In a slight change to what I’ve been doing with this so far, I thought that today I’d give you my sermon notes for this morning to read. Hopefully this what I’ll say when I get up to preach. I hope you find them useful!
Good morning, it’s a real pleasure to be with you once again. Thank you for your kind welcome to Jo and myself in the last few weeks. We really feel like we are starting to settle in and feel part of things in the Emmanuel Group already, which is a real joy for us.
This morning I want to talk about two key things which can be huge drivers in our lives, trust and fear. We’ll look at two stories, the first Elijah hiding in a cave in 1 Kings 19 to escape his own destruction, and the second Jesus, and then Peter’s walking on the water as the disciples are saved from a storm a good distance from the shore. I hope that we will see from these stories the terrible consequence that fear can have in our lives, and the tremendous positive it can be to instead trust God with our lives, and follow in His way.
I drove a speedboat once. Imagine it if you will. On a school trip on the South coast. I remember the thrill as the boat crested the waves. I felt so powerful. It was one of those times when you understand why you are alive. Nothing can go wrong. You have all the power you could ever need. It all makes sense. But then something does, in fact go wrong. In my case it was that I drove too fast, and required the steadying hand of an instructor to keep me from crashing, capsizing, or worse. In the moment where it all went wrong I was gripped by fear. From having been in complete, somewhat arrogant control just a moment before, now I felt completely unable to do anything to save myself. Fortunately, the instructor was an expert, who had been readying himself for exactly this kind of eventuality and was easily able to rectify my mistakes, chastise me slightly and make me realize that even though I knew something about how to drive a speedboat, because he had told me how to do it, and that I knew that I had the potential to have the capability to do it well, I did not have all of the experience and capabilities which the instructor did have. It was lucky that he was there to rescue me that day, otherwise I wouldn’t be here with you this morning.
It’s easy for us to think that we have everything that we could possibly need, that we do not need anything outside of ourselves. Humans can be greedy, self-serving, we can be prone to putting ourselves before others. One of the primary things that we see as we look around our world, this week of all weeks, is the tendency that we have, to operate out of fear. All over the world we see injustice being lived out, pain and suffering being caused, as individuals, groups and nations continually prove that they are unable to successfully coexist with one another. Instead we must prove that we have the power and the authority to live as we want to, often to the detriment of other people.
In our 1st reading this morning, from 1st Kings chapter 19, we find Elijah running away in fear from the responsibility of proclamation given to him by God. In what would be a standard old Testament theophany, appearance of God to man, we find wind, earthquake and fire passing by Elijah on the mountain, but as the writer of first Kings tells us, The Lord was not in any of them. After this in verses 12 and 13, Elijah hears a gentle whisper, which causes into draw his cloak about his face and go and stand at the mouth of the cave. Notice that the writer does not here say that the Lord was in the small voice. It is all too easy for us to assume that this was what drew Elijah out, but was it? Arguably what the reading actually tells us is that, having had quite an experience with wind, earthquake and fire, Elijah comes out in the calm, and God is then able to regain his attention. In spite of what seem like quite justified quibbles in verse 14 about his own safety, Elijah isn’t able to sway God. Living in his fear, he doesn’t know better. God has called, and equipped him perfectly for the task of proclamation that is before him. Elijah, humanly speaking, was probably quite right to be worried. I expect most of us would be if we found ourselves in his situation, but as I said, God had called him and would go with him as he went on in his journey of service. Are there things this morning that we think God might have called us to but from which we are hiding in a cave? Are we preserving ourselves, thinking we know better? Are we perhaps even afraid? If we are then we’re in good company, but the message of Elijah is that, in the end, he had to trust God, and much fruit was born from that trust.
Moving to our gospel reading for this morning, Matthew 14, we find Jesus, having just fed the 5000, and revealed something of who He was to His disciples, sending them away, so that He could withdraw and be with His Father. Matthew is clear that Jesus was alone up the mountain. He is also clear that, as the disciples had been sent out in the boat, they were far from the shore “buffeted by the waves, because the wind was against them”. We then see that, as they were in great distress, Jesus came to them walking on the water.
This should make us sit up and take notice. Walking on the water isn’t exactly normal, everyday behavior. It could be here that Matthew is drawing the attention of his readers to the fulfilment of Job 9:8 “He alone spreads out the heavens and walks upon the waves of the sea”, or is making allusions to Habakkuk 3:15 “You stepped on the sea with Your horses, on the waves of many waters.” But it is crucial to remember also that Matthew’s purpose in his gospel is to present the humanity of Jesus, as well as his divinity. Jesus is the Jewish messiah for Matthew because he fulfills all the human characteristics He needed to have in order to do so. Rather than trying to prove who He is here, He is coming to the aid of His friends who are in distress. Although this story undoubtedly does show something of who Jesus was, it is important, for Matthew, that it be shown that Jesus was able to save them because He trusted God. This is emphasized by the conferral of the power to walk on water to Peter. He only loses that power when he stops trusting Jesus, and starts trusting in himself and notices the circumstances that he’s in. Then he’s chastised by Jesus. Jesus has given him the instruction, “come”, simply come, not to worry about how he was going to get there or what it might look or feel like, and for a few short moments, Peter did simply come, and he was making it. It was only when he complicated matters that he was in trouble.
So, are we all called to walk on water, or like me, are we all going to find the nearest speedboat, jump in and hope for the best? I don’t think that’s entirely the point, but in a sense, the point that Matthew is making in his telling of this story is that, yes, Jesus is the son of God; yes He does have authority over the natural world (see also the feeding of the 5000, the earlier calming of the storm) but also that, through Him, these things are available to us too. Do we fear that the real power of the Spirit isn’t for us, for whatever reason? I know I do sometimes. I hear stories of miracles, of the supernatural intervention of God in situations and circumstances and I think “no, not for me”. Or perhaps in another sense, I’d rather be limited by my situation and circumstances, by what I can see and know, and I don’t trust Jesus, when He calls me to follow after Him doing even greater things than He has done. Ultimately, it is fear, and a lack of trust, that keeps me from living the life that could be mine. I think that goes for many of us all too often, but I can’t speak for you!
God wanted Elijah to trust Him, so that He could show Elijah something of His glory. Jesus walked on the water to help His friends, and to show something of possibility that is available to us because of who He is and what He has done.
We are who we are because of God. He knew us from before creation, calling us in to being to be with Him, and drawing us towards Him throughout all of history. He is eternally calling us towards Him and, in Jesus, steps inside human history, and the story of our lives, so that we might have life, and have it to the full. Whatever kind of life we’ve lived, or are living today, the offer of life, love, hope and a future is open to us, because of the goodness and greatness of God. Because Jesus died and rose again, the way to God need never be closed to us again. We are offered a choice. Will we trust Jesus enough to walk on the water towards Him, at the same time knowing that He will reach out and save us “immediately” if we ask Him, or do we want to live in fear? I know which one appeals to me more. It’s a case, every day, of asking God, “show me a new way to trust you today.” It might be a brave step, you might have made it many times before, but consider again making the choice to trust God today. He is your saviour, your shield and your defender, and He is waiting for you. When we’ve done that, let’s live to be a sign to the world that trusting God, rather than ourselves, and not fearing what we do not know or understand, is a real, viable alternative as a way of life. Let’s be a sign in the world that we have a way of life which works, and live to glorify God in everything we do this week.
Amen