FAITH EXPLORED: If you want to see God’s power, get out of the boat 2-9-25

FAITH EXPLORED: If you want to see God’s power, get out of the boat 2-9-25

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to worship Church. We are in the middle of a sermon series called Faith Explored. We have been taking a look at the ways individuals in the Bible displayed incredible faith in God. They saw God do amazing things because they were willing to step out in trust and obedience.

 

Last week we looked at the Israelite people crossing the River Jordan into the Promised Land. In Joshua Chapter three, we saw that their unique faith was displayed by being willing to step into the water before it was parted, not after. Sometimes we have to take the first step to see God’s faithfulness at work.

 

This week we will look at another angle of faith that is present in the Scriptures. It is the interplay between faith and fear. Over the past few years, the Church has become well acquainted with navigating these two extremes. The global pandemic, increased gun violence, and a global financial crisis are just a few of the challenges we all face today.  Some of us may have been tempted to abandon our faith and embrace fear. But fear paralyzes us and keeps us from being the hands and feet of Christ in a broken world. As we explore faith today, we will learn the key to holding onto our faith in the face of fear.

If we let it, life can overwhelm us with fear. Anyone can become afraid of anything. They are called phobias. I certainly have a few, and maybe you do too. See if you can guess the fear that these different phobias are describing. Peladophobia: fear of baldness and bald people. Porphyrophobia: fear of the color purple. Chaetophobia: fear of hairy people. Auroraphobia: fear of the northern lights. Calyprophobia: fear of obscure meanings. Odontophobia: fear of teeth. Graphophobia: fear of writing in public. Phobophobia: fear of being afraid. And the number one fear in the United States as of a few years ago is Glossophobia: fear of public speaking, which affects 25 percent of Americans.

 

There are many people within the Church today who are not living up to their full potential in Christ. They don’t live generous lives; they don’t serve others; they don’t make worship a priority; and they don’t take risks for the sake of Christ. Why? There might be lots of reasons but one of the biggest, I believe, is because of fear. A fear of what others might think. A fear of what following Jesus might cost them. But if we want to see the power of God in our lives, we have to be willing to step out.

 

A disciple named Peter learned this lesson in a classic story from the Gospels. In Matthew chapter fourteen, John the Baptist died in prison and Jesus fed the 5,000. After all that, Jesus sent his disciples out on a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee while he went up a mountainside to pray.

 

“Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭14‬:‭22‬-‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The disciples were alone in the boat on the water, and the author set the stage for what was about to happen. There was a storm, and the boat the disciples were in was being tossed by the wind and waves. The Greek word used here is the word basanizo. It literally means to examine, to torture, or to buffet. The disciples found themselves in a difficult and scary situation. A circumstance that was outside of their control.

 

I. Life Is Often Outside Of Our Control.

 

A.  The waves and winds of life are always there.

Every one of us in the room today can point to a time in recent memory where we felt tossed by the waves and winds of life. A diagnosis. A tragedy. A crisis. A disappointment. These are the very things that are often outside of our control but cause our faith to waver. It can leave us feeling vulnerable and exposed, and we can wonder where Jesus is in the middle of it all. The storms of life are unavoidable. The question is: who do we trust in in the middle of it?

 

B.  Life can be scary.

It is like the little boy whose mother was tucking him into bed during a summer night storm. She was about to turn off the light when he asked in a trembling voice, "Mommy, will you stay with me all night?" Smiling, the mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, "I can't dear. I have to sleep in daddy's room." A long silence followed. At last it was broken by a shaky voice saying, "That big sissy!"

C.  Fear can make you miss Jesus.

It was a dark and stormy night, and the disciples were being tossed around in their tiny boat. Now, many of Jesus’s followers were fishermen, so they would have encountered a storm or two; but their immediate response was fear. That would indicate that the storm was particularly dangerous.

Continuing in Matthew 14:24, the Bible says that just before dawn, Jesus came out to them walking on the water. Jesus was demonstrating his power and control over the elements of the storm. But when the disciples saw him, they were gripped with fear because they thought he was a ghost or spirit. Because of fear, the disciples miss that Jesus was right there with them in the middle of the wind and waves.

II. Faith Is Not The Absence Of Fear; it Is the Result Of The Presence Of Jesus.

A.  We must be strong and courageous.

Immediately, Jesus spoke to them. The words he said are echoes of the most repeated command in the Bible. Two hundred times in the Scriptures, God told His people to not be afraid and to take courage. It is the command given to Joshua before they cross the River Jordan, as we discussed last week.

 

 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.””

‭‭Joshua‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Facing uncertainty in a new land and the crossing of a flooded body of water, God told his people to have courage. Not because all the obstacles would be eliminated but because God was going to be with them as they went.

B.  The presence of Jesus makes the storm seem less ______.

 

The same is true in this passage as well. Jesus told the disciples to take courage in the middle of the storm because he was with them.

 

 “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.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭14‬:‭27‬-‭29‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Jesus’s' most comforting words to the disciples are: “It is I.” They didn’t have to be afraid because they were not alone. Maybe someone needs to hear that this morning. You can have faith in the middle of what you are going through because you are not alone. Jesus is with you. That is the beauty of faith. You can do hard things and make a difference for the Kingdom even though you may be fearful. It does not disqualify you from trusting and obeying. You were created to live with faith.

 

Dr. E. Stanley Jones was a missionary and author. He once said, “I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath--these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely—these are my native air.” A John Hopkins University doctor said, ‘We do not know why it is that worriers die sooner than the non-worriers, but that is a fact.” But I, who am simple of mind, think I know. We are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to live against reality.”

 

C.  With Jesus, anything seems possible.

The Apostle Peter lived in the reality of faith. Look at Peter. Peter’s response to Jesus’s presence was to ask him to invite him out of the boat and onto the water. I think Peter had seen Jesus do such amazing things throughout their ministry together that he longed to face his fear and get out of the safety of the boat to do what Jesus did. I would argue that many of us feel the same way deep down. Deep down we long to be invited out of the boat of a comfortable life to see God do amazing things. But to see those things we have to be willing to get out of the boat. Jesus’s response to Peter’s invitation? “Come.” Do it then Peter. Come out onto the water and see your faith overcome your fear.

 

III. Keep Your Eyes On Jesus.

 

Peter obediently got out of the boat at Jesus’s invitation. Right before the disciples’ eyes, a miracle took place. Peter was walking on water. That is the goal of the Christian life: to respond to God’s call to trust him and have the faith to take risks for God, blessing others with our actions.

 

But just as quickly as Peter was above the water he began to sink.

 

A.  Even with faith, we can falter.

 “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. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭14‬:‭30‬-‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

B.  We must keep our eyes on Jesus.

Peter’s flaw was that he let his eyes focus on the swirling waters around him and not remain fixed on Jesus. If we are honest, we have the tendency to do the same thing. Though we may have started by developing a deep faith with eyes on Jesus, if we are not careful, the worries of the world will creep in. The struggle with faith is that it does not have a long shelf life. Many of us try to live off of recycled faith. We don’t take the time to nurture a vibrant trust in God that is renewed each and every day. The danger in this way of living is that our eyes can drift from the Savior to our circumstances, and we may begin to sink.

 

My wife and I have always been confident in our faith in Jesus. It has guided us throughout our lives individually and in our marriage. In some ways, it has always felt unshakable. However, last year we felt the winds and waves like never before. My wife’s father had a neurological event and did not recover.  My dad passed while in hospice care just about 6 weeks later. In both cases, we felt like God was going to provide health instead of death. We prayed and felt God was with us and that He would see us through. It was devastating. Many within our family found themselves wondering where God was in the middle of all the pain. Admittedly, my wife and I felt our eyes shift from Jesus to the waves of grief. So much pain and so little relief.

C.  We must reach out to Jesus.

 

Maybe you have felt your eyes move from Jesus to the painful situations you find yourself in. We are wise to respond the way Peter did. He cried out, “Save me!” This is the proper response to a fragile faith. There is no shame in reaching out for Jesus’s rescue. He is our ever-present help in time of need.

 

As Jesus pulled Peter from the water, he asked him why he had such little faith and why he doubted. I wonder who Peter was doubting though. It could not have been Jesus because Jesus was still atop the water. Peter must have been doubting his own ability to do what Jesus was doing. He was questioning his own ability to trust. The key is keeping our eyes on Jesus because he is the one who provides the power to live the full life of God. Once Jesus and Peter were back in the boat, the waters calmed and the disciples worshiped him because they knew he is the Son of God.

 

Today, I believe Jesus is giving each of us the same invitation he gave to Peter: to leave the comfort and security of the boat and step out onto the waters of audacious faith to see the power of God work in you and through you in amazing ways. There will always be waves, winds, and distractions from Christ, but if we can keep our eyes on him, there is no telling what we can do.

CONCLUSION

Life is often outside of our control. Faith is not the absence of fear; it is the result of the presence of Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

INVITATION

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins     and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.