Worthy of worship

this morning's scripture reading is going to come from Matthew 14:es 22-33. If you have your Bibles, we're going to take a look here and read from Matthew 14:es 22-33.

immediately, that being Jesus, 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 off from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, "It is a ghost." And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid." And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." And he said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me." And Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "Oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when he got into the boat, the wind ceased, and those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly, you are the Son of God." This is God's word. So, we've been looking and walking through the book of Matthew and Matthew has been over the course of this book um progressively beginning to show us who Jesus is. Now, we the readers of the text and having, you know, the the uh forward future view of all of this understand very clearly who Jesus is. But this is not something up to this point that is evidently clear to all the people that are following Jesus. There are lots of rumors and thoughts, but no one really understood from the Old Testament just how grand of a work God was going to do in his Messiah, that God would become human. And so, there were often times these little glimpses that we begin to get as we pass through the scriptures. Even the demons begin to acknowledge him. Now, we don't know if all the disciples were around it. Jesus seemingly has authority over every single thing. He speaks and demons are cast out. He wills something and it comes true. He declares healing over someone and they are healed. He has such great authority. Where is his power coming from? Why has God given him such great power? And so people begin to see him not just as a Jewish rabbi, which is what he would have first been viewed at by many who followed him, and this great teacher who really taught as one with authority, who many had never heard anything like this before in their lives. But then Jesus begins to do these miracles. And now we're seeing not just a rabbi, but a prophet. We're seeing an Elijah of old or something like that. One like Moses. and and and Matthew constantly is just throwing in either these quotes or these illusions to the Old Testament to show how Jesus is fulfilling the prophecies and he's embodying so many of the types that were before him that point to him. He's embodying like a true and better David. He's embodying, as we've looked at very much in Matthew, a true and better Moses. And even we see last week that when Jesus feeds the 5000, there's this illusion all the way back to the Old Testament, Moses in that same way through the power of God, God brought mana like the bread from heaven and quell to feed his people in the wilderness. So we see here Jesus is teaching people in the wilderness who are hungry and he takes bread and fish and multiplies them. but greater than Moses. Moses fed enough for the day and there was enough after they picked up and that was it. It supplied the need for the day. Jesus feeds and there's baskets and baskets and baskets left over. There's a surplus. And so constantly throughout we're seeing who is this man? And in this passage here, Matthew takes another step forward to begin to wow us, the reader, but particularly the disciples on who Jesus is. Because the ultimate goal and aim that Matthew has here, and he he says it in the very last verse, is to show that Jesus is worthy of worship. Now, there is only one that we're supposed to worship. The Jews knew it was God alone. That's who you bow before. And so, we're going to see in this passage that that's exactly what Matthew is beginning to say to each of us is that Jesus is the son of God worthy of all worship. Now, a few things as we look at this passage and we come into it, you see obviously that Jesus urges and sends his disciples away uh get into the boat and they start going across uh the Sea of Galilee. It would have taken probably 2 to four hours depending on how they were crossing to to to get across to the Sea of Galilee unless you know the weather wasn't really working for them which it was not in this case. Jesus then sends the crowds away and goes up on a mountain to pray. And so there's a distance between him and the disciples. Here's Jesus up on the mountain. Here's the disciples uh down below struggling against the wind and the waves and the ocean currents at this point in time. And uh and it says and just in case we think that Jesus is walking on a sandbar, the Greek in there says he was a great distance off. The Greek uses the word stadia. So Jesus is thousands and thousands of yards. He's miles out away from them at this point in time. He's far away. The text wants to make clear that the disciples, he comes to them in the fourth watch of the night, which would have been from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. Now, knowing that it only takes 2 to 4 hours to get across the Sea of Galilee, we can see this is an extended trip. This is taking much longer than should be anticipated. But that's because, as we see, the winds and the waves that are disrupting their progress. They certainly couldn't have sailed. They would have had rows, usually four rowers in the boat, trying to row and struggle against all of the current in order to make it to the other side and they're tired and they're weary. But as I said, these are just a few little pieces as we walk through that Jesus ultimately is going to come walking on the water. And we don't want to pass by that too quickly. He is defying physics. This is a truly remarkable thing. This is more than just a miracle. Healings are great speaking things. He's defying physics in ways that are just unfathomable.

And you're faced with this reality. Who is this man? Or is he more than a man? And as we'll see, Matthew wants us to see that he is the son of God and he is worthy of worship. And as we look at worship today,

worship and worshiping, we all worship in life. And we can worship the right thing and that's what he's calling us to do. Or we can worship the wrong thing. But we all worship in life. And Matthew's aim is to center us on the son of God as the one we worship who is in the image of God, fully God, fully man, fully worthy of our worship. And if we worship other things or we fear and give allegiance or heart or anything to those other things, then they enslave us. I've talked many other times before about idols and the power of idols that they can have over our lives. Um, but the problem is is that we worship the wrong things and we don't worship Christ. Uh, this is from a non-believer. I just wanted to read this quote. I might have read it before, uh, but it's so striking because it's someone that isn't even a believer and yet he spoke this at a graduation commencement speech. He says, "Everyone worships." Because here's something else that's really weird and true. In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is not such a thing as worshiping. Everybody is not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. The compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel that you are enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure, and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. Worship power. You will end up feeling weak and afraid. And you will never ever Yeah, you will need ever more power to over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, and you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is there are default settings. They're the kind of worship you just gradually slip into day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without fully being aware of what you're doing. Everybody worships. And so the question as we look at this passage is is who is really worthy of your worship? And if you worship Christ, you will find that all the other things that out there that call to you that will enslave you grow strangely dim. Worship Christ and the right things in life and you will never be restless and weary as you were anchored in him.

So I'm going to look at one thing we're going to look at in just a moment here is why is Jesus worthy of worship? Matthew's going to show us this and then I believe there's three implications that come from this passage. So why is Jesus worthy of worship and then three implications that come from this? So why is Jesus worthy of worship? Well, Jesus has complete authority. Uh uh as we have seen, as I just mentioned a minute ago, Matthew has been unpacking and showing us that that Jesus, you know, he's doing all these miracles. He's this true and greater Moses. He has authority over the winds and the waves. He has authority over demonic spirits. And now even over physics itself, it seems that Jesus can conquer all things. Everything in this passage is bending to Jesus. If you notice and read carefully, Jesus tells the disciples, it doesn't show it in your in your English Bibles, but he basically commands the disciples, get in the boat, go. And they hop in the boat and they start going. And then the crowds who won't seem to leave him alone, who he cannot send away, who are always swarming and flocking, Jesus says, go, "See you later." And they go and they leave. And then Jesus gets up on the mountain to pray and he comes down into the water. The water bows to him as he just steps on top of it and walks on it. Jesus commands Peter, "Come on, walk out on the water." Peter obeys. Everything in this passage is bending to the will of what Jesus commands, what Jesus desires. He is worthy of all the worship in this passage. And the very fact that he walks out on the sea, you know, people had done miracles throughout the Old Testament. People had brought about healings. People had raised the dead. Nobody had walked on water. And there's these illusions in the Old Testament that come up. Things like, for example, Job 9, which Job even talking about God as he's asking these questions about the greatness of God. And it's a rhetorical piece where he says, "Who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled on the waves of the sea." It's God. Only God can trample on. Who rides upon the wind and stamps upon the oceans with all authority. The psalmist in Psalm 77 says this about the Lord. Your way was through the sea. Your path through the great waters. Yet your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. So there's your Old Testament piece right there where just like Moses, but instead of going through the sea, Jesus walks upon the waters. And one of the things that Jesus does when he stands on the waters and they see him like a ghost and this is just one more hint that Matthew drops in here and they cry out in fear. Jesus says to them, well actually just look says take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid. And in your Greek there he uses the the word ego ma. Now, that is a uh an emphatic usage in the Greek there in which he he's using the divine name I am. Just as in the Hebrew, it's an emphatic usage. It's not just it's me or I am. It's a it's a way of emphasizing it. And whenever that gets used, it's a very clear indicator. In fact, when Jesus in in another passage is standing up in front of the people and says even before Moses, I am, they knew exactly what he meant in that moment. They knew exactly what kind of claim he was making. And so even here Jesus is saying don't fear take heart. I am it's me the son of God. And so Matthew is very clearly showing us not just a great prophet but one who supersedes all and one who even declares and points to himself as divine and worthy of worship. Jesus has complete authority over all things. He is the true and greater Moses. And he even as he walks on the water proclaims about himself, I am. And he is worthy of our worship. That's why when he gets into the boat at the end of the passage, the disciples know very clearly what's going on here. There is no question. Truly, you are the son of God. They say. So three implications that we see because he is worthy. Because he's worthy of our worship. One, his presence. It quiets our fear. So point one is really worship anchors your soul. When you realize that Jesus is worthy, that he has authority and that he's worthy of worship. You can be out on the seas of the ocean. You can be struggling through different things in life and yet you can remember who he is. The very thing that he says here to them when he sees them, he says, "Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid." That word take heart, it gets translated in your Bibles may say it, take courage, be confident, take heart, be hopeful. All of those different ways that we could use the Greek to translate in those different ways. You can be hopeful because I'm here, because I have all authority. And in the midst of this storm, and in the even in the midst of your worthiness, see who I in the midst of your struggle, see who I am. See me here. Look to me in these moments. See, we can be find that worship anchors our soul in the middle of even a storm when we look to Christ because we behold his grandeur and his authority. It's like the old hymn, turn your eyes upon Jesus. And what happens? The things of this world grow strangely dim. in the light of his glory. And so it is when we rightly worship the one who all worship is due in our life and not just in song but with heart and with devotion. When we bow the knee and submit our lives to him and we look to him as the author and the perfector of our faith. Then even in the midst of our weariness and our tiredness, we can enter into these places with him and find peace that passes all understanding. We can find something that anchors us even while the it doesn't change necessarily even the circumstances around us, but anchors us in the midst of the storm. Rightly worshiping God will drive that fear out. Drives the fear out of our hearts. One of the ways that I I thought about it this week as I as I was kind of trying to think years ago um because it's a perspective shift when you worship. Years ago, I was my kids were really little and uh I was one night I was out in the backyard doing something. It was already night time. You know, you put your kids to bed and and uh it's probably only 10:00, but it's dark and I had to do something. And I come back in the house and one of the kids had gotten up after we'd laid them down and they were like, "Somebody's in the backyard, right?" I was like, "Oh, oh, no, no. It's it's me. I was back there. It's okay. Right now, that might have, you know, made them feel a little bit better, but they this whoever this was, they weren't they weren't fully convinced. And so, the question was, what if somebody else was back there? Or what if somebody else some other time is back there? And so, they're they're continuing to sort of fixate on this potential worry that someone could always be in that backyard at even any given point in time. And they could be incredibly worried about what might happen. And so in that moment, just like any dad, I knelt down on my knee before him and I said, "You look here. I will never let anything hurt you. I've got you. And if anything scares you and you call out, I'm there like lightning. I'll be there to protect you." And think about that same way with the one who has all authority.

He's got you. His promises remain true even in the midst of the storm.

You could hold on to that. And when we rightly look to him and begin to worship him, something inside of us becomes so anchored and steadfast that all the fears and the worries and the troubles and the weariness, they begin to melt in his glory. And you know, for just maybe all of us, what do you worry about?

What turns your eyes away from the king? You worry about the economy, AI, wars, the government, provision for your own family, your job. All of a sudden, these things can become things that distract us, that desenter our worship. Jesus is constantly stooping down and inviting us, look at me. Look at me. The second thing is is his presence empowers us to live boldly. It empowers us to step out even of the boat. We in verses 28-29, Peter answered and said, "Lord, if it's you, command me to come to you on the water." And he said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. walked on the water. Now, commentators say all sorts of thing about this passage. None of them agree. They're all over the place. I think the thing that I that I want us to see, and I think that what Matthew is getting at here is that Peter's actually, for all that we kick Peter all the time, Peter is beginning to get this. Peter's beginning to understand this guy is not just a prophet. There's something amazing in him. And there's something that I am drawn to be near him and to pursue him and to bow to him. I want to be with him. and I want to experience his glory and his power in my life and I'm tired of being in this boat struggling against the winds and the waves when he's out there and the peace is out there and I want that. And he starts worshiping and that worship in his own heart and his life. What does it do? Call me and I'll come out of the boat. I will. And the faith that begins to birth in him worship. Worship empowers and infuses your heart in such a way. It it builds this passion in you. I mean, you know what I'm talking about, right? Have you ever like just these moments when God just you experience his power? You see an answer to prayer. You're moved in your quiet time or in worship and the things and you see his authority. You see his power. You see his glory and his beauty and the things begin to melt around you and courage is birthed in your heart

and all of these different ways that he moves and he calls you to follow him, you begin to have the courage to do so because it's just worship. See, worship isn't just singing songs. There are Greek words that articulate that we present our bodies as living sacrifices. This is your true and reasonable worship. That word is latro in the Greek. It mean it's like a work worship. We're moving. We're going. We're doing things as God calls us. And we have the courage and the confidence in him to be obedient and submissive wherever he calls us because we want to be with him. And like the children of Israel when the the pillar of fire, the cloud moved, I'm going with him. I I don't want to stay out here in the wilderness by myself. I'm going with him. So it is. We want to be with him where he is. And when he calls us over here and over there, so we will come out on the water and follow him. Worship empowers you and your faith to step out of the boat, to walk onto the water because you so want to be where he is. And Jesus is constantly calling us, look at me, focus on me. Another illustration with kids this morning. I don't know why I was thinking about kids, but you ever see when uh because Peter's just getting out of the boat, right? And I I thought of this cool illustration. You ever see a parent, they're on the a kid's a toddler. They're on the side of the pool, right? And and the parents in the water. We pro, if you're a parent, you've probably done this before, right? And you're just like, "Hey, come here. Come here." You're trying to get the child to jump into the water, you know? And the child is looking at the risk. You're kind of far back there. I don't know if I can make this leap, you know, and I might this water's looking pretty intimidated. And and you know, it's this is the unknown. But what's the parent doing? Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. I got you. I got you. And so worship oftentimes does that same thing where God's like, "Look at me. Look at me. I got you." And if we can fixate on him and the things around us begin to grow dim in our joy and desire to be with him, we're willing to step out. We're willing to come because worship propels you forward. Boat life gets wear. Sometimes we just need the invitation. Look at me. Come. Come here. Jump. Jump. So that we can respond. How might worship, that kind of worship, inspire us in some area of life to live with more courage, to speak when he says to speak, to serve when he says to serve, to surrender when he says to surrender in whatever form he calls us to step out. We'll be obedient. People kick Peter for getting out of the boat. Remember, Jesus didn't chastise him. and said, "Come on. The invitation is there." Yeah, he he falters, but he got out of the boat. That's a good step. And Peter one day will get out of that boat and he won't stumble and he won't sink. I I don't want to get off tangent here, but I just I thought of this illustration this week uh in terms of just this cool piece where one day Peter gets out of that boat and he steps on to the sea of glass that is in Revelation described as before the throne of God. He didn't sink. And I just had this beautiful picture of him just walking up to the throne of God because he wanted to be with him. And one day seeing him as he stood on that sea and walked to that throne, not sinking but walking on that water. Anyway, side note there, just an illustration or thing that I saw when I was thinking about it this week. Uh, third piece. Third piece. You can look Oh, sorry. I changed my point here. So, let me go to the original one. When we fail, we have one who does not fail. When we fail, we have one who does not fail. who can look to Jesus for your rescue. We see in verse 29 through31 it says that when he Jesus said to him, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and he walked on the water and he came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid. And he began to sink and cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took him, saying to him, "Oh, you of little faith. Why did you doubt? Why did you doubt, Peter? Remember what what got you. The faith that got you out of the boat. The worship that got you out of the boat. That's the thing that will sustain you when you're on the water. Don't start looking at all that other stuff. Peter sinks at the end of the day because he started to look at other things and it caused him to stumble. And I I've talked about this. This is not I don't think the point here, but there are all sorts of things that can make us stumble when we get out of the boat. And many of them, as I've talked extensively before, are idols. I read one in a moment ago where that non-believer even saw the trip of idols. They enslave you. They fill you with fear and you're always trying to measure up in order to gain that thing from them. It's a transactional relationship. And Jesus just invites us to come to embrace him and not to be sold out or looking or thinking about those other things. Look at me. And when we look to him, even when we fail, even when we lose our ways, he is there to rescue you. But there's another piece that what you look at most intently in life dictates the direction you go in. What you look at most intently dictates where you go. And sometimes we can go after those idols or we can chase after other gods in life and those things fail us. And here is the one who is proven as Matthew is showing us who has all authority over all things and who loves us and who has invited us out in the water. And if he has invited us out, he will not fail you. But when you do fail, because that's so much in life. Don't we all do that? Don't we all lose our way at times? Life gets shaky. We start to worry about this or that. We take our eyes off of him and we fail. But the thing is that shows that God is so gracious is the moment we cry out, "God, I'm sorry." The moment we're we turn our attention back to him, he's there to grab us by. I got you. I wasn't going to let you fall. I wasn't going to let you drown. I'm here. And so, we see that worship can reenter us once again on God. It can remind us of the truths of him. If you are struggling in your life with anything that is taking you off of the worship of God, then just in the place where you find yourself, begin to worship. Worship is like it not to weaponize it, but it's like a weapon. It's a weapon against your fear. It's a weapon against your doubt. And do you know why? Because you begin to proclaim the truths about God that are rehearsed throughout scripture. And those truths remind you of things in your life that you've experienced in God and they change your perspective and certainly yes they anchor you. They re reatune your attention to him and they revive you. That's what the psalmist always does over and over again. They come and he confesses, Lord, I've lost my way and are you even listening? I'm not and he's complaining. But he begins to rehearse the things about God to his own soul and it begins to re it begins to push out the untruths and the falsehoods and the distractions and it fixates him on what? The truth and the source of that truth, God alone. So worship, worship is what drives out the fear, the doubt and the lies. So that we can also join with the psalmist and do so much of the same things and say, "God is my refuge and my strength, a very present help in trouble." Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. You rehearse these things over and over in your prayers and in your worship, and they refocus your attention on what is true. So the disciples, the disciples see here verse 32. And when he got into the boat, the wind ceased and those in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly you are the son of God.

The disciples here recognize who Jesus is. Finally, this is this is remarkable because it's even before Peter's confession, which is a couple chapters later. They see and know for themselves who Jesus is. And the response is to worship him as God, to bow, to proaneo, as it says in the Greek, before him and to give him glory and reverence and submission to him. A desire to behold him and to pursue him with life. When you worship what is worthy, you'll find one who quiets your fear, refreshes your weariness, empowers you to step out, and who catches you when you fall. Let's pray.