Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: The Son, he retreats to pray. As we look upon the Lord Jesus Christ in this very, very simple moment here, we see a model you and I have got to follow. If you've made that decision, don't be surprised if things are running a little rough. If your battle with sin is becoming more and more a feeble march of defeat, Jesus required time alone with the Father and so do we.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. I'm Steve Hiller and Jonathan, I think a lot of us can identify with that feeling like I'm battling against sin and I'm losing. Or I feel like God is at a distance from me and I don't know how to feel close to him again. I want to, but I'm just not there right now. Are you saying that prayer is the key to that?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, I think it's certainly part of the picture. It's so interesting and it's so very striking when we look at the life of Jesus and the ministry of Jesus how he intentionally takes time to be alone with the Father and we're going to see that in our passage today from Matthew's gospel.

We must look at that and observe that and think to ourselves if Jesus needed that, how much more do I need that? It's such a simple failure really for us within the Christian life when we neglect time with the Father. We're so busy. We think we can just get by and we rush on with the business of the day.

But over time, if we make a habit of ignoring time with the Father we will start to notice the impact of that in terms of our spiritual vitality and our effectiveness and our growth in the Christian life.

Steve Hiller: Well, let's go ahead and look more at this topic from the book of Matthew. We're in chapter 14, looking at verses 22 to 36 today. Grab a Bible, meet us there as we begin the message "The Son Who Rescues and Restores." Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: We've called this series in Matthew's Gospel "In the Presence of the King" and it's our great joy, isn't it, to come into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ as we encounter him through his word. As we begin today, I actually just want to pause on that idea of coming face to face with Jesus Christ.

We're not going to do anything very fancy with these verses from Matthew 14 today. I don't have some clever philosophical insight for you. I don't have any penetrating cultural analysis. Our business here today is simply to look at the Lord Jesus Christ, to see him in the pages of Matthew's Gospel, to encounter him through his word.

But I want to say what an important thing that is to do. What a special thing, what a very, very powerful thing it is. You see all of us, we come here today with our particular needs, don't we? And our burdens and our concerns and yes even our frustrations.

All of us, young and old, men and women, boys and girls, believers and skeptics, rich and poor, employed and unemployed, healthy and sick, we come with our needs, our questions, our burdens, and our concerns. And here's the thing I can say with confidence to each one of us, to myself and to you as well.

Jesus Christ is the answer to each one of them. That's a simple truth, that's the conviction of the believer. That is the claim of the Christian gospel. Jesus is the answer. He is the comprehensive answer. In him, we meet the God of heaven. In him we find the Savior, the Rescuer, the Healer.

So friends, whatever it is that you are navigating, whatever it is you are facing, whatever it is you are carrying today in this week, let me invite you now simply to come with me to the shores of the Sea of Galilee, come with me to the pages of Matthew's Gospel, and let's meet the Lord Jesus Christ together.

Let's observe him, let's encounter him, let's learn from him, let's receive from him as we all need to do. What do we see and what do we learn of Jesus, the Son of God, as we encounter him here? First, we see that the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, he retreats to pray.

Jesus has just been involved in an intense time of ministering to many people. Thousands came to him. They pursued him at the shores of the Sea of Galilee and they gathered to hear him teach. They listened for a long time, actually. And as the day wore on they became hungry.

So you remember Jesus miraculously fed these 5,000 men plus women and children. He nourished them actually in every way. And after that remarkable day of ministry here is where we find the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 22: "Immediately, 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."

The Son of God incarnate as he went about doing ministry, serving others, teaching the word, releasing divine healing power, as he went about doing these things, he recognized the vital importance of stepping aside from the crowds and communing with his Father. No doubt in his humanity he's very, very tired after that day of ministry by the shore.

No doubt he felt as though he had expended his strength. No doubt he was emotionally fatigued. Though he is God, he had become a true human being as well, he had taken on the limitations of humanity in his earthly body through the incarnation.

While we need to be careful, of course, we cannot take these snapshots from the time of Jesus' earthly ministry and then go and speculate too deeply concerning the relationships that have existed eternally within the Trinity. We need to be careful.

We do have a window here though, don't we? We have a window into the vitality of that relationship between the Father and the Son. Communion with the Father is at the very core of who Jesus is. So he steps aside, he takes time apart, he retires for the day, he gets out of the fray, he goes away to pray.

Friends, this is a simple thing to point out. No clever philosophical insights, no penetrating cultural analysis here, nothing clever about this observation from the text but I tell you this is so very, very important. I think many of us we struggle with this idea of prayer.

People come to me, some of you have come to me with this struggle and this question: if God is God and he knows all things, if God is sovereign and he rules over all things, then why do I need to pray? What's the purpose of it? Does it actually honestly have a purpose?

I don't think I can fully explain to you why it is that God has ordained that we should relate to him through prayer. I think I have some partial answers to that question, but perhaps the most compelling thing we can say about prayer is simply this: Jesus the Son of God saw prayer to the Father as vitally important in his earthly life.

We can say that much. And right there actually that is argument enough for us and proof enough for us. If Jesus saw the necessity of prayer, how much more should we? I don't know how good you are at maintaining the vital things that facilitate your way of life, your own health, how good you are at giving daily attention to your body and all that it needs: nutrition, exercise, rest, and other things.

I don't know how good you are at maintaining your car. Do you pay attention to the rhythm of its needs? It's been said that if you don't schedule your regular maintenance for the car your car will schedule it for you, normally through an unexpected stop at a roadside at night during a storm.

At home we have a car that's now getting a little long in the tooth, a little elderly. It's been nominated the "Dad car", actually. A quarter of a million kilometers and counting on the clock. I'm taking that as a badge of honor, we're heading for 300K.

Some friendly creaks and groans, some rather endearing rust patches that just give a little bit of character, few things that just don't work anymore. Who needs anti-lock braking anyway? No, actually, I think that does work. Anyway, I have to admit that the car probably doesn't get the love and the attention that it deserves.

For a while it had a little notice on the dash that came up saying "service due." Reminder, but nothing too threatening there, that was on for a number of weeks actually and of course I ignored it as anyone would. Then it became a running counter. It shifted screen. I'd never seen this before.

It became a running counter of how many kilometers we were past the service requirement. 100 kilometers past due, oh that's interesting. 200, not really worth bothering with. 1,000 kilometers past due, I think I can probably still ignore that. 1,500 kilometers past due, vaguely alarming.

But it kept every day, it just started, kept on driving. It's a little rough I guess, to be sure, but it's still moving just fine. 1,750 past due, we got pretty close to 2,000 kilometers over the service interval before I figured I probably shouldn't put this off very much longer.

I got it to the shop to my friendly mechanic before the engine gave up the ghost. I think we'll probably get a few more miles out of it yet. But I think we all know this: if we ignore the regular rhythms of health and maintenance we will feel the effects of it in the end. Isn't that true?

Sometimes we imagine that our fellowship with the Father is something that we can ignore in busy seasons of life. We fail to maintain it and we think it's going to be fine. I haven't opened the Bible today, actually come to think of it this week, maybe it's okay, it's been about a month.

Prayer, I'll send up the odd emergency flare to heaven when something's going wrong in moments of desperation but setting apart time, getting alone, it's been a while. And I guess if I'm being totally honest about it, the creaks and the groans in my spiritual life are getting a little bit more audible.

The cracks in the pristine finish of my outward godliness, well those are more visible. It would be hard maybe to claim that my spiritual life is now running smoothly. No, it's what you might call a "rough idle" at best.

The fact of the matter is that the regular rhythm of prayer and time in the word, the rhythm of communion with the Father, of fellowship with him, it is actually vital to our spiritual health, it's non-negotiable. The discipline of finding that physical place, and that's important here, isn't it?

So interesting, the physicality of this. Jesus went away on his own, he removed himself from the situation. Making that space, being alone, it's non-negotiable. Jesus showed us that, he models that for us here. If anyone didn't need this, we imagine it would be the Lord Jesus himself, he's the Son of God.

But he took time apart, he made the time, he found the place, he relied upon the refreshment. As we look upon the Lord Jesus Christ in this very, very simple moment here, we see something here that we need to learn. We see a model actually that you and I have got to follow.

And so as we consider this model together let me ask you the obvious question: how is your prayer life? I mean, how's it going? What is the rhythm of that for you, the discipline of it? Have you set that discipline to have that time apart, to be alone, in quiet with the Father as he did?

Or are you actually, in all honesty, running well beyond the healthy interval? Have you decided that your relationship with him just doesn't need maintenance? It's going to coast just fine while I get on with other things.

If you've made that decision, consciously or probably more likely unconsciously, don't be surprised if things are running a little rough. If your attention is actually more and more focused on the things of this world, if your heart is growing more and more cool toward the things of Christ, if your battle with sin is becoming more and more a feeble march of defeat.

Jesus required time alone with the Father and so do we. The Son, he retreats to pray. Next, the Son, he rescues the needy. Middle of verse 23: "When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way 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."

While Jesus was on the mountain by himself praying, he sent his disciples ahead of him to the other side of the sea. Evidently the weather wasn't too great. It was windy and the waves were high. The disciples were having a pretty rough time crossing in the boat.

It was a few miles across the Sea of Galilee at its widest point, but by the fourth watch of the night and that's between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., they still haven't made it across. The winds are just against them, their boat is being beaten by the waves, it's a tough situation, it's a fearful time, it's potentially really quite dangerous.

Will they make it to shore? Are they going to be swamped by the waves in the end? And in this moment of exhausted anxiety, Jesus comes to them and he meets them. Jesus comes to these weary and fearful disciples. He comes in a very surprising manner, unexpected.

He comes walking upon the sea. And of course the disciples are baffled. They couldn't make sense of it. They were terrified actually, "It's a ghost," they cried out in fear. But now comes the reassuring voice of Jesus: "Take heart," he says, "it is I, do not be afraid."

"Take heart, it is I," echoing words spoken by God to Moses at the burning bush. Jesus introduces himself afresh to these fearful disciples, not simply as the carpenter of Nazareth or the teacher of the hillside but as the great "I AM", Yahweh, the God of Israel, the Lord of heaven and earth.

We see a picture here, don't we? A very dramatic one, that actually sums up the very heart of Jesus' mission and it teaches us something profound about who he is and what he is like. You see, Jesus is the God who saves. Jesus Christ, he is the Lord of salvation.

He's not simply a teacher, a purveyor of wise words, a sage guide through the complexities of life. No, he is the God of heaven who makes it his own business to come to us in our helplessness, in our distress, in our wearied anxiety and to meet us where no one else can meet us.

That's why, of course, Jesus came down from heaven. We human beings were lost upon the sea of this world, lost in sin, burdened by guilt, facing the very judgment of God, unable to help ourselves, unable to save ourselves.

Perhaps unable to articulate the nature of our distress and our need, but just knowing the things were not right, and he came to us. And he reached us, he reached us where no one else could reach us. He came into this world by a miracle, even as he came to those disciples by a miracle that day.

He, the great I AM, the eternal God of heaven, entered the womb of a young woman in the person of his Son. He came to us as Savior. He lived among us, he taught us truth, he enabled us to know him, and then he went to a Roman cross to pay the price of our sin.

Whether we knew it or not, we were in a place of distress and we had no means to help ourselves and he came to us. You see, that's who he is and that's what he does. And friends, I highlight that and I emphasize that because there will be some here today I have no doubt who are lost.

That's your situation. You are buffeted by the waves of life. You look at the disciples and you actually feel the emotion of this moment and you resonate with them because you yourself are in a place of fear and distress. That's maybe why you've come today, maybe why you're listening, and you do not know what to do.

You feel today that you are lost upon the sea of this world, you feel that no one can reach you in your distress and no one can find you. And if that is you, and if that is your situation, you need to know this: the God of heaven, the great I AM, he has come to you.

He has come in the person of his Son, and he is able to rescue and he is able to help, he is able to save not merely from the difficult circumstances of this life, but from the deeper problem that lurks beneath all others, the problem of your broken relationship with God, the problem of your sin and your guilt before him.

He is able to cleanse you and he is able to restore you. He is able to offer you forgiveness. He is able to put you on a firm footing before the God of heaven to give you hope for time and hope for eternity. It is the character of Jesus and it is the mission of Jesus to rescue the needy, to come to us in our distress and to reach us where no one else can reach us.

But the question now is whether you will recognize him and whether you will receive him. Even the disciples were confused, weren't they? They cried out in fear. But he spoke those words of comfort: "Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid."

Have you seen, have you recognized that the Jesus who came to us 2,000 years ago who comes to us now through his word, who meets us today even on this page of Matthew's Gospel, is none other than the God of Israel, the great I AM, the God of creation, the God who is, the living God who has power to save? Will you take heart, will you receive him in faith, will you put aside fear?

Now, following Jesus, we need to be clear about this: following Jesus doesn't mean that we will never again face hard or fearful circumstances. Of course, the disciples followed Jesus, yet they found themselves in the storm. Once they recognized him, once they saw that it was their Lord coming to them upon the sea, it did not spell the end of their challenges nor of their fear.

Peter began quite well in this moment, as he sometimes did begin well. Verse 28: "And Peter answered him, 'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.'" 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!"

Peter saw who it was, he understood it was Jesus who had come to him. He recognized the authority of Jesus. He recognized that Jesus had the power to command him to come to him, to walk on water. Jesus gave the command, Peter came. So far so good.

He recognizes the authority of Jesus, he trusts in the power of Jesus, and while his eyes are upon Jesus, Peter is doing just fine. He's doing better than fine actually, he's walking upon the waves. That's a tremendous start. That is a wonderful step of faith.

Peter, for these moments, he is our faith hero. Here is a man who steps out in risky trust and dependency while others are huddled there in the boat, exhausted and cowering we only imagine. Here is the great believer stepping out in faith. Well done Peter!

But then it happens. His eyes begin to divert from the face of the Lord Jesus Christ and he turns to give regard to the fearful circumstances that surround him and it's trouble. Verse 30: "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord, save me!'"

I think we so often expect the Christian life to move forward in an essentially linear way, a purely linear way. I think we expect we're just going to grow steadily in our understanding, in our faith, in our godliness. Each day is going to be a little bit better than the last one.

We're going to move forward, we're not going to move backward. I don't know about you but for me the reality is so much messier than that. The reality for us is that it's often two steps forward, one step back. It's sometimes two steps forward, three steps back.

The grim truth is that sometimes I can look back six months, a year, five years and see past evidences of faith and devotion and godliness in my own life and think, I wish I could recapture that now. Because actually as I think upon it, reflect upon it, I think I've in that area actually regressed, I think I've slipped.

I wish that the only way was up, but that is not always the case in the Christian life. It's messy. The chart of Christian growth is sometimes a very, very jagged line, isn't it?

Steve Hiller: Isn't that the truth? It certainly is. Well, we're going to pause right here, but we'll get back to this message on our next broadcast. Hope you'll make it a point to tune in. If you ever miss a program, come and listen online.

Our website is encounterthetruth.org and you can stream the broadcast or listen to the MP3 for free. Encounter the Truth is a listener-supported program. We're able to be on the station because of your generosity.

As you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a book called "An Anchor for the Soul" written by Paul Mallard. Jonathan, what's this book about?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, this is a book about walking through trial while trusting in the Lord. It's grounded in Psalm 22 where the psalmist expresses that agony of facing real trial but it points us at the same time to the Lord Jesus Christ who entered into suffering for us and in our place at the cross of Calvary.

Steve Hiller: We want to send you a copy of this book as our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can give online when you visit our website, encounterthetruth.org, or call us at 1-833-99-TRUTH. That's 1-833-998-7884 or encounterthetruth.org.

You can also write to us at Encounter the Truth, PO Box 5513, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M1. Or in the US at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004. For Jonathan Griffiths and our producer, Mark Breta, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time.