Have you done anything in your faith walk recently that stretched you? We use the term “stretch” to refer to growth, development and learning. I must admit, it goes against human nature to be stretched.
There is a popular story that illustrates our reluctance to be stretched.
Ill- A man was being chased by a tiger. He ran as hard as he could until he was at the edge of a cliff with the tiger in hot pursuit. The man looked over the edge of the cliff and saw a branch growing out of the side of the cliff a few feet down. He jumped down and grabbed the branch just as the tiger reached the cliff. The tiger growled viciously as the man sighed a great sigh of relief.
Just then a mouse came out from a crevice and began to chew on the branch. The man looked down to what was a drop of a thousand feet and sure death and looked to the heavens and yelled out, "Dear God, if you are there, please help. I will do anything you ask but please help."
Suddenly a voice came booming down from heaven, "You will do anything I ask?" it questioned.
The man shocked to hear a reply to his plea yelled back, "I will gladly do anything you ask, but please save me."
The voice from heaven then replied, "There is one way to save you but it will take courage and faith."
The branch began to weaken from the mouse and the tiger was still growling a few feet above the man, "Please, Lord, tell me what I must do and I will do it. Your will is my will."
The voice from heaven then said, "All right then, let go of the branch."
The man looked down to a fall of a thousand feet and certain death. He looked up at the hungry tiger a few feet away and he looked at the mouse still chewing on the branch. Then he looked up at the heavens and yelled, "Is there anyone else up there?" (Contributed to Sermon Central by Danny Thomas) It is not always easy to allow your faith to be stretched.
Stretching comes in many forms.
-We are stretched when we take a step to publicly confess Jesus as Lord and to live for Him.
-We are stretched when we follow Jesus in believers baptism.
-We are stretched when we determine to have a daily quiet time consisting of Bible reading and prayer.
-We are stretched when we decide to tithe 1/10 of our income.
-We are stretched when we decide to share our faith with other people.
I want to look at a passage of scripture in which one of Jesus disciples was stretched. We can learn much from this scripture that will encourage us to allow our faith to be stretched. The scripture is found in Matthew 14. I want to read verses 28-32.
“And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.‘’ So He said, ‘Come.‘’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!‘’ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?‘’ And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.” NKJV Getting out of that boat was a stretch to Peter’s faith. However, we must give him credit, he did get out.
I want to share a message entitled “Get Out of the Boat.” The purpose of this message is to encourage you to stretch your faith to new horizons. As we handle this text I want to discuss two questions. Why would we be reluctant to get out of the boat? A second question is: Why should we get out of the boat? Why should we stretch our faith?
1. Why would we be reluctant to get out of the boat? In this text we find three reasons why a person (Peter) would be reluctant to get out of the boat.
A. We are reluctant to get out of the boat because the boat represents a comfort zone. All of us have comfort zones. All of us have security zones. We do not want to leave those zones.
Ill- The comic character, Linus, had a security blanket. Even so, each of us have security blankets to which we cling.
Ill- A few days ago I watched with interest as a baby took its first steps. That baby was reluctant to leave the comfort zone. It was reluctant to let go. However, all of us know that a baby must let go if it is to walk.
Unless we release our security blankets we will never grow. Unless we leave our comfort zone we will never grow. You see, until we leave our comfort zone we will not depend on Jesus.
B. We are reluctant to get out of the boat because of fear. We fear what others might say. We fear failure. As in Peter’s case, he might have feared sinking.
Ill- The other day my brother sent me an e-mail entitled “How to stay safe in the world.“
1. Avoid riding in automobiles because they are responsible for 20% of all fatal accidents.
2. Do not stay home because 17% of all accidents occur in the home.
3. Avoid walking on streets or sidewalks because 14% of all accidents occur to pedestrians.
4. Avoid traveling by air, rail, or water because 16% of all accidents involve these forms of transportation.
5. Of the remaining 33%, 32% of all deaths occur in hospitals. So…above all else, avoid hospitals.
BUT…you will be pleased to learn that only .001% of all deaths occur in worship services and these are usually related to previous physical disorders. Therefore, logic tells us that the safest place for you to be at any given point in time is at church!
C. We are reluctant to get out of the boat because of doubt. Peter must have been thinking thoughts such as: “Did Jesus really call me?” “Is it really possible to walk on water?” After Peter had tried and failed Jesus instructed him that the cause of his failure was doubt.
A fellow pastor said he was visiting a lady named Deanna in a nursing home and she gave him a copy of a little poem. I ask you to ponder these words:
DON’T QUIT (author unknown)
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re traveling seems all uphill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
REST IF YOU MUST, BUT DON’T YOU QUIT.
Life is strange with all its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometime learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won if he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver lining of the clouds of doubt,
You never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you are hardest hit,
It’s when things seem worse, THAT YOU MUST NOT QUIT!
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Wade Hughes, Sr)
We are reluctant to get out of the boat because of comfort zones, fear and doubt. However, a second question is more important than the first. The first question focuses on the negative. The second focuses on the positive.
2. Why should we get out of the boat?
A. The first reason to get out of the boat is that risk leads to rewards.
Ill- During the past fifteen years I have begun three new adventures: genealogy research, wood working and back packing. In starting each of those adventures I was a little nervous. The new adventure represented a risk. It represented a challenge I had never faced. I took the risk but in each situation I felt rewarded because I took the risk.
Ill- Some wise person has said:
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach out for another is to risk involvement
To expose feelings is to risk exposing, your true self
To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To live is to risk dying
To hope is to risk despair
To try is to risk failure
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing
They may avoid suffering and sorrow but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love or live
Charmed by their attitudes they are a slave, they have forfeited their freedom
Only a person who risks is free
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Michael McCartney)
Ill- When I think of risk, I think of the story of Lucinda Williams who was a Missouri woman who moved to Dallas back in the mid-1800’s. When she moved to Dallas, she asked her landlady if there was a Baptist church in town. The landlady said there was no Baptist church in town and she hoped there never would be. That day, Williams decided that if she were going to live there, she would attend a Baptist church. She learned that on three other occasions, people had tried to start a Baptist church. All three times, they had failed. She continued to run into opposition. But she was determined to take a risk.
Finally, On July 20, 1868, she and her husband, seven other women, and two other men organized a Baptist church. During the first few years, it looked as if they wouldn’t survive. They had no building; they had no money, they had little support. But Lucinda continued. She formed the church’s Sunday School. She began a mission society through the church. Five years after they began, she convinced the women of the church to personally collect over $600. Now you can imagine how much $600 was worth 125 years ago. Because of her dedication to the mission; because of her willingness to risk, she was able to plant the seeds that began The First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. That church later would become one of the largest church in the world. (Contributed to Sermon Central by David Simmons)
B. A second reason to get out of the boat is that your faith will grow. Faith is similar to a muscle. A muscle will not stretch and grow until it is exercised. A muscle will not reach full strength until it is exercised.The New Testament instructs us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever.” (II Peter 3:18 NKJV)
C. A third reason to get out of the boat is because Jesus is there. Jesus was not some mild mannered person who lived as a prisoner to his fears and within set comfort zones. He was an adventurer. He was always pressing the limits of human reasoning.
When you allow yourself to be stretched you will meet Jesus in a way never before imagined.
Ill- The Barcelona Olympics of 1992 provided one of track and field’s most incredible moments.
Britain’s Derek Redmond had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the 400-meter race, and his dream was in sight as the gun sounded in the semi-finals at Barcelona. He was running the race of his life and could see the finish line as he rounded the turn into the backstretch. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain go up the back of his leg. He fell face first onto the track with a torn right hamstring.
Sports Illustrated recorded the dramatic events: As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. "It was animal instinct," he would say later. He set out hopping, in a crazed attempt to finish the race. When he reached the stretch, a large man in a T-shirt came out of the stands, hurled aside a security guard and ran to Redmond, embracing him. It was Jim Redmond, Derek’s father. "You don’t have to do this," he told his weeping son. "Yes, I do," said Derek. "Well, then," said Jim, "we’re going to finish this together."
And they did. Fighting off security men, the son’s head sometimes buried in his father’s shoulder, they stayed in Derek’s lane all the way to the end, as the crowd gaped, then rose and howled and wept.
Derek didn’t walk away with the gold medal, but he walked away with an incredible memory of a father who, when he saw his son in pain, left his seat in the stands to help him finish the race.
That’s what God does for us when we place our trust in Him. When we are experiencing pain and we’re struggling to finish the race, we can be confident that we have a loving Father who won’t let us do it alone. He left His place in heaven to come alongside us in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. "I am with you always," says Jesus to His followers, "to the very end of the age."
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Bobby McDaniel)
Jesus is there and He is gracious. Jesus will allow you to be stretched. You might fail. You might sink. So what? When you fail, Jesus is there with outstretched hand waiting to pick you up. Do not be afraid! Do not hold back! The challenge you face today may be the greatest thing you ever face.
