Matthew 14:22-33 "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.”
The breakthroughs that demonstrate who Jesus is are not just the ones he performs independently from his Church, but also the ones he does in us, with us and through us. When Peter saw Jesus do something, he wanted to do the same.
So Peter wanted to walk on water and Jesus let it happen, as he wanted us to understand that we are all called to the ministry of the miraculous. Stepping out of the boat is our story. It is who we are. We don’t want to stay in the boat. When we see what Jesus is doing, we want to be part of it. We are not to stay in the boat. We don’t stay in the safe zone. We get out of our comfort zone to be where Jesus is.
The boat represents many things. It represents the majority and what they are doing. But we have been called to be adventurous for God. We have been called to be innovators. The mentality of boat-sitters is that if people come to church on Sunday, that’s enough. The mentality in most of the western church is that only leaders have been called to minister and the rest can warm the pews. But we are all ministers! That is nothing short of a revolution. The additional job of those separated for fivefold ministry of being apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors and evangelists is to equip the rest to do the work of Jesus Christ.
It is boat mentality when we think that all we need to do is to attract people. We try to attract people with great programs, great teaching and great music. And then someone else opens a more ‘attractive’ church down the road!
The Church has become a marketplace, as churches compete with their service offerings. But this is consumer Christianity. Sure, we don’t want to be repulsive but Jesus was willing to dismiss the crowds when they had become mere spectators. We have an earthly church model. We do need to attract people to be able to send them to the mission field of America and the world, but our mission isn’t to build an entertainment zone for Christians.
Peter got it right. He wanted to go where Jesus was. And that is radical discipleship. A supernatural breakthrough creates a passion for radical discipleship, and we want to see every church member out of the boat, living in breakthrough for Jesus.
Yes, Peter sank. Many times when you step out of the boat you sink! Disciples aren’t perfect. But Peter sank only because he took his eyes off Jesus. So when your keep your eyes on Jesus you can walk on water and do the impossible.
God is saying to the church, "Step out of the ordinary into the extraordinary! Step out of an empty tradition into a living relationship with Christ! Dare to do things differently."
What is your boat? Often, you can step out of one boat and get onto another one. So easily, our accomplishment becomes our comfort. Remember, there is always one more step to take when walking on the water with Jesus. You need obedience and faith to do that. You need to know who you are. And you need to know that anyone who walks with Jesus will always get to the right destination.
This is all supernatural. It is natural to want to stay in the boat. But the wind will remain contrary as long as you stay in the boat. Peter sank. Like Peter, we are weak, frail, and fallible human beings. But the call has never been about us. It has always been about Jesus and about what he commands, and Jesus is inviting us to come and walk on water. He is declaring spiritual breakthrough.
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