Sunday Morning Service

Matthew 14:22-33 (Click title for audio access)

Getting In And Out Of Boats! • 10.2.10 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro

- The end of chapter 13 and the beginning of chapter 14 gave us a clear illustration that being a hard soil hearer was not limited to the poor of Nazareth, but also the powerful in the Palace!

- Looking at the multitudes that came to Christ, who fed them with a great feast, gave us an illustration of the shallow hearers.

- These were satisfied with temporal things like food and a realized Kingdom. They were however, not interested in the spiritual things that Christ would offer.

- All the while, the good soil group, the disciples, have been watching, learning and growing in their understanding of the nature of their master. Today, they will have their deepest look.

- The occasion will seem familiar to all who are good ground hearers of Christ.

Text

• Matthew 14:22,23 : "Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there." : "Immediately" referring to the conclusion of the fish and bread feast. Jesus made His disciples get onto their boat.

- He compelled them to get into the boat. This was a forceful command by Jesus. The other gospels mention that the multitudes thought to force Jesus to be their king.

- It may be that Jesus did not want His disciples to get carried away in that thinking, so He sent them to go to the other side of the sea of Galilee.

- He is going to walk the shoreline alone. Before that, He'll head up the hill.

- It's probably somewhere between 8 and 10PM. The disciples are on the boat with their little baskets of leftovers and Jesus adjourns the meeting, dispersing the crowd.

- For Jesus, this was not a time just to be by Himself. He went specifically to pray. I was surprised to discover that this is the first time that Matthew records Jesus actually praying.

- There is no doubt that He did pray often. He has taught on it, admonished people to pray with the correct motive, etc, but we have not seen Him in prayer action.

- Why does Matthew include this detail here? Several have suggested various reasons, none of which need to be exclusive of the other, all of which are good reasons to pray.

- First, this day had been overwhelming. Jesus has learned of John's brutal murder, which signaled an escalation of tension. They had murdered a prophet.

- That leads to the second consideration: Those opposed to Christ, those rejecting Him have grown in number. Soon they will grow more vocal as well, which He knew would lead to His death.

- Third, we all need to get away and recharge and while Jesus was fully God and fully man, He modeled for us a proper view of dependancy.

- These are interpretations that are based on us. Truthfully, these are reasons that you and I need to pray.

- When we need to face increasing tension and difficulty, our source of courage must be the Lord through prayer.

- When we require strength and power to walk with the Lord, prayer should be our first instinct.

- This being the truth, prayer must be what we do because we want to be with the Lord!

- Jesus went there to spend time with His Father. Jesus sought out time to connect Himself with the Father. He sought to pray.

- What do you pray about when you are God in the flesh? What is on His mind? You are!

- John 17 tells us that, as Jesus prays for His disciples and all that will believe their report! It's no surprise that He is praying up on a hill overlooking the sea of Galilee.

- Jesus is praying for His disciples! There are two reasons for this. First, Mark tells us that "they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened." (Mark 6:52)

- His intercession was for their hearts to be softened.

- Second, they were about to be in a fight for their lives!

• Matthew 14:24-26 : "But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 'It is a ghost!' And they cried out for fear." : "In the meantime." Jesus was praying but the disciples are struggling. The immediacy of the scene change is meant to jar us. There is peace with Christ, turbulence for the disciples

- They were in the middle of the sea, a detail of a hopeless condition.

- They are being tossed by the waves. The word "tossed" can also be translated "harassed," ""tormented," even "tortured." It had been a brutal night.

- All this happened came to a head during the darkest hours of the night.

- The fourth watch, a designation of Roman military watches, puts the time between 3AM and 6AM. Assuming a 9 or 10PM start, they might have been rowing for upwards of 7 hours!

- Just then, Matthew tells us that Jesus came walking right up to them! You'll want to notice that He is walking ON the sea! There is a wonderful principle here.

- The disciples are out deep with no hope of return to the shore. They are being harassed by their circumstance. They are in the sea during the darkest hours.

- If that does not describe our lives sometimes, then there is nothing that does it justice!

- Now, just when there is no hope, no help and no light, Jesus walks out ON the sea that is troubling me! He is the Master over it.

- One commentator even went so far as to say that He did not get wet!

- When Jesus came, walking on the water, the disciples cried out in fear, supposing a ghost.

- Literally, they said that this was a Phantom or an apparition. I have never been this tired, but these guys have been rowing against the wind for hours!

- They have not slept, they have not stopped working. I guess I'd be seeing things as well. The point here is not that they misidentified Jesus.

- Matthew's point is that they all saw Him and wrongly accounted!

• Matthew 14:27-30 : "But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.'" : Jesus just strolls up, fresh off of a prayer meeting and tells the guys, "Hey guys cheer up! It's me! Don't be afraid."

- Sometimes it's difficult to apprehend this, but with Jesus, even the most fearful moments, are dispelled when we listen to the Lord say these words.

- He tells us to not be afraid. Over and over again, He tells His people this and it's wise for us to take that into account. "Don't be afraid!"

- This represents a choice that you and I have on a daily basis. We do not need to choose fear, even in the most grave circumstance.

- Yes, you and I can do nothing about our initial human reaction. We can however, choose not to nurture it based on the repeated words of God.

- "Do not fear" is repeated because we are prone to fear always about everything! He has come to dispel that fear in our lives.

- Intimate knowledge of His work and understanding of His presence should lead us there. I believe that this might be what leads to what happens next with Peter.

• Matthew 14:28-30 : "And Peter answered Him and said, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' So He said, 'Come.' And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, 'Lord, save me!'" : Peter does not doubt who Jesus is. Jesus has said not to be afraid. What was he most afraid of at that moment? The sea.

- Where would His fear end? With Jesus, where He was. For Peter, it was better to be out on the sea with Jesus than to be in the boat without Him!

- He is taking the opportunity to take Christ at His word. He says, "Since you are who you say you are, command me to come to you!"

- Now, I can only imagine the looks on the other guys faces. "We're about to die and you want to take a little stroll! with Jesus?" They must have been shocked!

- Peter is going to conquer his fear and Jesus joyfully says "come!" Jesus is ready for you to walk boldly with Him. He has an open invitation for us and welcomes the initiation from us!

- The next verse is stunning: Peter got out of the boat and walked! He took a step, then another and then another.

- For all that can be said of Peter, for every derogatory word and little jest that we have at his expense, he is the only man in history to have walked on the sea with Jesus!

- I want to believe that had I been there, I would have jumped right out of that boat as well! I would have at least called "next!"

- Peter is the only man among them to even attempt to walk on the water. Only 1 out of 12 took Jesus up on the challenge. I wonder how close that statistic is to our reality today.

- 11 guys stood there and watched Peter walk on the water. I wonder if they criticized or gossiped about his gait. Maybe someone would have said, "I would have danced to Jesus!"

- How many Christians have the opportunity to step out of their boat? How many actually do?

- I would suggest that there are some who need to ask the Lord to call them out of their boats. Some of us need to put our feet down in unstable ground and let the Lord keep us up!

- Peter did great, that is, until he took a look around! He had listened to the word of Christ in commanding Him to come and he had been looking at Him.

- It's when his eyes got on the waves that he lost the battle and began to sink.

- Just like us, he called out for the Lord to save him and just like today, the Lord does it!

• Matthew 14:31-33 : "And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?' And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Truly You are the Son of God.'" : At the moment that Peter cried out, Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him.

- We all look around. We all take our eyes off of Jesus and we all begin to sink. I love that He is that close that He is able to reach out and grab us!

- In any ministry venture, whenever we choose to trust Him and walk out of our boats, He will never be closer to us than at that moment!

- Isaiah the prophet wrote once of God that His arm is not short that it cannot save. Here, Jesus reaches out His hand and caught Peter.

- The way that you hear the next phrase tells you a lot about what you feel about God. "O you of little faith, why did you doubt."

- Some hear disappointment or sadness. Others hear it through the voice of anger.

- Some would hear in this, a voice of rebuke from the Lord. I believe it's voice of one who wanted to see the joy of success. It's the voice of a young Father wanting His child to crawl!

- "You were doing SO GOOD!" It's interesting that what happens with a toddler was exactly what happened with Peter. He was doing great and then He became aware of the waves.

- When Jesus got into the boat with Peter, the wind that had howled at them, was boisterous the entire night suddenly ceased.

- It didn't take long. The boys worshipped Him and confessed "Without a doubt, you are the Son of God!" They are saying in this statement that He is the very same essence as God.

- This was a landmark moment for them. This begins a story arc that will carry us through and resolve itself in Chapter 16. These men have come to know the deity of Christ.

- For their belief and receptivity to Christ, they have been given a greater picture and their resolve and faith has deepened.

Conclusion

- Christ stands on the mountain to intercede while you are struggling in the storms of life.

- When it is darkest and utterly hopeless, He walks right to you.

- When you get out of the boat, He stands there with you, calling you to continue.