Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Back in 1959 Ford Motor Company admitted they made a big mistake in making the Edsel.

It cost 250 million to bring it to market, and they lost 200 million during the 2 and 1/2 years they produced it.

It was the number one lemon in the history of the U. S. auto industry.

But smart owners turned their lemons into lemonade.

They formed an Edsel owners club in all 50 states; they published a quality magazine and had annual conventions, and they made their Edsels collectors cars worth much more than they were new.

The point is, mistakes can be costly, but they can also be profitable.

The whole idea involved in Rom.

8:28 that God works in all things for the good of those who love him is this very point.

God will even work with us in our mistakes to make them profitable and learning experiences.

This means we do not need to fear failure so much that we refuse to take a chance and do what is of some risk.

Our very failure could be the stepping stone to success.

This is not some kind of mystical religious principle, but it is the wisdom of very practical minded men.

Years ago a writer interviewed IBM president Thomas J. Wadson, and this is what he said:

"It's not exactly my line," Watson said, "But would you like me

to give you a formula for writing success?

It's quite simple, really.

Double your rate of failure."

"You're making a common mistake.

You're thinking of failure as the

enemy of success.

But it isn't at all.

Failure is a teacher-a harsh one

perhaps, but the best.

You say you have a desk full of rejected

manuscripts?

That's great!

Everyone of those manuscripts was re-

jected for a reason.

Have you pulled them to pieces looking for that

reason?

"You can be discouraged by failure-or you can learn from it.

So go

ahead and make mistakes.

Make all you can.

Because, remember

that's where you'll find success.

On the far side of failure."

There are numerous illustrations of this in the secular world, and there are volumes that deal with the subject.

But the best illustration of this in the New Testament is the life of Peter.

We have more recorded mistakes and blunders of Peter than all the rest of the 12 put together.

He was the master of mistakes, and yet Jesus chose him to be the leader of the 12.

There is no list of the Apostles where Peter is not first.

Is there any connection between all of his mistakes and his being the number one man in leadership?

Yes there is, and the mistake we want to examine is a prime example.

Peter was the only man Jesus ever rebuked for lacking the faith needed to stay on top of water.

Why would Jesus make this man he had to rebuke more than all the others the leader of the others?

He did so because Peter was the only one of the 12 willing to take the chance.

Yes, he sank while all the rest were safely in the boat.

But that is because he was the only one willing to take the chance of leaping out of the boat.

The risk taker fails more because they do more.

You can criticize Peter and be justified in doing so, for Jesus rebuked him for his little faith that led him to doubt and then sink.

Peter did fail here, and needed to be rescued, but look at the whole picture.

The only reason Peter failed is because he took a chance, and he was the only one who did.

We focus on his failure and neglect the fact that Peter was the only man besides Jesus whoever succeeded in walking on water.

His faith weakened in the storm, but the text tells us clearly in verse 29, "Then Peter got down out of the boat and walked on the water to Jesus."

Peter was the greatest success in the world at walking on water.

That took tremendous faith.

But what we see here is that faith can be very flimsy, and confidence can collapse very rapidly in a fearful situation.

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, said at a press conference in July of 1970, "I particularly remember the elation of finding out that we indeed weren't going to sink into the surface, and we could continue with all the other planned activities."

These were among the coolest men on the planet, and yet they had their fears as they set foot on the moon.

How much more so for Peter who set foot on the lake where there was no mystery about it?

He knew that sinking in water was inevitable.

Had the water been as still and calm as glass it still would have been a fearful step out of that boat.

But in a raging storm it would seem to be an act of folly to even attempt it.

But Peter risked doing the impossible with Jesus, and he did it.

Peter was rebuked, for Jesus wanted him to go all the way and experience total victory by his faith, but he failed and began to sink.

Jesus was not disgusted with Peter.

Yes, he got a F in completion, but he got an A for effort.

He was the only one who took the test.

The rest sat like bumps on a log, and they did not fail, but they also never had a chance to succeed.

Peter did what none of the others ever did, he walked on water.

Jesus chose him to be the leader because he was willing to take a chance.

His very failure was a mark in his favor, for only those who try can fail.

We don't want to give a false impression that the rest of the 12 were of no value because they did not rise up and leap over the side of the boat.

They are no less chosen of Christ, but they are less exalted.

Peter is made number one because he had a courage that the others lacked.

Not all Christians are risk takers, and it is not sinful that they are not.

Jesus did not need 12 men leaping into the lake.

He only needed one risk taker of that degree, for he only needed one head man.

We are not trying to put anybody down, but only striving to see what it was about Peter that made him the one Jesus chose to be the leader of the 12.

What we see is that Peter was more willing to fail and take chances for Christ.

His failures were not good, but they represent a quality of character that Jesus was looking for in a leader.

He was ready to risk losing for the sake of winning.

We can't all be Peter, just as none of the other disciples could be.

They were often chicken compared to him.

But all Christians can learn from Peter's example to move in the direction of boldness and risk taking.

In one sense this whole incident was much ado about nothing.

Who cares about walking on water?

It is one of the most useless miracles in all the Bible.

Jesus never did it again, and nobody else was ever challenged to do it again.

It healed nobody and helped nobody.

In terms of benefit, you can place this miracles on the bottom of the pile.

Who could feel the loss if it never would have happened?

Obviously a miracle of so little worth must have great value in terms of education.

This whole scene was deliberately set up by Jesus to teach a lesson.

He sent them out into the lake in a boat alone.

This time he was not going to be sleeping in the boat when the storm hit.

This was a whole new lesson for them to see how they would cope alone, and how their faith would respond with him absent.

He was not going to be at their side in the flesh forever, and they needed to develop a faith that went beyond sight.