Doubt and Faith

Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church, Pinetop, Arizona

Rev. Michael “Mick” Mathews

The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost – August 9, 2026

Sermon: “Doubt and Faith”     Matthew 14:22–33; Romans 10:5–17

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

What is faith? Where does it come from? How do we make our faith stronger? How do we deal with doubt, which seeks to undermine our faith? All of these issues are addressed in the Gospel reading for today about Jesus and Peter walking on the water.

The events we read about today followed right after what we heard about last Sunday, where Jesus fed more than five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. You may remember that Jesus had just gotten the news that John the Baptist had been put to death in prison. So Jesus got in a boat with His disciples so they could go to a deserted place along the Sea of Galilee and try to get away from the crowds that were coming to see Jesus. But the plan didn’t work. The crowds got there before Jesus did. So Jesus had compassion on them and spent the day healing their sick. As evening drew close, Jesus took the small amount of food that His disciples had and multiplied it so that every had enough to eat. Then Jesus sent the crowds away, and He sent His disciples away in the boat, telling them to go ahead of Him to the other side of the lake.

Finally, Jesus was alone. He went up the nearby mountain to pray. It was likely that He prayed in reaction to what had happened to John the Baptist, praying that He would have the strength to carry out His Father’s plan to bring salvation to the world, even though it meant His own death too, death on the cross. Jesus continued praying on into the night, even past midnight. Finally, “in the fourth watch of the night” (Matthew 14:25), that is, between 3:00 am and 6:00 am, Jesus returned to the disciples.

But He did so in a remarkable way. Jesus didn’t need a boat of His own to catch up with the disciples. He simply walked on the water! He walked across the lake to go to where the disciple were going. Now the disciples were having a rough time of it on their journey. It was not smooth sailing across the lake. The wind was against them. The waves were beating against the boat. They had been out all night, fighting to make progress, and still hadn’t made it to the other shore.

That’s when they saw a human figure coming toward them out of the storm. Just imagine how you would respond in that situation. You’ve been up all night, in a small boat in the middle of a large lake, fighting to keep the boat afloat as waves are crashing into it, struggling to make some headway to get across to the safety of the other side and making only very slow progress. And then in the middle of your exhaustion and the noise and turmoil of the storm, you see a human figure coming toward you, out of the storm and darkness, but not in another boat – just walking toward you on top of the waves. You’d probably be as terrified as the disciples were. You might even cry out as they did, “It is a ghost!” – some spiritual entity rising out of the water to come for you and destroy you.

But Jesus called to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27). But Peter remained unconvinced. So he said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water” (Matthew 14:28). Jesus said simply, “Come.” “So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus” (Matthew 14:29). Everything was going fine, until Peter saw where he was – out on the water, in the middle of the storm, surrounded by the wind and the waves. He became afraid, and then he began to sink into the water. But Peter did the right thing in that moment. He called out to Jesus and said, “Lord, save me” (Matthew 14:30). Immediately, Jesus reached out His had to Peter and took hold of him and got him back into the boat. But Jesus asked Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). Then as soon as Jesus got into the boat too, the wind suddenly stopped. The water grew calm. They were not going to be swallowed up by the storm. They were going to be able to make it to the other side. The disciples in their joy worshiped Jesus and said, “Truly you are the Son of God” (Matthew 14:33).

What should be take away from all this? Certainly, like those disciples, we should recognize Jesus as the Son of God who came down from heaven in human flesh. Although He looked like an ordinary man, He could do what no mere man could do. He could heal the sick. He could feed more than five thousand people with just a little bit of food. He could walk on water, where anyone would just sink right into it – and He could make someone else walk on the water too. He could control the storm and cause the raging wind to stop. All of this gives evidence to the fact that He is the God who created all things – the earth, the sea, and everything in it – and He has complete control over all of it as well. When Job complained about how God was handling things in his life, God spoke to Job out of a whirlwind (Job 38:1). God asked Job if he was there when God made everything on earth – when He made the dry land and created the seas and marked the limits for how far the mighty waters could go. God invited Job to trust Him that He knew what He was doing at all times and in all circumstances.

God invites us to have that same faith. That’s what faith is: to trust in God and in the promises He makes to us. But where does that faith come from? If it comes from something in us, we’ll likely end up like Peter, drowning in the waves of the storm. It’s too easy for us to be overwhelmed by the troubles that surround us, so that we pay more attention to the troubles than to God. Peter was doing fine at first at walking on the water, until he paid more attention to the wind and waves than to Jesus and His command that Peter could come to Him on the water. Thinking that faith comes from something in you also leads people to wonder what they have to do make their faith stronger. That’s the problem with thinking that faith comes from your decision or your willpower. It makes you focus more on yourself, and it moves you farther from the true source of faith, which is God.

St. Paul tells us in Romans10:17, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Faith is not your own doing; it is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). I think that too often we picture faith in the wrong way, as having some power all on its own, like a power plant providing electricity to the whole neighborhood. Instead, I think we should think of faith as being like an extension cord. It has no power in itself. If you plug something into an extension cord alone, you won’t get any power just from the cord. Instead, you’ve got to plug the extension cord into a live electrical socket, then electricity can flow through the cord to whatever is plugged into it. In the same way, faith has no power on its own apart from what it is plugged into. If you put your faith in a false god, there’s no power there to help you. But faith is powerful when it is the extension cord that plugs us into the power of God’s Word. And the good news is that we don’t even need to bring our own cord! God gives it to us as we hear the Word that He wants us to plug into.

This also helps us to understand how we can deal with doubts. When your faith is weak and you want it to be stronger, don’t focus on the faith. Focus on what faith can plug into: focus on God’s Word. Read your Bible. Repeat a Bible passage that is meaningful to you and contemplate on it. Go to church and to Bible study to hear God’s Word read to you and explained to you. Hear again what Jesus has done for you, and take to heart what He says to you.

The Word of God is not a dead, lifeless thing. It is living and active, full of His power to help and to save. Jesus simply said the word “Come” to Peter, and Peter was able to walk on the water. Jesus says to you, “Listen to Me. Trust in Me.” Believe that Jesus is Lord, the God who holds you and all creation in His. Believe that He came into the world to save you, to enter into the storm of this sin-filled world and to bring that storm to an end. He came to take on sin and death and to bring them to an end by His dying on the cross and by His rising to life again on the third day. He promises to save everyone who has faith in His promise to save.

And the peace of God which passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Job 38:4          “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

              Tell me, if you have understanding.

5   Who determined its measurements—surely you know!

              Or who stretched the line upon it?

6   On what were its bases sunk,

              or who laid its cornerstone,

7   when the morning stars sang together

              and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Job 38:8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors

              when it burst out from the womb,

9   when I made clouds its garment

              and thick darkness its swaddling band,

10  and prescribed limits for it

              and set bars and doors,

11  and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,

              and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

Job 38:12        “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,

              and caused the dawn to know its place,

13  that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,

              and the wicked be shaken out of it?

14  It is changed like clay under the seal,

              and its features stand out like a garment.

15  From the wicked their light is withheld,

              and their uplifted arm is broken.

Job 38:16         “Have you entered into the springs of the sea,

              or walked in the recesses of the deep?

17  Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

              or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

18  Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?

              Declare, if you know all this.

Romans 10:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Matthew 14:22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

Matthew 14:28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”