Matthew 8: 23-27
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
Acts 2:1-17
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 ”‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Life in the Kingdom of God is an exciting adventure.
It presents us with a whole new approach to life. A new attitude of expectation, an invitation to faith and a calling to service.
But there are also challenges: We have to move out of the crowd and into the boat with Jesus, to cross over to the other side. This will require sacrifice; we must be prepared to pay the price – the full fare of the journey. And we must not hesitate to set out with the absolute intention of going for the long haul - a long obedience in the same direction.
When we rise to the challenge to live as God intended us to live we will regret everyday that we hesitated. To live fully as a citizen of the Kingdom of God is to find yourself complete, balanced in your life and intentions, unwavered by the storms of life, content in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
This call to the Kingdom is not an easy adventure because we are often dealing with issues and situations in life which distract us. We don’t see the whole picture, we are limited by our sight in a world in which we need to live by faith.
I vividly remember the day I was ordained – it was December 9th 1973. That night I was to stand before the Presbytery of Transvaal East and they were to pray for me, to lay hands on me and I was to be ordained into the Ministry of Word and Sacrament. For 16 years I had believed that God was calling me to this moment. I had spent many nights studying into the small hours after a hard days work, I had focused my life, I had turned my back on my career, I was certain of God’s call. Now, there lay just a few hours before me – a fraction of time out of the 16 years – and suddenly I wasn’t so sure anymore.
Did I want to go on with this adventure? Was it even possible for me to turn back?
I drove out to a dam near Benoni that morning and I cried out to God for certainty. I sat there for several hours, wrestling with God and myself. Then God said, “Be still!”
Suddenly the storm ceased ….
My mind had been in a turmoil, there had been too much to deal with in too short a time. My thoughts had spun out of control. But now everything was still ….
I looked up and a saw a tree ahead of me. I don’t know if it was the tears or whether my eyes were just out of focus because they had been closed in prayer for so long but for a moment I saw two trees – one was real and one was like an out-of-focus image.
And I suddenly realized what this was all about – there is the real and there is the reality. The one tree was real, it existed on this earth, it was subject to buffeting by the wind, to lack of water, to young boys carving their names on it and so on. And there was another tree which was not of this world but it was the reality – it existed in another dimension which was past my seeing. It was the tree that existed in the faith dimension and to see it I had to step outside of the limitations of this world to catch a glimpse of the reality which really mattered.
I realized that the Kingdom of God could not be understood in this real world, it was of another dimension. It was to be found by faith in a world that was real enough in terms of its demands and disappointments but which could never ever limit the promise of God’s reality.
And I believe that I needed to go through that storm of faith in order to understand that. A storm of tears, unanswered questions, and wrestling with what I wanted and what I felt comfortable with compared to where I seemed to be headed. A turmoil of doubt and self-questioning of my motives and my reality.
It may not be necessary for everyone to go through this “dark night of the soul” but as I read the Scriptures it seems to me that there are few who do not go through this struggle. Abraham, doubting God’s promise about offspring, Jacob, Jeremiah, Job, Peter in his denial, Thomas in his doubt, even Jesus in wilderness and again in the Garden in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is, as St John of the Cross explains, a wrestling between our pride, our greed, our desire for luxury, our easily roused anger, our gluttony, our envy and our sloth; and the call of God on our life. Our real humanness versus our God-ordained reality.
Look at this well known story of Jesus stilling the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had just told His disciples to prepare the boat to go to the other side. I said last week that this was the first step of discipleship - we need to leave the crowd and get into the boat with Jesus. A couple of prospective disciples had a discussion with Jesus about this – the first was challenged by Jesus about whether he was really prepared to make the sacrifice, the second was confronted about his hesitation, his human desire to first make sure that it was safe to proceed.
Jesus gets into the boat. He’s tired and He lies down to sleep – in a sense He is putting His trust in the group of seasoned fishermen who He has called to follow Him – He trusts His followers.
But suddenly a furious storm hits them out there on the lake. They wake Jesus up to help them – a carpenter who has put his trust in the sailors is now being asked to help the sailors in the storm.
And listen to His words of response again, “Oh you of little faith, why are you so afraid?”
That’s the crux. In the storm it’s about faith.
Our fears about the Kingdom of God have to do with our lack of faith and those fears and that lack of faith will be tested in the storm.
If you want to get into the boat with Jesus, to cross over with Him to the other side where the reality is real and what seems real is actually an illusion, there are three things you need to be aware of – first, it is a step of faith. You can never see the things of the Kingdom and know the near presence of God without faith – you need to be sure of the things you hope for (that they are in the plan of God), and you need to be certain of what you do not see (knowing that that which God has promised is secure, even if you do not see it, or can’t even figure out how it could happen).
Second, there are things which you are going to have to sacrifice - pride, greed, desire for luxury, easily roused anger, gluttony, envy, sloth and probably much more. This is sometimes called repentance. Each of these things are the consequence of intense personal desire, they are driven by selfishness – my satisfaction at any cost – pride, greed, desire for luxury, gluttony. And when my demanding selfishness is not satisfied, I am easily driven to anger, envy and sloth (also bitterness and hatred, even).
Third, when you face the storm, you will need to trust God who is trusting you. He is in the boat with you, but He is depending on you to follow the instruction to cross over. He has faith in you, you are an essential part of His plan. And He does not want you to be afraid in the storm.
Though the wind is violent and the waves are breaking over the bows, He wants you to remain confident and certain of His intention. After all, this is His Kingdom now. You have left the shore behind, you are setting out on an adventure with Him.
Today is Pentecost. It is the birthday of the Church. It is the day of new beginnings. It was the day on which the Jews received the Law at Mount Sinai, it was the day on which the first Christians received the Holy Spirit. It is the day of the launch out to cross the sea of doubt and to be certain of God’s promise in His Word and in His Spirit.
That first Pentecost Day of the Christian Church the disciples were gathered in the Upper Room. It was a place of safety for them for there they had shared the Passover with Jesus. There He had told them not to be afraid – “Do not be troubled,” He said, “Trust God and trust also in Me.”
They had gathered to celebrate Shavout, the Feast of Weeks, which comes 50 days after the Passover. It was a time to remember the faithfulness of God and for the people to recommit to faith in Him. From the Passover until the Ascension the resurrected Jesus had appeared to them, to encourage them and to build their faith. But for the immediate past ten days they had been on their own. Now it was time for faith – they had to be sure of what they hoped for, certain of that which they could not see.
They had repented of the things which drove their selfishness – Just simply deciding to put their faith and trust in Jesus had helped a whole lot. For, as they put more of their hope in Jesus; as they prayed together and as they reminded each other of His words to them and of His life among them, so the desire to please self became less and less important. Their focus had shifted from self to the promise of the Kingdom…
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the room.
It was the storm of faith once more …
What was this? What was this wind? What were these flames which burned but did not consume? What were these foreign tongues they were speaking? What was this feeling of overwhelming joy that was consuming them?
Confusion, too much to deal with in too short a time, thoughts spinning out of control. And then suddenly everything was still …
Peter speaks, “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ”‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
And the storm of faith for you and for me began that day …. There is the call to us; to follow Jesus with all our heart and soul and mind; to leave behind our petty selfishnesses, and to be ready to face whatever lies before us, because it leads to the joy of the eternal Kingdom of our great and mighty God – right here, in this place!
