Matthew 14

Jesus Walks on the Sea

22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.

25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.

27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

Summary of the Bible Reading

In this story, Jesus has just had a busy day ministering to the multitudes of people who follow Him everywhere.  He tells his disciples to get in a boat and go to the other side, while He finishes up with the people and sends them home.  Afterwards, Jesus goes up on a mountain to pray in solitude. 

As the night grows deeper, a storm begins to arise on the water.  The boat the disciples are in begins to toss in the wind and waves.  Suddenly disciples see a form coming towards them, walking on the water.  They scream in fear, thinking it is a ghost.

Jesus calls out to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”  Unsure whether this apparition is truly their Lord, Peter challenges the figure, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

Jesus simply responds, “Come.”

Peter gets out of the boat and begins to walk on the water towards Jesus.  But, then Peter looks around himself at the wind and the waves.  Fear grips him, and he begins to sink.  “Lord, save me!” he cries out.

Immediately, Jesus stretches out his hand and catches Peter.  Jesus questions him as to why he doubted.

As soon as Jesus and Peter enter the boat, the wind stops.  Everyone is amazed.

Lesson 

Prayer is Key to Seeing the Power of God

Prayer is key to seeing the power of God.  Even Jesus spent countless hours alone in prayer. 

Before many of the most amazing outpourings of His power noted in the Bible, it is also noted that Jesus spent time in prayer.  For example, in the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand with fives loaves of bread and two fish, it is noted that Jesus was in prayer before the crowd gathered, He prayed over the food before it multiplied, and then again after sending the crowd away, the Lord “went up on the mountain by himself to pray.”  Matthew 14:13-23.  Before he walked on water, Jesus spent time in prayer.  Matthew 14:23.  As Jesus healed a leper and a multitude of others from a variety of diseases, the Bible says, “He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”  Luke 5:16.  And again, before the transfiguration on the mount, Jesus prayed.  Luke 9:28-29.  Before Jesus allowed the Roman soldiers to capture Him and the passion of Christ began, He spent hours in prayer.  Mark 14:32-40.  Even as Jesus hung on the cross, before He took His last breath, He prayed.  Luke 23:34.

The manifest power of God and prayer go hand in hand.

Do Not Be Afraid

Over and over again in the Bible, we see the Lord comforting His people, “Do not be afraid.”  However, like Peter and the other disciples, many of us live in fear.  We expect failure, not miracles.  We expect to sink, not to walk on water.  Thus, even as the Lord is performing a miracle, we begin to let doubt creep into our hearts and minds.

The greatest obstacle we face is often not a physical obstacle, or even an obstacle put up by another.  Instead, Fear is often the biggest obstacle we must conquer. 

Fear often prevents us from completely trust in Jesus.  We are afraid to “Let go and let God.” 

There was a mountain climber who wanted to climb the highest mountain. He began his adventure after many years of preparation. But since he wanted the glory just for himself, he decided to climb the mountain alone.

The night felt heavy in the heights of the mountain and the man could not see anything. All was black. Zero visibility, the moon and stars were covered by clouds.

As he was climbing, only a few feet away from the top of the mountain, he slipped and fell into the air, falling at great speed. The climber could see nothing as he fell and only felt the terrible sensation of being sucked by gravity. He kept falling . . . and in those moments of great fear, all the good and bad episodes of his life came to mind.

He was thinking how close death was getting, when all of a sudden, he felt the rope tied to his waist pull him very hard. His body was hanging in mid-air. Only the rope was holding him. In that moment of stillness, he had no other choice but to scream, “Help me God!”

Suddenly, a voice came from the sky answering, “What do you want me to do?”

“Save me God!” the climber screamed.

“Do you really think I can save you?”

“Of course I believe You can!”

“Then cut the rope tied to your waist,” God said.

There was a moment of silence; and the man decided to hold onto the rope with all his strength.

The rescue team tells, that the next day, a climber was found dead and frozen . . . his body hanging from a rope . . . his hands holding tight to it . . . only 10 feet away from the ground.

Fear prevented him from trusting God and achieving victory.

Keep Your Focus on Jesus, Not on Circumstances

A third lesson we learn in this story is that we need to keep our eyes on Jesus, not on our circumstances.  We take our eyes of the Lord, and instead begin to focus on the circumstances. 

But, if we are expecting the supernatural, then why do we limit ourselves to what we see, know and understand?  The Lord desires that we take our eyes off the natural.  Instead, we need to set our eyes on Jesus.  It is only when we stop focusing on our own inability and begin focusing on His ability, that we are able to expect great and mighty things.

The Book of Acts tells the story of the healing of the lame man who sat by the Gate Beautiful:

 1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Acts 3:1-10. 

Here we see a sharp contrast between the lame man and the disciples.  The lame man’s eyes were set on the disciples.  He “expect[ed] to receive something from them.”  Acts 3:5.  But, the disciples turned to the Lord.  They did not look in their own pocket for spare change.  They did not try to bless the lame man through their own ability.  Instead, they recognized their own inability, admitting, “Silver and gold I do not have.”  Acts 3:6.  The disciples then turned to what they did have, the name of Jesus.  They looked to God.  And they expected the Lord to perform a miracle.  Thus, they took the lame man “by the right hand and lifted him up.”  Acts 3:7.  “[I]mmediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.”  Acts 3:7.

As we look to the Lord, praying with expectation, the Lord will perform the miracle we are desiring.

When They Got Into the Boat, the Wind Ceased

Verse 32, “And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased,” is an amazing verse.  Too often we wait outside the boat waiting for the wind to cease.  We say, we will only step into the boat after the wind ceases.  When things are calm and happy and all the troubles are out of our lives, only then will we trust fully in Jesus.  We will not get “into the boat” with Jesus.  But here we see, the winds continued, the storm did not stop, until Peter got into the boat with Jesus.  And as soon as Peter got into the boat with Jesus, the wind ceased.  In the same way, sometimes we have to trust Jesus even before we see the miracle…and then He will do the miracle.

We have often seen that Jesus shows people His power, once, twice and even three times.  But, at some point, He requires a commitment, a real belief, before He continues to perform miracle after miracle. 

Conclusion

Let us put aside all fear and step into the boat with Jesus, keeping our eyes focused on Him.  He will never fail us.

Well, first things first, what is our joint New Years Resolution going to be?  We are going to adopt an “Attitude of Gratitude.”  What does that mean?  We are going to learn to be more thankful people.  We are going to learn to thank God for the big and the small.  We are going to learn to thank God for the good and the bad.  We are going to learn to thank God for the significant and the insignificant.  We are going to learn to thank God in all things.

Not only that, but we are going to learn to thank God all day, every day…Sunday through Saturday.

And how are we going to do this?  Keep listening.  I am going to give you an assignment that each of us is going to fulfill over the next 30 days.  And if you do this…I guarantee you, you will develop an “Attitude of Gratitude” or your money back!

Thankfulness is a Choice

In adopting an Attitude of Gratitude, the first step is recognizing that thankfulness is a choice.  Remember, we are calling it an attitude of gratitude.  And your attitude is your choice.  It is dependant on the way you look at things…your perspective.  We decide how we want to react to a particular situation.  Do we look for the negative in the situation?  Or do we look for the positive?  We decide if we want to let the situation get the best of us, or if we want to make the best of the situation.  We decide if we want to be thankful or we want to complain.

We’ve been taught that gratitude is somehow dependent on how well things go for us.  But really our gratitude is determined by perspective.   It is really in how we see things. The apostle Paul wrote these words from prison (yes prison). “Rejoice in the Lord always,” he wrote, “and again I say it rejoice.”  Philippians 4:4.  Paul was happy despite being in prison and how, he learned to thank God in everything he did.  It was really his perspective on life.

A young woman wrote her mother from college:

“Dear Mom: Sorry I haven’t written sooner. My arm really has been broken. I broke it, and my left leg too, when I jumped from the second floor of my dormitory…when we had the fire. We were lucky. A young service station attendant saw the blaze and called the Fire Department. They were there in minutes. I was in the hospital for a few days. Paul, the service station attendant, came to see me every day. And because it was taking so long to get our dormitory liveable again, I moved in with him. He has been so nice. I must admit that I am pregnant. Paul and I plan to get married just as soon as he can get a divorce. I hope things are fine at home. I’m doing fine, and will write more when I get the chance. Love, Your daughter, Susie.

P.S. Mom, none of the above is true. But I did get a “C” in Sociology and flunked Chemistry. I just wanted you to receive this news in its “Proper Perspective!”

Happiness is really determined by our perspective in life not by circumstances.  

I once read the following incident:

“While walking along a busy street one day, I heard someone singing. His sweet voice was distinguishable even above the noise of the traffic. When I located him, I noticed that he had no legs and was pushing himself through the crowd in a wheelchair. Catching up with him, I said, ‘I want you to know, friend, that to hear singing from a person in your condition gives everyone else a lift.’ He answered with a grateful smile, ‘When I stopped looking at what I had lost and began concentrating on all I had left, I found much for which I could rejoice and be happy.’”

God’s will is that we choose to be thankful in all things.  I Thessalonians 5:18 says, “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  Now some may say, this is absurd.  If I hurt myself, am I supposed to thank God for the pain?  If I am sad, am I supposed to thank God for the sadness? 

Well, you can do this.  And I don’t think God would mind.  Remember my testimony of how I became Miss Teen of Washington?  At first everything was going wrong.  The pageant was a three day event and from the first minute, things seemed to go wrong.  First, the pageant was in a city 2 hours away from my home, and when my parents dropped me off, we realized that I had forgotten a packet of my paperwork that needed to be submitted.  Second, they didn’t give us any dinner that night.  Third, I just couldn’t sleep that night, I was too nervous, excited and scared.  Fourth, the pageant people were supposed to provide us with breakfast the next morning in our rooms, but they forgot our room somehow.  Then my personal interview, which was worth 25% of the final score did not go well.  It started off okay, then one of the judges asked me an emotional question about my disability, and I just broke.  I started crying, and I couldn’t stop myself.  I think it was a combination of not having eaten, not having slept and just being plain nervous.  Still, the interview went on and through my sobs, with tears rolling down my cheeks, I continued to answer questions.  I felt like such a nerd, and wanted to just get out of the interview room as soon as possible, but I stayed.  Just about the time that my crying started to subside, time was called, and I had to leave. 

I screwed that up.  I felt like such a baby.  The judges must have though that I was an insecure little baby.  What made things worse was that all of the other girls were waiting outside the interview room, so everyone knew I had been crying.

So, I went up to my room, changed my clothes and called my mom.  And she reminded me of what God had said: To thank him in all things even if they didn’t appear to be good.  So, a weak “thank you Jesus” proceeded from my lips.  I guess, I didn’t really mean it, but it was weird, it made me feel better.  And after I ate lunch and watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II Secret of the Ooze, I felt a lot better.  I was able to really just thank God, and just put it in his hands.  Anyway, I had never though that I could have won the pageant.  I just had wanted to be in the top eight.  Now at least, I could make the most of the opportunity and leave with some new friendships.

And in the end remember, I ended up winning the competition and getting the highest score in the interview portion, because Jesus changed the hearts of the judges.

But, I don’t think that thanking God for sorrow and pain exactly what God means.  Remember the Bible says “in” everything give thanks not “for” everything.  In every situation give thanks.  Have you heard the saying, “Every gray cloud has a silver lining”?  Meaning, there is something good in every situation.  I think God wants us to look for that “something good.”  He wants us to look for that silver lining…and then be thankful for that.

To better help you understand this, I want to read you a poem:

I am Thankful for………

….the taxes I pay
….because it means I’m employed.

….the clothes that fit a little too snug
….because it means I have enough to eat.

….my shadow who watches me work
….because it means I am out in the sunshine.

….a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and
….gutters that need fixing
….because it means I have a home.

….the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot
….because it means I am capable of walking.

….my huge heating bill
….because it means I am warm.

….all the complaining I hear about our government
….because it means we have freedom of speech.

….the lady behind me in church who sings off key.
….because it means that I can hear.

….the piles of laundry and ironing
….because it means my loved ones are nearby.

….the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours
….because it means that I’m alive.

….weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day
….because it means I have been productive.

So remember, gratitude is a choice.  Choose to be thankful.

Everything Good is from God

The second step to developing an Attitude of Gratitude, is learning to recognize and appreciate that every good thing is from God.  In James 1:17, the Bible tells us:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Many times people do not want to recognize that anyone had anything to do with their blessings but themselves.  I studied hard so I did well on my exams.  I worked hard so I got the promotion.  I am a nice person so I have many friends.  I am lucky, so I won.  With this kind of attitude, we think we have no one to thank by ourselves.

But you know what?  There are many people who study hard who still fail their exams.  There are hard-workers who never get the promotion.  There are nice people who are lonely.  And there are plenty of lucky people who come in second place or never even finish the race.

We need to remember that without God, nothing is possible.  Perhaps this is because everything we have is God’s not ours.  Psalm 24:1-2 says:

¹ The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. ² For He has founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the waters.

It is a privilege that God has loaned us everything we have.  1 Corinthians 4:7 reminds us:

And what do you have that you did not receive [from God]? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

The story is told of a poor man who was given a loaf of bread. He thanked the baker, but the baker said, “Don’t thank me. Thank the miller who made the flour.” So he thanked the miller, but the miller said, “Don’t thank me. Thank the farmer who planted the wheat.”

So he thanked the farmer. But the farmer said, “Don’t thank me. Thank the Lord. He gave the sunshine and rain and fertility to the soil, and that’s why you have bread to eat.”

So, if we remember that everything is from God and everything belongs to God, it is easier to thank God in everything.

Thankfulness Benefits Me

The third step to developing an Attitude of Gratitude is realizing that being thankful is good for you.  It will lead to love, happiness, health and prosperity.  What more could a person ask for?

In today’s day and age, people are striving for happiness, love, health and prosperity.  Much of what we do is aimed at gaining these things.  “I just want to be happy.”  This is probably the number one desire people have.  And they will try all sorts of things to achieve a state of happiness.  They will risk their lives to climb Mount Everest just to feel a moment of joy.  Similarly, everyone wants to be loved.  It is a longing deep inside every person’s heart.  A desire to feel like someone cares…someone is there for them…someone can’t live without them.  And health, as we all know, is the latest trend.  People will diet, exercise, and run a marathon to be in shape.  Physical fitness is the new mantra.  And then there is prosperity.  People say, “Money can’t buy happiness, but it can sure buy just about everything else.”  And today’s generation likes to do a lot of buying.  

But you know what?  Research shows that there is one key to achieving all four of these goals: an Attitude of Gratitude.

First, we all know that we can’t be thankful and miserable at the same time.  When we begin to count our blessing and appreciate them, a feeling of contentment arises in our heart.  And contentment leads to peace.  And peace leads to happiness.  People who are thankful tend to focus on the positives, rather than the negatives.  As a result, they are happier.

But, more than that, I recently read several articles that stated that research shows that an attitude of gratefulness, or thanksgiving, results in not only a happier life, but a healthier one as well.  Studies show, “In addition to enhancing one’s general sense of well-being, those who engage in practicing gratitude report significantly greater happiness, optimism, and satisfaction with their lives, greater progress in attaining important life goals, higher frequency of feeling loved, and lower reported incidence of stress and depression compared to their counterparts tallying neutral or negative aspects.”  http://ccn.aacnjournals.org/cgi/content/full/29/6/12.  Furthermore, an attitude of gratitude has been found to result in faster healing, slower disease progression and less severe heart attacks.  Id.

Once we realize how beneficial a thankful spirit can be, we will be even more motivated to express an Attitude of Gratitude.

Stop Complaining

The fourth step to developing an Attitude of Gratitude is making a decision to stop complaining.  Complaining is the archenemy of thanksgiving. The two cannot co-exist in the same heart.

A wise man once said, “I used to think people complained because they had a lot of problems. But I have come to realize that they have problems because they complain. Complaining doesn’t change anything or make situations better. It amplifies frustration, spreads discontent and discord, and can invoke an invitation for the devil to cause havoc with our lives.” Complaining makes us miserable.  In Psalm 77:3 David said, “I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed.”

A lady known as an incurable grumbler constantly complained about everything. At last her preacher thought he had found something about which she would be happy, for her farm crop was the finest for miles around.

When he met her, he said with a beaming smile, “You must be very happy Mary. Everyone is saying how healthy your potatoes look this year.”

“True they’re pretty good, but what am I going to do when I need bad ones to feed the pigs.”

And so I challenge you to try to quit complaining for 30 days.  Just try it.  When you feel tempted to complain, instead of filing your complaint, file a praise.  It will change your life.  Philippians 2:13 says:

¹⁴ Do all things without complaining and disputing, ¹⁵ that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

Make Thanksgiving a Habit

The final step in developibg an Attitude of Gratitude is making thanksgiving a habit.  People are creatures of habit.  We like repetition and that is how we learn.  Experts say that if you want to make something a habit, you need to do it 30-40 days in a row.  Then it will become a habit, something you just do without thinking about it.

So, to make thanksgiving a habit, I have a plan.  For the next 30 days each of us have to consciously decide to wake up in the morning and give thanks to God about at least one specific thing that He did for us the prior day or during the night.  Now, if I left it at that, probably most of us would maybe do this for a day or two, but then we would forget.  So, in an effort to ensure that we remember to give thanks every morning, I am going to give you an assignment.

First, find a partner who will do this exercise with you.  Every day, for the next 30 days, you have to do the following:

Think of something specific and different to thank God for.  For example, “Thank you Lord for helping me get an auto when I needed to go to XYZ place yesterday.”  It should not be vague like, “Thank you for my family” or “Thank you for good health”…you can use these once each over the course of the month, but not more than that.  And you should try to come up with something different every day.  Share whatever you are thankful for with your partner and have them share with you.

If we all do this for 30 days, we will develop the habit of starting the day, and hopefully the new year, with an Attitude of Gratitude!

Sometimes we think of Christmas from the perspective of the different characters involved in Christmas.  We think of Mary, the young maiden who was so obedient that she risked her life and future to fulfill God’s plan.  We think of Joseph, he fiancé, who trusted the Lord and accepted Mary despite what his mind was telling him.  We think of the lowly shepherds, who although they were nothing, had the privilege of being the first to hear of the Savior’s birth.  We think of the wisemen who traveled from far away lands just to honor the new born King.

Sometimes we even think of the little baby, sleeping in the manger.

But today, I want to take time to think of Christmas from perhaps the most important perspective of all.  The perspective of the one who is the author and finisher of Christmas…God.

Lets start by reading the account of Christmas from the book of John.

This passage of scripture can be summarized in one single scripture, John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Jesus is the Word.  He was there in the beginning.  He was with God.  He was God.  All things were made through Jesus, and without Jesus, nothing was made.  In Jesus was life, and the life was the light for humanity.  But in the gross darkness of this world, people failed to recognize who He was.

Jesus humbled Himself and came down to earth as a human.  He lived among us, as one of us.  Yet, He was full of grace and truth.

He did not come to condemn people, but to save them.  Those who believe in Him receive salvation.  But, those who reject Him will be condemned because they are rejecting God.

This is Christmas from God’s perspective.  It is about humility, sacrifice, love and His divine plan.

Humility 

First let’s focus on humility.  Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords…yet when He came to earth, he chose to come under such humble and simple circumstances.  He could have been born in a magnificent palace, wrapped in clothes embroidered with gold and silver, laid in a silk lined crib…but instead he chose to be born in a stable, wrapped in rags and laid in a manger.

Why did he choose to have such humble beginnings?

So, Jesus didn’t just come for the rich, happy and prosperous people.  But instead he came for ordinary people like us.  He came for the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives.  He came that we may have life and have it more abundantly. 

Jesus chose to have a humble birth and an ordinary life, so that He could relate to us and we could relate to Him.  They say, don’t judge a man until you have walked 2 miles in his shoes.  Meaning, you can’t really understand or relate to someone unless you have been in their situation.  So, Jesus chose to be like us, so He could better relate to us and we to him.

There was once a man who didn’t believe in God, and he didn’t hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays.  His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments.

One snowy Eve, his wife was taking their children to service in the farm community in which they lived.

They were to talk about Jesus’ birth. She asked him to come, but he refused.

“That story is nonsense!” he said. “Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man?  That’s ridiculous!”

So she and the children left, and he stayed home.

A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump.

Something had hit the window.  He looked out, but couldn’t see more than a few feet.  When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window.

In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn’t go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed.

The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It’s warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm.

So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside.  But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn’t seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them.

The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them, and they moved further away.  He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn’t catch on.

Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn.  Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe.

“Why don’t they follow me?!” he exclaimed.

“Can’t they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?”

He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn’t follow a human “If only I were a goose, then I could save them,” he said out loud.

Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese.

He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn — and one-by-one, the other geese followed it to safety.

He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: “If only I were a goose, then I could save them!” Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. “Why would God want to be like us? That’s ridiculous!”

Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese–blind, lost, perishing.  God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us.

As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought.  Suddenly he understood why Christ had come.  Years of doubt and disbelief vanished with the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer:

“Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!” 

So when we look at Christmas from God’s perspective, the first thing we see is humility.  God humbled Himself for oursake.  I want to ask you one question…are you willing to humble yourself for God’s sake?

Now you may ask me, “What do you mean by that?”  Are you willing to give Him credit for what He has done rather than seeking fame for yourself?  Are you willing to bow down before God, and submit to His will rather than your own?  Are you willing to admit that you need His help and can’t do everything on your own? 

The humble person, when God does a miracle after prayer is not going to make sure to let everyone know, “I prayed, so it happened”…but rather his focus will be on the Lord.  “The Lord is in His grace and might did it.”

The humble person, when they make a mistake or do what the know is against God’s will is not going to make excuses or turn away from God…but rather, he will go before the Lord and apologize, asking the Lord to help him.

The humble person is not going to rely solely on his own wisdom, strength, and hard-work, but rather he will ask the Lord to help him in all things big and small, recognizing that with God nothing is possible.

Sacrifice

The second thing we see when we look at Christmas from God’s perspective is sacrifice.  John 3:16 says that God gave his only begotten Son.  Jesus died so that we may live.

There was once a bridge which spanned a large river. During most of the day the bridge sat with its length running up and down the river paralleled with the banks, allowing ships to pass thru freely on both sides of the bridge. But at certain times each day, a train would come along and the bridge would be turned sideways across the river, allowing a train to cross it. 

A switchman sat in a small shack on one side of the river where he operated the controls to turn the bridge and lock it into place as the train crossed. One evening as the switchman was waiting for the last train of the day to come, he looked off into the distance thru the dimming twilight and caught sight of the train lights. He stepped to the control and waited until the train was within a prescribed distance when he was to turn the bridge. He turned the bridge into position, but, to his horror, he found the locking control did not work. If the bridge was not securely in position it would wobble back and forth at the ends when the train came onto it, causing the train to jump the track and go crashing into the river. This would be a passenger train with many people aboard.

He left the bridge turned across the river, and hurried across the bridge to the other side of the river where there was a lever switch he could hold to operate the lock manually. He would have to hold the lever back firmly as the train crossed. He could hear the rumble of the train now, and he took hold of the lever and leaned backward to apply his weight to it, locking the bridge. He kept applying the pressure to keep the mechanism locked. Many lives depended on this man’s strength.

Then, coming across the bridge from the direction of his control shack, he heard a sound that made his blood run cold. “Daddy, where are you?” His four-year-old son was crossing the bridge to look for him. His first impulse was to cry out to the child, “Run! Run!” But the train was too close; the tiny legs would never make it across the bridge in time. The man almost left his lever to run and snatch up his son and carry him to safety.

But he realized that he could not get back to the lever. Either the people on the train or his little son must die. He took a moment to make his decision. The train sped safely and swiftly on its way, and no one aboard was even aware of the tiny broken body thrown mercilessly into the river by the onrushing train. Nor were they aware of the pitiful figure of the sobbing man, still clinging tightly to the locking lever long after the train had passed.

They did not see him walking home more slowly than he had ever walked: to tell his wife how their son had brutally died.

Now if you comprehend the emotions which went this man’s heart, you can begin to understand the feelings of our Father in Heaven when He sacrificed His Son to bridge the gap between us and eternal life.

As we read earlier, the bible says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  Jesus did not have to let the Roman soldiers arrest Him, he chose to.  Jesus didn’t have to suffer the 39 lashes from the cat of nine tails, he chose to.  Jesus didn’t have to die nailed to a cross, he chose to.  He chose to do all of this for us.  Because he loved us.  He hadn’t even seen us yet, but yet He loved us so much, that He gave His life for us.  Imagine going through all that Jesus went through knowing that you didn’t really have to.  You could stop it whenever you wanted to.  Imagine knowing ahead of time exactly what was going to happen and then allowing it to happen.  I mean that is real love.

And Jesus knew what was going to happen to him before it happened, and how much he was going to suffer.  He knew that the Roman soldiers were going to arrest him and they were going to beat him, and they were going to spit on his face and pull the hairs from his beard.  Jesus knew that the soldiers were going to then whip him 39 times with the cat of nine tails. And Jesus knew that after that, the soldiers would make a crown out of thorns and put it on his head and as they put it on his head, he knew that the thorns would cut into his scalp.  Imagine, we complain about a little splinter, and Jesus had a crown of thorns pushed down on his head.  And Jesus knew that the soldiers would not stop at that, they would force him to carry a heavy wooden cross for a long distance up a hill.  And when he got to the top of the hill, they would takes nails and nail his hands and feet to this cross.  And then they would hang him up to die.  And Jesus knew, that even then the soldiers would not be satisfied, they would take a spear and pierce his side.  Jesus was a real person, he was flesh and blood like all of us, and he knew he would feel all the pain and suffering.  Jesus knew all of this was going to happen to him.  But He willingly gave the ultimate sacrifice…his life…so that we may obtain salvation.  Jesus could have stopped it, the Bible says he could have called out and an army of angels would have come to his rescue, but he didn’t.  He didn’t because he knew that by his dying, that was the only way we, as people could be reconciled to God.  And he knew that he had to take the whipping from the cat of nine tails because in the bible it says “through his stripes we are healed.”  Each of the lashes he suffered was so that we might be healed of our diseases.

After all of this suffering, Jesus died.  But death could not contain Him and 3 days later, He rose up again.  And now all who believe in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life.

Jesus died so that we may live.

So when we look at Christmas from God’s perspective, the second thing we see is sacrifice.  God sacrificed Himself for oursake.  I want to ask you one question…are you willing to sacrifice for God’s sake?

Now you may ask me, “What do you mean by that?”  Are you willing to do His will rather than your own?  Are you willing to set other things aside and make time for Him?  Are you willing to risk embarrassment and alienation to follow Him? 

The sacrificial person will study when God says study, will work when God says work, will stay when God says stay even though his own mind is telling him, “If I put aside my studies, work or just go, I will do great exploits for God.”  Sacrifice is not about doing great things for God, it is about doing God’s will.

The sacrificial person will make time to pray, read his Bible and attend church even when he would rather sleep, there are other more fun things he can be doing or he simply just doesn’t feel like it.

The sacrificial person will tell the truth even if it means he may lose the job or not even get it to begin with.  He will follow and obey God’s commands even when it is not the popular thing to do and will make them stick out in a crowd.

Love

The third thing we see when we look at Christmas from God’s perspective is love.

What is the greatest love possible?  The Bible tells us in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”  And that is exactly what Jesus did.  He laid down His life for us. Even before we knew Him.

It seems that in this rural mountain community there was a school that no teacher was able to handle. When a young man fresh out of college applied for the job, the school board members laughed. But he begged for a chance, and got it.

On the first day of school the new teacher suggested that the students make the rules. He wrote on the chalkboard as the pupils called out: “No stealing. No cheating. No swearing.” Soon they had 10 rules on the board.

“Now, said the teacher, a law is no good unless there’s a penalty attached. What will be the penalty?” “Ten stripes across the back with no coat on,” was the reply. All went well for a few days until Big Tom found that someone had stolen his lunch. An investigation revealed the thief to be Jim, a small 10-year-old boy from a very poor home. When the teacher asked him to take his coat off, the boy was very embarrassed. He had no shirt, and only a string held up his trousers over his bony body.

“Why don’t you wear a shirt, Jim?” the teacher asked. “I have only one shirt, and my mother is washing it today,” the boy explained. “My father died, and we are very poor. For two days we have had no food. That’s why I stole Tom’s lunch. I’m sorry, but I was so hungry.”

Quietly the teacher took off his own coat and shirt.  He bent down and handed Jim the beating stick and said, “Go ahead.”

Jim dropped the stick and put his hand around the teachers neck.  “Teacher, I’ll love you till I die for taking my licking for me!  I’ll love you forever!”

Unfortunately, our response is generally not like Jim.  We do not embrace Jesus.  Instead, we beat him with our lies, with our hatred, with our laziness, with our disobedience.

We have each broken God’s rules, but Jesus took our punishment for us.  Isaiah 53:5 tells us, that He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.

He suffered the death, which was ours, that we might receive the life that was His. With His stripes we are healed. May our response be “I’ll love You forever!”

 Human love is generally a response to the conditions and circumstances around us. We love because someone pleases us or because they’re good looking or because they make us laugh. By contrast, God loves us because that’s the kind of God He is. Period. Nothing in us causes Him to love us.

One of the clearest passages in the New Testament on God’s love is Romans 5:6-10:

 ⁶ For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

There is no reason for God to love us. You are not a naturally lovable person ­ and neither am I. Sin has infected our lives so much that it has distorted even the parts we think are beautiful. Sin “uglyfies” everything it touches.

And so, there is no reason for God to love us, except this: That’s the kind of God He is. He loves us because God is love and He can’t help loving us even when we are His enemies. His love is greater than our sin ­and He loves us in spite of our sin.  God loves us in spite of our unloveliness.  We can count on His love because it doesn’t depend on anything we say or do.

God is love.  have you ever seen those bumper stickers on cars that say, “Love is God?”  They have it backwards.  Love is not God.  We are not to run after love and serve love.  In fact, if you do that, you will find that you may end up loving one person, but you will end up hurting many many more.  Instead, the Bible tells us that God is love.  If we run after God, love will come automatically and this love is all encompaning love. 

So when we look at Christmas from God’s perspective, the third thing we see is love.  Jesus so loved each one of us that He died for us.  I want to ask you one question…are you willing to love God back?

Now you may ask me, “What do you mean by that?”  Remember how we went through the Biblical definition of love?

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸Love never fails.

I Corinthians 13:4-8.

The loving person will be patient with God.  He will wait for God’s timing and not give up on God because the answer to prayer is slow in coming.

The loving person will not be self-seeking with God.  He will not only pray when he needs something.  “God help me get some sales.”  “God I didn’t study, but help me pass my exam.”  “God give me a new cell phone.”  He will also remember God even when he doesn’t need a thing.  “God I just want to say I love you.”

The loving person will always trust in God.  He will not give up on God jus because he doesn’t get what he was asking for.  He will continue to trust that God is in control and knows best.

Divine Plan

All of this, humility, sacrifice and love leads us to the last and perhaps most important part of Christmas from God’s perspective.  And that is His divine plan.  Christmas is about God’s divine plan.  His plan to save the earth.  To reconcile humans back to Him.

In the beginning of time, God created the Heavens and the Earth.  He created the trees and the plants, the birds and the beasts.  He created the sun and the moon.  He created man and woman.

God created man and woman (Adam and Eve) in His image.  He created them as intelligent, living beings with whom He could fellowship.  However, He did not want humans to worship Him out of compulsion, but out of love.  He did not make robots.  He gave humans free will.  He gave man and woman choice. 

In the beginning, God’s creation was without sin.  And it would have remained that way, were it not for man’s choice.

God had given man and woman reign over all that was in the Garden of Eden.  They were allowed to eat and drink, play and rest, and make merry.  The Lord only gave them one rule:  “[O]f the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”  Genesis 2:17.

From the beginning, God set before man a choice of whether to obey Him, love Him and live – or to disobey Him, not love Him and die.  Unfortunately, Adam and Eve, chose to rebel again God and to disobey Him.  They ate that fruit.

All men and women were given the knowledge of good and evil, and thus sin and death entered the Earth.

And there became like a wall between God and man.  A wall of sin.  We all know that it is our sin that keeps us away from God. 

From the time Adam and Eve disobeyed God and fell into sin, God had a plan for the salvation of man.  He had a plan to reconcile His creation back to Himself.  Approximately 2000 years ago, God sent Jesus into this world to fulfill that plan.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16.

The Bible clearly states that it takes blood to pay for sin.  “[W]ithout shedding of blood there is no remission.” Hebrews 9:22.  Both Biblically and historically we can see that our ancestors sacrificed animals in order to seek atonement for their sins.  Every lamb, bullock, heifer, goat, turtle dove and pigeon offered in the Old Testament times on the altar pictured this: that man, a guilty sinner, must have some innocent one to shed his blood to pay for one man’s sins.

Holding true to this law requiring the shedding of blood for the remission of sins, the Father sent Jesus into this world as a sacrificial lamb.  See John 1:29.  Jesus was sinless.  He was without fault.  There was no “reason” for Him to be nailed to the cross.  Yet, He allowed Himself to be hung on the cross, giving His life for the atonement of the sins of this world.  He humbled Himself and became the sacrificial lamb, for the remission of the sins of those who will believe in Him.  He nailed our sins to the cross “by the sacrifice of Himself.”

Some say one can only attain Heaven by following a certain set of rules, dos and don’ts.  Others say one can only be saved if he or she cancels out his or her sins by good works.  But the Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”  Acts 16:31.

What does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?  It means believing that He came to this earth, He died for our sins, He rose to life again, and He is alive.  It means believing that Jesus is the one and only God.  But, you are not just to believe the truth about Jesus; you are to believe on Him, that is, depend upon Him, risk Him, trust Him; and when you do, you are saved.

I have asked you a lot of questions today, but the final question I want to ask you is: This Christmas are you ready to accept God’s divine plan into your life?  Are you ready to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?