Finding Christ in the Crisis
Mark 6:45-51
This week, as all of you are aware is the 6th anniversary of 9/11. A time that will go down in history as one of the top crisis in recent times. Many people lost their lives in this tragedy. But this week as I watched the documentaries of this historic event, I was not only reminded of the tragedy, but of those who found Christ or strengthen their relationship with Christ.
And with the threats we still have today, we need to make sure that we have the right relationship with Christ.
Crisis whether personal or a Crisis that have an effects a whole nation will always be a part of life. And even when you have the right relationship with God, that doesn’t mean that your crisis will vanish, that life will be happily ever after. What it means is that we have some one to be with us during those troubles.
Read Mark 6:45-51
A little back ground here. Jesus had just gone through some crisis in His own life as well. In verse 1 of Chapter 6 we read that Jesus was in “His own county”. But He didn’t receive much of a homecoming. His hometown was not what would have been expected. By this time His ministry was well known though out the region so Jesus would have been a celebrity at this time. But in stead of being asked for autographs, it states that they were, “offended at Him”.
Then He had the crisis of losing a good friend. King Herod had Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, beheaded. How many times in our life have we lost a loved one? I doubt that any of us can claim that we lost a loved one in this manner.
Then He had the crisis of being over worked.
Mark 6:31-32 And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
Well, we know what happened after that. He saw the multitude and had compassion on them. So He kept on teaching them, and even feed them with the 5 loaves and the 2 fish.
But perhaps some of His biggest battles came from His own disciples. They had seen the mighty works of God, time after time, yet they had so little faith. It was one of them hat would end up betraying Him in the end. The one who claimed to be the closest to Him ended up denying Him not once, but three times.
And often times, it could be your family, your friends, your work, and even your own brothers and sisters in Christ who give you the most grief.
If you read of the life of Jesus, even though He did many great and wonderful things, it was no secrete that His life was one of one crisis to another. And through all of them, He left us the perfect example of how to handle the crisis that come in our lives.
1 Peter 2:21-23 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
So let me give you some reasons we find in our text as to why we should turn to Christ when there is a crisis. The first thing we need to see is…
Jesus SENT Them (Vs 45-46)
Did you catch that; “He MADE His disciples get into the boat”. In the King James it uses the word, “constrained” which means to do so by force. Why He did so, I’m not sure. We know that after He sent them away and that He went up into the mountain to pray. We know that God is omnipotent, which means that He knew what would happen. But I think that He wanted to teach them another lesson. Often times the lesson had to be repeated time and time again, much like we have to do to our kids and God have to do to us as His children. Even after He had just experienced Him feeding the 5000 plus in Chapter 6, we read about their doubt when He wanted to do an encore in Chapter 8.
Mark 8:4 Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?"
And there were only 4000 plus this time.
So why does God allow us into Crisis?
Well there is no one single answer to this question. So let me give you a few reasons as to why God allows us to go through crisis.
Sometimes crisis is a result of sin.
David had the affair with Bathsheba and in the process she became pregnant with his child. David tried to cover his tracts by having her husband sent home from the battlefield, so that he would sleep with his wife and he would think that he was the father of the baby. After that failed, David then had her husband, Uriah, put at the front line of a battle, then had everyone else back off, knowing that in the end would result in his death. So after Uriah was killed in battle, then David brought Bathsheba in as his wife and she bore him a son.
Now after secrete was revealed by the Lord through the Prophet Nathan, we know that sometime, somewhere David had asked God for forgiveness. And God forgave him, but he still went through a crisis due to his sin.
2 Samuel 12:14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die."
As a result of his sin, he went through a crisis of loosing a child. And sometimes God allows crisis in our lives in order to try to get our relationship with him back in order. Sometimes God allows crisis in our lives to get us to START a relationship with Him. God may have to break you down so that He can build you up.
Now not everyone who is going through a crisis is a result of sin. Some times the person going through the crisis has done nothing to deserve the crisis.
Job is a perfect example for that.
Job 1:8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?"
Job didn’t have an affair or commit murder. Yet in a matter of hours he lost his property, his children, and his health. Talk about going through a crisis. And God had nothing to do with his crisis other than allowing it. And in the end, God gave back more to him than he lost.
So sometimes crisis are just something at no fault of our own, but just part of life that we have to go through.
Job knew that. And when his wife told him to curse God and die, what she was saying was that I know you Job. You love God and have lived a good life. And if this is what you get in return, then you might as well just curse God and die. And listen to Jobs response.
Job 2:10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Does that mean that God is a bad God because He allows us to go through crisis when we didn’t do anything do deserve it. No, not at all; God always uses our suffering for our good and His glory.
So we go through crisis in our lives. It may be a form of punishment; It may be to teach us patience or to strengthen us. We may not understand why God is allowing us to go through what we are going through, but understand this. God understands that we don’t always understand. It is less important to know all the answers as compared to knowing the one who does.
We may not understand God’s purpose but understand He always has a purpose in our suffering.
Job 42:2 "I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
Now I don’t know the reason He sent them, but there was a purpose. And not only did He send them, but also…
Jesus SAW Them
Mark 6.47,48a
It stands to reason and logic that if Jesus was the one that sent the disciples into that storm, He also understood what was going to happen to them. He "saw" them. The word comes from the same root as "know," which, in the Bible, means more than knowledge. Jesus understood fully what was happening to the disciples. He saw them "straining at the oars." This word "straining" means He knew their struggles. By this time (the fourth watch), between 3am and 6am, the disciples had been fighting the storm for 6-10 hours.
And just as Jesus saw the Disciples in their storm, He sees you in your storms as well. Some people ask, “Where was God during 9/11? Where was God when I lost my loved one? Where was God when I was in my storm, my crisis?
Think of it like this. Where was God? He was in the same place He was when His only Son hung on a cross and shed His blood and died on a cross for your sins and mine.
Whenever you are going through a crisis in your personal life, or your work, or your church, or wherever, God is there. He promised He would never leave you. He sees what you are going through. Then he next thing we see is…
Jesus CAME to Them (Vs 50-51)
A God who allows you to get into the trouble you may need, and understands all about that trouble, is also going to come to you IN that trouble.
There is an important usage of the words here. The phrase "went out to them" in the Greek. It is only used of the present, or imperfect tense; which simply means there is no end to the action. Jesus went to them, and kept on going to them. He didn’t stop! And He never stops. Whenever you’ve got problems, there’s no stopping Jesus. If He has to, He’ll even walk on water to get to you!
He SENT them out; He SAW them in their trouble; He COMES to us and …
He SENDS for us so the He can SAVE us
Now Matthew gives a more detailed account of this story. If you remember this is the account of Peter saying, “Lord if it is You, command me to come to You on the water” So He said “Come”
And He still is sending out that same invitation today, Come! If you are here this morning, and you have never entered into that personal relationship with Jesus Christ by accepting Him as your personal Savior, then He invites you to come. It doesn’t matter whether you are in a crisis right now in your life or not.
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
The minute that Jesus came to them, the storm ceased. Now, once again, I am not saying that if you have the right relation with Christ then all of your storms will cease. That life will be happy ever after.
Was the storm stopped when Peter got out of the boat to come to Jesus? No! He was still in the middle of the storm.
Matthew 14:29-31 So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
Now Peter did walk on the water. You do have to give him the credit there. But I was only when he took his eyes off of Jesus and onto the storm when he got himself in trouble.
Where are your eyes at this morning? Are you looking at your problems or are you looking at Christ? Just as Jesus saved Peter in his storm, He wants to save you as well.
The most important thing you need to remember is that you need to enter into that personal relationship with Him. As I read before, He is knocking at your hearts door, but YOU have to let Him in. He will not force the door open.
If you have already entered that personal relationship with Him by accepting Him as your Savior, then when the crises of life come your way and they will. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Remember He sent you there. He knows what you are going through and He has promised us that He will not allow us to go through more than we can bear. And just as He comes to us, He invites us to come to Him so that He can either get us through the storm, or He can calm the storm for us.
Let’s Pray
