This is truly a radical idea…that I can move ahead without sinning!  How?  How is this possible?  I thought I was pretty much doomed to sin, at least until I get to heaven.

Last week we read:

1 John 1:7-10

⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all ^[b] sin.

    ⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

John appears, to say that walking in the Light guarantees that you won’t lose your footing and thus won’t sin.  Is it really that easy?  Or is walking in the Light really that difficult?  Either way I don’t know anyone who doesn’t sin.

I wonder if it might help us to look at one who tried to do something else quite miraculous by simply walking in the Light of Jesus.

Matthew 14:22-36

  ²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴ but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

    ²⁵ Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.

    ²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

    ²⁸ "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

    ²⁹ "Come," he said.

    Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

    ³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

    ³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

    ³⁴ When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. ³⁵ And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him ³⁶ and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

Peter does something amazing.  He walks on water!  He does this by simply trusting that Jesus’ call will allow him to do the impossible.  He steps out of the boat and finds that as he stays focused on Jesus he can walk on water!  Notice that he is not paying attention to where he is placing his feet.  Instead, his eyes are firmly fixed on Jesus. 

Maybe the key is not watching your feet, rather it is watching Jesus.  It is stepping into his light regardless of where one’s feet fall.  Peter’s miracle continues until he loses his focus on Jesus and lets it fall on the evil surrounding him.  

It is important to note that this storm is no normal storm.

Matthew notes that the wind that distracted Peter is not just a big wind, but is ‘strong’.

Matt 14:30

³⁰ But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”[1]  (NRSV)

This ‘strong’ wind is the same word we find Jesus use a few chapters before to identify the evil spirits that he wars against.  (see Jesus’ reference to the ‘strong man’ below)

Matt 12:22-30

  ²² Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. ²³ All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"

    ²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."

    ²⁵ Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶ If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

    ²⁹ "Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions without first tying up the strong man? Then his house can be plundered.

    ³⁰ "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

What if Peter wasn’t simply distracted by a big gust of wind, but he saw the spiritual forces at work behind the storm?  What if he had a glimpse into the spiritual world and saw the face of a demon?  Maybe this helps us understand his fear a little better.

Peter wasn’t afraid of the storm.  He was a fisherman.  He had seen storms before.  He had probably faced storms that threatened to not only destroy his boat but also take his life.  The last time he was in a place of great fear in a storm, it too was not simply a squall, but something that was evil and spiritual in nature.

Matt 8:23-27

²³ Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. ²⁴ Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"

    ²⁶ He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

    ²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"

Jesus’ ‘rebuke’ of the winds and waves is spiritual.  The word he uses to shut this evil down is the same word he uses when he rebukes Peter (Mark 8:33), casts out a demon (Mark 9:25), and heals a sick girl (Luke 4:39).  In other words, there is much more going on than what we normally see.

Whether it is something massive and evil that causes us to lose our focus or something foolish and little that trips us up, we end up in the same place, sinking into darkness.  Sin is darkness.  It envelopes, drowns, and pulls us under.  And the reality is, that it is never far away.

Like the sailors in a boat, the dark waters of sin are close and deadly.  Sometimes we see the storms approaching and sometimes they come without warning.  Either way that evil threatens to choke the life out of us.  We know this, because we have fallen into those dark waters many times before.  And some of us may find struggling to get to the surface even now.

But the waters do not win!  If we do sin, if we fall even for the 1,000^th time into the same trap, Jesus is there to pull us free!

1 John 1:1b-2

But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

John tells us that Jesus is our advocate.  He pleads for us.  He fights for us.  He reaches down into the depths to rescue us.  And he silences the storms.  He is able to do this because he is the atoning sacrifice for all.  In other words, he has already been there.  He has died to the cold deadly waters.  He has taken all of our sin, plunged to the deepest, darkest depths and left them there.  So that we never have to go there.  And even if we do, he rescues us, because the water no longer has claim on our lives.