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November 10, 2013 |
| Faith and Fear | ||
It seems like there is one sermon every new young pastor wants to teach. It comes from the Matthew 14 account of Peter's short lived attempt to walk to Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. But in almost every one of these sermons a very weak understanding is taught. You can find this weak teaching in every denomination because it is being taught that way in most if not all of the theological schools.
They teach that it was somehow necessary for Peter to keep his eyes on Jesus for the entire time that Peter was walking on the water. Therefore the message that they say is in these verses is that we should always keep our eyes on Jesus. That's a good message; it just isn't the message in these verses.
In this lesson we will look at that better understanding of Peter's short walk on water.
The story is well known to Christians. Jesus has just fed the crowd of 5000 men plus women and children. He instructs his disciples to cross the Sea of Galilee to go to Genesaret to prepare the people for Jesus' arrival. In the mean time Jesus instructs the crowd to go home and when they have gone he goes to a mountain to pray. He stays there until it becomes dark.
Meanwhile Jesus' disciples are still struggling to cross the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is 8 to 10 miles across at this point. It is normally a very calm body of water because it is almost completely surrounded by hills. But in certain weather conditions the wind can come down from the hills and make it very dangerous.
24 […] the ship was many furlongs distant from the land while it was tossed greatly by the waves, for the wind was against it. (1 furlong equals 1/8 mile) 25 But in the fourth watch of the night, Yeshua came, while he was walking on the water. (fourth watch is from about 3 A.M. to daybreak) 26 And his disciples saw him, that he was walking on the water, and they were alarmed and they were saying, "It is a false vision", and they cried out in fear.
27 But Yeshua immediately spoke with them and he said, "Take heart; I am the living God. Do not be afraid." 28 And [Peter] answered and he said to him, "My Lord, if you are He, command me to come unto you on the water." 29 And Yeshua said to him, "Come", and [Peter] went down from the ship and he walked on the water to come to Yeshua.
30 And when he saw the wind was violent, he was afraid, and he began to sink, and he raised his voice and he said, "My Lord, save me!" 31 And immediately our Lord stretched out his hand and he held him and said to him, "Oh small of faith! Why did you doubt?"
32 And when they came up into the ship the wind stopped. 33 And those who were in the ship came and they worshiped him, and they said, "Truly, you are the Son of God!" (Matthew 14:24-33)
It is commonly reasoned that Peter looked away from Jesus and saw that the wind was blowing violently. This caused him to lose faith and sink. Therefore it is said that the message behind these verses is to "keep your eyes on Jesus". That is a good message and a message that is supported in many other verses such as Hebrews 12:2.
2 And let us gaze at Yeshua, him who is the author and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was his, endured the cross and ignored the shame, and he sits upon the right side of the throne of God.
Now of course the author of Hebrews isn't telling us that we should keep our physical eyes on Jesus. He means that we should keep our spiritual eyes on Jesus. That means Jesus should be the model for us. He should be the focus of our lives. He should be the leader and we the follower.
The verses from Matthew describe a physical event, walking on water, so if Peter's fault was to take his physical eyes off of Jesus, the message would be about physical eyes not spiritual eyes. The message would be that Peter took his physical eyes off of Jesus and so we shouldn't take our physical eyes off of Jesus. That would be logical but Jesus isn't around right now so it isn't possible for us to keep our physical eyes on him.
Therefore this interpretation has an awkward twist in it. The lesson from it would be that Peter took his physical eyes off of Jesus so we shouldn't take our spiritual eyes off of Jesus. That isn't logical though. It would be like saying Peter failed and sank in the physical water so we shouldn't fail and sink in the spiritual water. So while "keep your [spiritual] eyes on Jesus" is a good message it isn't the message from these verses.
There are other problems with the idea that the failing was that Peter took his eyes off Jesus.
So what is the better message in these verses? There is more than one message in them.
God sometimes gives people a standing (continuing) authorization to work miracles in his name. The apostles were some of these people. Without a prior authorization like that, the process begins with a request for authorization to Jesus. Nothing can be done without his authorization, without his will. We have no power of our own.
Peter's request, in verse 28, is "tell me to come to you on the water". It may sound more like a command, but it is a request - Jesus could have said no.
In Peter's case, Jesus authorizes him in verse 29 to walk on water by saying no more than "Come." In other places Jesus says "I am willing."
Here are a couple of the verses from the Gospels where Jesus speaks of giving and receiving authority.
Matthew 10 1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
Two points here are interesting. They did not have this authority; they needed this authority. Being Jews, disciples, or whatever else they might have been had not given them this authority. As we recall from another story in the Bible, those who try to cast out demons without authority can run into trouble.
This authorization is given 4 chapters before the verses we are studying. There is some thought that the disciples had become full of themselves, thinking that the power was from them and forgetting that Jesus was the source. Therefore it was necessary for Jesus to show them that the power came from him, and that was done through Peter's failure in these verses.
Jesus himself needed authorization, which he received from his father.
Matthew 28 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."
God does not authorize all requests. He authorizes requests that are according to his will and his plan. We see an example of that in the verses below.
2 Corinthians 12 7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." […]
Far too many Christians use God. They believe they are authorized to do anything and command all sorts of things to happen. Do they think they have a greater authorization than Paul, the Apostle? In the verses above does he command his affliction to go away? No, he prayed that God would take it away.
Faith is required for the power of God to act. Without faith, nothing will happen. What follows is a selection of verses where Jesus refers to the faith that is needed for his power to act.
Matthew 9 22 Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.
Matthew 9 28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
"Yes, Lord," they replied.
29 Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you";
In the above case we see where the blind men's faith must be. They must believe that Jesus is able to heal them. Jesus does not ask if they believe that Jesus is God, nor that Jesus is the Messiah, though we know that some people he healed had realized that he was. Also note that faith and belief have the same meaning here. Jesus asks if they believe and then says "according to your faith".
Here are some other verses on the necessity of faith.
Matthew 15 28 Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Matthew 17 20 He replied, "[…] I tell you the truth, 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. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Matthew 21 21 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.
Mark 9 23 "'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." 24 Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
John 14 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Acts 3 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.
As we see in the foundation scripture for this lesson, Peter at first had sufficient faith to walk on water, but on seeing the effect of the wind and probably the waves he became afraid and began to doubt. As a result his faith diminished and he began to sink.
Satan has no interest in seeing works of faith succeed or continue. From the moment a believer chooses to act in faith, he or she will be assaulted by negative thoughts like "This won't work", "This is crazy", and "If this doesn't work you'll be a failure". These are not the doubts that Jesus speaks of when he says "Why did you doubt?" These are the thoughts that lead to doubt … if you accept them. Reject them, and continue in faith.
Consider the case of Jairus from Luke 8:49
49 While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," he said. "Don't bother the teacher any more." 50 Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed."
Jairus came to Jesus knowing that his daughter was near death. Then he was told that she had died. Then Jesus said "Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed." What kind of thoughts can you imagine ran through his head? "No one can rise from the dead". "In all your life you've never seen anyone raised from the dead. Why would you expect that to change". Jairus must have come to make this request of Jesus because he had heard of the miracles Jesus had performed. He had also just heard the testimony of a woman whose bleeding disorder had just been healed. On this he was able to muster enough faith that his daughter would be healed.
After some of his miracles, Jesus says things like "sin no more" and "or else the demon will return". Satan would love to trick a person into losing what they had gained through faith. Peter had succeeded for a while but he lost that. Similarly Satan would love to undo anything that we have achieved by faith. For example, a man healed from a bad back might one day get a twinge in his back that reminds him of his old back problem. Forgetting that we all get back twinges some times, he might begin to fear and doubt.
As Peter begins to sink and scream, Jesus reaches out and raises him up. It isn't clear if Peter walked back to the ship or was carried. I think that they walked, hand-in-hand. But there is something important to learn from this. Was it not possible for Jesus to keep Peter from sinking? Of course it was. Why then did Peter sink? We are told that doubt crushed what little faith Peter had. Couldn't Jesus have kept him walking on the water despite his lack of faith? Of course he could. So what is going on here?
Wherever possible Jesus wanted his miracles to be done through the faith of people. He could have done them himself. He wanted them to be done this way so that the works of the people might be glorified. God gives us works to do that he may glorify us for doing them. There is another lesson called "The Works Prepared For Us To Do" that covers this in detail. The works are usually much smaller than walking on water but no matter how small they are intended to build up our faith for greater works.
God doesn't need for us to do things for him. He can do everything himself. He chooses to give us things to do for our own good.
We've seen that this passage of scripture shows us the elements of acts of faith. But there is also an overall message from this passage - Fear is a poison to Faith. Fear builds doubt which is the opposite of faith. So fear reduces faith.
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In Peter's case it wasn't that he took his eyes off Jesus. He couldn't help but see the waves and other effects of the wind. If you were in Peter's situation could you help but ask yourself, "What is going on here?" and consider the situation. The wind is howling, the waves are rolling past, and you're standing on water with nothing below you but a lot more water, and the boat is now a ways away. Who could help but notice?
But Peter's failing was that he let what he saw and heard and his fear for his life turn into doubt. It was necessary for him to be unshaken by the things that were happening and the things he was seeing and hearing. Instead he needed to continue to place his trust in Jesus and in God.
He had a foundation for that faith. He had seen miracle after miracle performed by Jesus. In fact just hours before he had seen Jesus feed 5000 men plus women and children from 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. And now he was seeing Jesus standing on the water and Peter had been walking on the water himself moments before. But he let fear for his personal safety crush all this foundation for his faith.
This is no different in our daily lives. Though few of us are commanded to walk on water some are called to other great works of faith. But for everyone God has made many promises to us. He has said that he will take care of us according to his will and plan for us. It is necessary for us to have faith in him. When financial troubles or job troubles or health troubles or whatever come, it is necessary to continue on in faith.
1 Picture from http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer's%20Corner/eyes_on_jesus.htm