We continue our series of hearing from our Captain, the Lord Jesus Christ. We continue to study the gospel of John. I invite you to find your Bibles and find John 6 with me.
A Young Lady’s Story
A young lady from Delaware wrote me her story of faith some years ago. Chole trusted Christ as a young child. Chloe spoke of embracing Christ and the Bible at a young age when she was still in elementary school. She was holding her mother’s hand as she prayed to receive the Lord, and her mother led her in prayer. When she was but fourteen years old, her mother was diagnosed with a terminal disease. Looking back to this moment, she writes, “When I was about 14… I distanced myself from God and really didn’t have a relationship with Him.”1
There are a whole lot of Chloe’s in America today – Christians and non-Christians both. People hear that God loves them but soon experience tremendous hardship. They quickly abandon their belief in God. Why do so people’s faith fail? Why do some people’s faith in God turn to dust? I want to explore that question with you this morning.
Jesus performs back-to-back miracles in John 6. He feeds 5,000 men, and then He walks on water. Imagine being one of Jesus’ followers. In a matter of hours, you have witnessed a boy’s sack lunch feed the population of a small city. Now, Jesus walks on water. Your head would be spinning!
Invitation
After today’s message, you will be invited to respond to Jesus’ offer of a clean, fresh start. You can respond by going to the Encourager’s Room or a virtual room. If you would like someone to pray with you, we are here. We would love to meet with you personally.
Today’s Scripture
When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus” (John 6:16-24).
We look at one of the most famous miracles Jesus ever performed, Jesus walking on water.
I want to answer three questions with you this morning:
Sermon Preview
1. The Story – What’s Going On Here?
2. The Question – Why Does Jesus Walk on Water?
3. The Storm – Why Did Jesus Allow the Disciples into the Storm?
Along the way, Jesus offers us the tools for a stormproof faith.
1. The Story
“When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them” (John 6:16-17).
What’s Going On Here?
1.1 The Scene
John picks up the story immediately following Jesus’ miracle of feeding thousands of people with only five loaves and two fish. Jesus has left the large crowds behind Him. As you can see in verse 22, the people are searching all over the area to find Jesus. They want to find the guy who can feed them from nothing. The Disciples get in a boat to make their way to the other side. John tells us that evening is on us and it’s dark outside in verse 17.
What the Bible calls a “sea” is really a freshwater lake. It’s the “the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias,” referred to all the way back in verse one. Remember, Jesus fed the multitudes on the eastern side of the lake, but now He is moving back to the western side. John shows you that Jesus has moved to Capernaum, which is really the home base for much of Jesus’ ministry. The Disciples row about three miles out onto the lake in verse 19.
1.2 The Sea of Galilee
Before Jesus arrives, John tells us: “The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing” (John 6:18).
This freshwater lake is known for its storms. The lake is 13 miles by 8 miles, which means it’s about the size of Washington, DC.2
The Sea of Galilee is about five times the size of nearby Grapevine Lake. The Sea of Galilee is six hundred feet below sea level, in a cuplike depression among the hills. When the cooler air from the west rushes down over the hillside, winds churn the lake.3 Even all these years later, the situation is similar. Power boats will remain docked as the winds whip the water into foamy white caps.4
1.3 No Miracle?
Some attempt to explain away the miracle by saying Jesus is walking by the shore rather than on the water.
The idea here is that the Disciples didn’t row three to four miles out, but they rowed three to four miles along the shore. Since they were by the shore, the story is easy to explain because Jesus walks on the shore. The thinking goes like this: it only looks like Jesus is walking on the water. But why would the Disciples be afraid if Jesus walked by the shore? Remember, Jesus had already calmed a storm by this point (Matthew 8:23-27). So, the Disciples would not fear Jesus simply walking on the shore after seeing Him calm a storm sometime before. No, something much more is happening here.
1. The Story
2. The Question
“When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened” (John 6:19).
Why Does Jesus Walk on Water? To answer that question, we need to examine and compare the miracles John shares with this.
2.1 What Good Did This Miracle Accomplish?
Why exactly did Jesus walk on water? Think about this with me for a minute. What good did this accomplish? This isn’t the first miracle the Gospel of John tells us about.
Jesus feeds the multitudes with five loaves and two fish. What good did this accomplish? Hungry people find food.
Jesus turned the water into wine. What good did this accomplish? It saved a wedding ceremony from major embarrassment.
Jesus healed an invalid who couldn’t move for thirty-eight years. What good did this accomplish? A man could walk.
Jesus healed the official’s son even though Jesus was a day’s journey away from the boy. What good did this accomplish? A father’s small boy lives.
Again, this isn’t the first miracle the Gospel of John tells us about. Every other miracle did somebody good. What real good does walking on water do for anyone? Why did Jesus walk on water?
[Pause]
Hold that thought for a minute.
2.2 Who Knew about the Miracle?
As far as we can tell, the only people who know about this miracle are the Disciples and those who would later read the gospels. The entire chapter is devoted to the miracle of feeding the 5,000. Jesus walking on the water gets no attention. Yes, people notice that He didn’t leave on the boat with the Disciples in verse 22. But did they think He walked on water? I seriously doubt it.
[Pause]
2.3 Why?
Why Does Jesus Walk on Water? The Bible includes this story to show us that Jesus is from somewhere else.5 He’s not from this planet. Again, the Bible includes this story to show us that Jesus is from somewhere else.
Why Does Jesus Walk on Water?
2.4 The Disciples School of Faith
There’s an old question in New Testament studies that always generates thought and discussion: “Just when were the Disciples converted to faith in Jesus?” I raise this question not to answer it (I’ll leave that to you) ?, …but I raise the question for you to consider the Twelve Disciples school of faith. When the Twelve were called to follow Jesus, they enrolled in a Bible college, if you will. And when Jesus walked on water, this was a private lesson only for the Twelve.
2.4.1 The Miracles as Grade Levels
What if every miracle Jesus performed was a grade level for the Twelve Disciples? Imagine for a moment that every miracle Jesus performed was a grade level. What if every miracle Jesus performed was to stairstep the Disciples’ faith in Jesus? Give me a minute to develop this because I think it’s worth it.
2.4.2 Miracles in the Gospel of John
The miracle of Jesus' description of Nathaniel’s life, before Jesus met Nathaniel, we’ll give that “first-grade” lesson. Turning the water into wine might have been around second grade. The healing of the royal official’s son from twenty-five miles away was the fourth grade. Healing invalid who couldn’t move for thirty-eight years was somewhere in middle school.
The Feeding of 10,000 people is around the same middle school/junior high level. I know it’s not a perfect analogy but consider and imagine this with me. Mark’s gospel, which tells us that Jesus made the Twelve get into the boat, also tells us something interesting about the Twelve’s understanding at this point.
“And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened” (Mark 6:51-51). Just because Jesus performed a miracle doesn’t mean the Disciples didn’t need to repeat the grade.
2.4.3 What Have They Learned So Far?
Now, pause to consider that at this point in the gospel of John, it’s around the second year of Jesus’ public ministry. The Disciples are around the halfway point in their three-plus years with Jesus. They have learned that Jesus can control disease, He sees into an individual’s past, He changes liquid into whatever He wants, He multiplies food into however much He wants, and He raises people from the dead, even from twenty-five miles away. He doesn’t even need to be near the dead to perform a miracle.
Each miracle raises their understanding of Jesus. Each miracle has the potential to raise their faith in Jesus. Each miracle functioned like a grade level, if you will, in the lives of the Disciples. They wouldn’t come to a full-orbed understanding that Jesus was the Creator of the Universe until much later. If all the miracles that have gone before were to teach them something, what are they supposed to understand from Jesus walking on water?
He controls the weather patterns. Jesus is from somewhere else.
“I’m the one who has infinite power, and you cannot control me for your own purposes. You may not use me. I’m not here just simply to help you with the problems. I’m not here just to fit into your agenda. I bring a whole new agenda.”6
1. The Story
2. The Question
3. The Storm
3.1 Why Did Jesus Allow the Disciples into the Storm?
How do we stormproof our faith? Recall Chloe’s story from just a few minutes ago. Chloe stopped following Jesus because her mother died when she was but fourteen years old. When tremendous pain comes into our lives, we think, “If I had God’s power, I wouldn’t do this. If I possessed all the power in the world, I would not allow mothers who led their children to Christ to die of terminal diseases when their children are at home. If I owned God’s power, I would make better use of it.” Just like the Disciples, we want God’s power as our prerogative. Just like the Disciples, we want to use Jesus’ power as our own personal remote control. Jesus knows this about us, so He makes the Disciples go into this storm.
3.2 Jesus “Made” Them
“Immediately and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd” (Mark 6:45). Mark’s Gospel is a parallel account, and it’s intriguing how Mark phrases Jesus’ insistence that they get into the boat in verse 25. Both Mark and Matthew’s gospels inform us that Jesus “made his disciples get into the boat.” The Greek word there means to “compel” or “to force somebody to do something.”7 Jesus commanded the Twelve to go into a storm. Jesus planned this. He knew about the storm before He sent them. Jesus knew about the storm and sent them anyway. “I thought Jesus was supposed to be loving and kind? What kind of God sends people into storms?”
3.2 Jacob’s Story
Jacob recently wrote to me about the death of his grandmother and his grandfather in a matter of just 28 hours.8 No sooner had they informed his grandmother of her husband’s death than she spent the next hour speaking to her family before closing her eyes and never waking up again. Jacob says, “My life became a story of bitterness to God. “How could you take them both from me?” I asked. I would then spend the next couple of years trying to satisfy the emptiness I felt from their loss by partying and even trying to find wholeness in dating. I met someone and ended up moving in with them.” When the relationship ended, he moved back in with his parents as he hit rock bottom. Again, we think, “If I had God’s power, I wouldn’t do this. If I possessed all the power in the world, I would stop this.”
3.3 Storms and Jesus
We don’t know the details about how bad the storm is. We do know this: Jesus is surrounded by terrified sailors.
There are two places in the New Testament where Jesus is in the middle of one of these great storms over the water. In the first instance, Jesus immediately calms the storm. He speaks a word, and the winds and waves immediately cease. The Disciples’ reaction is insightful here: “And the men marveled, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?’” (Matthew 8:27).
In the first storm, experienced fishermen were terrified. Now, the Twelve aren’t frightened by the storm—they are frightened by Jesus.
3.4 Walking Thru a Storm
Don’t make the same mistake I made in reading this story. I pictured Jesus walking on calm waters. Now, Jesus isn’t causally walking on water when the Disciples see Him. No, He’s walking through a storm. Jesus says, “It is I; do not be afraid” (John 6:20). A man who casually walks through a storm is more frightening than the storm itself. Not only does He have absolute power over them, but they have no power over Him.
Friend, I don’t know where you are today. Some of you have yet to see Jesus walking through the storm. You have yet to marvel at Him. Just before Jesus sent the Disciples to the boat, the people demanded Jesus be king all because He turned the boy’s sack lunch into a meal for thousands (John 6:15). He has power you cannot control. If God gave you His power, you wouldn’t know what to do with it. You don’t give the nuclear codes to a six-year-old. Don’t for a minute think that God has abused His use of power just because you are in a storm.
3.5 Repeat the Same Grade
Don’t repeat the same grade in your school of faith. You may be a “Chloe, Isaac, or Jacob,” having lost your faith in God somewhere along the journey. Our God is infinitely wise and infinitely caring. He will lead you through storms as well.
Don’t repeat the same grade in the school of faith. He’ll lead you to the point where you’ll cry, “Uncle.” Jesus knows that you won’t learn what you need in a sermon or a Bible study. He engineers circumstances where you don’t have enough. This is God’s SOP, His standard operating procedure.
If you follow Jesus, expect He will do the same thing to you that He did to the Twelve. Don’t for a minute think that God has abused His use of power just because you are in a storm. Even though He is wise and caring, you cannot control Him. His wisdom is equal to His power. He has plans for you. Jesus is God like no other, with infinite power, wisdom, and love.
3.6 A King Like No Other
Jesus is a King like no other. He doesn’t want your vote. He wants your repentance and faith. He doesn’t pander to your wishes. He demands your worship. Jesus refuses to be the king we want, but He’s the king we need. Don’t quit on God despite your personal storms. Hear our God say to you, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
EndNotes
1 Chloe is a young student at Liberty in a class I teach. She concludes her story by saying, “After a few months, I ran back to Him. I realized that I can’t live my life without God…” March, 4, 2019.
2 https://x.com/Israel/status/1280879317749305344; accessed July 23, 2024.
3 Merrill C. Tenney, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: John and Acts (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981), 73.
4 Gerald L. Borchert, John 1–11, The New American Commentary. (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 258.
5 Timothy J. Keller, “Lord of The Storm,” The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).
6 Timothy J. Keller, “The Crossing,” The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive, 2014–2015. (New York: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2014).
7 William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, “??a?????,” A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature, 2000.
8 Jacob is a young student at Liberty in a class I teach. He shared his story with me in the summer of 2024.
