"Getting Out of the Boat"
Sermon Transcript for August 3, 2002
Scripture Reading: Matthew 14: 22-33
By Rev. Mike Beck
We’re going to look at a story today of fear and faith, of doubt and trust, of failure and courage, and of the power of God. The story is a familiar one. It’s found in Matthew 14, Versus 22 to 33. Shelly I’m going to read it in its entirety at this service. "Immediately Jesus made the disciples get in the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side of the lake while He dismissed the crowd. And after He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. And when evening came, He was there alone but the boat was already a considerable distance from land buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. And during the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them walking on the lake. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It’s a ghost!" they said. And they cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, "Take courage, it is I. Don’t be afraid." "Oh Lord, if it’s you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," He said. And then Peter got down out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" And when they climbed in to the boat, the wind calmed down. And then those who were in the boat worshiped Him saying, "Truly, you are the Son of God."
Try to see this story and visualize it in your mind. Let me give you the context. Jesus has just miraculously fed the 5,000. There’s some in the crowd who say, "Let’s make Him king!" which is probably why the disciples, it says, were reluctant to get in the boat. They probably wanted to stay and enjoy Jesus’ rising popularity. When the disciples got in the boat it was still daylight. And Jesus, as He is inclined to do, needed time alone to pray. (So do you; so do I). A storm comes up as often the Sea of Galilee was predisposed to do. It says it’s after the fourth watch so it’s sometime after 3:00 a.m. in the morning. It’s dark. It’s scary. And Jesus comes walking across the water. And when the disciples see Him, they are afraid. They think it’s a ghost. Wouldn’t we be inclined to do so? I’ve not seen too many people walk on water. It says they were afraid. Do you realize fear is one of the most dominant themes in the Bible? The subject of fear comes up 366 different times--one for every day of the year and one thrown in for leap year. And Jesus says, and these words are so often in scripture, "Do not be afraid."
Now friends, it would be tough enough to walk on the water when it’s daylight and the water is calm! But it’s after 3:00 a.m. in the morning; there’s a storm going on out there. And I want you to notice in the story it’s not just risk for the sake of risk-taking for Peter hollers to Jesus and says, "Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you." He wants to check things out before he gets in the water. But as Peter prepares to step out of the boat, the other disciples are probably saying to themselves (because if you know something about Peter, he’s the one with the big mouth. He’s the one with the impulsive personality). And they are probably saying, "Here he goes again!" Peter steps out and at first he’s doing okay. We can almost see him beaming! It’s just him and Jesus. And then he begins to look around. And he sees the storm; he sees the waves. He’s probably thinking to himself, "What in the world was I thinking about to get out of this boat!" And then he begins to sink. And the strong arm of Jesus reaches down and saves him. They get back in the boat and they worship Christ.
I want you to ponder this question as we begin to examine this story. Is this a story about failure? Let me begin to answer that question by suggesting that failure is not so much an "event" as it is an "attitude and approach" that we have to life. Someone once asked Winston Churchill what prepared him most to lead Great Britain in WWII in the battle against Hitler and Nazi Germany. And Churchill had an unusual reply. He said it was the time when he was a kid that he had to repeat a grade in school that prepared him the most. And the reporters asked him, "You mean you failed an entire grade of school?" To which Churchill replied, "I’m sorry I never failed anything in my life. My family taught us never to use that word. I was just given a second opportunity to get it right!"
So did Peter fail? Well, in one sense he did. He doubted; he began to sink. But you know what? Maybe there were eleven bigger failures in the boat! Their failure to exercise faith goes unnoticed and un-criticized. But catch this, those other eleven disciples who chose to play it safe never realized the exhilaration of walking on water. Only Peter knew in the marrow of his bones that when he did fail, Jesus was there and holy sufficient to save him. Peter knew those realities in a way the eleven other disciples could never know them because they hadn’t been willing to get out of the boat. Friends, the boat is safe. The boat is secure. The boat is comfortable. And the water is rough. And the waves are high. And the wind is strong. And if you get out of your boat, whatever your boat may happen to be, there’s a chance you are going sink. But, friends, if you don’t get out of the boat, there’s an ironclad guarantee you’re never going to experience the joy of walking on the water. For if we ever want to experience the joy of walking on the water, as individuals or as a church, we’ve got to be willing to get out of the boat.
Friends, this is a powerful story about what Christian discipleship is all about. It’s a story about trusting God to do something that we know if it’s just our strength we can’t pull it off. And our Lord is still calling today individuals; he’s calling churches, those who love Him, those we are willing to trust Him to leave the boat of security to embrace the seas of opportunity. Let me suggest some areas where Jesus may be calling to some of you to get out of the boat today.
I think God is calling to some folks here at Grace to get out of the boat and to move beyond being "Sunday-only Christians". Now what you’ve done in being here in worship today is admirable; it’s important. Worship is at the hub of what the church is all about. But in our philosophy of ministry one of the twelve statements is this, "Lives are best transformed in small groups". Not in worship, as important as it is, but in a small group setting. Let me urge you to talk with Donna Mann, our business manager. I had the privilege a week ago to sponsor Donna and her daughter, Julie, to go on an Emmaus Walk, a three-day retreat experience. She told me if she had a car on Friday morning she’d probably had come home. But I can’t shut her up this morning! She trusted Mickey and I to take a step of faith to join 75 other people in a three-day experience to help her grow spiritually. Just talk to her. Talk to Shelly Reindl back there in the tech booth about what it meant to her to get out of the boat a few years ago to be a part of Discipleship Training class. Ask her to talk to you about the difference that’s made in her life. Those choir chairs over there—it’s more than just about having a full choir on Sunday morning. I want some of you to get out of the boat and be in that choir because of what it’s going to mean to you spiritually. Because I know if you’ll take that 50-foot walk, you’re going to grow. All of the ministries that are beginning here at Grace—F-3, ALPHA, Bible study groups--let me urge you, get out of your boat of just being a Sunday-morning Christian. I’ve heard repeatedly persons say, "It wasn’t easy to take that first step." They had to rearrange their schedule to be a part of the group. But they’ve said, "Man, I’m so glad I did. I’m growing. The church feels more like my church." God may be calling some of you to get out of the boat to move beyond being a Sunday-morning Christian.
God may be calling others today to get out of their boat and learn to trust God more in term of their giving. Let me ask you to answer these questions. Do you believe everything you have ultimately comes from God? Do you believe this Bible gives us the guidance of how God wants us to live our lives? And do you believe that God will provide for your needs? Now if you answered all those questions "yes", let me ask you a fourth question. Then why do so many believers continue to "rob God" (and those aren’t my words those are God’s words) by failing to trust Him with their tithe? And some of you are saying what I said years ago, "I can’t afford to tithe." And I don’t want to be legalistic in our approach to God’s word, but I think friends ultimately it’s a matter of obedience and trust. Do I trust God enough to say to Him, "Here’s the first ten percent. I trust there’s enough left you’re your prioritizing in my life to take care of my needs." I was handed a book recently called, The Treasure Principle. The author remarked that he had never met a tithing Christian who wasn’t happy and growing in their faith. Now think about that. He said, "I have never met a tithing Christian who wasn’t happy and growing in their faith!" Why? Because they lived out the words of the hymn—trust and obey.
And then thirdly, I think God may be calling some persons here at Grace to get out of their boat and become involved in ministry. And let me tell you whom I am not talking to now. If you are involved in one or two ministries here at Grace, you can shut me off for about two minutes because God’s kingdom doesn’t get advanced by a select group of a few people doing more. I’m talking to those of you who don’t have any ministry. Watch your bulletin and the newsletter. We need persons to teach children, to give an hour a week to invest in our youth, to be involved in our music ministries, to become a part of a prayer group, to become a part maybe of the caring ministry. Mary Beth Spence, bless her heart, almost up to the very end continued to be involved in the Caring Ministry visiting people who needed lifted up. We’re going to implement a new ministry later this fall to try to better assimilate and care for the growing stream of newcomers that are making their way to Grace Church. It’s going to take 100 people to carry out that ministry. One week a month—we’re going to need 25 who will help us in that way. God may be calling to some of you to a place of ministry.
And finally, where is God calling Grace Church to get out of the boat? I want you to listen carefully to these two quotes. They are not particularly pleasant to hear, but they are totally true. "On the day that a church ceases to take evangelistic risks for the sake of the gospel, it starts to die." We’ve taken a number of risks recently—the third service, the F-3 ministry, our contemporary worship service, the ALPHA course, and now the work of the building committee. Risks, but risks because we believe that Grace Church has a God-given responsibility not just to maintain what we’ve got. Most churches, that’s their primary focus—maintenance. Last I checked the New Testament said we were to be a mission entity. We exist for those who haven’t yet walked through the doors.
The second quote, "A commitment to a life of following Christ is a commitment to the constant recurrence of the experience of fear!" Ouch! I don’t like that one. But isn’t it true. Dustin, when you walked in to the White House that first time this summer to be an intern were you afraid? All of you think about the accomplishments of your life. Wasn’t the emotion you experienced at first fear? I use to take those bike trips during the summer and parents would entrust their junior and senior high kids to me to put them out on a bicycle for 600 to 1200 miles of hassling with the semi trucks. I was scared to death. God called us in to the ministry and we backed up the u-haul truck and had two little boys, three and five. And I never could figure out how we could financially make this work. I was scared to death. Leland when they called and said, "I’d like you to come to Greensburg", I was so broken emotionally I was scared to death. Now on Saturday nights I often experience fear am I going to have enough voice to get through three sermons on Sunday? But you see, friends, to be a disciple is to be a "learner". And to be a learner means to constantly engage in new experiences. And when we embrace new experiences, the emotion of fear is what usually accompanies that step of faith. Genuine discipleship always involves the choice between comfort and fear. That’s not popular news in our culture; we’re into comfort. If you don’t believe that let me illustrate. What’s the name of the #1 selling chair in America? "Lazy-Boy!" Fill in the blank in this statement: "We like to come home, relax, and "veg-out"! And we even have a term for persons who like to veg-out in front of the television. We refer to them as "couch potatoes"!
And, friends, our churches today are often filled with what we might call "pew potatoes"--and listen carefully, persons whose faith is little more than an attempt to add comfort to their life and whose attitude toward the church is, "What can the church do for me?"
Now, we’ve got a responsibility to minister to your needs. Don’t hear me wrong on that. When we come on Sunday morning it’s to get filled up to do God’s ministry when we leave this place. Jesus is still looking for persons, like Peter, who are willing to take a risk, step out in faith, and get out of the boat. For that to happen in your life, you’ll have to get out of your comfort zone. You’re going to have to be intentional. For those of you who have gone on the Emmaus walk, it’s no accident the first talk is on priorities. You’re going to have to trust God. You’re going to have to risk failing. I don’t know what getting out of the boat means for you. I don’t know for sure what getting out of the boat means for Grace Church. And I thank all of you who are praying for wisdom when we try to figure that out because sometimes when I go to building committee meetings, it scares me to death.
But I know two things. Sometimes when we get out of the boat, we’ll fail. But God’s never lost anybody yet. When we start to sink, He’ll pick us up. And the second thing I also know is this. Every once in a while, we walk on the water. But we’ll never walk on water unless we first get out of the boat. Let’s pray, "Oh God, my prayer is that your Holy Spirit would speak to each person and speak to us as a church. For what it means to get out of our boat right now is as individual as each person in this room and it’s scary. It involves a genuine step of faith. Help us to do that. Help us to be not only hearers of the Word, but help each person here to be a doer. However you speak to them, in Christ’s name, Amen."
E-mail Comments to: Reverend Dan Sinkhorn