Come Let Us Walk On Water Together!
Discipleship Group
Questions
for
August 7, 2005
Scripture
Matt. 14:22-33 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat
and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. Note
that this picture we’re being given of Jesus is as a strong leader. He “MADE” the disciples get into a boat and
He alone “DISMISSED” the massive crowd of upwards of 8,000 or more.
Let’s read on –
verse 23 After
he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Ah!
Again we see Jesus wanting a time of prayer and solitude. Here we see Him dismissing His disciples and
the crowd and now He’s alone with His Father and the Holy Spirit. Now He has time to rest and commune in their
Presence. Can you imagine that
scene? Did they speak? Did Jesus simply sit there in the absolute
quite and listen.
OK – now let’s
read on: When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat (in which the
disciples were) was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the
waves because the wind was against it. The waters were rough – the wind was against
them. Does this remind you of anything
in your life right now?
Are the waters
around you threatening to engulf you – to drown you? Is the wind against
you? It’s not filling your sail but
actually is pushing you back from whence you came. It’s a contrary wind. It seems to be pushing you away from your destination.
I think it’s fair
to say that most of us have experienced such a contrary wind and such rough
waves! Let’s read on:
25 During
the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them walking on the lake. Now
it’s important to note here that the Romans divided the night from sunset to
sunrise into four so Jesus therefore approached their boat between 3:00 A.M.
and 6:00 A.M. So it was a dark and
terrifying time. Now look with me at
verse 26:
26 When the
disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. (tara¿ssw - to cause acute emotional
distress or turbulence) “It’s a ghost
– a phantasm, an apparition!,” they said, and cried
out in fear. Can you and I relate to them. Think about it – they were already frightened
by the darkness, the rough waters and the contrary wind but add to this the
sight of a ghost and they became terrified – profoundly troubled!
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! Now
I want to stop here for a moment. In the
face of all that they are sensing Jesus says: tharseéoœ) - be
confident, be courageous. This word has the basic sense “to dare,” “to be
bold,” “to be of good courage,” “to be cheerful or confident,” “to trust in,”
“to rely on,” “to be bold against someone or something,”
Jesus is saying to
them and to us – be courageous indeed even cheerful. To trust but in what – in whom? We must read on to find out – Listen to what
He says next:
It is
Now how do the
onlookers respond to these words of His?
Jesus is saying to you and to me in the middle of the storms of our
lives right now – “Be confident – I’m with you in the middle of it all. You can focus on the storms about you or you
can listen to and focus on me.
Now Jesus is in
fact coming to you and to me right now and is reminding us that He’s with us,
indeed, that He is coming to us and is with us in the middle of our
storms. He comes to us to encourage and
to call out our faith.
Listen now to how
stout Peter responds, look with me at verse 28:
28 “Lord, if
it’s you,” Can you hear some
uncertainty in Peter’s words.
If it’s really you
then do what only you would do and what’s that – think about it. What does a beloved friend do when they come
to rescue us? Ah! They invite us to come along side of
them! They want us close to them!
Can you see
it? If it’s really Jesus Peter knows
that Jesus would want him beside Him. If
it’s really His beloved Jesus then He knows that Jesus wants to protect Him and
so Peter wants with all of his heart to come to Jesus even across the
water! Wow! Peter wants to walk OVER those forces that
threaten him TO JESUS! That’s the way of
faith and the courage that faith imparts.
Peter wants to
come to Jesus. Jesus has come to comfort,
indeed, to rescue them and Peter wants to come to Him to be rescued! This is the response of faith – it reaches
out to Jesus. It’s not passive. It doesn’t sit in the troubles of life
passively but rather stands up and wants to come to Jesus. Faith is active and indeed is audacious! It’s not passive but more than anything else
it wants to come to the side of Jesus.
So how did Peter
respond? Let’s read on:
Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” Ah!
Here’s the test,
“If it’s really you then tell me to come to you on the
water! What audacious faith Peter is
responding with! “If it’s you then nothing can separate me
from you. I can even come to you on the water.”
This is indeed a
magnificent exhibition of Peter’s faith is it not?
Now how does Jesus
respond to our response of faith in Him? Listen
– verse 29:
29 “Come,”
he said. The Greek word e¶rcomai: means to come into a
particular state or condition, implying a process — ‘to become. In a literal sense it means to move from one
place to another, either coming or going but Jesus is asking more than a simple
spatial move on Peter’s part. He is asking for
Peter to implement – to activate – what is yet only a faithful desire. Ah, how many of us have thee desire of faith
but not the actual faith. You see, faith
unactivated is still born. It’s otiose – of no practical use. O Lord, how many of us have this sort of unactivated faith?
We’re impotent. We want to walk
on water but we lack that piece of faith that actually ACTS!
But what did Peter
do? Reading on:
Then Peter got down
out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. O
Lord! He walked on water and came
towards Jesus! He’s the only man on the
face of this earth who has ever actually walked on water unaided by anything
other than “faith!”
Can you imagine
what was going on in Peter’s mind at this exact moment? Try to place yourself in his skin if you
can. What must it have felt like to step
on water? What did it feel like? Water? I don’t think so. It must have felt solid – a feeling contrary
to everything his six senses were telling him.
What, after all, were his senses telling him? Its water, you swim in water! You catch fish with next in water! You don’t walk on water – this is craaaaaazy!!!!!
Let’s keep reading – verse 30:
30 But – Ah!
the inevitable “BUT” - but when he saw the wind, did you hear that – when he saw the wind –
when he look away from Jesus what happened?
“He saw the wind!” This is what
always happens to us when we look away from Jesus to the tempest around
us! And what inevitably happened when he
looked away from Jesus?
He was
afraid!!!! He was afraid! The very thing that Jesus
told him not to be. The very
opposite of what Jesus told him to be – Be confident, courageous, joyful –
certain in the knowledge that all is well while you keep your eyes on me! So what happened next – verse 31:
31
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. Oh! Jesus doesn’t leave us to be
swamped by our problems – He reaches out to us to rescue us. Yes, Peter could have walked all of the way
to their destination on water had he kept his eyes on Jesus. Heck, he probably could have towed them all
safely to land had he kept his eyes on Jesus.
But the
wonderfully good good good
news is that when our faith fails the object of our failed faith doesn’t!
You see that’s
what makes our faith in Jesus so so different from
“positive thinking” -
it’s not about our faith in the end but rather it’s about the object of our
faith – Jesus Christ! He’s not a
positive thought – He’s real!!! But listen to Jesus’ chide to Peter:
“You of little
faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 32 And when they climbed into the
boat, the wind died down. 33 Then
those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of
God.”
Discipleship Questions:
So this is what our Lord is saying to us
this morning! Look at me – I can lead
you to walk on water – what do you want?
But to receive it you must keep your eyes on me and not on the problems
of your life! They will suck you down
and drown you! Look to me – follow me.
To follow me is to keep your eyes on
me! Come let us walk on water together!”