Stormy, Stormy Night Matthew 14:22-36 Sermon 04 July 11th, 2010   A Scotsman was taking a tour of the Holy Land but when he got to the Sea of Galilee, he was aghast when he found out that it would cost him $50 an hour to rent a boat to go out on the water.   "Hoots mon," he said, "in Scotland I could ha got a boat for about $20." "That might be true," said the boat man, "but you have to take into account that the Sea of Galilee is water on which our Lord Himself walked."   "Well, at $50 an hour," said the Scotsman, "it’s a little wonder that He walked."   The account of the Lord Jesus walking on water is probably the most familiar miracle of all of our Lord’s miracles. Some of us first heard the story in Sunday School. Perhaps you thought when you first heard it how cool it would be to be able to walk on water. I mean, when you’re a kid, feeding a lot of people, or healing the sick isn’t all that impressive but walking on water, now that’s something!   And like the story of David and Goliath, this story is so familiar that we can completely miss why the Holy Spirit included this in God’s Word. After all, we know there were many miracles that Jesus did that weren’t included in the Gospels (John 21:25). There are vital truths for us here.   This morning, then let’s look at this familiar account through fresh eyes. Let’s pretend that we’re hearing it for the first time. When we do that, it will initiate all sorts of questions like: Why did Jesus do what He did? Why did the Gospel writers include this story in their accounts of Jesus’ ministry? Did Jesus walk on water because He saw that the disciples were in trouble and there was no boat near by? Was He trying to demonstrate to the disciples that He truly was the Messiah—God’s Son—because only God could walk on water?   His disciples certainly understood that what Jesus did was only something that God could do. At the end of this narrative, they worship Him. There’s more though to this story than a demonstration of Jesus’ divinity. It’s a story that tells us how God moves in our lives and how God wants to move in our lives as Christians today. It’s also a model for us on how to deal with the inevitable storms in our lives.   Everyone’s favorite anti-hero, Charlie Brown, built a beautiful sandcastle, working on it for hours. Finally, he stands back and looks at his creation. It’s wonderful but just as he’s admiring it, a storm comes up and wipes out his sandcastle. Now, he’s standing where his beautiful masterpiece was, on level sand, saying to himself: "I know there’s a lesson in this, but I’m not sure what it is." Sometimes we too go through storms and wonder what the lessons are. Let me assure you, God has lessons for us in our storms.   No one goes through life without experiencing storms. They’re a reality of our human existence. Obviously, I’m not talking about storms of nature, but the storms of life. These storms threaten our entire state of well being, sometimes our very existence. They take on many different forms and affect us in many different ways. All storms though contain some common elements: they usually come on us suddenly and take us by surprise. They tend to fill our hearts with fear and test our faith. And it’s to be hoped that they cause us to cry out to our Lord for help. If so, then the storms of life become building blocks of faith which actually equip us for the storms which are yet to come. This life is filled with storms.   Think back on some of the storms which have invaded your life: Storms of illness, sudden or prolonged; Storms of death - the death of a loved one, a child, a partner, especially unexpected death; Storms of rejection - divorce, separation, abandonment; Storms of unjust criticism; Storms of emotional trauma - hatred, anger, resentment, bitterness; Storms of physical loss - home, job, money, security; Storms of accident – an event can alter the course of our life in a split second. If you’ve been a believer very long, you’ve discovered that being a follower of Jesus does not exempt us from the storms of life. Please open your Bibles to Matthew 14:22-36 (p. 692) as we work our way through this narrative today.   The Story of the Disciples in the Storm: Glance back a few verses earlier in Matthew 14 and you’ll see that Jesus has just fed 5,000 men. Matthew reminds us that this tally does not include the women and children who were no doubt present that day. So the number fed was probably closer to 15,000. Jesus accomplished this amazing miracle, He fed all these people, with just five barley loaves and two fish that a young boy had given Him.   This huge crowd had walked nine miles around the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee to meet Jesus when He and the disciples came ashore. By the time they arrived, it’s mid-afternoon. They hadn’t eaten since breakfast so there are 15,000 empty, growling stomachs on that hillside. They were hungry! Jesus knows you can't fill someone’s heart with spiritual truth until you first fill his belly so He instructs His disciples to feed the crowd. That sends the disciples into a panic. All they could come up with was one small uneaten lunch of a young boy.   Someone has suggested that there were two miracles that afternoon: one that Jesus fed 15,000 people and the other that this little boy hadn’t already scarfed down his lunch! Jesus took those five loaves of bread and two fish, and after thanking God for this food, He broke it and gave it to the Twelve who in turn distributed the pieces among the people.   Not only were the people filled, Matthew records that there were twelve baskets filled with leftovers! Do you realize what happened? Our Lord filled the stomachs of as many as 15,000 people with a lunch intended to feed just one small boy and He had 12 baskets of food left over!   How would you respond to a free lunch that appears out of thin air? How do think people who lived on the edge of poverty responded to this miraculous feat? What was their reaction? John, in his account of this miracle, tells us that they were very excited. They’d never seen anything like this before and said, "Surely this is 'The Prophet’ who has come into the world." John goes on to say that Jesus knew that the people were about to come and seize Him in order to make Him their King by force.   They’re bread and butter disciples. They don’t want a Messiah to worship but a Messiah Who will institute a Welfare Program for the needy…and they’re the needy. Things haven’t changed much. Polls show that Christians typically vote for the candidate they believe will be best for their personal welfare without consideration of the candidate’s worldview or values. Like everyone else, Christians tend to vote their wallet.   The crowds wanted, a strong, political Messiah with enough power to drive the Romans out of Palestine. They wanted a Messiah who would change Israel’s status from that of a subjugated nation to that of a world power. This incident with the loaves and fishes showed them that Jesus had miraculous power, just the power they wanted and needed to fulfill their dreams. In other words, they wanted to make Jesus King but not because of what He might do in and through them but because of what He could do for them. Sadly, we’re too much like them. Often, we only run to Jesus to ask for His help, His strength and power. Don’t get me wrong. That’s okay. God encourages us to ask Him for His help. But we must go beyond asking Him for something, we should also offer Him something. Every day we should echo the words of Isaiah and say, "God, here am I. Send me!" Take my life and use it in some way to further Your kingdom.   Jesus knows their hearts so He does two things. First, He sends the twelve disciples away. Notice how Matthew describes this, he writes that Jesus “made” or “compelled” them. Basically, Jesus forced them to get in the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side while He sent the crowd away.   Why do you think He did that? Why does Jesus have to coerce them to leave? It wasn't because they wanted to help Jesus deal with this problem with the people. No, Jesus probably had to force them to leave because the disciples were part of the problem, not the solution. They too wanted a Sovereign, not a Savior. They had no problem with making Jesus a king by force anymore than the crowd did. They might have even been the ring leaders. So Jesus had one idea, His disciples had another. It’s always bad when the followers of Jesus' want to go in one direction and He wants to go in another. We are supposed to follow Him, not the other way around.   Once Jesus dismissed His confused disciples and dispersed the crowd, He does a second thing. Our Lord goes up on the mountainside alone to pray. It appears He prayed for several hours. I think He needed to do this for a couple reasons. First, He needed to pray because He was facing the same temptation that He’d encountered in that conversation with Satan in the wilderness. Remember when Satan tempted Him to use His miraculous power to gain followers? He also needs to pray because this whole incident shows how far His disciples and the people were from understanding His true nature and mission. There still remained much discipling of the disciples to be done, a task He focused on during the coming months. And for these important reasons, He needed to be alone with God.   If Jesus needed to get alone with His Heavenly Father, how much more do you and I need to get alone with God? If Jesus needed this then how can we possibly expect to survive without doing it ourselves?!   At a recent National Day of Prayer observance in D.C. Brooklyn Tabernacle’s Jim Cymbala pointed out that all the problems in America are not because there’s not enough prayer in public schools, the real problem is that there is not enough prayer in the churches. He challenged all who claim to follow Jesus to take our need for prayer seriously, as we should!   When evening came Jesus was on the mountain alone praying. Verse 24 says that by this time, "the boat (the one the disciples were in) was already a considerable distance from the land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it." Their boat was in danger of being crushed by the heavy waves. The Greek literally says, "the boat was tormented by the waves.” The Sea of Galilee is 13 miles long and 7 miles wide. Usually, it’s a calm body of water. But there are two mountain ranges to the north and together they form a tunnel that will catch the wind and hurl it with gale like force across the normally peaceful sea. When that happens, Galilee’s tranquil waters suddenly become turbulent and stormy. Apparently, that’s what happened that night. The storm was so bad that the disciples, many of whom were professional sailors, were fighting for their lives!   Please notice though that their struggle does not go unnoticed. Jesus was apparently watching from His perch on the mountain. What a wonderful reminder that when you and I face storms, when waves are breaking over us and we’re about to sink, Jesus is watching! When you get one of those phone calls in the middle of the night; when the doctor gives you bad news; when your family is falling apart. When we think our world is about to come crumbling down around us, Jesus always sees. He knows all about the storms we go through. The lyrics to that song are so true: "His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me." There’s no where that we can go to be out of the sight of God. Remember the Psalmist’s words? “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you” (Ps. 139:7-11).   Jesus though did not just watch, He didn’t just see what they were going through...He acted! Our Lord came down and walked to them across the surface of those stormy waters. I don't know about you but I’ve never felt closer to Jesus than in times of crisis. He doesn't just notice my problems, He draws near to me and acts to help.   So Jesus, well aware of the urgent peril His disciples are in, came to them during the 4th watch of the night, that would be between 3AM and 6AM, walking on the water! Verse 26 says, "When they saw Him walking on the water, they were terrified! It is a ghost!"   Why do you suppose they cried out in terror at the sight of Jesus? Why didn’t they recognize Him and rejoice at His approach? It may have been because the night was dark and they had salt spray in their eyes and couldn't see clearly. But I think there was another reason. To their minds, this was incredible and unbelievable. These were seasoned sailors, they knew that no living being could walk on water, not even Jesus! Feeding several thousand people is one thing, but walking on water? Well, Jesus didn't let them go on in fear. Verse 27 says, "But Jesus immediately said to them: 'Take courage! It is I, Don't be afraid." In the midst of this storm comes Jesus' calming voice. And it’s then that Peter speaks up, "Lord, if it is really You, then order me to come out on the water to You." Even if Matthew hadn’t given us the name of the disciple who said this, we’d have known who it was. This sort of recklessness was so typical. It was impetuous Peter all over. It was Peter who leaped before he looked!   Notice Jesus' reply to Peter's faith. Peter had said, "Lord if it is really You, then bid me to come to You on the waters." And Jesus said (and I wonder if with a bit of a smile) "Come!” Peter steps out of the boat and starts walking to Jesus. But when he noticed the wind and waves, he’s afraid and starts to sink. At once Jesus reached out and grabbed hold of him and said, "What little faith you have! Why did you doubt?" We tend to be a little tough on Peter but let’s not forget that there were eleven other disciples who were still on the inside of the boat clinging to the sides.   Then, they both got into the boat, and the wind died down. And the disciples worshiped Jesus, exclaiming, "Truly You are the Son of God."   Isn’t that a great story? But it’s more than just a great story. This experience of the disciples in the storm should be an encouragement to us when we go through the storms of life. When we go find ourselves in the midst of a storm, we can rest our souls upon several assurances.   This wonderful account centers around a vital question: How am I going to handle the inevitable storms in my life? The late Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis, once said to his frustrated, impatient daughter, “My dear, if you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.”   In the beginning, Jesus spoke and created the universe. Thus, it was no big deal for Him to speak to the wind and waves of His creation and have them obey Him. Yet, for the disciples, who were still growing in their awareness of Who Jesus is, it was an amazing miracle. We all know that Jesus is Lord and we can repeat that phrase easily. But we often do not really know Him as Lord in the practical, daily situations we encounter. So the Lord often does for us what He did for the disciples:   We all know this life is hard. Jesus warned His disciples to expect trials. In His last words to them, He warns them, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). This wonderful account provides us with several life preservers that we need to cling to in the midst of the storms.   1. Jesus sent me into this storm. When serious trials hit, people will often say, "The Lord didn't cause this trial; He only allowed it." Somehow they think that they’re getting God off the hook. Sometimes they’ll even say, "Satan, not God, caused this tragedy." They think that by blaming Satan or by saying that God only allowed it, they preserve His love. But they do so at the expense of God’s sovereignty.   The Bible clearly affirms that God is both loving and sovereign. You will not derive any comfort in trials by denying God's sovereignty. True, God may use Satan to bring trials, as He did in the case of Job. But God clearly states, "I am the Lord, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these" (Isa. 45:6b-7). You’ll only find comfort in trials if you affirm both God's absolute sovereignty and His unfailing love.   This storm came because they were being obedient and were in the will of God, not like Jonah who was out of the will of God. Did Jesus know that the storm was coming? Certainly! Did He deliberately direct them into the storm? Yes! They were safer in the storm in God’s will than on land with the crowds out of God’s will. We must never judge our situation or our security on the basis of circumstances alone.   As we read our Bibles, we discover that there are two kinds of storms: storms of correction, when God disciplines us; and storms of perfection, when God helps us grow. Jonah was in a storm because he disobeyed God and had to be corrected. The disciples were in a storm because they obeyed Christ and had to be perfected. Jesus had tested them in a storm before, when He was in a boat with them (Matt. 8:23-27). But now He tests them by being out of the boat.   Some Christians have this erroneous idea that obedience to God’s will produces “smooth sailing.” That’s not true. When we find ourselves in the storm because we’ve obeyed the Lord, we must remember that He brought us here and that He will care for us.   2. Jesus is praying for me while I am in the storm. This entire scene is a dramatic picture of the Church and the Lord today. God’s people are on the sea, in the midst of a storm, yet, Jesus is in heaven, “interceding for us” (Rom. 8:34). He saw the disciples. He knew their plight, just as He sees us and knows our needs. He feels the burdens that we feel and knows what we are going through (Heb. 4:14-16). Jesus was praying for His disciples that their faith would not fail.   My friend, if you knew that Jesus Christ was in the next room, praying for you, wouldn’t it give you new courage to endure the storm and do His will? Of course it would. While He’s not in the next room, He is in heaven interceding for us right now. He sees your need, He knows your fears, and He is in total control of the situation.   3. Jesus is coming to me while I am in the storm. Frequently, we feel deserted when we’re going through hard times. In the Psalms, David complained that God seemed far away and unconcerned, yet he knew that God would ultimately rescue him. Even the Apostle Paul got into a situation that was so difficult he felt “under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life” (2 Cor. 1:8).   Jesus always comes to us in the storms of life. He may not come at the time that we think that He should, because He knows when we need Him the most. Jesus waited until the ship was as far from land as possible, so that all human hope was gone. He’s testing the disciples’ faith. That meant removing every human prop.   Why did Jesus walk on the water? I think that He did that to show His disciples that the very thing that they feared (the sea) was only a bridge for Him to come to them. Often we fear the difficult experiences of life, only to discover that these experiences bring Jesus Christ closer to us.   Why didn’t they recognize Jesus? Because they weren’t looking for Him. Had they been waiting by faith, they’d have known Him immediately. Instead, they jumped to the false conclusion that the appearance was that of a “ghost.” Fear and faith cannot live in the same heart because fear always blinds the eyes to the presence of the Lord.   4. Jesus is using the storm to help me grow. This is the whole purpose of the storm, to help the disciples grow in faith. After all, Jesus would one day leave them, and they’d face many storms in their ministries. They needed to learn to trust Him even though He wasn’t present with them, and even though it looked as if He did not care.   Our center of interest now shifts to Peter. Before we criticize Peter for sinking, let’s honor him for this tremendous demonstration of faith. Peter dared to take a risk, to be different. Anyone can sit in the boat and watch, but it takes someone of real faith to leave the boat and walk on the water.   What caused Peter to sink? His faith began to waver because he took his eyes off of Jesus and began to look around at his circumstances. “Why did you doubt?” Jesus asked him (v. 31). This word doubt carries the meaning of “standing uncertainly at two ways.” Peter started out with great faith but ended up having little faith because he saw two ways instead of one.   We have to give Peter credit for knowing that he was sinking and for crying out to the Lord of help. He cried out when he was beginning to sink, not when he was drowning. Perhaps this incident came to mind years later when he wrote, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer” (1 Peter 3:12). Though this experience was difficult for Peter, it helped him grow in his knowledge of himself and of the Lord. While storms aren’t easy, they’re necessary. They teach us to trust Christ alone and to obey His word no matter what the circumstances are. It’s been well said that “Faith is not believing in spite of the evidence, but obeying in spite of the consequences.”   5. Jesus will get me Home safely. If Jesus says “come,” then that word is going to accomplish His intended purpose. Since He is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2), whatever He starts, He completes. We may fail along the way, but in the end, God will succeed. Jesus and Peter walked on the water together and then went into the ship.   Peter’s experience turned out to be a blessing to the other disciples as well as to himself. When they saw Jesus’ power in conquering and calming the storm, they could only fall down and worship Him. When Jesus calmed the first storm (Matt. 8:23-27), the disciples said “What manner of man is this” But now their clear testimony is, “Truly you are the Son of God.”   Conclusion: I've heard Bible teachers say, "With Christ in the boat, you can smile at the storm." Certainly there’s a sense in which that's true, but I don't want to leave you with an overly rosy picture. We need to face the fact that sometimes Jesus doesn't calm the storms. Sometimes the boat sinks, even if we're trusting in Jesus. John the Baptist wasn't delivered from prison; he lost his head. Peter was miraculously delivered from prison, but James was put to death (Acts 12:1-17). So what should we do if we trust in the Lord, but the boat sinks? What if the miracle doesn't come?   The answer is, "We trust in the Lord Jesus as we go under. We go down singing the doxology."   John Hus was burned at the stake for his faith, but he went out singing. Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer were burned at the stake together. As the fires were lit, Latimer cried out, "Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England as I trust shall never be put out!"   Hudson Taylor lost his beloved wife, Maria, as they both sought to take the gospel to inland China. But he stood at her grave and sang, "Jesus, I am resting, resting, in the joy of what Thou art; I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart."   My friend, do you know Jesus in that way? If not, please don't wait until the storms hit. Seek Him now! Trust Him as your Savior, your only hope for heaven. Trust Him daily in the small problems you face. Then, whether He instantly calms the storm or whether your boat sinks, you will know peace that the world can't know, the peace that comes from trusting in Jesus, the Lord over all of life's storms.