If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat

By John Ortberg

You're one step away from the adventure of your life. John Ortberg invites you to consider the incredible potential that awaits you outside your comfort zone.

Deep within you lies the same faith and longing that sent Peter walking across the wind-swept Sea of Galilee toward Jesus. In what ways is the Lord telling you, as he did Peter, "Come"?

Out on the risky waters of faith, Jesus is waiting to meet you in ways that will change you forever, deepening your character and your trust in God. The experience is terrifying. It's thrilling beyond belief. It's everything you'd expect of someone worthy to be called Lord.

The choice is yours to know him as only a water-walker can, aligning yourself with God's purpose for your life in the process. There's just one requirement: If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat.

In this Christianity Today Award-winning read, bestselling author John Ortberg pushes you to take the last step that separates you from the adventure of your life. And, as a result, you will learn to:

• Recognize God's presence
• Discern between faith and foolishness
• Not only expect problems, but field them when they come
• Reorient your thoughts about failure and see it as an opportunity to grow
• Wait on the Lord
• And, ultimately, connect more deeply with God

Features discussion questions at the end of each chapter to enhance your reflection and spiritual growth. Also perfect for small group discussion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 9, 2008
• ISBN: 9780310296065

John Ortberg

John Ortberg is teaching pastor of Menlo Church and author of many books, including God Is Closer Than You Think.

Book preview

Preface

I want to invite you to go for a walk.

The Bible is, among other things, a list of unforgettable walks. The first one was taken by God himself, who, we are told, used to walk in the garden in the cool of the day. But as a general rule, God asked people to walk with him.

There was the hard walk that Abraham took with his son Isaac on the road to Moriah. There was the liberating walk Moses and the Israelites took through the path that was normally occupied by the Red Sea, and the frustrating walk that took them on the roundabout way of the desert for forty years. There was Joshua’s triumphant walk around Jericho, the disciples’ illuminating walk to Emmaus, Paul’s interrupted walk to Damascus. There was the walk so sad and holy that it received its own name: the walk from the Praetorium to Golgotha called the Via Dolorosa—the way of great sorrow.

But perhaps the most unforgettable walk of all was taken by Peter the day he got out of a boat and walked on the water. It is unforgettable not so much because of where he was walking as what he was walking on and who he was walking with. I think that when Peter went treading on the waves he was experiencing walking at its finest.

In this book, let Peter’s walk stand as an invitation to everyone who, like him, wants to step out in faith, who wants to experience something more of the power and presence of God. Let water-walking be a picture of doing with God’s help what I could never do on my own. How does such a thing come about? There is a consistent pattern in Scripture of what happens in a life that God wants to use and improve:

—There is always a call. God asks an ordinary person to engage in an act of extraordinary trust, that of getting out of the boat.

—There is always fear. God has an inextinguishable habit of asking people to do things that are scary to them. It may be a fear of inadequacy (I am slow of speech and slow of tongue, Moses said.) It may be a fear of failure (The land we explored devours those who live in it, cried the spies sent out to the Promised Land). It may even be a fear of God (For I knew you were a hard man, seeking to reap where you did not sow, claimed the servant in Jesus’ parable). But one way or another, there will be fear.

—There is always reassurance. God promises his presence (The Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior! an angel assures Gideon who had certainly never been addressed by that title before). God also promises to give whatever gifts are needed to fulfill his assignment (I will help you to speak, and teach you what to say he tells a stuttering Moses).

—There is always a decision. Sometimes, as with Moses and Gideon, people say yes to God’s call. Sometimes, as with the ten frightened spies or the rich young ruler who spoke with Jesus, they say no. But always people must decide.

—There is always a changed life. Those who say yes to God’s call don’t walk the walk perfectly—not by a long shot. But because they say yes to God, they learn and grow even from their failures. And they become part of his actions to redeem the world.

Those who say no are changed too. They become a little harder, a little more resistant to his calling, a little more likely to say no the next time. Whatever the decision, it always changes a life—and it changes the world that little life touches.

I believe that this pattern from Scripture continues today. I believe that there is some aspect of your life in which God is calling you to walk with and to him, and that when we say yes to his calling, it sets in motion a divine dynamic far beyond merely human power. Maybe it has to do with your work or a relational risk or a gift you could develop or resources you could give. Probably it will involve facing your deepest fear. Certainly it will go to the core of who you are and what you do.

So, together in this book we are going to learn the skills essential to water-walking: discerning God’s call, transcending fear, risking faith, managing failure, trusting God. My hope is that you don’t simply read this book, but that it prompts you to say yes to God.

So I want to invite you to go for a walk. On the water.

Just remember one thing: If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat.

CHAPTER 1

On Water-Walking

It’s not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . . who, at best, knows in the end the triumph of great achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. So that his place will never be with those cold timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt¹

Some years ago my wife arranged for us to ride in a hot-air balloon as a birthday gift. We went to the field where the balloons ascended and got into a little basket with one other couple. We introduced ourselves and swapped vocational information. Then our pilot began the ascent. The day had just dawned—clear, crisp, cloudless. We could see the entire Canejo Valley, from craggy canyons to the Pacific Ocean. It was scenic, inspiring, and majestic.

But I also experienced one emotion I had not anticipated. Want to guess?

Fear.

I had always thought those baskets went about chest high, but this one only came up to our knees. One good lurch would be enough to throw someone over the side. So I held on with grim determination and white knuckles.

I looked over at my wife, who does not care for heights at all, and relaxed a bit, knowing there was someone in the basket more tense than I was. I could tell, because she would not move—at all. During part of our flight there was a horse ranch on the ground directly behind her. I pointed it out because she loves horses, and, without turning around or even pivoting her head, she simply rolled her eyes back as far as she could and said, Yes, it’s beautiful.

About this time I decided I’d like to get to know the kid who was flying this balloon. I realized that I could try to psyche myself up into believing everything would be fine, but the truth was we had placed our lives and destinies in the hands of the pilot. Everything depended on his character and competence.

I asked him what he did for a living and how he got started flying hot-air balloons. I was hoping for his former job to be one full of responsibilities—a neurosurgeon, perhaps, an astronaut who missed going up into space.

I knew we were in trouble when his response to me began, Dude, it’s like this. . . .

He did not even have a job! He mostly surfed.

He said the reason he got started flying hot-air balloons was that he had been driving around in his pickup when he’d had too much to drink, crashed the truck, and badly injured his brother. His brother still couldn’t get around too well, so watching hot-air balloons gave him something to do.

By the way, he added, if things get a little choppy on the way down, don’t be surprised. I’ve never flown this particular balloon before, and I’m not sure how it’s going to handle the descent.

My wife looked over at me and said, You mean to tell me we are a thousand feet up in the air with an unemployed surfer who started flying hot-air balloons because he got drunk, crashed a pickup, injured his brother, and has never been in this one before and doesn’t know how to bring it down?

Then the wife of the other couple looked at me and spoke—the only words either of them were to utter throughout the entire flight.

You’re a pastor. Do something religious.

So I took an offering.

The great question at a moment like that is, Can I trust the pilot?

I could try telling myself that everything would turn out okay. Facing the flight with a positive attitude would certainly make it a more pleasant journey. But the journey would be over soon. And the real issue concerned the dude who was flying this thing. Were his character and competence such that I could confidently place my destiny in his hands?

Or, was it time to do something religious?

Every day you and I take another leg of our journey in this giant balloon that’s whirling around a vast universe. We only get one trip. I long to take it with an enormous spirit of adventure and risk—and I’ll bet you do, too.

But it’s a pretty uncertain ride sometimes. I wish the walls to my basket went up a little higher. I wish the balloon was a little thicker. I wonder how my little ride will end up. I’m not sure how it will handle on the way down.

I can try to psyche myself up for taking chances and believing everything will turn out okay. But the real question is, Is there somebody piloting this thing? And are his character and competence such that he can be trusted? Because if they’re not, I don’t want to take a chance. My story, like every human story, is, at least in part, the struggle between faith and fear.

Because of this, I have found myself drawn for many years to the story of Peter getting out of the boat and walking on the water with Christ. It is one of the greatest pictures of extreme discipleship in Scripture. In the following chapters we will take a close look at each detail of this story for what it teaches us about water-walking. But for the rest of this chapter, let’s get an aerial overview. What goes into the making of a water-walker?

Water-Walkers Recognize God’s Presence

Peter and his friends got into a little boat one afternoon to cross the Sea of Galilee. Jesus wanted to be alone, so they were boating without him. Peter didn’t mind—he’d been on boats his whole life. He liked them.

But this time a storm blew in. Not a minor squall, either. The gospel of Matthew says the boat was tormented by the waves². It was so violent that the only thing the disciples could do was to keep the boat upright. They wished the sides were a little higher and the wood a little thicker. By 3:00 A.M. I would imagine the disciples weren’t worried about making it to the other side—they just wanted to stay alive.

Then one of the disciples noticed a shadow moving toward them on the water. As it got closer, it became apparent that it was the figure of a human being—walking on the water.

Take a moment to let that image sink in. The disciples were in distress, and the very person who was able to help them was approaching them. Only he wasn’t in the boat and the disciples didn’t recognize him. Amazingly enough, being boatless didn’t seem to slow Jesus down at all.

But the disciples were convinced he was a ghost, so they were terrified and cried out in fear. In hindsight, we may wonder how they could have failed to know it was Jesus. Who else would it be? But Matthew wants us to know that sometimes it takes eyes of faith to recognize when Jesus is around. Often in the middle of the storm, tormented by waves of disappointment and doubt, we are no better at recognizing his presence than they were.

Let’s probe deeper for a moment. What was Jesus up to, walking around on the lake at three o’clock in the morning?

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What was Jesus up to, walking around on the lake at three o’clock in the morning?

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David Garland³ finds a clue in Mark’s version of this story. Mark tells us that Jesus intended to pass them by⁴ on the water, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought it was a ghost. Why did Jesus want to pass them by? Did he decide to race them? Did he want to impress them with a really neat trick?

Garland points out that the verb parerchomai (to pass by) is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament as a technical term to refer to a theophany—those defining moments when God made striking and temporary appearances in the earthly realm to a select individual or group for the purpose of communicating a message.

God put Moses in a cleft in a rock so Moses could see "‘while my glory passes by⁵.’ . . . The LORD passed before him."

God told Elijah to stand on the mountain "for the LORD is about to pass by⁶."

There is a pattern to these stories. In each case God had to get people’s attention—through a burning bush, or wind and fire, or walking on the water. With each person God was going to call them to do something extraordinary. In each situation the person that God called felt afraid. But every time that people said yes to their calling, they experienced the power of God in their lives.

So when Jesus came to the disciples on the water intending to pass them by, he was not just doing a neat magic trick. He was revealing his divine presence and power. Only God can do such a thing: "He alone . . . treads⁷ on the waves of the sea."

It is interesting that the disciples entered the boat in the first place at Jesus’ command. They would have to learn—as do we—that obedience is no guarantee of being spared adversity. But now that the storm had their full attention, Jesus decided it was time the disciples got to know a little bit more about the guy who was piloting this thing. It’s like this, dudes, he reassured them. You can trust me. You know my character and my competence. You can safely place your destiny in my hand. Take courage. It’s me.

They didn’t fully grasp it yet, but God was visiting them in the water-walking flesh.

Matthew wants his readers to know that Jesus often comes when least expected—3:00 A.M., in the middle of a storm. Dale Bruner⁸ notes that, according to the Holy Scriptures, human extremity is the frequent meeting place with God. Those divinely appointed defining moments will come to you and me. He still asks his followers to do extraordinary things. And if you’re not looking for him, you just might miss him.

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If you’re not looking for him, you just might miss him.

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Twelve disciples sat in the boat, and we don’t know how eleven of them responded to that voice. Perhaps with confusion, wonder, disbelief, or a little bit of each.

But one of them, Peter, was about to become a water-walker. He recognized that God was present—even in the most unlikely place. He realized that this was an extraordinary opportunity for spiritual adventure and growth. So he got an idea.

He decided to do something religious.

Water-Walkers Discern Between Faith and Foolishness

Peter blurted out to the water-walker, "If it is you, command me⁹ to come to you on the water." Why does Matthew include this detail? Why doesn’t Peter just plunge into the water? I think it’s for a very important reason. This is not just a story about risk-taking; it is primarily a story about obedience. That means I will have to discern between an authentic call from God and what might simply be a foolish impulse on my part. Courage alone is not enough; it must be accompanied by wisdom and discernment.

Matthew is not glorifying risk-taking for its own sake. Jesus is not looking for bungee jumping, hang-gliding, day-trading, tornado-chasing Pinto drivers. Water-walking is not something Peter does for recreational purposes. This is not a story about extreme sports. It’s about extreme discipleship. This means that before Peter gets out of the boat, he had better make sure Jesus thinks it’s a good idea. So he asks for clarity, If it is you, command me. . . .

And in the darkness, I think Jesus smiled. Maybe he laughed. Because one person in the boat got it. Peter had some inkling of what it is that the Master is doing. Not only that, Peter had enough faith to believe that he too could share the adventure. He decided he wanted to be part of history’s original water-walk. Command me.

Water-Walkers Get Out of the Boat

Before we go any further, I want you to put yourself in the story. Picture in your mind how violent the storm must have been if it was strong enough to keep seasoned professionals struggling just to avoid being capsized. Imagine the size of the waves, the strength of the wind, the darkness of this night—and no Dramamine! These were the conditions under which Peter was going to get out of the boat.

It would be tough enough to try to walk on the water when the water is calm, the sun is bright, and the air is still. Imagine trying to do it when the waves are crashing, the wind is at gale force, and it’s three o’clock in the morning—and you’re terrified.

Put yourself in Peter’s place for a moment. You have a sudden insight into what Jesus is doing—the Lord is passing by. He’s inviting you to go on the adventure of your life. But at the same time, you’re scared to death. What would you choose—the water or the boat?

The boat is safe, secure, and comfortable.

On the other hand, the water is rough. The waves are high. The wind is strong. There’s a storm out there. And if you get out of the boat—whatever your boat might happen to be—there’s a good chance you might sink.

But if you don’t get out of the boat, there’s a guaranteed certainty that you will never walk on the water. This is an immutable law of nature.

If you want to walk on the water, you’ve got to get out of the boat.

I believe there is something—Someone—inside us who tells us there is more to life than sitting in the boat. You were made for something more than merely avoiding failure. There is something inside you that wants to walk on the water—to leave the comfort of routine existence and abandon yourself to the high adventure of following God.

So let me ask you a very important question: What’s your boat?

Your boat is whatever represents safety and security to you apart from God himself. Your boat is whatever you are tempted to put your trust in, especially when life gets a little stormy. Your boat is whatever keeps you so comfortable that you don’t want to give it up even if it’s keeping you from joining Jesus on the waves. Your boat is whatever pulls you away from the high adventure of extreme discipleship.

Want to know what your boat is? Your fear will tell you. Just ask yourself this: What is it that most produces fear in me—especially when I think of leaving it behind and stepping out in faith?

For David, it is his vocation. He has been a builder for thirty-five years; he is in his late fifties now. But he has been gnawed his whole life by a sense that God was calling him into church ministry. He has quieted his conscience by giving away a lot of money and doing many good things, but he can’t shake off the haunting fear that he has missed his calling. And he’s afraid that perhaps it’s too late.

For Kathy, it is a relationship. She has been involved for years with a man whose commitment to her is ambivalent at best. He is sending her signals that everyone else can read clearly; he never initiates the language of affection, avoids talking about their future, and creates as much distance from her as possible. But she never pursues discovering his true feelings—she’s too frightened. She doesn’t believe she could handle losing him. Her boat is pretty shaky. But she’s too scared to leave.

Ralph is the pastor of a church he neither fits nor loves. It is filled with division and petty squabbling. Rather than speaking prophetic truth or leading with clear vision, he finds himself constantly trying to placate angry attendees and keep the peace. He does not like the church; he resents and fears it. But it’s his boat. If he leaves it, it will only be to find himself in another just like it.

Doug’s boat is secrecy. He is addicted to pornography. It is a mild addiction, or so he tells himself, mostly adult movies on business trips and occasional sprees on the internet. Nothing that has cost him a job or a marriage—so far. But no one knows. He’s afraid to admit it. He’s afraid to get help. Secrecy is killing him. But it’s his boat.

Kim’s boat is her dad. She raises her children, keeps her house, and pursues a career designed to make her dad happy. The irony is that her dad is not happy, and nothing she can do will ever be enough to please him. But the thought of crossing him terrifies her. His approval is a pretty leaky vessel. But it’s her boat.

Maybe your boat is success. That was the case for the rich young ruler in the Bible. Jesus asked him to get out of the boat (sell all that you have, give the money to the poor, and come and follow me) but he decided not to. He had a very nice boat. A yacht. It handled well, and he liked it too much to give it up.

I wonder sometimes if he ever thought about that encounter with Jesus when he reached the end of his life—when he was an old man and his bank account, stock portfolio, and trophy case were full. Did he ever remember the day a carpenter’s son called him to risk the whole thing for one wild bet on the kingdom of God—and he said no?

What is your boat? In what area of your life are you shrinking