Day 608 - You have to get out of the boat to walk on water

A sermon delivered at New Hope Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, TN, Aug. 10, 2014

Epistle reading: Romans 10:5-15

Gospel reading: Matthew 14:22-33

It is a blessing of faith to know our salvation is secured by confessing (Romans 10:9-10) “with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead… For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.”

But that scripture can seduce us to make the whole idea of salvation an intellectual exercise of faith. Paul’s idea of “works” as a dead end way to grace encourages that seduction. We don’t deserve grace. It is an unmerited blessing so do not try to earn it. But Paul quotes Moses on the Law, “the person who does these things (follows the teaching of the law) will live by them.” So that is what we do, we are carefully penitent, prayerful souls, we pray when we are supposed to pray, go to church, give of our possessions to grow the church.

How many of us fully live the Christian experience in the world that brings the reality of grace home? We can accept, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” and forget that in the same breath Paul said that the standard of compassionate living is not a list of “do’s and don’t but faithful living.  

We need to keep Paul’s words in mind as we think about Jesus and Peter’s willingness to try walking on water. Paul said, don’t try to find Jesus in Heaven and bring him to us, don’t descend into the abyss and raise Christ up to us. Recall for these fishermen, the sea is the abyss, particularly the stormy sea. It is the deep, scary place that holds the sea monster and death.

When it comes to Peter, we are biased, knowing how the Gospel turns out. When Peter gets out of the boat into that stormy, boiling sea, we know Peter is an impetuous guy who always speaks and acts without thinking. We know what is going to happen at the last supper. He is going to jump up and say, “I’ll follow you anywhere,” but denies Jesus three times. Impetuous Peter just jumps out of the boat knowing if he keeps his eye on Jesus he will be ok, but he lets the storm distract him and his thinking and reason get the best of him. “I can’t do this, there is a sea monster down in all that soupy water.” Jesus save me!  Poor Peter, even after all the deathly petrified disciples see Jesus walking towards them on the sea in this storm, and hear him say, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid” all he had to do is just keep his eye on Jesus, praying and staying away from all this danger he would have been ok.  Is that the end of story, message: “Trust in Jesus.” If we jump to that message that we just have to trust in Jesus, we miss most of the point of the story.

I do not know if preacher last week followed the lectionary. It is leading us through Matthew’s story of Jesus, and to help with today’s reading we need to know  what has preceded this story if we want to fully appreciate Matthew’s message.

 The disciples have just finished a miraculous feast for a crowd of 5,000 men plus all the women and children, the story of the fishes and loaves (see day 601 of this blog). Jesus and the disciples are exhausted and emotionally drained. Jesus has just learned from his disciples that his friend and cousin John the Baptist has been executed, heralding the cross. They have been continually working with the crowds of destitute people seeking the healing power of the Good News. They are working so hard with this crowd of miserable humanity that according to Mark 6:34, they can’t even take time to get something to eat. Jesus finally says, we have to get out of here on the boat to the desert on the far shore to get some peace and quiet rest. But the crowd sees them leave and races to meet them as they disembark.

To my mind, Matthew has just painted the picture of a chaotic storm of humanity following Jesus and the disciples to the far shore. Matthew says on his arrival, Jesus has compassion on the crowd of humanity as if they are sheep without a shepherd and began teaching them until it grows late.

It is hard to ignore the symbolism of a storm, even the sheep without a shepherd emphasize it. No one tends and protects them in the stormy uncertainty of the chaos of the night. They wander and get lost. They may fall victim to wolves and wild animals in the terror of the night.

Here in the turmoil of this crowd in the desert as the hour grows late the disciples tell Jesus that he has to stop and send the crowd away to find something to eat because there is nothing here for them. Jesus simply replied, “You feed them. You feed my sheep.”

What happens? They look at this stormy sea of humanity and say, “But Jesus, we can’t feed them, we only have these few morsel of fish and loaves!” Jesus instructs them and the disciples end up feeding everyone with food left over.

Afterwards Jesus tells the disciples to the boat back to the other side while he goes up into the hills to pray. And we pick up our story of Peter and the storm. (You would think maybe that this miraculous experience of the feast would give Peter and the other disciples some confidence that Jesus would take care of them in this storm so strong the wind stranded them out in the middle of the sea far from shore.)

Maybe Matthew may want us to think a little more deeply about what is going on with Peter and this storm. Is Jesus telling us that Christian life in this world is like living in a violent storm that constantly threatens to rip away the very underpinning of our faith?

Paul would answer wholeheartedly, “Yes, the world of flesh is trying its best to drive a wedge between us and God!” When Paul says the world of flesh he does not mean just worldly temptation and sexual lures. Paul uses this word “flesh” to mean the entire fabric of our existence as human beings, as bodies living in the physical world subject to all the lures of its presence that pulls us away from God. Good job, nice pay, entertainment, greed, desire, ambition, new iPhone we do live in a world that is a dangerous storm that threatens our faith.

We do take Paul seriously when he says, “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." We start praying and going to church trying to maintain a penitent life. Maybe I should build a wall against that dangerous world on the outside so I can take care of my own salvation.

But are we reading Paul too simplistically? Are we missing the message in Peter walking on water, and the feast that fed the miserable mass of humanity? Is it about Jesus protecting us from the dangers of this world, or something else? I think it really boils down to whether we are forgetting what Paul said after he described our faith proclamation “Jesus is Lord?”

Paul in his style becomes a pit bull hanging onto its prey here, he will not let up.  He say, “…Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? ¹⁵And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? Did you get that, “How can someone proclaim “Jesus is Lord” unless they are sent? - I send, you proclaim è they hear & believe.

And then pit bull Paul says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the Good News.” - The feet mind you, not the nice haircut, the shiny gold cufflinks, the expensive wristwatch and the shiny Mercedes Benz the pastor drives to impress his flock with the largess of plenty the Gospel brings him – only the beautiful feet.

Paul is really asking, “Do they hear you praying, “Jesus is Lord” in your fortress that keeps the world at bay? Are you praying loudly enough through the thick walls for them to hear you over the roar of the storm of the world of flesh? Can they see you through the walls?

Paul, who almost certainly never read the first word of a Gospel has received the same message Jesus gave his deathly frightened disciples out on that stormy sea, when he said, “Have courage, do not be afraid, it is me who calls you. Feed my sheep.” That my friends is our true vocation, to glorify God and enjoy his grace forever.

I can’t overemphasize how important the church is to our life. It is a fortress that in a most ironic way keeps its door flung fully wide open to that storm of humanity we call the world of flesh. It is not a hiding place but it is a hospital for sinners, a place we come to recharge our batteries, to be uplifted by the faith of our brothers and sisters who walk in the world with us. That is why I don’t like the world “church” to describe us as much as the word “congregation.” It acknowledges our common humanity and commitment to proclaiming in word and deed that, “Jesus is Lord.”  It is so easy for us to lose sight of what “deed” means in this storm of the world of flesh.

Perhaps I can put this story of Peter and Paul into context with my own experience. It is an understatement to say that I have had a good life and that my good life was seditious to my relationship with God in a very subtle way. I grew up in a very religious but humble family. I had parents who encouraged me and found the wherewithal to give the opportunity to get a great education. That education gave me great opportunities for very good jobs that paid well enough that I seldom worried about material things.

I went through my phase of rebellion against my parent’s values and organized religion in the 1960’s and 1970’s but I found my way back in several congregations, most having a surplus of love as well as some full of that stormy world. I taught Sunday school, sang in the choir, chaired committees, was an elder and did all the good Christian things that help sustain the life of the congregation.

But I was entirely too comfortable in my little fortress doing all the things I thought I needed to do. Even though one pastor in Atlanta and another in Chattanooga at Northside Presbyterian Church asked me the same question years apart, “Henry have you ever thought about going to seminary?” my answer was, “No. Thank you very much but I’m working pretty hard here in this congregation."

 What I did not say but was thinking was, “No thank you I’ve got a nice job, a family and I’m doing ok serving the Lord the way I’m doing it right now. Besides it is too risky.”

It may have been a innocent coincidence but I participated in a Sunday School program at Northside on a book by John Ortberg (who is the source of the title of this sermon) called, You you want to walk on water you have to get out of the boat. That lesson was ringing in my mind when the hurricane Katrina came into my life. It destroyed coastal Mississippi and after a year of hearing but not understanding all the stories of the suffering, for some reason I was led to go down there with Fountain City PC out of Knoxville.

It was weeklong devastating experience for me. I went down with this idea that I was going to bring my Christian charity and help out; only to experience a spiritual lesson from people who had lost quite literally everything they owned except their faith that they would climb out of this hole. They turned the tables on me becoming the teachers and me the pupil. I learned first hand what faith and sharing a common purpose amidst total destruction meant.  Every day their faith humbled if not humiliated me. I kept wondering, could I have survived this storm and held onto my faith.

I came back to Chattanooga and my very nice engineering job, uneasy knowing something very important had changed. Within a year I decided to get out of my boat. I resigned my engineering job, found employment with PDA as construction manager for the gulf coast with a meager income that supplemented with savings was barely enough to keep my house payment current. Within a few months afterwards I was heading to Mississippi to live in a FEMA trailer hoping somehow I could rent or sell my house rather than go broke. I applied and was accepted to seminary and left behind everything that represented stability in my life, my comfortable high paying job of 30 years experience applying learned science and engineering skills, a group of friends and fellow congregants who had caused me to stay in Chattanooga longer than anyplace I’d stayed in my adult life. To say I stepped into a severe storm understates the case.

Things have never been the same. I’ve been part of some very positive activities in congregations, I choked on a few waves that slapped me in the face in stormy weather, but over all, I got Paul and Matthew’s message.

There is only one way to remain true to our righteousness in faith and that is to respond as Paul said, "For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved…[and answer with action this question] how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?  And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

This is our single vocation, to have Jesus say of us, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Don’t expect that you’ll get all sunshine and smooth sailing because you are living your faith, we know the world is not a rose garden. But do remember Romans10:9-15 is a promise that no storm will separate you from the Lord.

Come on in, get out of the boat, the water is fine, God is good.