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I AM here! A sermon on Matthew 14
I AM here!
Matthew 14: 22-33
As you hear and think about the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, may you realize as well, that is only possible because He is here, with you!
An Interrupted Prayer time?
As I study a passage of scripture to preach on it, I look at other passages that are similar. With the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this is pretty easy, as they cover more than 2/3rds of the same stories.
In this case, Mark’s gospel adds one interesting note, that Jesus’s prayer time, his time talking with God the Father was interrupted. Mark’s gospel adds this little note in
47 Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. 48 He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them, Mark 6:47-48 (NLT)
While Mark doesn’t mention Jesus praying, it does mention that HE SAW THEM!
So Jesus heads out – checks on them as He is passing, and that is when something interesting happens.
No, not their freaking out, as they’ve been struggling for 9 plus hours to row and sail a boat against contrary seas. That isn’t interesting, it is tragic. They are tired, and to see someone walking across the sea, in the midst of a horrible eastern Mediterranean storm… well – it’s got to be supernatural, a phantasmic (not fantastic) experience in Greek.
What is interesting is Jesus response to their cries of fear. I AM here.
Sounds like what I keep telling you, you know, “the Lord is with you!”!!!
The Struggles are Real
We need to know that, and some weeks, and some Saturdays, we need to know it even more.
Sometimes we are like the disciples, tired from fighting contrary winds, feeling like the world is going to overwhelm and drown us. Sometimes the other guys in the boat aren’t much of a help, or at least we don’t thing they are. And the wind – there is nothing we can do…
A few years ago, when Kay came back from a mission trip to Siberia, they had a team reunion near a reservoir in San Diego. The reservoir had little sailboats, brand new, in fact the one she and I got in had never been used!
We found that out as we get maybe 100 feet away from the dock, and the rudder, not fully screwed in , because it decides to float away! Then I notice they didn’t insert the centerboard, so there is nothing to keep the boat stable,, and then of course, the wind picks up.
We got blown across the reservoir, where a park ranger met us. She then told kay to get out of the front of the boat, and I learned they didn’t insert the ballast either, and the boat flips over with only my weight on board! Funny it was.. but more than a bit frustrating!
And we didn’t even get to see Jesus walking on the water, and when I got out – I didn’t walk on it! But life sometimes feels like it was that day, failing miserably, helpless, unable to go where I should, and ending up soaking wet!
But Jesus still sees us struggling, even when we aren’t aware of His presence, or His care for us. We don’t, otherwise we wouldn’t freak out, or scream like the disciples did, in fear of their lives.
We often talk about sin as this action, or that action. This evil thought, or those words that hurt that we say. But sin is also when we ignore God, when we try and play God, or choose things our way.
Please hear me, I am not saying the struggle is sin, absolutely not! By no means! But during the struggle, have we forgotten Jesus? Do we remember He cares? If not sin, or often the effect of sin in our lives is evident, for we’ve lost sight of our Lord, our Deliver.
I am here, compared to I AM HERE
Which is why we need to hear his voice, we need to be reminded of His presence. We need to realize it,, we need to let Him calm our fears, put to rest our anxieties, heal our souls and bring peace to our hearts.
By the way, there is a spelling error on the Bulletin, and I may have set this one up when I told Cris the sermon title.
It isn’t I Am Here…. It is I AM here.
That doesn’t seem like much does it? It would be to Peter and Andrew, James, Hahn, Mathew and the rest. You see, in both Greek and Hebrew, Jesus didn’t just reveal that he was walking by.
He revealed he was God, and that He was involved in their life. You see, that I AM is the I AM Moses heard at the burning bush, it is the name of God that is translated as LORD throughout scripture, the name God gave us to call out to him. Yahweh, Ego Eimi, the I AM THAT IAM . The name that was put on the temple for people to know who to pray to, and of course, the name we aren’t to take in vain, but use to pray and to praise God.
During the storm, and at the cross, God is there for you. In the trauma of everyday life, He answers us, and to finally get to that other guy on the water, He says to us as He did to Peter.
Don’t be afraid, I am here – come on – walk with me!
And so we shall, trusting in the Lord who is with you! AMEN!
Doubting? Go…. A Trinity Sunday Sermon on Matthew 28:16-20
Doubting? Go Ahead!
Matthew 28:16-20
† I.H.S.†
May the grace and mercy of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ so overwhelm you, that any thoughts of doubt and hesitation is simply set aside, as Your Lord says, “Go in My Name” AMEN!
A Measure of Doubt/Hesitation
At first, I don’t think we understand it. It doesn’t make sense.
Here the apostles are, standing there in the presence of Jesus, the one who died in front of their eyes, and who was raised from the dead. They had seen him walking, eating, teaching, with the holes in his hands, and they have seen the gaping wound left by the spear.
And as he stood in front of them, some doubted. They wavered, they hesitated. They doubted.
It doesn’t really make all that much sense to us at first. How could they doubt, they were in the presence of God! They were overwhelmed, and couldn’t answer the question, “What does this mean?” because they could quite process the resurrection itself.
Jesus reaction is interesting. He doesn’t confront them as sinners, and He doesn’t comfort them in the place they are.
He simply tells them, Go back to what is their “normal life” and while you are living, make disciples of everyone and anyone.
For men who were doubting, men who were hesitating, it is an interesting directive. One that we need to hear today as well.
Unbelief or Doubt?
As we look at this, I think we need to be clear about what these disciples, these followers of Jesus were experiencing.
It wasn’t unbelief or disbelief. It was doubt, it was a word that means to hesitate in commitment or action, it was to waiver, or be paralyzed in the moment because you don’t know how to act.
To think of it in a positive way, it’s like that moment when you are told you are one, husband and wife, and the pastor gently prods you to kiss your wife for the first time.
“My wife?” Uhm – who is that… I mean – I am really married now? Ahh – there she is! And everyone laughs as the kiss is much too quick, or far too long!
Or it’s like that moment when you receive news that your life is changing… and you don’t even know how to begin processing it, yet you must act. You might even be ready to go through the motions, but what are you doing?
He is risen! He is risen indeed… and that means we have risen indeed.
So what? What happens next? What am I to do with this?
How does the resurrection of Jesus, and His ascension, change my life 2000 years after the fact?
The Answer? Go!
Jesus answers that question, “All authority in heaven and on earth is mine. Therefore, it is time to go…
Go and disciples of people from every walk of life, from every culture, from every demographic statistic there is, that can be used to divide people. Disciple, not just making converts, but a continuing process of revealing to people the promises of God that will be and are given in their baptism, and continuing to reveal to them not just the God’s laws which are commanded, but the blessings that are promised in commands as well.
Go and do this, and here is where we see the Trinity’s authority given to us, just as it was given to Jesus by the Father.
Next month, I get to act on President Stoterau’s behalf, installing the Rev. Mark Jennings as the pastor of Peace, Pico Rivera. My responsibility, my authority, is very limited, yet I will be acting on our District President’s behalf. When God says disciple them, baptize them, teach them to keep my covenant, we have all the authority found in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit to do so.
Which is amazing, if you think of it! God has transformed us to the extent that He entrusts us, just as He did the eleven disciples! Disciple people, walk with them as Jesus did with the eleven disciples, as much as the eleven disciples did with people like Stephen and Barnabas, Priscilla and Aquilla, Phoebe and Mark.
How does that affect our doubt, our hesitation, to know that we are backed by God on this ministry of reconciliation we have been given?
This incredible, glorious, majestic, merciful, loving Triune God has called us, and is transforming us, and sends us out to minister to believers and unbelievers alike! Revealing to them the work of God, done in their baptism, and the relationship God defines in the New Covenant, the same relationship that He promised in the Old.!
And as we make the sign of the cross, as we remember our baptisms, we remember how His plan and work, from before the foundation of the world, to the cross and to Pentecost has been to disciple us.
The Promise… I am! With you
If you are still doubting, if you are still hesitant, if you think you don’t have what it takes to disciple another person, to point them to the promises of baptism, to share and remind them of God’s gift of life, and the blessings of living in relationship with Him, hear these last words,
And be sure of this, I AM with YOU Always, even to the end of the age.
God in three persons, blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit! They have kept their promise and come and made a home with you.
You aren’t alone, you aren’t powerless, God, who gives you His name, is with you. When you are hesitant, even doubting, know that when God says “go”, He is also saying, “I am with you!”.
He loves you too much to stay away.
Amen!
So let’s go… and disciple each other and our world. AMEN!
