How Jesus Taught Faith

We have been looking at the five purposes of the church. These are five key things that God has called the church to do. These are our tasks:

1.     Worship: we are called to worship God and honour Him.

2.     Fellowship: we are called to love one another

3.     Discipleship: we are called to help people grow to maturity

4.     Serving: we are called to help others

5.     Outreach: we are called to share the good news of Jesus.

As Gareth mentioned, it is easy for churches to focus on only some aspects possibly reflecting the bias of the leader. But healthy churches know that we are called to all of those things, not just some.

Our focus at the moment is really on the value of Life Groups. Life Groups are, in some ways, churches in miniature and healthy Life Groups also include at least something of each of those purposes. These are what we are called to.

Gareth has talked about worship and fellowship. Today we come to discipleship. Oh my goodness, enough already! Haven’t we talked about discipleship and disciple-making ad nauseum this year?

This is our mission. We have been commissioned to go and make disciples. Jesus made disciples; followers of Jesus make disciples. But, today I would like to focus on how. How did Jesus make disciples? And we will focus on just one incident to see what it shows us.

When we look at an incident like this, we generally focus on what Jesus taught but can we focus on how He taught? I will tell you what He was teaching. Let’s get that out of the way. He was teaching about faith. In your Life Group, or in your relationships with other Christians, how would you train a younger Christian in faith? How would you teach someone to trust God?

READ Matthew 14:22-33 

Because we want to understand how Jesus trained the disciples, let’s focus on what Jesus did, not on what Peter and the other apostles did. How did Jesus train the disciples to be people of faith?

1. Jesus took them on a long, intentional learning journey

This was not by any means the first time the disciples had encountered questions of faith. This was part of a long journey. Becoming people of faith does not happen overnight. It is a journey that goes through various stages. We can trace Matthew’s description of that journey.

It started in Chapter 4 when Jesus called Peter and Andrew, James and John, to follow Him. That was a significant step of faith. They had previously seen Jesus and heard about Him. How would they respond? Had they seen enough to believe that He was worth following? That was a significant faith decision, but it was only the beginning. All of the learning was still ahead of them.

In chapters 5, 6 and 7, we have the Sermon on the Mount where there is lots of teaching that is directly or indirectly about faith. Things like “seek and you will find”. Really? Do I believe that? “Store up treasures in heaven, not treasures on earth”. Really? Will I sacrifice now and trust God for eternity. Jesus said not to worry but trust God to provide. “God clothes the grass of the field. Will He not also clothe you – you of little faith?”

Notice that following that initial call to follow, so far this has all been teaching – quite a lot of teaching but just teaching. The disciples have not been required to show any faith.

In chapter 8 there are lots of healings. A lepper came to Jesus saying, “You can make me clean”. Jesus was amazed at the faith of the Centurion who came seeking healing for his servant. It has now gone beyond teaching. The disciples are seeing what faith looks like, not in themselves but in other people.

There were various other healings but later in chapter 8 things moved up a gear. The disciples were caught in a storm on the lake. Now it was no longer a question of hearing about faith or seeing faith in others. Now their own faith would be tested – and they failed. Jesus made it very much a lesson about faith: “You of little faith why are you so afraid?”

There were more healings some of which comment on the part of faith. It was when Jesus saw the faith of the friends that he healed the paralysed man lowered through the roof (9:2). He commended the haemorrhaging woman. “Your faith has healed you.” He raised the synagogue leader’s daughter, chastising those who did not believe (9:23-26). He healed two blind men “according to their faith” (9:29).

In chapter 10, Jesus sent the disciples out with authority to drive out demons and to heal every disease and sickness. Wow, that raised the bar, didn’t it? This is no longer just listening to the theory or seeing it in others. They had watched Jesus do it. He said they could. Could they really? Do they have faith? Matthew doesn’t tell us how they got on, so it is left as an open question.

Chapters 11 and 12 contain various stories of lack of faith and of opposition to Jesus. This is all part of the learning. Some people have faith; some do not. Chapter 13 contains parables. The parable of the sower and the seeds again says some people have faith; some do not. Other parables encourage faith.

Chapter 14. The disciples came to Jesus and said that a huge crowd should be sent away to get food. Jesus said, “You give them something to eat.” Whoa! That upped the ante again. This was a real test of their faith. They had had the teaching. They had seen multiple examples of faith. Would they have faith? Would the possibility of a miracle even cross their minds? No, they failed. So, Jesus did it but notice that He included them. Jesus took the bread and the fish and gave thanks but Jesus did not feed the crowd. He gave the bread and fish to the disciples. They saw the miracle happen in their own hands.

Immediately after that they had their next learning opportunity. But do you see how this was a journey of many steps? Each step built on the previous ones. Jesus moved them from listening to the theory about faith, to seeing real faith in Him and in others, to an expectation that they would have faith, to a personal experience of faith. Jesus took them from head knowledge to heart understanding to hands action.

2. Jesus trained “on the job”.

The training started in the classroom with the teaching but it very quickly moved into the real world – real people, real sickness, real demonic possession, real challenges. And it moved from observation to imitation: you have seen it, now you do it.

I think this is a huge challenge for us (including for me). We tend to focus on the theory. We preach sermons and we do Bible studies and it is all theory. Jesus started there but He did not stay there very long. He very quickly moved the theory into the real world.

Today’s incident was very clearly out in the real world. I am going to assume that Jesus knew what was going to happen when He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of them. I am assuming Jesus intentionally did not go with them. This would all be part of the training. How would they respond without Him there? Did you notice how long the disciples were rowing? When evening came, they were already a considerable distance form land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against them. So, they had started some time before evening. It was not until shortly before dawn that Jesus went to them walking on the water. All night they had been rowing in rough waters with the wind against them. In all that time, had they thought of imitating Jesus and speaking to the wind and waves? Had they looked to God or had they just kept rowing?

Jesus set this all up. He deliberately put them into a situation that would test their faith. His training method was practical and real.

3. Jesus modelled what He wanted others to imitate

Of course, Jesus had already modelled faith umpteen times. The disciples had watched Jesus in all sorts of situation. We know that this is going to lead up to Peter walking on the water but Jesus didn’t suddenly come up with a random test of faith: “I’ve got an idea, guys. Why don’t you demonstrate your faith by walking on water?”

No, Jesus first walked on water. I don’t think He ever asked the disciples to do something that He had not already modelled for them.

Leaders need to model what they want others to learn. Again, that is enormously challenging. Anything I talk to you about you should be able to also see in my life. Again, it is far easier talking about the theory than it is modelling the reality but Jesus’ way was to model it.

Peter did extraordinarily well. He had faith! Fancy even thinking of being able to walk on water. He didn’t just think about it; he did it. What an experience! But then he doubted and started sinking.

4. Jesus was right alongside to rescue him

Yes, Jesus really, really tested the disciples because growth comes only when we are stretched, but, if things did not go well, He was there to bail them out. He did not abandon them. Yes, He wants to see us grow but failing is part of growing. We learn from failures. How many times has God said, “Do not be afraid. I will be with you”? Jesus, when He commissioned us to make disciples, said, “Surely I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus does not condemn us when we try and fail. He is delighted when we try and, if we fail, He is right there to pick us up. He is our biggest cheerleader.

Disciple-makers, Life Group leaders, this applies to us too. Let’s be right there for people and when they fail, let’s pick them up, dust them off, build them up and encourage them to try again.

5. Jesus gave feedback

Part of wanting the best for Peter was helping him learn from the experience. Yes, Jesus was Peter’s biggest cheerleader but He also addressed the issues. “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” He didn’t need to say more. He highlighted the key issues: faith and doubt. The experience itself was the lesson. Jesus just gave a little bit more instruction.

I even wonder if He said it with a smile. I wonder if there was some playfulness in it. Peter had shown huge faith. How many other people in the history of the world have walked on water? I wonder if Jesus was having a little joke – “You of little faith” – but still actually making a serious point.

Making disciples is our calling. How do we do that? Jesus has modelled it. He has done it first. We are called to imitate Him – be followers of Jesus. What can we learn from this one incident? I think that if we took those five things seriously it would revolutionise our disciple-making. What Jesus modelled for us is very rare in the church today. We focus on lots of words and lots of theory but little action. What if we sought to imitate those five lessons from Jesus? I’d really be interested in ongoing conversations with any interested Life Groups about how we can make disciples like Jesus. I’d love the elders, each of the Life Groups, every person in our church who wants to make disciples, to take those statements one-by-one and ask, “What does that mean for us? How can that be not just theory but how we actually operate?

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