Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33
14:22 Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds.
14:23 And after He had dismissed the crowds, He went up the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone,
14:24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.
14:25 And early in the morning He came walking toward them on the sea.
14:26 But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear.
14:27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."
14:28 Peter answered Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."
14:29 He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.
14:30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!"
14:31 Jesus immediately reached out His hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
14:32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
14:33 And those in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."
Three preachers joined together one day to go fishing on the lake. The Baptist preacher had a boat, so he invited his friends the Methodist and the Lutheran ministers to accompany him. The Baptist and the Methodist had been on the lake before, but not the Lutheran. As they shoved off from the bank, the Baptist suddenly said, "Wait, I left my tackle box on the shore." The Lutheran grabbed and oar to row back, but the Baptist said, "Never mind," and stepped over the side, walking across the water. When he returned to the boat, the Methodist said, "I should have asked you to get my can of worms while you were there," and he stepped over the side, walking across the water.
All this time the Lutheran's eyes are getting bigger and bigger. He can't believe what he's seeing. But he determines in his heart that his faith is certainly as strong as theirs, so when the Methodist returns to the boat, the Lutheran exclaims, "I forgot something, too," and steps over the side. He sinks into the water like a rock. They pull him up, sputtering and gasping for air, and as soon as they get him into the boat, over the side he goes again, splash!
The Methodist minister looks at the Baptist and says, "You think we should tell him where the stepping stones are?"
You don’t need me to tell you that this nation, right at this moment in history, is in deep financial water. Economists, editorial writers, reporters, politicians and those who blog and Twitter, all have something to say, ad nauseum, about our economic crisis.
Which one of them has the answer? From among them, I don’t know. But I do know who has THE answer, and that’s what I came to talk about today.
All of this angst and commotion may have caught you and I by surprise, but God is never surprised. He never says, “Oh! I didn’t expect that!”
That’s something I might say. As my wife can tell you, numbers are not my friend. I’ve told my sons that our God is an understanding God, He knew I didn’t know how to handle money, so He never gave me any. Fortunately for me, God gave me a wife who is the exact opposite. In financial dealings, I would be that Lutheran minister struggling in the water, gasping for air, wondering what in the world happened, and she would be dry there in the boat, patiently pointing out the stepping stones.
The obvious lesson for me is don’t get out of the boat!
Numbers for me are like a foreign language floating out there in the air.
I am great with the letters of the alphabet, with words, and I can string sentences together all day long til the cows come home. But with numbers, it’s like there’s nothing to hang them all on, they just float out there in the air and if I try to make sense of them, they fall into a pile on the floor. There are no rocks for them to rest on, and make sense, for me.
Peter knew that feeling.
I really love Peter. I could preach on Peter forever, because I feel like I know exactly how he feels. A. W. Tozer once said that there was nothing more dangerous than uninformed enthusiasm. And that is such a good description of Peter when he is with Christ. He just gets so excited about what the Lord is doing he doesn’t make any sense at all. When Jesus is on the mount with the saints, Peter just goes all crazy and wants to start building monuments to that meeting, and God essentially tells Peter, “Shut up and listen to My Son.”
And when Jesus is on His way to the cross, Peter spouts off about how he would never, ever betray Jesus. “Oh yeah, Lord, these other guys might fall away, but not me. Never me!” And not long afterward, he betrays Jesus for the third time, just as Jesus said he would. And a look from Jesus, that He knows, crushes Peter.
But now here’s what is so precious to me about our Lord. Later, Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me?” And Jesus asks him that not once, but three times, the exact number of times Peter betrayed Him. Because the first time He asks, Peter sort of mumbles, “Oh yeah, Lord, You know I like you.” But Jesus won’t let Peter get away with that, He makes him face what he did, and in the end, Peter blurts out that yes, he loved the Christ so.
From then on, it is never the same for Peter. Although the Christ is no longer physically there with Peter, the connection with Jesus Christ, the connection with Almighty God is solid. It is stronger than anything that happens to Peter.
For some of us, I hope that’s where we are today. We are battered about by the whims and the desires and the weaknesses of the society in which we live. But our faith in the Christ stands strong. Elected politicians and appointed executives will make those decisions that will work best for them, and those to whom they see themselves responsible and beholden.
But what they do is of little consequence to you and me, in the end, because Jesus Christ is our stepping stone. He is our rock. Whatever happens, we are His, and He is ours. The great thing about that is that although we may not know where all this is leading, for sure, our God can see around the corners of time, and He knows. And He has said He will never leave us.
Now, does that mean we should just go off and have lunch today and have nothing to do with what we see going on around us? No, we are to be the salt of the earth, the light that allows men and women to see what is right, what is just.
Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but that there is an old, old war going on between good and evil. Romans 12:2 says we are not to be conformed to this world, but we are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. In Jesus' prayer to the Father in John 17:16, Jesus acknowledges that although we are in this world, we are not of this world.
Our purpose in this world now is to draw people to Jesus Christ. We need to speak up and tell them, “Don’t go that way. The bridge is out. You can’t get to Christ that way.”
We need to share with them where the stepping stones are. Don’t let them step out into deep water and drown. Remind them that this is a world of good and evil, that there are those who would lead them astray, for Jesus warns us that by their fruits we will know them.
Our scripture today in verses 30 and 31 says that when Peter cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out His hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
Let us not be of little faith in these trying times. May others look at us and see the shining light of our faith and hope in the God who loved us first, and sent His only Son for us. Jesus Christ is our rock, the rock on which we stand.
In addition to the fruits by which we know to be wary of people, in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount He spoke of the fruits of the Spirit. In Galatians 5:22-23 we read, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” These are the stepping stones we can share with those around us, until He comes.
Amen.
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