March 11, 2015

“And other seed fell on good ground and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” Mark 4:1 – 20

“What is good ground? How do you get good ground? It would take a long time to explain that, but let me try with an example from the New Testament itself, and remind you of the story of Jesus walking on the sea. The disciples there in the boat had rowed all night and were tired. Jesus came to them early in the morning. And Peter, when he had found that it was Jesus, said to him, “Master, bid me jump in the sea and come to you over the water.” Jesus said, “Jump”. And the moment Peter jumped into the sea Peter was faced by two alternatives, either to look at Jesus or to drown. He had no other alternative. As long as you stay inside the ship, you have three alternatives: one is to look at Jesus; the other, possible shipwreck; but probably, you can stay in that ship for a long, long time. And what most of us are trying to do is to stay inside a secure ship and attempt faith in Jesus Christ. That’s quite impossible. Don’t deceive yourselves into believing that you have faith in Jesus Christ unless you know the experience of having been at a place where you were faced only by two alternatives: death or faith. If you’ve never been at that place, then you still don’t know what faith is. Don’t deceive yourself into believing that you do. And we’ve never gotten to that first place; we’ve never given that primary and preliminary obedience of jumping into the sea.

Jesus said, “Jump”. And when he jumped, he found faith. Jesus is demanding that you should get out of whatever boat of security you have; Jesus is demanding that you should jump into the sea and face those two alternatives, death or faith. What that form is, I don’t know, but you do. You do. But until you have rendered that preliminary obedience…you are not good ground; the field has not been plowed.” Daniel T. Niles (1908 – 1970) “For All The Saints” volume III

So, what do you think of Daniel Niles’ comment? Can you be good soil without putting yourself into the situation where it is “do or die”? I agree with him that this story of Peter walking on the water is a great example of expressing ultimate faith. But this story has alternatives no matter what Peter decides to do. First, sure enough, Peter had two alternatives: stay in the boat or jump. Once Peter jumped out of the boat, his alternatives diminished significantly: drown or look at Jesus. Staying in the boat gave him three alternatives: watch Jesus continue to walk on the water; going down with a sinking ship; or continuing to sail in a boat in a storm and ending wherever the winds take him. If he stayed in the boat would he be remembered as the “other doubting disciple”? If he jumped without asking Jesus, would he be another person Jesus raised from the dead?

It is true that we would rather stay inside the first secure ship that we can build, and make it look nice, and give it air conditioning, and heat, and a nice bathroom, make it as indestructible as possible, etc. And, yes, my friends, we can do great ministry from the “Titanic”. But, as we all know, there is no “Unsinkable” ship that will protect us from every possibility, every outcome, every possible situation in this world that looks to sink us. ultimately, we will all reach a point where we either leave the protection of the boat, or we will be thrown overboard. One is our choice, one is left to fate. If I take every opportunity that comes to me to leave the protection and safety of my “faith boat” and put my trust in G*d, then when the other moments happen, where I am thrown overboard by life, I will be able to keep my eyes on Jesus – and trust – and believe rather than sink.

Pastor Dave