Brown's Daily Word 3-6-08

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for the way He reigns and rules. He calls us out of the tumult of our days to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him in full surrender and obedience. In my walk with the Lord I have been often reluctant and often disobedient. Sometimes in my life my response to Him has been a delayed response. As I grow older, the Lord is teaching me and nudging me to be reckless in obedience to Him, to let go of myself and let Him have His full say. The Lord is calling us into reckless obedience to Him and to His cause.
Reckless obedience is following Christ no matter what, no matter where you are, who you are with, or what you are doing, and no matter what the cost. Reckless obedience steps out of the boat when Jesus calls. The more I think about it, the more I realize that reckless obedience is the path to life’s greatest joy and accomplishment. More than that, when we learn to live a life of reckless obedience for Christ, we will find ourselves used of God to accomplish incredible things for His Kingdom.
In our visit to the Holy Land in February of 2006, we came down from the Mount of Beatitudes and the mountain where the Lord fed the five thousand. We came to the Sea of Galilee from the Northern shore, where we got onto a boat. It was evening, and there was one of the most glorious Sunsets I had ever seen beyond the horizons, over the sea of Galilee.
In that same area, Jesus had been ministering to the crowds, teaching, healing the sick, and, just before this, He miraculously fed 5,000 people from five loaves and two fishes. Then He sent the disciples on ahead in the boat, and He spent several hours alone in solitude. Meanwhile, back in the boat, it was rough going for the disciples. They should have already been across the Sea, but they were caught in a storm, and the driving wind kept them from making progress. Finally, at the fourth watch – which is between 3:00 am and 6:00 am in the morning – Jesus came out to join them on the boat. Of course, He took a shortcut, straight across the water.
The disciples were tired and weary, since they had been fighting the wind and waves for hours, and suddenly they saw a shadowy figure coming toward them across the water. Immediately they are seized with fear, thinking that it was a ghost, or an evil spirit. But Jesus sought to calm them as He called out, “Take courage. It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
There is an interesting thing to note here about what Jesus said to them. The phrase translated “It is I” in most of our Bibles, is literally the statement, “I am.” So what Jesus was saying was “Take courage. I am.” Why is that significant? If you look at Exodus 3:14, as Moses met God at the burning bush, God told Moses His name, “I am who I am.” And he told Moses to tell Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”
It’s the same thing Jesus said as He walked across the water to a group of frightened disciples. He was saying, “Take courage. The same God who created this water, the same God who crafted the wind, He’s standing right here with you. You don’t have to be afraid.”
If you thought God was standing next to you right now, do you think that might give you a little more courage than you might otherwise have? He is – He is right there with you. Does that make a difference? It certainly made a difference for Peter. While all the other disciples stood there shaking and dripping, Peter said, “Lord, if that’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” The word “tell” does not fully capture the force of what Peter is asking; he was really saying, “Lord, command me to come to you.” Here was a moment of remarkable faith in Peter’s life. He believed that if Jesus gave the order, he could do it. There could have been twelve disciples out there on that water, riding those waves without skis or a surfboard, but only one asked. Only one expected something special from God – and he got it.
Do you know what is the richest place in any city or town? It’s not the jewelry store, or the country club, or anything so modest as that. It’s the cemetery. Go by any cemetery, and it is full of riches that people carried to their graves. There are great songs that were never written, magnificent works of art never created, life-changing achievements never attempted, powerful testimonies for Christ never spoken. Can you think of anything more tragic than to go to your grave never having tasted the great things God made available to you, all because you never asked?
In Ephesians 3:20, Paul says, “God can do anything – far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!” (The Message) He calls us to come out of the boat. To live in reckless obedience means we are going to expect great things from God. But it also means we will attempt great things for God. This was the motto of William Carey.
Faith is a wonderful thing in the abstract, but the critical moment comes when it’s time to get out of the boat. Reckless obedience requires stepping out of the boat. After it was over, you can just imagine the disciples talking to one another, “I knew that was Jesus out there. I knew He could do that. I could have gone out there.” Lots of folks have faith in theory, but that night, in the storm, only one of them got out of the boat. Peter not only believed Jesus could enable him to walk on the water, but he acted on that belief.
Faith is not simply knowing that God is there, that Jesus can save – it is more than mentally believing. It also involves doing something about that belief; it means getting out of the boat.
In 1789, William Wilberforce stood before the British Parliament and called for an end to human slavery within the British empire. Every year for the next 18 years he introduced a bill to end slavery, and every year for 18 years his bill was defeated, but he never gave up on his campaign. Then, in 1833, just four days before he died, Wilberforce saw Parliament pass a bill abolishing slavery. It never would have happened if someone had not stepped out of the boat.
Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see. When we are willing to step out of the boat in reckless obedience, we are freed from the obstacles of life that would entrap us. Peter stepped out of the boat and joined Jesus in doing something no other man had ever done before all because, when Jesus said, “come,” Peter got out of the boat.
It was a powerful moment of faith for Peter, but then something happened. Instead of focusing on Jesus, he begins to look around at the storm, and that’s when he began to sink. He stepped out of that boat with his eyes and his confidence fixed on Jesus, but then started to look around. Our text says, “when he saw the wind, he was afraid.” He began to look at his situation and his circumstances, and he began to think, “Wait a minute. I can’t walk on water!” Then he started to sink.
Many of us have experienced that at one time or another, have we not? God has called us to a task, but we get our eyes off Him and begin to question ourselves.
We look at the circumstances. We see the wind and the storm, and we lose heart. A crisis comes into your life, and you begin to be caught up in that situation. This challenge is too great, this conflict can’t be overcome, this wind is too strong. That’s when you get your eyes off Jesus.
The truth is, when Peter realized he couldn’t walk on water, he was absolutely right! Of course he couldn’t! In his own power, he would sink like a rock. But for a moment, when he stepped out of the boat, he wasn’t operating in his own power; he was walking in the power of Christ. When we walk in His power, recklessly obedient to His call, walking on water is like walking down a sidewalk. Yet, it was at the moment when he felt himself sinking that Peter discovered a wonderful reality of reckless obedience – that in faith we can Accept great grace from God.
One of the amazing discoveries of walking with Christ is that it is in reckless obedience that we truly discover reckless grace. It is only when we are willing to step out of the boat in obedience that we are in a position to discover the awesome grace of God that is available to us. As Peter shifted his attention from the Lord to the storm, he began to sink, and he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Peter’s faith was not gone; he just lost his focus, but he still knew where to find help. In fact, there’s an insight in what Jesus said to him, “Why did you doubt?” That word “doubt” literally means to be “double-minded” – to be of two minds. That’s exactly what had happened to Peter. It’s not that He didn’t believe in Jesus; it was just that the wind was so strong and the waves were so scary that he lost his focus on the Lord. He became double-minded.
Have you ever had that experience? You know what God wants you to do, and you would like to be faithful, but there are other attractions, other things that are seeking to draw our attention. You want to trust Jesus, but you also want to fit in and be accepted at work or at school. You want to trust Jesus, but you also want to have your own way, and to be your own boss. You want to trust Jesus, but there are some other things you would like to experience also, things that other folks seem to be enjoying. So you are torn, double-minded, and you begin to sink.
There are two important truths contained right here that every Christian needs to understand. First, when you lose your focus on Jesus, that’s when you’re going to sink. Peter was walking on water until he started paying more attention to the wind than to the Lord. But there’s another equally-important truth to remember. That is, even when you’re sinking, Jesus is still there. As soon as Peter called on Him, Jesus pulled him out of the water and brought him back to the safety of the boat. Even when Peter’s faith-focus wavered, Jesus was standing right there ready to save him. That is grace.
Yet, Peter would never have experienced the saving touch of Jesus in that moment if he had never stepped out of the boat. It is when we practice reckless obedience that we put ourselves in a position to discover reckless grace, grace without limits, grace that doesn’t depend on our abilities or our goodness, grace that reaches through a storm and brings us safely home. If Peter had never stepped out of the boat, he would never have discovered that Jesus could save him in the middle of a storm.
On August 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines flight 225 crashed just after taking off from the Detroit airport, killing 155 people. One person survived, a four-year-old from Tempe, Arizona, named Cecelia. News accounts say that when the rescuers found Cecelia they did not believe she had been on the plane. At first they assumed she had been a passenger in one of the cars on the highway onto which the airliner crashed. But when the passenger log for the flight was checked, there was Cecelia’s name.
Cecelia survived because, even as her plane was falling, Cecelia’s mother, Paula, unbuckled her own seat belt, got down on her knees in front of her daughter, wrapped her arms and body around Cecelia, and then would not let her go. Nothing could separate that child from her mother’s love, neither tragedy nor disaster, neither the fall nor the flames that followed, neither height nor depth, neither life nor death.
Jesus Christ left behind the glories of heaven and came to live among us. At Calvary He covered us with the sacrifice of his own body. He gave Himself so that you and I can have life abundant. That is reckless grace.
It is in reckless obedience that we discover reckless grace.
Simon Peter: Dr James Geer Ph.D. will be presenting " Simon Peter", a dramatic monologue, this coming Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 7 p.m. at our Union Center UMC, 128, Maple Drive. It is a powerful and passionate portrayal of the life and testimony of Simon Peter, our Lord's disciple. Those who live in our area , join us. You will be truly blessed.
In Christ,
Brown

The World's Easiest Quiz
Passing requires 4 correct answers

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
2) Which country makes Panama hats?
3) From which animal do we get catgut?
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?
7) What was King George VI's first name?
8) What color is a purple finch?
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?

All done? Check your answers below!


ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ..

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last? 116 years
2) Which country makes Panama hats? Ecuador
3) From which animal do we get cat gut? Sheep and Horses
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? November
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? Squirrel fur
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? Dogs
7) What was King George VI's first name? Albert
8) What color is a purple finch? Crimson
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? New Zealand

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FAILED?