Matthew 14:22-33
I think the Spirit led me to a good sermon title – Faith Over Fear. It’s what’s all over the place in this passage and what we need to confront and work on all the time in life today. Faith Over Fear – it’s a choice we’re faced with each day – will I be afraid and torn up with fear or will I choose faith; trust God, walk with Jesus, let the Spirit fill me with calm and peace?
So, let’s consider the passage before us. Jesus finally got some time away to grieve John’s death. But now another calamity’s at hand. Jesus shooed the disciples away after feeding the 5000+ because now the people were becoming so impressed by his miraculous way of making sure they all got fed they wanted to make him king.
But it’s not the right kind of king and Jesus just didn’t want his not-yet-100%-sure-who-he-was disciples to get caught up in the fiasco. He hadn’t yet asked them “Who do you say that I am?” coz he knew they weren’t quiet sure. They still thought he might be a military leader type messiah who came to deliver Israel from Roman rule. And although that wouldn’t be a bad thing, it wasn’t the reason God sent him. Jesus’ kingdom was of another realm.
Now another opportunity to test and grow their faith; get them on the right track, is before us today. We’ll all face storms of varying degrees and hard issues in this life. Some of Jesus’ last words before going to the cross and dying for our salvation addressed this. John 16:33: “I have told you these things so in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have troubles. But take heart! I have overcome the world!” In other words, take your eyes off the waves of the storm and keep them on Jesus! He’ll bring the calm!
Remember most of Jesus’ disciples were experienced fishermen who know what sailing on the Sea of Galilee was like. They knew squalls like this could happen any moment. And it isn’t like there’re just a couple of them in the boat – they’re all together and still they can’t hardly handle these waves. They’re fearing for their lives and maybe they’re wondering why Jesus made them get in the boat in the first place.
About 3am, the 4th watch of the night, Jesus ends his prayer time. He comes and sees they’re in trouble. He has no boat to reach and rescue them. So, he walks across the water in their direction. Instead of fearing for their lives because of the waves, now they’re terrified because they think this strange thing walking on the water toward them is a ghost.
Well, it’s ghost alright – a holy one! To calm their fears Jesus said: “Take heart! It is I! Do not be afraid!” (vs.27) Hearing the sound of his voice surely calmed the disciples’ fear of the ghost, but before their fear of the waves began again, impetuous Peter said: “Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to you on the water.” Maybe he wanted to be part of this miracle of walking on water or maybe he wanted to show his faith in Jesus – whatever the case, Jesus invited him to come. Peter got out of the boat and stepped onto the water.
Amazingly, he walked on the water, too! In that instant, all his doubts, worries, fears, and everything else were gone as he kept his eyes on Jesus. He let everything go and did the unimaginable. For that instant, he truly lived life and faith in its fullest. But then – oops! – he “saw” the strong wind and waves again and the blessing was gone. He began to sink and cried out for Jesus to save him.
Of course, Jesus, Lord of love and compassion, friend of us all, sinners that we are, immediately reached out his hand and caught Peter, saying: “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (vs. 31) They got into the boat and the wind ceased. As the storm died, the disciples came to new life, worshipped Jesus, and said: “Truly you are the Son of God!” (vs. 33). This truly was a time when faith triumphed over fear.
Another amazing story, isn’t it? I’m sure there’s scientific evidence how this all happened, and I’ve even read some of it before – you might’ve, too. But as I put before you last week in the feeding of the 5000+ with 5 loaves and 2 fish, I believe in reason 3 and chalk this one up to pure miracle. I believe Jesus walked on the water of that stormy sea and I believe that, by the grace of God, at least for a few brief moments, Peter did, too.
Why? Because Jesus needed to work a miracle then to help turn fear into faith and he still needs to work miracles today until we get to the point that we’ll choose faith over fear, too. Fear’s Satan’s tool to steal our joy from life. Jesus doesn’t want Satan to win. Remember, Jesus came that we might have life and have it to the full (John 10:10). We can’t have that kind of life if we let fear and worry eat away at the love, joy, and blessings Jesus came to give us all.
Friends, we may not find ourselves in a fishing boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee with huge waves crashing around us, fearing for our very lives, but various storms of life will come, just as Jesus said. (Check out Matt. 24:4-14.) We’re living in turbulent times with disease, sickness, and injuries that affect our loved ones and us. We all face death every day. Our lives could be zapped in the twinkling of an eye. There’s poverty, starvation, addictions, crime, terrorism, wars, hatred, greed, corruption, temptation, sin – all kinds of bad, stormy stuff just waiting to fill us with fear and suck the life right out of us.
But Jesus doesn’t want that for us, and we don’t want it for ourselves, our loved ones, or the people around us. We don’t want suffering and fear to win. We want to have love and compassion for each other like Jesus has for us. That’s why we need to let go of that fear and worry (Matt. 11:28-30 and Matt. 6:25-34). When we let go of all of that junk, get out of the boat and trade it for trust and faith, and keep our eyes on Jesus, then the Holy Spirit’s gonna get in our hearts and change us from inside out.
If we put our trust in God more and more, the fear will become less and less. Our faith in Jesus will grow, our belief in him and what he did for us on the cross and in his resurrection will get stronger, and we’ll be able to ride out any storm, walk on that water, laugh at those waves of worry as faith overcomes fear. The calm will overtake us and we’ll have peace in our souls. What a gift from God we’ve been given in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I choose faith in Jesus over fear of anything else. I pray it’s the same for each of you. In faith, let’s get out of our boats, and keep our eyes on him! Amen.