Practicing Faith
In Sunday’s sermon on Matthew 14:22-36, we learned that Christ walked on the waters of the Sea of Galilee, crossing paths with his disciples who began the journey much earlier by boat. After dispelling their fears that he was a ghost, Jesus answered Peter’s appeal that he be invited to walk to Jesus on the water by telling him “Come.” Peter stepped out of the boat but didn’t make it far before his faith gave way to his fear of the wind and waves around him. Sinking, he cried out for Christ to save him and Jesus picked him up and returned with him to the boat. In that moment he asks Peter, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
I observed in the sermon that faith manifests itself in action. Peter initially seemed to have the faith to step out of the boat. His faith took action bun then faltered mid-step on the waves. What happened? Well, it seems Peter began evaluating what was possible in his own strength, what was probable to happen to anyone surrounded by such wind and waves, and he promptly forgot what was not only possible through but assured to him by Christ. Jesus invited Peter to come to him – his word should have been Peter’s assurance of safety.
How do we fail like Peter? In what ways do we begin with faith and falter mid-step? Well, as a pastor I can say it’s very easy to begin a ministry endeavor trusting in the power and provision of Christ. I can also say it’s very easy to falter mid-step by looking to my own abilities, the abilities of others, and all the probabilities involved. The result is either despair (“This will never work!”) or anxiety (“I will make this work!”). How about you? It is easy to begin following Christ, freely trusting in his grace and his ability to bring forth good fruit from your life, only to forget it all mid-step by looking to your own willpower to achieve some high marks of religious performance. The result is either despair (“I will never change!”) or anxiety (“I’m not good enough – must do more, more!”) or even self-righteous pride (“No one works as hard as I do – I’m really quite good!”).
In fact, you could identify this failure mid-step in the history of the Church. At a certain point, the Christian faith became less about trusting Christ and more about a person’s efforts to be “good enough.” This produced the response of the Protestant Reformation.
Faith in Christ is not a one-time event. It begins with confessing that Jesus is Lord and Savior and that we are sinners in need of his saving, but it doesn’t end there. Followers of Christ obey his teachings, and obedience requires faith. It requires faith to love and even forgive enemies rather than taking revenge. It requires faith to give away your money rather than hoarding it. Faith is required to speak the truth in a confused world and to speak the truth with love rather than with the popular malice of the world. It takes faith to share the Gospel when you fear you’ll lose relationships or be looked down upon.
There is so much more too. You’ll need faith when things don’t go your way, when terrible things happen and when dreams die. You’ll need faith when you just feel like giving up on church, when someone said something hurtful, and when you go to that person to share that hurt. Faith is needed daily, because you sin daily, and you must believe the grace of Christ is sufficient for you. Your faith is needed, so that the faith of your brothers and sisters Christ will gain the strength to stand with you.
This is all faith in Christ, and nothing else. If it is faith in anything else, you will drown. If you feel like you’re a person with “little faith” I have three prescriptions for you:
1. Pray for faith (1 Corinthians 12:7-9)
2. Know your Bible (2 Timothy 2:13-14)
3. Share your life with other Christians (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11)
Seriously, the first thing you should do is pray – endless doubt comes naturally to us, faith comes from God. You also need to be in the Bible to remember why you should have faith (remember this isn’t blind faith!) and to learn how God wants you to exercise your faith in obedience. Just as seriously as these two, you need to share your life with other Christians. God created the Church in order build up your faith through your relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ. You pray and they pray for you. You read the Bible and they read with you, helping you to know God and his will for all of us as members of the Body of Christ. If you’re part of RCC, the ideal place to find this is in our Small Groups and the Covenant Groups connected with each small group. In addition to the living community of Christ, I also recommend reading the stories of past Christians who have manifested faith in their lives – you’ll especially find this in the stories of missionaries which we feature in our church library.
Don’t falter mid-step like Peter in his moment on the sea – do all these things to build up your faith in Christ so that you and your Christian brothers and sisters will go and follow him.
Rev. Tom Loghry
Tom Loghry is the senior pastor of Rockland Community Church in North, Scituate, RI. He is a graduate of the Berkshire Institute for Christian Studies, Toccoa Falls College (B.S. Pastoral Ministry), and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.A. Theology). He is continuing his graduate studies in the area of “Ethics & Society” at GCTS.
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.