St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Pentecost 12 August 7, 2005 Matthew 14:23-27

When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

If you go to the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago you can see The Lion King! There are giraffes—people on stilts—with stilts in their hands for front legs—with long necks. There are antelope—on what is like a bicycle—two on the outside—one in the middle—they leap past each other—over and over they bound through the air. There are cheetahs—people for the back legs—their front legs on sticks—their bodies lean—as they move with incredible efficiency! There are birds—rice paper birds—like kites fastened to bamboo poles—they fly around and around and around. There are people in costumes—to be plants—huge African trees—hundreds and hundreds of years old—massive. Grasslands—tropical flowers in the jungle. There are drums—conga drums—huge gourds filled with dried seeds—covered with seeds in shells. There were huge drums—the kind mounted on the wall—as big as a Volkswagen bug—you beat them with huge sticks—beat them as hard as humanly possible! The point—the whole point is what do you do—when you are guilty—the little lion cub—guilty of disobeying—guilty of causing the death of his father—the lion king? What do you do--when you are guilty—ashamed—overwhelmed with regret and remorse? Do you run away? Do you run away and hide—as far and as fast as you physically can? Do you move from Watertown to Denver—or over the Rockies—to California—or all the way up to Alaska? The first time any human being was afraid—was when Adam was afraid of his Heavenly Father. Adam was afraid because of sin. Sin beings guilt and fear—shame and pain and death. Jesus came that we might have lifeand have it to the full! Today we will hear the Lord Jesus say to us:

Don’t Be Afraid

1. Sometimes the winds are against us

2. But Jesus is always with us!

As we catch up in spirit with the Lord Jesus—he is by a large crowd. Jesus has compassion on them. If you have ever spent time by the Emergency Room—you can imagine what that must have been like. People brought to Jesus loved ones who had been horribly burned. They brought people with broken arms and broken legs and broken ribs—people with leprosy—cancer from the outside in. People who were possessed by demons—who were caught in the soul destroying clutches of the father of lies—the murderer from the beginning! People brought to Jesus little children who had been born with the most painful and disabling physical troubles. Jesus had compassion on them. He felt their pain. Jesus healed their broken bodies. He wanted to heal their broken hearts and tortured souls. I often wonder how many people saw in Jesus a cure for their physical hurts and nothing more. I have seen people who cried out to Jesus in their physical distress. Jesus made them well. And they promptly forgot about Jesus until the next time there was physical hurt. They never seemed to understand that the real danger was to their immortal soul!

Jesus not only healed everyone who was sick. He also made sure the people who heard the Gospel were physically well fed—so they wouldn’t faint on their walk home. Remember—as evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowd away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish, “ they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said… By God’s grace alone—you know what happened next. Jesus had the people sit down. Jesus gave thanks to his Heavenly Father for this food. Then Jesus had the disciples distribute supper. When everyone was full—Jesus had them pick up the leftovers so that nothing would be wasted. When they had gathered up the leftovers—there were twelve basketfuls of pieces. There were 5,000 men plus women and children who were full—and still there were more leftovers than they had started out with! Wow!

Immediately—immediately Jesus made the disciples go on ahead of him to the other side, (of the Sea of Galilee) while he dismissed the crowds. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray… Jesus made time to pray—to talk to his Heavenly Father. Jesus spent great amounts of time praying. Can the same be said of us? We saw a movie the other night—where someone mentioned faith in God. “God?”, scoffed the unbeliever. “When you long for something—you are in desperate need of something—and you pray for it—God is the one who ignores you!” How wrong is that? Remember Jesus’ powerful promises, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 Do we believe these Gospel promises—or don’t we? Do we pray with Gospel inspired confidence or don’t we? How sad when James writes, “You do not have because you do not ask God.” James 4:2b The more we read God’s Word—the more we will be encouraged to pray—to pray with a point and with a passion. The more we read God’s Word—the more we will pray for spiritual blessings—with child like confidence that our Heavenly Father has both the power and the will to give us every needful blessing.

When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from the land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Sometimes troubles in life are very literally the waves of the sea—the wind against us. People who go surfing in hurricanes—who stand on their porch video taping tornadoes—people who stay at home when the Governor has issued a hurricane evacuation order—who drive around the road closed—flooding signs and have their SUV swamped--not only put themselves at risk. They endanger the lives of their children and the lives of the police officers, fire fighters and paramedics who will have to risk their lives to try to rescue them—when their homes collapse on them or they are electrocuted or are drowning! Again—far more dangerous than physical danger is spiritual danger! Spiritual danger threatens little children who need to learn God’s Word from their fathers and their mothers. Spiritual danger threatens little children who need to come to Sunday School. What a precious and priceless blessing that we have a Day School. A place where—from preschool through 8^th Grade God’s Word is at the center of everything we teach. How precious and priceless to have Luther Preparatory School and Lakeside Lutheran High School—where God’s Word is an essential part of every hour! When young people are tempted to drugs and alcohol and tobacco and sex before marriage—God’s Word is their strength against these storms! Our Schools are not free. But when you can find the money for the cars we drive—the clothes we wear—the movies we watch—the fish fries and fast food we eat—we can for the few years it takes—establish the priorities it takes to pay school fees. When Jesus’ love fills us with love for our Savior and our children--we will bring the thank offerings to pay for what is truly precious and priceless! The foundation of God’s Word that young people build upon—will be a foundation that will last them their whole life long! How precious is that?

“It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. Are you afraid of ghosts? Do you think that the spirits of dead people are going to get you? It is sad—that there are so many movies being made about exactly that—people coming back from the dead—doing bloody unspeakable harm to the living. Are these movies the reflection of sinful people’s imagination—gone over to the dark side—reveling in gore and violence? Or are people willing to pay literally millions of dollars for tickets to watch these movies—in order to sort of confront their most base fears—all the while whispering to themselves, “It’s only a movieit’s only a movie?” I think it’s probably some of both. People of God will remember that the fruits of the sinful flesh have lots to do with anger and violence. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” Ephesians 4:30,31 There is something wrong if our entertainment—our video games—our library of DVDs are full of blood and gore—death and literally reducing people to parts! Once we were darkness—but now we are children of light. We will by the power of the Holy Spirit—live as children of light—in the light of goodness and righteousness and truth.

The disciples cried out in fear. If you watch the news or read the papers—it almost seems like they are trying to scare you! Potato chips! It has been reported again and again that there is something about the frying of potato chips that makes them a cancer risk. Drinking from a garden hose. They are reporting now—that if you are working outside—and you are hot and parched—and you take a drink from a hose—heaven only knows what chemicals you might be drinking. Did you know that most people don’t know how to properly fasten their infant’s car seats? Did you know that aspirin can cause bleeding in your tummy? Did you know that there are all sorts of bad things growing on your shower curtain? And who knows what harm you are doing to yourself—should you inhale the fumes from that spray stuff that’s supposed to kill all the gunk growing on your shower curtain? These worries and concerns are about physical hurt and harm. The real danger is to our faith, our heart, our immortal soul. When we are tempted to cry out in fear—know that Jesus is always with you. He will never leave nor forsake you.

Jesus’ disciples cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Immediately! Jesus did not let the stew. Jesus did not let them twist in the wind. He didn’t give them that look that says I can’t believe you are so slow to believe or understand. Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Sometimes Jesus helps immediately. Remember the Scripture—before you call I will answer and while you are yet speaking I will hear. There are times when the LORD so anticipates our needs—rescue is in the works—even before we realize we are in danger. Sometimes the LORD rescues us even before we realize the danger that is all around us. And sometimes—the LORD permits exceedingly painful troubles to come into our lives—to make us strong. The apostle Paul was no stranger to suffering. Paul wrote, “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Romans 5:2b-5 The prophet Jeremiah put his hope and trust in the Gospel promises of the LORD. “>For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13 At just the right time—Jesus will rescue us from all our troubles!

“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Jesus washes away all our sins! That’s why we don’t need to be afraid any more! If you go to see The Lion King—they give you one of those little booklets. The cover is like the poster for the show. Inside are pictures and paragraphs about all the different actors in the production. The night we went to the show—an actor named Ketsia Poitevien was a new member of the cast. After his name—where most people had a paragraph about where they were born—what other shows they had been in—Ketsia quotes John 3:16! Would you have thought of that? Would you have said to yourself—it doesn’t really matter what I could write about myself—my background—my experience. What really matters—all that really matters is the fact that God loved the people of this planet so much—he sacrificed his one and only Son—to live without sin—then die claiming my guilt? Would you have confessed your faith—knowing that many people in the world of entertainment—don’t believe in Jesus? Into every one’s life come storms. Sometimes you can see the dark clouds on the horizon and you know it’s coming. Sometimes it’s a storm without warning—and your little boat is being swamped and the devil tempts you think you will surely drown. Know with all the certainty of God’s Word that Jesus’ forgiving love will never fail you. Jesus will see you through the storms—into the safe and forever harbor of Heaven by grace alone. Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz