I. A Great People 00:00
Lord Jesus, we come before you this morning trusting that you will meet us here. I pray that you change our hearts and minds to be more like you. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
So on Friday night my family and I went over to Papa and Nana’s house, and my kids love going to Papa and Nana’s house, let me tell you. And there’s a couple of things that I was thinking about in light of going over there. Well, first of all, the excitement and the joy that my kids have going to Papa and Nana’s house just reminds me of the good heavenly Father who loves us so much. Because what’s going on in their mind is they’re expecting joy when they go to Papa and Nana’s house. And yet we go throughout our days and our weeks, and we get beat up by the wind and waves, the storms of our life, and we somehow stop expecting joy when we come into the house of the Lord. If Papa and Nana can give joy, how much more can our heavenly Father give us joy when we come to his house?
And something in me just resonated: we need to remember the reality that we are in the house of the Lord, the Lord God who loves you more than anyone you’ve ever met, more than anyone you’ve ever known. He adores you. Some of you are thinking, “Well, duh.” You’re wrong. The “duh” is wrong. Part of the joy comes from realizing how we are so inadequate, and yet he loves us so much. And some of us are thinking, “How could he?” And I’m here to tell you today: he does. You are so worthy of the love of the Father, not because you’re so great, but because he is so great. And so when we talk about these things, these examples, I just want you to remember the love of God grounds all of it. And you need to know that you’re loved in order to walk in the message that Christ preaches. It doesn’t work for him to invite you to the cross if you don’t know that he loves you, that he took the cross for you, that he wants you to join him not just in his suffering but also in his resurrection.
And so another thing that happened at Papa and Nana’s house was we pulled out some boxes that we had found that used to belong to Archbishop Adler, my grandfather and the founding bishop of this church. And we’re flipping through a journal. It’s kind of like a prayer devotion type journal, you know. And so he had a lot of prayers in there, and one of the prayers that really struck me was, as he was praying for Saint Michael’s, he said, “God, I am unworthy to lead this great people.” And he capitalized “great people.” And I think there’s something in us at Saint Michael’s that needs to remember that God has called us to be his great people here. This particular fellowship, this particular church, this particular expression of the body of Christ, is a great people. And then he said, “I pray to you, Father, that they would be filled with the power of the Spirit and the knowledge of the word of God.” If you’re filled with the power of God, you are a great people. And so my hope this morning, as we talk through our story today, is that you would be convicted once again to seek the filling of God’s Spirit and the knowledge of the word of God.
II. Heading into a Storm 03:29
So we’re going to jump into Matthew chapter 14, our Gospel this morning, and we’re going to talk through one of the most popular stories of all time, the story of Jesus walking on the water. But today we’re going to focus… My title this morning is “The Disciples Head into a Storm,” because that’s the part that’s fascinating to me this morning. Let me tell you this: we as a people are heading into a storm. (Stealing from Father Powell; we had a great conversation yesterday.) But I really believe this: we as a people are heading into a storm. Do you know why? Because we’re going where Jesus sent us. And you know what comes up as you head on the path that Jesus lays for you? Storms.
The disciples were great fishermen. Well, probably they were pretty good. They made a living off of it. They were better than me. And they knew when a storm was probably going to come. Part of being a good fisherman is knowing when it’s good to go out and fish and when it’s not good to go out and fish. You want to go when the fishing is good and there’s not a storm. And yet Jesus says, “Cross the Sea of Galilee,” knowing full well that a storm is coming. And not just any storm: the type of storm that would make a fisherman say, “I’m going to die in this.” And he sent them into that.
III. Get in the Boat 04:42
So let’s jump into this, and let’s see what happens as Jesus sends his disciples into a storm. Matthew 14:22:
22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. Matt 14.22
Here’s some context. You know the other most popular story about Jesus, the one where he feeds five thousand men, plus women and children, and everybody’s amazed, and there are baskets left over, and the abundance and the power of God to feed people out of nothing, out of five loaves and two fish? That just happens. So in this context he tells the disciples, “You’ve just witnessed a miracle. You’ve just seen an outpouring of the power of God. Now go into the world, go into the sea. I’ve got another purpose for you across this ocean.”
Now, many of you know the sermon line out of this story. What’s the sermon line? It’s “Get out of the boat.” That’s the sermon line, because Peter famously gets out of the boat and walks on water. But I want to start earlier than that. Actually, I want you to get in the boat. How many of you are doing what God told you to do right now? And that’s not a condemnation; it’s an honest question. Because if I ask myself that question day in and day out, I don’t think I’d have a very good batting average. And a batting average that’s good is like, you know, 35 percent of the time. So when I say I have a bad batting average doing what God wants me to do, I’m saying I fail abysmally to ask, hear, and obey when God is trying to send me somewhere.
And so when we look at this, and we look at what happens, I don’t want to focus so much on “Get out of the boat,” although we’ll get there. I want to start with “Get in the boat.” God has a place for you to go. Let me just say this too: the storms are coming whether you’re in the boat or you’re on the shore. No matter if you hear these messages and you just go home and ignore them the rest of the week, and then you come back, you hear a good message, go home, you ignore them the rest of the week (and I say that, once again, not to condemn anybody, but because I know myself), you’re going to face a storm. It’s not just where Jesus sends you that you face a storm. But when you’re going where Jesus sends you and you face a storm, at least it’s the storm in service of Christ. If you face a storm in service of yourself (because that’s the other option), it’s a lot harder. It’s not as good, let me tell you.
IV. Three Options 07:52
Now, I do think that there are kind of three options here. Because every Sunday we come together in the church, and, you know, the church has always been symbolized by the ark, or the boat. That’s even why we have these ribs on the ceiling. It’s like an upside-down boat that we gather in. And there’s this symbolism, and when you read the early Church Fathers reading this story, they say, “Oh yeah, it’s just like the early church. Jesus came, and he miraculously fed us with his body and blood. He died on the cross, he gave us the sacrament of the Eucharist, and then he told the disciples, the church, to get in the church, the boat, and go out into the world.” And then they got persecuted for 350 years, and the winds and the waves beat against that boat. But they said, “Don’t worry, Church. Jesus came in the midst of the storm.”
And so when we look at this, I think we have three options as church members today. Number one is you treat yourself well. You come in and you get your fix, let’s say that. You get fed, and you go home, and you’re a really nice person who goes throughout their week, and then you get angry and you’re not very nice, and then you just kind of live like everybody else in the world. But you go to church on Sunday. Bravo. That’s fine, in the sense that, praise God, you go to church. But, man, it is not what God meant when he died on a cross and rose from the dead, that you might have life and life abundantly.
And then there are the people (and we all know we don’t want to be this, but I know every one of us has been this at some point) who may go to church, but they’re actively fighting what God’s doing in their life. They have something else that has taken the place of serving God in their life.
So I’m holding up these two people that I think we all are at some point. One of them is just busy with life: “I’m really good at my job, I take care of my family, and I go to church, and I’m a nice person, and I’m good, so I’ll get into heaven.” Man, is that boring. That is not the type of Christian I want to be. Or there’s the guy who’s actively rebelling. You know, he’s got his thing that he’s really committed to. He’s a slave to his job, or his money, or his power, or success. But, you know, he’s a Christian because he was raised a Christian. He goes to church. I’ve been that guy too, and that’s painful. That is painful. It is dark when you go your own way and you ignore what God is trying to tell you.
Or there’s the third guy, the guy who gets on the boat. And you know what happens to him? He hits the biggest storm of his life. He feels like he’s going to die. But he’s in the boat. And where does Jesus meet the disciples? In the boat. So I’m putting these together just to help invite us into the life that you want to lead. I want to be on the boat in the storm. I don’t want to be the guy fighting God. I don’t want to be the guy living my life just blasé: “I do what I do, I get what I need, and I’m done.” That is not what life is. That’s not what Christ invites us into. So, like I said, the great line of this sermon is “Get out of the boat.” Well, I want you first to get in the boat.
V. Why Did Jesus Pray? 10:51
Okay, let’s keep moving. Verse 23, it says:
23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. Matt 14.23
So this is a question: why is Jesus praying? Isn’t he God? What does he need to pray for? What is he doing up there? Well, not to get too deep into one of the more thorny theological ideas, but we have this concept of kenosis, where it says Jesus did not count his Godhood as something to be grasped, but he emptied himself and he became a man (Phil 2.6–7). This doctrine of incarnation. So he wasn’t walking around like Superman. Imagine if Jesus had all the powers of his Godhood ready at his disposal as a man. That’s not really a man. A person who’s omniscient, omnipotent, timeless, outside of everything, created all the world: if he was living that way, he’s not living like you or I. He’s nothing I can relate to. But instead, Christ became like us, limited like us. He became a baby. He had to learn how to speak. He had to learn how to walk. He had to learn how to read. He had to learn how to hear the voice of God the same way you and I do.
So what was he doing on the mountain? He was learning. He was being shaped. He was being molded by the voice of God. You see, just like you and I, he had the same temptations and tendencies as we all do. We get really pumped: God’s given us this new project. We’re so grateful to him, we’re excited, we’re ready to do it with him. And a year, or even a few weeks in, we’re overwhelmed and we can’t do it, and it’s too much: “How am I going to do this?” And we forget: “Oh yeah, that’s right, God was leading this project. How did I get out in front?” At least that happens to me pretty frequently. I start trying to do it by my own strength.
It might even be a God project. Talk about feeding the poor: Saint Michael’s food pantry feeds hundreds of families. But did you know, if God wasn’t there, we couldn’t do it? Phil couldn’t do it. Our volunteers couldn’t do it. It’s because of the grace of God, time and again, that we’re able to feed the poor. If anybody took over that ministry and started trying to do it by their own strength, they would die. Maybe not die, but it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of stress. It’s a lot of coordination. It would be hard, and it would not be the grace of God for that ministry. God has provided everything you need. In fact, he’s prepared good works for you to do (Ephes 2.10). But he wants you to do it with him, him through you.
And yet we run out there and we just bang our head against the wall trying to make things happen for God, instead of living from God, instead of living with his power in our life. This is for all the people who get on the boat, but then they try to sail through the storm with all their sailing knowledge, and then the boat gets torn apart, and they’re like, “I’m going to die.” That’s probably what the disciples did. They get on the boat, and everything that they do to save the boat from the storm is failing, and then Jesus shows up. I’ve been that sailor. I’ve been that person.
So when we look at this, what is Jesus doing? He’s praying by himself. He needs to get away from his ministry, and he needs to remember his connection with his Father. He needs to maintain his… be shaped by the word of God in him. He told his disciples, “I do everything I see my Father doing, and I only say what I hear my Father saying” (John 5.19). When did he see what God was doing? When did he hear what God was saying? I think he did it all the time. But I think he maintained that practice by going and spending time with God, knowing who God is.
VI. More Like the Hose 14:56
I will say this: we are not like plants, none of us. We don’t only need watering once a week. In fact, if you think about that: we come on Sundays, we get fed, we get watered, and then we go throughout our day, and by the next week… If you look at a plant that gets watered once a week, sure, it’s good for that plant, but that soil is dry by the end of that week. Then they get watered, and then they get dry, and then they get watered, and they get dry. That’s not how God made us.
In fact, in this analogy, we’re more like the hose, and the Spirit is the water, and our job is to water the world with the goodness of God. What does it say? His glory shall cover the face of the earth like the waters of the sea (Hab 2.14). We’re supposed to be pumping God’s glory into the world. But you know what? Our hose gets kinked up quite a bit. And what does the word of God do? It straightens us out. So what do you need to do? Well, you need to get in the word of God. You need to get straightened out, because that water is not going to flow if you’re all kinked up, if you’re all out of balance. But the word of God shapes us. It forms us into the perfect hose to shower the world with the goodness of God, to transform the world by transporting his goodness. The filling of the power of the Spirit is the water rushing through that hose.
When it says, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1.28), not only does it mean have children; it also means and says, take dominion over the earth and make the earth to be what it’s called to be, which is fruitful. In fact, before God even says that to man, he says even the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the plants are to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1.22). And we’re the gardeners.
Let me bring this all back. When we talk about you being filled with the Spirit and being shaped by the knowledge of the word of God, it’s not just for you. It’s so that the whole world can encounter the kingdom of God, which is life, which is goodness, which is peace, joy, love. And so when Jesus was praying with God, he was being shaped and formed so that his pump was always on, and everywhere he went, everyone he encountered encountered the living God through him, just like we’re called to do.
And so Jesus is up on a mountain, the boat is out on the sea, and there’s that great picture. I talked about how the early Church Fathers say the boat is like the church, and the mountain is like Jesus has ascended and he’s ruling over the world, and the church is out there fighting against the wind and the waves. And Jesus comes to us, even from his place of authority. He comes to us, because he doesn’t want to just clear a path for you. He wants to empower you to have the faith that moves mountains, that calms the seas. He wants to be with you in relationship, conquering the world for him, bringing the kingdom of God.
VII. The Fourth Watch of the Night 18:09
And so we move on here. It says in verse 24:
24 But the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. Matt 14.24
Like I said, a storm is coming. If I said that the church throughout history has faced storms, and you know anything about history, you’d say, “Duh, absolutely.” Whether it’s persecution, or state oppression, or even that awful thing where the church becomes corrupted itself and starts perpetuating the evils that it’s called to fight, the church is constantly facing a battle. We are constantly facing battles. This church is facing a battle, because we’re called to raise up the next generation in our school, Saint Michael’s Christian Academy. We are called to proclaim the gospel to the poor, the needy, the broken, in our food pantry and the way that we live our lives in this community. We’re facing a storm because we’re doing what God wants us to do. We’re in the boat. We’re heading to where God has us. And so, just like the disciples were in the boat, the wind is against us. But Jesus is coming. In verse 25 it says:
25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. Matt 14.25
Of course it’s the fourth watch of the night. If you know the Bible, this is a very significant time. It’s, you know, that cliché phrase from Tumblr or whatever: it’s always darkest before the dawn. It’s exactly that. So it’s 3 a.m., somewhere in three to six a.m., the worst time to be in a storm, because you’re exhausted. You’ve been fighting all night. You’re at the very end of your rope. And that’s when Jesus comes. He’s sitting up there on the mountain watching, and yet he comes at the last minute, way after they thought they were lost. I’ve been there: way after you think this situation could not get any worse. “Where is God?” And he’s watching and praying, and he’s interceding for us, and then he shows up right when we need it most.
VIII. Take Heart; It Is I 20:34
If you’re deeply rooted in the word of God and filled with his Spirit, you will see Jesus show up in those situations. Imagine the disciples stick with their first impulse: “No, it’s a ghost!” What a tragedy, if they miss their salvation. Because when you’re in that moment… In fact, let me just read that verse, because there’s something interesting here:
26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” Matt 14.26–27
I love that verse. First of all, when you’re in the fourth watch of the night, and you’ve been fighting the storm of your life, and you’re going to die, the first thing you see when you see something coming out of that darkness is going to be a supernatural terror that’s meant to end you. Because that’s what you expect. When you’re in a storm, you can start to expect the worst. “Of course another bad thing has happened. Of course my car breaks down. Of course my house is getting foreclosed on. Of course my child is sick. Of course,” whatever. Because they’re in that storm, and you’re thinking you’re going to die, you start to agree with the enemy, his plan for your life. Let me say it this way: we start to give our imagination to fear, as a tool to increase our misery, because we’re pretty sure that what we’ve experienced so far, the storm, is going to continue until our demise.
So instead of seeing Jesus, who they know very well, who they know has the power to heal, raise the dead, feed everyone, they see a ghost, the supernatural terror, something that’s going to end them. But Jesus’ compassion and goodness says, “Hey, dumb-dumbs, it’s me!” No, he doesn’t say that. He has every right to say that: “Dumb-dumbs, don’t you believe? Didn’t you see the love, the miracles that I’ve done? Didn’t you trust me? I sent you on this boat. Why didn’t you ask me for help? Why didn’t you pray to God, and he would have saved you?” He could have absolutely lectured them, and had every right to do so. But instead, like the good God, the good Father that he is, he says, “Take heart; it is I.”
So wherever you’re at in your storms, whatever you encounter in this storm, look for that message. I think sometimes we start thinking, “Well, I got myself into this mess. I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want to tell him. I don’t want to go to him. It’s my fault. I don’t want to go to him. He’s going to be angry with me. He’s going to judge me. He’s going to cause me shame.” “Don’t be afraid. Don’t you know the love I have for you?” When he says “it is I,” he’s declaring, “I am Lord. I am God.” In fact, the language is very similar and reminiscent of the burning bush, when God says, “I am who I am” (Exod 3.14). Declaring “it is I” is the greatest reason I’ve ever heard to take heart.
IX. Lord, Save Me 23:00
Okay, then we get to the part that most people focus on. We’re not going to spend a ton of time here, but there’s something we have to go over. He says that, and Peter answers him (gotta love Peter):
28 “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Matt 14.28
Man, I’m going to be like… he got to walk on water! There are precisely two people in the history of the world that we know of who have been walking on water by the power of God. Peter gets to be one of them, because he asked, “Can I accompany you on the water? I want to be with you.”
29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Matt 14.29–30
In our other translation it said, “when he saw the wind boisterous.” And it’s like, what does a boisterous wind have to do with the fact that you’re walking on water? I don’t know about you, but the aerodynamics, the physics of this thing, have already been surpassed. You’re in the miracle zone. And yet he goes, “Oh, the wind!” Jesus is right there. The reason it’s funny is because we do the same thing. He’ll just pay our water bill, and then the next day our kid will start coughing, and we’re like, “Oh God, what’s going to happen to my child?” Or whatever: we’ll get this miracle, and then we’ll turn around and say, “Yeah, but look at this bigger problem.”
And of course we know the problem was Peter took his eyes off Jesus. Did the wind matter, or did Jesus matter in this scenario? Did the waves matter, or did Jesus? The whole point of his walking on water was that he said, “If it is you, command me to come.” He walked on water to see Jesus and to know that it was him. And yet he got caught up, folks, in the wind. There’s a storm coming. What are you going to do? Are you going to talk to your friends about how awful the storm is, and talk about the amount of things that you have to overcome in your life? Or are you going to focus on Jesus, the only one who has the power to save you, the only one who has the power to calm the storm?
X. Jonah in the Belly of the Fish 26:27
We’ll end with this guy Jonah that we read about in our Old Testament. You guys know the story. God says, “Get in the boat, go over there,” and he says, “Nope, not me,” and he goes the opposite direction. He’s that… all right, sorry about that. There’s a few different options; he was the worst option. He was doing exactly the opposite of what God wanted him to do, and he got his just deserts. He deserved to die, because he disobeyed the God of all creation, who gave him life, who gave him everything. He said, “Nope, not going to do it.” Running the opposite direction, a storm comes. The storms always come, no matter which way you go. He was so afraid of the storm he was going to face doing God’s will, he faced his own storm of probably greater measure. And then he’s swallowed by a fish, or whale, or whatever. [I don’t] really care what it is. But I tell you, it is miserable. I don’t think any of us can imagine the misery of being in the belly of a fish. I don’t even think VeggieTales does it justice.
But there’s this moment in the fish where he finally comes to his senses and prays to God. He remembers, “Oh yeah, God’s actually on my side. He is for me, not against me.” Because, you know, that’s why he ran: something in him was afraid that God was sending him to his death. I don’t know about you, but if God told me, “Go to San Francisco, stand on the biggest stage you can, and tell them, ‘You sinners, repent,’” I’d be pretty tempted to go the other way.
So in this situation, where he’s in the belly of the fish and cries out, God saves him, even in the belly of the fish, even after everything he’s done. And the fish spits him out on the dry land (Jonah 2.10), a couple miles from Nineveh. Wait, what? I thought the fish was the death of Jonah, the judgment of God in his life, his punishment. Or maybe that storm and that fish were God’s grace on his life, bringing him back to where he was called to be in the first place.
Maybe the storm in your life isn’t even just your stupidity. Sometimes it is, for somebody here; I don’t know. But for some, maybe God’s using the consequences of your sin and the difficulties of the world (because sometimes the world just is against what God is doing, because of the fallen nature of the world), and he’s using that to save your life, to bring you to exactly where you need to be. And so when we talk today about being filled with the power of the Spirit, being filled with the knowledge of the word, it’s so that the storms of your life do not overwhelm you, but instead propel you into what God has for you. Because I honestly believe that that’s God’s purpose in our life: to take the wicked things that we encounter, the difficult, tragic things we encounter, and to transform us in the process to be who he’s called us to be.
The same God who used the cross, a torture device of unbelievable, unspeakable pain, to save the entire world, to redeem that situation, to transform the world, and to bring his resurrection, will take whatever you’re facing and transform it, so that you can be like him, if you let it. So today, the end is: turn to God and see his salvation. Amen.