I. Introduction -
A.Continuing Series: 7 Stories about the Unpredictable Side of Jesus. Tonight, deal with idea of Jesus allowing his disciples to be taken into the eye of a huge storm. I think this concept really creates a problem for our concept of the “loving” Jesus.
i.It reminds me of the poem, Footprints in the Sand:
“LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed you most you would leave me."
The LORD replied: "My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."
B. To be honest, I have a problem with this great, beautiful poem. These trials and suffering that we call the “Storms of Life” begs 2 key questions:
i. Why would Jesus allow them? Doesn’t he care?
ii. Where exactly is Jesus when they happen? If He knew they were coming, why didn’t he stop them?
iii. Important: How you answer these questions, will define the way in which you life your life and allow yourself to be used by God.
i. Not popular among modern-day evangelical thought. It’s theology says, “Nothing bad comes from God”. God wants us healthy, wealthy and happy.
C. Before we jump into tonight’s text, we first need to recognize the different types of “The Storms of Life”. There seems to be 3 distinct kinds:
i. Storms caused by us (our choices)
a. Illustration: Running out of gas when my wife Karen was pregnant
ii. Storms caused by the enemy (spiritual warfare)
a. Job - “Satan roaming the earth, comes to the throne of God.”
b. Peter - Jesus said, “Satan has asked for permission to sift you like wheat.”
iii. Storms caused by our Father (discipline and/or maturity)
a. God’s School of Self-Discovery. He uses storms in our life to show us ourselves to better reveal Himself!!
b. Read Mark 4:35-41
II. Observation/Interpretation
A. Background: Jesus’ Ministry Chronologically (Context)
i. The Ministry - Luke is the chronological gospel. It lists this story after the “Pivot” (Matt. 12) of Jesus’ ministry from the Jews to the Gentiles. The Kingdom was offered to the Jews first (Matt. 10), not the Gentiles. After the “unforgivable sin” by the corporate act of the leadership of Israel, the Kingdom is postponed and a new program is established, (i.e the mystery) the church. The word “church” not mentioned in OT. This story is about new training for new program.
ii. The Day – It was a Long Day, Jesus was worn out!!! In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus had spent the day healing and teaching including Peter’s mother-in-law and many others.
iii. The Place - Jesus teaches a multitude on the western seashore of Galilee. To escape the crowds for a brief rest, Jesus wanted to go the eastern shore. It’s coast had no large cities and therefore, fewer people. This trip was not on the disciples tour schedule. They had not made any advance preparations.
iv. The Setting – In the boat. Note this: Every time they get in a boat it is test time. Every time they are out in a boat with Jesus and He performs a miracle, it is a miracle that deals with discipleship. This is not a miracle for the multitudes, its for his disciples.
B. This story has a 3-part movement: On the shore before the storm, in the boat during the storm and on the boat after the storm. (Content)
i. On the shore before the storm – (verses 4:35-36)
a. (v. 35) “Let us go over to the other side” - This statement is VERY important. His intent is to go to the other side, not take them to the middle of the lake and drown. If He says the other side, that’s where your going.
b. (v. 36) “They took Him along” - Watch the pronouns in this story. Passage seems to indicate some arrogance by the disciples that THEY took Jesus along. They were professional fishermen who were in very familiar territory. The thinking was Jesus wants to go the other side, so WE will take him. Notice in verse 38 that Jesus was at the stern, or the back of the boat.
c. (v. 36) “Just as he was” – This probably means he was exhausted. After all, He fell asleep in the boat. In His humanity, He needed to rest after a long day of healing and preaching. Here Jesus’ humanity is emphasized. In a moment, His deity will be emphasized.
d. Point: In the midst of his human exhaustion, Jesus wants to teach the disciples a lesson about faith. The lecture was over, the labwork was about to begin. That’s the way He develops faith in all of His disciples…LABWORK!
ii. In the boat during the storm – (verses 4:37-39)
a. (v. 37) “a furious squall came up, waves broke over the boat” – Wind is a common occurrence on that lake.
i. Sea of Galilee is about 690 ft. below sea level and surrounded by hills. Mt. Hermon, just to the north, stands over 9,200 ft. above sea level.
ii. From May to Oct., strong winds often sweep through the narrow surrounding gorges into this valley causing extremely sudden and violent storms. The warm tropical air from the lake’s surface rises and meets the colder air from the nearby hills.
iii. The Sea of Galilee is very large BUT very, very shallow. Just a little wind makes 6 foot waves. This storm probably had waves at least 10 to 12 feet high.
iv. The Greek word here can also mean “whirlwind”. In this case, it was a storm so severe it took on the properties of a hurricane.
v. It was such a bad storm, that the disciples (some even professional fishermen on THIS very lake) thought they were going to die.
b. Where’s Jesus???? (v. 38) “Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion” - A great picture of the God-Man Jesus. We can see His humanity that He would be sleeping after an exhausting day. The storm wasn’t waking Him up. But notice that whenever the scriptures show us His revealed humanity, His deity is not far behind!!
c. (v. 38) “The disciples woke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
i. “Teacher” – an indication of their mistaken identity of who He really was. They were about to find out in a minute just who they had on their boat.
ii. Question – What is more scary…having a Hurricane outside your boat or having a Holy God in your boat??? (Tony Evans)
iii. Jesus could sleep through the storm, but not through their cries. How comforting is that??? Jesus will always awake to help His disciples in the midst of a nasty storm. All we have to do is call.
d. (v. 39) “He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!!”
i. In the NAS it says, “Hush, be still!”. In the Greek it translates, “Be Muzzled!”
ii. Matthew’s account (Matt. 8:18-27) tells us that He rebuked them before he rebuked the wind. I’m convinced we learn more about God and ourselves during the storm than after.
iii. Storms do not BUILD character, they REVEAL character. It’s only after the storm do we assess and then work and shore up on the areas of weakness. That’s when we BUILD.
iii. In the boat after the storm (verses 4:40-41)
a. (v. 39) “Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.”
i. The original language here communicates that this was an INSTANTENEOUS calming, not a “calming.”
ii. Notice that the object of their fear (i.e. the wind) was in the power of Jesus’ words.
iii. Illustration - This is a bona fide miracle. It would be like being at a Kentucky basketball game at Rupp Arena after Kentucky makes a last second game winning shot. The crowd goes bananas. Can you imagine that frenzied crowd going completely silent instantaneously after that happened? That would be true of what happened here.
b. (v. 40) “Why are you still afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
i. The pronoun “you” is plural here. Notice here that faith is acquainted with no fear. They all were afraid because they all lacked faith. Many of us are paralyzed by fears!!! Fear of failure, fear of death, fear of the unknown, etc…
ii. Either God is sovereign and in total control or He isn’t. The God of the Bible is not a “baseline” tennis player with Satan, always responding to the stinging serves of Satan. (a.k.a. Andre Agassi)
c. (v. 41) “The were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!”
i. Notice that the condition of fear had not changed but the object of their fear had. Now their fear was focused of the identity of the person in the boat.
ii. They were terrified and amazed at Jesus’ power. I think this fits with the “big picture” outline of Mark’s gospel in which only the readers and the demons really know who Jesus is. It is not until Mark 8:29 that the disciples make the statement, “Thou art the Christ.” Christ being the Greek translation for Hebrew word Messiah.
iii. Although they may know Jesus is a great teacher, a great prophet or that He may be the Messiah…they fully don’t understand who He is.
iv. The disciples totally missed Jesus’ question, “Why are you still afraid?”. They were more caught up in their own questions. More caught up in the “works” of Jesus and not in the nature by which it comes. He dominion over the creation showed He was God.
III. Application – “So What!?!”
A. As a disciple, I’m not exempt from the storms of life.
i. Nahum 1:3 says, “His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.”
ii. Deuteronomy 8:2-5, “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands….”
B. Experiencing continuous storms or a yearly hurricane does not indicate God’s disciplen or disfavor.
i. God has power over all of nature and even my circumstances.
ii. If God wants you to die, why should you be afraid? If they would had believed Jesus really, really was in control and really, really cared for them…do you think they would have awakened him? Probably not!
iii. Illustration: We need to like the stormtrackers in the movie Twister. They passionately pursued the storms because that is where the action was…that’s where the answers where. They respected the storm, and at times were fearful but they pursued it anyway! This should be the example of our faith in the midst of the storms of life. Embrace them because in them we find the “workings” of God. Unless you go into the storm, you can never have the experience of telling others about "the flying cows" you saw in the midst of the storm. Storms open the door to see the miraculous.
iv. The result of all storms should be a greater understanding of who God is. They should make us better worshipers and they should make us better witnesses!
C. What’s your storm? Are you afraid? Where is Jesus on your boat?
D. God’s Promise: Sometimes He will calm the storm… but not always. However, He promises He will always calm His child.
Listen to these scripture passages as encouragement:
i.“Be anxious about nothing…”
ii.“Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)
iii.“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love. (2 Tim. 1:7-8)
iv.“The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is my strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Ps. 27:1)
v.“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” (I John 4:18)
vi.“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?… 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[13] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8)
