Asleep At The Wheel

LUKE 8:22-25

‘One day, Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He told them, ‘Let’s cross the lake.’ They started out, and while they were sailing across, Jesus went to sleep. Suddenly a violent windstorm struck the lake, and the boat started taking on water and began to sink. They were in great danger, and feared for their lives, so they went to Jesus and woke him up, ‘Master, Master,’ they said, we are about to drown!’

‘Jesus got up and sternly ordered the wind and waves to stop. They obeyed, and everything was calm. Then Jesus asked the disciples, ‘Don’t you have any faith? But they were both frightened and amazed. They said to each other, ‘Who is this that can give orders to the wind and the waves, and they obey him!’

In this passage, Jesus wanted to go from the western side of the Sea of Galilee to the eastern shore, where most of the people were not Jews.

This morning, we are going to find out how deep the relationship is between Jesus and us, and we will look at it from both perspectives. We are going to discover that no matter what we might claim, our true relationship with Jesus is exhibited in times of trouble, and as we go through:

1. THE STORMS IN OUR LIVES.

Most people, including Christians, do not have a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And since they don’t, they often do not understand why we have storms in our lives.

It is necessary for us to realize that not all of our storms are caused by the sin we commit. The Jews believed if something bad happened to someone, it was directly because of the sin in their lives. If a person was sick, they must have sinned. If they suffered financially, they must have sinned, etc. When we find ourselves embroiled in a storm, the first thing we do is ask how we got there. And then we ask what we did to deserve the storm.

Let’s take another look at our text. How did the disciples get

where they were? This is very important: They were in the middle of a violent storm, not because they sinned, but because they followed Jesus!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I need to let you in on a not-so-secret bit of information. If you set your heart and mind on following Jesus, the storms of life will arise for two reasons.

First of all, the devil seeks to swamp the boat you are in! When you start to follow Jesus, you are going to upset the devil. And when you upset him, he will come against you and try to destroy what you are doing. He will not materialize in front of you, but he can and will use every demonic influence around you to make your life miserable in every way.

He will have people close to you spread rumors about you and he will use those same people to provoke fights with you. He will keep you upset; confused, and torn up to the point you can’t focus on anything, especially your walk with God.

If he cannot get to you that way, the devil will start attacking family members, taking them down to where your focus is turned away from Jesus and on to the plight of the family member.

The second way storms come into your life is because God will allow them! He wants to have you understand you can go to Him when you are in need. And the best way we realize that is to see it first-hand. If we have a storm, God can actively demonstrate His faithfulness to us! This actually builds our faith in Him.

Jesus knew the storm was coming, yet He led the disciples into the boat and out onto the lake. The devil would try and use this trip to destroy Jesus, but if he couldn’t accomplish that, he would use it to destroy the disciples faith in Him.

ROMANS 8:28 reminds us, however;

‘And we know that God will use everything for the good for those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose.’

The devil tried his best to thwart Jesus’ plans, but found out that God’s plan was even more important; to grow the disciples faith in Jesus. And therein lies the lesson for us today, too. We must fully understand that no matter what we might encounter in life, God will use it for our ultimate good.

In JEREMIAH 29:11, it tells us the same thing.

‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares God, ‘they are plans that will prosper you and not harm you. They are plans that will give you real hope and a blessed future.’