“God Believes in You”
(many ideas for this sermon were gleaned from Marty Soloman)
Matthew 14:22-33
Growing up, my family had a cat named Snowball and a dog named Frisky.
Snowball, a self-assured Siamese had been with us for approximately a year before Frisky came along, and as is often the case, the Siamese cat was the leader of our household’s little animal kingdom.
Are you familiar with those cat scratching posts, the old kind that were covered with carpet?
We had one of those for Snowball.
It was located at the bottom of the stairs.
And Snowball used to run down the hallway, take a flying leap into the air and land with her claws on that scratching post.
It was really quite amazing.
Well, Frisky would watch Snowball do this and since he, being just a puppy, must have thought of himself as a bit of a student or disciple, shall we say, of Snowball.
So, he decided to follow in her footsteps or paw steps.
Frisky, this little black poodle and cocker spaniel mix of a dog ran down that hallway, lept from the top of the stairs, and landed with a crash on top of the scratching post.
I’m pretty sure he never tried that again.
(pause)
Most of us have probably know this story of Peter walking on the water quite well.
It’s an amazing story that fascinates us to no end.
Our Western minds are blown away as we think about a man following Jesus out onto the waves of the Sea of Galilee, performing such a miraculous feet to imitate his rabbi.
It’s almost too much for us to imagine, but then Peter meets all of our worldly expectations and gives in to the failure that we were wishing he would overcome as OUR representative.
He wavers, he fails and he sinks.
I’ve seen the look in too many people’s eyes as they read this story.
It’s this look of hopeful disbelief followed by a “that’s what I thought would happen” expression on their face.
Even if they’ve read this story a thousand times I will sometimes see this expression or hear this tone.
We then listen as Jesus appears to scold Peter’s faith while we all put ourselves into Peter’s shoes and bear his scolding and we nod.
But I think there is so much more taking place in this story.
The first-century concept of discipleship was such that the most successful thing you could do in the Jewish culture—the thing they valued the most—was the study of the Scriptures.
And one of the most privileged things one could become was a disciple.
If you thought you had what it takes as a student of the Jewish Scriptures you would apply for discipleship under a rabbi.
One of the greatest honors a person could receive would be for a rabbi to accept them to be his disciple.
If a rabbi chose you as a disciple he was, in essence, saying to you “I believe you have what it takes to become just like me.”
It was a great honor.
So, the path of a disciple was the path of memorizing the rabbi’s teachings, taking on the rabbi’s set of interpretations, and most importantly becoming just like the rabbi.
This meant that you spent all day, every day trying to mimic the thoughts, actions, and teachings of your teacher.
Some Jewish scholars say they have seen a rabbi enter a restroom and in the rabbi’s wake are ten or twelve young disciples.
If your rabbi does something, you do it.
And you know that you can do it because if you could not have done it then the rabbi would have never called you.
The rabbi’s call is his affirmation of your ability and your potential.
(pause)
So, Peter finds himself in a boat at night with the other disciples, and “shortly before dawn,” they see Jesus Who happens to be walking on the water.
If Jesus is walking on the water, what does Peter want to do?
He wants to be just like his rabbi.
“Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” Jesus calls.
And Peter does.
He walks on the water.
It’s an incredible story.
Peter is a true disciple.
And then, Peter sinks.
But why does Peter sink?
The answer for many of us is that Peter loses faith.
He sees the wind and the waves and he loses faith.
That is true, but who does he lose faith in?
Jesus?
Jesus isn’t sinking.
Jesus is doing just fine.
Does Peter lose faith in Jesus’ ability to help him walk on water or does Peter lose faith in himself?
Jesus rescues Peter, pulls him into the boat, and then asks, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Is Jesus scolding Peter for his inability to accomplish his task or is this question of Jesus really driving at His belief in Peter?
“Peter, if you didn’t have what it takes to walk on water I never would have called you out.”
“You have everything you need to do this.
I believe in you, Peter.
You can do whatever I call you to do.
I will never ask you to do something you cannot do.”
(pause)
When I was trying out for the J-V basketball team in high school, I become very disturbed by the fact that the coach would single me out, and yell at me the most, or so it seemed to me, when I made a mistake.
I became so down-hearted about it all, that one night, before practice I went to the coach’s office and said, “Coach, I’m quitting.”
The coach’s answer astounded me.
He said, “Ken, I’m not coming down hard on you because I don’t like you.
I’m coming down hard on you because I believe in you and I know that you can do better.
If I didn’t think you could do better, I wouldn’t be saying anything to you.”
I stayed on the team.
(pause)
At the end of His time with His disciples, Jesus had some final words for them.
He tells them to go to the ends of the earth and make more disciples, then He leaves.
He promises to send His Spirit to guide them and give them power, but Jesus Himself leaves the future of the movement in their hands.
And He doesn’t stick around to make sure they don’t mess it up.
He’s gone.
He trusts that they can actually do it.
God has an incredibly high view of you and of me.
God thinks that we are capable of amazing things.
We’ve been told that we need to believe in Jesus, and this is true.
It’s a good thing.
It’s essential.
But another thing to learn is that Jesus believes in us.
We have been told that we need to have faith in God, and this is true.
It’s a good thing.
It’s essential.
But another thing to learn is that God has faith in us.
Rabbi Jesus thinks we can be like Him.
Rabbi Jesus thinks that we really can learn to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.
Rabbi Jesus thinks that we really can learn to turn the other cheek, humble ourselves, give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, a roof over the head of the stranger, clothes for those who need them, look after the sick, and visit those in prison.
He really thinks we can learn to love like that.
He believes this so much that He went to the Cross and died in order to give us the power to do just what He has done—to be just like Him and to let our light so shine before others that they will want to become His followers as well.
Isn’t that amazing?
Doesn’t that make life worth living?
Doesn’t that make you want to get up, get out of the boat and give following Jesus your best?
Doesn’t that make you want to stay on the team?
(pause)
When we were in Hawaii this summer, some of our crew took surfing lessons.
And one thing the teacher told them was to never look down at their feet on the surfboard but to just look ahead.
He said that when you look down and think about what you are doing, you will fall.
Instead, they were to forget about themselves, relax and ride the waves.
My fellow Christ followers, Jesus believes in us.
We are created in God’s image.
God loves us and Jesus went to the Cross to save us.
(pause)
It seems that when we begin to question all these things:
“Is God really there for me?”
“Am I really worth loving?”
“Can I really do this?”
That is when we begin to sink.
It’s part of the journey.
We try to do the things we know in our hearts we were created to do.
We step out of the boat and we begin to walk but we know the wind and the waves are out there just waiting to sabotage our fleeting moment of weak courage.
We try and we sink.
And we’re not surprised, really, are we?
We knew it would happen just like this.
There’s no way we could ever walk on water.
So, we grab for our life preserver, we climb back into the boat and we stare at our feet as we take the scolding that we knew we had coming.
“Oh, me of little faith.”
“Oh, me the big doubter.”
“It’s just another failed attempt to live out what God intends for my life.”
“When will I ever learn?”
“I should just get used to this and stay in the boat next time.”
“It will save me the humiliation and the pain and the failure.”
“It’s much safer and nicer here in the boat.”
“Yeah, next time I won’t be so silly.”
“I won’t even try.”
But while you are thinking this way imagine Jesus taking your face in His hands and moving it so you are looking into His eyes.
And with the divine sparkle in His eyes, He looks into your soul, the soul He knows intimately because He personally knit it together and He says to you: “YOU CAN DO THIS.”
Are you tired of being immobilized by your failures?
Are you tired of being the person who thinks “There is no way I can pull this off?”
Are you tired of having a laundry list of excuses as to why you aren’t following Jesus?
Are you tired of having your doubts get the better of you?
All of us have problems and sins and hiccups that we have to deal with.
But you know what?
If you have given your life to Christ, the Spirit of God is trying to complete the work in you that He started a long time ago.
We all have some falling to do, some sinking in the water.
And we have plenty of times ahead when we will have to cry out, “Lord, save me!”
We all have a salvation that needs to be worked out with fear and trembling and it’s going to take some effort.
But instead watching us sit in the boat, as He says, “You of little faith, why do you doubt?” don’t you think God would rather sit back and watch His children learn how to walk, even if it means we will fall and get up, fall and get up, fall and get up and that He would rather we keep believing that we are going to make it and we are just so glad to be with Jesus and to know that we are loved and that we are going to be okay?
Life can be scary.
And stepping out in faith can be a scary thing, especially if we fallen on our face many times.
But just like He said to those frightened disciples on the lake so many years ago, He says to us this morning, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
Do you believe Jesus loves you?
Do you believe Jesus believes IN your ability to follow Him?
Let us pray:
Lord, we thank You that You call us out of our lives of sin and meaningless into an exciting and rewarding journey of following You.
There is no greater honor.
Lord, we thank You that You believe in us so much, that You went to the cross and died so that whoever believes will not die but have eternal life.
And we thank You that You give us a job to do.
It’s not easy.
We will mess up, just like Peter did, and just like everyone from the disciples all the way to today have messed up.
But we give our doubts, our sins, our problems over to You.
We believe You love us and we believe that You believe in us.
We want to live into Your belief.
We will get out of the boat and follow You.
In Jesus’ name and for His sake we pray.
Amen.
