"Walking on Water"

Mt.14:22-33 Sep.15/02

LWCF 1st Anniversary

Acing the Test with Advanced Standing

Doug Fields tells the story of an introductory logic class at a major university. It was nearing the time for the final exam, and the professor made a concession to the students that on the day of the exam they could bring with them as much information as they could fit onto one piece of notebook paper. So while they were studying that final week every student tried to cram as many facts as possible onto an 8.5x11 sheet of paper.

             When the day finally came, the students in the intro logic class found the test very tough. Only one student received an A. How did he do it? The day of the exam, he walked into the classroom, put a piece of paper on the floor, and had an advanced logic student stand on the paper. The advanced logic student told him everything he needed to know!

             That's like the difference between Christianity and other faith systems. "Religion" is human effort to try and reach God. Religions make rules and regulations that we hope, if anyone could ever keep them perfectly, might make us acceptable to God. Yet we know deep down that no one is perfect; we forget something, and will never on our own steam match God's standards. We'd always fall short of the most religious book in the world. Life throws curves at us that make trying to keep a moral code simply disappointing and unsatisfying.

             For a believer in Christ, however, it's not a matter of our own effort but by receiving as a free gift Jesus Himself and all God's special Son has accomplished for us at the Cross. The Holy Spirit in our lives is like having that advanced logic student standing right beside us, helping us pass life's tests and God's final exam with flying colours. Jesus will stand in for us; when he died for our sins, he took the "F" we deserved so we could get an "A" for life.

Struggling against a Headwind that would Sink Us

There are signs that society on its own steam is increasingly failing life's tests. The local paper reported an incident August 30 in Brussels in which a group of 15 teens caused trouble for two OPP officers. The police had just stopped and searched a vehicle and located and seized open alcohol. One fellow was placed in the cruiser for causing a ruckus by yelling, screaming and making abusive remarks. Another teen threw a rock and smashed the rear window of the cruiser. The Citizen reports, "The group failed to be cooperative, were abusive and the one responsible for the cruiser damage left the scene."

             Is this what the communities in our area are coming to? We hear of areas in large cities where there are gangs, and swarmings; where citizens stay in at night and bar their doors and windows because of violence; areas even where police fear to try to prevent violence, only intervene and report it after it happens. That's bad enough. But is all that headed our way? The blatant disrespect for law and order by a group reflected in the Brussels incident would have been hard to imagine a generation ago. But the winds of secularization, cynicism, and individualism sweeping through our media are pushing people's attitudes toward anarchy and lawlessness. Like the rough times in the Old Testament when "In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes." (Judges 17:6; 21:25) In 2 Thessalonians Paul warns about the attitude of lawlessness that will become more prominent before Jesus returns. This lawlessness is epitomized in a leader who "will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God." (2Thess.2:4) Is this not where secularization is already leading us? Yet we know from history that anarchy and disorder spell downfall for a civilization. Sin will sink us if we embrace it. And what agencies in society bear the most responsibility for its moral health and guidance if not the religious ones? Who will warn our culture about the danger of being swept headlong by these movements if not the church?

             Living Water Christian Fellowship came into being a year ago largely as a response to liberal religion's abandonment of Biblical standards that our Creator gave us for our own preservation. God's revealed truth was being set aside as outdated, timeless boundaries moved, tolerances advocated for shamefully immoral behaviour. When people realized their own desires contradicted the rules on the exam sheet, instead of trying to pass the test at all they threw the sheet out the window and started making up their own rules! The most blatant area in which liberal religion's rejection of God's guidance became obvious was that of sex outside marriage, but there were others: sanctity of life (impacting taboos like abortion and euthanasia); the uniqueness of Jesus and the singular redemptive value of His death (opening the door to New Age influences and Wicca); the pooh-poohing of a Biblical worldview and approach to history (challenging Creation, our responsibility to God, and the implications of Christ's return and final judgment). These dangerous gales are not troubling just one denomination; the Anglican church now faces similar controversy, and its Archbishop of Canterbury-designate was recently initiated into a Welsh order of druids!

             Matthew tells us, "When evening came...the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it." (Matthew 14:24) The boat has long been a symbol of the Christian church. Here were the disciples, many of them experienced fishermen, but alone without their Master, out in the middle of the lake, confronted by a sudden squall descending from the steep surrounding hills and gullies. Up and down, forward and back, whipped by the wind and waves until they didn't know whether they were going or coming. The swells grew until the little vessel was "buffeted", distressed, tossed about like someone in a fit. If you've been out in a canoe on the lake when the wind picked up, you know the feeling: water starts breaking over your bow, you're in mortal fear of turning sideways and being swamped. After hours of toiling at the oars and getting nowhere, it had become obvious to the disciples that all their years of seamanship and all the skills they'd learned from their fisherman fathers were no match for the tempest that now bore down upon them with a fury. They were hanging on with white knuckles for dear life.

We Need Jesus - Master over Chaos - to Save Us

Mt.14:25 says, "During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake." It was the last thing in the world they would have expected - such a tempest! And to see a human form suddenly come into view out of the darkness and shadows! The disciples (possibly haunted by sailorish superstition) were terrified and cried out, "It's a ghost!" But Jesus responded, "Take courage; I AM - don't be afraid." It'd be inadequate to translate this as simply, "It's me," because He nearly got stoned in Jerusalem (Jn.8:58) for saying the same thing - "ego eimi", God's name of essential being by which He referred to Himself in front of Moses in Exodus 3(14). As if Jesus were saying, "Relax! It's the I AM who's coming to you, the cause of all being, the One Who Is, before whose power this storm is just an opener."

             God's sovereignty over wind and waves had a lot of precedents in the Scripture account. Gen.1:2 tells us, "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." In the mind of the ancients, water symbolized the forces of chaos, over which God triumphed by creating order and the structures necessary for life. The Flood brought destruction over the whole populated earth except for Noah, who was warned by God ahead of time and was "eccentric" enough to build a big seagoing freighter in the middle of the countryside. Out of the wickedness of that generation (when I'm sure others justified their behaviour to Noah's family by saying "everybody's doing it") God engineered a global cataclysm to wash the earth clean and start humanity over. When Moses and the Israelites were about to be pushed by Pharaoh's army into the Red Sea, God walled the water up to form a path of escape through the deep. When Joshua and the Twelve Tribes were ready to enter the Promised Land and the Jordan was in full flood, the Lord caused the river to dry up after the priests led the way and stood in the middle with the Covenant Box holding His Commands. So throughout history, the waters that could destroy us have always been subject to the Creator's control. Jesus walking on the waves is just a picture of that. "Take it easy," He re-assures the storm-tossed, "I've got things under control." When he eventually climbed into the boat, Matthew notes, "the wind died down.Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, 'Truly You are God's Son.'" (14:32f)

             Thus far the lesson is similar to that of Jesus stilling the storm, or feeding the 5000: He is God's supernatural messenger, master over the forces of nature, the One through whom Creation happened and who can set aside or re-arrange nature's laws as needed in special situations. Not whimsically or arbitrarily, not as a demanding magician, but a caring Healer and Helper. So today on our anniversary, when we make Jesus our Centre (as represented in our logo), we're discovering the gift of His presence and Lordship over the destructive currents in the world that would undo us. We celebrate today God's establishing us as a faith-family, so we can enjoy meaningful worship, Biblical formation, feel Christ's presence amidst the praise and prayer and fellowship. What joy and peace there is in having a denominational umbrella where you don't need to feel embarrassed to hold Biblical beliefs! If we've gotten anywhere this year, made any advances, it's all because our Saviour graciously came alongside and climbed into the boat with us. Praise Jesus!

Spunky Starts Flounder without Faithful Follow-through

That's the basic story Matthew tells, along with Mark and John. But there are a couple of details that are worth noticing at this stage in our congregation's life. First is, If you want to walk on water, you've got to be anchored in the Almighty. What was happening in Jesus' life right around that time? After the death of John the Baptist, Jesus had been trying to get away for a private retreat with the disciples. The crowds tracked them down and spoiled the plan. Jesus ministered to them, fed the 5000, and they wanted to make Him king. He loaded the disciples onto the boat lest they become swept away by the crowd's enthusiasm, and sent them off across the lake. He dismissed the crowd, refusing to yield to their acclamation. Then (v.23) He went up the mountainside to spent most of the night alone in prayer. The mob of His supporters wanted Him to be king; His disciples misunderstood His mission and expected a political kingdom; Jesus chose the Cross against all that. In that important prayer time alone with the Father He was focusing and grounding Himself in the Father's will, the cup of suffering to save us from our sin, over against the voices that clamoured for Him to enjoy earthly power. Thus anchored in prayer, He was totally available for God to do whatever He wanted through Him. So God's supernatural power was at Christ's disposal because all Jesus wanted was exactly what the Father wanted.

             If we want to walk on water, then, we need to anchor ourselves in God's plan for our lives. Pray for His vision, His mind about things, Christ's worldview. Develop the disciplines of prayer and learning from the Word that will make God's desires what you want, and reduce the vertical gap between His thoughts and your thoughts. Then the wonders God chooses to do through us won't be for our own entertainment (like water-skiing - whee!) but for His glory and love to be displayed in this calamitous planet (seeking the lost, helping out our brother and sister disciples).

             Second, as John Ortberg's book points out, "If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat." In verse 28-31 Matthew includes a detail omitted by Mark and John in their telling of the story. I'm glad he does: the incident with Peter heightens the credibility of the account. You see, the Bible narrates the failures in miraculous power on the part of the apostles as well as their success; no book of myths would do this. (If you're going to make up a tale, the last thing you'd do would be to include some embarrassing detail about yourself!)

             When Jesus called out to reassure the floundering boatmen, Peter replied, "If it's you, Lord, tell me to come to you on the water." You've got to admire Peter's spunk and initiative! He was ever the impulsive type. Maybe he was a bit of a show-off, an exhibitionist, the type of personality that's always first to volunteer for the stage. At least one commentary suggests Peter suffered from "vain glory". Nevertheless, Jesus humoured him, perhaps suppressing a smile at the corner of his mouth at Peter's eagerness. He was ever patient with His little flock's foibles; likely there'd be a lesson here for Peter to learn. And for the first few steps, Peter did OK. You can imagine his wide-eyed look back to his comrades in the boat as if to say, "Hey, look at me! I'm doin' it!"

             At that point, Peter's buddies may have been kicking themselves for not having the same gumption he did. John Ortberg uses this story as analogy for our life as Christians: we're scared to take the risks that following Jesus may entail. We hesitate to step out of the "boat" of our security zone, but that's necessary in order to walk on water. Ortberg writes: "What's your boat? Your boat is whatever represents safety and security to you apart from God himself...Your boat is whatever pulls you away from the high adventure of extreme discipleship...For David, it is his vocation. He has been a builder for 35 years; he is in his late fifties now. But he has been gnawed his whole life by a sense that God was calling him into church ministry. He has quieted his conscience by giving away a lot of money and doing many good things, but he can't shake off the haunting fear that he has missed his calling. And he's afraid that perhaps it's too late.

             "For Kathy, it is a relationship. She has been involved for years with a man whose commitment to her is ambivalent at best. He is sending her signals that everyone else can read clearly; he never initiates the language of affection, avoids talking about their future, and creates as much distance from her as possible. But she never pursues discovering his true feelings -- she's too frightened. She doesn't belive she could handle losing him. Her boat is pretty shaky. But she's too scared to leave.

             "...Doug's boat is secrecy. He is addicted to pornography. It is a mild addiction, or so he tells himself, mostly adult movies on business trips and occasional sprees on the internet. Nothing that has cost him a job or a marriage -- so far. But no one knows. He's afraid to admit it. He's afraid to get help. Secrecy is killing him. But it's his boat." Ortberg concludes, "What is your boat? In what area of your life are you shrinking back from fully and courageously trusting God? Fear will tell you what your boat is. Leaving it may be the hardest thing you ever do. But if you want to walk on the water, you've got to get out of the boat."

             Even the apostle Peter wasn't immune to fear. We're told that after coming some distance toward Jesus, he "saw the wind", was afraid and as he started to sink cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus quickly reached out and grabbed him, saying perhaps teasingly, "Little-faith - bubble-belief - freckle-faith: Why did you doubt?" (14:30f) The word "doubt" here has the sense of being pulled two ways at once, as a rope is stressed during a tug-of-war. Peter's problems started when he took his eyes off Jesus and started paying attention to the surroundings, the gusts that sprayed water around him. He'd been all right to the extent he kept Jesus as target in view.

             God has blessed us at LWCF with a wonderful start. It has taken other church "plants" years to come this far, so we can be truly thankful! As a congregation, you've all to some extent been willing to take a risk and "get out of the boat". We've said it's our aim to be Christ-centred (focusing on Him), Bible-believing, staying tuned-in to God's program for our lives. We've claimed our vision is to "make disciples", the very thing that's on Christ's heart. But like Peter we'll start to sink (spiritually speaking) if during our second year we get distracted by the wind: if we take notice of opposition and criticism; if we adopt purely human standards of measurement, like the size or appearance of a building; or if we get side-tracked doctrinally. We'll be up to our knees in no time if we start to "go with the flow" culturally or get bogged down in traditional church concerns and squabbles over music, the padding and colour of the pews or chairs, whether we're dipped or dunked. Believing, trusting, committing to the Lord is key: then we won't be subject to the cajoling of terms like "freckle-faith"! We'll keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, be looking for where He's headed, energized and prioritized to help others with His truth and saving grip. This is not about putting on a show, or drawing attention to ourselves, but being real in Christ, separated and freed through the cross, allowing our heart to be moved by what touches God's heart.

Bouncer to Believer

Ross Mockeridge grew up in a caring family in Kent, England. But his older brother was successful at everything he turned his hand to - top of the class in marks, played for the top cricket team in the area; "everything that he touched turned to gold." Ross though was below average academically and found it impossible to keep up with his brother. He dropped out of school and got black belts in Judo, Jujitsu, Kung Fu, and two forms of Sambo. He became a bouncer in night clubs. Even places where drinking, drugs, sex, and violence are prevalent need someone to police the place!

             Over the years he was involved in many, many violent situations. Once he was nearly killed by the girlfriend of a man who'd punched Ross in the face. While they were down on the floor she swung a great big metal rope hold towards Ross' head; his friend intervened just in time. Ross says, "I think over the years I had at least one type of incident every fortnight. I came to accept violence as part of my life. In the end I became desensitized to it and I was aware of it eating away inside me because hurting someone is not a pleasurable thing at all.I had a lot of anger inside me. That anger expressed itself through the violence but I hated myself for doing it."

             One day when Ross arrived home for lunch after shopping, he found a leaflet on the doormat about something called the Alpha course, described as a course in basic Christianity. Ross says, "At the time, I was depressed and frustrated with life. I thought life had no meaning and my life certainly had no direction, no purpose, and no substance. It was just an existence. It wasn't what I would call living." (like the boat in our storm maybe - tossed and distressed?)

             Ross had never heard of Alpha but had what he calls "this yearning for something more". He got up the courage to go to St Mildred's church for the first session, but almost balked at the door. He recalls, "I walked through the door and received a very, very warm welcome. It made all the difference. It turned out to be a man called David Nicholls, who was very much the opposite of me. He works in the city, has a great job, family, etc. He is quite a bit older than me. He welcomed me with a very warm smile. I said, 'Excuse me, is this the right place for the Alpha course?' He said, 'Yes, yes...Would you like a cup of tea?' He took me over to get a cup of tea and then stayed with me and talked to me a little bit."

             By the fourth week of the course, Ross was becoming really convinced. He recalls praying the prayer in the booklet Why Jesus? "I just thanked Jesus for dying for me and for acting as my Saviour. I repented of my sins and asked God to come into my life. I didn't feel anything in particular, but was glad I had said it." At the Holy Spirit day, Ross was prayed for and experienced emotional healing and a sensation of heat on his head and shoulders. Ross made some special friendships on the course and started going to church. He says, "They are just so full of the Holy Spirit and have got so much love to give to you. I immediately felt their warmth." Over time, changes started happening in Ross' life. He used to swear in almost every sentence; that's all stopped now. He started praying and reading the New Testament, noting, "Sometimes it brought tears to my eyes when I saw what Jesus did and how He healed people and how He came to save us." He became less confrontational as a bouncer, trying to calm situations down. After being baptized, he quit that job and began to run classes in martial arts and be a personal trainer. He says, "I decided I didn't want to be involved in the doors scene any more. I just had too much love inside me - too much love for God and, to be honest, for other people as well."

             Ross took a risk to get out of his "boat" and come to that first Alpha class. I daresay it was a bit of a risk for those church folk to welcome Ross - a night club bouncer used to dealing with violence! But through their faith, stepping out of their comfort zone, Jesus was able to reach out, grab Ross, and pull him into the healing power of genuine Christian love. As with that rough burly Galilean fisherman named Peter, chaos again was conquered! Let's pray.