Fools For Christ's Sake

Matthew 14:28, 29; 1 Corinthians 4: 10

This event from the life of Jesus was preserved by the early church as being immensely relevant
to its own storm-tossed existence.
Was Christ really a master of the vast, elemental forces of secularism and unbelief that flooded
the world and threatened to sweep the church away.
Should they really take Jesus at His word?
That was the question.
Could it not be foolish to rate His claims too highly?
This occurrence in the life of Jesus also speaks to us today.

The ship was tossed in the fury of the midnight storm.
For the disciples the worst of the situation was that Jesus was not there.
They had left Him ashore when they embarked.
He had gone up into the hills.
He went there to spend the night in solitary prayer.
He wasn't with the disciples.
" If only Christ were here!"

The real troubles and the storms of life come when we have lost our touch with God.
We know exactly how those disciples felt.
We have thought in those difficult days of decision: " If only Christ were here!"
In days of stress, anxiety and emotional distress, we think " If only Christ were here!"
When trouble comes into our lives, we think " If only Christ were here!"
When the world seems so dark and foreboding, we think " If only Christ were here!"

When we do not know how we can possibly face an unknown future, those words come into our mind:
" If only Christ were here!"
At times when temptation is so fierce, we think " If only Christ were here!"

Christ is nearer than we think.
He was praying, and a storm arose.
He knew that His disciples were in urgent danger.
" And in the fourth watch of the night, He went unto them, walking on the sea."

There are those who are here today who have encountered Christ on the seas in their life
as wild and as threatening as on that night.
It is one of the great discoveries of life to learn that stress and need and anxiety will bring
the Lord Jesus near to us.
When the whole world is in confusion, as it is today, tossing on a sea of troubles, the Lord is here.
" He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm."

When your own life is submerged in perplexities and bewilderments, then it is time to look up
and lift up our head for we are in the presence of God.
This happened to the disciples out on the raging sea, but the disciples did and recognize Him at first.
They cried, " What's that?"
As they looked through the lashing tempest and the dark.
They cried out in terror:" It's a ghost!"

Why didn't they know Him?
The answer is that the night was dark, and the ship was tossing, and their hearts were gripped with fear.
How could they know Him?

Jesus, hearing the cry of His disciples spoke to reassure them.
" It is I."
It was not a ghost.
Jesus said, " It is I, be not afraid!"
So through the darkness comes a voice that steadies them and controls them.
" It is I!"

Jesus is here in our bewildered generation.
Jesus is here in our frustrated, frightened world.
Jesus is here in this house of God.

Simon Peter wanted to make sure that it was Jesus.
" Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water."
This was just like Simon Peter.

No other disciple was ready to walk to Christ on the water.
Not all your life.
The storm might have shaken them out of their wits, but at least they had enough of their wits
to cling to this last security, and to hold on to the boat.

When the disciples heard what Peter was asking to do, they must have told him,
" Get back in the boat, you fool! Have you lost your mind?
You fool, to get back in the boat!"

Take a look at Simon Peter as he climbs out of the boat to go to Jesus.
Many today would say that there is no place in our religion to be impulsive
and that he should not have done it.
Humanly speaking, to step out of that boat or even to attempt to step out of the boat was foolish.
He shouldn't have done it!
And, if he had drowned, " They would have said, 'I told him so!' "

Many would say that Mary should not have shattered her lovely precious alabaster box
on the feet of Jesus.
Many would say that four men with the paralytic friend should not have torn up the roof to get to Jesus.
Many would have said that Matthew should not have left his good job and his good income
to go and follow Jesus.
Many have probably said that Father Damien should not have exposed himself to leprosy.
Many probably said that Albert Sweitzer should not had buried himself in Central Africa.
What amazing preprosperous, fantastic things that people do for Jesus.

So here is Peter with the storm in his face, and the cry upon his lips,
" Lord, bid me come to Thee."
This is the man that Christ wants.
Christ needs Christians today who will be fools for his sake.

Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus.
Paul cried, " We are fools for Christ's sake."

People will do for love what they would never do for money.
And many men and women in love with Jesus have been fools for Christ's sake.
" Jesus, my Lord, I Thee adore;
O make me love Thee more and more."

Peter said, " Lord, bid me come to Thee on the water."
Jesus didn't say, " What? Are you crazy? Get back into the boat before you drown!"
No Jesus didn't say that.
Jesus said, " Come!"
He told him to come.

Father Damien prayed, " Lord, bid me come to the island of lepers."
Jesus answered, " Come!"

Albert Sweitzer prayed, " Lord, bid me come to Africa."
And Jesus said, " Come!"

There have been young men and young women who have prayed:
" Lord, bid me come and serve You on the other side of the world."
And Jesus said: " Come!"

I had a cousin named Annie Rines who prayed:
" Lord, bid me come and serve as a nurse in Africa."
And Jesus said: " Come!"

The heart surgeon who performed a four bypass surgery on my heart is the father of three young ladies.
Those three young ladies prayed: " Lord, bid us come and serve you in foreign countries."
And Jesus said: " Come!"
One daughter serves God in Cuba.
Another daughter serves God in Beirut.
The third daughter serves God in Afghanistan.

Jesus commands us to " Come walk with Me across the waters."
If that call comes to you, you must not answer: " That kind of sacrifice is not for me.
It is futile to imagine that I could do anything of that magnitude."
But by the grace of God you can, and I can.

Even if we have been defeated 100 times, and even if life has gone terribly wrong,
and has left us wretched and miserable and ashamed -- still, we must go.
Christ is challenging us today to break away from the dull tedious mediocrity of a conventional religion.
He summons us daily to fresh paths of high adventure, and to walk where He walked.
He is challenging us to love and trust as He loved and trusted.
He is challenging us to follow the Father's will wherever it leads us as He did.
He is challenging us to make life lovely with the beauty of holiness.

Is this just folly? Perhaps.
But we must never for get that it is Jesus Himself who sanctions it.
"Lord, bid me come."

" When Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus."
This tells us of the secret.
As long as Peter kept his eyes fixed firmly on Jesus, he succeeded in walking on the water.
As long as his gaze was riveted on Jesus, his course was straight ahead.
It was when his attention was momentarily diverted that he looked at the black terrifying water around him,
that things went really bad.

" When he saw all the wind boisterous, he was afraid.
He began to sink."

That phrase, " beginning to sink," is most significant.
That is the crucial point.
The thing had not actually happened.
He was just beginning to sink.

The disciples could not have noticed that Peter was sinking.
Outwardly, he seemed to be mastering the waves and walking on the water.
But Peter knew the difference.
He knew something was going wrong.
He was beginning to sink.

It is that first stage which is so crucial, whether it is on the Sea of Gennesarth or on the sea of life.
There is often nothing to show for it when a life is beginning to lose stability and starting to sink,
and could possibly go down beneath the waves.
The change may may not even be perceptible.

Perhaps there is someone here who is outwardly still prosperous, and still captain of his destiny,
and still walking bravely in the way of God's commandments, but he knows better.
His hold on spiritual principles has slackened.
His standards are deteriorating.
He has lost the blessedness that he knew when he first saw the Lord.

No one would even dream of saying that he has sunk.
For he has not sunk, but the crisis is that he is beginning to sink.

Peter suddenly felt it, and knew it, and immediately above all the roar of the tempest,
he cried aloud: " Lord, save me!"

We do not need to bring elaborate explanations to God when life is beginning to get us down.
He knows.
He understands.
He cares.

" Immediately, Jesus stretched forth His hand and caught him."
" O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
Did you think I would bid you come to Me on the waters, not give you strength to do it?"

And now, our Master is looking straight at us, and asking,
" Why is your faith so small?"
Did you think that God would ask you to face an impossible task and not provide
the spiritual resources that you needed?
Did you imagine that God would command you to come and commit your troubled heart to Him,
and let you drown for your obedience?
Did you think that God would call you to minister and witness, and not be there to help you?
" O ye of little faith, why did you doubt?"

" When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee."

So, the Master rescued His disciple, and they reached the boat, and the storm calmed down.
Now notice this.
" Then they that were in the ship worshiped Him."

And we, like those disciples, have seen the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep,
and we who know that God's hand is controlling history and also that of our own individual experience.
So, we should get down on our knees beside the disciples at the bottom of the boat.
We should be ashamed when we give Him only a fraction of the loving gratitude
that we should have given.
We should be ashamed when we give him our left-overs.

" They that were in the church worshipped Him."
He who can still the waters in the waves -- to Him be glory for ever and ever.

Sermon by Dr. Harold L.