5.27.12--Pentecost Sermon

It was a dark and stormy night, and not a good time to be out in the middle of the sea. The entire crew worked tirelessly to keep their small fishing boat afloat among the waves. Giant swells threatened to capsize the vessel and plunge them all into a watery grave, and ominous clouds darkened the stars that served as the only means of navigation. Everyone was bone tired and on edge.

How many of them were rethinking their vocational choice at that moment? How many of them were thinking that it would have been much better to take up a staff, sit in the shade of a tree, and care for a herd of sheep or cows. Anything, even the life of a shepherd, would be better than dying at sea!

Then, in the midst of this struggle with the sea, someone shouts that they see a ghost among the waves! They cannot help but halt their tasks for a moment to gaze into the night at the awful apparition that is slowly moving their way. Who or what is this thing? What should they do? How should they respond?

And just as panic sets in, they hear an all too familiar voice, a voice full of authority and comfort; it was the voice of their master. “Take courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.” 

Fear was replaced by hope, and then that hope replaced by confusion. How could their master be here, in the middle of the sea, walking on water? One of their number, not necessarily the bravest but by far the loudest, answered the stranger on the surface of the sea, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come out on the water to you!”

His master answered him with one simple word: “Come.”

And Peter immediately climbed out of the boat onto the waves, walking along the surface as he moved gingerly toward Jesus.

As he was walking, though, the reality of the situation came crashing down on him. He was defying the laws of nature! He was walking on water! He shouldn’t be able to do this… in fact, he couldn’t do this. It was not possible. This epiphany filled him with so much fear that he began to sink, the waves around him swallowing him up. He cried out, “Lord! Save me!”

And immediately, Jesus was there, grasping his arm and lifting him back to his feet. “Oh Peter, your faith is so small. Why do you doubt?”

They climbed into the boat, and the wind died down. The disciples were in awe, and whispered among themselves, “Surely, this is the Son of God.”

This is such a well-known story, and contains one of Jesus most-recognized miracles: walking on water. But what really moves me about this story is not that Jesus walked on water, for let’s face it: Jesus is the Son of God and can do whatever he wants. What moves me is that Peter walks on water too!

I’ve tried many times to put myself in Peter’s shoes—they were sandals, by the way—and tried to figure out just what was going on in his head after he heard Jesus’ words to take courage and be not afraid. Why in the world would he demand to be commanded to leave the boat?

Well, I think that this question can be answered by looking at the relationship between a rabbi and his disciple. When a rabbi invited an individual to learn from him, the two of them entered into an agreement: the disciple would follow the rabbi wherever he might go, do whatever the rabbi said to do, and learn what the rabbi had to teach; the rabbi would share his knowledge of the world and of Scripture with the disciple, and when their time together was completed, the disciple would be able to do everything the rabbi did and would know everything the rabbi knew.

When Jesus called Peter and his brother Andrew to follow him, he was inviting them to enter into this relationship with him. He would be their teacher, their rabbi, and they would be his disciples. They would follow Jesus wherever he might go, do whatever Jesus told them to do, and learn what Jesus had to teach them; Jesus would share his knowledge of the world and of Scripture with them, and when their time together was completed, they would be able to everything that Jesus did and would know everything that Jesus knew.

Peter asked Jesus to command him to walk on water because that was the role of the disciple—to follow where Jesus went and to do what Jesus commanded.

Even if that meant walking on water.

Peter, scared to death in a boat he was sure was going to capsize due to the wind and the waves, asks to follow his master into an even scarier situation—walking on the very surface of the sea. He was willing to follow Jesus anywhere, for he knew that this was the role of the disciple. So when Jesus called him out of the boat, he immediately left the security of the boat he knew and climbed into the unknown, into the surging swells of the sea, because that is where Jesus called him to be.

He knew if he was able to go there, to be with his master even in this place, then he truly would be able to learn all that Jesus knew and do all that Jesus was capable of doing.

He got out of the boat and stood with Jesus on the water.

Now, this was not an easy thing. He was very quickly overwhelmed by the magnitude of what was happening, and it was only by Jesus’ direct intervention that he didn’t sink into the sea. But he did it. He stepped out onto the water and walked with Jesus on the waves.

Friends, this is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It means following him wherever he goes, doing whatever he commands, and soaking up everything he teaches. This might mean dropping our personal pursuits to place his will above our own. It might mean standing up for the Gospel even in the midst of hardship and persecution. It might even mean stepping out of our boats of comfort and security and stepping into the chaos and uncertainty of the unknown. This is not an easy path to pursue, but by doing so, Christ has promised that we will come to know as he knows and that we will be able to do as he did.

Like Peter, we will be able to walk on water with our master.

This message is especially important for us to hear today. The truth, brothers and sisters, is that we as Ellisdale UMC (Crosswicks UMC) are struggling in the boat. The wind and the waves of the world are buffeting our ship, and we are on the verge of capsizing. Our numbers are not what they should be, we do not bring in enough monetary support to pay our bills and meet our budget, and, most importantly, we are not doing as much as we can do or should be doing to bring the Gospel of Christ to the world around us.

We have to step out of our boats and walk with Jesus on the water.

If we want to thrive as the church here in this place, we have to do more than what we are currently doing. We have to seek out the needs of our community and prayerfully work to meet them. We have to give more of ourselves to the work of Christ and trust that God will take our meager offerings of tithes, time, and talent and work miracles with and through them. We have to ask God to call us out of our comfort zones and trust that he will care for us in our uncomfortability.

At the last Administrative Council meeting, we talked about the future of the church and what we thought God was calling us to accomplish here in this community at this time. Through this conversation, we developed a six-month goal for the church, a goal that we are going to ask you to join us in completing.

EUMC—Our goal is to have an average worship attendance of at least 20 people at our new monthly healing service. This service is going to be a source of outreach and evangelism for us, and our hope is that through this monthly evening service, we will be able to be witnesses of God’s healing power to a people who are desperately searching for it. This is not an easy goal, and it will not be accomplished without your help and participation. We have fliers that you can pass out and we hope that you will share word of this with your friends and family in the area. Our hope is that others outside of this worshipping community will be blessed through this service, but we will not reach anyone with this message of healing if you do not invite them in.

CUMC—Our goal is to have every worshipping family bring a friend or family member to church on the last Sunday of every month. When we have our fellowship time after the service, we want the fellowship hall full of people, and we want our greeting time during the service to take twice as long because there are twice as many hands to shake. We all love coming to worship and seeing our church family every week, but our family needs to grow, and it cannot do so without the initiative of those already here in the pews. This is a way to celebrate those people that God has placed in our lives, and it is a way to open our doors to people who may have never been to a church service before you invited them.

This is our goal from July to December. It will not be an easy thing, but it will absolutely be a good thing. For some, this will seem like a very easy thing, something that you will take to like a fish to water. For many of you, it will mean stepping out of your comfort zones as you talk to someone about your church and your faith and invite them to be a part of both. Our prayer is that you will meet this challenge head on, and help us meet our goal each month. We cannot do this without the help and support of everyone here.

Let’s step out of the boat together and walk with Jesus on the water. With our master beside us, nothing is impossible.

Today is Pentecost, the day that we celebrate the birth of the church. Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles like tongues of flame, and that they began to witness to Gospel of Christ to all present. Everyone there heard the Good News in his or her own language, and no one could believe what was taking place. Some made excuses and said that the apostles weren’t doing anything special; they were just drunk and rambling like lunatics.

But then Peter stepped out and began to preach to the crowd. Peter, the same disciple who walked with Jesus on water, shared with the multitudes the message that Jesus was the Christ and that salvation was available to all through him. He had followed the master, had done what was commanded and had learned what was shared. And now he was doing as Jesus had done, teaching what Jesus had taught.

This is the kind of disciple Christ calls us to be. Are you ready to answer the call? Are you ready to leave the boat?

So may we all learn the lesson of Peter walking on water. May we learn what it means to truly be Christ’s disciple and to follow the commands of our God even when it means stepping out in the darkness and chaos of the unknown. May we as both individuals and as the church do what Christ commands and learn what Christ teaches so that one day we might be able to do what Christ has done and to know what Christ has made known. And may we always be ready to step out onto the water and walk among the waves with our master. Amen.