the Florida Gators that much? Here is the point though: it is impossible for us to walk on water….it was impossible for Peter to walk on water…yet he asks Jesus for the order to do exactly that and, after receiving the order to do so…he gets out of the boat. Forget how the story ends…that’s another issue for another day. Peter he asked and obeyed.
I am convinced that God is looking for exactly those type of people today: everyday, average, insignificant people who have such faith and such courage that they will ask for the impossible orders and then attempt to carry them out. Let me invite you to take just a minute and examine yourself and ask…are you that type of person? Some of us…we’re really timid and afraid of failure. I will admit that I can be like that sometimes. Well…maybe not timid…I don’t think anyone could ever accuse me of being timid. But I am very often afraid of failure. I want to tell you…when I came here…even before I was named the minister of this church…I was very afraid of failing. God, he has given me a huge responsibility to be the minister of this church and sometimes I am afraid of letting them down…but I climb out of the boat anyway. Parenthood…it’s the same thing…I have to tell you…at times I am so afraid of failure there and sometimes I feel like I am headed that way…but everyday I climb out of the boat anyway.
Think about your own life…where is it in your life that you are afraid of failure? What area of your life do you think that you just don’t have the courage….that you can never succeed? Let me invite you…go ahead and climb out of the boat anyway.
We see it here with Peter…I am sure that he could think of a lot of things that he would rather do than to walk on those stormy waters…but he also recognized something as well…out on that water…that’s where Jesus was…and that was where he wanted to be. Remember, Peter told Jesus…if that is you…command me to come. I don’t know if there was an outbreak of random people walking on water or not…who else could it be but Jesus? But, Peter, he wasn’t stepping out of that boat unless it was Jesus he was coming to.
My friends, when you step out of the boat…you aren’t stepping out alone. Jesus is going to be out there with you as well. Let me invite you…step out of the boat. I can’t answer for you…but I know that if Jesus is out on the water and not in the boat…I want out of the boat. I don’t want to be in a place where he isn’t…I will take the risky option over the safe one any day if Jesus is in the risky place.
If you are here today and you never have accepted him…let me tell you…he’s wants you to step out of the boat and come to him. I know how you probably feel too…where you are at right now…inside the boat…it’s safe…or so you think. But let me tell you…let me plead with you to understand….the boat…without Jesus in it…it is the riskiest place in the world. The water…where it seems so risky…that is the safe place because Jesus is there. The life you are living now…it’s not safe. Sin has separated you from God and the only one that can bridge that gap is Jesus…and he’s out on the water. Peter…he was willing to risk it to go to Him…let me invite you to do the same.
