So if I didn't get a chance to say hello before the service, welcome.
My name's Thomas.
I'm the pastor here.
Delighted that you've joined us for worship, especially if you're new.
I was thinking back recently to the birth of my oldest son.
He, it was a while ago now, but having never gone through that experience before,
we didn't know what to expect.
And I remember going in and going through the whole process.
And he was born.
He came out.
They handed him to us.
And he was beautiful.
And we had this moment of sort of bliss and celebration.
But then we noticed that he wasn't crying.
And I remember thinking, that's odd.
Don't they cry?
And then as we looked right before our eyes, he began to change color.
And he went from being a bright pink to becoming increasingly blue.
And I remember somebody calling a code.
And I remember the room filling with people.
And I remember somebody taking him out of our hands.
And I remember us just sort of being off to the side.
And it turned out that he had aspirated a bunch of fluid.
And after a few days in intensive care, he was released to come home with us.
And we're deeply thankful for that.
We realize not every family has that outcome.
But in that moment, when I was standing in the hospital room next to my wife,
who had just delivered our first baby,
I remember up to that point in my life,
I had never felt so much fear and so much powerlessness.
And that struck me.
It stays with me to this day.
I had no idea what was wrong.
I had no ability to help.
I could not protect him.
I could not protect my wife.
I felt completely powerless and useless and afraid and weak.
And experiences like that,
which I know some of you have maybe encountered things like that in your life along the way,
they really expose what we believe.
What we believe about God.
It's easy to say that you trust God when things are calm and when life is going smoothly.
But when the bottom drops out and when it feels like everything's coming apart,
what do we really believe about God?
What do we mean when we say we trust God?
The disciples in Matthew 14, this account that we just heard,
find themselves in a similar situation.
They're terrified and they're powerless.
I want to look at this because I think it shows us several things
that are worth internalizing about what it means to trust God,
not in the calm seasons of life,
but when things start to come apart.
So if you'll join me, let's pray,
and then we will open God's word together.
Our Lord, Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
And we thank you that we're not here just to rely on human words or wisdom,
but we're actually here to receive your living word.
And that it alone has the power,
not just to illuminate our path,
but to feed us and to nourish us and to actually change us.
And so, Lord, we pray, just as we sang a little while ago,
we pray that our hearts would be open
and the soil of our hearts would be tilled and softened
and receptive to what you have to say.
And we pray this for your good, for our good,
but ultimately, Lord, for your glory.
And it's in your son's name that we pray.
Amen.
So the disciples, if you're familiar with this account at all,
in Matthew chapter 14, they've had a very long day
because the disciples have just witnessed this miracle,
this unexpected miracle.
A bunch of people followed Jesus out into the wilderness
and the disciples want to send them home.
And Jesus says, no, you give them something to eat.
We looked at this last week
and they end up feeding thousands of people.
It could have been as many as 15, 20,000 people,
counting women and children.
So they've just seen that.
And then Jesus says, I want you to get on the boat
and I want you to go ahead where we're going.
And I'm going to spend some time praying alone.
And so Jesus leaves them.
He sends them out alone in the boat.
And so they're out for some time, the scripture says.
They spend some time.
By evening, they're probably two or three miles at least
out into the middle of the water.
And then a storm hits.
And it says that the wind is howling.
And then Matthew, when he talks about the waves,
he says that the waves were tormenting their boat.
I don't know if you've ever been in a situation like this
where the waves are just slamming into the side of the boat
and it feels like they're punching the side of the boat.
Like any minute, the boat's going to get swamped.
And it says that they're battling the storm
from evening until the fourth watch.
And if you know anything about timekeeping in the ancient world,
that means they were on the boat battling the storm
for about nine hours.
So I've roughly done anything in my life for nine hours.
And they're battling a storm for nine hours.
And it's worth stopping here and asking, I think,
a pretty important question if we want to understand the text.
Did Jesus know that the storm was going to come
when he told his disciples, actually commanded his disciples
to get in the boat and go out in the water?
Of course he did.
Right?
He's Jesus.
He knew the storm was coming.
And so you'd think, well, wouldn't we,
if he knew the storm was coming,
wouldn't he either stop the storm or wouldn't he say,
hey, let's hold off and then we'll go in the morning
after the storm passes?
No, all he says is, I want you to get in the boat,
go to the other side, I'll meet you there.
I think there's this realization that when we answer that question
and we say, what does it mean?
Well, apparently Jesus sometimes sends us into the storm.
Apparently that's what he was doing.
He was sending them into that storm for a reason.
And I think that's hard to swallow because I think commonly,
especially among, you know, with all due respect,
American evangelicals, there can be this assumption,
and I remember hearing this and coming across this
around the time I came to faith near the end of my time in college,
that if you give your life to Jesus and if you trust Jesus
and if you follow Jesus faithfully, you know,
there's even lots of songs out there in the Christian worship world
that sort of seem to say, well, Jesus is then going to,
he's going to satisfy all my needs.
And if I trust him that life is going to be rich and full,
and there's this sense that when I start following Jesus,
life should get easier.
Suffering should be reduced, right?
The amount of time I spend feeling satisfied
and feeling energized and motivated should go up, right,
because I'm following Jesus.
And isn't that the blessing that I should expect,
following Jesus?
I would suggest that, according to this passage,
that is not what it means to follow Jesus.
What we see here is that the disciples are in the storm
precisely because they obeyed Jesus.
I want to qualify storm.
When we talk about a storm,
we're not talking about just any suffering in life.
We're not talking about just any.
What we're talking about is a situation where obedience,
where trust is hard.
It's a situation that you find yourself in
where following Jesus and obeying Jesus is costly.
They're obeying Jesus, and as a result,
they're in the middle of the storm.
That's what a storm is.
And when you're sitting on a beach on a sunny afternoon,
it's easy to say you trust God.
When the wind and the waves are tearing the boat apart,
it's a very different story.
And so what we see here is that storms
actually create opportunities.
They create opportunities for our faith to grow
and to deepen.
They create opportunities for the superficiality
to be stripped away.
They create opportunities for simple answers
to be abandoned.
There's a stage of growth for many Christians
after you come to faith where simple answers work.
But then you reach a point where you find yourself
in a storm and none of the simple answers work anymore.
And you have to abandon those.
And you often find on the other side of that
an understanding of God and how God works
that is far more nuanced.
That there aren't easy answers to every question.
And that there are some things at the heart of our faith
that are deep, unfathomable mysteries.
Storms create opportunities for our too small view of God
to be blasted apart and displaced
by a much bigger and truer understanding
of who God is.
So storms bring those kinds of opportunities
into our lives.
And, you know, if you read all the great saints
and mystics throughout church history,
they all understood this.
Teresa of Avila, writing in the 16th century,
talks about the qualities of people
who are most spiritually connected to God.
And that's something we all,
that's something I want.
And you think, well, what,
do they read their Bible every day?
Do they pray every day?
Yeah, I mean, probably there's things like that.
But here's what she says.
Here's, just as other people prize gold and jewels,
so these persons prize and desire trials.
For they know quite well
that trials will make them rich.
Rich.
That's worth sitting with for a while.
That's worth contemplating.
Is that something that I could affirm and agree with?
So sometimes Jesus sends us into the storm
because there are things that we can only learn
in the storm.
There are qualities in us
that can only be brought out
on the far side of adversity.
So he does it because he wants us
to become more like him.
But here's the comfort in this.
He sends us into the storm,
but he never sends us alone.
So the first point is,
sometimes Jesus does send us into the storm,
but he never sends us alone.
We see the disciples,
they spend hours battling this storm.
They're exhausted.
And then they look out over the dark water
and they see this figure walking toward them.
And I just love this
because it's such a human response
to the situation, you know.
Up to this point,
they've not been afraid.
You know, they spend a lot of their life
around or on the water.
They kind of know how to handle themselves
to some degree.
But then when they say Jesus
walking toward them on the storm,
then they're terrified, right?
And they're not terrified of the storm.
They're terrified of Jesus
because they think he's a ghost,
which was a very common superstitious belief
back in this day.
And then Jesus speaks.
And you can imagine him,
his voice coming to them
across the water in the darkness.
Do not be afraid.
It's me, right?
Don't be afraid.
Take heart.
And so what we see here,
the second point is this.
Yes, Jesus sends us into the storm,
but Jesus also meets us in the storm.
And that is often where we have
our most powerful encounters of Jesus.
This is an incredibly powerful encounter.
It's a life-changing encounter with Jesus.
The question for us is,
if Jesus is the kind of person,
the kind of God,
who is willing to meet us
in the midst of a raging storm,
can we recognize the presence of Jesus
in the midst of the storm?
Because as we see,
Jesus draws near to the disciples.
The storm has so overwhelmed
their perception
that they not only fail to recognize him,
but they mistake him for another threat.
And have you ever noticed
that this is what fear does to us?
Right?
When you lock in on the things
that you're worried about or afraid of,
when you're ruminating on the things
that cause you fear and anxiety,
that tends to narrow our world.
It tends to narrow our perception.
And it primes us to recognize
and to perceive other things
as being threats.
So it's like it creates this filter
where if I'm in the threat detection mode,
I'm going to tend to see lots of things
as threats,
even things that aren't threats.
Even somebody that might be trying
to rescue me,
I'm going to see that as a threat.
And that's exactly what we see
with the disciples.
So this is why a crisis
can make one person feel closer to God than ever.
And the same crisis can lead another person
to believe that God
has completely abandoned them.
Right?
It deepens one person's faith
and it leads another person
to deconstruct and abandon their faith.
Right?
Because you can become so consumed
by the diagnosis
or the conflict
or the financial pressure
or the future that you can't control
that you struggle to recognize Jesus
even if he's standing
right in front of your face.
And what we've,
some of us have experienced this,
the same person can experience
both in the same day.
Right?
You can go through something
in the morning
and you're like,
that was so faith-building
and that was so encouraging.
And then by that late afternoon
you have another experience
and you're like,
where is God?
Like, I pray,
I never feel God's presence.
And that can be over the course
of about eight hours.
Right?
So if you ever feel that way,
I want you to take comfort
from this passage.
Even though the disciples
fail to recognize Jesus,
that does not stop him
from coming to them.
He still comes.
His presence with them in the storm
is not contingent
on their ability to recognize him.
So if you ever feel this way,
take heart.
Even when we fail to see Jesus,
he is always with us.
It's our ability
to recognize Jesus
that will make the difference
in how we experience
that storm though.
And so it does matter.
And the problem is that
our perception
is simply fragile.
And it's because
our perception,
the way we make sense of things,
hinges on our attention,
what we pay attention to.
If you know anything
about the research
on attention,
that really attention
functions like a spotlight.
Your attention is like a filter,
like to go back
to the earlier image.
So the point is,
we don't see everything.
You only see
what is in the spotlight,
what you're paying attention to,
and you tend to not see
everything else.
So there was a really famous
Harvard study done
on attention
where they brought
a bunch of people in
and had them passing
basketballs back and forth
and had different color shirts.
And they tell participants
to count the number of passes
between these people
and these people.
And at the end,
they bring them together
and they say,
well, how many passes
were there?
And most people get it right.
And then they ask
the real question of the study,
did you see the gorilla?
Yeah, yeah.
It turns out,
right in the middle of the video,
a person in a gorilla suit,
full-size gorilla suit,
comes out and kind of
dances around on stage
and then leaves.
And the vast majority
of participants say,
what gorilla?
It was right in front
of your face.
Why didn't you see it?
I wasn't paying attention to it.
Imagine how your perception
of reality changes
depending on what
you're paying attention to.
What is in that spotlight
and what is outside
of that spotlight
in the dark.
And how does that change
the assumptions you make
about the world,
about threats in your life,
about what you can trust,
about the character
and nature and presence
of God in your life?
It can radically change
depending on what
you're paying attention to.
So whatever holds
our attention
determines our perception
of reality.
You know,
big tech companies know this.
That's why they spend
billions of dollars
trying to figure out
how to better capture
our attention.
And just to reflect
on that for a minute,
the average person
these days spends
about 49 hours a week
engaging with social media
in some form,
meaning engaging
with the content
that the algorithm delivers,
which means we're spending
49 hours a week
on average being formed
by that content.
In other words,
it's determining
what we pay attention to.
The algorithm's single purpose
of its existence
is to figure out
what you tend
to pay attention to
and to give you
more of that.
So what's in the spotlight
and what's outside
of the spotlight?
And if I'm spending
49 hours a week
consuming like
hyper-politicized rhetoric
or self-optimization
life hacks,
then what is my natural
assumption going to be
and what is my natural
ability going to be
when it comes to
seeing Jesus in my life?
And I'm not going to see him
even if he's right there.
So what we need to do
is to think about
what am I paying attention to
and how is that
shaping my ability
to sense and experience
the presence of God
in my life?
I can't be on my phone
all day
and then fire a signal
flare up to heaven
and be like,
well, where's Jesus?
I just can't.
That's unrealistic
understanding
of the limitations
of my own attention,
right?
How do we keep
our attention focused
on Jesus
so that we will be able
to recognize
his presence
in our lives?
Well, the church
has always relied
on things,
tools,
practices
like scripture,
like prayer,
like coming
and gathering
for worship
at least once
if not multiple times
a week.
All of that
is designed
to retrain
our attention
to experience
Christ's presence.
We're not invoking
the presence
of we're not,
that's a pagan
understanding.
He's here with us.
All that we do here
is intended
to attune
our attention
to his presence,
to help us
recognize him
coming toward us.
This is why
monastics
structure their life
around rhythms
of daily prayer
and inspired by that
as Anglicans
we have a wonderful
tool in the toolbox
for this.
It's called
the Book of Common Prayer,
right?
Developed in the
16th century
aimed at this,
helping us
recognize
and attune
ourselves
to the presence
of Christ
in our life.
Right?
So you wake up
in the morning
and instead of
scrolling your email
you begin with prayer.
You focus on Jesus.
Then you go through
your morning
and you're answering email
and you're getting
stressed out
and following me
and then at midday
you come back
and you refocus
on Jesus.
And then you go
through your afternoon
and you're in traffic
and you're thinking
about all the things
you didn't get done
and then in the evening
you refocus
on Jesus.
And then right
before you go to bed
instead of doom scrolling
and stressing about
the state of the world
you refocus
on Jesus.
And again
and again
our attention
is pulled away
and then it comes back
and then it's pulled away
and then it comes back
and that's the purpose
of prayer, right?
Because we're humans
we can't just constantly
attune, right?
If we could
we wouldn't need grace.
But our attention
has to be brought back
again
and again
Christ is here
he's with you
listen.
That's the purpose.
So you don't have to use
the book of common prayer
there are a lot of great apps
and tools out there
but what is your plan?
If you don't have a plan
it's a great place to start.
Imagine if
instead of spending
49 hours a week
being formed
by the algorithm
we allowed the voices
and the wisdom
of the saints
who came before us
to have a say
in what is forming
and shaping
and directing our attention.
How would that change
our experience
of a normal Tuesday?
So this is the second point
so Jesus
sends us sometimes
into the storm
but the good news is
he meets us
in the storm.
But there's a third
and final thing
we need to see here
that I think is arguably
the most important point
of the whole text.
Peter recognizes Jesus
I also love this
because it's so how
I experience faith.
He recognizes Jesus
and he gets this burst of faith.
Right?
And he says
if it's you
you know
this is kind of
a bold request
tell me to come to you
and I will.
He's like
I want to do
what you're doing.
Show me how to do that.
I want to walk on water.
And Jesus says
come on.
And imagine
what that must have been like.
Right?
You're out in the middle
of the ocean.
Have you ever heard
the phrase
thalassophobia?
It's it's
I learned it
because I have it.
It is
it's it's the fear
of extremely
deep dark water.
So like for me
one of my worst fears
would be to be
like the ship
goes down at sea
and I'm just out
treading water
like Titanic style.
You know
I'm like
I'm just kind of
floating on wreckage
and there's just
nothing but like
miles of ocean
below me.
That just makes
my knees weak.
So imagine
now it's not quite
that deep
in this sea
but imagine
it's still pretty deep
and it's at night
and the storm
is raging
and imagine
getting out
of that boat.
I mean
that took
some serious boldness.
Peter gets
out of the boat
one leg
then the other leg
he starts
to come
toward Jesus
and there's
this kind of
pregnant moment
where everybody's
just
he's actually
doing it
right?
But then look
what happens
it says
then Peter
got out of the boat
walked on the water
and came toward Jesus
but when he saw
the winds
right
his attention
shifts
right
he's focusing
on Jesus
and then his
attention shifts
away
and he starts
to focus
on the wind
and the world
narrows
right
and the spotlight
Jesus is in the shadows
and he's spotlighting
the wind
and he begins
to sink
and all he can do
is cry out
Lord save me
he's going down
into the water
save me
right
and then
so we see
right
he has this burst
of faith
but then his
faith falters
for a moment
he's standing
on the water
but then his
attention shifts
his faith melts
he starts to sink
I think this is
extremely crucial
because
if Peter
had simply
gotten out of the boat
and had enough faith
and walked to Jesus
then really
the hero
of this story
would not
be Jesus
it would be Peter
right
and the point
of this message
which could be
preached in any
religious institution
anywhere
would be
be more like Peter
this is a great
example for you
to follow
be more like him
you should
have more faith
and then you'll be able
to do amazing things
but that's not
what happens
this is not
a story
with a moral
that says
be more
like Peter
in this story
Peter fails
his doubt
actually overwhelms
his faith
he has this
burst of faith
but then it
melts away
and doubt
overwhelms him
and he starts
to sink
and he can't
save himself
and all he can do
is cry out
Lord save me
and then I think
this is the most
beautiful word
in the story
immediately
Jesus reaches out
his hand
takes hold
of him
and lifts
him out
of the depths
right
and that's
when they
really come
to see
who Jesus
is
right
each of
these encounters
brings them
closer and
closer
and this
happens
and they
say
surely
you must
be
the son
of God
and they
break into
spontaneous
worship
right then
and there
and so
this third
point is
crucial
yes he
sends us
into the
storm
sometimes
he meets
us
in the
storm
but ultimately
Jesus is
the one
who carries
us
through
the storm
the decisive
moment in this
story is not
when Peter
takes hold
of Jesus
it is when
Jesus takes
hold of
Peter
and this
is really
the heart
of the
Christian
faith
and this
is something
that we
will say
again and
again until
it sinks
in
it is not
about the
quality of
our faith
it is not
about the
quantity of
our faith
it is about
the object
of our
faith
the object
of our
faith is
all that
matters
so you might
have a weak
and trembling
faith that
feels like it
is barely
stitched
together
but if you
place that
weak and
stitched
together
faith in
the hands
of a strong
savior
that's enough
that's all
you need
because it's
the savior
not the
strength of
our believing
who saves
us
and this
is a good
reminder
that this
is not
just a
story
about
surviving
difficult
circumstances
in our
lives
it is
about
that
and all
of this
applies
to that
but this
actually
is pointing
to something
beyond
itself
this is a
story that
points us
to the
heart of
the Christian
faith
which is
the good
news
of the
gospel
because the
larger story
of scripture
tells us
that we
are all
caught in
the midst
of a
storm
a kind
of
spiritual
storm
it says
that we're
all sinking
beneath
powers we
cannot
defeat
right
what the
bible calls
sin and
death
that we're
all caught
in that
and we can't
rescue
ourselves
and if it's
left up to us
to do that
our faith is
going to falter
right
our commitments
are going to
be abandoned
we're going to
be pulled
under
and what this
tells us
is that Jesus
is not the
kind of
being who
stands away
at a safe
distance
shouting
instructions
to us
you know
do more
of this
stop doing
that
right
that's not
who we're
dealing with
we're dealing
with a kind
of person
who enters
the storm
who descends
into our
suffering
and death
this is really
what you see
on the cross
you see
Jesus
allowing the
waters to
close over
his head
and then
through his
resurrection
the reason
the Christians
celebrated
when they
realized what
had happened
that first
Easter
is because
they realized
what it
meant
he has
broken
the power
of death
he has
overcome
he has
stilled
the storm
and so
now
in
because of
that
everyone
who cries
Lord save
me
is met
by his
saving
hand
immediately
right
when you cry
if you've
never done
that before
and you
were to
pray that
right now
just in
your mind
Lord save
me
I'm ready
immediately
Jesus takes
hold
he's not
waiting for
you know
well a little
more
show me
you really
mean it
as soon
as you
cry out
he takes
hold
and if
we believe
these things
they will
transform
how we
experience
storms
I want to
come back
to that
quote
from
Teresa
of
Avila
can you
imagine
being like
those people
that she
talks about
the people
who prize
and desire
trials
the way
other people
prize gold
and jewels
I mean that
may sound
fanciful
that may
sound
idealistic
I think
it's possible
the next
time you
find yourself
in a storm
that's an
opportunity
to take
some of what
we're talking
about
and to try
to put it
into practice
to recognize
and to say
okay
if I'm
in this
storm
I have
to at
least
ask
is it
possible
that Jesus
has allowed
this to
happen
has allowed
me to
come to
this place
because
there are
things that
he's wanting
to do
in me
sometimes
my wife
and I
will use
the phrase
I feel
like
Jesus
is taking
me
to school
it's like
he just
kind of
shows up
and says
it's time
to go
to school
class
is in
session
and I'm
like
it's the
middle
of the
summer
and he's
like
not on
my
calendar
and he's
like
let's
get to
it
you know
there's
work
he wants
to do
in my
heart
there's
work
he wants
to do
in my
life
sends
me
into
a
storm
right
and so
you
ask
is it
possible
that I'm
in a
storm
right now
because
Jesus
has
called
me
to be
here
and
then
you
draw
comfort
from
the
fact
that
can
only
mean
one
thing
that
Jesus
wants
to
meet
me
here
in
a
new
way
he
wants
me
to
encounter
him
here
in
maybe
a
way
that
is
deeper
maybe
a
way
that
like
I
said
before
requires
me
to
let
go
of
some
of
the
simplistic
aspects
of
my
faith
maybe
it
draws
my
attention
to
an
area
of
my
life
where
I've
been
actively
resisting
him
but
he's
wanting
to do
something
he's
wanting
me
to
encounter
him
in
a
new
way
and
ultimately
I
realize
me
getting
through
this
thing
is
not
going
to
hinge
on
me
having
what
it
takes
right
I
think
for
a lot
of
us
men
maybe
women
as
well
I
think
we
have
these
deep
fears
that
can
surface
do
I
have
what
it
takes
or
am
I
worth
loving
am
I
worth
does
anybody
care
about
the
fact
that
I'm
in
this
you
know
and
ultimately
it's
not
about
us
getting
it
right
he
will
still
every
storm
in
our
life
sometimes
he
saves
us
by
calming
the
storm
sometimes
he
saves
us
simply
by
sustaining
us
through
it
you
know
Johnny
Eric
Santata
who
the
woman
who
was
paralyzed
from
the
neck
down
I
just
I've
drawn
so
much
inspiration
from
her
over
the
years
and
one
of
her
phrases
that
always
stays
in
my
mind
is
sometimes
God
allows
what
he
hates
in
order
to
accomplish
what
he
loves
there
are
things
that
God
is
wanting
to
accomplish
so
sometimes
he
saves
us
simply
by
sustaining
us
through
that
hard
thing
but
ultimately
what
scripture
says
is
through
the
resurrection
Jesus
is
going
to
save
us
from
every
storm
the
wind
will
one
day
cease
the
waves
will
one
day
stop
tormenting
the
boat
he'll
wipe
away
every
tear
all
things
will
be
made
new
and
on
that
day
Christ
will
bring
his
people
safely
home
let's
pray
Lord
may
these
words
sink
in
what
is
of
you
Lord
may
it
may
it
sink
deeply
especially
for those
of us
who might
be in
a storm
right
now
Lord
we
pray
for
not
just
human
wisdom
or
pat
answers
Lord
we pray
for
encounters
encounter
this
story
is
about
encounter
and
so
for
those
of
us
who
may
be
in
the
midst
of
a
storm
I
pray
Lord
that
there
would
be
the
opportunity
to
encounter
you
right
to
experience
your
presence
in
ways
that
change
us
deeply
Lord
I
pray
that
through
these
experiences
I
think
of
Peter
years
later
writing
his
epistle
telling
his
people
don't
be
surprised
when
the
trial
comes
upon
you
as
though
to
test
you
Lord
may
we
not
be
surprised
may
we
see
in
these
even
these
hard
experiences
of
our
life
may
we
see
your
love
and
your
mercy
may
we
encounter
you
afresh
we
pray
this
in
Jesus
name
Amen