Walking On Water - 4

Walking On Water - 4

Subject: The Challenges Continued

by Rick Welborne

Matthew 14:22‑33 (NKJV) 

22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 

23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 

24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 

25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 

26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. 

27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." 

28 And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." 

29 So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 

30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" 

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" 

32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 

33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God." 

1. As you attempt to walk on water you will be challenged that being obedient to God is no guarantee that you will be spared adversity.

2. As you attempt to walk on water you will be challenged to discern what is faith and what is foolishness.

John Ortberg: That means I will have to discern between an authentic call from God and what might simply be a foolish impulse on my part.  Courage alone is not enough; it must be accompanied by wisdom and discernment.

3. As you attempt to walk on water you will be challenged to simply get out of the boat.

James 4:17 (NKJV) 

17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. 

Ortberg:  Your boat is whatever you are tempted to put your trust in, especially when life gets stormy. Your boat is whatever keeps you so comfortable that you don’t want to give it up even if it’s keeping you from joining Jesus on the waves.  Your boat is whatever pulls you away from the high adventure of extreme discipleship.

4. As you attempt to walk on water you will be challenged to see fear as an opportunity for growth.

2 Timothy 2:3 (NKJV) 

3 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 

Susan Jeffers: The fear will never go away, as long as I continue to grow.

Tonight’s Message – Challenges Continued

1. As you attempt to walk on water you will be challenged to respond to failure in a proper way.

–Because Peter saw the wind and the waves and gave into fear...he began to sink. We must ask the question...did Peter fail? Before we answer this question let us make some observations about failure.

John Ortberg: Failure is not an event, but rather a judgment about an event. Failure is not something that happens to us or a label we attach to things. It is a way we think about outcomes.

–Jonas Salk tried two hundred times to develop a vaccine for polio before he discovered the right one.  Somebody asked him...How did it feel to fail 200 times?

Salk: I never failed 200 times in my life. I was taught to never use the word ‘failure’. I just discovered 200 ways how not to vaccinate for polio.

--Winston Churchill was asked what most prepared him to risk political suicide by speaking out against Hitler during the years of appeasement in the mid-1930s and then to lead Britain against Nazi-Germany. He said it was the time he had to repeat a grade in elementary school. “You mean you failed a year in grade school?’ he was asked.

Churchill: I never failed anything in my life.  I was given a second opportunity to get it right.

–Jonas Salk made 200 unsuccessful attempts to create a polio vaccine. Was he a failure? Winston Churchill repeated a grade in elementary school. Was he a failure?

–Did Peter fail? I suppose in a way he did. His faith wasn’t strong enough. His doubts were stronger. He saw the wind. He took his eyes off of where they should have been. He sank. He failed.

–Here is what I think though...There were 11 bigger failures sitting in the boat. They failed quietly. They failed privately. Their failure went unnoticed and un-criticized. Peter was the only one of them who knew public failure.

–There were two other things that Peter knew: He knew the glory of walking on water. He alone knew what it was to attempt to do what he was not capable of doing on his own, then feeling the euphoria of being empowered by God to actually do it.  

–You see...once you walk on water you never forget it...not for the rest of your life. I think Peter carried this with him the rest of his life.  

–The other thing that Peter knew was the glory of being lifted up by Jesus in a moment of desperate need. Peter knew like no one else that when he sank that Jesus was more than able to save him.  

–He had a shared moment, a divine connection, a shared trust in Jesus that none of the others had. They couldn’t because they did not get out of the boat.  

–The worst failure is not to sink in the waves...the worst failure is to never get out of the boat...to be a slave to the boat.

Winston Churchill: “If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

2. As you attempt to walk on water you will be challenged to respond to failure as an opportunity to grow.

–It is so important to know this...as soon as Peter cries out for help, Jesus is there. He helps Peter physically by pulling him from the water.

--He helps Peter grow by pointing out the problem. You of little faith, why did you doubt?

–I don’t think Jesus was being critical here...as you observe this text you see that the comment was made to Peter while the two of them were still on the water.

–It is possible that with the violence of the wind and waves that no one else heard their conversation...a good mentor never wants to embarrass His student. 

–So in the privacy and safety of His strong hand, He gently helps Peter to grow by helping him to see the source of his problem.

–The problem was quite clear: whether Peter walked on the water or sunk was dependent on whether he focused on the storm or on Jesus.  

–Make sure you get this...Now he understood his dependence on faith in Jesus much more deeply than he would have if he had never left the boat...he grew! It was his willingness to risk failure that helped him to grow.

–Even more than we hate to fail, we hate for others to see us fail. If we had been Peter we would have been tempted to cover up our lack of faith by saying we tripped on a log or something.

–Because Peter put himself in a position to fail, he also put himself in a position to grow.

Ortberg: Failure is an indispensable, irreplaceable part of learning and growth. Here is the principle involved: Failure does not shape you: the way you respond to failure shapes you. 

–Sir Edmund Hillary made several unsuccessful attempts at scaling Mt. Everest before he finally succeeded. After one of his attempts he stood at the base of the mountain and shook his fist at it and said...I’ll defeat you yet, he said in defiance, because you are as big as you will ever be but I am still growing.

–Every time Hillary climbed he failed and every time he failed he learned, he grew and tried again. And one day he didn’t fail.  

2 Peter 3:17‑18 (NLT) 

17 I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. 

18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen. 

3. As you attempt to walk on water you will be challenged to wait on the Lord.

–Even though this story is much about risk it is also a story about waiting on the Lord. The disciples had to wait until 3 in the morning before Jesus came to them. Even with that Jesus did not immediately relieve them from the storm.

–Jesus could have easily caused the storm to calm down before Peter got out of the boat. Why didn’t He?  Maybe because they, like us, need to learn something about waiting.

–We have to learn to wait on the Lord to receive power to walk on water. We have to wait on the Lord for Him to make the storm disappear. 

–I think most of you can verify this...Waiting on the Lord is the hardest part of trusting. It is not the same as waiting around...It is putting yourself with utter vulnerability in His hands.

Psalm 27:11‑14 (NKJV) 

11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. 

12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence. 

13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. 

14 Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD! 

–Teach me Your way...Ps.77:19...your way is in the sea. I would have lost heart unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 

–Wait on the Lord and at the right time get out of the boat.

4. As you attempt to walk on water you will be challenged to have a deeper connection with God.

–Jesus is still looking for people to get out of the boat but why even risk getting out of the boat? There are many reasons:

–It is the only way to real growth...It is the way true faith develops...It is the alternative to complacency and stagnation that causes people to wither up and die...It is a part of discovering and obeying your call from God.

–There are many good reasons to get out of the boat but one surpasses them all...The water is where Jesus is.

–The water may be rough and dangerous but Jesus is not in the boat...The main reason Peter got out of the boat was because he wanted to be where Jesus was...Lord, if it is You...Command me to come to you!

Key: Because Peter got out of the boat he and his friends came to a deeper understanding of Who Jesus was...wow we can put our lives in this guy’s hands.

Matthew 14:32‑33 (NKJV) 

32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 

33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God." 

–The Lord is passing by...can you risk it...getting out of the boat?  Two things will happen:

–The first is that when you fail...and you will fail sometimes...Jesus will be there to pick you up.  You will not fail alone. You will find that Jesus is more than adequate to save.

–The other thing is this...every once and a while you will walk on water to Jesus. It is time for you to do something religious (something ridiculous) ...get out of the boat.