Time To Walk On Water!

 

Worship Message Notes

Friday, February 13, 2009

Rev. Jim O’Neal, Senior Pastor of the Sun Lakes United Methodist Church

 

Message shared at worship service with the Sun Lakes Jewish Congregation

 

Matthew 14:22-32 NIV

22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.  23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.  When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.  26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.  “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.  27But Jesus immediately said to them:  “Take courage!  It is I.  Don’t be afraid.”  28“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”  29“Come,” he said.  Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.  “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”  32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 

 

A.  Introduction

     1.  The Will

          a.  A wealthy Texan died, and his attorney summoned the remaining kinfolk and a few close friends for the reading of the will.  When all had gathered the lawyer opened the will and read:  “To my brother Jim I leave my money market accounts and my stocks.  To my cousin Ed, who was the only one who liked working with me at the ranch, I leave the ranch, and checking and savings accounts.  To my good neighbors and friends Fred and Rita I leave my prize bull Herbert and that fancy china with the rose pattern.  Fred and Rita you can figure out who gets which thing.  And finally to my cousin George, who always sat around and never did anything, but constantly asked to be remembered in my will, I want to say, ‘Howdy, George.  And y’all are not getting anything.’”

        b.  We’ve all known people like George.  You can count on them to do nothing!

     2.  Peter

          a.  Then there is the other extreme:  Simon Peter!  Peter was a man of action.  A lot of people have good intentions.  They believe in God and in sharing God’s love.  And someday they are going to really get serious about their faith.  Too few step out in faith.  Peter was one of those rare few.  No wonder Jesus had a fondness for His friend the big fisherman, and it’s no wonder he encourages people to be more like Peter.

          b.  In our last two pulpit exchanges, I preached on Old Testament texts.  Rabbi Wiener has encouraged me to feel free to share from the Christian Scriptures.  This evening I read one of those stories that little Christian boys and girls still love to hear told in Sunday School.  It’s an exciting and amazing story, and a lot of things could be said about it.  This evening, I focus our attention on Simon Peter and share two important things that we learn from his life.

 

B.  Do not let the fear of making a mistake stop you from trying!

     1.  Peter

          a.  Peter dared to believe what Jesus’ said about faith:  “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.”  (Matthew 17:20 NIV)  Further, Jesus encouraged his disciples to do what he did. (See John 14:12)  So when Peter saw Jesus walking on water, he wanted to be there too!  Peter asked Jesus if he could join Him, and Jesus said, “Come.” (Matthew 14:29a NIV)  And Peter did.  At least he tried.  He took a few steps and then “reality” slapped him in the face, and Peter started to sink.  He cried out, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:29c NIV)  Jesus saved Peter, and then with love said, “Why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31c NIV)

          b.  Peter may have failed the test of walking on water.  However, more important is this:  Peter was willing to step out in faith, even if he might fail.  We see that in all of his life:  Peter was willing to try to do the right thing despite his own shortcomings.  Peter was willing to serve God, even if this meant standing up to negative forces that were bent on knocking him down.  Because of these things Jesus chose Peter to be the leader of the disciples.  Because of Peter’s willingness to serve, he became a great evangelist.  Great people do not let the fear of failure stop them.

     2.  Historical Characters:  History teaches the same lesson:

          a.  Winston Churchill is viewed by many as the greatest British leader of the Twentieth Century.  As a young man he served honorably in the military.  He was elected to Parliament at age twenty-five.  At the outbreak of World War I he was invited to be a member of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet.  He was Lord of the Admiralty.  Winston Churchill was intelligent, hardworking, eloquent, but also very ambitious and self-centered.  Then in 1915 his world collapsed.  His military expedition to take the Gallipoli Peninsula was a disaster.  He was forced to resign from the Cabinet.  Many thought his political career was over.  Churchill reexamined his life.  He became a more humble man and a more determined man.  Above all the failure at Gallipoli made Churchill resolve to get up every time he was knocked down and to try again.  These are the qualities that Churchill would later use as Prime Minister of Britain during World War II to give his nation the strength to never quit.  His tenacity led Britain to victory over Nazi Germany.

          b.  Henry Ford was determined to build an automobile, and to build one that the average man could afford.  So he tinkered away in a building in Greenfield Village.  He finished the prototype car only to discover that it was too wide to go through the door.  He did not let this failure stop him.  He cut a hole in the wall and the hole is still there today!  And the world has never been the same!

          c.  Guglielmo Marconi is considered the father of the wireless radio.  His first models could not transmit very far.  Eventually he increased the power and efficiency of his equipment and was able to send radio transmissions all over Europe.  He next dreamed of transmitting across the Atlantic Ocean to America!  The scientists of his day laughed at the idea.  They told him that radio waves like light travel in a straight line.  Therefore, radio transmissions would not follow the curvature of the earth.  They would stream off into outer space.  So there was no need to even try it.  Marconi tried any ways and he succeeded in sending a radio message across the Atlantic.  What the experts of that day did not know is this:  There is an electrically charged layer in the upper atmosphere, that today we call the ionosphere.  The radio waves then and now still bounce off the ionosphere and back to our radios on earth.  Marconi did not let the fear of failure keep him from trying, and he too changed the world.

 

B.  Do not let the fear of making a mistake stop you from trying… continued.

          d.  Grandma Moses’ example also teaches us.  Anna Mary Robertson Moses spent most of her life raising her family of five children.  Her hobby was embroidery.  Then in her mid-seventies she had to give up embroidery, because of her arthritis.  This did not stop her from being creative.  She tried painting and as we all know became one of the most renowned American folk painters of the Twentieth Century!  She did not say that she was too old to try something new.  Don’t let any fear, be it of failure or age, stop you from trying something that is a positive blessing for you and others!

     3.  Ecclesiastes 11:4

          a.  My friends, Ecclesiastes 11:4 says it well:  “If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything.” (Ecclesiastes 11:4 TEV)

          b.  Our first Bible lesson today is this:  Do not let the fear of making a mistake stop you from trying!

 

C.  Put your faith into action!

     1.  Kaj Munk  (International Christian Digest November 1988, p. 3)

          a.  Kaj Munk was a Danish pastor, who put his faith into action in a difficult time.  It was the 1940’s and Germany had conquered Denmark.  Kaj Munk would become the spiritual force behind the Danish resistance to the Nazi occupation.  In January 1944, the Nazis took him away one night and shot him to death.  They left his body out in a field.  His life and his words continued to inspire the Danes in their struggle for freedom.  Today, we, also, live in a world of violent nations, hate filled groups, moral decay, and evil forces.  Munk’s words still speak to us:  “What is therefore the task of the preacher today?  Shall I answer:  faith, hope and love?  That sounds beautiful.  But I would say:  courage.  No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth.  Our task today is recklessness.  For what we lack is most assuredly not psychology or literature.  We lack a holy rage.  A holy rage.  The recklessness, which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity.  The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets and when the lie rages across the face of the earth.  A holy anger about things that are wrong in the world.  To rage against the ravaging of God’s earth and the destruction of God’s world.  To rage when little children must die of hunger while the tables of the rich are sagging with food.  To rage at the senseless killing of so many and against the madness of militarism.  To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction ‘peace.’  To rage against complacency.  To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge, and to seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God.”  He goes on to remind those of us who are Christians that the signs of our faith are the lion, the lamb, the dove, and the fish, but never the chameleon.  And I would say to you my friends in this Jewish congregation, God does not call you to be chameleons either.

 

C.  Put your faith into action… continued.

          b.  I don’t believe anybody would accuse Simon Peter of being a chameleon.  Reckless might be a good word for Peter.  Only a reckless man would try to walk on water.  Only a reckless man would think that he an uneducated fisherman capable of heading up the new Christian Church!  Now I don’t believe that God is calling us to walk on water.  But God is calling us to action.  And I mean a bold, courageous, enthusiastic, zeal filled action!  Stop letting the values of the world mold you.  Stop following the secular values of greed and selfishness.  Our world and our community desperately need believers, who live faithful, love filled, Bible directed lives.  Our lives need to be examples to and for our neighbors.  Each of us must ask:  “What specific deeds and acts will I do to make this a better world?” 

     2.  Theodore Roosevelt

          a.  President Theodore Roosevelt read the book, HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES by New York newspaperman Jacob Riis.  The book described the slums of the city, the crime, the poverty, and the desperate needs of the people living there.  Roosevelt went at once to the newspaper.  He did not give his staff time to set up a meeting.  Riis was away on business.  So the President left one of his business cards with these words on the back:  “Have read your book and have come to help.”

          b.  Maybe that ought to be the motto of every person of faith:  “Lord, we have read your book and have come to help.”  The world today does not need timid believers.  The world needs bold men and women of faith.  Boldness in telling the message of God’s redemption.  Boldness in inviting people to be a part of a God centered fellowship.  Boldness in protecting children.  Boldness in seeking dignity for all people.   Boldness in the fight against evil.  And above all else, boldness in sharing the love of God!

 

D.  Conclusion:  Recap

     1.  Do not let the fear of making a mistake stop you from trying!

     2.  Put your faith into action!

 

Time To Walk On Water!

 

1.  Do not let the fear of making a mistake stop you from trying!

 

2.  Put your faith into action!

 

Matthew 14:22-32 NIV

22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.  23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.  When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.  26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.  “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27But Jesus immediately said to them:  “Take courage!  It is I.  Don’t be afraid.”

28“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.  “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.