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Introduction:
Have you seen the bumper sticker, “The next time you think
you’re perfect, try walking on water.” No doubt, the point is
only Jesus walked on water because He is God and therefore
perfect. However, Matthew
14:22-33 demonstrates we do not, in fact, have to be
perfect to walk on water. Can anyone be more imperfect than Peter?
We want to do something more difficult than walking on water; we
want to overcome Satan. Examine Peter’s story and see what we
can learn about doing the impossible. Discussion: I.
Get out of the boat. A.
The disciples were struggling to cross the Sea of Galilee.
It was the fourth watch of the night (between 3 and 6 am). They
had been rowing all night against the wind and, according to John
6:19, had only made it three or four miles of their
approximately six mile journey. The disciples were tired, no
doubt, and scared. They saw something approaching. They thought
they were seeing a ghost. But the apparition spoke in a familiar
voice, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter responded, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You
on the water.” B.
Think about this, the wind was causing so much disturbance
12 men could not get the boat to land. They were fighting to stay
afloat. The wind is still going on, but above the noise they hear
Jesus’ voice and Peter cries out, “Tell me to get out of the
boat.” Was he crazy? What kind of faith would it take to get out
of the boat in the middle of a windstorm at sea? When Peter got
out, how do you think he did it? Did he slowly and cautiously
lower himself over edge, testing to see if the water would hold
him? Or did he jump out of the boat, landing on the water’s
surface? What was going through his mind as he walked toward Jesus
on the top of the water? Why did Peter get out of that boat? He
got out of the boat because he believed it was safer in the middle
of the stormy sea with Jesus, than in the middle of the boat
without Him. C.
Understand this. Satan wants us to get hung up on the
“if” part of Peter’s question—“If it is you…” We are
not trying to walk on water, we are striving to overcome sin and
Satan. Satan doesn’t want us getting out of the boat. He wants
us believing it is safest in the boat of man’s making. He wants
us believing Jesus is not real, His word is not real, He is not
calling to us. He wants us to believe nothing can protect us from
the storms like our own wisdom and our society’s intelligence.
He doesn’t care what makes us stay in the boat as long as we
stay there. His biggest tool is doubt. D.
Here is what we must understand—coming to Jesus means
getting out of the boat. Others will think we are crazy (I
Corinthians 2:14-15). Others may try to stop us. Others
will explain away. There are times when we might think we are
crazy; trusting Jesus to overcome sin is like getting out of the
boat. It is, however, safer to be in the middle of the storm with
Jesus than struggling and straining in the boat alone. If we want
to walk with Jesus, we have to get out of the boat. II.
The storms continue when we get out of the boat. A.
What do you think Peter expected when he got out of the
boat? I imagine he thought things would get easier, expecting
Jesus to calm the water as He did in Matthew
8:26. But Jesus didn’t. Peter got out, but the wind
continued. Imagine how shocked Peter was? I am positive Peter
expected some kind of change. After all, he had enough faith to
get out of the boat in the wind. It was only when the wind
continued that his faith wavered. B.
How many of us entered Christ with excitement, thinking
life would be easy after that? How many expected God to remove all
doubts and make it the easiest thing to believe in Jesus? How many
expected temptation to disappear? How many expected God to remove
all oppression, hardship and persecution? I know many have felt
that way because many justify disobeying God saying they know God
would never expect them to endure what they are enduring. C.
In Acts
14:22, Paul summed it up. We do not enter the kingdom of
God through a rose garden. We enter it through tribulation. We
still get sick, get laid off, lose friends and family (sometimes
horrible heart-wrenching deaths), trudge through the doubts
skeptics bring up, endure temptation and get hammered by Satan and
sin. The storms continue when we get out of the boat. III.
We must keep our faith when we see the wind and waves. A.
When Peter sank, Jesus rebuked him saying, “You of little
faith, why did you doubt?” Jesus’ rebuke cuts to the heart of
the problem. There was no excuse from the wind and the waves.
There was no legitimate reason for the weakness in faith. It was
simply a weakness in faith. B.
However, with this rebuke, Jesus was providing the solution
to Peter’s problem. Peter did not have to be perfect to walk on
water. He had to have faith in Jesus to walk on water. When he let
his faith weaken, he began to sink. Again, the interesting point
to note is that the same storm was going on when he got out of the
boat as when he was walking on the water. C.
As we walk on the water with Jesus, our strongest asset is
faith. We must constantly do what it takes to keep our faith.
Doubts will attack us, but we must not let them have their way. We
must maintain our faith. Romans
10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the
word of God.” The Bible is not our homework assignment, it is
our lifeline. When we have faith in Jesus Christ, we are
unstoppable (Philippians
4:13). See Hebrews
11 for examples of this. IV.
Sinks will happen. A.
Peter sank. It wasn’t an issue of his faith when he got
out of the boat. It happened after that. Walking on water was a
process, it was not an event. Overcoming sin and Satan is not an
event, it is a process. In that process, sinks will happen. I am
not saying they are absolute. Certainly, if we always make the
right choices, we will not sink. However, on a real and practical
level, I think we all know it will happen at some point. In the
battle against sin, the apostle John said even he would be a liar
if he said he never sinned (I
John 1:8). B.
When we sink, we should not think we have somehow made all
our brethren look bad. We should not think we are not allowed to
be a part of God’s people. We must not start worrying about what
others think about us. Instead, we need to simply turn back to
Jesus. C.
Did you gossip, lie, cheat or steal again? Did you lust,
covet or commit immorality again? Did you use foul language, get
caught up in coarse jesting or explode with anger again? Did you
drink, gamble or get high again? I don’t want to minimize how
serious each and every one of these sins have been in your life.
However, I do want you to understand walking on water is a
process, not an event. Growing in Christ is a process, not an
event. You did not conquer sin merely because you were baptized or
went forward. Further, your life with Christ is not over simply
because your faith wavered and you sank. Turn back to Jesus. V.
When we turn back to Jesus, He will lift us up. A.
Here is the most amazing part of this whole story. As Peter
foundered in the water, splashing and thrashing, he cried out,
“Lord, save me!” What might we expect Jesus to do? Do we
expect Jesus to say, “Peter, if you don’t have enough faith to
cut it, too bad”? Do we expect Jesus to step over Peter on His
way into the boat and say, “You should have thought of this
before you got out of the boat pal”? Maybe we expect Jesus to
let Peter founder there for a few minutes to think about his
presumption and then grab Peter at the last possible minute. B.
But Jesus didn’t do or say those things. Instead, He
immediately reached out and took hold of Peter. Sadly, what we
most remember about this whole event is Peter lost faith and sank.
I imagine what Peter most remembered was when he needed saving, he
cried out to the Savior and the Savior was right there to do so. C.
Please remember that. No matter how far you sink, when you
turn back to Jesus, He will respond immediately. Jesus does not
want us foundering in the water of our sin and guilt. He wants to
save us. He does want us to realize we can only be saved by Him.
Therefore, He will wait until we turn to Him, but when we turn, He
will act immediately (cf. I
John 1:8-10). D.
Many times the people around us will remember we had a lack
of faith. We need to do quit gaining our feeling of worth and
value from those around us. Instead, let us remember no matter how
far we went, Jesus was there to pick us up when we asked. Conclusion: We are not walking on water. We are doing something more difficult. We are striving to overcome Satan and sin. How are we going to do it? There is only one way. We must get out of the boat. We must maintain our faith. We must rely on Jesus. Where are you? In the boat? Or with Jesus?
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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