Get Out of the Boat

Message Aim:  Encourage us to listen and do what the Lord tells us.

 Sermon Title:  “Get Out of the Boat”

 Scripture:   Matthew 14:22-33

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

 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But 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. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “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.”

Message Synopsis:

 Far too often we are more focused on what we want, or what we think is best than to listen to what God is saying to us and doing what God asks us to do. We spend more time worrying about how things look than about how things are out of our faith.

The disciples were on a small boat out in the middle of a lake. The weather turned bad, and things got frightening. A man was walking toward them on the water. So, Jesus tells them not to be afraid.   Peter, says, “Lord, if it is really you, call me out to you on the water.” Jesus then tells him to come and Peter gets out of the boat and begins walking on the water toward Jesus.

That is our first lesson for this morning. When Jesus calls, “Get out of the boat.”

For our purposes this morning, our church building is the boat. We live in a stormy world. The church offers us a bit of refuge from the tossing and bouncing of the world. But, we can’t stay in the boat. But all too often we don’t step out and walk on the water. We do real well in the boat or at church. But, our lack of faith doesn’t allow us to step beyond where things are safe and easy and comfortable to do the work that God calls us to do.

We each need to have faith in God, faith that allows us to let go of the branch and to trust God in ways that perhaps we haven’t trusted God before. We need a faith that lets us do things we would never have imagined ourselves doing. We need a faith that allows us to share and to live, even in the most difficult and frightening of situations. How do we get to that kind of faith?

Peter shows us how. He kept his focus on Jesus.

That is our second lesson for this morning. “Keep Your Eyes on Jesus.”

Things in life may not be easy. They may be downright hard. We may be in things and positions that we would never have imagined ourselves in. The ride that God takes us on can be unpredictable at best. But, if we keep our focus on the cross and on the one who died for us, we can accomplish whatever God calls us to do.

Unfortunately, we can be going along just fine. We can be doing what God wants us to do, we can be focused on Jesus and then something happens and we look away. When Peter looked away, he started to sink. Then he cried out to Jesus, “Master, save me.” And, that is just exactly what Jesus did. Jesus reached out his hand to save Peter.

That is our third lesson for this morning. “Call out to the Lord when you are sinking and need help.”

When we feel ourselves sinking, if we cry out to God, God will be there. God will reach out and save us. We have to remember that when the distractions come, and they will, when we feel our faith waiver, and sometimes it might, to cry out to Jesus. He will always answer. So, I ask you, “Where are you?”  Are you in the boat? Are you frightened by things in life, or, do you have your eyes on Jesus? Are you strong in your faith, or, should you be praying, “Lord, save me!”…?