Essential 100—Read:
Matthew 14:22-36
“So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.” ~Matthew 14:29
No matter where you go in the Bible, you’ll find that memorable stories of faith always involved risky steps of daring obedience. So it is in this story where Peter leaves the other disciples sitting in the relative safety and comfort of their boat, takes a few steps of faith on the water in the middle of a storm, and walks out to meet Jesus, becoming the first person—and only human being that I know of—to literally walk on the water. Peter, a mere mortal, just a common Galilean fisherman, joined Jesus in a very elite club of which there were only two members: The Water Walker Club.
Now this is more than just another one of those incredible Bible stories we read as kids about the superheroes of the faith. This is a story meant to inspire water-walking faith in common, ordinary, garden-variety believers. And within this particular story are several important lessons that Peter’s adventure can teach other mere mortals like you and me that we will need to keep in mind when we finally get up the courage to step out of our boat of comfort to take those bold and daring steps of faith to obey God:
First, the wind won’t stop blowing just because you take a step of faith. In fact, the storm may pick up a little. The truth is, faith needs a storm to be faith, or it is not faith. But the great thing about storms is that although Jesus doesn’t promise to keep you from them, he does promise to be with you in them. And in fact, it is the very resistance of the wind in those storms that provides the lift needed for faith to soar. So take that step of faith into the storm and watch what happens.
Second, when you take your step of faith into the raging storm, you will need to remember the one command that God most often gives his people: “Fear not!” Did you know that there are 366 “fear not’s” in the Bible? That is one for every day of the year (including an extra one for leap year). I don’t think that number is by mistake—I think God knew that you and I would need to be reminded every single day not to give into fear. Every single day, including today, God is reminding you to choose faith instead, because fear and faith cannot coexist in those who would be water walkers.
Three, when the storm is raging, your assignment is simply to keep our eyes on Jesus—and just keep walking toward him. “Don’t give up” is another repeated command in the Bible. To join Peter in the water walker club, you will have to make the determination to stay focused on the One who is the Master over the storm—because it is Jesus alone who will see us through.
Is there an area of faith where you are being tempted to give up because you have come into some unexpected and impossible circumstances? That is the perfect condition, my friend, to exercise water walking faith. So don’t give into fear and keep your focus on Jesus, because yet another heroic faith story is about to be written!
In the 1950’s, the name Florence Chadwick was synonymous with women’s championship swimming. She was the first woman to swim the English Channel–both ways. In fact, she did it three times, each time going against the tide.
But one of her distance swims was not so successful. She failed to reach her goal, all because she lost sight of it. Florence had set out on July 4, 1952 to swim the 21 miles from Santa Catalina Island to the California mainland. But on this particular morning, the 34-year-old found the water to be numbingly cold, and the fog was so thick she could hardly see the boats in her envoy, which were along side her to scare away the sharks.
As the hours ticked off, she swam on. Fatigue was never a serious problem…it was the bone-chilling coldness of the icy waters that threatened her. Finally, more than fifteen hours after she started, numbed by the cold, Florence asked to be taken out of the water, unable to go on.
Her mother, in a boat beside her, urged her to go on, as did her trainer. They both knew that the mainland had to be close, very close. Yet Florence quit. She got into the boat and fell short of her goal. The boat traveled just a short distance until the coastline could be seen. Florence had stopped only a half-mile short of the finish. Upon realizing how close she had come, she dejectedly cried, “If I could have seen the shore I would have made it.”
If you are going to be a faith walker…or a water walker…
…Get ready for the storm
…Choose faith over fear
…Keep your eyes on Jesus
…And above all, never give up!
“Let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessings if we don’t get discouraged and give up.” ~Galatians 6:9 (Living Bible)
What happened on the water that caused Peter to fail? He was doing it! Was it that he only took his eyes off Jesus, or was it something else?
Peter would not have gotten out of the relative safety of the boat had he not believed it was possible for him to walk to Jesus on the water. All things are possible for those who believe. That was why he began this walk of faith successfully. He believed!
He saw what Jesus was doing and he believed it to be truly possible. Perhaps a seeing and believing faith is not as enduring as we would like to think it should be.
What if the real culprit in Peter's ultimate failure was his attitude toward Jesus himself? You said it yourself. Peter was the only human being to walk on water. That makes Jesus something else. As something more than human, he should also be able to do more than we mere mortals. Sure, he could walk on the water; but Peter was a mere man, a common fisherman, a man who made his living from the sea. He had no godlike qualities. He did not even consider himself to be a good man.
All things are possible for those who believe.
Perhaps, he may have thought, he was succeeding only because this god-man before him was holding him up. That would require no faith on his part at all. And why did he begin to sink? Jesus was not holding him up. Peter's faith was. That faith was at first based upon the belief of the possibility. But he had abandoned that winning faith when he began doubting the humanity of Jesus.
What manner of man is this? Is he even a man?
But to deny Jesus' humanity is also to deny his temptations. The Gnostic, who were mystics, very soon fell into this belief. They did not believe the Son of Man had indeed come in the flesh. They could perform no miraculous works because of this misconception. I fear we as a church are following in their footsteps.
All things are possible for those who believe.
The temptations of the flesh are only temptations if you are flesh. If Jesus was not flesh, as the Gnostics believed him to be, then they are something to be winked at, or even laughed at.
To deny Jesus' humanity is also to deny that all things are possible for us mere humans who believe.
Peter failed in the midst of the storm because he saw the storm as it was. He no longer saw the possibilities within the storm.
Remember, Peter was not imbued with the Holy Spirit when he walked on the water. He was imbued with faith. How much greater should the faith be for those who possess to Holy Spirit within them? We should be walking forward boldly into the storms instead of turning our backs to them.
As for Jesus' humanity, he lived thirty years as a man before he was revealed to Israel. The only things we really know about these years was that John the Baptist, prior to knowing Jesus to be the Son of God, considered Jesus to be a more righteous man than himself. He had personally experienced Jesus' righteousness, and he found himself wanting.
Jesus' mother also saw him as a man who got things done. She did not consider how he would supply wine for the wedding banquet. She only knew it would get done if Jesus would set his mind to it. I am sure she was not the only one who felt that way. If he was invited, those who invited him also had personal knowledge of him. Perhaps those in charge of the banquet had gone to her for that very reason. They knew she could do something about their embarrassing problem.
And remember that all things are possible for those who believe.
We as a church are now in his stead and they come to ask if we can do something to help?if we will do something to help?
What will we say to them, It is impossible?
But Jesus never helped them as they supposed he would. He never became part of their plans. They became part of his plans, which is the way God desires it to be. His ways are better than our ways.
All things are possible to God, who works on the behalf of all those who believe and act on their faith. It is He who does the work. He is with them on the water, and he is with them in the fire. What is true for us was also true for Jesus. Jesus told us that it was God the Father who was doing these great and mighty works. He took very little credit for them, except to open their eyes to the possibility of expecting something better.
For nothing is impossible for those who believe!