Message by Janice Good:  June 22, 2008

                                                               “Rocky – Part 4”

Text – Matthew 14:22-33

Janice Good, Preacher

There’s this guy, named Jack who was visiting the Grand Canyon.  Mesmerized by the beautiful colors of the rocks and the vast panoramic view, he didn’t realize how close to the edge of he had walked.  Well, standing too close to the edge he turned, lost his footing and fell. As he fell over the side of the gorge, he grabbed a small tree growing out of the rocks, which temporarily stopped his fall. He looked down and to his horror saw that the canyon fell straight down for more than a thousand feet. He couldn't hang onto the tree forever, and there was no way for him to climb up the steep wall of the cliff.

So Jack began yelling for help, hoping that someone passing by would hear him and lower a rope or something. “Help! Help! Is anybody up there? “Help!” He yelled for a long time, but no one heard him. His arms grew tired and he was about to give up when he heard a voice.

“Jack, Jack. Can you hear me?”

“Yes, yes! I can hear you. I'm down here!”

“I can see you, Jack. Are you all right?”

“Yes, but who are you, and where are you?

“I am the Lord, Jack. I'm everywhere.”

“The Lord? You mean, God?”

“That's Me.”

“God, please help me! I promise if, you'll get me out of this mess, I'll stop sinning. I'll be a really good person. I'll serve You for the rest of my life.”

“Easy on the promises, Jack. Let's get you off from there, then we can talk.  Now, here's what I want you to do. Listen carefully.”

“I'll do anything, Lord! Just tell me what to do!”

“Okay. Let go of the tree.”

“What?”

“I said, ‘let go of the tree.’ Just trust Me. Let go!”

There was a long silence.

Finally Jack looks up and yells, “Help! Help! Is anybody else up there?” http://www.ozsermonillustrations.com/frames/trust_frameset.htm )

Yes, we all laugh. We’re supposed to laugh at this story. Someone wrote this as a humorous anecdote to make us laugh.  But, perhaps we also laugh because we know deep in our hearts, we would do the same thing.  Sadly, this may be our very own reaction in any other crisis as well.  We say we have faith, we say we believe in Christ, we say we will follow Him to the Cross.  But when things get tough, when we get in a bind, we just can’t seem to let go of all that holds us to this world.  We don’t want to release our hold on our false sense of security. When times get tough we seem to falter in our faith.  But we are called to trust, we are called to obey, we are called to take that first leap – or fall – of faith.  If you truly trust that the Lord is with you, then you must let go and let God take over.  A lot of us would agree, that’s easier said than done!

Over the past few weeks we have been exploring the story of the disciple we know as Peter. This is the disciple that Jesus gave a new name, the disciple that Jesus called to rise above whatever fears he had and leave everything to follow Jesus.  This is also one of the disciples to whom Jesus gave instructions and then sent out to do to do kingdom work. And this is the disciple who is seen as the foundation of the church. 

But here today in the fourteenth chapter of Matthew’s gospel, we see how Peter responds when he is called to act, to literally step out in faith.  Here we learn how Peter, whose new name literally means rock – as in solid, unmoving, a firm foundation – momentarily falters and begins to sink like a rock to the bottom of the sea.   But in just a few words, Jesus reassures Peter, just as He reassures us.  Just as Jesus calls Peter, He calls all of us when He says, “Come, get out of the boat and walk with me!”

As we listened to God’s Word just a few moments ago, we heard that Jesus sent the disciples out in a boat, to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, while Jesus dismissed the crowds – the crowds being the 5,000 plus who were just fed on the hillside with five loaves and two fishes.  So it’s probably now late afternoon. Jesus dismisses the crowd and sends them home. Jesus has spent the day not only teaching this great crowd the means to sustain their spiritual lives, but also providing the means for which they could sustain their physical lives. Jesus, now finally alone, goes up into mountains to pray, to seek strength from His heavenly Father.

So, the disciples, well-seasoned fishermen accustomed to fishing on the Sea of Galilee, are out on the lake. Evening has come. The skies have grown dark, as well as the weather. The Sea of Galilee is known for its storms – both twenty centuries ago and today. The wind can come whipping off the mountains of the Golon Heights, down into the Rift Valley, into the basin of the Sea of Galilee, which sits below sea level. Violent storms are known to stir up in no time at all.  And this particular storm is no exception.  But, most of Jesus’ disciples are professional fishermen. If anyone knew how to handle storms on the Sea of Galilee, it would be these guys.  But this storm is so violent, so unrelenting that the disciples are terrified! The waves are crashing into the boat. Three to four miles from shore, the boat is filling with water; it’s being swamped. The disciples are doing everything they know how to do, but it’s no use. They’ve tied down the sails. The oars are out, and they’re pulling against them, hard as they row against the wind.  Some are frantically bailing out the seawater that with each wave is being thrown into the boat. 

“This is it,” they’re thinking. “We’re all gonna die!” If you’ve ever been caught in an especially violent storm, whether at sea or on dry land, you probably know the feeling. It’s a feeling of sheer terror.  Not only are the disciples being tossed to and fro by the violent waves of the storm, it’s now somewhere between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. in the morning and as they look out at the seas around them and they can see something, someone walking on the choppy water.  Not only are they terrified by the storm, they are being terrified now by what appears to be a ghost coming toward them. 

But it is Jesus. It is Jesus who is walking toward them.  He calms their fears by calling out, “It is I, do not be afraid.”  Peter, who seems to be a little unsure that it truly is Jesus calls out, “If it’s really you, let me join you on the water.”  And Jesus simply replies, “Come.”

Christ called Peter to come, not that he might walk on the water to know the Lord’s power, but so Peter might know his own weakness. Peter, who exemplifies impulsiveness, always seems to leap before he looks. But that’s much better than someone who looks so long they never leap. Peter is mixed in motive –Peter is both courageous and cowardly. He starts off well, but then when the surrounding storm distract him, he is overcome with fear.  Peter is helpless, as we all are without God. Peter had taken his focus from the source of his faith and that sinking feeling of doubt takes over.

We all need Jesus to come, to take our hand and pull us up from the depths, to lift us to eternal life. Those who would be saved must come to Christ.  But most of us do not come, or perhaps even think about truly coming to Jesus until we find ourselves sinking in the dark seas of this world. When we look away from Christ, and look at the greatness of the opposing difficulties we too begin to falter, to doubt.  But when we call on Jesus, He will stretch out His hand and save us.

Earlier in Matthew’s gospel we can read of another night on the rough seas.  Jesus is on board the ship, but the disciples are still afraid.  They seek Jesus to calm the storm, to save them from drowning.  In our text this morning, while all the disciples are fearful, it is only Peter who calls out to be saved after he ventures out on the rough sea. 

You and I should notice something very important here.  Peter is not saved because of his faith. Neither are you and I saved by our faith. We are saved by God's grace, by God's power, by God's promise to us. In the storms of life it is not our faith that saves us; it is God who saves us. Faith is simply trust, trust that God will silence the wind and calm the storm, faith is confidence that no matter how chaotic the world around us becomes God will sustain us. When Jesus says “ Have faith, don’t be afraid,” He is simply reminding us of the choppy seas in our lives – those seas that threaten to overtake us when we forget Who is on the water with us. If we rely on the powers around us rather than the power of God within us; if we begin to believe more in the abilities of mankind rather than the power of God, it is not very long before we are swamped by the waves and, like Peter, begin sinking to the bottom.

Those in the early church probably loved this story. A boat was one of the earliest Christian symbols used to depict the church. In fact, in catacomb drawings the church was disguised as a boat with the mast in the shape of a cross.  A boat is still the symbol used by the World Council of Churches. This image lingers with us today when we call the central portion of the church the ‘nave” derived from the Latin word “navis” from which we get our word “navy.” 

A boat also recalls the story of Noah and the ark. The ark was a large boat, which saved Noah, his family, and the animals through the waters of the flood. The church is understood to be an ark for all who enter it, receiving salvation through the waters of baptism. Jesus' calming of the storm also helped to make the boat a symbol of safety and refuge.

But a ship also requires the cooperation of a number of people in order to cross the seas successfully. There are many jobs to be done on a ship from rowers, to those who set the sails, swab the deck, make the meals, or set the course. This image of a ship reminds us we do not follow Jesus alone but as part of a community of faith in which each of us has gifts and abilities to use together to glorify God and help the ship of Christ move forward.  As we think of the image of the boat, the sails and the oars would indicate that boats are not supposed to be tied up at dock. Boats are made to move through water and sometimes that means the boat will be rocked, sometimes the boat will encounter storms that threaten those on board. However, as long as Jesus is leading us forward in His mission that movement will be for the sake of taking the church where it needs to go.

The early church knew exactly what it felt like to be a little boat tossed about in a stormy sea. Small and insignificant, a tiny minority in every city, persecuted, hunted down, arrested, tortured, even executed by the Roman Empire: the early church related to the disciples in the boat; they knew what it was like to be terrified.

And what they heard in this story was that they were not alone in that boat. They not only had each other, they had Jesus, who was very much with them – Jesus whose presence and power had the ability to bring them a sense of peace, calm, and comfort, even in the midst of the most violent of storms. “Peace, Be Still,” they heard Jesus say. “It’s OK; I’m here; I’m in control.”

The church may be battered by violent waves, but the church does not sink because Christ is at the helm. The waves have never totally engulfed the church. There have been times during the past twenty centuries when it might have seemed as if Christ’s ship would be sunk by the waves of heresy, of persecution and of conflict. . But the church goes on, saving souls and journeying to its final destination.

The truth of this story is that there is no storm, no threat, no battle, and no chaos that can undo us, negate us, or destroy us, because Christ is with us, forever and always. We are not alone in the boat!

Jesus tells Peter to come and meet Him outside the boat, perhaps even outside the body of the church. But Peter is somewhat unsure, so he asks the Lord to call him.  Perhaps his trust in Jesus is still shaky.   But Jesus does call Peter, calls Peter to leave the relative safety of the boat and step out in faith. Peter walked across the water not for a diversion or to be able to boast about it, but rather to go to Jesus, to be with Jesus. So if we really want to be with Jesus, we have to get out of the boat, we have to take that first step, that first step out in faith. Trust in Christ is never misplaced. In Him the impossible can be done.  We must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus because Christ is the one who in the end will rescue us when our faith fails.

You’ve probably seen the movie, or at least know the story of the Titanic, the tragic event of April 14, 1912 that demonstrates how human arrogance and pride can lead to destruction. The RMS Titanic was meant to be indestructible, unsinkable – the finest, biggest, most expensive ocean-liner in the history of shipping. Yet, within a few hours, in the middle of the night on her maiden voyage, an iceberg put an end to this work of human engineering, and sadly to lives of thousands of men, women and children. Only those who made it into the limited number of lifeboats survived.  Small and simple as they were, these lifeboats saved people’s lives as the grand liner sank beneath the waves.

If we are to think of the church as a boat, we should not think of it as an ocean going liner built for comfort and ease. Instead we must think of the church as a lifeboat from which we can rescue those who are drowning. The church’s purpose is drawing people to Jesus Christ, to saving lives. We are not here to provide pleasure and luxury for elite groups who sit within these walls. The church is for the wounded, the broken, the lost; those who like the disciples cry out “Lord! Save us!”  We should not be measuring the church by its size or the magnificence of its craftsmanship.  We should be measuring the church by the faith it maintains and inspires through Jesus Christ.

As we learn more about Peter we discover that Peter’s impulsive actions always seem to get him into tight spots.  He leaps in faith, but then falters and falls.  But at least he leaps.  If we sit in the boat because of fear, if we continue to seek safety within a manmade structure, we will surely go down with the ship.   We need to get out of our comfort zone, to get out of the ease with which we can talk about our faith within the safe confines of this building.  We need – we must – Jesus calls us to go out across the choppy seas of this world, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those who are at risk of drowning, to those who need to know the saving power of Jesus Christ. 

When you’re ready to step out in faith, don’t be afraid! Trust in the Lord to hold you up. Don’t be afraid to share your faith outside this building, outside your normal comfort zone.  Every day, no matter what you do, wherever you spend your time, you will find people who are drowning.  There is a world out there drowning in a sea of darkness, a sea of sin, a sea called acceptable social standards and modern day culture. Just as Christ reached out His hand to Peter, and also to you and me, reach out your hand. Take the hand of a co-worker, a friend, a family member or even a stranger, and point them to Jesus.  Pull them into the lifeboat to find safety on Christ’s ship. Let them find calm in the storms of their life.  Let them know of the peace that will calm the storms, of the joy of knowing Jesus is in control. Introduce them to the One who not only walks on water, but reaches out His hand so that we may walk on that water, may walk across the turmoil of life, may walk with Jesus Christ every day, every step of the way, focused only on Jesus, with a tight grasp on His hand. 

But in order to heed the call from Jesus, you have to get out of the boat! Are you ready to take that first step out of the boat?  Let’s get our feet wet together, as we begin by focusing on hearts on Christ through prayer.

Pray with me.  Precious Lord Jesus, we hear your call to us, but so often we are afraid to take that first step.  Let us begin this day to refocus our sights on you, to trust in only You, dear Lord.  Let us now willingly obey Your call willingly heeding your call to get out of the boat,  in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.