Matthew 14:22-33
What Is a Christian?
Someone Who Overcomes Doubt with Faith!
22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27But 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. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Doubt. Can any of us honestly say that we never have any doubts about anything? Regardless of our age, our gender or our social standing we are all too often and all too easily haunted by doubt. “What kind of job should I get?” “How do I decide which classes to take?” “How can I be sure?” “What if I fail?” Our lack of faith reveals itself in doubts about our career, doubts about our marriage, doubts about our finances— and sometimes even doubts about our eternity! Unresolved doubt can cause anxiety, depression and even emotional paralysis. Doubt can immobilize people, it can immobilize families, and it can even immobilize congregations. Doubt can weigh us down so that we feel as though we are sinking into murky waters.
Doubt. Since doubt can have a very powerful negative impact on us and since God’s children are not immune to doubt, today we are going to conclude our sermon series on What Is A Christian? by seeing how the Holy Spirit emphasizes this truth: A Christian Is Somone Who Overcomes Doubt with Faith!
Our text for today takes place directly after the feeding of the 5,000— which was the focus of last Sunday’s sermon. Matthew makes that timing very clear when he says to us, “Immediately, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.”
Why did Jesus “immediately” tell His disciples to get in the boat and go to the other side of the lake, the Sea of Galilee? There are two reasons. First, in John’s Gospel we’re told that after Jesus fed the 5,000, the people were prepared to “make him king by force” (John 6:1-15). Jesus knew how dangerous this temptation would be for His disciples. Since the disciples did not yet have a clear understanding of Jesus’ mission here on this earth, the prospect of Jesus being crowned as “king” would have been very alluring to them. Since Jesus knew that this temptation was more dangerous for His disciples than the fury of the storm they were about to encounter on the Sea of Galilee, out of love and concern for His disciples He “made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side” of the lake.
Second, Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go the other side of the lake so that He could spend some quiet time speaking to His heavenly Father in prayer. What did Jesus pray about? While the Holy Spirit chose not to answer that question specifically, considering the circumstances it’s not difficult for me to envision that Jesus prayed for the thousands of people who experienced the miraculous feeding, but completely misunderstood His mission here on this earth; that He prayed for His disciples whose hearts may have been pondering the “missed opportunity” for Jesus to be crowned “king;” and that He prayed for Himself. He needed His heavenly Father to calm His own heart and to see this “opportunity” to be crowned “king” for what it was— a temptation from Satan to take His focus off of the cross (Pointing to the cross), off of the goal of His Father’s Plan of Salvation for this world!
Matthew then broadens our focus to include Jesus’ disciples. Look at verses 23-27. Matthew writes, “When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night (which was from 3:00 am to 6:00 am) Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’”
The Sea of Galilee was notorious for its sudden fierce storms. In fact, the disciples had already been caught in one of these storms. You may recall the time when Jesus and His disciples were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee when “a furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped” (Matthew 4:35ff). The disciples went to Jesus— who was asleep in the back of the boat— and cried out, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Do you remember how Jesus responded? First, He said to the wind and the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” and then He said to His disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” This time, however, Jesus was not with them in the boat. This time the disciples were all by themselves— in the middle of the night, exhausted after rowing for perhaps nine hours, with the boat being “buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.”
The darkness, the late hour, the imminent danger of drowning and the physical exhaustion all came together to arouse a superstitious fear in the hearts of Jesus’ disciples when they saw Jesus walking on the water. Their reaction? Matthew tells us, “They were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear.” Jesus’ reaction? Matthew shares that with us too, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Jesus lovingly re-focused the faith of His disciples, didn’t He! This glorious Gospel imperative took the fear and the doubts away and enabled the disciples to put their faith in the One who could help them and protect them!
Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Have you ever had the prevailing winds in your life turn from a gentle reassuring breeze into a furious squall that left you feeling alone and afraid? “Mom fell and is in the hospital.” “Grandpa had a stroke.” “Your position has been terminated. You have 20 minutes to gather your belongings and then this person will escort you out of the building.” When the winds of change and the waves of adversity arise suddenly in our life— how do we react? How do we feel? We may feel frustrated and fearful. We may feel as though our faith is suddenly very fragile. We may feel as though waves of doubt are sweeping over us and are about to swamp us.
Then our Savior does for us what He did for His disciples. Through the power of His Gospel message— as it comes to us in both Word and Sacrament— Jesus says to us, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” That simple message has the power to overcome our doubts with faith! When the storms of life threaten to overwhelm us, when Satan tries to beat us down with a barrage of doubt coming at us over and over again like angry waves on the ocean, our faith enables us to overcome that doubt by leading us to lift up our eyes to the cross (Pointing to the cross) and listen— listen as Jesus says to us, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” The apostle Peter certainly took that Gospel imperative to heart, didn’t he! Matthew goes on to tell us, “’Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’”
There are two key points we need to emphasize here. First, after Peter received permission from the Lord, Peter stepped out of the boat and started walking on the water toward Jesus. It was going miraculously well— until? Until Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and started to look at the wind and the waves! As soon as Peter took his eyes off of Jesus, as soon as Peter lost his focus— he began to sink!
How often have we done something similar, my friends? How often have we allowed the winds and the waves of the storms we encounter on our journey through this world to divert our eyes and our hearts from Jesus? From His cross? From His holy Word? From His holy Supper? How often have we found ourselves sinking into a sea of doubt because we allowed ourselves to be distracted from the deep, rich, spiritual blessings the good Lord has already given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord and focus on the shallow temporary material blessings that this world holds before our eyes? If ever, whenever we find ourselves in that type of danger, we need to do what Peter did. We need to turn to our Lord and cry out, “Lord, save me!”— and He will!
Secondly, note very carefully that Jesus could have saved Peter by simply speaking a command. Instead Jesus allowed Peter to both feel His love and experience His power by reaching out His hand and taking hold of Peter. Jesus still does this for us, my friends. When we are in danger of sinking into sin or shame, doubt or despair, we cry out to Jesus and say, “Lord, save me!” and out of love Jesus reaches out His nail-scarred hands to lift us up out of a swirling sea of sin and shame, to rescue us from our doubt and despair. How does Jesus allow us to feel His love and to experience His power today? Sometimes He uses a fellow Christian or a pastor to point out our sin and assure us of His forgiveness. (Pointing to the cross) Sometimes He finds a way to lead us to a particular portion of His holy Word to assure us that when Jesus willingly stretched out His hands on the cross of Calvary’s hill— He did so to recue us!
After reaching out His hand to rescue Peter, the Lord also admonished Peter, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Put this admonition into context, my friends. Peter had just seen Jesus feed over 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish! Peter had just stepped out of a boat and started walking on a stormy sea— simply because Jesus said to him, “Come.” The only reason Peter began to sink was because of his own doubt! Instead of joyfully walking toward Jesus like a child walking toward their parent with their arms held out in front of them, Peter looked at the wind and the waves and doubted— doubted that what he was literally doing was possible!
Before we start shaking our heads at Peter we need to ask ourselves, “Have we ever stepped out of a boat and started to walk on water— even for a moment?” To put it another way, has our faith ever allowed us to “step out of the boat” and do something that humanly speaking is impossible— all because Jesus told us that this is what He wants us to do? Notice that Jesus’ question to Peter was not “Why did you come? Why did you step out of the boat?” No, my friends, Jesus’ question to Peter was, “Why did you doubt?” We, of course, know that there is no good answer that Peter could give to Jesus’ question. Right? Why then do we doubt Jesus when the storms of life are swirling around us? Again, there is no good answer to that question, is there.
Thankfully our text does not end on a negative note. Look at what Matthew says in the closing verse of our text, “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’”
This is what we need to take home with us today. When Jesus uses our faith in Him to overcome the doubts that arise in our lives— we need to worship Him! (Pointing to the cross) We need to worship Him by gathering together in His holy Name. We need to worship Him by letting the light of our faith shine brightly in our lives. We need to worship Him by faithfully sharing with others that Jesus— our Jesus!— is “the Son of God”!
Doubt. Our three great spiritual enemies— the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh— will continue to use the adversities we encounter in our life to try to get us to doubt our God, to doubt the promises He has made to us, to doubt what He has done for us. My prayer this morning is that whenever our enemies try to drown us in doubt, we will stay focused on Jesus and listen to Him as He lovingly says to us, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
As Christians we overcome our doubts with faith!
To God be the glory!
Amen