The wind against us, The Lord with us W/ Pastor Andrea

Welcome to the Madison Church Square Campus podcast.

We want to invite believers, seekers, and doubters to encounter God's love through his living word.

This season we delve into a new series: Kingdom Living in Turbulent Times.

Stories of resistance and resilience.

When times feel uncertain and unsettled, God's promises remain a resource to anchor us as we navigate life's storms with a kingdom perspective.

So settle in, open your heart, and journey along with us to discover how God calls us to trust in Him and walk out our faith.

It afflicts the comfortable and it comforts the afflicted.

And last week we were in Amos chapter 5, which mostly afflicted us.

Amos 5 · chapter mention

And so it's good to be before the text of Matthew chapter 14 this morning in this way through our drama team.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

Because I hope that Matthew 14, this story, gives us a much needed word of encouragement in a time of our affliction.

And I want to pause here for just a moment because I want to make note today that our text is about a terrible storm.

And I'll be using a lot of storm language and wind and sea language and reflecting on the theological implications of that.

And I'm doing that on a day when a massive large hurricane, Hurricane Melissa, is closing in on Jamaica and Haiti and other places in that area.

And so I want to make space for that just a moment because it feels tone-deaf to just go in on a sermon about a big storm when we have brothers and sisters and people in other places who are facing down what some meteor meteorologists are claiming could be just a category five hurricane that will be the first ever category five to hit Jamaica.

And so I recognize that as I preach on this ancient storm and connect it to some of our current storms, this actual weather event is happening.

It's taking place right now.

It's intensifying in that area of the world.

And it's going to have real impact on people's lives and their homes and their schools and their businesses.

And so I just want us to take a moment to pray before I continue that that God would restrain the power of this storm.

Perhaps we pray in faith that his arm is not too short to do that, but also that God would do another miracle of uh multiplying provisions, as I'm sure the grocery stores are emptying out and the people who are trying to get help right now.

Specifically, I think of Haiti, who was already in a bad situation before this was on its way.

So why don't we just pray for a moment before I continue this morning?

God, we come before you and we know that your way is in the water, and we know that you are sovereign even over the weather.

And so we come to you in faith this morning and we are praying, Lord, have mercy.

Lord have mercy on all of the people who right now are trying to make preparations.

We pray that you would indeed multiply provisions, that there would be enough for everyone as they prepare for this storm to make landfall.

We pray that what science is telling the meteorologists that this could test the mathematical limits of the strength of a storm, that that you would reduce its strength, that you would restrain its power in such a way that people's lives would be spared.

We pray for communities that were already struggling with with lack of provision, with with danger and violence.

We think especially of places in Haiti right now who now also must face a weather event.

And we just pray, Lord, have mercy on them.

We pray that you would be with specifically the churches there who are who are battening down the hatches, but who also share this theological understanding that you are with us even in the storm.

And so we pray that you would strengthen them, that you would provide for them, that you would have mercy on them.

And even as we come before this text that was so well dramatized this morning, would we be able to focus our minds and our hearts on what you have for us in this text while also reserving our compassions and our prayers for the people around the world who will be facing down Hurricane Melissa?

And so it is in Jesus' name that we pray these things.

Amen.

So we are in our ongoing series, Kingdom Living in Turbulent Times, stories of resistance and resilience.

And on the surface, you might say, well, Matthew 14 doesn't really fit neatly into either one of those categories, resistance or resilience, but I believe that it is a needed reminder for us of how Jesus is present with his disciples even in a turbulent time.

And what he says to them in this turbulent time of Matthew 14, I think is a word for us today in 2025.

Take courage.

It is I do not be afraid.

Jesus had just distributed food to the crowds, his compassions are never ending, obviously, because if you read that whole chapter, he was just given the news.

He's literally grieving the unbelievably gruesome death of his cousin, John.

And he tries to get away to a solitary place by boat, but of course, all the people start following him on foot from all of the towns.

And so he comes back to shore and he healed their sick.

And when it got late, the disciples wanted to send the crowds away to dismiss them because they said it's getting it's getting hungry and we're in a remote place, so why don't we why don't we send them away?

And Jesus says, Don't send them away, you feed them.

And the disciples can only see the lack of their resources and not the power of Jesus, and they say, feed them with what?

Feed them with what how are we supposed to do that?

But of course, Jesus helps them to do this impossible thing that they could not do on their own.

And he multiplies what little they have, the bread and the fish, and all the people eat, and there are leftovers.

And I'm just thinking about what kind of a day this would have been for Jesus.

I'm guessing he was very, very sad about John, and no doubt very, very tired after the crowds had followed him when he was already trying to get away from them and doing all of this healing.

And maybe, maybe, I mean, Jesus doesn't sin, but maybe it's not sinful to just be a little tired of the disciples.

A little tired of having to explain everything to them over and over.

I was happy that someone exclaimed when Jesus in this drama said, Have you learned nothing from today?

And someone said, I guess not.

I guess not.

So Jesus is tired and he's tired of explaining things to the disciples.

And so maybe he thinks it's time for more of an object lesson for them, and he sends them on ahead to the other side.

Like, how about you, Hall?

Do you ever do this with your kids?

You get a head start.

You you start, and I will join you over there.

And he goes up onto a mountain to pray by himself.

And I do think that ought to remind us if even Jesus had to go pray by himself, how much more so do we probably need to be praying?

But I highlight this beginning of this story because Jesus is the one who sends them across.

Jesus is the one who puts them in the boat.

They're there at his command.

It is his good and perfect will that they are in this boat.

And even so, take note, they are not spared adversity.

Just because it was Jesus who sent them, and Jesus who said, You go do this, and Jesus who sends them off, they are not spared trouble.

It is not smooth sailing.

The text says the wind was against them.

The wind was against them.

And so I can imagine them, and we saw that today, their arms are straining against the oars, the boat is is pitching drastically, the bow reaching way up high on the crest of a wave, throwing them all backwards, but then it rolls dangerously to the side in the trough, taking on huge gulps of water over the side of the boat.

And it is the middle of the night, and they are soaked to the bone, and they are taking on water, and the text says that they are a long way from land.

And Jesus, who had been up on a mountain spending time with the Father, comes down from that mountain and he goes to them on the lake, and it says he went to them walking on the water.

It was the fourth watch.

So that's 3 to 6 a.m.

They can't really make out what they're seeing in the distance, they they can't tell what they're looking at.

This is a perfect no fear here week text because it says that they think he's a ghost and they are afraid.

So it's a no fear here text, and there is fear here apparently, because the disciples are afraid.

But Jesus calls out to them and he says, Take courage.

It is I do not be afraid.

But Peter.

But Peter shouts back at Jesus.

I'm sorry, did you not hear Jesus clearly?

It is I.

Lord, if it is you, then tell me to come to you.

And the response Jesus gives is only this come.

And so Peter gets out of the boat and he starts to walk on the water, but when he saw the wind, he was afraid and he began to sink.

Now, for those of us familiar with this story, this is a pretty familiar story within the church, and technically, actually, even outside of the church, people are usually familiar with Peter walking on water.

But my guess is if you're familiar with it, it's usually presented as a story about faith.

And Peter just doesn't have enough of it, does he?

He starts out confident, but the wind picks up and it makes him lose his focus, and he takes his eyes off Jesus and suddenly he's sinking.

If only he would have had more faith.

You know, stronger, bigger, better faith kept those eyes up on Jesus.

But his fear was sinking, his faith.

Lord, save me, he screams.

And Jesus immediately it says, immediately, reaches out and grabs him by the hand before he goes under.

You have little faith, Jesus says.

Or because when Jesus says, It is I, do not be afraid, have courage, Peter puts that to the test.

As though he doubted what Jesus said.

If it is you, Lord, prove it to me, help me do something special, something spectacular, something beyond the ordinary, something set apart.

But you'll notice that there is no rebuke, rebuke from Jesus for the others.

The ones who stayed in the boat, the ones who didn't put Jesus to the test, only Peter left the boat and the community in order to have this sort of individual experience by himself solo.

Peter probably thought that this was a sign of great faith, and he never imagined that Jesus might actually call it the opposite.

And I was thinking about this, I was rolling this around in my mind because maybe you remember a book that came out when I was in college, like in 2000, called If You Want to Walk on Water, you have to get out of the boat.

And that book took my college campus by storm.

I remember lots of people around me who were who were using it as sort of this new spiritual motivational framework for their lives because it used the story of Peter walking on water as sort of an individualized metaphor for faith and risk and trusting God.

You can't experience the miracle of walking on water unless you're willing to step out of the boat, the author writes.

The point kind of being, be like Peter.

Swing that leg out over the rail and take a bold step of faith.

But was it a bold step of faith?

That's what I was sort of asking myself this week.

Was that a bold step of faith?

Or like Calvin says, was it brash and impulsive?

Was it a little bit individualistic?

Right?

Peter is sort of pre-riddled with some doubt.

If it is you, Lord, and then he commands Jesus to do something, tell me to come to you.

Barbara Brown Taylor notes about this text that the other disciples also showed faith, that Jesus was who he said he was, and that he was on his way and that he would do something.

They had enough faith, she says, to stay in the boat, hauling their oars together in the midst of these turbulent waters, waiting on the Lord.

If you don't get out of the boat, you'll miss the miracle that is in store for you, the other author had written.

But they didn't miss the miracle, did they?

It's once they're all back in the boat together that the miracle happens, that the wind ceases and the storm is calmed.

Truly you are the Son of God, they affirmed, together.

Now, I want to be careful here because I don't want to be overly critical of any one interpretation of this text.

There are many.

Sometimes I say certain stories in scripture are a cube and not a square.

You have to kind of walk around them to see the truth on all sides of them.

And I'm sure there are some important individualized applications of this text to our lives.

And of course, that is how we like them, don't we?

We love individualized applications to our lives.

But I actually don't want to make this all about Peter and his faith or his lack of faith.

I am interested, as I always am, maybe to a fault.

I am interested in the communal aspect of this text, especially in these turbulent times.

The word that is for all of us, not just Peter, but for everyone in the boat.

What does he shout at them?

Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.

And I'm standing on pretty solid ground here because most theologians, and of course, most of the early church agreed that this is a story.

This is an illustration of Christ and his church collectively.

The Lord sends his church out into the world, pushing them away from the safety of the shore, giving them their direction, go to the other side.

But when the winds of adversity howl against them and they are straining at the oars and they're not making any progress at all, Jesus does not leave his church to struggle alone.

He goes to them.

He comes down from on high and being with the Father and comes down alongside his troubled church.

And he doesn't say, Don't be afraid, I have a great strategy for you.

Or don't be afraid, I have a bold new vision for you.

Or don't be afraid, I have a practical solution for this problem.

He offers them his presence.

He shouts over the tempest of this storm and he says, Have courage, take heart, it is I do not be afraid.

That's that's the solution.

I'm here.

And I picked this text for the series because I I would hope that this does actually help boost our collective resilience in this moment.

I think the church can use a word from the Lord right now.

I think the church could use hearing Jesus say, have courage, take heart.

It is I, do not be afraid.

Because it feels a bit like we are straining against the oars ourselves.

Like we've set off together from shore, like Jesus told us to, like he sent us.

And and I'm sort of glad that it actually feels turbulent for us because I would worry if it didn't.

If the church, if all the church ever feels is safety and security and stability, then maybe we haven't actually left the shore.

Maybe we're still tied up in the harbor.

But that is not what boats are for, of course.

Right?

You know the famous quote boats are safe in the harbor, but that is not what boats are for.

So I'm glad that we're feeling turbulent times as a church.

Praise God, we're sailing, but the winds are against us.

So many winds from so many different directions are against us, against the church.

The winds of individualism hurt the church.

The winds of injustice, the winds of increasing distrust in the church, some of which is earned.

We've got this west wind of secularism and worldliness, but then this over-correcting east wind of Christian nationalism.

The church pitches and rolls in a swirling tempest of materialistic and over-sexualized and over-consuming and commodity-driven culture.

The gales of injustice and the gusts of racism are tearing at our very sails.

Our own denominational conversations feel like this strong current that we had better navigate wisely.

And the recent increase in political divisiveness, this angry, distrustful, polarized climate that is surrounding us, not just surrounding us, it's in the church.

It's like it's hit us broadside like a rogue wave that we couldn't have expected.

But we are increasingly focusing, perhaps, too much on the storm and not on Jesus.

It can feel like the church is taking on water, we can't bail it out quite fast enough, our buckets are just too small, our sails are beginning to tear away from the rigging, we strain against the oars, trying to row in the direction that Jesus told us to, but here we go, like Peter, suddenly we're very aware of the winds that are hitting us and not keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.

And so, like the disciples, we fall into being afraid, so terrified by the chaos of it all, that we forget in these turbulent times that we were pushed out to sea by Jesus.

He's the one who sent us, and so he's not going to leave his church stranded.

In Matthew 14, Jesus invites the disciples and us to move beyond the panic that can overtake us in the church and to trust in the power of his presence for the church.

Take courage, he says, it is I, do not be afraid.

They would have been amazed, of course, the disciples, just first of all, in just a regular human physical sense, that this man is standing on water, walking on water, and that the sea is calmed when he gets in the boat.

So just physically, they would have been like, Whoa, what just happened?

But theologically, I think we have to see this.

Theologically, they would have been amazed to see Jesus walking on the water, to see him calming the storm, because they would have been saturated in the scriptures and they would have known that throughout the Old Testament, the sea represented chaos and disorder and all the things that are opposed to God's order, all of the ongoing threats and forces.

That's what the sea represents.

And they would have been saturated enough in those scriptures to know that Jesus walking on the sea was making a very theological claim.

Because only God can walk on top of those waters.

Only Yahweh has mastery over the sea.

Psalm 57, your way was in the sea, and your path was through the mighty waters.

And so God is the one who can tread on top of chaos, who does not go under when the winds are against.

In fact, God was a storm that the sea was afraid of.

If you read Psalm 77, it says, The waters saw you, God, and writhed, the very depths convulsed when God walks upon them.

So Jesus, in walking on the water, is telling them who he who he is in what he says and in what he does.

Now, we lose this in the English translation as we so often do, but Jesus doesn't say I am he or it is I.

There's no he in Greek, Jesus says, Take courage, do not be afraid, I am.

Capital.

I am.

I am the name that God gives himself in Exodus chapter 3.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

Jesus takes that name on his own lips as he walks across the chaos of the mighty waters.

And just like in Exodus, he does a water miracle and a food miracle because both of them are the fingerprints of God.

I am the ancient assurance that God would give to his people when they needed comfort, especially when it's paired with a do not be afraid.

So this is not some ordinary greeting on the water, like, hello.

It's me, Jesus.

No, no, Jesus is the divine Lord, treading on top of the chaos, not sinking below it, not straining against it.

And he's addressing his disciples in the boat.

He's addressing us, his storm-tossed disciples in the church, saying, Have courage, do not be afraid.

When the wind is against you, I am.

I am.

And I need that right now.

I need that.

And we also need Peter's story, so I don't want to dismiss this like Peter side of this story.

Because Peter is somehow this 100% all-in believing disciple and a doubting, fearful disciple at the exact same time.

And I would guess that describes many of you.

In this turbulent time, it describes many of us, but how gracious of Jesus, I think we got to take our eyes off sort of Peter's lack of faith and put our eyes on Jesus and how much compassion and how much grace he has for this believer.

How gracious of Jesus, because to Peter the believer, who says, Tell me to come to you, Jesus says, Okay, come, and gives them a little share of his power, doesn't he?

Because he's on the water for a little bit.

And then how gracious that to the sinking doubter, Peter, it says, immediately Jesus reaches out and grabs him.

Isn't that a beautiful image?

The second he starts to taste seawater, Jesus is like, all right, no, I got you, I got you.

And he grabs him.

And it's fortunate for Peter, and this morning I just want you to know it's fortunate for us, that Jesus saves him before he scolds him.

Isn't that beautiful?

He grabs him first, and then he says, You of little faith.

Why did you doubt?

He didn't say, Little more faith, Peter.

Come on, let me hear it.

You're waning.

You're waning.

Can you still hear me?

I'm sorry, you don't you're not a good swimmer, are you?

More faith.

He does not do that, and he doesn't do that to us.

He says, I've got you.

Now why did you doubt me?

Look at what I've just done for you.

He gets him back into the boat, and I think this is what I really like.

He doesn't say to the other disciples, How now, how about all of you?

How much faith do you have?

You want to walk in the water?

No, he takes Peter, bold, brash, impulsive Peter, and he puts him back in the boat with his community.

Back to what he told him to do in the first place, which was to go to the other side in the boat.

Back with all the other rowers.

We will move better if we would row together.

Rather than trying to do things on our own.

The drama team did an amazing job, but there were times where they were not rowing together, and I thought, it's no wonder you're not going anywhere.

Because they were all rowing differently.

Let's not do that.

Jesus puts them back in the boat with all the other rowers.

And so we sit with this story today because, church, I believe the winds are against us.

I can feel it.

I don't know if you feel it, but I can feel it.

The winds are against us, but we belong to the one who is not surprised by those winds, who will not be overcome by those winds, who's not thrown off by storms.

In fact, we belong to the one that the waters of the sea are scared of that storm because his way is in the water.

We belong to the one who is not subject to chaos but treads over top of that chaos.

Church, the wind is against us, but the Lord is with us.

That's what we come down to.

That's our item for our resilience satchels today.

Remember, every week we keep tucking something into our satchels for the journey to say, well, how am I going to make it through these turbulent times?

And I've said we've got to start collecting stories of resistance and resilience for these turbulent times.

And this is that one that the wind is against us.

We can acknowledge that.

Just because Jesus sent us doesn't mean that we're spared trouble and spared adversity.

But the Lord is with us.

And that is not triumphalistic of like we can do whatever we want because God is on our side.

No, no.

It's actually in the very moment when we need courage the most to keep going, to keep rowing, to keep going for the other side because Jesus sent us.

In that moment we say, But the Lord is with us.

We're not going to go under.

We're not going to go under.

And then those who were in the boat, which now I'm assuming includes Peter, if he got all that seawater out of his nose by now, but it includes Peter.

But those who were in the boat collectively, I love this, collectively worshipped him and collectively said, Surely you are the Son of God.

Right?

The one that came down from on high, who came to our sea level, the one who walked directly into the raging storm.

That was on his horizon, and nobody calmed it for him.

The storm that was sin and death and the curse and brokenness, he walked directly into it and he took it on so that we would not have to.

And so no storm can keep Jesus away.

No storm can keep Jesus from preserving his church.

We will not preserve the church.

If you're like, we gotta save the church, you can't.

You can't save the church.

Jesus will preserve his church.

So let's keep rowing.

Even when there are times, oh, and there are times when we're like, we're not going anywhere.

We're not going anywhere.

It sometimes feels that way because the winds are strong and they're coming from opposite directions, and we're not all rowing together, and we're like, we're not making any progress.

Keep rowing, stay together, work in unison.

We cannot tread in this chaos alone, but together and with the Lord's help, we can keep going.

If we are in the will of the Lord, like I said, it does not mean we won't face adversity, but it does mean that we are in the care of the Lord.

And so I'm asking us this morning not to allow every current crisis, and there are many, they are legion.

Every current crisis to convince us that our circumstances will be more decisive for the church than our Lord, because that's not the case.

Our circumstances will not put the church under.

Christ will preserve his church.

And we remember where our help comes from.

Not from what strong rowers we are, right?

Oh, we're such we're strong rowers at Madison.

That's what's gonna, that's what's gonna keep us afloat.

No, or the quality of our boat and our oars.

We don't say, well, we have this and that and this and we have this pastor or that worship leader or this whatever.

That is not also what's gonna keep us afloat.

Our strength comes from outside of ourselves.

It was Jesus who helped the disciples feed the crowd with just a few bites of food.

It was Jesus who helped Peter do this impossible thing, even just for a little bit, standing on water, not his own amazing faith.

And at the same time, it is Jesus who calmed the storm for the disciples, and it is Jesus now in 2025, by the power of his Holy Spirit, who enables us to do what feels absolutely impossible, and that is to keep rowing in these turbulent times together.

So today, let us hear Jesus in these turbulent times, over the cacophony of the raging storm of the winds that are against us.

Let us hear him say, Have courage, don't be afraid.

It is I, and surely I will be with you to the very end of the age.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Lord, we believe, help our unbelief.

We want to keep rowing where you sent us, but we're tired.

We get tired.

Would you strengthen us?

Would you be the one who calls us back into unison so that we would row together in the direction that you have called us to?

We don't want to grow weary in doing good, but the winds are against us.

Would you strengthen us as a church?

Would you strengthen us to stand firm in these turbulent times when the winds and the water are raging all around us?

Would you strengthen us to continue to witness to the power and the presence of you, Jesus?

Keep our eyes fixed on you that we might not be so fixed on the circumstances, so fixed on what's around us that we begin to sink.

Reach out and grab us, O God.

Save us, O Lord, so that you might put us back in the boat together and we might continue on this journey together.

We pray that you would be with us in this world of many, many turbulent pieces of chaos that are around us, and we know that you are over all of that chaos.

And so would you empower us and strengthen us by your Holy Spirit to go out from here with confidence that you are with us and will strengthen us to do the work that you've called us to do.

We give you thanks and praise this morning for our worship team, for our drama team, for this good word that you've set before us this morning.

We love you, God.

Amen.

Thank you for joining us on Madison Church Square Podcast.

We hope today's message inspired you.

Don't miss next week's episode as we continue exploring the series Kingdom Living in Turbulent Times.

Together, let's uncover how to live faithfully amidst life's challenges.

Until then, stay grounded and be blessed.