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Then Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people away. After sending the people away, he went up a hill by himself to pray. When evening came, Jesus was there alone; and by this time the boat was far out in the lake, tossed about by the waves, because the wind was blowing against it.
Between three and six o'clock in the morning Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the water. When they saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. "It's a ghost!" they said, and screamed with fear.
Jesus spoke to them at once. "Courage!" he said. "Its is I. Don't be afraid!"
Then Peter spoke up. "Lord, if it is really you, order me to come out on the water to you."
"Come!" answered Jesus. So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water to Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he was afraid and started to sink down in the water. "Save me, Lord!" he cried.
At once Jesus reached out and grabbed hold of him and said, "How little faith you have! Why did you doubt?"
They both got into the boat, and the wind died down. Then the disciples in the boat worshipped Jesus. "Truly you are the Son of God!" they exclaimed.
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Growing in Intimacy with the Lord
There are 7 purposes to a Cell Group. The first is to help to grow in intimacy with the Lord.
The Lord has a desire in his heart for us. It is that we be intimate with Him and relate in an intimate, personal way with Him. It is expressed in the word communio. God desires a communion with us, a union with us. He desires to awaken in us a relationship with Him. To switch on a light if you like so that we can see Him in a different way. He has a desire in His heart to awaken a sense of His presence in us and to draw us into a face to face, one to one encounter and relationship with Him.
I have chosen for the Gospel this evening Matthew Chapter 14 Verses 22-33. It shows how Peter and the disciples grew in intimacy. A feature of the passage is that Peter and the others would be very familiar with these surroundings. They knew that lake well. They washed in it, they swam in it, and they fished in it. They knew the calm, they knew the turbulence, and they knew the motion of the water, they knew where and how to take the boat. It was familiar ground.
It is a way of saying that the intimacy that Jesus desires is awakened and nurtured in what is ordinary. It may not come in a dramatic way but rather during the ordinary everyday situations of life.
The first movement that is noted in our reading is that Jesus got them to go into the boat and to go ahead of him. He asked them to move on, to take on a responsibility; to head into what is different, what is alien, what is difficult in life. He asked them to go across the lake to where the Gentile people were. He asked them to go into the unknown, and risk taking on of a situation without knowing what might happen.
When they were gone, Jesus went into the hills by himself. He wanted to be alone, He wanted to pray and evidently He spent a long time in prayer. He is putting something important into practice in his own life.
Jesus is telling us too something important here. He wants to grow in intimacy with the Father. He wants us too to have a sacred and quite place. He wants us to cultivate and nurture that relationship, that one to one, face to face, relationship in faith with His Father.
So he gives us an example about the importance of that intimacy. This is the very basis of what the Christian life is about. Without that relationship, without that intimacy, without growth, in that intimacy, the Christian life doesn't exist. It finds it's very meaning in that relationship.
Meanwhile the disciples were out on the lake and things began to get somewhat rough. The headwind buffeted them. They began to battle. They were in a struggle. They began to think only of their own resources and it all becomes too much for them. There was nowhere they could turn. Alone in the headwind, they would likely die.
And then something began to happen, something indistinct. It is a ghost. Something terrified them. In the midst of all this there was someone approaching and that someone is saying, however indistinctly, "Courage it is I, do not be afraid". In the midst of that storm and turmoil, "Courage, it is I, do not be afraid".
It often happens that it is in the midst of difficulty and disappointment that we look for new answers and have to dig into our own resources. In their hour of desperation, the disciples heard "Courage, it is I, do not be afraid".
And then I see the mood changing in the story. Peter began to respond and he said a prayer that many of us might have said, "Lord, if you are there help us". "Lord, if you are there let me come to you". He say 'if'. It is all still so indistinct for him. And then a great change happens. "Come" said Jesus.
It would be interesting for each of us to take that word "Come" and spend time with it - listening the invitation of Jesus:
"Come", and listen to it's meaning.
"Come", listen to Him.
"Come" said Jesus.
"Come" to who?
"Come with what?
Listen to that word "Come".
Wait for some time. Wait long enough to hear the invitation for yourself.
"Come" "Come to Me" "Come"
So Peter began to come. He walked across the water and then began to be afraid and to sink. And as he sank he cried out. He is learning more about Jesus who is coming to him and he cried out "Lord, save me".
He knows that here is someone who can save, who can rescue, who can help him through the difficulties of life. But he knew even deeper still, someone who can save him from himself, save him from his own self-pity. "Lord, save me", he cries out.
And then Jesus responds. Jesus puts out his hand. And again it may be interesting to think of the offer of intimacy as Jesus reaches out his hand. Think of the way he does it. It is not imposing. It is the gesture of invitation. And it holds Peter.
He held him. It can remind us of the times when we are held. Jesus held him. Here is another lovely image to spend time with. And all the time, the sense of intimacy with Jesus is being developed, while Peter comes to a new trust, a new relationship, being held by the hand.
And Jesus in his own way is saying "man of little faith". He is reminding Peter of the past, and of his own failings and lack of trust. He is now saying to him there is such a rich offer now available to you?
And he experiences new life with Jesus as 'they got into the boat and the wind dropped'.
And then there is another layer of growth of intimacy in the story. The men in the boat bowed down before him and said, "truly you are the Son of God". "You are the only Son of God, the only Saviour we have, the one sent by the Father to save and to heal.
Together we are in the boat. A cell may be described as people together in the boat with Jesus. They are not alone. They rest with him who invites them to come, to see him in a deeper way. "Courage, it is I, do not be afraid, I am, for you, the Son of God".
I end with a prayer and I invite you to join hands.
Let us pray.
Lord, together we sit in this room, which reminds us of the boat of life. We thank you Lord that you have entered this boat with us and that you have taken each of us by the hand and are holding us.
In our time together during this Cell and future Cells may we indeed grow in intimacy with you - the One, who binds us together and is the bond between us.
- the One, who enables and allows peace to descend upon the boat, and upon us.
Lord, each of us wishes to grow in intimacy with you, and grow into knowing and hearing your voice of "Come"
Knowing that you are our Saviour, knowing you as the Son of God.
Lord may our time together draw us towards one another and especially tonight towards you. Give each of us a new sense of your presence and of a new opening of our hearts before you. We pray in the name of Jesus who is close to us, to Him who is the Son of God.
Amen.
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