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Getting out of the Boat

On Sunday at the Underground Service, I spoke on Matthew 14 and Jesus asking Peter to get out of the boat, and walk towards him on the water.

Just before this occurs, Jesus has sent his disciples after the miracle of feeding 5,000 men with their families from the  small packed lunch of a child.  Imagine having been there to see that.  Imagine seeking that miracle!  Do you not think that  we did it would birth faith in us?  Here is a miracle that is not so easily explained away, unlike some that we see today.  We are, I believe, to eager to explain miracles away and put them down to science, medicine, or some other reason.  Well, this is not exactly where I think God wants us to be.  God is in the business of Miracles, and he always has been – he is still working today, the same as he was through the feeding of the 5,000+.  Whatever medium he chooses to use, a miracle is still a miracle.

I wonder what miracles you might have experienced in your life?  Think about it, without trying to explain them away.  What have you seen, what have you experienced, that has helped to birth faith in you?

I can share quite a few examples, from the healing of family members, and myself come to think of it, to seeing friends releases from bondage and oppression.  I have seen God step in and provide for me in times of trouble.  These acts my friends, when we call them as they are, as they should be strengthen our resolve, deepen our relationship with Christ, and fortify that foundation which we stand on.  Miracles happen and they borsht faith in us.

Returning to the story of Peter, and we have the disciples in the boat, and Jesus has gone up a mountain to pray.  This is very important, and we have to make sure we don’t miss it.  When we see, or play our part in a miracle, we need to give thanks to God in prayer – we need to connect with God on a deep and meaningful level.

When we are connected to God ion this way.  When we spend time with him given thanks for the things that he has done, and asking him to keep sustaining us for the things that are to come, then we are more able to tune into what he is saying to us today.   What is that, you might ask?  I believe that God is wanting us to hear the words which Jesus spoke in response to the disciples fear as they sat in the boat looking out over the lake. “It is I, do not be afraid.” Jesus wants you to know that he is with you, that you don’t need to be afraid, and if he is with you then nothing can stand against you.

Peter responded to Jesus asking for confirmation, and when he received it, he didn’t wait around, or double check to make sure that things were safe enough to proceed, he got up, got out of the boat, and started to walk towards Jesus – on the water!  You see when God calls us, he equips us.  Peter cannot walk water any more than you or I can, but with Jesus’ instruction, in following and being obedient to the word, it became possible.

But then we see Peter at his best.  He is there, he is doing it, he is being obedient and things are working out brilliantly – He’s walking on water!  But he loses focus, he takes his eyes of Jesus, his attention is drawn tot he waves, and fear sets in. I love Peter, because I can relate to him so much.  I get things wrong so often, but I learn from the example that Peter sets for us, because whenever he is in trouble he comes back to God, he repents and on this occasion he calls out “Lord, save me!”  Can  you not relate to that?

The main thing I am learning from having invested time into this passage of scripture, and I want to challenge you to consider is this.  Peter got out of the boat.  His faith was there, even if fear stepped in moments later.  Jesus called him, Peter came, Peter fell, then Jesus picked him up and brought him to safety in the boat once more.

We need to be more willing to step out of the boat.  but we need to make sure that in doing so we keep our eyes fixed on jesu, the way, the truth and the life.

But remember also that even in our failures, we can increase our faith.  even when we mess up, and we don’t quite get as far as wee wanted to, to thought that we should, we at least took the first step – and Jesus is there to pick us up every time, again and again.

Faith is important, but know this, it doesn’t have be enormous.  We justness to be willing to step out of the boat as see what happens, calling out to Jesus when it gets a bit rough and having him help us out.  Jesus himself said that all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed and we can move mountains.

I’d love to have faith that size, without equivocation, each and every day – but if I’m honest some day’s all I can do is call out “Lord, save me!”  And i think god everyday that he shows up, and everyday he does I am more secure in the knowledge the He is with me and he is for me, and because of this nothing can stand against me.

You might have heard people say that faith is spelt RISK.  Well I would say if you have heard that forget it.  My experience is that faith is spent SURE – because stepping out the boat when we are called by Jesus really has no risk involved – it’s simply surrounding to him over crippling fear that wants us to think we are taking risks, where there is no risk at all there is security in Christ Jesus.

Pastor Dan Hetherington

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What’s the Loudest Voice You Hear?

On Sunday I spoke on the Parable of the Lost Son, from Luke 15, and asked the question of how loud do we let the voices of the world drown out the voice of God?

There are many voices in this world, and these voices can be loud!  These voices can be full of promise, they tell us that we must go out and prove ourselves – they can be very seductive.  I believe that when we let these voices dictate our lives, that we begin to live in  a similar way to that of the Younger Son.  A life where we are want to be in full control, where we turn to the Father and say ‘thanks, but i don’t need or want you anymore.’

But how harmful this can be.  Turning away from a loving embrace, a voice that speaks love and joy in to our lives, that declares you to be a child of God.  As I think of it, I am drawn to Jesus’ baptism, and his coming up out of the water to the spirit descending on him in the form of a dove, and that voice of the father coming from heaven, saying, ‘this is my son, with him I am well pleased.’

As soon as that had taken place, and Jesus had heard those words spoken over him, he went out in to the desert and was tempted three times by the Enemy.  The voices challenged him, telling him he had to prove himself worthy of the Father’s love, that he needed to be successful, popular, and powerful.  We need to watch out for these voices, and when we heard them whispering in our ear, we need to come against them with the unequivocal truth that this love given to us by the Father is a totally free gift – we don’t need to prove a thing.  These voices need to be squashed in their infancy before they are allowed to grow into booming barrage of abuse.

Then there are the voices of this world which the older son hears.  Voices which declare he has been wronged, he should hold a grudge, that his complaints are valid, and that he doesn’t need to ask for forgiveness, because he is better than his younger brother.

The older son, actually let’s this complaint of his heart paralyse him.  He let’s the darkness that come with this engulf him, because these voices are given fuel to grow.   In the end we see that in not being able to forgive his younger brother, he stops himself from being able to enter his Father’s house – entering place of great love and joy.

I think that both son’s in this parable wronged their father in different ways, and we can very easily follow either of their examples.  Personally I think that it is easier to seek forgiveness when acting as the younger son did.  He left, he did wrong, he wasted what was given to him, and then it hit him – how much of a idiot he had been.  When we do stupid things, we know it, it is clear for others to see, and when we have accountable relationships it is easier for those people to speak into our lives and help us back on the path of reconciliation. But when we act as the older son, when we take being obedient, dutiful, self-sacrificing, dedicated, and hardworking, to and for the worshipping community to which we belong, as being the most important thing – then we allow ourselves to be caught up in complaints and resentments which have been caused by those God honouring attributes.  We place ourselves outside the light, which his a place where sin cannot be confessed, forgiveness cannot be received, loves embrace cannot be met, and therefore communion with God becomes impossible.

The number one thing in our lives needs to be relationship with God.  Those things which help us to draw close to him, and to serve him and the Church are great – but we need to guard our hearts from allowing the voice of the Enemy, tempting us away from the warm and living embrace in the Father’s arms.

We are all sinners.  That should be our response whenever we come to the Lord.  It doesn’t matter what role we play in the story – wether we act as the younger son, or older son – your response should be one of repentance, and turn gin around to start an new way of life, a life more in line with what God wants for us.

We have a choice to make, do we choose to listen to the voices of the world, allow them to grow inside of us, and bring us to a place of imprisonment and self-rejection, or do we turn to the Father and let his voice be the loudest we hear.

Dan Hetherington

Pastor