Transcribed by Beluga AI.
Matthew 14:22-33. Jesus walking on the water and Peter walking alongside of him.
22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. (Matthew 14:22-26, ESV)
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:27-31, ESV)
32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:32-33, ESV)
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, we ask that you would teach us about faith.
We so want to understand how we can grow in our faith as the disciples did in this chapter and along their spiritual journey. Please help us in this time. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Yes. So the question that we can wrestle with here is, how do we grow in our faith? And do you guys have any answers to that? How do we grow in our faith? I think for me, that’s a question I’ve asked a lot. And I think just looking at Jesus’ faithfulness is how I can grow.
Focusing on His faithfulness and not how much I can do or what it looks like on paper for me, but just what he did for us and focusing on that. And I think that naturally increases my faith.
When I think about how much he’s come again, again, again, and again, to help me in times of need, but also to just be with me. Me? Yeah. Through all the seasons. Amen. Thank you.
Anybody else? I think kind of similar to what Elaine says, but Jesus says, take heart and do not be afraid. His eye.
Do not be afraid. So, the disciples were with Jesus, and they’re with Jesus. That should give them security. But at the same time, they’re seeing in the middle of the sea all these storms, and just watching it, that makes them afraid.
So, I think in life, like we are. We get scared, or we get. I mean, I think like there are fears that hinder us from living by faith. There are troubles for us, I think, mostly like kids, sicknesses. And sometimes we feel like we’re making decisions because of situations, because of this happened and that happened.
But in reality, I think we don’t know our future. Jesus is our shepherd, and there are reasons and ways that he’s guiding us step by step.
I think the important thing is that we should always just know that Jesus is with us and lean on him rather than being driven and tossed by winds. Things are just situations or circumstances, and things happen around us.
I think that, yeah, I think remembering the past, Jesus’ faithfulness in the past, it’s important because. Yeah, personal Jesus. Yeah.
Like David, who was saved from the mouths of lions and bears, he became so courageous because he’s not. He saw how God worked. It wasn’t just like, I’m so courageous because I know God’s right here, but he lived it in those, like, dying moments. He’s been saved again and again, so he has no fear.
And maybe in the same way, Jesus is saying, like, look to me, do not be afraid. It is. I remember who I am. Yeah. Amen. Thank you. Anybody else just to add. Well, the.
Yeah, the fear and being afraid comes up three times in this section. And that’s interesting how maybe that’s like just the other side of faith growing.
Like, you know, when we realize we have a fear about something, it’s just like, right on the other side is going to be when God helps us to overcome. That’s when our faith life levels up.
Because, like, well, I can deal with one fear and I’m good for a moment, another fear is revealed. That’s in my heart because of some new circumstances. But, yeah, that was one thing I noticed.
Like, just on the other side of fear is our faith can grow exponentially in Jesus. Amen. Thank you. It’s okay. Yeah.
In Matthew 14:15,
15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” (Matthew 14:15, ESV)
So I’m just trying to locate the time of this occurrence. It says in verse 25, it was the fourth watch. So the first watch is from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. That’s when the sun goes down.
So we know the first watch is already unfolding because after the feeding of the 5,000, or even before the feeding of the 5,000, it’s already the end of the day. So 6:00pm onward.
First watch to 9:00pm, 9:00pm to midnight. The second watch, 12:00am to 3:00am, third watch. Jesus is awake by the third watch.
So he probably prayed, slept a little, woke up at 3 a.m., and then he’s appearing to these people in the fourth watch, which is 3 a.m. to 6 a.m.
I did a little bit of study this morning. The distance they’re traveling by boat is only four to six miles, so they should have arrived at the other side. It seems like it’s traveling from northeast to northwest along the coast, the Sea of Galilee. It’s X number of miles high, a little longer. Thirteen miles wide is like eight miles.
If they go diagonally, they’re traveling an estimated four to six miles. So it should have taken two to three hours. But for them to start the journey at the end of the day, they are. And then it’s three in the morning, they’re going into a storm, the headwind. And so they’ve been traveling for six plus hours, taking a lot longer than it should.
The reason why I think about this text is because the. Matthew 14, right before this scene, was a lot of ministry. Right as they get to the other side again, there’s ministry.
And ministry actually doesn’t guarantee that our faith is growing as we’re busy in ministry. But it’s this little pocket season between ministry activities that we can see what faith is made of.
A pastor gave me this text during our commissioning service a couple weeks ago, and he wrote in his card, the safest. It’s frightening to be in on a boat during a storm, but if you’re next to Jesus, it’s the safest and the greatest place to be. So that’s. It’s been on my heart. I’ve been thinking about that.
And if I were to look at what is, how does faith grow, and how is God going to grow my faith during this season?
First is we obey the Lord because He’s the one. In verse 22,
22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. (Matthew 14:22, ESV)
So for us to take this sabbatical is an obedience to the Lord. And so that’s step one is we heard the Lord and we’re obeying Him.
And then step two is they’re rowing hard for hours, not making very much progress, not getting to the other side.
I think it’s somewhat of a picture that apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. And somehow the Lord in this season wants to teach me. Especially I was faithful. We were faithful in ministry as best we could, but we hit a wall. And now he’s inviting us to go deeper with him.
Apart from Jesus, he really wants us to know we can do nothing. And this next assignment on the other side is going to require a lot more faith, I believe. And so now is the season to grow much more.
And then the third part that I see is they face their fears. And if I think about already what I felt in two weeks, there are these swirling waves and winds, which are fears or a combination of fears and frustration. At least these men knew the destination. They knew they’re going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
For us, we have no idea where we’re going. We just heard him say, take a rest, get in the boat. Now we’re drifting at sea, not knowing how long it’s going to be or where we’re headed.
And as I think about that, it is the internal waves in the seas that I’m wrestling with. So that’s a third part.
And then Jesus appears. And it would have been, you know, we give Peter a bad rap for sinking. But who would ask Jesus to come out on the water? That is just the request to me is remarkable. Most of them, the rest of the disciples, just stayed in the boat. But he really wanted to be, to know it was Jesus and to be close to Jesus.
And so he was willing to ask Jesus, invite me to come, command me to come. I will come. And he did that.
And of course, when he took his eyes off of Jesus and he focused on the wind and the waves, he began to sink.
So if I were to kind of just sum up a conclusion of how does faith grow? First, I obey Jesus and we face our fears, and we overcome our fears in Christ by looking at him. And we reach the other side.
And on the other side is a kind of a graduation ceremony that now my faith has leveled up. And for now, in this chapter at least, the disciples still have little faith or, or some, maybe no faith. They didn’t even ask Jesus to get out of the boat.
I think that’s how faith works. Like we hit a certain level of faith and then he invites us to level up. And we need to go through something in order to pass a test. Going from junior high, eighth grade to ninth grade.
That’s a threshold that you have to finish all the assignments and pass all the subjects in order to get to the next grade level.
And for me, I feel like, okay, there’s a testing of faith that I’m going through. I can either trust the Lord, and it can be a relatively short season, or I can wrestle in unbelief, and I will be stuck striving and straining against the headwinds and against wrestling with myself. It can go a lot longer than it should.
And so it all depends on, I think, my attitude.
Do I trust the Lord from day one? And if so, then on the other side, I think there’s a.
What I felt in my spirit this morning is you’re going to get to the other side. I don’t know what the other side is, but he will get me there because he told me to go and he’s going to get me there. It might take short or long. That’s up to me to some level, but eventually he’s going to get me there.
I pray I can overcome all the fears, all the winds, all the waves, and quickly, as quickly as possible, get to the other side and prove that my faith is no longer little, but it has grown through this season.
Because on the other side there is ministry. Previous there’s ministry. But this season to grow in my faith, that’s a gift from the Lord, and I receive it in faith.
And if you could just pray alongside of us so we can face all the fears and frustrations, the winds, waves, with full faith that Jesus is the one who told us to go on this journey, and he’s going to get us on the other side as long as we fix our eyes on Him.
Okay, I’ll pray. Yeah, go ahead. Yes, yes, go ahead. Timothy. I think the one thing that did stand out to me as you’re speaking is the verse 31, or I guess verse 30.
Like, when Peter does start to sink, his, like, instinct is to call on Jesus, and it says that he immediately reached out and grabbed him.
And so I think, like, it’s not really, you can’t just. Or at least for me, I feel like there’s no way I can not fear knowing how, like, weak I am. Like, I’m not able to walk on water.
But the courage comes from Jesus saying, like, I’m here. And for me, it resonates. Like, it takes faith. Believe that he will reach out and grab you when you. When you do sink.
I think faith grows more from that, like, transaction of Peter believes enough to step out of the boat. And then, like, there is something to be said about Peter.
Jesus is immediately there to pick him up. And he would not have seen that if he didn’t step out first. And so, or at least for me, I feel like I’ve always had the understanding of, you need to be sure of what God says, and we’re not. And I think even still, like, Peter knew what Jesus said.
Jesus said you can come out on the water, and still, that’s not a guarantee that your faith will be enough to, like, I guess, carry through the whole way. Like, he didn’t end up reaching Jesus in the water.
But there’s comfort for me, like, knowing that, I don’t know, it’s a different picture of God in the Old Testament, where sometimes when I read, it feels like, oh, these people made one. Moses made one mistake. And then, like, punishment minimizes the mistakes and all that. But disciples are just making, like, so many mistakes, I guess.
And there’s just a difference I see in, I guess, my understanding of being a follower of Jesus. Maybe the way disciples were simpler about it, like, he’s their friend, so they kind of just say whatever they think. It’s not like they word things perfectly or they have the perfect framework or thinking, but Jesus is there to pick them up.
I think that takes more faith for me than to believe that he can do these miracles and things. What if I get in the way of it and make a mistake?
Then how can I know that he will, I guess, honor the way he was told? You know, I don’t know if that makes sense, but that’s the verse 31. Verse 31. Yeah. Yeah. I forgot to mention that one.
God is so. Jesus is so gracious that he accepts the disciples who stayed in the boat. He accepts Peter who stumbled on the water. There seems to be an invitation, though.
What is faith after all? It is no matter what I face, will I doubt that Jesus is who he says he is?
When we are fearful and we have a moment of stumbling, Jesus says you actually are doubting me. And like Elaine said, based on the past faithfulness of the Lord, maybe things that I used to stumble over and I doubted before, after years of faithfulness and seeing God’s faithfulness, what causes me to doubt maybe is it takes a lot more for me to doubt a lot more. The fear has to be so much greater.
Do you feel like he’s rebuking in the moment, oh, you have little faith. Why did you doubt?
Or is it like, oh, why did you doubt?Come on, I got you. I’m here. Come on.
But I think even. Even at the end. At the end. Yeah, keep reading. Verse 33. Yeah. The outcome of this whole episode was like, they ended up worshiping. Yes, yes, that’s right. Like, they. Jesus elevated their faith even in their stumbling. And because of this experience, they’re like, again, sure that you are the Son of God.
Jesus demonstrated his power for the nature to obey his word.
At the same time, he demonstrates love by hoping, reaching out immediately to your doubt and giving them a lesson. What did you doubt? But they didn’t end up being discouraged and kind of feeling just judged. But like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Is he talking to? It sounds like he could also be just talking to Peter when he grabbed him, like, oh, you have little faith. Why did you doubt? It could be almost like, oh, man, you almost walked across. If you just. You almost experienced, like, walking all the way.
But, you know, is it to Peter, like, dang, just, oh, next time kind of thing, maybe, like. Yeah. Do you think it’s like that? Yeah, I don’t think he’s like, it’s not rebuking, maybe not rebuking. Just. you’re so close. Or you could have just made it across. There’s just room to grow. Like, encouragement. There’s room to grow. And if Peter was in the exact same situation, I bet he wouldn’t doubt because he already saw what Jesus did last time.
But that’s why we graduate to a higher level of faith. Because the previous thing that we doubted, once we see God’s faithfulness, that same thing won’t cause doubt the second or third time.
Isn’t Peter’s apprentice Mark? I forget, is it Mark, right, that wrote the gospel? Peter. Yeah. Is this the only gospel that doesn’t account for him walking on the water? But that’s true. That’s true. Gospels, they’re like, Peter walked on the water. Yeah. Interesting how Peter’s perspective is. He’s not gonna even mention it. Yeah. He actually walked on the water. He did.
The only person in history who walked on the water. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe Jesus saying what he said, like, oh, you have so little faith out of that. Because, like, it’s not like Peter instantly was doubting. And soon as he stepped out, he believed enough. He believed enough. And then, like, he was actually walking on. Yeah. And the doubt after that is like, kind of like, crazy. Like, come on. Oh, man, you’re so close. Yeah.
Can I add just one thing? Yeah, of course. No. Yeah. Because when you’re.
When we were reading this again and you mentioned it in verse 22,
22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. (Matthew 14:22, ESV)
And it reminds me of Psalm 23, because that’s been the passage since you. your last message at the Hill. And how, you know, every morning I’m still waking up with a little bit weird, like, angst. Like, is this. Is this. We’re really in it. The sabbatical speak. I don’t know what it is, like, this angst leading up to Sunday, it’s like, wait, no.
And it’s like, I have to go over the verses. Like, no, Jesus, you’re gonna show me I lack nothing. you’re going to make me lie down in green pastures.
And then to think that he makes his disciples sometimes get. And I. I guess I just took comfort in that verse that he makes us. He makes us to be sometimes where we need to be. I don’t know. Yeah. Just the connection there.
I feel like, yeah, God is with us. He’s making us go through this season, this new season.
He made us go through the last season. Yep. Yeah. There’s, of course, the question of which part is our part? We did and which part did, you know, others do. Which part, you know. But in the end, God is seeing everything, and he’s using everything to get us to the next place, to get us across, to get us into deeper faith.
So, yeah, I just. I also think questioning is okay. Yeah, like, questioning with the right posture. Right?
Yeah, like, yeah, it’s like Raya and Mary, you know. Mary also questioned, like, how am I gonna get there? Like, how am I gonna have a baby? You know, it was the questioning, the process, rather than, like, actual without being able to do it. You have natural.
So I think it’s okay to ask God. Yeah. What’s going to happen? Yeah. Like, yeah, the Mary, I think. I think the Mary, she was not punished because she didn’t actually doubt deep down, whereas Zechariah did doubt, which is why he was muted. Like, his questioning was actually doubt.
That’s right. Yeah. A little different, I see. Yeah. Like, Mary, her question wasn’t doubting God’s faithfulness, that he’s going to get you, but, like, you know, just like, what happened? How do I process this? What can I learn from this? What convictions are we coming out of this with? Yeah.
Any other thoughts? These are all great. Well, just to connect that. I feel like, yes. These past few years, I normally look back and go, oh, this could have changed here. This could have been done differently here.
But I almost think, like, because of my own things that God needs to work out, I had to go through these past five years. It’s like, he made me go through them to really see clearly.
Kind of the process of what I needed to cut out and change and see things clearly in a way that I didn’t before. I kind of was like, yeah, wishy washy about. And now it just seems so much more clear.
So I really thank God for the past few years for making things very clear in a new way of just the Spiritual things that were happening that I can’t explain. Final words and how, like, God wants to start clean and over again. Yeah. Any last sharing? See, that’s good. Okay, let’s. Let’s close in prayer.
Father, thank you for outlining how we grow in our faith. We obey you, we go on a journey with you.
We face our fears, and we overcome our fears with faith as we focus on Jesus. We get to the other side, not as the same person, but someone who’s graduated to a higher level of faith.
Lord, we pray that you would help us and give us grace. Encourage us to pass every test, whatever season we’re in, so that we can get to the other side of what we’re facing with a higher and greater level of faith. More confidence in Jesus and what he can do. You truly are the Son of God.
We want to worship and believe this from the depth of our being. Thank you, Lord.
Please be with us the rest of today as we close out this service. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.