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Location: Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States

Sunday, August 07, 2005

12th Sunday after Pentecost 08/07/05 Text: Matthew 14:12-33 Title: "Lord if it is You."

12th Sunday after Pentecost
Date: 08/07/05
Text: Matthew 14 22-33
Title: “Lord, if it is you.”

Good morning my fellow missionaries. This is your First-Mate speaking. As soon as we cast off the lines we will be on our way. Why are some, in fact all of you, looking at me so strangely? Didn’t you know that you are sitting in a boat?
What, you say; you are not sitting in a boat. But you are, for this part of the church building that we are sitting in, is called the Nave. It comes from the old Latin word, navis, which means boat or ship. It is a fitting description for God’s Church, since all who are in it are safe from the rants and raves of the devil.
So come aboard and settle in, for we are being sent by Christ, on a journey, a journey that will take us to unexplored areas, areas that some of you have never been to, areas that might at some time or other get to be downright scary, but we are going, for we have received our sailing orders.
The first thing you might have noticed when I read the Gospel a few minutes ago is that the reading appears to be about Peter and his wavering faith. There he is, jumping out of the boat when he knew it was Jesus. Then, we do not know how far he got, Peter became frightened by the wind and waves, He starts to sink and cries out to Jesus to save him, which of course Jesus does. Jesus then takes Peter back to the boat where they join the disciples.
One of the lessons taught on this text focuses on Peter keeping his eyes on Jesus. What most people take away from this text is that, as long as you keep your eyes on Jesus, you will be safe and the storms of life will be quieted. In other words if you have enough faith, life will be good, if you have little faith, then your life might not be that good.
While it is true that the stronger one’s faith is, the easier it is to weather life’s storms; it is not true that the stronger your faith is the better your life will be, at least in the sense of being rewarded with worldly things.
There are those who say that this story is fiction, for it is scientifically impossible for it to have taken place. They would say you could learn some good things from it like keep your eyes on Jesus if you want to weather the storms of life, but did it actually take place, impossible, it is just a story.
So are we to just throw up our hands in disbelief because we can’t understand how Jesus, or Peter, for that matter walked on water? I don’t think so, for Matthew put this particular account of Jesus’ life in his Gospel for a reason. It wasn’t just to show us life is good when we are focused on Jesus. It wasn’t to show that Jesus could walk on water and control a storm.
It wasn’t any of those things for Jesus refused to be put in the role of the magician. He would not perform for the devil, the crowds, or even a command from King Herod.
Jesus did not have to walk on water that night. The disciples would have more than likely survived without him, for after all most were experienced fishermen and the wind was pushing against them, which meant that they were probably not in any danger of sinking, but just that they could not make any headway toward their destination. In other words they were pretty much stuck dead in the water, no matter how hard they rowed.
Jesus did not have to be in the storm to quiet it. Neither did he have to get in the boat to save his friends. He chose to face the wind and the waves and to go out and get in the boat with them. He chose to comfort them, to reassure them that they were not alone, that they would make it to the shore. It was his love and compassion for his disciples that sent him out onto that lake that night.
That was good for the disciples but what is that we can learn from this story that would help us in our lives? Well, there are some things that we can learn, especially as a congregation. But, before I tell you what they are, I need to spend just a moment or two telling you about a couple of things that we have in common Peter and the disciples in the boat that night. Unfortunately they are not good things, but negative things.
The first is guilt, guilt over something that we either did or did not do in the past. We like to call it regret because regret doesn’t sound as bad as guilt. The word guilt sounds an awful lot like sin and that really bothers us. The second is fear about our future. We like to call it worry for it sounds a whole lot better than fear.
As odd as it may sound, both guilt and fear share a common source, in that they both come from a lack of trust in God to remove our guilt and to provide for our future needs. The only difference between the two is that guilt comes from looking backward, while fear comes from looking forward. Keep “lack of trust” in mind as we look at different verses in our Gospel for this morning.
In verse 22 we read that Jesus made, or as the Greek word puts it, compelled the disciples to get into the boat and row to the other side. Obviously they did not want to go. They were probably pretty comfortable where they were at, but Jesus had plan for them, so they had to get into the boat and go to the other side of the lake.
Just like Jesus compelled the disciples to get into the boat and to the other side, Jesus has sent this congregation on a journey too. I hope that he did not have to force us to take the mission journey he has planned for us. For we are to be about our Lord’s business, the business of reaching the lost, those who are not like us, those on the outside.
In verse 24 we are told that the wind was blowing against them. They just were not making any real progress toward reaching their goal, the other shore. Just as you are sometimes buffeted by the winds of opposition in your personal life, congregations are also buffeted by those outside of the church who say they can’t do the mission God has given them to do.
And just like you are sometimes slowed down in your spiritual journey by self doubt, sometimes congregations are slowed down, or even stopped, in their mission journey by disagreements within the congregation, causing the entire congregation to lose its focus on the mission God gave it to do.
Should we expect everything to go smoothly and everyone to agree when we are doing the work of God? Of course not, for when we as a congregation are doing the mission that God has given us, we should expect troubles, resistance to our mission, from the inside and outside, for the devil knows that with God we will succeed. He has to slow us down any way he can.
In verse 25 we see Jesus walking on water as he defies gravity. The people of Matthew’s day would have understood his walking on water, not as defying gravity as we do, but as Jesus controlling the water. A big difference between our understanding and theirs, for only God could control the water, because he made it in the first place and is in control of everything
It might not appear that way as we deal with terrorist attacks, unemployment, crime, family conflicts, and illness, but he is, for everything is subject to him, because he created and sustains all things.
In verse 32 we see that the storm did not stop until Jesus was in the boat. It might be a good idea for a congregation that is going through some turmoil, whether it is from the inside or outside to ask; “Is Jesus in this congregation’s boat as we make the journey he gave us?” If he is there, there should be evidence of his presence, for just like the proof of your individual faith is the fruit you produce; the proof of Jesus’ presence in a congregation’s boat is the fruit that the congregation produces.
Just what is the fruit that we should produce that shows that Jesus is traveling with us? Here are just a few of many. We are producing good fruit when our attitude toward each other changes, when we recognize that we are all equal before God’s eyes, that we are all forgiven sinners who depend on only one thing, God’s grace toward us. We are producing good fruit when our congregation becomes a safe place for those who are wrestling with their faith, those who are troubled by sin, and those who are maybe in danger of being drowned by the problems of life.
We are producing good fruit when we are free of legalism. Legalism is when a certain belief or beliefs are held that unless you do this or that, you are not really a true follower of Jesus. The terrible thing about legalism is that it robs a congregation of God’s grace, because it attaches something the congregation must do to God’s free gift of salvation.
Last, but not least, we are producing good fruit when our attitude toward those outside our congregation’s boat changes. When we do more than talk, but walk the talk, by reaching out to those who are lost and in need of Christ’s salvation.
My fellow missionaries, with Jesus as our Captain, we can accomplish the mission that he has sent us on. We do not have to fear anything that tries to stand in our way or knock us off course. God has a plan for us, and it is only when we trust in him to guide us, that we will know that all is well. Amen