Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, March 21, 2009
I have spent last two weeks laying out for you what I believe is God’s vision for our church, Cornerstone Mission Church. Because God has his vision for our church, our aim is not about ceasing to be a church. Rather, our aim is to make some radical changes in order to faithfully live out God’s vision for our church.
Let me take little bit of time and revisit the vision for CMC that I laid out for you last two weeks. From the message about the supremacy of the gospel over cultures, I see us shaping CMC where we can “become all things to all men” so that “by all possible means… save some” “for the sake of the gospel” according to 1 Corinthians 9:19-27. From this, I can see us .
· Within the next year, we envision each of CMC members making meaningful friendship with at least one non-Christian, sharing the gospel to this person, and inviting the non-Christian friend to our church.
· Within the next year, We envision CMC equipping members to share the gospel through evangelism training.
· We envision CMC not as an ethnic church, but as a church that engages broader network of friends, co-workers, colleagues, neighbors around us.
· We envision CMC to be a church where we can proudly invite anyone to witness the power and the reality of the gospel.
From the message about the supremacy of the gospel that redefines family, I see our church being shaped and strengthened by the spiritual family bond rather than the biological bonds. (Mark 3:31-35)
· We envision CMC to be a church where people of different ethnicity or race, singles or nuclear families can belong together in a spiritual family.
· We envision CMC to realize the spiritual family bond by doing God’s will together.
The supremacy of the gospel envisions risk takers for the gospel
And, today, I am going to cast another vision for CMC. The supremacy of the gospel means evangelism beyond ethnic, racial, class boundaries and creating spiritual family. The supremacy of the gospel also means that CMC becomes church of risk takers. Imagine you and I belonging to church culture where taking risks for the sake of the gospel is not only acceptable but encouraged and expected. Imagine risk takers thinking outside of box, outside of what’s seems possible, in order to live out their faith courageously and adventurously and fearlessly.
Fear factors
Before we see how the supremacy of the gospel calls for risk takers for the gospel, I want us to consider the fear factor.
Taking risk requires overcoming fear, doesn’t it?
In today’s passage, Matthew 14:22-33, Peter had to deal with fear before he could take the risk of walking on the water towards Jesus. As a fisher man, Peter knew better than anyone what could happen out in the open water during powerful storms.
Right before this passage, Jesus cared and fed miraculously well over ten thousand hungry men, women and children out of five loaves of bread and two fish. What do you think the disciples thought of Jesus at this point having witnessed and tasted this utter impossible being carried out by Jesus? I bet they were bewildered, awestruck, surprised; perhaps, they felt healthy dose of respect and reverence toward Jesus. They experienced the supremacy of the gospel. Peter was touched by the supremacy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Without any break from the story of Jesus’ miracle of feeding, we see him in Matthew 14:22 instructing the disciples to immediately… get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side” probably to find a shelter to spend the night in Galilee. Jesus stayed behind to disperse the crowd to make their ways to each of their homes.
In verse 23, we see Jesus going up on a mountainside to pray and by evening time, he was alone. While Jesus was alone praying, we see the disciples struggling to cross the Sea of Galilee in their boat. They were stuck in the middle (Mark 6:19) unable to make any more progress.
Jesus walked miles on the water to where the disciples were in their boat during the fourth watch of the night. That’s between 3 – 6 am.
It says in verse 26, the disciples were terrified seeing Jesus walking on the lake. In fear, they mistakenly believed that this unbelievable sight of man walking on the water was a sight of a ghost. I am sure we would have done the same if we saw someone walking on the water. Nevertheless, it is not pretty trying to image twelve grown men crying out in fear. Not a manly sight at all, right?
I want to pause here and think about fear factor in life. Until Jesus told them who he was and encouraged them, the disciples were gripped with fear. They feared that their boat crumble by the pounding waves. They feared they were going to drown to death. And, they feared the ghostly figure walking on the water.
What fears are you dealing with as I encourage you to embrace God’s vision for CMC which calls us to the path of radical changes?
· Do you fear of making wrong mistake, choosing the wrong path for our church?
· Do you fear of what KCUMC congregation might think of us, perhaps many of your parents? Do you fear for the relationship breakups and hurts?
· Do you fear of unknown as to where we will gather to worship or how we are going to afford financially?
· Do you fear leaving the boat that you’ve been dependant on for long time?
I am sure you can add your own fear to these fears. Without clear direction, clear vision from God, we had been paralyzed to make any meaningful decision. I too was paralyzed for many months without clear vision for our church. Without the vision for CMC, I seriously thought that merging with KCUMC and become a part of Korean church was the right solution.
But, I think differently now. I see it differently because I’ve been able to dream again for the future of CMC. In addition to envision the church that pushes for the supremacy of the gospel to go beyond the ethnic, racial, class boundaries and for the supremacy of the gospel that creates the new spiritual family, now I envision our church of risk takers overcoming fears…
Risk takers overcome fears…
Consider that it was not Peter who first envisioned Jesus walking on the water. He and the rest of the disciples were not able to see clearly Jesus because of their fears and misconception. Although they witnessed Jesus performing amazing miracle of feeding over ten thousand people, they didn’t think it was possible for Jesus to walk on the water.
It was not Peter or any other disciples, but Jesus himself who revealed himself to them. “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (verse 27). This was the defining moment for the disciples, especially for Peter. Until this moment, they didn’t have the vision of Jesus. All they had was fear of drowning and perishing helplessly; their fear of death was heightened by what they thought as a ghost. But, it all changed when Jesus revealed himself to them.
As soon as Jesus said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” Peter responded in verse 29, “Lord, if it’s you… tell me to come to you on the water.” And, Jesus replied, “Come.” And, we see Peter getting down out of the boat and started walking on the water and coming toward Jesus.
Do you see what’s happening here? Peter went from being paralyzed by fears to boldly talking the biggest risk thus far in his life. Peter changed because he heard Jesus speaking to him, he saw Jesus standing on the water, and he heard Jesus calling him to take the risk. His voice, his vision, his calling is how Peter overcame the fears. That’s how he took his first steps.
I believe that is what’s happening to us as church. You and I were stuck in the crazy storm; we were confused and weren’t able to see clearly where we need to go. But, I believe now that he has been speaking his words of affirmation to us. “Take courage, CMC! Don’t be afraid.” In a way I did the same thing that Peter did. I asked Jesus to show me and show us the vision for our church. I asked Jesus to call us out with his vision to himself. That is how Jesus has shaped the vision I see for CMC; his vision to build church where the supremacy of the gospel reaches out beyond the boundaries of ethnicity, race and class, the supremacy of the gospel that transcends biological family bond to create far stronger and eternal spiritual family bond forged by his blood. That’s what I see.
As the Lord casts his vision for CMC, I believe it is now for us to become the risk takers for the supremacy of the gospel; it is time to get down out of the boat and take our first steps on the water. It is time to walk on the water.
The risk takers are covered by the grace of Jesus
As with anything taking risk assumes even failures as Peter did. Peter took those steps out on the water fixing his sight firmly on Jesus who stood on the water. But, he started sinking as soon as he saw wind and was afraid. The fear of death came back when he took his eyes of Jesus. He began to fail when he took his eyes of the vision.
But, this failure was only momentary lapse. Because Peter took the risk and walked out of the boat on to the water, what we see is Jesus covering Peter with his grace. Peter didn’t sink into death as he feared because Jesus was right there to catch him. Verse 32 says that the wind didn’t die down until Jesus and Peter climbed into the boat. This means Peter after being pulled out of water began to walk again along side of Jesus.
Taking risks has its cost. There is the cost of having to face fear when we lose our focus on the supremacy of the gospel. When as church we take the risk for the supremacy of the gospel, God’s vision for our church, things will not get easier. Remaining in the boat is infinitely easier than to walk on the water. But, the cost of taking risk will be rewarded because Jesus takes care of those who take risk for his gospel. He will be right there for us along the way even when we get distracted from his vision and start to sink. Jesus will be right there to pick us up and we will walk on the water with him again.
The risk takers worship
Look at verse 33. It says those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Because Peter took the risk, he walked on the water with Jesus; this took them to the new level of worship and adoration of Jesus.
I believe that when we take risk for the supremacy of the gospel, we are going to experience whole new level of worship. To worship in Greek means literally to prostrate oneself before God. This new level of worship, deeper allegiance to Christ will be the reward when we take risk for the supremacy of the gospel.
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