Storms make us complete in Christ
Matthew 14:22-34 - Message by Pastor Jon Roe
Jesus has just miraculously fed 5000 and they wanted to make him king, even the disciples were getting caught up in this mindset. To defuse the situation Jesus dismisses the crowd and sends the disciples to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, while he departed into the wilderness to pray.
While heading to the other side of the sea a storm arises that frightens even these experienced fishermen. Obeying Christ does not exclude us from the storms of life. God allows trials into our lives to perfect us, to make us complete in him. Therefore do not be surprised by this storm but to rejoice (Heb 4:12-13).
While the disciples were battling the storm, they were not alone Jesus was up on the mountain praying. What was he praying? Most likely he was praying for their faith to be strengthened to draw them closer to God. We need to learn that we don’t go thru storms alone but Christ is they’re praying for us and therefore we ought not to let storms drive us away from God but to Him. We need to be always looking for Christ during the midst of storms rather than being fearful.
Peter calls out and he responds in faith when Jesus says, “come”. Peter knew that apart from faith in Christ he could not walk on water. So it is with us when we call out to God for salvation. The Bible teaches that we are all sinner, lawbreakers, deserving the justice of God, but by the grace of God Jesus has paid the penalty for our sins. We need by faith to repent, turn away from trying to save ourselves and to trust in Christ to save us and to help us in our walk with Christ.
What do we learn from this portion of scripture, 1) that Christ is praying for us (Heb 4:14-16), that he understands the storms we experience and therefore we can go to him in confidence and 2) that Christ will come to us, that he will never leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5). Heed the admonition of Heb 12:1-2 “looking to Jesus the founder and finisher of our faith”.