'Come!'
- Feb 7, 2025
- 6 min read
Matthew 14: 28 -29: “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water; come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus."
COME! It is Jesus’ call of faith. Have you heard it lately?
Nietzsche said: "If you want me to believe in your Redeemer, then you'll have to look a lot more redeemed."
Even in the chaos and frustrations of life, the message from Jesus remains the same: Come, follow me; come to me; come you who are weary. And then in obedience, we enter a walk with Him that is sometimes daunting, yet pioneering; one where we have an assurance that no matter what, He is with us.
It's good news for uncertain times, whether we're looking for calmer waters, or for direction in our lives. Our help and direction from Christ is here with us now; all we have to do is listen to His call and respond in obedience, 'COME!'
He calls through the storm
Moved by their helplessness, being in the grip of forces beyond their control, Jesus was coming to the disciples to calm their fears, not add to them. He was coming to reassure them of His presence.
Then, you see Peter wanting to be with Jesus regardless of the risk; he knew that whatever Jesus commands, He will empower him to do it.
William Carey said, “Expect great things of God, and attempt great things for God.”
Peter seemed to realise that it’s far better to be where Jesus was (without a boat), than it is to be in a boat without Jesus!
F.B. Meyer makes the point, “Unbelief puts our circumstance between us and God, but faith puts God between us and our circumstances.”
Certainly, Peter did! Most of us are satisfied with little things from God, but not Peter. Out of the 12, only Peter asks to join Jesus in walking on the water. “If... it’s you, tell me to come” Peter says to Jesus, who had already spoken to the disciples to encourage them to be unafraid in the midst of the storm. Why was that not enough for Peter?
But notice what Peter says: “If.” Was staying in the boat too frustrating? It seemed that Peter wanted things to be different, to be big and amazing. When Jesus tells him to come, I think Jesus is allowing Peter the opportunity to learn from the experience - what it is to imitate Jesus but also to learn his own limitations.
The LORD called Peter: “Come.” Now that word is going to accomplish its intended purpose. Jesus is the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2) , whatever He starts, He completes.
‘Come,’ will sometimes mean going beyond the comfortable, predictable life! Beyond those things that can so often deaden the impact of Jesus’ call.
What if today you were to put yourself in that position to hear His call again and simply respond, Lord ‘if’ it’s you. Call me. Which really means you’re asking Jesus to issue a King's command. You’ve heard many of these over the past few weeks and months, how have you responded?
COME – trust me with your life; Come - be baptised; Come – give me your tithe; Come - serve me.
Don’t listen to the other voices, or the storms that can distract. A ‘Fear’ storm is a big one! The ‘Unworthy’ storm is a huge factor; ‘Doubt’ storms that come, seem to be the worst!
Don’t forget, Jesus knew who He was calling when He called Peter. He knew Peter better than Peter knew Peter!
Lewis Smedes knew: "Guilt was not my problem as I felt it. What I felt most was a glob of unworthiness that I could not tie down to any concrete sins I was guilty of. What I needed more than pardon was a sense that God accepted me, owned me, held me, affirmed me, and would never let go of me even if he was not much impressed with what he had on his hands."
He waits in the storm
Jesus is waiting and would long for you to join Him. In doing so it will change you forever, deepening your character and your trust in the living God.
The choice can be yours today, aligning yourself with God's purpose for your life. There's just one requirement, like Peter, you've got to listen, obey, then get out of the boat, or whatever may be holding or restricting you!
John MacArthur said, "The place of security is not the place of favourable circumstances but the place of obedience to God’s will."
Don’t listen to the other voices, to those doubts and fears, or indeed to the overwhelming storm you’re going through. Fix your attention on Jesus and His call, COME!
Then it’s your move (like Peter!). This is literally where we see faith in action!! Just move on Jesus’ say so!
It was a strange sight, a blind boy flying a kite with his father’s help. A friend of the family stopped and asked the boy what he got out of it. "Well I may not be able to see it but I can feel the pull of it."
We may make a similar response when people ask why have faith in God you can’t see. You might not see Him, but you know He’s there and you feel His pull and hear His call.
This story gives a warning to each of us that have stepped out in obedience to Jesus’ call ‘Come.’ Keep listening and keep focused; if we don’t, we end up like Peter, seeing the storm and not Jesus.
How often we forget that even if the kite has gone behind the clouds, if we’re holding onto the string, we can still feel the pull, it hasn’t been lost in spite of the storm.
It has been said, “Faith is not believing in spite of evidence, but obeying in spite of consequence.”
Following Christ is the greatest, most important decision you can make TODAY!
How will you respond? Perhaps Jesus has asked before, but so much has got in the way; other things have seemed more important. You have today to respond - 'COME.'
Stop for a while
John Ortberg writes, “There is something – Someone inside us who tells us there is more to life than sitting in a boat. You were made for something more. There is something inside of you that wants to walk on the water, to leave the comfort of routine existence and abandon yourself to the high adventure of following God…Your boat is whatever you are tempted to put your trust in, especially when life gets a little stormy. Your boat is whatever keeps you so comfortable that you don’t want to give it up, even if it’s keeping you from joining Jesus on the waves. Your boat is whatever pulls you away from the high adventure of extreme discipleship.”
There is a truth here, if Peter had stayed in the boat, he would never have had his water walking experience.
Is God calling us to step from the boat, the structure, the place, the assumptions, the comfort zone, the status quo that we've come to know and love?
The best reason to get out of the boat, whatever your boat is, is that it’s not where Jesus is! So, it’s your move, that is, if you want to see faith in action! Move on Jesus’ say so – come! Enter that “high adventure of extreme discipleship.”
More than anything, I believe that we need to renew our focus not just on who we are, or where we are, but on who Jesus is and where Jesus is.
2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Rather than living frustrating and limited lives, being held captive by the ‘boat’ of past, of regrets, of unworthiness, or of fear and doubt, like Peter we start to see the truth of who we are in Christ, and live it with Him!
Henri Nouwen said, “The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of GOD...people who are so deeply in love with JESUS that they are ready to follow HIM wherever HE guides them.”
So, are you ‘ready to follow HIM?’
‘COME!’
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