A farmer had a neighbor that was just absolutely negative, no matter what. If it was raining, the farmer would say to his neighbor, "Boy, look at it rain, God’s sort of washing everything clean." The neighbor would say, "Yeah, but if it keeps up it’s gonna flood." Then the sun would come out and he’d say, "If it keeps that up, it’s gonna just scorch the crops." The farmer got a new tractor and showed it to this guy. “I’ll bet it’s broke down before you get your first job done.” The farmer thought, "What am I gonna do to help change this guy’s negative attitude?" So he searched high low for something that would be hard to find negative. Finally, he found it – a duck hunting dog that had been trained to walk on water. He bought it, and sure enough, this dog could walk on water. He didn’t tell his neighbor, he just took him duck hunting. Boom! Boom! They brought these ducks out of the sky, and said to his dog, "Go get ’em." The dog walked across, picked them up, and hopped back in the boat, nothing wet just his paws. The farmer said, "What do you think of that?" The neighbor said, "He can’t swim, can he?"
The story we’re looking at this morning contains some walking on water, and you can look at it negatively, or you can learn from it. Just like a lot of the rest of the Bible, what you leave with mostly depends on what you bring with you.
You can find this story not only in John, but also in Mt and Mk. Like many stories from the life of Christ, each gospel writer includes different details, so this morning we’re going to be looking at all 3 accounts.
Only John records that the people were going to try to make Jesus their king by force. Only Mk records that Jesus looked out and saw the disciples straining at the oars on the stormy lake. And only Mt records what happened with Peter that night. It’s 3 in the morning, there’s a heavy storm, and Jesus comes out to the disciples, walking on the water. That was different! So, naturally they’re scared. So, get this picture in your mind. It’s 3 am. You’re a long way from land in the middle of a big storm. There’s a howling wind, huge waves, and someone or something walking toward you on the water. What would you be thinking? Mostly, these 12 men, 4 of them seasoned fisherman, were scared.
Matthew 14:27-32
But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid." "Lord, if it’s you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.
There’s a lot about Peter I don’t know. I don’t know what he looked like. I don’t know what his voice sounded like. There are many things about his personality I can’t relate to. I don’t know his age at this time, or much of anything about his family. There’s a lot about Peter I just can’t know or relate to. But there’s something about Peter that I can relate to, and I think all of us can. Even though it’s not in Mk or Jn’s account, all 3 of them make one thing clear: This is a story about faith. Jesus acted as He did here for the sake of teaching faith.
You see, Peter was growing in his faith. He had room to grow. I can relate to that! And when I look at his moist journey to faith in this story, I think I can really relate to Peter. I think that what he experienced is something that all of us experience. Here’s what I mean.
I can really relate to Peter because…
I. Sometimes I Want God to Put Concreteness to My Faith
“Leave it to Beaver” - you just know Eddie Haskil is going to say, “Gee, Mrs. Cleaver, your hair looks lovely today.” You just know that Wally is going to have some reason to be upset with the Beave. And you already know Beaver and one of his friends are going to get into some kind of trouble.
Leave it to Peter. You just know Peter will be the one to blurt out, “Lord, if it’s You, tell me to come to you on the water.” (probably not a normal response) I’d say, “If it’s you, show some ID; explain how you’re doing that; tell me something about myself that only You would know.” But instead Peter says, “OK, Lord, if it really is You, tell me to walk out to You on the water.” Do you hear what he was saying? He was saying, “Lord, I’ll believe it’s You if You make something extraordinary happen in my life. Give me something really tangible, something that will 1st-hand verify my belief in you.” Really, Peter’s not too different from most of us.
Faith requires accepting the unseen. By its very definition, faith is the conviction of things not seen. II Co 4 says we walk by faith, not by sight. Living by faith is different than living by what we can see. Talk about walking by faith - try stepping out of the boat and walking where you can’t see anything that’s going to hold you up! That violates human nature.
I want something tangible, solid, something I can touch, don’t you? I like knowing that where I place my foot is solid. I like knowing where the money’s going to come from. I feel more secure when all the details are mapped out ahead of time. I’d rather not leave where I’m comfortable. But faith demands that I give that up when the Lord wants me to.
Jesus wasn’t trying to get these 12 disciples to believe in Him just out of the blue. They already had good reason to trust Jesus. They’d seen Him calm the sea sometime within the last months. They’d just seen Him feed over 5000 people with one boy’s lunch. They already had some reasons to trust Him.
When Jesus calls for us to trust Him, it’s not just out of the blue either. We have an entire Bible filled with stories of the way He takes care of His people. We’re surrounded by a creation that reminds us everyday of God’s power and the way He provides for us.
Fact is, God already has put concreteness to our faith. Jesus said, “Consider the sparrows. God takes care of them. Look at the lilies of the field. God takes care of them. And you’re worth a whole lot more than those things!”
Ill - King George VI, 1939 Christmas message to the British Empire, described the faith needed to cope with hard times: “I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, ‘Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown,’ and he replied, ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’"
Sometimes I want God to give me something tangible for my faith. Don’t you? He already has! I think sometimes God would like us to put something tangible into our faith!
-Ill - Years ago a group of visitors at a national mint were told by an employee in the smelting works that if you dipped your hand in water, a ladle of molten metal could be poured over the palm of your hand without burning it. A husband and wife were part of the group. "Maybe you’d like to try it," the workman said to the husband. The husband drew back, "No thanks, I’ll take your word for it." The workman turned to the wife, “Maybe you’d like to try it." "Certainly." She pulled up her sleeve and stuck her hand into a bucket of water, then calmly held it out while the metal was poured over it. It’s one thing to claim you have faith. It’s another to show it. “Show me your faith without works and I’ll show you my faith by my works.” says James.
I wonder if, while we’re asking Jesus to make something extraordinary happen in our life - like walking on water - He isn’t waiting for us to do something extraordinary in our life, like step out of the boat! What is it that God is teaching you about faith? And what is He waiting for you to do that exercises it? Faith becomes more tangible when we put it to work.
I can relate to Peter, because
II. Sometimes I Let the Storm in Life Take My Eyes off Jesus
Before we get critical of Peter, let’s consider what He did here. He jumped out of the boat. Peter wasn’t a physicist, but he was a fisherman. He knew what had happened every time he had jumped out of a boat in the middle of the lake before! In ch 21, he’ll jump out of a boat again. He made a great step of faith. Sure enough, he was walking on the water. Picture it, now -- waves are white capped, and going up and down, up and down. Somewhere between the boat and Jesus, Peter takes his eyes off Jesus, looks at the wind, and starts to sink. The fastest prayer recorded in the Bible! “Lord! Save me!” Jesus reaches out and catches him. He let the storm take his eyes off of Jesus. It says it right here. If we’ll be honest, we can all say we’ve shared that experience.
Ill - There’s plenty to worry about in life. Barry Siegel, in a Los Angeles Times article, has us consider what some scientists predict:
If everyone keeps stacking National Geographics in garages and attics instead of throwing them away, the magazines’ weight will sink the continent 100 feet sometime soon and we’ll all be inundated by the oceans.
If the number of microscope specimen slides submitted to a St. Louis hospital lab continues to increase at its current rate, St. Louis will be buried under 3 feet of glass by the year 2224.
If beachgoers keep returning home with as much sand clinging to them as they do now, 80% of the country’s coastline will disappear in 10 years....
[They have also] reported the striking discovery that pickles cause cancer, communism, airline tragedies, auto accidents and crime waves. About 99.9% of cancer victims had eaten pickles sometime in their lives.... So have 100% of all soldiers, 96.8% of communist sympathizers and 99.7% of those involved in car and air accidents. Moreover, those born in 1839 who ate pickles have suffered a 100% mortality rate. And rats force fed 20 pounds of pickles a day for a month ended up with bulging abdomens and loss of appetite.
Some of the things we worry about turn out to be pretty silly and pointless, don’t they?
Still, there are storms in life that really are serious enough to worry us. What then?
Ill - Think a moment about a water soaked sponge. If you push down with your finger even slightly, water runs out onto the table. You immediately know what’s inside of the sponge. The same is true of us. We can tell what fills us on the inside by what comes out under pressure. -Hudson Taylor once said "God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him."
Ill -Seems to me the times in life that we start to “go under” are the times we let the storm around us take our eyes off of Jesus.
There’s so much to be done, I can’t chisel out the time to pray this morning.
There’s so much to be read & studied, I really can’t spare the moments to read my Bible today.
There are so many other things pressing in on me. How can I possibly devote any thought to a need in the Church?
We get in some kind of fight or dispute at work, “Forget Christlikeness. This is the real world.”
And we take our eyes off of Jesus, and sure enough, we begin to sink - fast. Maybe most of us here this morning can relate to Peter.
What should we do? Heb 12 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith...”
”Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” Learn this lesson on faith: we need to keep our eyes on Jesus.
I can relate to Peter because
III. Sometimes My Heart Is Hardened Against the Lessons He Wants Me to Learn When we get to the end of Mark’s account of this story, he adds this for his readers:
Mk 6:51-52
They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.”
(By the way, that included Peter.)
I thought loaves were something you eat, not understand! Can’t you hear it – “Be quiet and eat your broccoli!” “But, Mom, I don’t understand it!”
Do you see it? This is a part of a long lesson in faith. Jesus was teaching His disciples with those 5 loaves -- teaching them that they really could trust and rely on Him, no matter how uncomfortable that made them feel. Would they starve? Would He leave them alone? Would they just drown out on the lake for no reason? Never! All along the way, while the disciples don’t realize it, Jesus is teaching them to trust Him.
Joke – Hurricane Katrina. Volunteers were risking their lives to rescue stranded victims. One old diehard was up to his knees in the water when a rowboat came. "Hop in, we’ll save you!" "No thanks, the Lord will provide." A short while later, a motor boat was sent to save him. By this time the waters were over his waist. He declined again: "No thanks, the Lord will provide." Soon the water was up to his chin, so a helicopter was sent at the last minute. "Climb aboard, this is your last chance!" "Thanks anyway, but I don’t need you, the Lord will provide." Before the helicopter returned home, the old man was mad as a hornet, banging on the Pearly Gates. He complained to an angel there, "The last thing I remember I was in trouble, praying up a storm, so why did you let me drown?" The angel looked at him, shook his head, and said: "We sent you two boats and a helicopter. What more do you want?"
Sometimes my heart is hardened against the lessons on faith God wants me to learn - lessons about His provision and care in my life. Every once in a while, He sends those lessons:
Ill – I had a student ministry north of Eldorado Springs at Pape. One day, Carrie and a lady of the church were traveling around with me, visiting kids to form a youth group. Out of the blue, we had a flat tire. It was a hot summer day, but we had everything we needed to go ahead and get it changed on the spot. Back on the road, we came upon a van, coming around a curve, in the wrong lane. It had just left a treacherous, curvy part of the county road – where we were headed! We honked and they jerked their van over. We began talking about it. What would have happened if we had been just a few minutes earlier? Who knows?! But I look back at the experience and see that God taught me something about His involvement in my day-to-day. Maybe God can handle, maybe He can even use, an inconvenience like a flat tire for good.
We need to learn the meaning of stepping out in faith. It’s different from being a fool -- but not much different from being a fool in the world’s eyes.
Ill - How would the Bible read, I wonder, if faith were left out. Imagine Heb 11 w/o faith:
Without Faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, didn’t even gather the materials to build an ark because a worldwide flood was such an impossibility.
Without faith, Abraham, didn’t leave his home when God called him because that would be foolish. Without faith, he wasn’t able to become a father, and if he had he wouldn’t have offered up his son to God.
Without faith, Moses chose to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and to enjoy the pleasures of sin over suffering for Christ.
Without faith, the people of Israel couldn’t pass through the Red Sea on dry land, and the Egyptians overran them.
Without faith, the walls of Jericho didn’t fall at all. The people didn’t even march around the city for 7 days, because such a thing would have been foolish, right?
Without faith, many others failed to conquer kingdoms, justice was perverted, they lost what was promised, were burned by flames, caught by the edge of the sword, their strength was turned to weakness, they were weak in battle and routed by foreign armies. These were all not commended for their faith, and none of them received what was promised.
Take the life of great people, remove faith, and that’s how it reads. That’s the Bible story without faith.
Some years later, these 12 men would have greater faith, and Peter, who would become one of the outstanding preachers when the Church began, would write:
1 Peter 1:3-9
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Lessons in faith. Jesus wants us to learn to live by faith. He’s continually inviting us to His school of faith in life. Our hearts need to stop being hardened against the lessons He’s teaching us.
Poem - There was a very cautious man who never laughed or played
He never risked, he never tried he never sang or prayed
And when he one day passed away his insurance was denied
For since he never really lived, they claimed he never died.
Conclusion: A man who served on one of Walt Disney’s original advisory boards told Chuck Swindoll a story. Those early days, when Disney still cared about families, were tough, but Walt was a visionary dreamer. Occasionally, he’d present some unbelievable, extensive idea he was entertaining. Almost without exception, the members of his board would gulp, blink, and stare back at him in disbelief, resisting even the thought of such a thing. But unless every member resisted the idea, Disney usually didn’t pursue it. Yes, you heard that correctly. The challenge wasn’t big enough to deserve his time and creative energy unless they were unanimously in disagreement! If Walt Disney can count on a mouse to achieve lofty dreams, what should we think our God can do?
This type of faith is long overdue in the Church today.
That kind of faith needs to be nurtured in your life today…
John 6:15-21 - Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. 16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17 where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18 A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. 19 When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. 20 But he said to them, "It is I; don’t be afraid." 21 Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.
Matthew 14:22-32 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It’s a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid." 28 "Lord, if it’s you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." 29 "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" 32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.
Mark 6:45-52 - Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. 47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid." 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
