Church Sermon - August 11, 2002

WALKING ON WATER

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Old Testament Lesson; 1 Kings 19:9-18
Gospel Lesson; Romans 9:1-5
Sermon Text; Matthew 14:22-33

It was getting toward evening, when the disciples got into a boat to head across the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is a rather large body of water on the eastern coast of the land of Israel. Just to the west of the Sea of Galilee was, what I suppose you could call, a small mountain range. The Sea of Galilee, itself, is 600 feet below sea level. And so, when a cold front would come up over the little mountain range, and reached the crest, it would then rapidly drop down into the Sea of Galilee. And that is the recipe for the very violent storms, which are sometimes found on the Sea of Galilee.

Unbeknownst to the disciples that evening, as they set out across that large body water, a cold front was apparently making its way up over the mountain and toward the Sea of Galilee. As the disciples got out into the middle of that great body of water, there in the darkness, the inky dark water looked like a deep abyss. They probably could not see the dark sky above them. The clouds apparently swept over, covering up the stars, so the darkness grew even greater. The temperature probably began to drop rather rapidly. And, off in the distance on the shore, they could see the flickering of lightening and hear the distant rumble of thunder. The winds began to blow and the waves began to heave.

I imagine they took down their sail, and the wind was snapping at the loose ends of that sail. The winds began to become more and more strong and the waves began to heave higher and higher. Soon great sheets of rain began to fall down. The wind was blowing and the waves of that inky, dark, water were crashing into the boat.

All of sudden, you can imagine a great crash! A flash of lighting from top to bottom, touching the water! And there, with one brilliant, blast of light, that bright, blue-white light immediately, for just a brief instant, lit up everything! For that one moment they could see the huge waves crashing in the ocean! And then, all went dark and they couldn't see anything, once again.

You can imagine that as one of the flashes of lightening lights up the sky for an instant, for that brief instant, those terrified disciples who were in that boat, hear another disciple say as he points, "What was that?"

They all wonder saying, "What? What are you talking about? What did you see?"

And, he responds, "Over there…I think it looks like a person on the water!"

All of a sudden you can imagine another bolt of lightening that lights up the sky for another instant and they can all see what appears to be a human, walking toward them on the water!

As you can imagine, they were terrified. They thought it was a ghost. And, those 12 grown men cried out in fear, scripture tells us.

Isn’t that picturesque of the storms that come into the lives of Christians?

How many times has it happened that some Christian has felt a pain somewhere in their body? It is a nagging pain, that doesn’t go away. After a few weeks it is still there and they begin to wonder if it is something more than just a little pain? Is this something that I should have the doctor check out? And, the winds begin to blow just a little bit.

They go ahead and make an appointment. The doctor checks them out, but instead of sending them home with a clean bill of health the doctor says, "I think we better get this checked out." And, the lightening begins to flash in the distance. And, the sound of distant thunder is heard.

The next week they come back to the doctor’s office for that test. The CAT scan is taken. The doctor says, "There is something that looks abnormal here. We better do a biopsy. The winds and the waves begin to heave. The rain begins to fall.

They go for the biopsy. And, a week later the phone call comes. It is like a flash of lightening that crashes down and for an instant makes everything so clear, as the doctor says, "It is cancer."

And, then it all goes black. They wonder, "Now what? What is going to happen? Where is this going to lead? Where am I going to go?"

Or, there is the Christian who is working hard to pay the bills, when all of a sudden some unexpected bills come along. The Christian is concerned, "Am I going to be able to meet all of my obligations, all of my financial obligations?" In the distance the winds begin to blow and the distant rumble of thunder and lightening begins.

The next month the Christian has not caught up with all of those bills and will have to skip paying one of the credit card payments. Now the rain begins to fall.

The next month another payment will have to be skipped, on paying something else. And the winds begin to blow harder and the waves begin to heave.

And then, like one great flash of lightening, for one brief instant, the sky lights up, making it all so clear, when the letter comes in the mail from the landlord that says you have been evicted, because you can’t pay your bills.

And, then it all goes black again. That Christian wonders, "Now what? Where will I go? How will feed my family? How will I take care of myself?" And now that Christian is in the midst of the storm.

Or, there is the Christian parent who has a teenager. It seems as though there are changes going on in the life of that teenager, that don’t seem to be quite right. There is distant rumble of thunder on the horizon.

Then friends tell that Christian parent that they heard their child was out drinking. The parents talk to their child. And, the waves begin to blow and the rain begins to fall.

There is trouble at home, between the parents and their child. The waves begin to heave, as the winds become stronger.

One evening, as if a great flash of lightening lights up everything for an instant, the phone call comes. There has been a terrible accident and your child was involved.

And, then it all goes black. "Now what? Now where do we go?"

The storms of life do come into in Christian’s life. And, when they do come, what do we do? Consider what happened with the disciples. Our Savior came to be with His disciples, during that great storm.

Our Savior is also

in the storms of life.

He is omnipresent!

But, when the disciples saw Jesus coming, what did they think? They did not recognize him for who he was. They thought that it was someone out there who had come to hurt them, or harm them in some way. They were terrified. They were worried.

And, isn’t that often what happens in the life of a Christian? The troubles come and then the storms come. We look at God, but we don’t recognize Him for who He is. We may think God has come to hurt me or harm me. "What have I done wrong? Why is God punishing me? What is going on? Why is God trying to hurt me?"

Isn’t that what often happens in the heart of a Christian? But then those disciples heard the comforting voice of Jesus. What did He say?

He said, "Take courage. Don’t’ be afraid. It is I."

Sometime earlier they had been with Jesus in a great storm, and He, with His Word said, "Peace. Be still." And, the storm calmed down.

Now, it is that same Jesus, standing there with His disciples, who says, "Take courage. Don’t be afraid. It is me. I have come to help you, not to harm you."

Isn’t that what our savior says to us in the storms of our life? Doesn’t He say, "Take courage. Don’t be afraid. It is me. Take courage."

This is the One who has

power over the wind and the waves!

This is the One who can walk on water!

This is the One who can calm the storm!

This is the One who is your friend!

He is such a good friend, that He took your sins, (no matter how great they may be), and He died for them, so that you are forgiven! He does not want to harm you, or to hurt you. He wants to help you and be with you. Scripture says, "There is no punishment for sin left."

A Christian should never think that God is punishing me for something wrong I have done. Christ paid all of the punishment for sin and there is nothing left. No punishment is left! Jesus is here to help you, not to hurt you or harm you.

Peter, recognizing the voice of Jesus said, "Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water."

And, Jesus said one simple, little word,

That one simple, little word was a huge, mighty, powerful word, because that was the voice of God Himself! That was God giving an invitation to Peter, in that storm to come. Come! Come to me!

And, with that invitation, went a mighty, powerful promise. God gave that promise. Jesus was promising Peter, "You, Peter, will be able to come to me, because I, your God and LORD, have so commanded it. And so spoken it, the wind, the waves and the water must all obey Me. Come Peter."

You see the Word of our LORD, the Word of God, is more solid than any solid ground. The ground can give way. The Bible says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Word will never pass away." And, when God gives a command and a promise, it is as sure and certain as Heaven itself.

Peter should have known. My savior promised that I could come, and nothing can stop the promise of my savior.

During the storms of life, doesn’t Jesus tell us, doesn’t He give to us a wonderful invitation, with a mighty promise when He says,

"Come unto me,

all you who labor and are heavy laden and

I will give you rest."

There, in that passage you hear that wonderful invitation from our savior.

And, along with that you hear the mighty promise that cannot be shaken. The mighty promise that Heaven and earth cannot shake. The mighty promise that is more sure than any solid ground!

That is as sure and certain as anything in all creation! When God makes a promise, it does not fail. Even in the midst of the storms of life, God’s promise does NOT fail!

However, once Peter was out on that water, the Bible tells us that he began to doubt.

Jesus says, "Why did you doubt, Peter?" The Greek word that Jesus uses there, for the word doubt, means "Why did you look two different ways, Peter?" Why did you look to me, knowing that I have the ability to do all things on Heaven and on earth, knowing that I had given you the promise that you could walk to me on water? Why did you look to me, and then look the other way? Why did you look at the waves and the flash of lightening, and see them crashing down toward you and begin to wonder between the two ways that you were looking? Will Jesus really save me? Is His promise really true? Is He really able to do what He promised? Or, will the waves crash over me? Will I drown and die?

Peter doubted.

Doesn’t that often happen to us, in the midst of storms? We look both ways. We look at Jesus and we see His promise to be with us, to watch over us, to work everything out for our good, to give us rest from all of our troubles, but then we look the other way. We see the cancer. We see the bills piling up, along with that eviction notice. We see our child in the accident. And we wonder, "Can He really see me through all of this? Can He really protect me? Can He really deliver me?" And, we begin to doubt.

When Peter began to doubt, he began to go down.

However, in a moment of desperation, desperation, when Peter knew that there was nothing else that could save him, what did he do? He didn’t have time to make up a long explanation to Jesus. He could only say a few words. He reached out his hand toward his savior, and he said, "Lord, save me!"

Consider how much is packed into those three simple, little words.

Wasn’t Peter saying, "Lord I am sorry that I doubted that you could save me. I am sorry that I doubted your promise. Lord Jesus forgive me for doubting your ability to do what you say. And, Lord Jesus, my hand is empty. I don’t deserve to have you pull me up out of the water, but Lord out of your grace, mercy, goodness and kindness save me." And, what did Jesus do, in His grace, mercy, goodness and kindness? He forgave Peter’s doubt and then He reached down and pulled him up into safety.

Isn’t that what happens in the life of a Christian? When we doubt and those waves come crashing over us and it appears as though all is lost, then in that moment of desperation in faith, we turn to our savior and say, "Lord save me. Forgive me for doubting your sure and certain promises that you give me in scripture. I repent of that sin of doubt. Lord Jesus I reach out to you my empty hand. I have nothing to bring. I have no good works, nor money that causes you to look at me and say, "I must save him". My hand is empty. Lord save me."

When we turn to our savior, what does Jesus do? In His mercy, His goodness and His kindness, because of what He did for us on the cross, He reaches out His hand and pulls us out. He forgives our sins and keeps His promises to His people.

In Isaiah it says this to God’s people, "Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand, for I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘do not fear.’ I will help you."

Faith

is that empty hand

that clings to

the mighty promises of God.

Let me end with this story. A young woman, who had lived (what we would consider) a terrible life, had been involved in alcohol, drugs and prostitution. Her guilt was really weighing down on her, so she went to a church service. There in that church service, she heard the saving gospel message that Jesus died to pay for all of her sins and her sins were forgiven. She was so happy that the Holy Spirit brought her to faith in Jesus, as her savior!

Soon, that church became her church home. She was so happy to be there, that she began to do whatever she could for that church!

Now, the pastor of that church had a son. And, the lady caught that young man’s eye. He couldn’t help but see what she was doing, in her Christian life. He became interested in her and fell in love with her! Eventually he asked her to marry him.

At that point, the storm started and the trouble began. The people in the congregation began to speak out. They said, "It is not right for the pastor’s son to marry someone who has had such a terrible past."

With time there grew to be great storms in that congregation, as they spoke out against that young woman, and the marriage plans.

So finally the pastor called a meeting of the whole congregation. During the meeting, the members got up and talked about how this young woman was "no woman" for the pastor’s son to be marrying. They brought up all of her past sins, her past mistakes and all of the wrong things she had done.

Hearing their words, she began to cry and then she began to sob. With that, the Pastor’s son, looking at his fiancée, with great love for her, stood up, looked out over the congregation and said, "What is on trial here, is not my fiancée’s sins, but the ability of the blood of our savior to forgive her sins." That is what was on trial, the ability of the blood of our savior to forgive sins.

When your conscious bothers you (and that is the greatest storm in life of all), when your conscious tells you, "How can God forgive me, of this terrible sin?" then you doubt the ability of the blood of Christ to forgive your sins.

In a situation like that, what do we do? There, like Peter, we reach out and we say, "Lord save me!"

What does God say in His Word, His mighty promises that cannot fail? God’s Word says the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. ALL SIN. There is not one sin, no matter how big, no matter how many times it has been committed, that the blood of Jesus does not cleanse. That is a sure and certain promise of God!

As God’s people in faith, let us cling to the promise of God. And then, like Peter, we will be safely in that boat with our savior and He will ultimately take us to the Golden Shores of Heaven, for Christ’s sake!

Amen.

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