Latest / Prodigal Hope / Jesus Meets You in the Storm (Matthew 14)

Transcript

Jesus Meets You in the Storm (Matthew 14) · Prodigal Hope

0:00
SPEAKER_00: If you have your Bible, I invite you to turn to Matthew chapter 14.
0:05
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 14.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: We're going to hang out here.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at,
0:11
SPEAKER_00: I think,
0:11
SPEAKER_00: one of the most famous,
0:13
but also one of the most memorable stories that we could ever
0:17
sort of come across
0:19
SPEAKER_00: in all of the Gospels.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: It's the story where Peter steps out of a boat...
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Walks on water.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: And if that were enough,
0:30
he does all of that while basically a hurricane is going on on
0:35
the Sea of Galilee.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a really famous story.
0:39
This is probably maybe it's one of your favorite Bible story in
0:43
all of the Bible.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: It's the story you go back to.
0:46
And no matter how many times you hear it,
0:48
it's one of those stories that never gets old.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: You never get old or tired of hearing the story.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: Peter walking on the water.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: It's a miracle, a true miracle.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: If there ever was one in the Bible, this would be it.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of others, of course.
1:03
But I think as familiar as the story might be to you,
1:06
maybe you've heard it a bunch of times.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself, and I'll ask you this right now.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: What is this story trying to tell us?
1:14
SPEAKER_00: What are we supposed to learn from it?
1:16
SPEAKER_00: What is this story of Peter walking on water?
1:20
SPEAKER_00: What is it supposed to tell us?
1:21
SPEAKER_00: Why is it here in the first place?
1:25
SPEAKER_00: Now,
1:25
SPEAKER_00: if you've heard it a bunch of times,
1:26
SPEAKER_00: maybe you have a lot of ideas running through your head,
1:28
SPEAKER_00: and that's fine.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: But I want to challenge you.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: I want to try and encourage you.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: Try and listen to the story as if you're hearing it for the first time.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: Because I am sure...
1:38
SPEAKER_00: that you're going to be surprised when you do.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: To set the stage, what's been happening so far?
1:43
SPEAKER_00: What's been happening in Matthew 14,
1:45
but also what's been happening in the life of Jesus that brings
1:48
everyone to this point?
1:51
Well,
1:51
you don't have to go there,
1:52
but you can look a couple of verses above.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: We're going to be in Matthew 14, verses 22 through a long time.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: But if you look above the section previous,
2:02
SPEAKER_00: You might know,
2:03
SPEAKER_00: if you have one of those Bibles that has the little paragraph headings,
2:05
SPEAKER_00: you'll know that that's the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: He's just finished feeding a crowd of 5,000 people,
2:14
SPEAKER_00: plus there may have probably been more,
2:16
SPEAKER_00: with five loaves,
2:18
SPEAKER_00: two fishes,
2:18
SPEAKER_00: another miracle in and of itself,
2:20
SPEAKER_00: an amazing story in and of itself.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: Remember,
2:22
SPEAKER_00: you know,
2:23
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is preaching,
2:24
SPEAKER_00: and everyone's tummies start getting grumbly,
2:26
SPEAKER_00: and then the apostles come to Jesus.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: Hey, what are we going to do?
2:30
SPEAKER_00: How are we going to feed these people?
2:32
SPEAKER_00: And then a little boy, he brings five loaves and two fishes.
2:36
He basically brings Jesus a lunchable and he feeds a crowd of
2:41
5,000 people with a lunchable.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: And it's awesome.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: It's an amazing story.
2:45
And what's interesting about that story is that this story gets
2:48
people talking.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: It gets people going.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: They start running their mouths about this man, Jesus.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: He's from backwoods Nazareth.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: And look what he's doing.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: Look what he just did.
3:00
In fact,
3:01
you don't have to go there,
3:01
but in the Gospel of John,
3:04
he also tells the same story.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: He tells the story of the feeding of the 5,000.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: And he says that the crowd was so struck,
3:12
SPEAKER_00: they were so amazed by this scene,
3:15
SPEAKER_00: that they actually want to make Jesus.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: They're trying to force Jesus to be their king right on the spot.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: They've just been fed with a Lunchable.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: And now they're like, whoa, this guy, he's got to be our king.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: Let's bring him up.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: Let's make him king right now.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a really important point.
3:34
Because that point of forcing Jesus or trying to force Jesus to
3:39
be their king is
3:40
SPEAKER_00: sort of the reason why this next miracle is here.
3:45
Now,
3:45
Jesus has just performed this miracle,
3:48
a miracle that someone from heaven should do.
3:51
Only someone from heaven should turn five loaves and two fishes
3:55
into a full course
3:57
SPEAKER_00: meal with baskets of leftovers for 5,000 people.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: But the crowd, how do they respond again?
4:06
SPEAKER_00: They don't respond by bowing and worshiping Jesus.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: They don't respond by saying, this is the Lord.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: No, where they say, we should make him president.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: We should make him king.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: And they start harassing him to do that.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Talk about the point being missed.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: That's in John 6, verse 15.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: John 6 is the passage where it tells that story,
4:31
SPEAKER_00: where it tells the story of the feeding of the 5,000,
4:33
SPEAKER_00: but also where they force to make him king.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: Essentially, they're missing the point of what's just gone on.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: They're missing what Jesus was trying to show them about who he was.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, of course, if you read all of Jesus' life, you'll know this.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not interested in sort of being the new face of Jewish politics.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: That wasn't his mission.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: That wasn't why he had come.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't interested in that.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: And so what does he do?
5:02
SPEAKER_00: If you're in Matthew 14, we're going to read it.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: In verses 22 through 23, what does he do?
5:07
He shoves the 12 apostles into a boat and he sends them over to
5:11
the other side of
5:12
SPEAKER_00: the Sea of Galilee.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: He shoos away the crowd.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: He says, get out of here.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: Go away.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: And then he isolates himself.
5:19
He takes himself out of that area and he goes away and prays
5:23
with the father.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: Notice verse Matthew 14.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 22.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: It says immediately.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: So this is immediately after the 5,000.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: Immediately after the people are trying to force him to be king.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: To the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.
5:42
And after he had dismissed the crowds,
5:44
he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: And when evening came, he was there all alone.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: Why does Jesus do all this?
5:55
SPEAKER_00: Of course,
5:55
SPEAKER_00: as we've just kind of pointed out,
5:57
because the crowd had all of the wrong ideas about who he was
6:00
and what he had come
6:01
SPEAKER_00: to do.
6:03
He wasn't interested in sort of just liberating Israel from
6:07
Roman tyranny.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: That's not what his mission was.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: His mission was far better than that, far greater than that.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't here to just rescue Israel from Rome.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: He was here to save the world.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: And everyone in the crowd probably missed that.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: Even the disciples, I think they missed that.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: I think they were likely among the group that would have agreed.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Jesus, this is the best campaign starter ever.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: You just fed 5,000 people.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: Why aren't you launching your political career?
6:40
SPEAKER_00: He shoves in a boat, gets him out.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you filling your head with that talk.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: And so before they had time to think any of those conversations through,
6:51
suddenly they find themselves in a boat rowing to the other
6:53
side of the Sea of Galilee.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: And the plan,
6:56
the plan was to meet up with Jesus later on in a city either
6:59
Bethsaida or Capernaum.
7:01
But either way,
7:01
they're going across the sea and they're going to meet up later.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: But of course, as it happens, a horrible, horrible storm.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: stirs up all of those waters in the Sea of Galilee.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 24.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: It says,
7:17
SPEAKER_00: But the boat,
7:19
SPEAKER_00: the boat that had all of the twelve disciples in it,
7:22
SPEAKER_00: by this time it was a long way from land,
7:25
SPEAKER_00: beaten by the waves,
7:27
SPEAKER_00: for the wind was against them.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: This is, of course, a normal thing that happens on the Sea of Galilee.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: It's a sea that's known for these horrible,
7:36
SPEAKER_00: severe,
7:37
SPEAKER_00: sudden,
7:38
SPEAKER_00: and very swift storms just coming and making a wreck,
7:41
SPEAKER_00: making chaos of all of those waters.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: The disciples, they are taking their beating.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: So much so that for all of their effort,
7:49
SPEAKER_00: if you look at some of the parallel passages,
7:51
SPEAKER_00: John 6 and others,
7:53
SPEAKER_00: you can get the gist that for all of their effort,
7:55
SPEAKER_00: for all of their rowing,
7:56
SPEAKER_00: they've been rowing for a long time,
7:57
SPEAKER_00: rowing for hours.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: They're roughly only three or four miles out.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: They haven't really made a lot of headway.
8:03
This shouldn't have been a rowing session that would take all
8:06
night long to get to
8:07
SPEAKER_00: the other side.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: It should have been fairly easy to do so.
8:11
But this storm was coming against them so much so that they've
8:13
barely made it out.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: And now they are really scared.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: And that should say something to you.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: Amongst all of the disciples, right, what do you have?
8:22
SPEAKER_00: You have a couple of fishermen.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: These are professional people that go on boats.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: They're familiar with water.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: They're familiar with the ocean.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: And yet they, they're scared for their life right now.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: Also,
8:36
SPEAKER_00: they're scared because their teacher,
8:38
SPEAKER_00: their comfort guy,
8:40
SPEAKER_00: Jesus,
8:41
SPEAKER_00: he's nowhere to be,
8:42
SPEAKER_00: he's not with them.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: And that's where we are right now.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: Then look at verse 25.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: Because roughly around 3 in the morning, you know, you see weird things.
8:53
If you wake up at 3 in the morning,
8:54
you know,
8:55
you should probably see weird things.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: They saw a weird thing.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: 3 in the morning, out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: Notice what it says.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: And in the fourth watch of the night, this is verse 25.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: He, that's Jesus, came to them, walking on the sea.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: Suddenly at three in the morning, they see something off in the distance.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: They're rowing.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: They're not making any headway at all.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: They're wondering if they are ever going to make it across.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly they see something.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: They see this figure walking on the water.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: Now,
9:39
SPEAKER_00: if I saw that,
9:40
I would probably be slapping myself hoping that I would wake up
9:43
because that's not normal.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: That's not an everyday thing.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: We don't just go into random places and see people walk on the water.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: But whoever this person was, they didn't know it was Jesus at first.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: He was coming straight for them.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: He was coming right at them.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: And he's not just floating above the water.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: He's not just hovering above it.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: He's walking on it as if on pavement.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: That's how solid it was under Jesus' feet.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples, it says, are terrified.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: They are paralyzed.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: They are petrified.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: They are scared out of their minds.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: And you can put yourselves in their shoes.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: They've been rowing all night.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: rowing basically for their lives in this raging body of water.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: Their teacher wasn't with them.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: He had gone by himself up to the mountains to pray, so they're all alone.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: And now on top of that,
10:37
SPEAKER_00: there's this mystery man,
10:39
SPEAKER_00: this phantom-like figure coming for them,
10:44
SPEAKER_00: straight onto them.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: And maybe it was their exhaustion.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's their superstition.
10:50
But the only thing they can come up with was to say at the end
10:52
of verse 26,
10:53
SPEAKER_00: they were terrified and said,
10:55
SPEAKER_00: it's a ghost.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: That's the perfect explanation.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: A ghost is coming forth.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: That's what they thought.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: The grim reaper's here.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: He's spelling our doom.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: We're done for.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: We're probably already in the afterlife.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: This is the angel of death coming to get us.
11:12
SPEAKER_00: I wonder also, too, if they started rowing backwards.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't tell us that.
11:17
I kind of imagine if you saw something coming for you,
11:20
you'd start rowing backwards.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: Let's go back the other way.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: We haven't made any headway anyways.
11:27
And then just then,
11:30
in the middle of all of that chaos,
11:31
in the middle of all that noise,
11:35
In the middle of all of that wind rushing and the rain pelting
11:39
their faces,
11:40
SPEAKER_00: they hear a familiar voice.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 27.
11:44
But immediately,
11:46
immediately Jesus spoke to them saying,
11:49
take heart,
11:51
it is I.
11:53
Do not be afraid.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: What wonderful words.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: Somehow pierce all of the noise.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: Somehow,
12:04
SPEAKER_00: in the middle of everything going on,
12:06
SPEAKER_00: those raging waters,
12:07
SPEAKER_00: the winds that are going every which way and that way,
12:12
SPEAKER_00: somehow they hear the words of Jesus.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: His voice is loud enough to be heard over everything else going on,
12:21
SPEAKER_00: but it's also tender enough,
12:24
SPEAKER_00: comforting enough to give them the most beautiful message imaginable,
12:28
SPEAKER_00: especially in that moment,
12:30
SPEAKER_00: in the midst of everything,
12:31
SPEAKER_00: in the midst of abject fear.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: What does he tell them?
12:34
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry, it's me.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of this monsoon,
12:42
SPEAKER_00: Jesus literally comes up beside his followers,
12:45
the ones that he had already spent so many days and years up to
12:49
this point with,
12:50
SPEAKER_00: living with,
12:50
SPEAKER_00: teaching,
12:51
SPEAKER_00: trying to show them who he was.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: He comes up to address them personally and say, hey, it's me.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm here for you.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that awesome?
13:02
SPEAKER_00: This is just how our God is.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: The God of the Bible, guess what?
13:07
SPEAKER_00: He is a God who is aware.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: He is aware.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: He is attentive to all of the things that grieve us,
13:14
SPEAKER_00: that scare us,
13:15
SPEAKER_00: that torment us,
13:16
SPEAKER_00: that afflict us,
13:17
SPEAKER_00: that agonize us.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: He's aware of all of that.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: All of the suffering that we endure.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: All of the sorrow and hurt that we go through.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: Your God is aware of all of that.
13:28
And just like Jesus walking up to his disciples in the middle
13:31
of the storm,
13:32
SPEAKER_00: the same God comes and greets you through this word,
13:35
the Bible that you have on your phone or you have in front of
13:37
you in a printed book.
13:39
He comes up to you every single time that you were in the midst
13:42
of suffering and
13:42
SPEAKER_00: sorrow and pain.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: He comes up to you and finds you right there in the middle of it.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: The God of the Bible is a God who is mindful of us.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: That's what it says, Psalm 8, verse 4.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: What is man that you are mindful of him?
13:59
SPEAKER_00: And the son of man that you care for him.
14:01
Even the psalmist,
14:02
psalmist David,
14:03
King David,
14:04
David and Goliath,
14:05
that David.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: He was stunned,
14:09
surprised that the God of the universe would actually pay
14:13
attention to everything
14:16
SPEAKER_00: that he worries about.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: Everything that he is stressed about.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Everything that he was sorrowful for.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: That's who this God is.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: He pays attention.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: He knows your crisis.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: He knows what you're going through.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: He knows your struggles.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: He knows your storms.
14:34
And not only does he know about it,
14:36
he shows up right in the middle of it.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: Just like Jesus walking on the water to his disciples.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: That's what he shows us.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: He shows us that God, isn't this amazing?
14:48
SPEAKER_00: I think this is amazing.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: Jesus shows us that our God isn't a God who stands on the beach.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: That's not who our God is.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't just stand over there and not get involved.
15:01
He's not standing over there disinterested in what's hurting us
15:06
and what's making us suffer.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: He's not even on the shoreline shouting instructions to us.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: Hey, if you row like this, it'll go easier for us.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: Hey, if you just swim like this, it'll go better for you.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: He's not shouting rowing instructions at us.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: He's not shouting swimming instructions at us.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: Where is God found?
15:29
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of the storm.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of what you're going through.
15:34
In the middle of all of the heartache and grief and sorrow that
15:38
you endure.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: Your God is right there.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: That's where he is.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: That's where he's found.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: This is where he sets up shop, so to speak.
15:48
SPEAKER_00: So that he can rescue us.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: So that he can relieve us.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: So that he can reveal himself as the God of the storm.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: He shows us that that's where God is found.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of all of our adversity and pain and affliction.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: I wonder what the disciples were thinking right about now.
16:08
Everything that they had just thought was happening is now
16:11
suddenly flipped on its head.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: They're on a boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: And they're rowing.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: And now this ghost is actually not a ghost.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus.
16:22
And he's saying we don't actually need to be afraid of
16:24
everything going on around us.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: This is kind of, not kind of, it really is an unprecedented scene.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: They saw their teacher walking on the water.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: And not just walking on water.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: We've seen magicians.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: Who was that?
16:44
SPEAKER_00: Chris Angel.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: I think he tried to do that a long time ago.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if he really did it.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: He probably faked it.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not faking it.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: And not just walking on a pool.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: He's walking on waters that are raging.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: And of course, I love this.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: Verse 28 of Matthew 14.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: Leave it to Peter to speak up first.
17:08
If you know anything about the Bible,
17:09
you know that Peter,
17:10
this just fits his personality.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: I just love it.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Look what it says.
17:14
And Peter answered him,
17:15
Lord,
17:17
if it is you,
17:18
command me to come to you on earth.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: The water.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a lot crazy.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: If you stop and think about what Peter is asking for, this is crazy.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: And I imagine the other disciples told him so.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: Andrew is saying, be quiet, Peter.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: What are you saying?
17:38
SPEAKER_00: Don't talk to that ghost.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's amazing.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: Peter's first instinct.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: Peter's first thought when he sees his master,
17:48
SPEAKER_00: Jesus,
17:49
SPEAKER_00: walking on water,
17:51
SPEAKER_00: isn't saying,
17:52
SPEAKER_00: how are you doing that?
17:53
SPEAKER_00: Or what's that?
17:55
SPEAKER_00: Why are you here?
17:55
SPEAKER_00: How did you find us?
17:56
SPEAKER_00: How did you know we would be here?
17:58
SPEAKER_00: It's to, can I come out there with you?
18:01
SPEAKER_00: Who would think of that?
18:03
SPEAKER_00: That would not be my first thought.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: That would not be the first thing that runs through my brain.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: But this is so fitting of Peter.
18:12
If you read the Gospels,
18:13
read the Gospel stories,
18:14
Peter is always my favorite character.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: I think I can relate to him in some ways.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: He's kind of hard-headed.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: He's a stubborn person.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: He's impulsive.
18:25
He kind of is the person that just acts on gut instinct and
18:28
hope everything works out.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: And then he asks questions and forgiveness later.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: That's Peter.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: He has perennial foot-and-mouth disease.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: And I think what's interesting, too, this isn't recorded.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: This is just me thinking that these are real people.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: These are human beings.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: So imagine a human in this predicament.
18:50
And I think,
18:51
I don't think any of the other disciples were thinking what
18:55
Peter thought.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Jesus, can I come out there with you?
18:57
SPEAKER_00: I don't think anyone did.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't think that was what they were thinking.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: But I have to imagine that after he asked that and Jesus said yes,
19:07
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if they were like,
19:08
SPEAKER_00: man,
19:08
SPEAKER_00: why didn't I think of that?
19:11
SPEAKER_00: Especially after Jesus says, yes, look at verse 29.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: So Peter says, hey, if it's you, let me come out there with you.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 29, he said, come.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, try and put yourself in this scene.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing, this scene.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: The wind is howling all around you.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: The rain is still pelting your face like little BBs on your face.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: It is going nuts.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: And yet, even so, Peter is told, hey, go for it.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: You want to walk on water?
19:50
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: He is allowed.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: To join Jesus on this raging sea.
19:57
Now again,
19:59
humanly speaking,
19:59
part of me thinks I don't think Peter was expecting that answer.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he was, I don't know.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: But part of me thinks that he wasn't expecting that to be Jesus' answer.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah, sure, come on.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: And now he can't back out now.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: He can't say no now.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: So he gets out of the boat.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Verse 29 again.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: He said, Jesus said, come.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
20:31
SPEAKER_00: Wow, just stop.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: Just again, read that verse again.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: He got out of the boat.
20:39
He got out of the boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee
20:44
while there's storms going crazy.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: He got out of the boat.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: No, you're supposed to stay in the boat.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: He got out of the boat.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, imagine you're one of the other disciples.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: You're Nathaniel.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: You're Andrew.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: You're John.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: You're James.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: You've been rowing all night.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: You've been smacked around by fierce winds and waves and
21:10
SPEAKER_00: And in the middle of all that, Jesus shows up suddenly, somehow.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: He's walking on water as if it's a sidewalk.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: And now Peter's walking too.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
21:22
A couple of hours ago,
21:23
we were eating fish and chips with the people on the lawn.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: And now Jesus is walking on water.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: I've got to be dreaming.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: Wake up.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: Wake up, Andrew.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: But as Peter is making his way, walking on water...
21:40
SPEAKER_00: What happens?
21:42
SPEAKER_00: What does he remember?
21:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, in verse 30, we're told that he suddenly remembers the storm.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: Verse 30, but when he saw the wind, he was afraid.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me.
22:01
Suddenly,
22:02
as Peter is walking on water,
22:04
his focus shifts from Jesus to that wave.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: And to that breaker,
22:12
SPEAKER_00: and to that sudden gust of wind bringing rain all over his face,
22:18
SPEAKER_00: suddenly he forgot to keep his eyes on Jesus.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: And he started looking around him at all of the circumstances,
22:24
SPEAKER_00: at all of the conditions,
22:26
SPEAKER_00: at all of the things that were seemingly going wrong.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: He started to look at everything else.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: He started to look around him.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: He started to get afraid because these were reminders.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: You should be worried.
22:39
SPEAKER_00: This is bad.
22:39
SPEAKER_00: This is not a good state to be in.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Any other time without Jesus literally standing on water,
22:49
SPEAKER_00: a storm like this would probably spell all of their doom.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: It would be their death sentence.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: He should be afraid.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: These things are real.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: They are real and they are scary.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: But he forgot that who was with him.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: He forgot who was in front of him.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: Suddenly,
23:08
SPEAKER_00: the storm became more real to him than Jesus,
23:13
SPEAKER_00: the Lord,
23:14
SPEAKER_00: who was standing in front of him.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: And that's when he begins to sink.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: That's when he starts to go under.
23:20
The water that just a second ago was like pavement,
23:23
even for Peter,
23:25
becomes liquid.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: And he starts sinking.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: Now...
23:31
SPEAKER_00: Here, I like to do a lot of reading.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: I do a lot of study whenever I prepare for a sermon.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: And I've read a lot of commentaries.
23:37
I've read a lot of Bible studies and other sermons about what
23:41
preachers are trying
23:44
SPEAKER_00: to tell you what's happening here.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of them.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to tell you where they are.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: You can find them.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: They've gone to great lengths to point out Peter's failure.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: They'll tell you over and over again about how Peter failed.
23:57
In fact,
23:57
a lot of them will tell you that Peter should have stayed where
24:00
he belonged.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: They will tell you he shouldn't have gotten out of the boat at all.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: He should have stayed in the boat where he belonged.
24:08
And they'll tell you that Peter's request,
24:11
hey,
24:11
Jesus,
24:11
can I come out there with you?
24:13
SPEAKER_00: It was full of pride.
24:15
That this whole scene that we've been talking about is just a
24:19
scene where Peter is
24:20
SPEAKER_00: acting in a fit of arrogance.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: Where he's acting in pride and self-interest and conceit.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: And that's why Jesus let him sink.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: To teach prideful Peter a lesson.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: So that Peter,
24:37
SPEAKER_00: this guy who's walking on water,
24:39
SPEAKER_00: you know,
24:39
SPEAKER_00: in his arrogance,
24:40
SPEAKER_00: could be taught a lesson.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: Can I just tell you, I don't buy any of that for one single second.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: I don't buy any of that for one single second.
24:50
This story is not necessarily a story that should shame Peter
24:54
for getting out of the boat.
24:57
If anything,
24:57
it should shame the other 11 because they stayed in the boat.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: Knowing who Jesus is,
25:04
SPEAKER_00: Of course, who is Jesus?
25:05
SPEAKER_00: He's not just a man, not just a teacher.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: He's God.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: He's the God.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: Come down.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: See,
25:13
SPEAKER_00: we often get so focused on Peter sinking that we forget,
25:17
SPEAKER_00: by the way,
25:18
that he's the only other person in the history of humanity
25:22
other than Jesus who
25:23
SPEAKER_00: walked on water twice.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: Catch this.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Watch what happens in verse 31 and on.
25:30
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is going to raise him up.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: Peter's sinking.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: He looked at all of the conditions of the storm and he starts sinking.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: He starts going under.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: He starts thrashing around.
25:41
So Jesus raises him up and he embraces him and he makes him
25:44
stand on the sea again.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: And they both walk back towards the boat.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: I think this is awesome.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 31.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, so he's sinking.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: He says, Lord, save me.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying,
26:01
SPEAKER_00: oh,
26:01
SPEAKER_00: you of little faith,
26:03
SPEAKER_00: why did you doubt?
26:06
SPEAKER_00: And when they got into the boat,
26:07
SPEAKER_00: the wind ceased and those in the boat worshiped him saying,
26:11
SPEAKER_00: truly you are the son of God.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: So if Jesus wasn't a fan of,
26:21
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus wasn't a big fan of Peter's initial request to walk on water,
26:25
SPEAKER_00: I doubt he would have let him do it twice.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: But now he's raising him back up.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: Stand with me.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: And he's embracing him.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: And they both walk back towards the boat.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: And they both get in.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: And that's when he says, hey, what happened to your faith, man?
26:41
SPEAKER_00: And then they realize who was in front of them.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: Not just a teacher from Nazareth.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Not just Jesus, son of Mary.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus, the son of God.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: That's who he is.
26:52
And it's only after Jesus rescues Peter from drowning that he
26:58
tells him what is happening.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't rebuke him or get on to him for asking to walk on water.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: He rebukes his faith.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: Again, look at verse 31.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him,
27:10
SPEAKER_00: saying,
27:11
SPEAKER_00: O you of little faith,
27:13
SPEAKER_00: why did you doubt?
27:14
SPEAKER_00: And I think often we get this part wrong, too.
27:20
I think we get what Jesus is trying to rebuke Peter for wrong,
27:24
or at least a little bit.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: It's worth noting that when Jesus calls out Peter for his,
27:29
SPEAKER_00: quote,
27:30
SPEAKER_00: little faith,
27:31
SPEAKER_00: he's not saying that his faith was too small.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: It's too minuscule.
27:37
Actually,
27:37
OU of little faith is not a rebuke of the size of Peter's faith.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: Actually, it's a rebuke of its duration.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: Little in timing.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: Short.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: It was quick.
27:48
Because,
27:50
obviously,
27:51
it takes a heaping pile of faith to ask what Peter asked for.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Jesus, can I get out there on the water with you?
28:02
SPEAKER_00: That wasn't his problem.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: Peter's problem was that his faith couldn't endure.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: It couldn't hold fast long enough.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a matter of size.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: It was a matter of time, if you will.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: By the way,
28:15
SPEAKER_00: if size was the most important thing when it comes to faith,
28:20
SPEAKER_00: Jesus would have never said what he says in Matthew 17,
28:24
SPEAKER_00: by the way,
28:25
SPEAKER_00: about faith the size of a mustard seed being able to move mountains.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: It's not the size of
28:33
Peter did not walk on water because his faith was so big and
28:36
his faith was so strong.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: No, he walked on water because of who his faith was in.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: He walked on water because of who his faith was tied to.
28:48
SPEAKER_00: It's not the strength of your faith.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: It's the object of your faith.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: That's what matters.
28:56
See,
28:56
the story of Peter almost drowning is not one that teaches us,
29:02
just stay in the boat.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: Don't ask big things like that.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: No, this is a story that shows us what faith looks like.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: And it tells us the best news for when faith fails.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: So what does faith look like?
29:20
Well,
29:21
faith,
29:21
like Peter,
29:22
is a confidence that dares to step out of the boat.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Why?
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Because it trusts in who God is.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: Not in your own wisdom,
29:32
SPEAKER_00: in your own strength,
29:33
SPEAKER_00: in your own ability,
29:34
SPEAKER_00: in your own capabilities,
29:36
SPEAKER_00: in your own endurance.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: No, faith is a confidence in who your God is in.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: He acted in faith because he trusted in his Lord and he failed.
29:46
The only reason he failed,
29:47
the only reason he sank is because he couldn't hold fast long enough.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the point of the story.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: is that when our grip of God kind of loosens and weakens,
30:00
SPEAKER_00: when our faith isn't as strong as it used to be,
30:05
SPEAKER_00: Christ's grip on us never weakens,
30:10
SPEAKER_00: no matter what.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: Immediately, it says, the Lord reached out his hand.
30:14
SPEAKER_00: He didn't wait.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Peter, you learned your lesson, didn't you?
30:18
SPEAKER_00: He didn't make Peter wait.
30:22
No,
30:23
Peter is thrashing like a five-year-old in a pool and they
30:27
can't swim.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: He's thrashing around.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: Lord, save me.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: And immediately his hand was gripped by the hand of Jesus.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: You see,
30:35
SPEAKER_00: even when we can't hold fast,
30:38
SPEAKER_00: even when we can't hold on,
30:41
SPEAKER_00: Christ always holds fast to us.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: Always.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: Jesus shows us that.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: He shows us precisely that.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: That God loves us even while we're drowning.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: It says it this way in Romans 5.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: Even while we're sinners, Christ died for us.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: He didn't wait for us to get better.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: He didn't wait for us to show a little potential, a little improvement.
31:07
He didn't say,
31:08
once you do this,
31:09
this,
31:09
and this,
31:09
then I'll reach out to you.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: Then I'll make the first move.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: But I've got to see something.
31:16
No,
31:17
even while we were sinners,
31:18
even while we were drowning,
31:20
he came and died for us.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: Even when we stumble and fall and we start to sink, that's where he is.
31:27
SPEAKER_00: He's right there waiting to pick us back up again.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: God in Christ comes treading on the waves to rescue and redeem us.
31:40
And you see,
31:40
wherever we are,
31:41
whatever storm is surrounding us,
31:43
God never casts us off.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: His faithfulness always succeeds.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: Even when we're sinking.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: Even when we're drowning.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: And this is the best news.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: The best news,
31:55
SPEAKER_00: the good news,
31:56
SPEAKER_00: the gospel that gets us through the toughest days that life brings us.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're in a tough day right now.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've been out of some tough days.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe, I don't want to, I'm not a prophet.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's some tough days coming.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: You know,
32:18
I'm looking around this morning and I see a lot of tough folks
32:21
who've been around
32:22
SPEAKER_00: and been in a lot of tough stuff.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: Point blank, Shane didn't pay me to say this, by the way.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: Shane is one of the toughest guys I know.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: He is, just point blank.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: Just having known him.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: And we're in a place, by the way, this morning, where literally...
32:40
SPEAKER_00: Where the whole goal is to have sort of toughness trained,
32:45
SPEAKER_00: or perhaps in other cases,
32:46
SPEAKER_00: beaten into you.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: That's where we are.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: And no doubt,
32:51
SPEAKER_00: I think definitely,
32:53
there's going to be times in your life when that type of
32:56
toughness is absolutely necessary.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be absolutely necessary for you to sort of tough it out.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: And being thrown on the mat several times is going to help you do that.
33:07
But I think what happens is sometimes I think we make the
33:09
mistake that this same
33:12
SPEAKER_00: approach to toughness is how we have to approach God.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: How we have to approach our walk with God.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: How we have to approach our relationship with God.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: As if being tougher is what it means to have faith.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: And the tougher you are, the more faithful you are.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: As if faithfulness depends on our ability to tough it out.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: That's not really good news when you think about it.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: Because it puts all of the pressure on you.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: It puts all of the burden on you.
33:41
And if you're not toughing it out,
33:43
it's because you're not faithful enough.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: Better get more faithful.
33:49
That's good advice for the mat or the ring,
33:51
but it's not when it comes to God.
33:55
You see,
33:55
in the story of Jesus and Peter walking on water,
33:59
what are we shown?
33:59
SPEAKER_00: We're shown that real strength.
34:02
Real toughness,
34:04
if you will,
34:04
isn't about self-sufficiency or toughing it out.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: After all, what was Peter's greatest display of faith?
34:13
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't when he got out of the boat.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: It's when he cried for help.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: It's when he was sinking and he cried out in faith, Lord, save me.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: That's Peter at his strongest.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: Not when he's walking casually on water.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: It's when he's sinking and he cries out for his only hope.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: Lord, save me.
34:35
SPEAKER_00: The wisdom of the world is going to put all of its eggs in the baskets of
34:40
SPEAKER_00: self-sufficiency and grit and resilience and personal performance.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: The wisdom of grace, you know what it tells us?
34:50
SPEAKER_00: That faith is not for those who think they're strong.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: It's for those who know that they're weak.
34:59
The good news of grace that fills the pages of this Bible is
35:04
for those who know
35:04
that they have no strength and no hope apart from the Jesus who
35:09
walks on the waters,
35:11
SPEAKER_00: walks right up to them in the middle of their storms,
35:14
SPEAKER_00: right for them,
35:15
SPEAKER_00: and reaches out his hand and rescues them.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: That's what grace is for.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: It's for those who are sinking.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: You see, in many ways, I think that's the truest miracle of all.
35:26
The truest miracle of this scene is that Jesus never let his
35:29
friend totally sink.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: He never went fully under.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: His grip was always on him.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: You know, when our grip of God loosens, Christ's grip doesn't.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: And never does.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: He always holds fast to us.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: And that's what this story is about.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: It's not about being tough enough to walk on water.
35:55
SPEAKER_00: Actually, it's about being dependent enough to let Jesus carry you.
36:01
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's going to do.
36:02
SPEAKER_00: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: Remember that song?
36:06
SPEAKER_00: And grace will lead us home.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: Not grit.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: Not toughing it out.
36:15
SPEAKER_00: Faith in a God who walks on water forever.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: Faith in the God who can take any broken vessel and remake it.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: Faith in the God who can repair any broken past.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: Who can redeem any broken life.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: Faith in that God.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: Because that's how strong he is.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: The Jesus who walks on water is the Jesus who's always with you.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: And he will never forget you.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: He will never forsake you.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: He will never leave you.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: He is always there.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: Lord, save me.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: He's right there.