Always, Sometimes, and Never

Krista Wilson • April 14, 2021

Summary of sermon on Matthew 14:22-36 from Pastor Lance Shumake..

Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Mathew has one big idea in mind, he wants the people reading this to make it clear that Jesus is the Messiah. He wants you to see Jesus as the teacher who has authority! He shows us that these stories stand out. 


This is not the first time that we have seen Jesus rescue the disciples in the boat. The first time he was with them and was asleep. They were afraid and he looked at the waves and asked them to stop and they immediately stopped. Here is another situation where they are in the boat. Jesus walks on the water to save them. And they say truly you ARE the Messiah!


Matthew is showing us WHO Jesus is!


In this story we see this amazing thing! We have heard this story so much, but do we miss it?! Sometimes when we think of this story we see it as a calm lake, but we need to remember that the wind is so hard right now that you can’t see across the lake. Jesus isn’t walking across a calm body of water he is walking on water during a strong storm.


HE IS WALKING ON WATER! This story should amaze us!


The resurrection proves it all! It is so central to our faith! If it didn’t happen then none of these things would make sense! If you understand the resurrection then there is no reason to doubt stories like this! Matthew is telling us this so we can KNOW that he is in charge of everything! We CAN put our trust in HIM!


We can look at this text and say how does this change the way we should live tomorrow. 


We can see that the disciples are in trouble again and ask the question, how did this happen again? They got in this trouble because they were following Jesus. We can learn these truths:


Jesus sometimes sends us into a storm.


They encountered a storm as they followed Jesus and obeyed him. If we don’t create a spot for that in our brains, life is going to be hard. Sometimes we are trying to do everything we possibly can and storms just come. This wasn’t a surprise to Jesus. He told the disciples “you go get in the boat while I go pray.”


It’s confusing because Jonah was disobeying God and he sent a storm. God sometimes sends storms when we disobey to turn us back to him.

In this story they weren’t running from God, they were obeying him. We don’t always understand that but sometimes he send us into a storm!



Jesus always comes to us in that storm.


It’s not great news that storms will come, but it is great news that Jesus comes! 



Jesus sometimes comes in unexpected ways at unexpected times. 


The disciples were hoping Jesus would come help them, they may have even thought, he did this before when we were in trouble! But he came in an unexpected way. They were terrified. They called him a ghost! It’s not always what we hope for or pray for. He comes to them in the fourth watch of the night right before day. Why does he come then? Maybe because they were out of hope and couldn’t do anything humanly possible. The answer he has is not what we expected or hoped for, because HIS WAYS ARE HIGHER. This story is a reminder that we can’t do it on our own. We need Jesus! 


Jesus always has everything under control.


This story is not a reaction! Every one of these events is planned by God to show us he is in control! In Mark it says that Jesus meant to pass them by. He does this so everyone in the boat can see him!! He wants us to see that truth, that he is always in control and never surprised!


Jesus sometimes uses storms to test our faith.


He is not trying to see if we pass or fail. He is trying to strengthen our faith!! Every time he does this we have another story to tell about him! He is using this story to test the disciples to see how far they have come. 


Jesus ALWAYS wants us to trust him.


That is what is disappointing in this story. We think they shouldn’t respond this way, so we get dissapointed in their response. Maybe this is because we are disappointed with our responses! We start wondering and doubting and respond a lot like the disciples. We should be making progress. We often pray more in the “storm”. We ask for God to take it away. If we understand these truths we should ask God to teach us what he is trying to and use this to strengthen our faith. He is hoping we use “the storm” to make us more like him! 


Peter's story in this is so amazing! He walks on water, then starts to look at the waves and starts to sink. We want to criticize Peter.


“Before we criticize Peter for sinking, let’s honor him for his magnificent demonstration of faith. He dared to be different. Anybody can sit in the boat and watch. But it takes a person of real faith to leave the boat and walk on the water.”  - Warren Wiersbe


Jesus says come on when Peter asks if it is him! It is never about how much faith we have but about who we put our faith in! What if Peter never said can I come to you?! What if we don’t ever ask him?! Maybe sometimes he calls us to take risks and live on the edge. Knowing that, on the edge there may be storms.  He allows Peter to slowly sink so that he can call out to him in the moment! We do this all the same! We trust him, then stop. 


Jesus never gives up on us.


Peter gives us the greatest example… instead of running from him when he is sinking, he calls out to him. Jesus doesn’t leave us! Immediately he reaches out to Peter!


We are never alone.


You now have a relationship with God because of the cross, because of Jesus! You now are NEVER alone if you are in Christ! It doesn’t matter what you are going through


Isaiah 43:2 says,  “ When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”


Remind yourself of these things! We are always talking to ourselves, but what we have to learn is... 


We must preach the gospel to ourselves.


We have to remind ourselves he comes to us in the storm, he is always at work, we are never ever alone! Let’s tell each other that and walk in it!



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In case you missed it, watch this sermon on our website.

Arm Yourselves

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