When You’ve Made a Mess of Things, Jesus Still Saves

"Lord, Save Me": Jesus Rescues Us From the Storms We Create

A sermon on Matthew 14:22–33

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

We're continuing the story of Matthew. Last week we talked about Jesus feeding the 5,000. We heard about the gracious Savior who goes to the crowd and offers them food in the wilderness, and empowers the disciples to spread the little meager amount of food to be nourishing for 5,000 people, and end up with even more leftovers than they started with — supplied by his almighty power. And how he comes out to the world with that kind of grace today, to see all of us in our own difficulties. Today we see another time where Jesus comes to a group of people who are facing difficult problems, comes with his might and power, and shows them his grace and salvation in the midst of their difficulties.

Jesus Walks on the Water

So, Jesus, immediately after feeding the 5,000, wants to spend some time alone. He sends his disciples out across the water in a boat, and he goes up to pray. And those poor disciples — they seem to always be getting caught in storms in the middle of the sea. They could not get across in the normal time, because the wind and the waves were battering against them.

So, like one does, Jesus takes a walk across the water. Like we've all done before, I'm sure.

The disciples — we actually don't know their state of mind on the boat this time. When they were in the waves and the storm the first time, Jesus is with them; we know they are terrified, because they rush over to Jesus and wake him up to say, "Don't you care that we're drowning?" Now they're on their own, fighting the wind and the waves. They're good fishermen. They know what they're doing. They're probably actually just fine.

That is, until they see something out on the water. I would be terrified too, wouldn't you? You're in the middle of a storm, the wind and the waves, and you're doing your thing, you're working just fine — and then you see a guy just walking across the water. There's only a couple of options here, and the one that doesn't come to mind first is, "Oh, that's Jesus." That's not what you would think. That's not what I would think. Out in the middle of the ocean, the waves are going, the darkness, the storm — I'd be terrified, just like everyone is when they see an angel appear in front of them, or a powerful sign. When God shows up with his might and power, it's scary.

Even when Jesus comes, showing the might of the Son of God, who somehow is able to just walk through the wind and the waves, no problem — they think it's a ghost, and they shout in terror. One of the books I read said that this was an anti-confession — something against the truth of who is really there. And when Jesus sees them and hears them cry out in fear, he doesn't judge them. As the Almighty God with the power to walk on the wind and waves, he says,

"Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid."

What a Savior we have — the Son of God in his almighty power, who comes to be with the disciples in the storm. They cry out in fear. They don't know what's going on, and he just says, "Hey, it's me, guys. Don't be afraid. I'm with you."

Peter Steps Out — and Sinks

But then the tension ramps up even farther. Peter, being the Peter we know and love — being the guy who speaks before he thinks and acts before his brain catches up, just like a lot of us — he says, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." It doesn't tell us Jesus's response, exactly. I wonder if he was like, "Okay, sure, come." And Peter steps out, and he actually walks on the water. It doesn't say how far. It doesn't say how long he kept going. And then, all of a sudden, his faith begins to waver, and he starts to sink. He cries out, "Lord, save me!"

And Jesus does not judge him. He does not turn to Peter and say, "This is what you get for not believing." He doesn't say, "You know, if you're going to walk on water, you've got to really trust in me, and you'd better do it right." It says,

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

He picks him up — graciously saves him from his own problem, the problem that he made himself. And it's this section I'd like to focus on today, because here Jesus graciously saves good old Peter from the problems he created himself. Jesus never commanded him to come out on the water at first; it was Peter's idea. And I think many of our own problems, many of our sins, are caused by our own actions as well.

When Our Own Sin Shocks Us: David and Bathsheba

We've got a number of ways that we end up reacting to our lives, and all of a sudden we are shocked and horrified, and all we can do is cry out like Peter and say, "Lord, save me." Sometimes we're shocked by the morality of our life, by the sins that we commit — and I think a great way to understand this is to look at the story of David and Bathsheba.

We all know the story. David, the great king — the king that God says is a man after God's own heart. He didn't start off as a king who thought his job was to make the kingdom about himself. He was a really good king for most of the time. But I think what happened to him is, eventually, you get used to being a king. You get used to making life-and-death decisions, to people obeying you no matter what. You send a guy here, he does that. You send a guy there, he does that. Everybody is fawning all over you, and they just love you, and you can do nothing wrong. And suddenly you start making commands that are evil, without even thinking about it. You just expect the whole world to be about you.

This is why David really isn't shocked by what he does right away. When he sees Bathsheba, he just sends some men over, and he isn't horrified by his own actions, because that's what kings do. He just expects everyone to obey him. And when he doesn't want everybody to know, he writes a note and just kills one of his soldiers. That's what kings do. He doesn't even realize what he had done until God sends him a prophet — the prophet Nathan. And Nathan has to sneakily tell him a story about a man stealing a sheep just to get David to even recognize that he did something wrong. And then, when the prophet does this, all of a sudden it's like the scales fall from his eyes, and he realizes, "Oh no, what have I done?"

Sometimes sin is like that. We just sort of slide from what we want to be doing through small compromises, through small behaviors, and eventually we just end up in a situation, and we look at it, and something makes it snap — the scales fall from our eyes, and we're like, "What have I done? This is not who I want to be."

What did David do? He cried out, just like Peter: "Lord, save me." Nathan's response was very simple: "Your sins are forgiven." That's what Jesus does when we cry out because of our sin. When we look at our lives and go, "Oh no, I can't believe I did that" — when compromise after compromise leads us into a position where we're shocked by ourselves, and you cry out, "Lord, save me!" — Jesus offers his hand in love and grace. He reaches out, just like he did for Peter, pulls you up out of the waters of sin by his death and resurrection, and gives you forgiveness. He doesn't chide you, doesn't shout at you. He doesn't say, "I know you're sorry, but you should just be better" — because he knows that we're all sinners, and we all need him to save us.

When the Consequences of Our Choices Hit Home

That's not the only way that we end up crying out like Peter from situations of our own making. I think just as frequently, we end up in a situation where our decisions lead to consequences that shock us — where some sort of bad decision, some sort of sin, has effects that are just clear in our lives. It could be substance abuse. It could be a family situation where life is falling apart, where the family is breaking up. It could be financial ruin, where our lives are just falling apart and we don't know what to do. And all of the things in our lives come together and beat down on us, and we end up in a situation of our own making, where our own decisions have caused problems, and all of a sudden we realize, "I can't do this."

In those moments, very often Jesus ends up seeming like that Son of God walking across the water — the Creator with the power and might, who, when you turn to him, will be like, "Who do you think you are?" But that's not how he is. He's not the scary Creator walking across the water; he's the one who reaches out with his hand and pulls Peter up. Because Peter's danger was of his own making — he tells Jesus, "Tell me to come out on the water." He takes the step, and then he's the one who gets terrified, like all of us would be. And the only thing he can do to prevent himself from literally dying is say, "Lord, save me," as he sinks in the wind and the waves and the storm.

Repentance Doesn't Have to Be Pure to Be Real

Jesus doesn't care why he is crying out for mercy. He doesn't care that it's just because he's about to die, or because the effects of his behavior are really starting to hit home. He just knows that he's the Savior, and Peter can come to him. And I think there are a lot of Christians who really care about the motivation for repentance — who think that perhaps repentance is only pure if you do it out of love, if you do it because you have this pure heart and mind, and you just want Jesus's grace, and not because life has hit you in the face. But none of our motivations are ever pure. None of our motivations are ever perfect. And I don't think anybody does anything purely out of love for God anyway, because we're all sinners in some way.

It didn't matter whether Peter was crying out for salvation because he knew Jesus would save, or simply because he was terrified of the water. He just cried out, "Lord, save me," and Jesus does — and that's what he does for all who turn to him. It doesn't matter whether you are repenting from the terrible difficulties of your life because the consequences of your actions are suddenly hitting you in the face. It doesn't matter when someone cries out, or for what reason. What matters is that they turn to Christ and ask for his mercy. And Jesus, just like he did with Peter, reaches out, pulls him up out of the water, and forgives him.

Grace for Those Hiding a Secret Struggle

Whether it's us who are here in this place coming to him for that forgiveness every single week, or the people who need it out in the world who just need this weight lifted from them — Jesus comes with grace. So whether it's you who are here, or people out there — many of us end up with these sins that we like to hide. We come here and we end up presenting ourselves with a happy face, but somewhere in our lives, things are really messed up. Maybe we're like David, and we've got this secret horror in our hearts — a guilt that is weighing down on us. Or we're seeing the results of our behavior, and it's shocking us, and we're in this terrible situation, and we think, "If I let my church know, if I let my pastor know, God will judge me."

That's not our Savior. That is not how he works for you, or for me. When you cry out, "Lord, save me," he reaches out his hand and pulls you up from the waters. And I'll prove it: come to my office, confess your sins, and I will say, "I forgive your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." And then we will say, "Go in peace." And that's it.

In Jesus' name. Amen.