Matthew 6: 22-32, John 6:16-21
As the great American poet Robert Frost wrote in the Poem, “Servants of Servants – “The best way out is always through.” The same can be said for navigating your boat in rough waters – often times, it’s better to ride out the storm than to try to navigate your way out of it. As Frank Crescitelli, New York captain explains, “one of the biggest mistakes people make is running directly for the dock whenever a storm blows up.” According to Crescitelli, “sometimes it’s better just to ride it out.” Most summer storms move quickly, he adds; “if you make slow forward headway keeping the bow into the wind, it’ll often blow right by.” As your riding out the storm, be sure to approach waves at an angle to lessen their impact on your boat. Large waves should be approached at a 45-degree angle, and instead of driving in a straight line, you should zig-zag with the waves toward the dock.
Mark and John narrate the events of feeding the multitude, when the crowd of the five thousand came to Capernaum and asked Jesus how he had crossed over, having seen the disciples leave without him. Jesus did not answer that question, but told the crowd that they followed him not because they had seen signs, but because of the free loaves they had eaten the day before, and advised them not to seek earthly gains, but aim for a life based on higher spiritual values. In John's account this discussion about the loaves then led to the Bread of Life Discourse about "true bread" from heaven.
Throughout the Bible we see many examples of faith and because of faith great things have happened. The blind have been made to see, the lame have walked and the dead have been brought back to life. Miracles happen when God’s people partner with God. Luke does not mention this miracle.
In the middle of the storm, we see Jesus coming to disciples. Storms can come up any time during the journey. What do we do? In this case, what exactly was Peter doing here? It is not a natural response of a fisherman. Was he testing Jesus? Was he testing his own faith? or, was it more than that? The life of Peter in history proves beyond doubt that he trusted in Jesus in spite of his weaknesses. Read at the books of Peter, history says he died for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, I don’t believe he was testing Jesus.
It is not a good idea to test God. When Jesus was tempted 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test’ Luke 4:12.’ Ted Turner, who claims that religion, is for losers, once said that his decision to turn his back on Christianity happened after a sister died with a terminal illness despite his fervent prayers that she be healed. In 1990 he told a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “I was saved seven or eight times,” But he said he became disenchanted with Christianity after his sister died, despite his prayers. Turner said the more he strayed from his faith, “the better I felt.” Turner only allowed God one response to his prayer … his own personal desirres.
Faith is not about getting what you desire from God, it is about getting what God desires for you. I don’t believe Peter was trying to test his own faith either. Peter is not a stranger to water or the sea. He knew better than jumping into water when a storm comes. Peter knew there was more in store for him when it comes to the work of the kingdom of God. He was daring to step out when others did not. John 1:41-43 Andrew brought Peter to Jesus. Jesus named him Cephas, meaning 'rock' and in Matthew 16:18 Jesus tells him that "That Peter you are the rock, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it'.
Heb 1:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for. Heb 1: 33 through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.Women received back their dead, raised to life again.
Peter Dared to dream like the fathers of faith in spite of storms around us. Who would dream in the middle of a storm ? Only Peter. The reason was that He knew his master who is out there walking on the water. We need to take a chance and step out on the water when Jesus calls you. A lot of times, we tend to focus on the sinking Peter, the lack of faith or the doubt of Peter in this incident. Instead of recognizing that he was the only disciple who even stepped out of the boat, he’s criticized for his lack of faith. He draws close to Christ while 11 other disciples sit in the boat, content in their perceived safety.
We need to dream. When Nelson Mandela was asked what he did with limited freedom in his 27 years of imprisonment, he said, “at some points, they did not allow me to write, read or talk to anyone. But one thing they could not stop me from doing was “I could dream”.
We need not only dreamers, but also doers. When we dare to dream, Jesus will say, “come” step out. Do it.” I want Jesus to do it, but not me. A tightrope walker who did incredible stunts. All over Paris, he would do tightrope acts at tremendously scary heights. Then, he would do it blindfolded, and then he would go across the tightrope, blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow. As the story goes, there was an American promoter who read about this in the newspapers and wrote a letter to the tightrope walker, saying, "Tightrope, I don’t believe you can do it, but I’m willing to make you an offer. For a very substantial sum of money, besides all your transportation fees, I would like to challenge you to do your act over Niagara Falls." Tightrope wrote back and said, "Sir, I’d love to come." Well, after a lot of promotion and setting the whole thing up, a crowd of people came to see the event. Tightrope was to start on the Canadian side and come over to the American side on this rope suspended over the falls. After a suspenseful drum roll, he walked across blindfolded rolling a wheelbarrow over the rope. The crowds went wild, and he came to the promoter and says, "Well, Mr. Promoter, now do you believe I can do it?" He said, "Well of course I do. I mean, I just saw you do it." "No," said Tightrope, "do you really believe I can do it?" "Well of course I do, you just did it." "No, no, no," said Tightrope, "do you believe I can do it?" "Yes," said Mr. Promoter, "I believe you can do it." "Good," said Tightrope, "then get in the wheelbarrow."
Peter did step out of the boat. Peter climbed out of the boat, stepped on the water, and walked on the sea toward the Lord. Now we don’t know how far he walked or how many steps he had taken before he started to sink. But we are sure that he did walk on the water. As William Carey, the great missionary to Asia said, we need to “Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.” A lot of Christians today are only satisfied with doing little things for God.
John 14:12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” Aren’t we doing greater things than Jesus did? Yes, we can reach billions of people around the world on video at the same time to satellites. We landed on the moon. We have robots that do surgeries.
Peter wanted to be with Jesus in the storm. We must get out of the boat if Jesus is not in the boat. The boat is a security blanket, but he had to leave it if he wanted to walk on water. What is your security blanket? A Job? Money? A Relationship? A Lifestyle? Etc.Peter believed that it is better to be with Jesus in the water than in a boat without Jesus.To remain focused and to keep our faith we must keep our eyes on Jesus power rather than our inadequacies. Each time that Peter failed he managed to gather himself up and come good in the end.
John Wesley tells his own story from when he was on a ship that’s crossing the ocean going from England to Georgia in the Colonies. Wesley had never been on a ship before. They’re 7 days from land and it’s the third and most violent storm. They’re worried that the ship is going to be lost in a storm at sea. He wrote in hid diary “The sea spilled over the ship, split the mainsail, and poured between the decks as if the great deep had already swallowed us up.” The English passengers screamed in fright; the German Moravians calmly continued singing the psalm without intermission. Wesley was impressed with their faith in the face of death. He saw the difference in the hour of trial, between those who truly knew Jesus Christ and those who didn’t. Even though he’d been a preacher for some time now, he didn’t have that faith. You could say, Wesley had seen Jesus walk on the water, but did not want to walk. John Wesley was very discouraged by the mission in Georgia in the beginning. He met with those Moravian Missionaries and one of them asked, “John, you don't seem to have the joy of Jesus, what happened.? He told him I don't think I have the faith to do what God is asking me to do. John Wesley was then told by one of the Moravian missionaries “Preach faith until you have it and then because you have got faith you will preach faith.”
The miracle is not about walking on water, but it is about daring to do God wants us to do. We see a powerful Peter in Acts, healing the sick, preaching to thousands and even raising a person from dead (Tabitha in Acts 9). The miracle for you and me today is that our Lord Jesus has joined us, He’s joined me and He’s joined you just as surely as he joined Peter on that night. As a church, we may walk on water. We can do greater things than Peter if we dare to dream, dare to do and step out of our comfort zones.
May the gracious Lord enable us to be strong when we doubt, to dare to go into the waters and experience the power of God that will work through us.
Comments
Post a Comment