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Sermon
The Gospel of Matthew

Take Heart, It is I

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January 18, 2026
Matthew 14:22-36
Steven Lee
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

The Person of Christ

Fear & Anxiety

Faith

Transcript

0:16Would you join me as we pray and go to the Lord for help. Father in heaven, come now in power, in the power of your spirit and give us eyes to see more of Christ. We wanna behold you in all of your glory. So meet us as you have already met us in the baptisms and in the singing and in the worship cause our hearts to see more of you this morning for your glory and for our joy. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

0:56Every Wednesday the pastors will get together and we'll look at the sermon text for the coming week. And we remarked that this week it just happened that we had baptism. So it'd be a really kind of key moment for me to attempt to walk on water this morning and, and we could find some ways and put some buckets there or something. You, you can imagine if I did walk on water this morning, none of you would be all that impressed. You'd think maybe he's wearing special shoes. Maybe there's an optical illusion with a little bit of thin acrylic there. Maybe there's buckets hidden below. And John Allen said, don't do it. It, it doesn't look good.

1:37Right? The, the the wonder of this miracle that we just heard read for us has lost its luster. David Blaine has done much more impressive things. Magicians and tricks and AI generated video do outrageous things. And since the days of Jesus, we have found many ways to walk on water, haven't we? Stand up, paddle boarding, Wake surfing, water skiing, hydrofoils. There's something called fly boarding which shoots down water and you're kind of flying in the air like the rocketeer, hovercrafts, amphibious vehicles. Walking on water doesn't quite have the wow factor that it did in Jesus' day. And so this morning we need to recover the wonder of what Jesus does, but we need to recover the wonder of who Jesus is.

2:35We want to see it afresh through the eyes of his disciples as his disciples this morning. And we want to see not only what it reveals about Jesus authority, but what it reveals about is identity. And so much like the feeding of the 5,000 that we saw last week. There's more than meets the eye this morning. And the story itself is very straightforward. The disciples are, are beaten and battered by the waves. Jesus walks on the sea to them. Peter gets out of the boat and he walks on water, he sinks, Jesus saves and then they conclude this is the sun of God. Our main idea this morning is that Jesus is the Lord over all creation and he is indeed the son of God.

3:28Jesus is the Lord of all creation and he is this son of God. And the disciples are slowly learning. Not only can Jesus provide them bread, but they are those who walk by faith in Jesus. They are those of little faith who are slowly growing and may the Lord do that among us as well this morning. So we're gonna see this miracle in four scenes. There's sending, Jesus sends the disciples away, then there's the seeing Jesus, then there's the sinking, and then there's the saving. So sending, seeing, sinking and saving. I can't get away from acronyms so, or alliteration, excuse me. So look with me at verse 22, here we see the sending, immediately following the feeding of the F 5,000.

4:18It says immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. And when evening came, he was there alone. But the boat by this time was a long way from the land beaten by the waves for the wind was against them. So we see this theme of authority in this text that runs all the way through Jesus made or he compelled the disciples to get into the bow. And, and if you're one of the disciples, you're like, what? What is going on? Like what are you doing, Jesus?

4:58It's nighttime, middle of the night. We imagine Jesus is all alone in this remote place and they're looking at each other like, are we just gonna leave him here? Jesus sovereignly sends the disciples away in order to test their faith and he dismisses the crowds as well. John's gospel tells us actually that the crowds perceived that Jesus wa was someone special, divine and they wanted to make him king. And Jesus says, no, no, no, no, not like that. Not now. And he sends the crowds away. And so Jesus withdraws to commune with his father. He he, he goes off to pray and Matthew underscores this twice.

5:40Jesus says by himself, and he was there alone. Uh, why does he do that? I think there's two things. One is Jesus is modeling the very thing he taught in the sermon on the Mount. Matthew six, six, when you pray, go into your room, shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. Jesus is having a conversation with his father. And I imagine he's saying things like, thank you for glorifying yourself in the feeding of these thousands. But it also reminds us, I think of Moses, Jesus is this new and better Moses that we saw last week. And Moses, the one is the one that approaches the Lord alone on the mountain.

6:21And Jesus communes with the Father on this mountain. Now verse 24 tells us the boat was beaten by the waves and the wind was against the disciples. And to understand kind of what, what's going on, we have to understand how the sea was viewed in the Old Testament and in this time. So the seas represent chaos and evil. The seas are powerful and deadly and uncontrollable. So imagine being out on the water, no engine, no GPS, no cell phone, no light, complete darkness. And a storm rolls in. No one can tame the wind and the waves. And so the seas are terrifying and chaotic. And one example of the chaotic seas shows up in Matthew chapter eight.

7:12We, we looked at this already, but Jesus cast out these demons and the demons beg cast us out into the pigs instead. And so he goes into the pigs and then the pigs drowned in the sea. And so it's almost like the demonic spirits retreat back into their evil underworld. Uh, and so that's what these seas represent. And we can look throughout the Old Testament, the flood waters of Noah. These are judgment waters that are terrifying and deadly or Israel crossing through the Red Sea and then the sea collapsing in on Pharaoh's army or Jonah's journey to the ocean floor. So all of these images represent deadlines and chaos.

7:55And so the disciples are in this really precarious situation out on the sea making no headway. And it says that they're a great distance from the land. John's gospel, John chapter six verse 19 says, they have rode about three or four miles, I shouldn't take 'em all night. And they're trying to cross that northern tip of the lake, which was maybe only four or five miles wide. And so they're in severe distress. So this sets the stage for us. Jesus sends his disciples away into this storm and the crowds have been sent home and they're caught up in chaos. So now we come to the seeing verses 25 to 27.

8:35Look with me at verse 25. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking on the sea. So in, in the Roman way of calculating time, night is sunset to sunrise and they divided it into four watches. So you got six to 9:00 PM that's the first watch, nine to midnight, midnight to three, and then three to 6:00 AM. And so the disciples have been out on the boat for a long time and it's anywhere from three to 6:00 AM and then all of a sudden Jesus shows up on the water. Now Jesus is not walking on this perfectly still lake that we imagine the wind is blowing, the rain is following, uh, falling.

9:25Seven or eight foot waves are battering the boat. And Jesus is bounding from wave to wave and the drama unfolds. Look at verse 26. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and they said it is a ghost. And they cried out in fear. We can understand how they felt. They weren't expecting to see anyone in that moment. The disciples are afraid. They thought it was some sort of spirit or aberration. They did not expect Jesus. What are we to make of their faith in this moment? Excuse me. What are we to make of their fear? Well, I think I already said it. It's a lack of faith.

10:05Uh, they haven't learned the lesson of the previous miracle, that Jesus is the compassionate Lord and the great provider with limitless power. He is limitless power. You just saw that in the feeding of the 5,000. And yet they have not learned that lesson. I wonder how often that is true of us as well. We have not yet learned the lesson that Jesus is the compassionate Lord full of limitless power, but we're anxious and afraid as if he wasn't or isn't in control. Look at verse 27. Immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, take heart. It is I don't be afraid. Do not be afraid. These are some of the best words one can hear in the midst of chaos and fear.

11:02It's me. Jesus says, don't be afraid. And I wonder how many of us need to hear those same words this morning. Our communities are fractured and polarized. Many don't know what to think about immigration. If you didn't see my email that I sent out on Friday, let me encourage you to find it or we can send it to you. In the midst of this though, we need to remember that God is in our midst. Take heart. It is I do not be afraid. The Lord is our refuge and our strength a very present help in time of trouble. Now, Jesus' words reassure the disciples that it's him. But by the time of Matthew's writing of his gospel, there's this rich theological truth that is being unveiled.

11:58The phrase it is, I could also be translated. I am me. I am has this rich theological significance throughout the Bible. So it reads, don't fear I am is here. Now, one of the most significant moments, this phrase I am shows up, is in Exodus chapter three verse 14. And this is where Moses is a shepherd. He, he's watching his father-in-law's flocks in Midian and he comes up to this burning bush and he's like, what's going on over there? So he goes closer to inspect and the Lord speaks out to him in the midst of the bush and says, take off your shoes. You're standing on holy ground. And then what proceeds to happen as Moses has this dialogue with God and in the midst of that dialogue, God tells Moses to go to his people in Egypt and he says, I want you to deliver them.

12:59And Moses like that is way too big of a task. And he's throwing out excuses left and right. And one of 'em, he says, if I come to the people of Israel, this is Exodus three 13. If I come to the people in Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? And God responds, I, I am who I am. And he said, say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you. It's not as though God did not reveal his name throughout the Old Testament up to this point in Genesis, you see all sorts of names for God, God Almighty, uh, God, the great provider, God most high.

13:44But what he says in this moment is, I am the Lord that needs no introduction. I am the preexistent one I am. And Jesus explicitly references this, references this moment in John chapter eight, verse 58, where Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you before Abraham was, I am so in this text, Jesus reveals that He is I am. I am Yahweh. I am the great one who has been there from the very beginning. I'm the creator and the sustainer and the maker and the author and the perfecter of all things. So this is not just a neat little miracle where Jesus walks across a lake, but it reveals that Jesus is the one who treads upon the chaotic and threatening waters like no one else in the world can do except God himself.

14:44Jesus is revealing his supreme lordship over all creation. So I want you to see this in several Old Testament texts that speak of how Yahweh or God alone treads on the water. So you don't have to turn to these 'cause I'm gonna probably move through them too quickly, but just listen as I read them. First one is Job chapter nine, verse eight. You can write down the reference if you wanna look at these later. Job nine, eight. And it says, God is the one who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea. Or Job 38 16, have you entered into the springs of the sea like God has or walked in the recesses of the deep Psalm 77 19 your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters, yet your footprints were unseen.

15:45Or Psalm 89 verse nine. Again, speaking of God, you rule the raging of the sea. When its ways rise, you steal them. Or Psalm 1 35 verse six, whatever the Lord pleases he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. So in all of those verses, what do we see? The seas are this chaotic and uncontrollable, dark and deadly place. And only God Almighty can trample on the waves. Only he can walk through these deep waters. Only he can rule over them and steal them. And in other words, this miracle is painting an undeniable portrait of Jesus. He is the great, I am the sovereign Lord over all creation.

16:40And so why would you be afraid if God is on your side? Last week we saw that he's the great provider. Now we'll see that he's the great protector. I remember once I had a missionary friend who served in Southeast Asia and by God's providence they became friends with one of the children of one of the most powerful people in the country, like top three in terms of power in that country or wealth. And they were out with their friend and they were traveling in these massive Southeast Asian cities and they just hit kind of terrible traffic and they weren't gonna be able to get to this event, this really important event that they needed to go to.

17:25And so my friend thinks we're just gonna have to miss it. And the friend that they were with, the child of this really powerful person gets on her phone and she makes a phone call and then minutes later a helicopter is circling above them, lands in the middle of this highway on the side of the road, they get into this helicopter and they make it to their appointment in time. She had a friend in high places in the same way this morning. If you have the one who walks on the waves on your side, why are we so anxious and afraid? We have a friend in high places. Jesus' words, I am with his actions walking on water is this signature description of God Almighty.

18:20No one else does this. This is supposed to say something about who he is. Uh, this idea of signature description, it's like this. If I said that there was a former president who was very tall gaunt and he wore a black stove pipe hat and had a beard but no mustache. Who am I describing Abraham Lincoln Or if I say that there's a young woman in literature who wears a blue and white knee length dress with puffed sleeves, ankle strap shoes, and a pina for which is like a little apron for the front of the dress. And she's standing in a landscape. Who am I describing not as confident Alice in Wonderland Or what about a small ancient figure with green skin, oversized ears, a simple robe and he speaks in inverted sentences.

19:21Yoda, all of those are obvious. It's their signature description. They're blatant. There's no one else that fits that description. And that's the point of this miracle. No one else treads upon the waters except God. In last week's miracle, we saw that Jesus does all these things that other people have done. Moses gave bread from heaven. Elijah multiplied bread in order to feed people. He's the new and better. Moses, he's the greater prophet. He's the good shepherd. The whole picture here is that no one else has done this. Moses does not walk on water. Elijah does not walk on water. Abraham does not walk on water.

20:00No one else walks on water except God himself. No one commands the seas, the winds and the storms to be still except the creator of the world. No one dares say I am. I'm the pre-existing God that has been before all time. And that will exist for all time unless it's Jesus Almighty. And this reveals the majesty and the wondrous glory of our savior. So we had the sending, we have the seeing now we come to the sinking in 28 to 31. Look at verse 28. Peter answered him, Lord, if it's you, command me to come to you on the water. And Jesus says, come. So Peter got outta the boat, walked on the water and came to Jesus.

20:57So Peter's like, alright, that's Jesus, let's go. I'm all in. And the condition, if it's you, if it is you, I think should be understood as since you are the Lord tell me to come to you. So I think it's a sign of faith. And in this sense, we could say that Peter is slowly beginning to learn the lesson of the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus empowers his disciples to do as they do. He says, go feed them. They're like, we can't. And then he says, go feed them. And now Peter's like, alright, it it, it's you tell me to walk on water verse 30. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me.

21:41And Jesus immediately reached out, his hand, took hold of him saying to him, oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? So Peter takes his eyes off of Jesus just for a second, and he grew fearful and began to sink and cries out a glorious, simple prayer. Lord, save me. The rebuke owe you of little faith. Why did you doubt? I doesn't, I, I don't think is kind of chastising him for unbelief, but rather in inadequate faith. He had the faith to step out. He had the faith to speak to Jesus, tell me to come out to you. And he had the faith to cry out to Jesus. But he took his eyes off of Jesus for just a moment.

22:24And the fears of the world overwhelmed him. Now some see Jesus rebuke of Peter as a rebuke of his arrogance or rashness or going beyond his limits. Uh, it may be the case, but Peter certainly not the hero of this story. What we'll see later that they're growing in their understanding, this is going to build to chapter 16 where Peter will confess that Jesus is indeed the Lord and then he still going to deny him. But Jesus' simple invitation of come, I think, reveals that Jesus honors even little faith despite his insufficiency or his inadequate faith. The Lord is this compassionate one. Come, come.

23:12And in the same way this morning to those with insufficient faith, doubts and fears, the Lord looks out to you and he says, come to me. Come to those with weak and unsteady faith. Jesus says, come to those who are anxious and full of angst or angry at the world. Jesus says, come, come to me. Peter is so encouraging for us this morning. We know that we are prone to wander, Lord, we feel it prone to leave the God that we love, prone to take our eyes off of Jesus just for a moment and then to fear that we're sinking and Jesus bids us to come. So, so what does this teach us about the nature of faith?

24:05I think first it teaches us that Jesus' disciples will not escape the storms and the trials of life in God's providence. He may bring storms precisely to test our faith. Suffering is a normal aspect of the Christian life. Second thing we see following Jesus does not mean success in all that we do. The disciples rode for hours and hours and made no headway. They grew exhausted and tired and doubtful, being a disciple does not guarantee that we will have prosperity and success here in our earthly life. And yet, third, the words of Jesus instill in us great hope in the midst of fear. Don't they take heart?

24:55It is, I do not be afraid. The one who rules over all creation is the one who protects us and watches over us. The one who treads upon the waters is the one who loves us this morning. The one with authority over nature and demons and diseases is the one who holds us and keeps us from faltering or making a shipwreck of our faith. And so this morning, take heart brothers and sisters, we have the Lord Jesus Christ who says to us to is I.

25:36So we've seen the descending, the seeing, the sinking, and now we come to the saving. So we go to 32 to 36, we get the conclusion and aftermath of the miracle. And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased and those in the boat worshiped him saying, truly, you are the son of God. And when they had crossed over, they came to a land, a esate. And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well to conclusions. First, Jesus calms the storm as he enters the boat and they worship him truly, you are the son of God.

26:25This is a remarkable confession. It's not happened yet by the disciples in Matthew's gospel. In Matthew's gospel, we see the Father affirm this reality. At Jesus baptism, the the father says, this is my beloved son. And then Satan has questioned Jesus' identity. He is like, are you sure I if you are the son of God, throw yourself off this mountain. And then in Matthew 8 29, the demons have confessed this reality. The demons say to Jesus, what have you to do with us? Oh, son of God. But now, for the first time, the disciples are the one that confess that Jesus is the son of God. We've seen you tread upon the waters and no one does that except God.

27:14Second, the men of the city where they end up recognize Jesus brought the sick to him and beg, begged to touch the fringe of his garment. They recognized that Jesus is the source of authority and power to heal this morning. Do we recognize that Jesus is the source and the authority possesses the authority to heal the fringe of the tassels? A fringe of the robe refers to the tassels at the bottom of a Jewish man's robe. And it conveys that Jesus' power is so great that even whoever touches the edge of his robe is healed. And, and I think what it's supposed to say is this, if Jesus' clothing heals, how much more will Jesus' disciples be empowered by the Holy Spirit to do even greater works than this?

28:11And when we get to Acts five, what we read, five 15 Peter's shadow people laid people in the streets so that Peter's shadow might fall on them and be healed. And then in Acts 19, handkerchiefs or aprons that touched Paul were carried away to the sick to heal and to cast out demons. I I think what Matthew is doing is he's setting us up so that when Jesus gets to the great commission in Matthew 28 and he says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me and now I'm giving it to my disciples, and they're gonna do even greater works than this. And that's why we see handkerchiefs from Paul healing people.

28:57Now as we try to conclude this miracle reveals that Jesus is the Lord over creation. He is the great I am and he is the son of God. It reveals not only is authority and his power, but it reveals his identity. He commands the wind and the waves and enables Peter even to walk on water. So I have three applications for us very briefly. First behold, the sun of God. Uh, the whole aim of this text is we would conclude the same ways the disciples in the boat conclude worship Jesus as the son of God. Uh, the world says this is just a trick, maybe a myth, but it happened. And it serves as this living portrait to reveal Jesus is the one who treads upon the chaotic waters and calms the storms.

29:56No one else does this, where the previous miracle said, new and better. Moses, the greater prophet than Elijah, the Good Shepherd. All of these realities highlighted in the Old Testament what this miracle is trying to show. No one else does this in the Old Testament except God Almighty. And Jesus is God almighty. Truly this is the son of God. And if you're not trusting in Jesus this morning, and I know there are many, our invitation to you is cry out the simple prayer of Peter Lord, save me. That is a prayer that he longs to answer. Second application, we are to walk by faith in Jesus. Peter is this man of little faith along with the rest of the disciples.

30:47And yet this little faith enabled him to walk on water. And the disciples learned the lesson that to rely on Jesus is to be in a very good place. Not only is Jesus the great provider, not only is he the good shepherd, not only is the greater prophet, not only is he the new and better Moses, but he is the Lord over all creation. And so come to Jesus in the midst of all of your anxieties and fears, in the midst of all the storms of life, when we're crying out how long, oh Lord, when life feels fragile and when disease threatens our health and circumstances threaten our joy and seem unbearable or when our fears overwhelm us, the invitation of this text is to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

31:44Keep coming to his word. Keep coming to him in prayer. Don't grow in cynicism and say, well, it it hasn't worked yet. No, no, no. He, he's testing your faith so that you would keep your eyes fixed on him. Whereas Hebrews 12 says, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before meant endured the cross, scorning the shame and sat down at the right hand of the Father, keep your eyes fixed on the one who has accomplished it all so that we would not grow afraid or despair or cynical with all that is going on in our world. And the world looks at this story and they say, the problem was that Peter didn't believe in himself enough.

32:31Right? Self-doubt is the enemy here. You just gotta believe in yourself a little bit more. Just fake it till you make it. Just preach to yourself, you can do it. You're good enough, you're good looking enough. And that would be a mistake. A terrible, terrible mistake. This text is, is inviting us to fix our eyes on Christ when we're tempted to sin and when we're tempted to think this thing is gonna bring me more joy than obedience to God. Fix your eyes on Jesus. When, when you're tempted to self justify your sin with your family, fix your eyes on Jesus. When you're tempted to cheat or to lie or to steal or to curse others with your words or under your breath, fix your eyes on Jesus.

33:27He's the one who calms the storms, feeds the multitude, walks on water, and he gives us his spirit this morning so that we can do even greater works than him. And some of those greater works is greater holiness and greater godliness and greater sanctification that we are walking in. No one should conclude from this text that I'm telling you to go out and do something entirely crazy like, stand on I 35 because Jesus got Peter to walk on water. The the great works were to do is to walk by faith, to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, to put the death sin to to. And Jesus is so patient and kind with Peter and he's so patient and kind with us this morning.

34:19Even if we are those of little faith, we have a compassionate Lord who sympathizes with us in our weakness. Third application, we overcome fear by looking to Jesus. You, you can imagine that the disciples are a little bit unnerved. John the Baptist was beheaded. Jesus didn't swoop in and save him. And they're like, what? John was surprised himself like, I'm here in jail. The disciples are caught in this life-threatening storm and they don't expect to see Jesus there either. And they fear that they've seen a ghost. And what they need is a greater fear of the Lord Jesus Christ. They need to see Jesus in all of his terrifying and fearsome glory so that all of their other little and big fears would ultimately fade away.

35:17They need a clearer vision of the wonder and the authority and the power of Jesus Christ. We, we stand not just next to a man, but this is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He's the one that that is greater than the angels whom all fall before and and are, are just paralyzed in fear. He's the one who was there at Genesis one, one who spoke the entire creation into existence. This is the Lord that we serve. And there were many fears for these disciples. Will we end up like John the Baptist? Will we have anything to eat? Will we survive this boat ride? Will we drown in these chaotic waters?

35:59And in the same way we have our own fears and anxieties as well this morning. What is going on in our cities and our state and in our country? Am I safe? Is my job stable? Will test reveal that I'm dying? Will my nest egg sustain me? Will my marriage make it? Will God ever give me a spouse? Will this estrangement or conflict ever be resolved? And I cannot answer every question, but I can confidently say to you, each and every single one of you this morning, that the one who treads upon the waters and the waves who treads upon the chaotic and uncontrollable storms of life, he is for you and he is with you, and he reassures you with these words.

36:46Take heart. It is I do not be afraid. Let's pray. Father, make us steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord because we know that you are our Lord. Give us a fresh vision of how big, authoritative, powerful, wondrous and glorious you are. And then cause our fears and anxieties to subside as we fix your eyes on Jesus. We pray this in your name. Amen. Amen.

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Sermon Text

Matthew 14:22-36

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