Fix Your Eyes On Jesus

Os Guinness tells us in his book In Two Minds, “To believe is to be ‘in one mind’ about accepting something as true; to disbelieve is to be ‘in one mind’ about rejecting it. To doubt is to waver between the two, to believe and disbelieve at once and so be ‘in two minds’.”(1)

This morning we are going to look at a situation in which Jesus’ disciples were in two minds. They neither totally believed nor totally disbelieved Jesus’ power to rescue them. After examining this account we are going to realize that we too are often in two minds; as we find ourselves in doubt concerning Jesus’ power in our lives.

Hopefully by the time this message is over, we will realize that we need to be in one mind. We need to either admit that we believe Jesus, or admit that we don’t. We can’t ride the fence when it comes to faith in Christ. We are going to learn that we must be in one mind about our faith in Jesus and keep our eyes fixed only on Him before we can expect to see Him work in our lives.

He Has our Back (vv. 22-23)

22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.

We see here that Jesus sent His disciples away, and then He ascended into a mountain to pray. H. A. Ironside tells us that this account represents the day when Jesus would ascend into heaven and no longer be present among His followers. It represents the day when Jesus’ followers “would be left to make their way alone, as it were, across the troubled sea of earthly circumstances, looking forward to the time when they would again behold their Savior.”(2)

That day of longing for Jesus is now present, as He is currently seated at the right hand of the Father. However, that doesn’t mean He is so distant that He can’t hear us when we cry out to Him; and He is not so far away that He can’t help us in our times of trouble. Remember that Jesus has your back.

Jesus may have sent His disciples ahead of Him into the wild blue yonder, and they may have thought that they were all alone, but they were not lacking His help. From that high mountaintop, Jesus was interceding on behalf of His disciples and covering them with holy prayer.

Today, Jesus is interceding for us from the heights of heaven. Based on Hebrews 7:25, Ironside says, “He has gone up on high where He ever liveth to make intercession for us.”(3) Allow me to read for you this verse from Hebrews: “He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” Jesus is alive and well, and He lives to help us. We are under God’s protection through Jesus Christ no matter what the circumstances, and no matter what life may throw our way, because Jesus is always interceding on our behalf.

He is With Us (vv. 24-27)

24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

Verse 24 tells us that the wind became very rough and the disciples’ boat was getting tossed to and from. The account from Mark tells us that the disciples were “straining and rowing,” (Mark 6:48) emphasizing that they had to fight for their survival. The disciples must have been frightened at that moment, and probably wondered why Jesus was not there to rescue them.

We can all feel this way sometimes. We might feel like the weight of the world is against us, just waiting to crash down on top of us. We can feel a lot like the disciples of whom the Scripture says were “straining and rowing,” trying to keep their heads above the water; and we wonder where Jesus is when we really need Him. Many of us are overloaded with work, and the bills keep piling up; and at the same time our house is falling apart because we have neither the time nor the money to fix it. We can feel like we’re all alone and that no one really understands or cares about our situation. We may be struggling, but does that mean that Jesus is not with us? Does it mean He doesn’t hear us or care?