High Points & Low Points

Matthew 14:25-31

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I want to take a look at God’s Word from Matthew chapter 14 and just talk a little bit more about faith and trust and doubt.

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:25-31)

Where’s Peter’s faith through this story? What’s, what’s going on? It’s kind of all over the place. First, he’s out on the boat. He’s going against the wind and waves and they look out after a night of straining at the water and they see somebody walking on top of the water. And it’s not frozen water. He’s walking across the lake and they’re strained, fatigued minds tell them it’s a spirit, it’s a ghost. It’s something strange is going on here. Until Jesus calls out to them. Don’t worry. It’s I. Don’t be afraid.

And then we see just this incredible faith, this incredible trust from Peter, where he calls out, if it’s really you, tell me to come out to you on the water. Let me walk on the water too. And Jesus gives him a promise, says, come. Go ahead. You can. And he does. He actually steps out of the boat and he goes out to Jesus. And Peter, a mere man, walks on the water. He does something that is completely impossible to do. So just kind of a high point for Peter’s faith because he’s trusting in Jesus promises.

And then immediately the low point as he looks at the wind and the waves and all of a sudden he realizes this is ridiculous. Why am I out here? He loses his focus on Jesus and beginning to sink. He was afraid. So he doubts he starts to crash. And then after Jesus pulls him back out, Jesus says you of little faith. Why did you doubt?

And maybe we’ve been there too, sometimes on the high heights of faith, trusting in God and in his promises and sometimes, like looking anywhere other than to God and just feeling like we’re drowning. And maybe we hear Jesus say you of little faith. And we can start to think well. How little is my faith? Am I in an okay situation right now? Is is my faith disappearing? We’ll look at what Peter does when he starts to sink, because it’s exactly what we can do to. As he starts to sink, he cries out, Lord, save me. And what happens? Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. Peter, in the end knew where to look. The only place he could: to Jesus. And he cries out, Lord, save me. And yeah, Jesus says, you of little faith, but remember this: little faith is still faith. And faith looks to Jesus.

How do we have a stronger faith? Well, Jesus tells us that we stay in his word. So we get plugged into the word and sacrament. So I have my cell phone with me, and this is not very helpful if it’s not charged, it’s just kind of a paperweight. So I plug it in and I get it charged up. Well, where do we go to charge up our faith and to strengthen our faith? God tells us it’s in his word. It’s in his promises. It’s in the sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. So go and continue to go back to his word and have your faith charged up. And then stop thinking about your faith so much and just trust in the object of your faith in Jesus.