Tonight, we’re going to be in Matthew 14. The chapter opens with Herod hearing about the works that Jesus has done and wondering if John the Baptist has come back to life.
You know the story. King Herod beheads John the Baptist because he promises to give Herodias’ daughter, after she danced for him, up to half of his kingdom. Now, you have to know that there is more to this story than Herodias’ daughter simply dancing for the king. But that’s for another time. So, she asks for the head of John the Baptist.
After he was beheaded, his disciples came for his body and buried it. Word was sent to Jesus that John, who was his cousin, had been beheaded. Jesus leaves to go to a desert place to be alone but the people follow him. In my minds eye, I can see Jesus’ heart sinking at the news. But He sees the multitude. Scripture says He was moved with compassion and healed the sick.
The story continues with the feeding of the five thousand and after this, we get to verse 22 and that’s where we’re going to pick up the record. I have given this message the title “Don’t be afraid to get out of the boat.” But you could shorten it to “Get Your Feet Wet.”
Well, let’s begin in verse 21.
(21) And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
There could have been as many as 20,000 people that He fed. Most of the men also had families.
(22) And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
(23) And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
Jesus’ priority: I have fed the five thousand men and their families. I wanted to pray before I fed them and I didn’t have a chance to do that. So, now I’m going to send the disciples away so I can get some time with My father.
Spending time with His Father was always a priority for Jesus. If He had not spent time with His Father, He could not have been able to do the things that He did. When we think about His priorities, we have to ask ourselves, “Where are my priorities in relationship to the chief shepherd?”
If Jesus is the chief shepherd, and He is, He is modeling the behavior we’re supposed to follow. So, we can ask the question this way: “Are our priorities Jesus’ priorities?” Begin the transparent person that I am, many times my priorities are not His priorities – yet. If they were, you would see things happening in my life that resemble the things that happened in Jesus’ life.
The important thing is to realize that we have an opportunity to make changes and that opportunity is now. It’s now because God needs for us to change now. For God, waiting to decide tomorrow is late for Him.
If we don’t make the change now to make His priorities out priorities, then how can we bring in the lost? We know that God’s priority is for all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. We know this. If this is not our priority, then we will never fulfill God’s plan for us in this life. It’s not going to happen.
So we see in verse 23 that Jesus made spending time with His Father a priority. Let me show you how God showed this to me.
When I first met my wife, Doris, I wanted to spend every waking minute I with her. When you first fall in love, everything the person does is cute – no matter what it is. It was cute and I loved seeing her do those cute things. So, I wanted to be with her all the time.
This is the same attitude – the same desire – I should have for my Heavenly Father. I should want to be with Him as much as I wanted to be with Doris. That should be my priority. That should be my focus. I ain’t there. Just being honest.
But I’m working on it. At least I know what the goal is! There are so many Christians who don’t know what the goal is. The goal, ladies and gentlemen, is to do whatever you have to do, to rearrange whatever you have to rearrange, so that you can spend time with your Father!
(24) But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
The record in Mark 6 says Jesus saw the disciples toiling away. Now I want to ask you something. Jesus is on the land and God gives Him a vision of what’s going on out at sea. Why would God do that? Why would God let Jesus know what the 12 are going through?
Turn to John 17 but hold your finger here in Matthew. We’re going to read verse 12.
“While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gravest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.”
Jesus’ focus was holding on to the disciples and not letting anything happen to them. Look in John 6. Let’s see this even further.
(35) And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
(36) But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
(37) All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Is this not an apt description of the disciples? Remember he spent all night in prayer and when he came down from the mountain he chose the 12 disciples. Listen to me, God hand-picked them for Jesus. God did!
(38) For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
(39) And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, [Notice this is the Father’s will.] that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing; [Now if God has given Jesus the disciples and they are in trouble in the water, would He not want Jesus to know that?] but should raise it up again at the last day.
(40) And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Back to Matthew 14. So we see that Jesus needed to know what was going on with the disciples. After all, He’s the chief shepherd.
(25) And in the fourth watch of the night [3 to 6 in the morning] Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
(26) And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
(27) But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
The thing that struck me about that was this: when you read scripture, every time someone encountered an angel, what was the first thing the angel said? Fear not. The devil wants us fearful. Why? Because fear cannot coexist with faith. If you have fear, you do not have faith. Plain and simple.
That’s why Jesus said in John 14, my peace I leave with you. And when He did that, He’s telling us that we have no reason to fear under any circumstance. You get a negative report about your health, you don’t have any reason to fear. We can access the peace that Jesus gave us.
When our minds are at peace, then we are able to think “what do I need to do ACCORDING TO THE WORD?” But when your mind is fearful, you are not thinking about the promises of God’s Word.
We know how Satan operates. He’s like a roaring lion who walks about looking for those he can devour. (1 Peter 5:5-8) Here’s the image: when a lion sees potential prey, he roars and when he does it freezes the prey. The prey doesn’t know what to do. The prey is in a state of indecision. And when that happens, the prey becomes the lion’s next meal.
Are you following me? When you have a mind that’s full of fear, you will not be able to make a decision BASED ON GOD’S WORD. We can only do that when we allow the peace that Jesus has given us to dominate our emotions.
(28) And Peter answered him and said,
I read that and the first question I had was “What question was Peter answering?” He was answering the question “Who is this walking on the water?” Remember they thought it was a spirit.
Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
(29) And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
Now let’s think about this. What did God show Jesus? He showed him the disciples and how they were struggling in the sea with the boistering winds. Everything was in an upheaval.
Now notice something else. Peter had to step down into the water. How many of you, had you been Peter, would have asked Jesus to let you walk on the water with him? Was that a rational question? Nope! Not to the rational mind. It’s different than being at a park and seeing a swimming pool and seeing how calm the water is and you can see the bottom! You don’t see any bottom when you’re in the middle of the sea, in the night, in the dark!
That’s Peter! And I can see the other disciples rolling their eyes and shaking their heads saying “He’s going to die.”
(30) But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord save me.
Did Peter actually see the wind? No. Look at John 3 and verse 8.
“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
So what did Peter see? He saw the waves crashing all over the place. He saw the results of winds blowing at high speeds.
(31) And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
There are a couple of things here that I want us to see, and one of them is a sacred cow. Let’s take on the sacred cow first. How many of you know the teaching about the grain of mustard seed? According to the teaching, all it takes is faith the size of a mustard seed. In other words, all it takes is a little faith and God will move for us. What did Jesus just say? “O thou of little faith.” Obviously it takes more than a little faith, especially to walk on water!
While me may chuckle at Peter having “a little faith,” think about the disciples who were STILL in the boat. If Peter had a little faith, what did the other disciples have? Whenever someone teaches on this passage, the focus always seems to be on Peter. But Peter had enough faith to get out of the boat.
My point is this: In our lives we all have boats that we’re in and there comes a time when we have to step out of our boats – put our faith to the test – so that God can use us.
A boat could be anything. For some folks, it could be financial stress every single month. If this is happening to you and you’re saying “God, I’ve done everything I know to do but my situation isn’t changing.” Then it’s time for you to get out of that boat.
Until you get out of that boat and begin to confess “For my God shall supply all my need according to his riches in glory,” (Philippians 4:19) you’re going to be in that boat. And that’s what I mean about getting out of your boat. You begin to do something that doesn’t make sense just like Peter did. It was not rational for him to get out of the boat with everything going on around him.
What does not make sense to most people, and some Christians, is you focusing on and declaring God’s Word over your situation. It does’t make sense because people will say “You are not doing anything. You should be looking at a part-time job.” That’s the world talking.
If you’re going to get out of that financially stressed boat, then you’re going have to speak the Word over it. When you do this, you are stepping out of the boat and walking on waters of faith!
When you are faced with “boats” in your life –
- A rocky marriage
- Rebellious children
- Worry
- Fear
- Reoccurring physical ailments
Find the promise in God’s Word and speak it as an all out assault on the “boat.” The Bible says that God’s Word never returns void and that it accomplishes what is supposed to accomplish when it is sent for (Isaiah 55:11). Speak it! Send it forth!
When we begin to take that step of faith by speaking God’s Word over these situations, that’s when we begin to walk on our water. And as long as you keep your eyes on Jesus and not the circumstances you are going to get closer and closer to taking care of whatever it is in that boat. Every one please stand.
