Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Good morning, church.
[00:00:07] What a joy to be together today. Amen.
[00:00:13] We are. We're continuing our time in Matthew. So if you want to grab a Bible and turn over to Matthew, chapter 14, that's where we're going to be today. Matthew 14. If you don't have a bible with you, hopefully you can find a house bible around you.
[00:00:28] We tore down this room and reset it up last night for the women's and men's stuff that was going on. And, you know, you just. It's just kind of a shuffle how the chairs are going to end up afterwards. So you may or may not have pew Bibles in front of you, but if you need one, grab one. We really, the Bible is important, guys. We believe in that. And so I would actually say if you are here today and you don't own a physical copy of God's word, I would encourage you to snag one of the house Bibles or talk to one of the pastors. We'll get you a nicer copy. Matthew 14 is where we're gonna be today. I think it's funny, guys, that throughout church history, so many of God's most prominent leaders have been so reluctant. We noticed that as you've read the stories, like, even in the Bible, right, the folk who God called to big things were so often the kind of folk who just didn't see themselves doing big things. I mean, think about Moses, think about Gideon, think about David. Like, the list goes on and you can extend it forward into church history. So often folk are just really doing their best to live life and not screw up. Right? Like, we can relate to that.
[00:01:41] And when God shows up with this call to partake in the work of the kingdom, they and us, like them, oftentimes we're just. We're just Bilbo Baggins, right? Like, we just would rather stay home and get caught up on the dishes than, like, go out and go do some big thing that just seems too big for us. It made me think this week as I was prepping this text, is praying for you guys. It made me think of the confessing church in Nazi Germany was a kind of, if you're unfamiliar with that part of church history, it was kind of this countercultural church movement that opposed nazi leadership in Germany in the time leading up to and during World War Two. And I think what's amazing about the confessing church, if you go and read their history, it's worth your time. By the way, read about guys like Neil Mohler and Gruber and Bonhoeffer. When you read about these guys, you find that oftentimes they really were just kind of quiet theologians and pastors who were more at home in the classroom than they were in public forums. Their parish ministries were oftentimes small and unknown, not like the big mega churches and that there were megachurches back then. But you know what I'm saying, right? Like, these weren't necessarily the guys who were celebrities, the guys who you would see if you'd met them prior to this movement doing amazing life, world changing things. And yet, when the nazi government took over mainstream lutheran church and began systematically replacing or converting the leaders to the party line, it was these quiet, academic men who stood up and just said, no.
[00:03:24] These are the men who led this gospel infused countercultural movement. They started an illegal underground seminary. They got the message out about the horrors to the rest the world. And it's by the way, worth noting that all those leaders ended up in prisons and concentration camps themselves. As a thank you, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, probably the most famous of those leaders, was executed days before his prison was liberated. I mentioned this story just to say, like, these are guys you should google and you should know this part of church history. But I say this to say this, guys, if you'd met these folk before the confessing church, you just wouldn't think, ah, yes, here's a standing up to tyranny, countercultural leader.
[00:04:10] And yet, when the call of Jesus came through the power of the Holy Spirit, they rose to the occasion.
[00:04:17] I think that's what we're going to be reminded of in our text today, that the call of Jesus to his followers, to be like him and to advance the kingdom of God with him in this broken world. That that call is scary.
[00:04:33] It's scary whether it's a loud and public call to change the whole world or a humble and quiet call to pour yourself out for a single life. Saying yes to step out in faith and be like Jesus with our lives is scary. And most often from the outside looking in, it just appears foolish.
[00:05:00] It's just the truth of it, guys. But the spirit of God empowers our faith and Jesus himself empowers our call. Guys, I think what we're going to be reminded of today is just this. You can give Jesus your yes.
[00:05:15] You can give him your yes.
[00:05:17] Unashamedly, unequivocally, unquestioningly, you can give him your radical yes. And you can see amazing things done through the kingdom, through your life. You are able in the spirit to do this.
[00:05:31] Simply keep your eyes on your Jesus and see what he will do with you in this world. Amen.
[00:05:37] Amen. With that, we're going to look at one of the most famous passages in all the gospel narratives. Our text is picking up today directly where we picked or we dropped off last week in Matthew 14. Jesus has stepped away from the busyness of ministry with his closest followers with the twelve. They're getting away for a spiritual retreat after the news of John the Baptist's death. But the crowds have other plans. They invade Jesus rest, seeking out his ministry of healing and miracles. And Jesus does not disappoint. We read in the text that he pushes through his own hurt and exhaustion all day and then supernaturally provides food for all of them at the end of the day. The whole story paints a picture of the radical generosity of Jesus that he provides for the crowds meeting their own needs in his grief. And the story kind of, kind of just ends off with Jesus further meeting the needs of his own followers, making sure that they, at the end of this hard day, have enough of their own food to eat after losing out on their retreat. And so we're gonna pick up in verse 22 and we're gonna keep reading chunk by chunk to this text. So pray with me and then we'll step into it. Jesus, thank you for this morning. Thank you for your word. Lord, I pray today as we engage a story that just for many of us, it's just because of cultural osmosis. If nothing else, it's just going to be a familiar story. And so, Lord, I pray that today you would give each of us fresh eyes, fresh ears to hear from you, open and soft hearts to receive challenge from you. Lord, I pray that, Holy Spirit, you would do your ministry in our lives today. Convict us, encourage us, remind us, move us closer to you. Lord, we need your help in this. So we pray it in your name, Jesus. Amen.
[00:07:20] Okay, picking up in verse 22, we read immediately. This is immediately after the story. He feeds the 5000 the food that's left over. Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountainside by himself to pray well into the night. He was there alone. So our text picks up exactly where last week's text ends. Jesus has done the miracle and now his twelve have their baskets to eat from. In John's telling of the story, it lets us know that this miracle of the feeding of the 5000 was so intense that the crowd actually wants to forcibly crown Jesus as king of the region, over and above Herod. And Jesus has no patience for this earthly misunderstanding of his role in his ministry. So he jumps into action, he sends the twelve away back on their boat, and he personally takes the time to dismiss the crowds. Remember, we're talking about ten to 15,000 people. Jesus personally takes the time to send them off, and then he goes off on his own to connect with the father. This part is super interesting to me. It's interesting because Jesus, you know, he's intentionally getting himself and his followers away from the crowds, right? There's kind of this. Hey, you guys go on. I'll catch up. That's kind of the vibe here. Although presumably they assumed he was gonna walk around the edge of the lake to meet up with them.
[00:08:53] But you guys go ahead. All catch up. And after personally dismissing the crowds, we see that Jesus takes the rest and reconnection with the father that he needs.
[00:09:06] He does what he came here for in the first place.
[00:09:10] He goes off by himself, and he spends time with the father in prayer. He sends hours into the night by himself with the father beloved, we would do well to remember this scene.
[00:09:26] I said it last week. The ministry is always hard and is often inconvenient.
[00:09:32] But you are not magical. You are not a limitless supply of energy and time. You cannot go and go and go forever. That's not how God made you. Our kingdom, service to others, because it's an overflow out of the life we ourselves are receiving from God. If you want to partake in the work of the kingdom, if you want to love and serve well, if you want to pour yourself out, that others might grow in life and grow in Christ, it will be out of the abundance, out of the overflow of Christ's life pouring into you.
[00:10:07] And if you go and go and go and go and go, and do not take the time to tend to your own soul and connect your own heart to Christ, if you do not do that and you just keep pouring and pouring from an empty pitcher, it's just not going to go well with you. You will find yourself performing and pretending while inside you are dead.
[00:10:28] Jesus had a term for that. Whitewashed tombs.
[00:10:32] It's not what you want in your spiritual life, because Jesus models for us what it means to go and tend to your own soul, to be refreshed in the Lord. He steps away. This whole text starts with him stepping away for rest, and it doesn't work out that way. The need follows him, and in his love and his compassion, Jesus pushes himself that extra step, and he pours out and loves and serves the crowds. But when he's done, you know what he does? He sends them away, and he goes off by himself with the father because he knows he needs to reconnect with the father. Jesus models this to us. After the shock of losing John, after the work of serving the masses, Jesus goes and spends hours alone with God. Beloved, when was the last time you set aside time to be truly alone with God?
[00:11:23] It's an important question.
[00:11:25] Out in nature, in your own home, at a coffee shop, no family, no job, no spouse, no expectations. Just you and the father. When was the last time you intentionally grabbed ahold of this practice? It's the practice that is worthy of your time, beloved, and it's worthy of your schedule. I mean, look at Jesus. The reality of Jesus life and the reality of Jesus ministry meant that this meant for him, the middle of the night, after a long, stinking day, when I'm sure what he really wanted to do was set up camp, eat some food, and go to bed.
[00:11:58] Instead, he set aside time for this connecting with the father to be filled for the ministry before you guys. It doesn't happen by accident.
[00:12:08] It happens because you seek him, because you set aside time for him.
[00:12:14] For Jesus, that meant literally staying up all night long after a busy day. I mean, guys look like, for me, I got kids, I got a wife, I got a job. It often means early mornings or late nights for me. If I'm going to take this call seriously, I'm gonna go down a limb, and I'm gonna guess for most of you, it's gonna be a similar thing. It's gonna mean a sacrifice. It's gonna mean you look at your time and your schedule and you say, connecting with the father is important.
[00:12:38] So I'm gonna do what I have to do to do it. I'm gonna cut time into my schedule to make this happen. It doesn't happen by accident, guys, okay? I'm going too long. Read on with me. Verse 24. Meanwhile, the boat was already some distance from land, battered by the waves because the wind was against them. So Jesus came toward them, walking on the sea very early in the morning. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. Yeah, it seems like a normal response. It's a ghost, they said. And they cried out in fear. Immediately, Jesus spoke to them. Have courage. It is, I do not be afraid.
[00:13:22] And now we get to a scene that is so famous that I think we can just really easily miss how ridiculous and strange it is right like, this is one of those stories that has just worked its way into the public consciousness about Jesus, and it's easy for us to move past the fact that this is a pretty buck wild story. Jesus has finished up his time with the father, and he decides to make his way to the disciples. It's hours later and we see that they are still on the lake.
[00:13:51] Sharp winds have kicked up the sea of Galilee. They can't have their sails up. They are trudging along in the wind and the waves. They're fighting against the boat, and they're pretty much just good and stuck.
[00:14:04] So Jesus walks out to them, which is not what you normally do in that situation. Can we just say that way? Right? Like, that's not the expectation. Jesus walks out to them. Now, in the English, it gives us kind of this vague reference, a good distance out. The Greek here is actually a really specific unit of measurement. The reason the English gives it to us vague is because we don't actually 100% know what that unit of measurement is. But we can know that it's roughly 400 yards in that range, plus or minus some. Several football fields out into the sea of Galilee. And the waves are tall, the wind has swept in. The waves are big. At this point in the night, the dawn's light would just be peeking up over the mountains. So presumably what's actually happening here is that Jesus up on his mountain where he's praying, can see them. He can see the boat out there, and he's like, oh, they have not landed yet. Oh, I thought they would be, like, asleep and camping by now. They're still out in the lake. That's a problem. So because Jesus walking on water, it's one of the most famous miracles. It's part of how as a culture, we think about and talk about Jesus. But you have to remember, there wasn't really a precedent for this supernatural act that would make people look for it. There are a couple of texts in the Old Testament, specifically a couple references in job, where it talks about God as the one who can walk upon the waves. But you have to understand, guys, prior to Jesus miraculous ministry, this was not one of the miracles that was expected by the jews. It wasn't something they were looking for in their messianic theology. And I think the reason here, guys, is because Jesus really isn't attempting to prove a specific theological point with this miracle like he did calming the storm or feeding the masses. I think this is actually a very practical miracle. And here's what I mean by that. He just spent like 6 hours praying.
[00:15:59] He's like, you guys go ahead and make camp. I'm a pray and I'll catch up with you. He thought his boys would be landed camping and sleeping, but they're not. They're still out in the sea. So as you do, Jesus just walks out and catches up with them. Right? He's kind of like, well, you guys didn't make it there, so I guess I'll just come out to you. I want to point out here the waves of the sea of Galilee. Guys. These windstorms is a real thing that still happens there. They get really big. Here's an actual photo of the sea of Galilee with some of these waves jumping up.
[00:16:31] And that's just like at the shore. When you get out into the deep water, they get pretty massive.
[00:16:38] Imagine for me with a moment again, I know that like this is one that's like. It's just we don't think about this miracle much because it's so famous. But can you just imagine with me for a second the practicality of Jesus walking out on a wavy, stormy sea like, okay, child of the eighties, right? So stick with me for this for a minute. But how many of you guys, your parents had a water bed at some point?
[00:17:03] Yeah. You ever walk on the waterbed? Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to do. You're not supposed to do it actually. You get yelled at for it. But you're not supposed to walk on the waterbed. And if you do, it's really hard. You fall over. That's with like, just like this much movement. But when you get to these three or four or five foot tall waves, that's a hike. That's a weird thing to imagine. And here is Jesus. He does it. He's walking out to them. I mean, can we, can we just collectively, can we stop and can we imagine ourselves in the boat with the apostles for a second?
[00:17:40] You just worked a full, unexpected day. On your day off, your boss man finally sends you away to go off and rest. He gives you some food. And when you push out with the boat, the wind picks up and you get stuck. You have just spent literal hours, all night, in fact, trying to get to land. So you can just set up camp and go to bed. Your hours into this struggle, you notice the sun is starting to come up. At this point. It's pretty discouraging. Exhaustion, frustration. It's all working together. And then Jesus just walks up to you.
[00:18:17] That's wild. Climbing over the waves like he's out on a hike.
[00:18:24] What would your reaction be?
[00:18:27] I mean, these guys are freaked out, and I don't begrudge them that response. Right? Like, I don't think any of us. That's a nuts thing to see. It's crazy. It terrifies them. The wind is whipping, the waves are crashing. They're spent, they're exhausted. And there appears a figure walking to them over the waves.
[00:18:47] And so Jesus comforts them. Hey, it's me. It's me. Take heart. It's me. Don't freak out. Which, again, I don't feel like that would be super comforting in the moment. Like, mmm, I don't know.
[00:19:00] Now, Matthew does this amazing little literary thing for us here that I want to point out, because I think it's helpful. We can miss it in the English, you know, in Hebrew, there are very few instances where folk would use the phrase I am in a general sense, because it was connected to Yahweh's self identification in the Old Testament. Greek culture didn't have this, but jewish speakers in the first century who spoke Greek or Aramaic, they would still jump through some pretty elaborate grammatical hoops to avoid saying I am. Even when it made sense grammatically, they didn't do it 100% of the time, but if they could, they would avoid that specific phrase. Jesus here in the Greek, clearly says to his followers, I am. And he says it in a way that's grammatically appropriate to the moment. And I'm going to go on the limb and guess because of how crazy the situation is, no one thinks anything of it. But we, as the reader, get the benefit here.
[00:19:53] Jesus is walking on water. He doesn't fear the storm. He isn't hindered by the waves, because he is God.
[00:20:02] And it is with his very presence he tells the twelve, take heart, be brave. Don't be scared. I am with you, man. There is so much gospel in that moment, isn't there?
[00:20:15] Jesus comes to you and me in our exhaustion and our struggle.
[00:20:20] Isn't the story of the gospel that Jesus stepped down into the wind and storm of our broken worlds, that he approached us, that he brought us to his divinity? Brought us or brought us to himself? What a picture of our salvation. That Jesus walks on the very water to be with us in our need, to comfort us in our fear, and here, this church, to save us from. From our sins and beloved, that is your testimony, is it not?
[00:20:48] Is it not? No matter what the world has thrown at you, no matter what drains your strength, no matter what bogs you down, no matter what keeps you up through the night. No matter what things you fear, what mistakes you make, what sins you give into, Jesus is here. Here for you, right here, right now, with the word of life. I am.
[00:21:08] I'm with you. Take comfort, take heart, because God himself is at your side. Praise God. Right? Like, what a glorious gospel. What a cool picture of it in the midst of this text.
[00:21:21] And then we get to the really famous part. Read on with me. Verse 28. Lord, if it's you, Peter answered him, command me to come to you on the water.
[00:21:31] He said, come. And climbing out of the boat. Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid and he began to sink. And he cried out, lord, save me. And immediately Jesus reached out, his hand caught hold of him and said to him, you have little faith. Why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those in the boat worshipped him and said, truly, you are the son of God.
[00:22:04] Peter, when he realizes it's Jesus, his first response is to ask Jesus to bring him out with him in the water.
[00:22:12] I love that, by the way. It's such a weird little detail. But I love that it speaks to Peter and Jesus relationship that Peter just assumes Jesus can and will impart this power directly to him. Command me to come out to you on the water. But it's a powerful notion and Jesus obliges. Come, he says, and with that word, with that single word, Peter steps out of the boat toward Jesus and he walks on water.
[00:22:45] I mean, can we take that in for a minute?
[00:22:48] Can you cut through how familiar this story is and imagine this for a minute? I mean, have you ever been out on deep water in bad weather?
[00:22:59] Ever been out on a big boat or a cruise or anything like that and seen the waves? Because I'm just going to tell you, there is a primal fear in being in deep water and bad weather.
[00:23:11] It's not fun, it's anxiety. You can be in a big, huge cruise ship and you're still like, I hate this. This is not good.
[00:23:18] It's scary to be on deep water in bad weather.
[00:23:24] It's terrifying. And by the way, their boat is not large. I have a picture. This is actually really a kind of cool, just little piece of biblical archaeology. We have an almost perfectly preserved fishing boat from capernaum that they found sunk in the mud in the sea of Galilee from around the time of Jesus life. And so we actually have a really good understanding of the common boats that were used by fishermen like Peter. And here's what's interesting about them. They're tiny, and they're not built to go in deep water.
[00:23:52] They're built to go out and come back and to stay close to the shore. They make these little arcs. They never get out into the deeps. And yet Jesus often tells the apostles, hey, let's go straight across.
[00:24:03] He challenges them to do things you should not do with the boats. They had this boat, guys, if you're in it, if you're on the very edge, the side's only about this tall. You can easily fall over the edge. And so imagine this boat tossing and turning in these three, four, five foot waves. And Peter, like, makes his way to the edge, and he's sitting there pitching up and down. And Jesus is just, yeah, come on, come on.
[00:24:29] Imagine that moment of Peter grabbing the edge of the boat and flipping his leg over and stepping out onto the water in the middle of the storm, in the middle of the howling wind, in the middle of the waves. He does it, and the water holds him up. I mean, sure, it's moving up and down, right? Sure, he's like, keep. He's a fisherman. He can do that. He's got his sea legs, right?
[00:24:54] He's standing on water, and he walks toward Jesus. I mean, this is an amazing moment to consider.
[00:25:04] It's nuts. But the text says that as Peter walked toward Jesus, he saw the strength of the wind.
[00:25:14] I imagine he was walking with waves moving him up and down underneath him. He had this moment where he just kind of realized how utterly insane this whole thing was. You know, that kind of breakthrough. Like, this is so cool.
[00:25:27] This is, oh, goodness, what am I doing?
[00:25:31] Right?
[00:25:33] And, guys, I think there's such an important point here because Jesus isn't really, or Peter isn't really doubting Jesus. This isn't a theological or existential doubt. No, no. This is that Peter, who before looked at Jesus and said, command me, now, has this very practical realization. Because, remember, Peter's a professional fisherman. He spent his whole adult life in these waters, in this boat. The kind of fishing that he did would mean that he was a proficient swimmer and diver. Like, he knew this stuff well, which means he knew good and well that him and his boat should not be in this part of the sea at this time of night in this weather.
[00:26:20] He knew exactly how bad a situation they were in. And just imagine this moment as he's walking when it just dawns upon him that he should not be here right now.
[00:26:34] He definitely shouldn't be out of his boat. He definitely shouldn't be around these waves. They're this tall. He takes his eyes and his heart away from Jesus, away from the call of Jesus, and he considers his practical understanding of the situation. And immediately he begins to sink.
[00:26:51] Immediately.
[00:26:53] And so, guys, I think it's important to see this bit. Yes, Jesus rebukes Peter's lack of faith here, but this isn't somehow like Peter deciding, oh, Jesus isn't enough. Jesus isn't capable. I'm doubting Jesus. No, no, no. This is Peter just stopping, thinking about Jesus.
[00:27:11] Jesus leaves his mind.
[00:27:14] It was the face, the presence, the call of Jesus that called him out of the boat.
[00:27:19] But when he stopped considering Christ and started considering the wind and the waves, then he sinks.
[00:27:27] He sinks. His thoughts have come back to the storm and the waves and just how tired he is and how this water is too deep and it's all chaotic and it's too dark. And what is he doing? Why is he even here? You follow me. The way your brain kind of spirals, and Jesus sees this happen. You can see, like, you can imagine the wheels turning in Peter's head as he's looking around him, realizing, like, what have I done? And I feel like you can see Jesus looking at him going, okay, here it comes.
[00:27:58] Cause it says immediately Jesus reached out and grabbed him and kept him from sinking. Reaches out and gets him and then just says, why'd you doubt? Why'd you do that?
[00:28:10] Because the teaching here is so key for us. You see, Peter was able to walk on water because Jesus called him to and empowered him to, pure and simple. Peter's not magic. He doesn't have powers. He's not a superhero. He walked on water because Christ called him to do it, and Christ empowered him to do it. Peter sank because he lost sight of that truth.
[00:28:35] The faith that drove Peter out of the boat, the faith that pushed him to give Jesus such a radical and dangerous. Yes, that faith was clouded by the harsh reality of the waves and the wind.
[00:28:49] Following Jesus out to sea wasn't easy. It was scary. It was, let's be honest, foolish.
[00:28:55] And the moment Peter focused more on that reality than on Christ, he began to sink. I think this syncs up well to many of our own stories. If you think about your own journey of faith, if you think about your own story of Christ calling you from death to life and waking you up and helping you figure out what your gifting and your strengths are and what it is he has for you to do in this world, in his kingdom, many of us, you met Jesus in a radical way. At some point, he met you in the muck and mire of your life, of your bad decisions and your rebellion and your sin. And through faith, you found life and salvation in him. And then, as he called you unto himself, he gave you an awareness and a passion for some aspect of the kingdom, feeling what it is, right? There was some big yes many of us gave. When Jesus called you, you married that person, you had those kids. You said yes to serve in that ministry. You prayed for that person to get saved. You went on that mission trip, you got your foster license, you moved to that specific neighborhood. You turned down that job to be a part of this ministry, whatever it was. You gave Jesus your yes.
[00:30:05] And here's what's so amazing, beloved.
[00:30:09] Jesus believed in you enough that he called you to it, just like calling Peter out on the sea. He called you to some beautiful work of the kingdom, and you said yes in faith.
[00:30:25] Guys, as I say this, I know some of you like you know exactly in your head what I'm talking about.
[00:30:32] You gave Jesus a big yes. You took a big step in faith. And you can think of that part of your story, those parts of your story, but the reality is life is hard and life is scary, right? And then you got into it, and all of a sudden, it's not what you expected.
[00:30:52] And all of a sudden that marriage is really hard, or those kids are really whiny and needy and you're not sleeping well, or they grow up and they reject you and push you away and make decisions you hate, or that ministry takes up so much of your time, or those people reject the gospel and not even reject you, even though you've been praying for them. And just. It costs too much time and it's costing too much money, and you have too much anxiety, and nobody really is able to live like this, really. You just want to be happy, and you just want to be able to relax, and you just want to be able to wake up and find that you've moved your eyes away from Jesus.
[00:31:25] And what was once a beautiful act of faith that drove you to him has now become a weight that is pulling you down in the depths.
[00:31:33] That ring true for anybody. Just me.
[00:31:38] I have a friend in ministry named Kurt Augustin. Some of you guys know him, and I've heard him say many, many times, it's something I come back to in my faith a lot. Never undo and doubt what you did in faith, beloved. If Jesus calls you, then Jesus believes you can obey him.
[00:31:59] And if Jesus calls you and he believes in you. Hear this, beloved. He empowers you.
[00:32:05] He will make a way. He will make a way where there seems to be no way by this world's standards.
[00:32:12] There are so many times, guys, there are so many times where the world's wisdom just doesn't match up to the call of Jesus to the kingdom of God.
[00:32:22] So often the things that Christ asks of us are very analogous to an invitation to walk out of a boat onto the open water.
[00:32:32] Your heart tells you, chase that job in the pay raise. Make that move. Advance your career. Protect your schedule and your time. You've earned your leisure. These are your retirement years. These are for you. You've put your time in, so now you get to take what's yours. Yeah, those kids need someone, but you're already busy. It happens all the time. It happens every day with all of us. But beloved, beloved, where Jesus calls, Jesus empowers and Jesus works, it may seem foolish by the world's standards.
[00:33:00] It may seem like a bad idea. You may have people tell you, hey, you should not do this.
[00:33:06] This seems really, really foolish. And by the way, not that we shouldn't receive counsel and wisdom and pray with our church family and all those things, I'm just telling you, guys, I'm telling you, when Christ is calling you unto himself and prompting you to him, it will require a step of faith.
[00:33:25] And if it's really him prompting you, if it's not just your ambition and your desires and your flesh, if it really is the spirit of God, Jesus himself, prompting you to that step of faith, and, beloved, you can rest assured he will see it through.
[00:33:42] He will.
[00:33:44] The love of Jesus is stronger than our doubts.
[00:33:48] Love of Christ is stronger than our fears and our selfishness.
[00:33:55] And fear is the big one. How many of those times have you just known in your heart of hearts that God is putting this in your heart for a reason right here and right now, and just your fear flares up and goes, there's no way. There's no way. There's no way.
[00:34:10] Remember the words of the apostle John, there is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives out fear because fear, that involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete. In love, we love because he loved us, beloved Jesus, his love is stronger than your fear, stronger than your exhaustion. It's stronger than your doubts. When he calls you beloved, say yes.
[00:34:33] Say yes.
[00:34:35] Be bold. Be brave. Have faith. Say yes.
[00:34:39] See what he does with that. Read on with me. Verse 32.
[00:34:44] When they got into the boat, the wind ceased, and those in the boat worshiped him and said, truly, you're the son of God. When they crossed over, they came to the shore of Gennesaret. When the men of that place recognized him, they alerted the whole vicinity and brought him all who were sick. They begged him that they might only touch the end of his robe. And as many as touched it were healed. And here as we land out, we see again the heart of Jesus and the fruit of trusting him.
[00:35:10] Jesus is not harsh with Peter for his radical doubt right after his radical faith.
[00:35:17] He's not.
[00:35:18] Instead, look what Christ does. He grabs his arm, he pulls him in the boat, he calms the storm, and he says, let's go do it. Come on. Let's keep going.
[00:35:29] I love that.
[00:35:31] It's a reminder that Jesus, even though he calls us to these radical steps of faith, this intense obedience, that he is still mindful of our weakness.
[00:35:41] He is loving, he is gracious. He believes in us. He calls us. But as the psalmist says in psalm 103, as the father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows that we are made of. He remembers that we are dust. He knows your limitations.
[00:35:59] By the grace of God, God calls you anyway. Come on, church. Come on, church. Why does he call you? Why does he do that?
[00:36:08] Because it's not about you.
[00:36:12] Why does Christ still call you to big steps of faith, knowing full well how scared and anxious and exhausted and weak your faith is?
[00:36:23] Why does he believe in you in spite of your limitations?
[00:36:27] Because it's not about you, beloved.
[00:36:29] It's not about your ability to accomplish it. He is the one who will accomplish his kingdom will through you.
[00:36:38] It's not dependent on you being a good enough Christian for God's will to happen here on earth. No, beloved, what it's about is you missing out on joining with Jesus in his amazing work.
[00:36:50] He calls you because he loves you, and it's a privilege for us to join him in the work. So when you give him your yes and you keep your eyes on him, you get to watch him work in the world.
[00:37:03] What a gift.
[00:37:06] Hudson Taylor was another unlikely leader. He's one of these guys that, like, should be on your bucket list of things to read is his biography. Hudson Taylor was the guy who founded the China Inland mission. This is a guy who came to faith young in life. He felt a call from God to go on the mission field, and he was fully convinced that he would go to China and preach the gospel till he died. And that was his plan. He spent his entire high school and college years preparing to go on the mission field and spend his entire life in remote villages having no one heard of him and just preaching the gospel till he died. And God did not have that for him. God instead brought him back and raised him up as the leader of an international missions movement and had him spend the rest of his life traveling around the world preaching about missions and raising up missionaries all over Europe and even into the United States. Powerful, powerful testimony you should read about him.
[00:37:55] I think he encapsulated this truth perfectly, and I think it's the perfect place for us to land today. Band if you want to come back up, Hudson Taylor, when he was talking to young men and women who were wrestling through the call, got to put on their life, whether it was missions or service in their local church or service in their family, whatever it was, he would speak to this bit of going, some of you are called to missions, but everyone is called to the work of the kingdom. And he would dig through the different ways that people could live that out in their life. He had this line that I just think is perfect. He would say, you do not need great faith, but simply faith in a great God.
[00:38:32] I need you to hear that church.
[00:38:34] You don't need great faith. You need faith in a great God.
[00:38:38] Because the reality is, I'm here to tell you, I guarantee, I guarantee whatever gospel kingdom call God has put on your heart, I'm just here to tell you you are not good enough to accomplish it.
[00:38:51] You want to love your spouse well and prepare them for eternity. You're too sinful to do that well.
[00:38:56] You want to raise up your kids in the way of the Lord so they won't depart from it when they're older. You don't have that ability.
[00:39:02] You want to go and preach the gospel in your community to your coworkers so that they come to know Christmas, confess their sins and repent and find life in him. You don't have that ability.
[00:39:12] You want to see the mission field explode with new missionaries and pastors giving their yes, you want to raise up, you're not able to.
[00:39:21] And so God's going to call you to something. He's going to put something heavy on your heart, something intense, something huge or something little, but something that's so distinctly for the kingdom. He's going to put it on your heart. You're going to know exactly, lord, you are calling me to this. And if you think about it soberly for a minute, you'll realize this isn't just scary, this isn't just, like, hard to do. This isn't just foolish in the world's eyes. I can't even do it.
[00:39:43] It's outside of my ability and my strength and my skills. I cannot guarantee success in this. Lord, why'd you give me this mission?
[00:39:54] And I think that's why so many of the leaders throughout church history and scripture looked back at God and said, wait, you. Surely you mean someone else, right?
[00:40:02] But here's the thing, guys. It's not about you.
[00:40:05] It's not your power that advances the kingdom. It's the power of God.
[00:40:09] And so when you take a step in faith, Peter wasn't sitting there going, this is so cool, I can walk on water.
[00:40:17] No, his faith is in Christ and the God who called him and the God who empowered him. Beloved, your faith is in a great God. Jesus is worthy of your faith. He is worthy of your yes.
[00:40:33] So give it to him.
[00:40:35] I want to encourage you right now as we land.
[00:40:38] You know, we do this every time we gather. We take a few minutes to reflect and pray and just think about what God might have been telling us in the sermon. I want to encourage you to do that right now to find a posture of prayer for your own heart. If you can do that sitting in your chair, awesome.
[00:40:52] If you need to get up and find someplace to get on your knees, if you want to come to the altar, if you want to grab one of the pastors and have us pray for you, whatever that is, I want to encourage you to find a posture of prayer where you can connect with the Lord. And I just want you to ask him really clearly, Lord, what are you calling me to today?
[00:41:10] What is the yes you ask of me today?
[00:41:14] Sit with him. See what he says.
[00:41:16] It may be huge and scary, or it may be tiny and scary, but I promise you, I promise you, if the Lord is calling you, you can trust him.
[00:41:30] You can say yes.
[00:41:32] If you're in this room and you don't know Christ and you've been considering faith and you've been plugging in and out of church and debating and wrestling through your faith journey, I want you to hear something.
[00:41:43] The Lord is calling you today from death to life. And you can trust him with your yes.
[00:41:48] You can put yourself out there and say, lord, I do. I want you. I want you to save my heart. I want you to forgive my sins. I want you to include me in your family.
[00:41:56] If you've been struggling in some sin pattern that's just been destroying you and you don't know how to talk about it, and you keep it under wraps, and it just feels like it just owns you. You hear God telling you today, like, hey, I want you to want you deal with this beloved. You can trust him with that.
[00:42:14] You can bring that into the light. You can share that with brothers and sisters, and you can rest assured the Holy Spirit will partner with you. Walk you toward freedom, walk you toward life.
[00:42:26] Church. Take a few minutes, connect with Christ.
[00:42:30] Ignore the wisdom of this world.
[00:42:34] Follow the voice of your Jesus. See what he might call you to see what he might do with your. Yes, love it. Take a few minutes to connect with Christ, and then we'll continue on.
