When I think about all the remarkable things that happen in this world.
When I look at some of the greatest achievements.
There is a common thread…
they happened because there was a significant level of trust.
Trust that something good,
Trust that something great would come from people’s times and efforts.
When Jeff Bezos left his job at an investment management firm to establish Amazon, he needed significant trust.
Amazon is now a company with over $40 billion of assets.
Jeff needed to trust that even though the business was unlikely to make any money for four to five years that it would succeed.
Jeff needed to trust that even though many other internet and book businesses were going broke,
that Amazon would not just survive but also thrive.
When we trust amazing things happen!!
Trust is important for life.
The truth is every day we find ourselves in situations where we need to trust for things to happen, for life to occur.
It has been said that one of the reasons people delay making decisions and acting is that they are lacking trust.
Lacking trust in themselves, lacking trust in others, even lacking trust in God.
However when we trust amazing things happen!!!
Pastor Michael Foss, a Lutheran pastor and author, makes this very clear statement that the commodity of the church is trust…us trusting God and us trusting others.
Trust is essential for a congregation to be healthy.
Think about it when we trust each other….grace and forgiveness flows freely.
When we trust we are more willing to do what God is calling us to do..
When we trust each other our relationships grow stronger.
Trust is important for us as a church.
When we trust amazing and good things happen!!
So it is not surprising that when we open up the pages of scripture we see God calling us first to trust Him.
Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5 and 6 says
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight
But do you also realise God is also calling us to be a community where we trust each other.
Over 40% of the New Testament letters encourage the Christian communities to grow in a trusting relationship with each other.
For instance Paul writes the following to a young pastor called Titus he wrote the following, which we find in Titus chapter 3 verses 8 to 11…
This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
The problem with divisive people is they often do things that cause good friends and other people to distrust each other.
However this is not what God desires.
God wants us to be a community that trusts and do good for each other.
As a result of people trusting God and trusting each other the church grew,
they met together
and Acts chapter 2 tells us they even sold everything so more could get to know this trusting God
When trust exists….amazing things happen.
And in our Gospel reading we see what happens when someone trusts God
I invite you to hear part of this reading again…
Reading from Matthew chapter 14 verse 25
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.
27 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.
Imagine being Peter….
How would have you felt?
Taking those first steps on the water….
Imagine the stories you could tell your family and friends, your grandkids
'I still remember that day when I was with Jesus and I trusted him'
'I walked on water….'
What an experience!!!
When we trust amazing things happen!!!
But Peter was distracted….
he lost that trust in Jesus because of some stuff that was going on around him
Then what happened?
PLOP!!!
He began to sink!!
The troubles around him started to affect him, in a negative way.
Isn’t that similar to some of our lives?
At some stage in our lives we may have had this strong trust in Jesus
We keep focussed on him.
But then we see problems…
We worry
We begin placing our trust in other things, ideas and people instead of God
We questions whether God is really going to help us.
Our relationship with God is tested.
This may even lead to us spending less time with God in prayer, worship, bible reading and a life group the very things that help us trust God.
Jeff Bezos placed his trust in the research and planning he had undertaken when Amazon was initially established
There were times when people questioned him….
There were times when internet and book companies were going broke around him.
He could have lost trust
But he didn’t allow these things to affect him or his decisions.
And now Amazon is a company with assets of over $40 billion
Fortunately for Peter and for us even when we lose focus and stop trusting him
Jesus still hangs around ready to help us
Listen to what happened shortly after Peter began sinking reading from Matthew 14 verse 30 to 36
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. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.
Sometimes it takes us to lose something or to face a difficult situation to recognize or be reminded that we need God.
Fortunately for Peter he was willing to trust Jesus again.
So Jesus saved him.
But it is important to remember that Jesus is not just there clean up after all our messes…or to pull us out of trouble
He is also the one who wants to guide us and help us live a way of life that is fulfilling.
I wonder what Peter told his friends….
Jesus made it possible for me to walk on water….
or would have also said Jesus rescued me after I had failed to trust him.
or perhaps he said what an idiot I was…Jesus was helping me walk on water..but I let the wind and storms scare the living day lights out of me…and I stopped trusting Jesus….then plop into the sea I went…but thankfully Jesus was willing to rescue me when I placed my trust back in him.
It is important to remember that God has our long term best interests at heart
He call us to follow him and trust him so amazing things can happen not only for us, but also for others through us.
There are two other interesting things in our reading.
The first is that because of this event of Jesus walking on water, Peter walking on water and Peter being rescued….all the disciples trust in God grew.
They proclaimed that Jesus really is the Son of God
Here is something for you to think about…
What are the significant things that have happened when you have trusted God?
Think about how these affect your life and your relationship with God.
What can you share about them with others?
The second other interesting thing from our reading is that because people trusted Jesus to heal them they were healed.
When we trust….amazing things happen
So what about you…
How is your trust with God going?
Are you trusting God a little or a lot or somewhere in between?
When we trust God we will be more willing to do what God asks of us….
When we trust God we will see that being regularly involved in prayer, worship, bible study and reading, life groups will be of benefit to us……
When we trust God…God will do amazing things for us and through us
When we trust God others will get to know how great and good God is
There is a story about some chipmunks near a popular scenic look out in the Rocky Mountains.
Chipmunks normally are very wary of humans.
But not these chipmunks…
They would bravely come right up to people to take food out of their hands.
These little creatures had willingly changed their lifestyle—
they set aside their previous fear of humans,
in order to receive something essential to their existence: FOOD.
They were not afraid of anyone’s hand because they had become familiar that the human hand feeds them.
And so they allowed their lives to be radically changed in order that they might be fed by humans.
As disciples of Jesus we, too, should be like these chipmunks.
When we trust God
He feeds us and gives us a real life.
And this should change us so that we can not only be rescued by him
but also continually blessed by him in many ways, so our life radically changes.
Go trusting God….
Go growing in trust
Because when we trust…amazing things happen. Amen
