CMLC 2026-08-09 Sermon

Back when I was getting a master's degree in

urban planning, I regularly had to drive back

and forth from my work near Baytown and Texas

Southern where over in Third Ward. And there

was this one particular spot on the drive that

I eventually came to dread. See, I would follow

the directions on my phone, okay, and the map

would tell me exactly where to go. And I would

follow the route, make the turns, and eventually

it would direct me toward the freeway. And then

I would arrive at the spot where I was supposed

to get on the freeway. Except there was one small

problem. There was no on -ramp. It wasn't a closed

on -ramp. It wasn't an on -ramp under construction.

It wasn't even an old on -ramp that had been

torn down. There was nothing there at all. And

I would sit there looking at the road saying,

this cannot be right. So I'd drive past it, expecting

then that surely the map would realize something

was wrong and recalculate. Nope. It would reroute

me back to that exact same spot and I'd try again

and again and again and every time the direction

would insist This is where you get on the freeway

and I'd be staring at my phone. There is no freeway

entrance here Why am I talking to you phone and

I'd report it and again and again and apparently

Apple Maps had decided that this Non -existent

on ramp was a hill worth dying on which is one

more reason why I left Apple and got myself a

real phone with Android I'm teasing, I'm teasing.

Jesus died for Apple users, too. Okay. But you

know, there is something about that experience

that is actually more profound than just my long

-standing disagreement with Apple. Because there

are some questions for which we simply do not

have an answer. There are some things that we

just cannot see. Some things we cannot explain.

And if we're honest... There are some questions

about God that bother us more than almost any

others. Because what about the person who has

never heard about Jesus? What happens to them?

What about someone who was raised from childhood

to believe that Christianity is false? What if

they never really had an opportunity to understand

who Jesus is? What happens to them? What about

someone who sincerely wants to know what is true?

but never seems to have a genuine opportunity

to hear the gospel as it really is. What about

the person who believes deeply in mercy, forgiveness,

doing what is right, but never understands that

mercy and forgiveness that they long for are

found in Jesus. What happens to them? And we

want an answer. We want God to show us the map.

We want to know exactly how and why everything

works. We want to understand what happens in

every circumstance, how God's judgment works,

how His mercy works, and how every person fits

into this plan of salvation. And sometimes, despite

all of our theological reasoning, we eventually

come to a very uncomfortable place. We don't

know. And that's hard, because we don't like

not knowing. Especially, we don't like it whenever

we know the question matters. But here's the

thing about not knowing. Not knowing everything

does not mean that we know nothing. Not knowing

everything does not mean we know nothing. And

not having the entire map does not mean that

God has given us no direction at all. For the

record, I did know where a different on -ramp

was to the freeway, and I did know the path to

get home after that. Just because something at

the beginning was confusing me, that didn't mean

I was forever stuck and unable to get where I

needed to go. Christians have wrestled with questions

like ours for centuries. And sometimes... Our

wrestling can take us to some remarkable territory.

We start asking some strange questions. We may

ask, perhaps every religion is somehow secretly

pointing toward Jesus. Or maybe there's some

other path that God provides for people who never

hear the gospel. Or maybe there's some intermediate

state, some place between places in which people

are given another opportunity to come to faith,

whether you are or are not a Star Wars fan. And

there is a place for recognizing there are things

about God's judgment and God's sovereignty that

we don't know. That's true. But there's a danger.

We can become so fascinated with what God has

not revealed that we lose sight of what He has

shown us. There's a distinction between what

God has revealed and what God has kept hidden.

And today, our readings from Romans and Matthew

bring us right into that tension. Romans 10 speaks

powerfully as Paul says, The righteousness based

on faith says, do not say in your heart who will

ascend into heaven. What is Paul talking about?

Why is he suddenly talking about ascending into

heaven? What's that mean? He is exposing one

of the deepest instincts of the human heart.

We want to know what we have to do to get to

God. What ladder do I climb? What spiritual achievement

do I accomplish? What moral standard do I need

to meet? What secret knowledge of God do I discover

or religious system that will get me there? And

even this stuff about you have to believe with

your heart and confess with your mouth. Are these

two different processes? Did I somehow get it

all wrong somehow? No, they're not different

processes. You believe on the inside and you

reflect it on the outside. this whole thing of

how do I ascend into heaven, Paul says don't

ask that question. Why? Because you don't have

to climb up to heaven to find Christ. Christ

has come down to you. Paul says, or who will

descend into the abyss? Paul, you've got a really

terrible travel agent. In other words, don't

ask who is going to go down into the depths to

bring Christ back up from the dead. Why? Because

Christ has already conquered death. He's not

there. You don't have to accomplish His resurrection.

You don't have to discover some secret route

through the kingdom of death. You don't have

to invent some alternate way of salvation. You

don't have to bring Jesus back from the grave.

God has already done it. Christ came down. Christ

died. Christ rose already. And now Paul says

the Word is near you, in your mouth, and in your

heart. And that's the remarkable thing about

the Gospel. We are always tempted to think that

salvation must be Somewhere far away that we

we got to reach somehow We imagine that God is

hiding himself at the top of some mountain and

we have to climb high enough in our spirituality

to find him But the gospel says something completely

different God comes to us Christ comes to us

his spirit comes to us by his word and Paul says

Faith comes from hearing and hearing through

the word of Christ So when we start asking all

these questions about what God might be doing

in circumstances that we cannot see, Romans 10

brings us back to what we do know. We know Christ.

We know His death. We know His resurrection.

We know His promise. We know His Word. And we

know all the thousands of witnesses who saw what

really happened. We know that Christ has commanded

His church to proclaim that gospel. It doesn't

mean that we've solved every mystery. It means

that maybe we don't have to. Think about the

disciples in the gospel reading. This is right

after Jesus was attempting to be alone, sort

of like a parent trying to go to the bathroom

and the kids keep banging, let me in, let me

in. But all the people came to find Him. And

so, He helped them. He fed them with five loaves

and two fish. And Jesus sends the disciples ahead

of Him in a boat. And He stays behind. Imagine

being one of those disciples, and Jesus says,

get in the boat and go. So you go, and you're

rowing across the lake, but Jesus isn't with

you. At least you don't think He is. and the

wind starts fighting against you, and the waves

are pounding against the boat, and it's dark,

and you start wondering, if only Jesus were here,

why did He make us leave without Him? He sent

us out here. He told us to go, but where is He?

How is He even going to get to where we're going?

Is He going to walk all the way around the lake?

Is He going to take another boat? Is He going

to meet us somewhere on the other side? You can

imagine. The disciples trying to figure all this

out. And then in the middle of the night, they

see something coming toward them. What appears

to be walking on the water. They don't recognize

it. If you have been rowing against winds and

waves which are probably kicking up the water

to the low point of visibility, then you're probably

not going to recognize who it is because... How

often do you need to look at a person walking

on water? And there's really only one answer

that they can come up with. It's a ghost! Like

a Terrible Friends episode. And after all this,

somewhere between 3 AM and 6 AM, they're probably

exhausted and brain -dead after a long day of

feeding people and after rowing that far. But

Jesus says, Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid."

Yeah, clearly, everyone's going to be okay with

this now. But we as the readers, we suddenly

realize the mystery has become clearer. Jesus

wasn't lost. Jesus wasn't late. Jesus wasn't

wondering how He was going to get to them. He

was doing something the disciples never imagined

was possible. The shortest distance between two

points is a straight line. And he just walked

across that water. Nobody had that on the schedule.

It wasn't on their list of possible explanations,

top ten ways in which Jesus might get to us.

It wasn't on their bingo card that day. Yet Jesus

did it. Even as they begin to cry out. And I

think that is one of the things that Scripture

keeps teaching us about God, is that God is not

limited to the possibilities that we imagine.

He's not waiting for us to predict what He could

do before He picks what He's going to do. Who

would have predicted that God would save the

world through a crucified carpenter of Nazareth?

Who would have predicted that the Messiah would

conquer death by dying? Who would have predicted

that the tomb would be empty? Who would have

predicted that the risen Christ would come to

frighten disciples in a locked room and say,

Peace be with you? And who, sitting on that shore,

would have predicted that Jesus would simply

walk across the water to catch up with the disciples?

Because God does things that we don't expect.

He's allowed to. And that means there will always

be mysteries about God that we cannot solve.

But notice what Jesus does with His disciples.

He doesn't tell them, stop the boat, stay here

until you understand everything that I'm doing,

and then you can go ahead and pick up again.

He doesn't say, figure out exactly how I'm going

to get to you through the storm before you continue.

He says, go. Trust me. And that's where Peter

comes in. You know, we give him a hard time.

But you see, Peter sees Jesus walking on the

water. He says, Lord, if it is you, command me

to come to you on the water. And Jesus says,

come. How often is it that we say, God, if this

is what you want, let me know, and then we'd

actually be willing to do it? Peter gets out

of that boat. There's something important about

that. Peter didn't just decide that morning,

you know, I think I'm going to walk on water

today. He doesn't manufacture a miracle through

positive thinking. It's not like I believe in

myself and my floatable feet. Peter asks Jesus

for a word. Command me. And Jesus does. Come.

So Peter steps out of the boat because Christ

has spoken. And frankly, that's faith. He may

have trouble with it. It may sometimes be small.

But it's still faith. See, faith is not believing

that I can accomplish something impossible if

I just believe hard enough or if I understand

everything well enough. Faith is trusting the

one who spoke it. See, Peter's confidence is

not ultimately in Peter. Peter's confidence is

ultimately in Jesus. And for a few moments, let's

face it, Peter walks. But then he looks at the

wind, and he looks at the waves. He becomes afraid,

and he begins to sink. And we get judgmental

about Peter, as if the rest of us would have

gotten out of that boat, noticing the other disciples

didn't. But what does Peter say? Does he say,

I need more faith? Does he say, I need to try

harder? Does he say, don't worry, I got this?

Lord, save me. Isn't that what we should always

be doing? Jesus immediately reaches out His hand

and takes hold of him. That is the Gospel. Peter's

faith, it's little, it falters, he sinks, but

Jesus saves him. Who does he cry out to? And

that brings us back to Romans 10. Because we

can spend an enormous amount of time trying to

argue questions about things that God has not

revealed. What about the person who never heard?

What about someone who has taught something else?

What about the person who never really understood

Jesus or all the mysteries surrounding the judgment?

And we can keep asking those questions until

we have constructed some elaborate machinery

to try to explain something that Scripture never

really explained. But eventually, we have to

come back to what Jesus actually told us. Paul

says, how are they to call on Him in whom they

have not believed? How are they to believe in

whom they have never heard? And how are they

here without someone preaching? Faith comes from

hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

And that is what we know. We know that Christ

saves. We know that Christ has commanded His

gospel to be proclaimed to everyone. We know

that people hear the gospel. We know the Spirit

creates faith through God's Word. We know that

we've been entrusted with that proclamation.

We don't know every mystery surrounding God's

hidden work, but we know what He has given us

to do. I want you to imagine you're watching

someone driving a car at an incredible speed

toward the edge of a cliff. You see the cliff,

you see the car, you know what's about to happen,

and you start shouting, stop, don't keep driving,

you're heading toward the cliff. Now, imagine

someone standing beside you, there's always that

one friend, saying, well, if they didn't hear

you, perhaps there's a cable hidden somewhere

that will catch the car, maybe. Perhaps there's

some mechanism you don't know about. Perhaps

someone actually put a parachute into that car.

Perhaps there's some other possibility you don't

see. Would you stand there and say, well, since

there might be some mysterious mechanism that

I don't know about, I guess there's really no

reason to warn the driver? Of course not. Those

are crazy. You know the way to save that person.

Tell them to stop. You don't need to know every

possible thing that might happen. You know what

you have been given to do. And that is something

of what Paul is saying. We don't proclaim Christ

because we've solved every mystery of God's sovereignty.

We proclaim Christ because Christ commanded us

to do it. We don't know everything God is doing,

but we do know that that is where salvation lies.

That is where salvation exists. What He has revealed

is enough to give us our mission. But there's

something else to consider too. Sometimes we

assume that because we don't understand how God

could possibly work, God might not actually be

doing that work after all. Matthew 14 deprives

us of that arrogance. The disciples did not know

how Jesus was going to get across the lake. They

could not have imagined the answer. Let's just

not go until we understand everything that God

is doing. But suddenly, there He was. not when

they were waiting for Him on the shore, but coming

to them across the water as they had followed.

The disciples could not have imagined the resurrection

either, but the tomb was still empty. They could

not have imagined God bringing salvation through

a cross, but the cross was still the place where

God accomplished redemption. They couldn't have

imagined how Christ could conquer death, but

He still did it. So perhaps there are things

about God's work that we don't understand and

frankly that should make us humble it should

not make us hopeless Because the God who does

things that we cannot imagine is also the God

who has given us a promise that we can trust

The promise of grace and forgiveness in his son

and his sacrifice There's a beautiful distinction

between God's hidden work and his revealed work

There are things that God has hidden from us

but We don't pull back the curtain to try to

find the wizard in Oz. God has revealed Himself

already in Jesus. And when we want to know who

God is, we look there. We don't climb into heaven

to look for extra opportunities for grace. We

don't descend into the abyss because we need

to fix this whole crucified Jesus thing. We don't

search for secret knowledge. We don't need alternate

paths. we look to Christ. And Christ comes to

us through His Word. And that's why the church

preaches. That's why the missionaries go. That's

why the parents teach their children. That's

why the Christians tell their neighbors. That's

why we gather around the Scriptures. That's why

we need all of you involved in the ministry here.

Because we don't want people to have to guess

who God is. We want them to hear. And how are

they to hear without someone preaching? The answer

is they can't. And even more than that, the very

thing that changes our hearts, the rebellious

ones, into being people who actually embrace

God, that comes through the Word itself. Our

hearts need more than just a message. They need

the power of God through that Word to change

them, to reform them, to kill off the old and

to bring them to the new. And that only happens

as God proclaims His Word through us. He sends

His church, He sends His people, He sends the

gospel, and He puts the words into our mouth.

And through that creates faith. You know, there

was one time where I was still on the crazy phone,

and I tried to go from Illinois into St. Louis.

But the iPhone, for some reason, sent me through

East St. Louis instead of keeping me on the freeway.

If you know anything about East St. Louis, you

know you do not want to be driving there unless

you have to. and there were about a dozen people

standing around a giant barrel with fire coming

out of it, and someone's front yard, and I still

have no idea why, and I did not stick around

to find out. But fortunately, while I did not

understand why the iPhone sent me there, I did

finally make my way through and get home. There

are always times where we come across something

that leaves us wondering. There are questions

we can't understand. There are things about God's

sovereignty that are mysterious. And there are

always moments where we look at the storm and

say, where's Jesus? Moments in our circumstances

where we say, I don't understand what God is

doing. But our faith doesn't require that we

understand everything about God. It asks us to

trust the God who has already revealed Himself.

And so with Peter, we just say, Lord, save me.

As Jesus says, come. We don't know what tomorrow's

going to look like. We don't know if the water's

going to hold us, and we don't know when and

how God is going to solve the problems. Any of

them. The mystery for now looks unresolved, but

Christ is still saying, come. We know who conquered

death. we know who rose from the grave. And we

know who has promised that whoever calls on the

name of the Lord will be saved. So we don't have

to find some alternate path to God or some alternate

path to conquer the problems of this world. Christ

has already died, risen, and brought His Word

to us. So go. Go and proclaim what you do know.

Go and tell people. Go and make disciples. Let

them hear. Because we may not know everything

that God is doing, but we know what He has done.

And we know the One who is with us. So when the

wind is against us, we keep going. When the waves

are high, we keep going. When we don't understand,

we keep going. And when our faith is little,

we keep going. When we sink, we cry out, Lord,

save me. Because where else will we find salvation?

And the hand that reaches for us is the same

one extended on the cross the one who walked

across the water is the one who walked out of

the tomb and The one who says come says I am

with you always even to the end of the age So

we may not know everything but we do know Christ

and We know who he truly is and that he wants

all people to know him and for today That is

enough. Thanks be to God.