FEAR FACTOR

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before
Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when
He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by
Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the
boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the
wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to
them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on
the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a ghost! And they cried out
for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good
cheer! It is I; do not be afraid. And Peter answered Him and said,
Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. So He
said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he
walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind
was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out,
saying, Lord, save me! And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand
and caught him, and said to him, O you of little faith, why did you
doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then
those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, Truly
you are the Son of God. When they had crossed over, they came to
the land of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized
Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all
who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of
His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.
--Matthew 14:22-33
I love the internet. I love getting email, because people find
things for me and pass them along. Like this week, with this passage
coming up about walking on the water, and people start sending me
stuff that fits. I received one this week about a church that had just
had a change of ministers and was to be served by their first woman
pastor. One of the parishioners was having a hard time accepting it,
not because of any prejudice, but because his favorite pastime was
fishing, and he had always enjoyed taking the pastor fishing. He just
automatically assumed a woman pastor might not know anything
about fishing. And in this particular case, he was right. But when she
found out that he had always had this relationship with pastors in the
past, she approached him and announced that whenever he wanted to
go, she would enjoy going fishing with him. The time came when they
decided to go, and when they had gotten into the boat and anchored
down, he found out very quickly that she knew nothing about baiting a
hook, so he had to bait the hook for her. When she hooked her first
fish, he realized she knew nothing about how to reel it in, so he had to

help her reel it in. Then, of course, he had to take the fish off the hook
as well. The result was that the man really got no fishing done himself
that day. Then the wind began to blow, and she was cold, so she
mentioned that she should have brought her jacket from the car. When
he suggested that he could pull up the anchor and take her back to get
it, she said, Oh no, dont bother, Ill get it myself. And with that, she
stood up, got out of the boat, and began walking across the water to
the shore. The man sat there shaking his head sadly. Just like I
figured, he muttered, Cant swim either.
And somebody else sent me one about three people in heaven
who decided one day to play a round of golf at the heavenly country
club. The first man stepped up to the tee, hit his drive, and watched as
it headed straight for the water hazard. Just as the ball was about to
land in the water, he raised his club, pointed it out over the water, and
the waters parted, allowing the ball to land on dry ground. He walked
out between the two columns of water, and hit a perfect second shot,
right in the middle of the green. One of his partners said, Wow, good
shot, Moses! The second man walked up to the tee, hit his drive, and
watched as it took a nearly identical flight path, straight toward the
water. But when the ball hit, it landed and stayed right on top of the
water. He walked out across the water and hit a second shot which
was also identical, landing at the center of the green. Moses told him,
Hey, thats a pretty good shot yourself, Jesus! Then the third man
came to the tee box, teed up and hit his drive. The drive took a nasty
slice and went straight into the trees, caroming off in the wrong
direction, heading for the out-of-bounds marker. Right at that moment,
a squirrel who happened to be nearby saw the ball and thought it
might be good to eat, so it grabbed the ball and started running
towards the fairway. When the squirrel was about halfway across the
fairway, suddenly an eagle swooped down out of nowhere and grabbed
the squirrel in its claws, flying away with both squirrel and ball. Just as
the eagles flight took it across the green, it lost its grip on the squirrel
and dropped it. The squirrel landed flat on its belly, jarring the ball
loose, which then took two bounces and landed squarely in the center
of the cup. Moses cast a disgusted glance at Jesus and said, Thats
why I cant STAND to play golf with your Dad.
Well, I seriously doubt whether there are golf courses in heaven,
but if there were, and if God ever played, I imagine He might have a
trick shot or twobecause, after all, He IS God. And a main point that
Matthew makes for us as he shares this story with us is Jesus is the
divine Son of God. That statement had been made earlier by Peter,
and is reaffirmed in the story of this miracle of Christ. I have always
been fascinated with this story, and it seems that I come away from
the study of it with something new each time I come back to it.

I noticed something this time that was new to me, not something
obvious, but a theme which is present as a sort of undercurrent. It
caught my attention that the disciples, who traveled with Him and
were with Him day to day, did not recognize Him when they saw Him
coming to them on the water. But then when they land the boat, the
men of Gennesaret recognize Him almost immediatelymen who
probably would not have been very familiar with Himalthough Jesus
had certainly traveled from time to time in the region, which was near
Capernaum. Then I couldnt help but notice also that these Jewish
disciples responded to Jesus with a reaction of fear and doubtwhile
the Gentile men of Gennesaret respond in faith, even faith strong
enough to believe that all they had to do was touch the hem of His
garment to be healed. So you have this minor theme underneath the
main story of doubtful Jews contrasted against Gentiles of strong faith.
The theme emerges more strongly in the next chapter, as Jesus is
confronted by scribes and Pharisees on the practice of cleanliness, and
Jesus corrects their understanding by speaking of things that truly
defile. Matthew follows that exchange with Jesus encounter with the
Canaanite dog woman, and Jesus marvels at the strength of her
faith.
The appearance of this theme within the context of this
discourse addressing faith issues, tells us that
I. FAITH IS NOT ALWAYS TO BE FOUND IN THE PLACES OR PEOPLE
WHERE WE ASSUME IT IS MOST LIKELY TO BE FOUND
For one thing, faith is not always to be sought for in our spiritual
leaders. A very strong reminder of that comes to us in the news
stories concerning the present struggles of our Catholic brothers and
sisters. And for many within our own tradition, the temptation to throw
stones at doctrinal stances is hard to resist. But we all would do well to
be warned that we are not immune, and we are in no way on any kind
of pedestal above those things.
Neither is faith always to be found in our institutions or
denominations. I find a rich nurture and meaning within our own
tradition, but I would in no way desire to claim exclusivity for our
denomination, or even for the institutional church. I was reminded of
that as I took CPE training at St. Francis Hospital in Charleston, where
we were instructed to remember in ministering to patients that being
Christian was not something that was bound by church walls. In one
of my visits with a patient there, I got an even stronger reminder that
for whatever reasons, there are a lot of believers strong in the faith
whom we will not find within the church walls.
I went to visit with a young man who had a fairly serious surgery.
He had just been medicated and was very groggy when I arrived, and
was very soon fast asleep. In the room were his mother and two

brothers, and we began talking. I found out that they knew a fellow
Methodist minister I had met, and that opened things up, with the
result that we talked for nearly an hour. During the conversation, one
of the brothers shared that he used to have a good relationship with
the Methodist church in his hometown. He had been a
semiprofessional fisherman at one time, and used to take some very
large catches home, clean them, and then donate them to the church,
which had a ministry of preparing meals for the elderly and the needy.
But when the church had a change of pastors, the new pastor for some
reason was not happy with some aspect of that ministry and it was
shut down. I could tell by this young mans remarks that he had been
very hurt by this action, and that he had also withdrawn from the
church as his connection to God and spirituality. He shared how he had
communion with God through being out in nature and around the
beauty of Gods creation. I came away with no doubts about this
mans deep spirituality and trust in God, and I believe that very often
we will encounter this kind of faith from people we might otherwise
dismiss as unbelieving.
But take another look at Peter now, and notice something else
with me. We tend to admire the boldness of Peter, especially in this
story where he casts aside his fears and attempts the impossible. But
was this genuine faith? I cant help but notice the way he makes this
statement to Jesus. He could have said, Lord, command me to come
to you. But he didnt. Instead, he says, Lord, IF IT IS YOU, command
me to come to you. I dont know about you, but I see DOUBT in those
words. I even see TESTING in those words. And yet, in spite of his
doubts, when Jesus gives the command, Peter steps out in faith, which
says to me, in light of the circumstances,
II. FAITH IS OFTEN FOUND IN THE PLACES AND PEOPLE THAT WE
THOUGHT WERE THE LEAST LIKELY
Who would have expected to find faith in the middle of a storm in
the middle of the night that threatened to drown them? Thats what
Peter didat least briefly, anyway. But that should be no surprise to
us, after all. Because I have found that very often it takes a storm to
bring out our faith and make it shine. I was reminded of that as I
remembered the words of the song I sang here last week (which it now
looks like I sang prematurely, as it goes better with this message than
last weeks), The Anchor Holds by Ray Boltz. One of the stanzas in
that song tells us, But it was in the night, through the storms of my
life/Thats where God proved His love to me.
You see, FAITH IS NOT ALWAYS CONSTANT. It shifts in proportion
to our focus on Christ and His promises. Low periods in our lives can
have a TREMENDOUS downpull on us spiritually. But the anchor that

holds our faith in place is the sure promise of God, so that we could
say,
III. FAITH RISES AND FALLS IN PROPORTION TO OUR ABILITY AT ANY
GIVEN MOMENT TO SEE AND BELIEVE THE PROMISES OF GOD
And there is nothing that will get your eyes off the faithfulness of
God any more quickly than facing difficult circumstances in your life.
Jesus gave us one promise that we would probably rather not claim:
In the world you shall have tribulation. Trouble is a universal. And if
we are not careful, we will, when faced with adversity, slowly begin to
let WORRY take the place of PRAYER in our lives. We will being to read
the pattern of our circumstances instead of the Word of promise, in an
attempt to make sense of it all. We will begin to face the raging sea
by trying to withdraw and become an island, instead of connecting with
other believers to make ourselves a solid wall to hold back the troubled
waters. It all amounts to the same mistake Peter made here when he
took his eyes off the Lord Jesus.
I remember a friend I had several years ago who just loved fast
cars. He was particularly fond of Trans Ams, and owned several over
the years. Now let me say this, that I never was a hot-rodder myself,
and if I had my choice would rather not get in the passenger seat with
one either. But I trusted Jim, because I knew enough from the times I
had ridden with him that he was as good a driver as I had ever seen. I
learned that the night we were headed down the road doing about 50,
and he said Watch thisand with a downshift and a whip of the
wheel, he suddenly had us in the opposite lane going the other
directionlaughing the whole time at his discovery that I had a few
tricks myself, like dropping my jawbone all the way to my waistline.
In the countryside west of my hometown of Piedmont, there is a
section of Highway 86 that goes right between two cow pastures,
straight downhill, then straight back up, a distance of probably about a
mile. Several of the hot-rodders around the area were taking it as a
challenge to start on the farther side headed back towards town, and
see how fast they could crest the hill on the other side (it had to be
done at night, of course, to ensure no opposing traffic by observing
headlights). The only problem is, just at the crest of the hill, there is a
Handee Mart store on the left, and right in front of the store the road
makes a very slight turn to the right, and almost immediately, the
same slight turn back to the leftin other words, an essentially straight
road, with a hitch. A number of wrecks had occurred there, one which
was phenomenal in the evidence it left behind: tire skid marks which
went through a pasture fence and then somehow between two trees
that looked as though they might, just MIGHT narrowly allow anything
of that width between them.

At any rate, one night I was in the passenger seat in the car with
Jim, and we just happened to be coming that way, and he asked Are
you ready? and then floored it down the hill. I trusted Jims driving
implicitly, so it wasnt that big a deal to me as we crested the hill and
zipped by the Handee Mart, and I glanced at the panel and noticed we
were doing 120. It wasnt until afterward that he told me no one had
ever done that. In fact, the wreck I described earlier happened at a
speed of 110, and that was the fastest anyone had attempted at that
point. He told me the trick to that particular stretch was in how you
handle the two quick turns. At 120, he said, thats not much of a
turn of the wheel at all, zip-zip, he indicated a very quick turn. Then
he told me something I found revealing: Most people who know about
the danger and about the wrecks will approach that little turn on
double alert, and they wind up watching the trees just behind the turn
instead of keeping their eyes on the road. They end up reacting too
much, and the right wheel leaves the road, and thats that. The key to
making that turn is to watch what the road does the whole way, not
being worried about what might happen. All they can see are the
trees.
Theres a lesson there for usjust as there is a lesson in Peter
looking at the wind and the wavesnot to look at the dangers, but to
look to Christ. The writer of Hebrews tells us, Let us run the race with
endurance, LOOKING UNTO JESUS, the author and finisherof our
WHAT? Our Faith! We find a helpful admonition in Pauls instruction to
Timothy, that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and
of love, and a sound mind. I have never forgotten the statement of a
preacher many years ago, Dr. Eldon Fuhrman of Wesley Biblical
Seminary, who told a group of us Kentucky Mountain Bible College,
Fear is nothing more than confidence in the devil. No wonder when
we fear we begin to sink!
I really was not quite sure how I wanted to end this today,
because you never know from week to week what some individual may
be dealing with on a personal level, especially with the global situation
the way it is now. But let me assure you of one thing today, that if you
are facing a storm in your own life today, Jesus is still an anchor to hold
you in spite of the storm. If you begin to sink, He will still catch you
and life you up.
Have you ever wonderedwhat was Jesus doing walking on the water
in the first place? I mean, I know what our theology has to say as far
as what Matthew does with the story, that in the Old Testament only
God is said to have trod upon the water, and it is one of a number of
strong indicators that Matthew uses to show the true divinity of Christ.
But do we really think that was Jesus purpose in doing this? Did He

really feel He had anything to prove? I tend to think He did it because

He saw a need: the disciples were in trouble, and were fearful, and He
responded. And after all, how else was He gonna get out there in the
quickest way possible? That gives me a lot of assurance that I can
trust Him to be there with me in the storms of my lifeand He has.
But the strong issue that comes back to us here is the wavering
nature of faith, the fluctuation, or ebb and flow we see in it. How are
we to understand that changeableness, to deal with it in positive ways?
I offer you two questions this morning that we may ask ourselves at
any given moment, which may help us along the journey to faith when
faith seems to be fleeting:
(1) Ask yourself, Where has God seemed the most absent in my life
recently? Why? Then, do all you can to DISCOVER THE WHYand
CHANGE it!
(2) Ask yourself, Where has God seemed the most present in my life
recently? Why? Then, do all you can to DISCOVER THE WHYand
CULTIVATE it!
And remember that at ALL times, God is much more present, and far
less absent, than we ever suppose Him to be.