Sermon Tone Analysis

*If You Want to Walk on the Water,*

*You’ve got to Get Out of the Boat*

!

November 10 & 11, 2001

*Speaker: Pastor Steven Peschke*

 

Last week Pastor Paul talked about COURAGE.

He told us that courage is the ability to control fear and deal with the situation.

Then he talked about the courage to follow Christ, courage to make good moral decisions, courage to build healthy relationships, and finally courage to serve.

I didn’t know what Pastor Paul was preaching on until I had already started working on this week’s message.

I just love the way the Holy Spirit orchestrates things.

Today’s message is the other bookend to Pastor Paul’s message.

He talked about courage and today we’re going to talk about failure.

I want to start with the text for the message.

It’s found in Matthew chapter 14, verses 22 to 33.

It’s a story about fear and courage, faith and doubt, failure and hope, and the power of our God.

This story takes place right after Jesus has miraculously feed the 5000 on the mountainside.

There was talk in the crowd of making Jesus their king.

They had all not only seen the miracle but they had eaten it and they had their fill.

(Mat 14:22-33 NIV)  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.

When evening came, he was there alone, {24} but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

{25} During the fourth watch of the night 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."

A story about fear and courage, faith and doubt, failure and hope, and the power of our God.

A couple years ago Sue and I took our kids on a driving vacation out west.

I love the outdoors, wilderness areas and the majestic mountains and the fabulous vistas they afford.

We went west through the Bad Lands, then south through Yellowstone Park and the Grand Tetons, to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon before returning through the Rockies of Colorado.

It was a wonderful vacation.

Some of you might remember that we had a blue extended full size Dodge van, affectionately known in our family as the Tuna Boat.

Don’t ask me what that means.

Anyway to save money for our trip, I was playing auto mechanic.

I got the old girl all spiffed up and tuned up for our trip.

I changed all the fluids and filters, replaced all the belts, put on new brakes and tires front and back.

The Tuna Boat was ready!

Now many of you know I love the outdoors, but most of you probably don’t know that I’m afraid of heights.

Always have been.

So I have this very strange attraction to mountains.

I love them.

They’re inspiring and awesome but they also scare the stuffing out of me.

So what did I do?

Plan a trip of thousands of miles of driving in the, you guessed it, the MOUNTAINS.

I knew it would be hard but I thought it would probably get better as it went on.

I had calculated the risk and determined the payoff was worth it.

And it was, but even with all my mental preparation, there were some emotions and things within myself that surprised me.

I realized that I have a Flat-Lander’s mind and an eagle’s heart.

I was OK with Sue, Stacy and Katie helping with the driving at first.

I was even OK when Katie asked what the speed limit in Montana meant where it said, “Reasonable and Prudent”.

I didn’t think the old boat could go that fast.

But when we hit the serious mountains something clicked in my brain or more accurately in the pit of my stomach.

And it didn’t get better as the trip went on.

It was kinda like the love~/fear thing with the mountains.

I didn’t want to drive but I was absolutely sure I didn’t want any one else to drive.

The task of driving in the mountains for me was consuming.

Every muscle in my body had simultaneously contracted and was in a state of high alert.

The steering wheel probably still has the impressions of my fingers.

It was physically exhausting.

It required my total attention.

When Sue or the kids would say look at that view.

I was lucky to give it a quick glance.

Being in this survival mode had cheated the very thing I longed to enjoy.

It was so consuming that I told them not to talk to me.

Then one day the drive was on narrow roads with lots of switch backs and sheer drop-offs, and Sue was trying to relax me by rubbing my shoulder and I rather sharply said, “Don’t touch me!”

I was on sensory overload.

It was like the van and I had become one.

I could feel the tires gripping the road.

The task had totally consumed me.

Sue and the kids still tease me to this day about the day Dad freaked out.

The whole thing was a very spiritual experience, every day I prayed almost non-stop and I said the name of Jesus so many times I half expected to single handedly usher in His second coming.

I had expected the feelings of fear but two additional feelings that I hadn’t planned for, took me by surprise.

The first was how my personal fear was projected on to those I love and value most, my wife and kids.

Not only was my life seemingly hanging by a thread but in my mind their lives were in jeopardy too.

Even though they were fine, laughing and having a grand old time.

This was my fear multiplied by six.

Then on top of that, a very disturbing thought kept haunting me.

Our very lives are dependant on this old van and most particularly the brakes.

My mind then went immediately to the mechanic who prepared the vehicle, who was a computer analyst turned pastor.

And the question that had to be answered was, “Could this man be trusted?”

You might wonder why I shared this, but every day billions of people wake up in the morning and ask themselves simple questions like, “How’s my journey going to turn out?

Is this a safe route?”

Today our society is full of people trying to conger up a positive mental attitude.

Who hope that if they repeat an affirmation often enough, like saying to each other, “Everything is going to be OK!” or “God Bless America” or “There’s no place like home”.

But that doesn’t mean everything is going to be OK.

Every once in a while there is a moment in time, as there is in this time, when people’s eyes are opened a bit and we realize that there are very basic questions to life that cry out for an answer, like -- “Who’s driving this thing?”

and “Can I trust him?”

Or to put it in spiritual terms, “Is there a God?” “If so, is He in control?” “Does He have my interests, my future in mind?” “Is this life a journey to someplace else?” “If so, how am I going to get there?”

“Can I without fear put my life and my destiny in His hands?” “Can I trust Him?”

These are the questions in people’s minds and hearts and the answers have been entrusted to us.

God has made us (you and I) stewards of the Gospel, His Good News.

And this brings us back to this story of Peter.

\\ The story happens right after Jesus has feed the 5000.

It says in the Gospel of John that the crowd intended to make Him their king, by force.

But Jesus refused and He sent the disciples across the Lake of Galilee by boat.