Today’s message is very personal to me. It was a glimpse of Christ’s comfort into my daily life and I wanted to share it with you. I was laying in bed the other night tossing and turning. It was roughly one in the morning and my brain would not shut off. I tried everything I could think of in order to force my body to sleep. I knew the next day would be very busy and I needed to have a decent night’s sleep. I attempted to spend this time in prayer but my mind struggled to find focus.
In my personal life I was also becoming more frustrated at the fact I didnt have alot of people to look at for inspiration in my calling as a female preacher. Though their are many female preachers and pastors across the world, finding them locally is another story. Living in the rural south and fighting those who wish to suppress my voice along with others places me in a certain stride. Not only do I have to prove myself as a women in the south who is seen as a secondary character but I have to prove myself worthy enough to lead by my intellect, charm, and grace. They care and want to pick apart everything including how delusional they believe my calling to be.
As I metaphorically and that night physically wrestled with God on this issue, this hurt he brought a story to my mind that I would have never thought equated to my calling before this night. It’s the story of peter walking on the water. When I asked God how this related to me in my calling God answered and said
“I called all of the disciples, but Peter came out on the water. Because of his boldness in calling him into the unknown, the never had been done before. He is etched into history forever. He was alone in the fact no one else got to experience me like he has.”
So that is todays message. Embracing your call because its like no one elses.
Our verses for today we will be looking at the account in Matthew 14:22-33. First let us look into the background of the story to see where we are coming from so we can know where we are going. There are two main events that occur before this miracle makes place out on the water. The first being the beheading of John the Baptist. For those of you who might not known John was the second cousin to Jesus and was the last prophet before Jesus began his ministry. John was also the one who baptised Jesus in the river of Jordan. Many thought he was the messiah before Jesus came onto the scene.
The second major event that happens before Peter walks on the water is the feeding of the five thousand men. (though the women and children were not accounted for). This is the mass miracle accomplished by Jesus where five loaves and two fishes feed thousands upon thousands of people. It says in verse 14 “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” After healing their people and witnessing to them Jesus and the disciples fed them. The people where so excited to see this miracle and all that he could do they began to mob him. They wanted him to heal all the sick and to do more for him. Not because they wanted to grow in their understanding and knowledge of God but because of what he could do for them. In an effort to flee the disciples got on a boat and rowed out into the ocean, while Jesus went out onto the mountain to pray.
It had become well into the night when the disciples settled into their boat in the middle of the small ocean. The storm was ongoing and with no real desire to step onto land again with no land on either side they were safe for now. The night had passed and dawn was quickly approaching when they saw something off into the distance. They saw Jesus walking on the water.
They first believed it was Jesus’ ghost that had met them on the water. They were afraid that the mods from earlier had killed the messiah and there they were with no savior to follow. Maybe they wondered what if this was all for nothing? If he was truly dead what happens now?
In verse 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” There are three deep fundamental truths within that statement that can applied to our lives. First is “take courage!” Life is hard, scary, messy and there are days when you dont want to get out of bed. But courage is not the absence of fear but trying something in the face of fear. When I first began this website I was very afraid of what others would say and how well it would do. But God reminded me that no matter what happens that it was God’s call that made me do this not desire for mans validation.
The second statement is “it is I.” What a powerful statement that is only three little one syllable words. It is a reminder that God will never leave us or forsake us. God is always with us and we never have to face anything alone. Its also a declaration of who God is. God does not need a name to be known God is simply God.
The last statement being “Do not be afraid.” I talked about fear a moment ago but this is the driving force for the Christian faith. Even though life and the world are scary we were created to be a light, a comfort, an extension of Christ to all around us. May your life, kindness, and treatment of others be a testament to your faith. Because if it’s just your words that say you are a Christian and not your life, you are speaking vain words.
But Peter asked the important questions. Peter was questioned about the situation and everything he say. Which is an important part of growing our faith. If we don’t have questions, if we don’t have doubts, curiosity, wonder how will our faith ever become our own? We will only be a reflection of those in our lives who we think give us the correct answers. Whether that be parents, guardians, pastors, teachers, etc. How do you know what they are saying is the truth if you do not explore and learn it for yourself with a fresh perspective. We must not always go into something to affirm what we believe but we must go into something to affirm and learn the truth.
Verse 28 Peter calls to Jesus “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. We often are told if we pray to do something for God, that we will receive something to do. But we are very reluctant to do so when the time arrives. We question it because its not exactly how we wanted to serve God. Ministry and Pastoral care is very rarely all nice, clean, sunshine and smiling faces. Its often holding someone as they grieve, helping a hoarder clean their house, helping an addict get clean needles. Ministry is messy, dirty, real. We struggle to embrace that idea, but once we do we realize everything we do feeds into our ministry.
The second part of verse 29 and verse 30 tells us Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” This goes to show you in the midst of a miracle we still doubt, we are still cautious, we want to look down and direct our own steps instead of walking by faith. When we do that we lose our footing,
Verse 31 is where we get a very common phrase not just used within religious communities but also in secular communities, 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”. Our faith is the focal point of our relationship with God. Our Belief in God and what we believe about God is at the central core of our being regardless if we believe or not. It is a guiding post in our decisions.
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.” Its easier to see how God worked in our lives as we look back. Its in the midst of the struggle of the fear that seeing God is like looking through a frosted glass. If we do not make an effort to see through we will be forever unsure of what was truly behind the glass.
But back to peter, we need to notice a few things about peter in order to see how this story applies to our calling. First we see that peter is the only disciple named. In other stories throughout the gospels we see instances were only one or two disciples were named. But this was peters time to shine. This is the moment that peter binds himself to Jesus in a special way. This was peters calling to have a different experience than the other disciples. We are all bound by the call of Christ just as the disciples were. Its up to us to connect with God and create those one-on-one experiences with God.
Peter was also the only one to see if it was truly Jesus out on the water. He wanted to make sure it was of God before he got involved in it. And though Peter faultured on the water, Jesus was right there to pick him up.
It should also be noted that even though Peter denied Jesus at the court before his death, peter was the only disciple there. Following in the background in the shadows. Judas is already dead at this point and the other disciples have fled. Peter was by no means perfect but he answered the call and strived to change even when he failed.
ms. preacher lady 