Fearless #1
The first church I went to as a child had a bully in it. It was the preacher’s son. His name was Johnny and I remember he wore a leather jacket just like every bully wears. He had greasy black hair too. Johnny was an intimidator and generally tried to terrify the kids who were younger and smaller than him. I remember meeting him in the halls of the church a few times and being scared.
There’s another bully that prowls around our life constantly – the bully we call fear. And like every bully fear exaggerates its power, it shouts threats and warnings, and keeps us on edge, making us watch our every move.
The other day I was talking to someone who felt that they could have a ministry and an impact on children but what holds them back? Fear. Fear of what? Fear of being accused by a child of doing something inappropriate and that accusation turning their life upside down. That is the kind of culture we live in today.
- We fear the swine flu
- We fear terrorism
- We fear going broke
- We fear that our investments won’t allow us to retire
- We fear cancer
- We fear that DuPont will move out of the valley
- We fear staying where we are and we fear going somewhere else
- We fear not living up to expectations
- We fear not being in the popular group
And when the bully fear moves in everything else moves out. Fear and happiness cannot live in the same heart. Fear and clear thinking cannot live in the same body. Fear and confidence cannot coexist.
Fear never cured a disease.
Fear never brought a family out of poverty.
Fear never fought a war.
Fear never saved a marriage.
Fear leaves us curled up in a fetal position. Fear always takes the easy way out. Fear always plays it safe. And fear lets everyone else do the living while we do the existing
Fear is a bully lurking in the hallways of life telling us to retreat and go another way.
I am, for one, sick and tired of bullies. I, for one, have given way too much ground to the bully of fear. That bully has shouted at me, “go back, you will fail, they will leave, no one wants you, don’t rock the boat…”
What if we could live FEARLESS? What if we could face the Johnny’s of our life and confront them instead of running from them? What if we used the sword of Spirit (the Word) and the shield of faith to cause the bully to run? That is what these next six weeks will be about. We will confront our fears and the bullies that lie behind them.
Let’s begin today in Matthew 8:23-27 also recorded in Mark 4:36-41.
Matthew 8:23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!"
26He 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.
27The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
Let’s look at this part by part….
Matthew 8:23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat.
Matthew remembers this day; it started like many other days. But this day included quite a bit of activity Matthew wasn’t use to seeing. In chapter 8 we have a leper who skin is eaten up with sores and missing fingers and putrid smelling suddenly grow new skin at the command of Jesus and become clean again.
In the same chapter we have a servant who was near death instantly healed by Jesus. Even peter’s mother in law is healed of a fever.
So this is no ordinary day. And now Jesus tells his disciples to get into a boat. How many times had these fishermen been in a boat before? I am sure they were thinking, “Now here is something we can do! We can’t grow toes but we know how to sail a boat!”
But what Matthew remembers is that this time a gigantic storm arose.
Matthew uses the words, “furious storm” but in the Greek language of the bible the word is “seismos.” This word means quaking, an eruption of the sky and of the sea… Maybe a three on the Richter scale! Only two other times in the whole bible is this word used; once when Jesus died and the earth shook and at the other when Jesus rose from the grave yard and the earth shook.
This was no ordinary “we can handle it” kind of storm. This storm was pushing hard even the most experienced of sailors. They were sitting ducks out in the middle of a lake with no recourse, no solutions, totally at the mercy of whatever happened next.
Have you ever been there? Being at the mercy of what happens next?
- At the mercy of the company/boss you work for?
- At the mercy of the judge presiding over your case
- At the mercy of your spouse calling you back?
- At the mercy the bank or credit company?
- At the mercy of your parents to help you out?
The waves are coming over the boat and it’s only a matter of time. Wave after wave of bills, waves of discouragement, waves of heartache. We think, “if one more wave hits me I am sunk…”
- If he comes home one more time drunk
- If they cut any more hours from work
- If she creates one more problem for us
We have been there, and maybe we are there right now…your whole world shaking…
And notice this…
Matthew 8:23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat.
The storm came suddenly and w/o warning. Some storms we can see coming but some storms just arrive without warning.
A young man in our congregation went to Cedarville University with his heart set on joining the touring musical group from the university called, “heart song.” His school financial package and his ability to pay for college was wrapped up in getting on heartsong. After all the auditions he missed the cut. A storm arose in his life. It was emotional, it was rejection, it was financial. He wanted to leave the school but the wise counsel of his parents kept him there. A couple of weeks later one of the members who made heartsong had to drop out and they came back to Michael and asked if he would still consider joining the group.
But stories don’t always have a happy ending. I have watched over and over again a storm come out of nowhere. The storm of cancer, the storm of death, the storm other a rebellious child, the storm of divorce, the storm of adultery, storm of job loss.
While the disciples were trying to handle the storm what is Jesus doing?
Matthew 8:24 But Jesus was sleeping.
Jesus was asleep. Laying in the protected part of the boat, curled up on a net with his head on a leather bag filled with sand, he was fast asleep. That is weird. He must have been pretty tired. Can you sleep on a roller coaster? Apparently, because Jesus was.
The disciples wake him…25The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!"
Mark 4:38 “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
They don’t ask about Jesus miracle working power, “Can you still this?”
They don’t ask about his know how, “is there something we can do?”
They blame him for not caring – look at the words they use! They order him to “save them” from their imminent drowning.
This is what fear does…
1. Fear corrodes our confidence and god’s goodness. Does god really care if he can sleep while there’s a storm going on in our life? Fear unleashes a swarm of doubt.
- fear diminishes Jesus, makes Him appear weak, confused , His hands tied, his tongue stilled.
2. Fear turns us in the control freaks. They demand and command Jesus to save them. When we think that we have lost control we experience fear at its greatest level. When things are spinning out of control we will grab for what ever we think we can handle even if it’s the armrest of a plane that is going to crash. And the more insecure we feel, the meaner we get.
3. Feared deadens our recall. Fear creates a form of spiritual amnesia and we forget all the great things we have seen god do. The disciples had just witnessed miracles and now they can’t even remember one of them.
4. Fear sucks the life out of us. When we fear safety becomes our god. God becomes an afterthought. The fearful cannot dream, the fearful cannot love, the fearful cannot give. Fearful people are like some of the houses that I see in Parkersburg that once thrived with a family but now stand empty and abandoned.
You’ve never heard these statements:
- My phobias put such a spring in my step
- I’d be a rotten parent were it not for my hypochondria
- Thank god for my pessimism. I’ve been such a better person since I lost hope.
- My Dr. says if I don’t begin worrying, I’ll lose my health.
- Taking the easy way out has turned my life around!
- Not trusting God is one of the best decisions I have ever made!
The one good thing that their helplessness and fear did was to turn them to the only one who could help. Storms have a way of taking back to Jesus.
26He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"
I remember as a kid watching “the twilight zone.” Do you know which episodes really freaked me out? It was the one that featured the child with the doll and the doll had a life of its own. He would show up on the steps to trip people, it would begin to speak in the middle of night to the father, the father tried to cut the doll in half but he couldn’t cut through it and adult just kept saying, “mama…”
Very spooky. And then there were the episodes with a ventriloquist doll’s who also came alive at night in their boxes and did freaky things.
After watching stuff like that I would tiptoe around the house because I knew one of those dolls was waiting somewhere to get me.
The first time I saw the “Exorcist” it was the same thing. You creep around thinking that some demon is about to jump out and take your soul.
On a especially spooky nights all of us have gone into our parents’ room and wanted to climb into bed with them. And we would wonder “how could they sleep at a time like this?” There is danger lurking, there are dolls conniving, their are demons in the closets and here they sleep soundly. And they walk confidently through the house with no fear!
Maybe that’s how god views our storms, like our parents viewed our fear of dolls that were out to get us. “Why are you so afraid?”
26He 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.
27The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
Fear is a bully. One thing it that I have learned about bullies is that they’re not as tough as they appear to be.
I met Johnny Beal in the hallway one day and I knew what was coming. There he was dressed in his black leather jacket, slicked back hair…the Fonzie look. He mouthed something and I touched him with my Bible and his arm started to smoke and he began screaming “get away from me Oh holy one…”
Not really…
This time when I met Johnny I had a brother with me. A bigger brother. A brother with some muscle. A brother who took care of Johnny. The halls were strangely peaceful after that.
There’s a lesson in there. Fear goes away when someone is walking with you, when your relative is Jesus.
When you follow Jesus and he tells you to get into a boat shouldn’t we expect smooth sailing? Isn’t it supposed to be good feelings, good times, no problem, singing “I just feel like something good is about to happen?”
When god brought me to this church he told me to get into the boat called liberty street and take this boat to another place was I foolish enough to think that there would never be a storm? Did I really think that would just be smooth sailing? John 16:33 “in this world you will have tribulation.”
But god wasn’t wanting me to discover how good of a sailor I can be to navigate through the storms, God wanted me to know how great of a God Jesus is.
When the waves are coming over the edge and we were wondering if we could hold on we found out that Jesus was in the boat with us.
It’s not about the storm, it’s all about who you discover in the storm.
We are going through a time right now with 2 kids in college and the money is tight. And then a wave hits- the transmission needs work…and then another wave hits in an unexpected bill…wave after wave BUT there is someone in the boat with me who has the power to calm the storm.
It’s not about the storm, it’s all about who you discover in the storm.
And there is the couple who met a tidal wave when they lost their child suddenly to death or faced the miscarriage…but Jesus didn’t want them to navigate through that grief alone…He was in the boat with them.
It’s not about the storm, it’s all about who you discover in the storm.
Maybe this a good moment to ask if you have invited Jesus into your boat or have you set off sailing w/o Him?
Jesus made 125 commands in the NT and by far most of them, 21, had to do with not being afraid.
Matt. 10:31 So don’t be afraid. You are worth much more than many sparrows.
Matt. 9:2 take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.
Matt. 6:25 I’d tell you not to worry about everyday life – whether you have enough.
Matt. 14:27 take courage, I am here!
Matt. 10:28 do not fear those who kill the body that cannot kill the soul.
Luke 8:50 Don’t be afraid. Just believe, and your daughter will be well.
It’s not about the storm, it’s all about who you discover in the storm.
Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
I have discovered Jesus in the storm. The storm is where you usually discover Jesus. Because in the storm we need Jesus. In the storm we need a savior. In the storm we need to get to know the one who when he speaks his words bring calm to our souls and bring calm to the storm that is around us. In the storm prayer gets more real…in the storm the Bible becomes more valuable…in the storm brothers and sisters become more important…and in the storm is where we see Jesus show up in all of those.
I have discovered Jesus in the storm…in the storm Jesus
- Gives strength to hang in and hang on
- Gives insight to make the next move
- Does miracles
- Loves me
- Brings people to my aid
- Gives peace
- Plugs leaks
- Never leaves me or forsakes me
The disciples asked, “what kind of man is this? Even the winds and waves obey him!”
We know the answer to that one… His name is Jesus. Your best friend, your savior, the one who will deliver you, the miracle worker, your comforter, god in the flesh, the way, the truth and the life.
It’s not about the storm, it’s all about who you discover in the storm.
Where you are today is no accident. Maybe it was your own short sightedness that got you there, maybe it is an attack of Satan, maybe it just happened.
Awaken the Savior. Call out to Jesus. Discover His peace, discover the power of His word, discover his will and his way.
I know this BIG Faith = a BIG Jesus / Small faith = a small Jesus
