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"Get Your Feet Wet" Matthew 14:22-33 Year A, Proper 14
August 7, 2005
by Clancy Nixon
Church of the Holy Spirit, Ashburn, Virginia
Storms are a part of life.
1. EVERYONE FACES STORMS, EVEN OBEDIENT DISCIPLES.
My guess is, for many of you here this morning, the clouds have already gathered.
Some of you may even be in the storm of your life. If you are, it helps to remember that
you are not alone. Everyone has storms. Jesus said, "Your Father in heaven... causes his
sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and
the wicked alike." Matthew 5:45 (NJB)
Some storms in life, we do bring on ourselves. Troubles will come to you and to
your family, even your church, when you are out of God's will. The prophet Jonah was a
storm-bringer. He was a complainer. Jonah complained about the weather. He
complained about the government. He complained about his church. God told Jonah to
go east to Nineveh to preach to the enemies of Israel. Instead, Jonah hopped on a boat
headed west to Tarshish Spain - in disobedience to God's direct command. He is the
patron prophet of the half-hearted those who want God, but only on their terms. Jonah
in flight is not attractive; but he's all too familiar, isn't he? He looks like many in the
church today. God sent a storm to bring Jonah to His senses, and he ended up in the belly
of a great fish. Make no mistake, there are consequences for running away from God's
call on your life. There are consequences for breaking God's laws. We bring it on
ourselves. That's the law of sowing and reaping. If you sow disobedience, you will reap a
storm. Raphael Palmiero of the Baltimore Orioles insisted in Congressional testimony
that he never used steroids, but this week we learn that he just tested positive for steroids.
His credibility is now shot. The record books will show an asterisk next to his 3,000-hit
accomplishment. He sowed the wind, and now reaps the whirlwind. I pray for him and
people like him.
Where it really gets tough is when storms come when we are in the center of God's
will. Just because you're encountering a storm in your life, does not mean that you're
outside of God's will. Storms happen. Think of Joseph and Job in the Old Testament:
Joseph was thrown in prison, and Job was covered in boils, and these two did nothing to
deserve that! They suffered because they did right. Here, too, the disciples did what
Jesus called them to do. The Bible says, "As soon as the meal was finished, Jesus
insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead to the other side...." Matthew
14:22 (Msg) They are in the middle of the lake all night fighting this storm, and it's
Jesus who put them there! When Jonah sank, it was out of disobedience. When Peter
sank, it was out of obedience to the Lord's call. Everyone has storms; everyone falls and
sinks. This is a part of life. But there is good news.
2. JESUS COMES TO US AND CALMS OUR FEARS.
When storms come, Jesus comes to us, and calms our fears. Like the disciples on the
lake, often we're not sure if Jesus is coming toward us. We might think it's a ghost; we
might think it's only our imagination; we might miss him altogether. Without faith, we
might not be able to see him at all. But he is there just the same. When the storm comes,
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we tend to have poor visibility, like the disciples did. When my family and I drove back
from Alabama a while back, we hit a torrential downpour in Tennessee. The windshield
wipers could not wipe away the rain fast enough for me to see. It was a scary time, so we
pulled over `til it passed.
When you can't see where you are going at all, sometimes it's wise to wait for the
storm to pass. When you are angry with your husband or wife, it is not a good time to
make family decisions. On the marriage course, many of us learned the ten o'clock rule:
we agree not to have serious discussions with our mate after ten o'clock at night. When
fatigue clouds your vision, it's best to go to bed.
"...Jesus came walking on the water..." That boat is being tossed back and forth.
They are afraid they're going to drown. All of a sudden, on the very thing that scares
them, on those high waves, Jesus comes walking. And he tells His friends, "Don't be
afraid."
As He's walking on the water, it's like Jesus is saying, "Guys, all the storms in
your life, whatever they are, I keep them all under my feet." If you're sick, He comes
walking on your sickness. If you're afraid of death, what did He do on Easter? He came
walking on top of the gravestone. He's saying, "I'm able to do exceedingly, abundantly
more than you can ever ask or imagine. Whatever causes you to tremble - I come
walking on it. I conquer that stuff. I'm the one who reigns." Jesus walks on your storm,
too - so don't be afraid. Turn to someone and tell them that now. Go ahead. "Jesus walks
on your storm, so don't be afraid."
3. GET YOUR FEET WET: STEP OUT IN FAITH.
The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance
when it leaps of more than 30 feet. Yet these magnificent creatures can be safely kept in
any yard with a 4-foot wall. How is that? The impala will not jump if they cannot see
where their feet will fall. Why? They lack faith. Faith is the ability to trust what you
cannot see. Faith breaks us free of the bondages of fear. When God calls, there is always
fear. It's why God says so often, don't be afraid! God has this annoying habit of asking
people to do things that are scary to them. What do we fear most in our culture today?
The #1 fear is Jonah's fear: public speaking. After that, I think our greatest fear is loss of
financial security. When God calls a godly man who is enjoying the upper middle class
life to do something radical for him, his first response is often to see his financial
responsibilities to wife and children as placing limits on what God can call them to. That
was my first response when God called me. Now I don't mean to make light of those
responsibilities they are real. Now the preacher is gettin' to messin'. I'm going to
speak a countercultural truth. God does not promise us a secure, upper middle class life.
Friends, as you listen for God's call in the storm or in the quiet of your study, don't be
surprised if you hear something that looks impossible to you.
John Ortberg says that water-walking is a picture of doing with God's help what I
could never do on my own. If God calls you to do something, no matter how radical it
may seem, just do it. If you don't, the Bible calls that sin. The book of James says,
"Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." (4:17). God may
be calling you to something that seems humanly impossible. It wouldn't require faith to
do something easy. The Bible is full of calls to do things that seem impossible: Peter
walking on water; Moses freeing his people from bondage in Egypt; Gideon, with an
army of only two hundred men, defeating the Midianites with their army of thousands.
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If you want to meet Jesus on the water, you are going to have to get your feet wet!
You will have to leave your boat, or whatever place that you consider safe and secure to
join Jesus in what he is doing. Look at what Peter did. He got out of the boat when it was
windy, rainy, and dark, and there was no dock or sand bar near! He did the impossible,
what no ordinary man had ever done before or since. What a thrill I bet Peter never
forgot that experience.
What is your boat, your comfort zone? Your boat may be your house, your job,
your 401(k), your la-z-boy and remote - anything that makes you feel comfortable. The
world says, "you worked hard to get in that boat don't leave now!" The world says,
"relax and enjoy the ride." If you never leave your boat, you'll miss the blessings on the
water!
The question is, what is Christ calling you to do? What is your next step of faith?
For many of you, it will be as simple as inviting your neighbors to a BBQ at your home,
and then to the Fun Festival on September 17. It might mean inviting someone who does
not know Christ to come to the Celebration Dinner of our Alpha Course, on Sept. 23. It
might mean moving to Indiana, like Steve and Leah Willmore, to pursue more education
or a new career. For me, it's going to Uganda this Saturday for the first time. For you,
getting out of the boat might mean taking an honest look at your savings, and giving
some of your treasure for the building of God's house. We are planning a capital
campaign for this winter to finance a permanent home eventually, land and a building.
With land prices the way they are, that looks almost impossible without God's
intervention. Getting out of the boat might mean helping someone else with the storm in
their life that's what the disciples did after this storm. They sailed to land, and healed
the sick.
Whatever it is, keep your eyes on Jesus. Don't focus on the crisis; focus on the
Christ. What was Peter's method of refocusing? Prayer. You cannot pray to God without
focusing on God, and there is no better way to get your focus back on him than to pray to
him. Peter's prayer was nothing fancy, but it was effective. Peter cried out, "Lord, save
me!"
4. WHEN YOU FALL, REACH UP!
Peter "saw the wind." Reality set in. He doubted, so he sank. The storm should
not have been a surprise to Peter. It was there all along. It's so easy to sympathize with
Peter here, because we have all been there. You begin an adventure full of hope: a new
job; a new ministry; a new friendship. You are full of faith at the beginning. Then,
opposition comes. Setbacks happen. We should expect this, but trouble still has the
power to take us by surprise. Peter doubted, and sank.
We could say that Peter failed. But there were eleven bigger failures still sitting
in the boat. John Ortberg says that failure is not an event, but rather a judgment about an
event. It's a way we think about outcomes. Winston Churchill was asked what prepared
him to stand up to Adolph Hitler in World War II. Churchill said that it was probably the
time he had to repeat a grade in elementary school. He was asked, ""You failed in grade
school?" He replied, "I never failed in my life. I was given a second opportunity to get it
right." Was Churchill a failure?
Edmund Hillary made several attempts to climb Mt. Everest before he finally
succeeded. After one attempt, he shook his fist at the mountain and said, "I'll defeat you
yet! You're as big as you're going to get, but I'm still growing!" Hilary did not reach the
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summit many times when he climbed Everest; but he also learned something every time
he tried. He kept trying, until one day, he succeeded. That's persistent faith.
Jesus is our lifeline. He's the one who rescues us. Peter lost his faith for a
moment, because he took his eyes off of the Lord, and put his eyes on the waves. Peter
took his eyes off Jesus, but Jesus never took his eyes off of Peter! So when you fall,
reach up! Christ is there to catch you. Focus on the Christ, not on the crisis!
So remember, everyone has storms. Jesus prays for us in our storms. He walks
toward us and calms our fears. So get out of the boat, and get your feet wet! When you
fall, reach up. Christ is there to catch you.
Let's pray.
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