The following is a true story. Larry Walters led a fairly boring normal life as a truck driver in southern California until the fateful day of July 2nd, 1982. On that day, Larry turned himself into a legend. You see Ever since he was a boy Larry had dreamed of flying, but the US Air Force had turned him down from becoming a pilot due to his bad eyesight. After he was discharged from the military, he sat in his backyard watching jets fly overhead. It was torture to a man who felt the need to fly. One day he could stand it no longer and so he hatched a scheme while sitting outside in his Sears lawnchair. He went out and purchased 45 weather balloons from an Army-Navy surplus store, tied them to his tethered lawnchair which he dubbed the Inspiration I, He then filled the 4 foot diameter balloons with helium. Then he strapped himself into his lawnchair with some sandwiches, a 6 pack of Miller Lite, and a pellet gun. He figured he would pop a few of the many balloons when it was time to descend.
Larry’s plan was to sever the anchor and lazily float up to a height of about 30 feet above his back yard, where he would enjoy a few hours of flight before coming back down. But unfortunately, Larry knew a lot more about truck driving than physics and so things didn’t work out quite as Larry planned. When his friends cut the cord anchoring the lawnchair to his Jeep, he did not float lazily up to 30 feet. Instead, he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a cannon, pulled by the lift of 42 helium balloons holding 33 cubic feet of helium each. He didn’t level off at 100 feet, nor did he level off at 1000 feet. After climbing and climbing, he finally leveled off at 16,000 feet.
At that height he felt he couldn’t risk shooting any of the balloons, lest he unbalance the load and really find himself in trouble. So he stayed there, drifting cold and frightened with his beer and sandwiches, for more than 14 hours 3 miles above the ground. He crossed the primary approach corridor of LAX, Imagine the surprise of the air traffic controller when she was informed by Trans World and Delta Airlines pilots that they just passed a man floating in his lawn chair. Eventually Larry gathered the nerve to shoot a few balloons, and slowly descended.
Unfortunately The hanging tethers tangled and caught in a power line, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes. But Larry finally got back on the ground where he was arrested by waiting members of the LAPD. As he was led away in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring feat asked him why he had done it. Larry replied nonchalantly, "A man can’t just sit around."
I believe if the Apostle Peter were here with us this morning, he would have chuckled at Larrys story for his mind may have went back to a stormy sea when while the other disciples were content to stay in the boat, Peter in essence said the same thing as Larry Walters, A man cant just sit around. This experience of the disciples in the storm can be an encouragement to us when we go through the storms of life. When we find ourselves in the storm, we can rest on several assurances that we will look at today. If you’re taking notes, the outline would be, He brought me here, He is praying for me, He will come to me, He will help me grow and finally He will see me through. First point is He brought me here, look at verse 22
22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.
The context of this passage was the miracle of feeding the 5,000 – the people were so caught up in the miracle experience that they wanted o crown Jesus King and if the disciples had stayed, they certainly would have fallen in with the plans of the crowd. You see the Jewish people were looking for the promised Messiah and would have accepted Jesus as that Messiah, except for one thing. He did not fit the mold, He did not fit their idea of what the Messiah should be and do. They wanted a Messiah that would lead a revolt to overthrow the Romans and re-establish Israel to a Davidic type kingdom. Jesus wanted them to learn about the heavenly Kingdom, for it is easy to recognize God’s Kingship in the midst of miracles but Christ wants them to recognize His Kingship in the midst of storms.
It says, He “made” the disciples get into the boat. The word for “made” in the Greek means, “to necessitate; to constrain, or to compel.” What that means is that getting into that boat and crossing the Sea of Galilee became a necessary thing for them to do because He was urging them, compelling them, and persuading them to do so.
The idea here is that they didn’t want to leave without Him, but He “compelled” them to do so. This is significant. There are times in our lives when we may feel that God is compelling us to go somewhere or do something or say something and we have the feeling that He isn’t going to be with us in it. We feel as if He is abandoning us to the situation. Many times, The primary reason we feel that way is that what He is asking us to do is risky, scary or it doesn’t seem to make sense to our way of thinking. But Jesus makes them go across without Him. My question here would be, Lord if you send us across, how are you going to get across? What do you think you’re going to do? Walk on water? Lets see, our next point is He is praying for me, verse 23
23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.
This entire scene is a dramatic picture of the church and The Lord today. Gods people are on the sea in the midst of a storm and yet Jesus is in heaven making intercession for us. And that’s the thing to remember the next time we find ourselves in a storm. Anytime we are in a storm we can be confident that Jesus is in heaven making intercession for us. That should give us a level of confidence knowing we are not alone. But look at verse 24
24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
Lets notice that they were coming off a great spiritual high in the feeding of the 5000 and now a storm arises. And thats often the case isnt it?
Often right after a major victory in our lives, its seems the enemy will ratchet up the temptations and trials. I only say that as a warning for us to be vigilant for the Bible says we arent unaware of his schemes. But we may say, “How did I get in this mess when I was doing what I was sure God wanted me to do?” Ever felt that way? Then you’re in good company because I am sure the disciples were wondering that very thing that night as they rowed and fought that storm. I would not be surprised to learn that they wondered why Jesus had sent them out into the storm in the first place. I have felt that way many times myself. It is easy to walk by faith when there are no waves, no storms, no danger, and no potential for great pain or loss. But that really isnt a walk of faith then, is it?
Take note that They were in the middle of the storm and in the middle of Gods will. Now that rubs against a lot of teaching today that if you are a faithful Christian you will be exempt from storms. And yet we clearly see hear that it is not the case. We see that the disciples, who were only following the Lord’s command, are between 3 and 4 miles from land and they encounter a fierce storm. This is also a symbolism for us Christians today. Just because we accept Christ as our Savior, just because we do what is right, doesn’t mean we are promised fair and clear weather for the rest of our lives. By following Christ we will also encounter rough seas in life.
The thing about those who don’t believe that Christians will encounter storms is that when a storm does hit and it will, the time when you need to have confidence in God the most, your confidence is totally shattered because of your false preconceptions. Because Life is really just getting used to things that you never planned. You may never be on a storm tossed boat. I havent although Connie and I are planning to maybe take a cruise with Shane and Sylvia next year but that really more about the food than the boat. We may never be in a storm tossed boat but occasionally we will have a storm tossed life. Furthermore, we’ve been promised it. Jesus said, In this world you will have tribulation but take heart I have overcame the world.
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!” But 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 through storms where it seems God is not in it, and cannot be reached. What do we do then? It reminds me of the words of Job. See if this strikes a chord in you those times you felt God was absent.
8 "Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
9 When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.
Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt that God was nowhere to be found when you needed Him the most? What do we do when that happens. What was Jobs response to this dilemma. Job says no matter which way I turn, God is absent but the next thing Job says is
10 But He knows the way that I take; and When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
That’s the key isnt it? Even those times we cant see Gods hand and the heavens seem like brass we must cling to the fact that we know that He knows the way that we take and in the end after the testing we also will come forth as gold.
As we read our Bibles we discover that there are 2 kinds of storms. There are storms of correction when God has to discipline us and there are storms of perfection which God uses to help us grow and mature. Jonah was in a storm because he disobeyed God and had to be corrected but today we see that the disciples encounter a storm because they obeyed Christ and had to be perfected. Jesus had tested them in a storm before in Matthew 8 when He was in the boat with them. But now He will test them by being out of the boat. Our 3rd point is that He will come to me. Verse 25
25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.
We all know that Jesus walked on the water. Have you ever thought how it would feel if you could do the same thing? Soon, you will be able to do just that – well, almost. See, there is a company that is planning on building a bridge in the Sea of Galilee, near Capernaum. You heard me right; they are going to build it ‘in’ the water. They plan on building that bridge about 2 inches under the surface, so that tourists can walk out on it, and have their picture taken so it will look like they are walking on water. I think that is kind of cheesy, but I am sure somebody will get rich from it.
Speaking of making money off of Christs miraculous water walking, Mark Twain was accompanied by his wife on one of his visits to the Holy Land. They were staying in Tiberius on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. It was a moonlit night, and the weather was perfect, which gave Twain the romantic idea of taking his wife for a boat ride on the lake. They walked down to the pier, and Twain inquired of a man sitting in a rowboat how much he would charge to row them out on the water. Twain was dressed in his usual white suit, white shoes, and white Texas hat. The oarsman, presuming him to be a wealthy rancher from the USA, said, "Well, I guess about twenty-five dollars." Mark Twain thanked him, and, as he turned away with his wife on his arm, he was heard to exclaim, "Now I know why Jesus walked!"
The sea there is about 8 miles across. Now verse 23 tells us that the boat was in the middle of the water and so that means that Jesus has walked 4 miles on the water to reach them. Of course the critics love to bash this story. But as I’ve said in the past, if you can believe Genesis 1 that God created everything out of nothing, then no miracle is a big deal. If God created Physics, then He can suspend those laws anytime He chooses. Those who smirk at His walking on water have forgotten the miracle He has already performed in the very composition of water.
Think of this for a moment. In 18 milliliters of water which is about 2 swallows full there are 6 to 10 to the 23rd power molecules of H2O. How much is that? Well, a good computer can carry out 10 million counts per second. It would take that computer 2 billion years to count 6 to 10 to the 23rd power. That’s sort of abstract and hard to grasp so lets look at it another way. A stack of 500 sheets of paper is 2 to 3 inches high. How high would the stack be if it had 6 to 10 to the 23rd power worth of sheets? That stack would reach from the earth to the sun, not once but more than 1 million times. So suddenly, walking on the water doesn’t seem like such a big deal if you have a big God.
Verse 25 records the time of day as the fourth watch of the night. This is between 3:00 – 6:00 am. Remember the feeding of the 5,000 had just taken place so it was daylight when the disciples entered the boat. Because in verse 23 it states “when the evening was come.” So it is possible that the disciples had been trying to cross this lake for more than 8 hours. My research tells me that since this lake is only 8 miles wide and with the type of boat they would have been traveling in, the trip across would normally take 2-3 hours and yet we see its taken them 8 hours just to get to the middle.
26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear.
In another gospel account it records that Jesus would have passed by them. Whats that about? Is Jesus in the passing lane? I think He was going to beat them to the other side to show them He didn’t need the boat. But One reason they were so afraid was there was a superstition in that day that right before a person drowned they would see a ghost, like you’re not having a bad enough day already. Look at that last phrase and they cried out for fear. That hardly captures the emotion in the original language. Where it says they cried out for fear, the tense in the Greek is they screamed at the top of their lungs. These arent just exclamations of surprise. These are high pitched scared little girl screams. I cant wait to see the dvd of that in heaven.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid."
Have you ever noticed the number of times Jesus is telling the disciples not to be afraid. It seems that the disciples are always either scared or asleep. We all know fear is a powerful emotion. Fear can captivate us in a way that no other emotion can. For example, Did you know that The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of more than 30 feet straight ahead. Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall. Why? Because The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will land. I van relate to the impala. There have been times when instead of stepping out in faith, I remained rigid because I couldn’t see where that step would lead. Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see, and with faith we are freed from the flimsy enclosures of life that only fear allows to entrap us. Sometimes it is true that we have nothing to fear but fear itself because fear is the absence of faith.
You see, faith is developed through struggle. If you ask people what faith is, most will answer, “Faith is believing even though you don’t have evidence.” Not true. Faith is not “believing in spite of the evidence.” Faith is obeying in spite of the consequence. Faith says, “I will do what the Lord says, even though it means a storm is headed my way. Even though it means there will be difficulties, obstacles, and challenges, even though it may be brutal and difficult, even though I must struggle, I will obey.” Struggles stretch us and help us to move further in our Christian experience. When they first manufactured golf balls, they made the covers smooth. Then they discovered that after a ball had been roughed up one could get more distance out of it. So they started manufacturing them with dimpled covers. So it is with life; it takes some rough spots to make us go the farthest and the result is Our next point which is He will help me grow.
28 And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."
If it is you? Who else would it be walking on the water in the middle of the night. I mean had Peter been fooled in the past? Of course I’m not making fun of Peter, I would have never said what Peter did in verse 28. If it were me I would have said, Lord if that is you, get in the boat and help us bail water. So what do we do? Hopefully the same thing as Peter, verse 29
29 So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
Can you imagine that? Jesus actually beckoned Peter to step out of the boat. The other guys in the boat are probably thinking I’m glad I didnt say anything. Forgive my active imagination, but at this point I can just imagine John looking at Peter and saying go ahead mouth! We’ll be praying for you. This was maybe one time Peter wished he would have kept his mouth shut. But We’ve all opened our mouth like that without thinking. A couple of weeks ago Brandon and Michelle came over and I opened the screen door and asked them if they needed any help bringing stuff in and to my surprise, Michelle said yes, I didn’t really think I was going to have to do anything, I was just being polite. Anyway, Peter is now actually walking on the water. What could go wrong? Verse 30
30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid;
Despite Peters great faith this was his downfall. He lost focus. He took his eyes off Christ and looked at the storm instead. Tom Friends of The New York Times asked coach Jimmy Johnson what he told his players before leading the Dallas Cowboys onto the field for the 1993 Super Bowl. "I told them that if I laid a two-by-four across the floor, everybody there would walk across it and not fall, because our focus would be on walking the length of that board. But if I put that same board 10 stories high between two buildings, only a few would make it, because the focus would be on falling." Johnson told his players not to focus on the crowd, the media, or the possibility of falling, but to focus on each play of the game as if it were a good practice session.
The Cowboys won the game 52-7. I hate the cowboys, I wish they would have put the board on top of the buildings. Notwithstanding, Focus, especially in a storm is critically important. So the next time a storm comes into your life, don’t look at the waves of circumstance but keep your eyes focused on the one who walks on the waves. Because if we do that we will be safer in the storm than staying on the boat. The latter half of verse 30 says
and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"
What was Peter thinking? Of course he was sinking, his nickname was rock. Peters prayer of Lord save me is the shortest prayer in the Bible. Its only 3 words but it’s a great prayer for in it we have The Lord on one end, us on the other and salvations sandwiched in between. You see, Its not the length but the strength of your prayers that matter. James says the fervent prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. When you’re about to drown you tend to pray fervently. We must also give Peter credit for knowing that he was sinking and for crying out to The Lord for help. The text says He cried out when he was beginning to sink and not when he was drowning. How come then do we only call out to The Lord sometimes as a last resort. I sometimes have the tendency to exhaust every avenue in the flesh before I realize I’m about to drown. How much better would it be if as soon as a problem arose we would admit that we need The Lords help and just save ourselves from swallowing a bunch of water?
Also, before we criticize Peter for sinking, lets honor Him for his magnificent demonstration of faith. He at least dared to be different . Anybody can be a boat potato and watch events unfold but it takes a person of real faith to leave the boat and walk on water. I doubt the other disciples ever gave Peter a hard time about sinking. If they did, and I were Peter I would have replied, Lets see how many people in history have walked on water? Well, there was Jesus and Oh yeah me, so get off my back. Which is probably just one more reason why I’m a mailman and not an apostle.
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
I wonder if there minds didn’t recall Psalm 89 which says
8 O Lord God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
9 You rule the raging of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.
Why did Jesus walk on water? I believe it was to show the disciples that the very thing the feared, the sea, was only a staircase for Him to come to them. If Jesus tells us to come, then that word is going to accomplish its intended purpose. Since He is the author and finisher of our faith, whatever He starts, He completes. We may fail along the way but in the end, God will succeed as is evidenced by the fact that Jesus and Peter walked on the water together and went back to the ship. What kind of effect did that have on the other disciples? Verse 33
33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."
When in Matthew 8, Jesus calmed the first storm, the disciples said, What manner of man is this but now the clear testimony is You truly are The Son of God. The whole purpose of the storm was To help the disciples grow in their faith. After all, Jesus would one day leave them and they would face many storms in their ministries and so they had to learn to trust Him even though He was not present with them and even though it looked as though He didn’t care. What was the purpose of the storm? So the disciples would know that Jesus is The Son of God. That’s also what our storms are for. Always remember you cant have a testimony without a test. Don’t look at me like that, I don’t like it either. But it is Gods way of maturing His children and developing trust.
One day we will face the ultimate storm which is death so if we trust God with our eternal souls, shouldn’t we trust Him through any storm down here? It only makes sense I think. Our final point is He will see me through
34 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret.
It says that they crossed over which Jesus had promised them. He didn’t say You are going to get half way across the lake where you will drown probably still arguing about who can sink the fastest. Jesus promised them they would make it to the other side, and so will we. He will get us to our heavenly destination. We may have storms along the way but we can be confident that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. No matter how sever the storm, He is still the captain of this old gospel ship and we can have great confidence that He will get us home.
35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick,
36 and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.
And once again we see the compassion of Christ in action as He heals all those who came to Him. Let me finish by saying this. Do you ever think that in quiet reflective moments Peter’s heart surged with the memories of that night and walking on the water? He experienced something none of the other disciples ever did because they stayed in the boat. There is a knowledge of Jesus that only comes through the action and experience of getting out of our boats. Of course that can be scary especially when our feelings tell us to stay in the boat and avoid the risk. But the thing about feelings is you often cant trust them.
I read of A helicopter pilot who flew from an aircraft carrier in the Pacific told this story. He said, "I was flying the helicopter back to the ship when a blinding fog rolled in. Flying at a low altitude, I knew that a single mistake would plunge my crew and me into the ocean. Worse yet, I was experiencing a complete loss of balance – which is common for pilots flying by instruments. This loss of balance was so bad that despite the instrument readings I was certain that I was lying on my side. For 15 minutes I flew the helicopter by its instruments, fighting the urge to turn it according to my feeling. When we finally broke safely through the fog, I was deeply thankful I had been trained to rely upon my instruments rather than on my feelings.
That is what people who live by faith do – they remember that feelings can be misleading, but the truths in God’s word are reliable, trustworthy, and consistent. The Christian life, like walking on water, is humanly impossible. It can only be lived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Storms are going to come. When you’re in a storm with the wind raging and the waves pounding, and you feel like you’re sinking, know this: The same Lord who stills the storm allows the storm. 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 the storm to increase your faith! So the next time the circumstance presents itself, step out of the boat, join Larry Walters and Peter because life is too short to just sit around.
