Make Your Mother Proud

Make Your Mother Proud

No, this is not an article of showing your mother what a good job you have done or how you have finally grown out of your adolescence to adulthood or that you finally found a job where you can move out of the house. There are many things we should do as children to show our mother how we have learned to stand on our own two feet. However, the idea of making our mother proud of us is found in a most unlikely place but not that unusual. Driving through my neighborhood on Monday mornings there are large blue recycling bins with the words inscribed on the side, “Make Your Mother Proud.” Let me say at the beginning the principle of recycling is very good as I have my blue bin by the side of the road filled with all those wasteful elements of a modern society. But the idea that recycling plastic and paper and aluminum is somehow connected to a mystical mother of nature is innocent at first but deceptive in conclusion. Who is the mother earth? How can we understand earth to be our mother without acknowledging the Creator as the only creator of our world?

The beautiful world that we are stewards of belongs to our Father. This is my Fathers world that he has given to me to share and the world shows the glory of our Father. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalms 19:1). “He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion” (Jeremiah 10:12). “I have made the earth, and created man on it. I--My hands--stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded” (Isaiah 45:12). The glory of the earth is praise to the Creator for His divine will established its order, its design and its purpose.

Given honor to “mother earth” is to give honor to the elements of the world as created through an evolutionary process of natural adaptation. The world is established through the word of God and held together by that same creative word (2 Peter 3:5-7). “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The man was given task to “fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over … every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). He was also told to “tend and keep” the garden (Genesis 2:15) when he was placed in his first home. As a consequence of sin the ground was cursed where man would toil by the sweat of his brow to bring forth crops (Genesis 3:17-19). Following the flood man was allowed to eat meat and again was told to “fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1-7). A covenant was established by God with mankind and with the animals and with the earth. Man is accountable to the Father for care of creation; not a mystic mother.

The stewardship of the earth is seen in how man learns dependence upon the Father. Considering this is the world of the Father one can see the “invisible attributes” (Romans 1:20) of God and come to worship the Father through the revealed word of His revelation. The righteousness and wrath of God is revealed in His word (Romans 1:16-18) as the thumbprint of the Creator is found in the evidence of creation (Romans 1:20-23). Giving honor to the Father is to give honor to the one true Creator of heaven and earth.

It seems irrational to the human mind to consider the Father and the Son without suggesting a mother. However, the glory of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1) concludes with only the reality of the Father and the Son to determine how great our Father is and how so unlike He is to man (Psalm 50:21). "’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

One day this world will all be burned up and destroyed (2 Peter 3). It is winding down. “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in like manner; but My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will not be abolished” (Isaiah 51:6). Recycle our world to help care for the earth but spiritual recycling is eternal (Acts 3:19; Romans 12:2).

Noah, Daniel and Job

Noah, Daniel & Job

Of all the great examples of faith in the Bible, no three men strike a more imposing image of faithfulness than Noah, Daniel and Job. The wickedness of the world of Noah was so great the Creator chose to destroy all mankind. Noah and his family were the only ones saved from the flood (Genesis 6-9). He was a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5) who walked with God and obeyed the warnings saving his household (Hebrews 11:7).

Daniel is the character of Babylonian and Persian heroism who defied the king to serve the one true God. He was faced with the challenge of the king’s delicacies and won the victory through his trust in God (Daniel 1). Death faced him in the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and again the Lord delivered him (Daniel 2). Later Daniel was cast into a den of lions for doing what he had always done since early childhood and the angel of the Lord closed the mouths of the beasts to save the aged man of God (Daniel 9)

Who can think of suffering and not think of the story of Job and the calamities that befell him. How much can a man take and retain his faith in God? Job was “blameless and upright and one who feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1). His devoted faith helped him endure untold misery in this suffering and to receive the blessing of the Lord in the end.

What do these three men have in common? The prophet Ezekiel uses these three men to describe the condition of a land that is filled with rebellion and wickedness. "Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness," says the Lord God ... Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live," says the Lord GOD, "they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness." (Ezekiel 14:13-14, 19-20).

Ezekiel’s use of Daniel is especially important to see they are contemporaries and the impact of Daniel’s righteousness was already well established in the hearts of the people of God. The sad part is how the wickedness of the people was so full that the presence of these three righteous men would not stay the judgment of God. “Even if these three men were in it” (Ezekiel 14:16) there would be no hope.

While Ezekiel shows the sinful nature of the people he illustrates the power of influence that a righteous person can have. Yes, the Lord said that judgment would come regardless if Noah, Daniel and Job were there. But the point is also made of the lasting example of character embedded on the pages of history by the lives of righteous men and women. We should live that our names would be lifted by the Lord as “lights in the world” in a “crooked and perverse generation” (Philippians 2:15).

Peter's Walk Of Faith

Peter’s Walk Of Faith

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God." (Matthew 14:22-33)

Peter’s walk on the water is one of the powerful stories of scripture that show the faith of a man who trusted in the unknown because of his faith in the known. Peter, Andrew, James and John were seasoned fishermen. They had spent their lives on the water and understood the dangers of storms. How familiar the other eight men were to sailing these rough seas is not known but this night twelve men of Galilee were in the battle for their lives as their boat was tossed by the wind and waves. In the early morning mist of early morning they witnessed a most terrifying scene. They thought they saw a man walking on the water. They thought it was a ghost.

PETER WAS AFRAID OF THE UNKNOWN (V26). A lifetime of fishing had given Peter the assurance that men do not walk on water. He had fallen in the water a few times no doubt and heard of friends who perished drowning in the sea. Being battered about with a storm will tax the nerves and fray the consciousness of any sailor. But then to behold in the midst of this tumult a figure of a man walking on water would bring certain fear. Along with the eleven, Peter cried out in fear. This unknown terrified the heart and went against all logic and reason. They were seeing things as all men view the unknown; with trepidation. There could be no explanation for such an event. Fear is the worry of what we do not understand. When we live our lives in fear it is often because of what we do not know or understand. There is a result in living without knowledge that finds itself in the love of God.

PETER WAS UNAFRAID OF THE KNOWN (V27). Jesus reassures the disciples there is no need of fear because what they are seeing is not a ghost but rather their Lord. The day before Jesus had shown his power by feeding five thousand men (not counting the women and children). The Lord had shown the disciples the miracles of healing (Matthew 4:23-25; 8:1-17; 9:1-8) and had previously exhibited His power over the wind and waves (Matthew 8:23-27). Jesus exhorts the fearful men there is no need to fear because “It is I.” The apostle John would later write, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love cast out fear because fear involves torment” (1 John 4:18). Peter was in the midst of a storm watching a man walk on water and he was not afraid because it was Jesus. How calming the reassurance of the presence of the Lord will remove all fear.

PETER WAS WILLING TO ACCEPT THE UNKNOWN (VV28-29). Remarkably and almost immediately Peter sees an opportunity to experience the same power of his Lord. Without hesitation Peter accepts the realities that if Jesus can walk on water then it will be possible for him to walk on water. His mind was clear in seeing through faith the impossibility becoming the possible. He asked a most incredible favor. “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” The other disciples must have looked at Peter and thought him crazy. Peter was leaning over the bow of the boat talking to a man standing on water in the midst of a violent storm and he wants to step out of the boat and walk on water? Some men seize the moment and some are seized by the moment. Peter steps over the railing and puts his foot on the water. His eyes must have filled with wonder as he placed both feet on the tempestuous sea and began walking. Did he turn for a moment and look at the faces of the eleven staring in disbelief? Would his heart be able to endure the excitement of the unknown being accomplished? His faith had given him the courage to do the most impossible thing. In that moment of rarified air the disciple walked with his Lord. He was endued with the same power of His Lord. When we have the faith to step out of the boat and trust the Lord we can accomplish anything. It takes a lot of faith to put the leg over the side and stand on the impossible. Jesus will remind the twelve of this later when He said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). Peter was moving a mountain in the midst of the sea.

PETER WAS UNWILLING TO ACCEPT THE KNOWN (V30). What started as fear turned to courage failed for lack of faith. Only Peter had stepped out of the boat. Only Peter could tell disciples later that he walked on water. But it was Peter who would have to tell the “rest of the story” of when in the moment of his greatest victory of faith he took his eyes away from the source of his miracle to the realities of the storm. The waves were splashing around him soaking him and the wind whistled in fury as the foam of the water hurled itself in torrents of rain. He had the courage to ignore those realities when he first stepped out of the boat but now as he walked on water and confidence grew in his heart his faith began to waver. Fear returned but instead of fearing the unknown he feared the known. Sinking in the storm Peter cries out for the Lord to save him. The measure of his faith shrank in the face of what he saw with his eyes. He doubted the protection of the Lord. His trust began to be in himself. He was sinking in his own disbelief. It took great courage to believe he could walk on water and greater faith to make that first step. But faith must continue in the face of adversity. Our faith will be tested at times in the moments of our greatest victories to take our eyes off of the Lord and focus on ourselves. Without the power of God in our lives we will sink in the despair of our own pride. The only salvation we have is to trust in the Lord. Peter cried out to the Lord and he was saved.

There are many things in life that bring fear. The unknown is a universe of questions that can fill the heart with dread. Man alone facing the unknown can only find fear. Jeremiah reminds us “the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). With all of our wisdom man is still made “a little lower than the angels” (Psalm 8) and limited in time and space. Our fears are real and without an answer will fill life with the uncertainty of human experience. Only when we realize He who walks on water as the Son of God and trust in His voice, His power, His love and His grace will man find his worth. What separates man from animals is prayer. Only man needs to pray and can pray and through this experience learns dependence upon the Creator. Wisdom is not found in man but God (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). Peter feared the unknown but gained strength when he realized it was the Son of God. Our lives can only be realized when we recognize the power of Jesus Christ and His power to walk on water, raise the dead, heal the sick, calm the storms and die on a cross for my sin. In the face of great victories we must never lose sight of whose power we live by. As Peter took his eyes off of Jesus to see the world as it was so we must not look at this world as our home. Faith can be destroyed when we begin to trust in this life and not the power of the life to come.

Peter walked on water. He walked by faith and he walked with courage. We can walk on water in faith and pressed by courage given to us by our Lord we will overcome. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15).