Matthew 14: Peter

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0:00 For the rest of us, we finished last week looking at those four core values of story, peace, lineage, and life. We asked you to help us make a little picture board. We're assembling that. We have all those pictures. We're assembling that this week. And you'll start to be able to see everybody's smiling faces starting next week, so that will be fun. We'll have those out for you. But now I want to go into... Because I stumbled on this idea... It's not a new idea, but it just really hit me this week about what it means to be called

0:36 by God for stuff. And so we're going to look at several weeks here stories about being called by God. But I want to think about the idea in general and see if it applies to you this week. And then we'll look at stories all going through the next several weeks. We'll see how long we have the energy for it and keep finding stories for them, Bob. Before we do that, let's pray together. Hey, Lord, thanks for bringing us here. We know that you have loved us and our love for you is a response, a reaction, a give-back,

1:12 a Thanksgiving of the way that you have loved us. Teach us how to receive love from you well. And would you meet us here this morning as only you can with love and conviction and hope and protection and all the things that we need today so we could be emboldened to go live the life you've given us in the week to come. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. This is how I got to the idea. I was leading a Bible study out at Holy Cross in Lake Mary this week.

1:44 They were looking at the book of Acts. Acts chapter 19. And in Acts chapter 19, Paul is coming to some town. I think it's Corinth. It might have been Ephesus, I can't remember right now. But he's walking and it describes the way he walks there to the town. And when he gets there, he realizes this other guy, Apollos, has been there before him. And he's baptized some people.

2:15 And he's baptized them. And after Jesus he's baptized them. This is, you know, after Jesus has ascended and Paul's making his missionary journeys around and he asks them, hey, did you receive the Holy Spirit? Remember the Holy Spirit's the big deal came down at Pentecost and made it possible for people to live a life that Jesus bought for them on the cross. Paul walks into the town and Paul says, been there, they've been baptized. He said, did you guys have about that Holy Spirit? Huh? Pretty great. And they're like, we don't know what you're talking about.

2:46 We haven't heard. And he's like, wait, what? Didn't you get baptized? Yeah, we got baptized into John's baptism. And Paul's like, oh man, John's baptism is a baptism of repentance. You need to be baptized into the name of Jesus. That's something different. John's baptism was a baptism like a Nazarite vow or something. You set aside and repent and decide to be different. Jesus' baptism is a baptism into Jesus. And it comes with the gift of the Holy Spirit. And we could debate the thing or talk through that. That's not the point. The point for me is what a mess it was in the first century.

3:18 Right? Like Jesus, God goes through all of this work. We've talked about it before, but I don't know what God has to do, what sort of calisthenics or choreography it takes for the unbounded, infinite creator God to bind himself in the womb, in the flesh of the person, Jesus of Nazareth. He goes through all of that work and then endures the life and then the crucifixion and then the resurrection.

3:49 Right? And then he gets to the hill of Galilee and he's like looking at these eleven. Paul's not even there yet. And he's like, all right guys, I've got all authority in heaven and on earth. But I'm the leaf. You guys can take it from here. And he's like, he said, I've got all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore you go and do the job. And when he does that, remember like Jesus popped into the road to Emmaus where the two

4:25 guys were walking. He popped into the upper room. He popped over to the beach where the disciples were fishing. Like Jesus' post-resurrection pre-essension is like popping all over the place. The disciples can't pop anywhere. They've got to walk. Paul's like walking. And he's got to clean up a mess from Apollos because Apollos said it wrong. He didn't understand it all. And what's crazy to me is that the God of the universe goes through all of the work to accomplish not only the incarnation but the salvation of humanity.

4:59 And then he leaves it to the eleven jokers to go figure out how to walk around and tell everybody it. And I don't want to say it. It seems foolhardy but because certainly God's not foolish but I would say, is that the way I would do it? I don't think. Like all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

5:37 I'll take care of it from here on out. Guys watch how this goes. And enjoy it. I'll take care of it. That's my attitude anyway usually. Hey guys, don't worry about it. I got it. I can take care of it. I said it's a joke one time. It came out of my mouth as a joke and I realized it's not all the way a joke that I learned growing up just work harder, not smarter. Just put your shoulder into it and get it done.

6:07 And that's how I think I would have been at the Hill of Galilee. And Jesus was not, decidedly not. Definitely this is a different way to do things. But if you think about the story that we have, it's the way God always does things, isn't it?

6:37 God just because he wanted to makes the whole universe out of nothing. It conjures globes and gravity, light and water. Imagines animals and vegetation, separates earth and sky, throws out stars and sun and carves humanity out of the dust of the earth. Out of his own imagination, he makes everything.

7:12 And it was all good. And then what? He looked at the first two and is like, now you guys be my image bearers in the world. You guys rule and subdue the place. Go ahead. Represent me to all of creation and carry my authority with you. Gosh. That might have...

7:43 It's not the way I would do it. I'd be like, you guys are great. Look, I'll be here. You be here. Enjoy the garden. I'll just be... I'll image myself. I'll represent myself to this creation. Right? No, man. And all through the story, right? And so what I want to look at for the next several weeks is what on earth is God doing and why just to try and understand? Hmm. What he might be doing with you in your sphere and space, in your days and weeks and months

8:20 with the time that you have here, what might he be doing with you? So the first place we start to get a sense of what he's doing with these little callings is in Matthew chapter 14. Okay? Matthew chapter 14. There's a story here. There's a couple of stories in sequence that fit together really nicely.

8:52 Pretty cool stuff. The first... Oh, man. It's hard to like pull it all out, but let's just look at verse 13. Matthew chapter 14 starting at verse 13. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew. He just heard his cousin died, John the Baptist. He withdrew from there and a boat to a desolate place by himself, but when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

9:26 And when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them and he healed their sick. This verse was like a lightning bolt to me when I read it at the beginning of my work here in Orlando when we moved back because I heard Jesus get the bad news about his cousin dying. He bummed and want to go be by himself. He gets in a boat and goes off on a lake and the hordes of people who have heard about all the work he can do have raced around the lake.

9:59 And when he gets off to a desolate place, he's going to a desolate place on purpose. Why do you go to desolate places? Because people are not there. And when he gets to the desolate place, all the people are there. And if it were me, I would get in the boat and go back to the other side. Right? And Jesus gets to the desolate place and all the people are there and he looks at them and he has compassion on them. This is important. Jesus actually cares. And so they bring all their sick, he heals all their sick, they bring all their demon possessed, he kicks out all the demons.

10:30 Jesus is not compulsory or performing just a job. It's who he is. Right? And then let's see. This is a desolate, oh yeah. So then verse 14, when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them and he healed their sick. And now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, this is a desolate place and the day is now over, send the crowds away to go to the villages to buy food for themselves.

11:02 But Jesus said, they need not go away. You give them something to eat. And I can hear and hear just a little bit of frustration from Jesus maybe. And if I think about why he might be frustrated, he's like, hey guys, I came over here to get away, remember? And when they needed something, I couldn't not give it to them. Now here they are and you want to tell them, go fend for yourself. And he's like, just take care of them.

11:33 Love them, serve them, give them what they need. And they're like, it's an unreasonable ask from Jesus. It's an unreasonable ask from Jesus. Sorry. But Jesus said, they need not go away. You give them something to eat. And they said to him, we have only the loaves here. And two fish. Fish? Fish is fish. Two fish.

12:04 And he said, bring them here to me. And then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and then the whole, then he broke the loaves and gave it to the disciples. And the disciples gave it to the crowds and they all were satisfied and they took up the 12 baskets full of broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about 5,000 men besides women and children.

12:40 Very cool. I would really like to have, like I know this is Matthew's telling of it, I'd like to have his not gospel writing version of it. You know what I mean? I'd like to have the like sit by the campfire and be like, yeah, man, I don't know. We just kept breaking off pieces of bread and it's like I hadn't broken off a piece before. Or like, like how did I want to know like how did it happen?

13:12 And when they got a piece, like Jesus broke the loaves and gave it to the 11. So there's 5 loaves and 2 fish and he breaks the loaves, 5 loaves to 11 people. So it's not quite half a loaf that they're each getting of bread. And then he's like, go pass this out. And so I want to know if Matthew's like, okay, I'm going to start passing out half a loaf of bread to 10,000 people. And he just starts.

13:43 It's like I want the rest of the story. It's very cool that it happened this way, but I'm like fascinated by the story because we're obviously not getting the whole thing. I want the uncut version of what happened there. But Jesus does it. They take up 12 basketfuls of leftover to show that there's enough for everyone. 12 is this number of completeness. There's 12 tribes in Israel. There's 12 disciples of Jesus. 12 is there's enough for everyone. And then keep going.

14:15 Immediately after that, he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Good for him, right? They get done feeding and Jesus is like, okay, you see the 12 basketfuls? Okay, now you guys get out of here. Immediately he's like, get on a boat and go somewhere else to the other side of the lake. Then we don't know how he dismissed him. He's like, all right, guys, this is all we got for you.

14:47 Glad you were able to eat, find your way home. Then he goes to get to be by himself. And he's probably still dealing with the idea of his cousin being beheaded and now his time's come in a different sort of way. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on by himself to pray. And evening came, he was there alone, verse 24, but the boat by this time was a long way away from the land beaten by waves for the wind was against them.

15:18 And then the fourth watch of the night, I don't know when that is, but I think it's just in the middle of the night, the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. Nice. Then the disciples saw him walking on the sea. They were terrified and said, it's a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, take heart, it is I do not be afraid.

15:50 And then Peter answered him, hey, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. He said, so he says, come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.

16:21 I went back and looked just to make sure I wasn't getting stories crossed. Peter was a fisherman with his brother, which if our studies of first century school are right, that means he started in Hebrew school and went for a while until he couldn't cut it anymore. It's a lot of memorization. It's a lot of processing information.

16:52 It's a lot of learning several different types of theories, learning to read, maybe. But they had several points where you would, the first part everybody goes and then a group leaves the second part. I think there's three parts and then you would go to be a disciple or train with someone. But if he went to apprentice as a fisherman with his brother to learn how his dad did it, that means he had dropped out of Hebrew school or got to his limit and then went to learn a trade.

17:22 This is how people explain. You remember the story Jesus goes and he sees Peter and his brother in a boat fishing and he calls them and he says, come on with me, I'll make you fishers of men. And the story in Matthew says immediately, Peter and his brother left their nets behind and went to follow Jesus. And the reason is because it's a cool opportunity to get to be a disciple of a rabbi and most rabbis would not have done that that way. They would not have walked up to someone who had already left Hebrew school and say, come on, be my disciple and take up my way of learning and come and follow me and then

17:57 you can be a itinerant rabbi like me. They would have taken people who made it all the way through Hebrew school who were the best students and then they would petition a rabbi, could I be a disciple of yours? And Jesus flips it. Instead of making people ask him, he goes and asks other people to do it and he asks the most almost random of people, these two fishermen, a tax collector, right? James and John, also a fisherman. Peter is like not remarkable.

18:29 He is the one who speaks the most but we think it's because he's the oldest. Like there's one time when the guys in charge, the Pharisees in charge of the temple tax come to Jesus and say, Jesus, why don't your people pay the temple tax? Why don't you and your disciples pay the tax to the temple? Jesus is like fine, we'll pay the tax to the temple. Peter, go over, get a fish out of the water, in the fish's mouth will be the two coins. One for you, one for me, go take it and pay the taxes. Then Peter does, he goes, finds the two coins and people think when you were over 21 you

19:02 had to pay the temple tax. And so people think that Peter and Jesus were the only of the 13 that were over 21. That Peter was the oldest. Otherwise he might have had enough coins for everybody to pay the temple tax but the guys besides Peter didn't have to pay. Which keeps up with the way a rabbi would bring disciples, you'd have one who is older, who is the leader. This is probably why Peter talks the most. This is why when Jesus asks who do other people say that I am Peter answers. When Peter says, who do you all say that I am?

19:32 Peter answers. And then when Jesus says on this rock, he's talking about on the confirmation, on the faith that Peter has, not on Peter himself, Peter, he's not a standout. He's just a dude whom Jesus picked. Did you catch it? And then the fourth watch of the night, but then, oh, and Peter answered him, Lord if it is you.

20:03 He said, come, so Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. Jesus I get, we know we talked about the calisthenics, the incarnated God. With his voice, he commands the wind and the waves to obey. When he sees the ship buffeted by the waves and his dudes on it, he's going to go out and help him so he just walks out there because it's easier than swimming and he's

20:37 Jesus. Peter's just a dude. And he walks on water. This is another place where it would be cool to get the uncut version, wouldn't it? What else is in that story? Is it still really wavy and windy? Is Peter being grudging?

21:07 The other guys, because he's the oldest and the one who's supposed to talk, are they nudging? Like, hey, it's fun. The premise was the disciples do everything their rabbi does. That's what it means to be a disciple. You follow the guy around and you learn not only what he says, but what he does so that you start to walk like him, start to talk like him, so you start to think like him. And so they're out there on these wind and waves and sea and they're afraid and they

21:39 see a ghost and the ghost says, hey, don't be afraid, it's me. And Peter's like, man, if it's you, then I should be able to do it. That's my job, right? And so he goes. So then he walks on water. Of course, then he gets afraid, right? Let's see. Come, so Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus, verse 30, but when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, he called out, Lord, save

22:13 me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, oh, you little faith, why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind seized and those in the boat whispered, worshiped him, saying, truly, you are the son of God. Peter walks on water and he sees the wind in the waves and gets afraid and starts to sink.

22:44 And this is another interesting move, Peter. Like when you read the story, it's like, yeah, he calls out. If you think about yourself for a moment, you're sinking. You know where you came from. There's a boat right there. How far did he walk? There's a boat right there with real dudes that are certainly not ghosts there, right? I don't know if he knows how to swim, but he's a fisherman. He's been around the water.

23:15 They're definitely, they don't like the still water. They like the moving water. They feel like there's an abyss beneath him. So it's scary stuff. But it's conspicuous to me that as he's sinking, he calls out to Jesus to save him. And then like what Jesus, he standing on water, some kind of leverage, I don't know, he reaches down and pulls Peter up and then what does he carry him? On the water? And then they go and get back in the boat?

23:46 Bonkers. I want the rest of the story, right? But here's what I was thinking about, to get back to our point here. I wonder, Peter, just a dude, now within a day saw all the lobes and fishes thing and then walked lobes and fish thing and then walked on water, right? Wonder if he ever tried that again. I mean the first one to think about is like, we have stories after this of Peter fishing

24:19 again. Like I wonder if like nobody's looking and he's like at the shore and he's just like, right? Like, does it work? No, doesn't work. Or he's got a bunch of people somewhere and he just tries ripping the bread again. Of course not, right?

24:50 Like I don't, Jesus told them to feed the 5,000 but I think that if they just started tearing that bread, they're sunk. Jesus has got to put his hands on it, right? And of course, Peter, just a dude, Peter, walks on water. Yes, why? Because Jesus called him.

25:21 Jesus said, yeah, man, come on. Remember, I was talking about how Jesus on the hill of Galilee after he's accomplished, life, death, resurrection, all authority in heaven on earth that's been given to him. And so now he's going to give it to these 11. Good luck. Walk around. Tell people the best you can remember.

25:51 Then what does he say? But wait, don't do anything. You know what? Just go right back to Jerusalem and stay there. Just I'm going to go up and now send you the spirit. When Jesus stands on the water and calls to Peter, something in the call from Jesus conveys everything Peter needs.

26:22 I don't know if his body becomes lighter or the water becomes thicker or he levitates. I don't know what happens when he walks across water, but something happens when Jesus wants him to walk on water, he can. He can. Peter can. When Jesus calls him. Isn't it interesting that Peter, when he's sinking in the water, does not lose faith

26:55 in Jesus, doesn't call to his boys in the boat, doesn't try to swim back to the boat, calls out to Jesus to save him. And Jesus standing on water yet does. And as he pulls him up somehow, I don't know the leverage, pulls him up out of the water, he says, oh, Peter, why did you doubt? Oh, you of little faith. Peter doesn't doubt that Jesus could walk on water. Jesus is walking on water. Peter doubts that he can walk on water.

27:27 Peter doubts that Jesus has enough force of will, power of spirit to overwhelm his regular doodness and give him the capacity to walk across water. He just doubts that Jesus can do it for him, that Jesus can make him good enough to do it.

27:57 I don't know why. God doesn't just do the work himself. I don't. Look, Jesus would make a much better husband than me, a much better father than me, a much better son and brother, a much better pastor and, I don't know what else I do, advice-giver

28:31 than me. Everything I do, Jesus could do better. And yet, because he uses me, I become a fuller version of myself. The force of the will of the Christ and the spirit of the Godhead come and enable me. And as he calls me, I can do it.

29:01 I can be a husband. I can be a father. I can be a bro- I can- I mean, I can't walk on water. He hasn't called me to do that. One day he might. Today this is enough. And he has certainly called you to all sorts of business. That's the little thing here.

29:32 It's a simple answer that we make complicated sometimes. I don't know why God chooses you to do it instead of him. But I do know why it needs to be done. Think about the story in the desolate place. 5,000 gentlemen and families with them. They're off in the desolate place and the disciples are like, this is never going to

30:04 work, man. You got to send them away. They're never going to get to food in time. They're all going to go hungry out here. And Jesus says, nah, you feed them. Why? Because people got to eat, man. God has called you two things because people need you.

30:36 People need you. Spouses need an example of the love of the God. Children need an example of the guidance of the divine. Siblings need support of a family where they belong no matter what.

31:07 And all of the roles that you play, the world operates the way it does because each of us move into it with our unique skill set and gift, follow the calling of Jesus, empowered with his spirit, and do things that we couldn't do otherwise. The world needs you. That's why you have callings. That's why we can't abandon them. We got to figure out the ways to jump out of the boat. So we're going to look at several other places people have been called, right? Noah's crazy calling, Abraham, Deborah's crazy calling, Ruth, Paul's crazy calling.

31:47 We'll look at several of them. I got a list. Don't worry. I started it. It's not done yet, Justin, but I got four next to go. And I'm looking forward to it because for me, it's a time where I'm excited about being reminded of the power of the call of God on our lives, what that means for us. Let's pray. Hey, Lord, thank you that you would call us, that you would entrust us with work that the

32:17 world needs, with relationships that remind each other of you. Teach us how to fulfill those callings faithfully, humbly, persistently, that you might be glorified and we might become the fullest version of ourselves. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

32:47 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.