Theme: Jesus calms the storm
Text: 1 Sam. 17:32-49; 2 Cor. 6:1-13; Mk. 4:35-41
The Scriptures declare that Jesus Christ is God. John begins with the words “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. God, the Word, became flesh and lived among us. His perfect life and sacrifice made our salvation possible so that we could live His life. We become Christians when we believe the good news and He empowers us to live His life. Unfortunately there is a big difference between our lives and the life of Christ. It appears we either do not know His Word, or we do not believe His Word. Sometimes we even change His words or interpret them the way it suits us. The result is we end up living lives that are contrary to the Word of God instead of lives that are according to His Words. As Christians we are often affirming our belief in Christ while living in a way that says another thing about us. It is only by living in accordance with the Word of God that we overcome the storms we face in life.
There is nobody in the world that will not face a storm during his or her life. These storms are often directed at our families, our health, our kids, our job, or at our finances. The effects of the storm however, depend on how prepared we are to deal with them. We cannot deal with the storms of life by ourselves. We need the help of the One who overcame all storms, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We need to enter into a relationship with Him and this begins by hearing the gospel. The gospel has within it the faith we need to believe. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” Rom. 10:17. The Word of God imparts faith to the hearers so that they can believe the gospel and be saved by His grace “For by grace we have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). We cannot boast of our salvation because we did not do anything to deserve it. We receive it only because of what God has done for us. All that we needed for salvation came from God so it is only logical that all that we need for our new life will also have to come from Him. We live our new life by grace. The grace of God means much more that God’s undeserved favour. It also refers to God’s enabling power in our lives to overcome sin.
Grace saves us and empowers to live the life of Christ.
The Christian experience is from start to finish, a journey of faith. Through faith we come into possession of a new life and through it we walk in this new life. But today many Christians would rather believe the advertisements they see or hear about than believe what the Word of God declares. It really appears that we are prepared to believe anything but the Word of God. If, for example, your boss were to promise you a raise in salary, you would believe him and not question it and go home rejoicing. So why do we question what God says? It is because the devil is busy trying to convince man to believe what is contrary to the word of God. Once Satan can get us to believe what is contrary to the Word of God he has won a victory over us and brought us under his influence. When Saul chose to act contrary to the Word of God by choosing to please the people rather than to obey God he came under the control of the devil and the kingdom was taken from him and given to David. David showed his love for God by his total reliance on Him when he faced Goliath. The just shall live by faith and as Christians we are to have the mindset of Christ and act in accordance with the Word of God. We cannot say we are His children and continue to do what we want. If we love the Lord our desire would be to please Him.
In the course of our lives there are many storms that will come up that are orchestrated by evil forces. Their purpose is to make us miserable and finally destroy us. The believer however, should see such storms as challenges and an opportunity to exercise their faith. Faith believes the Word and leads to an opportunity to exercise the authority and power that Christ has restored to us. “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you” Luke 10:19. The exercise of our faith and authority gives us the opportunity to celebrate the victory of Christ over the devil and over evil.
Christ faced many challenges in His life but He was always victorious. In today’s gospel reading, after a long day of teaching and deliverance, Jesus gave His disciples a command that was also a word of promise, to go to the opposite shore. As the ship left Capernaum, Jesus who was weary, went to sleep. While Jesus slept Satan decided to frustrate their efforts in the hope of preventing them from going to the other shore. Satan was definitely behind this severe storm in an attempt to hinder Jesus and His disciples from reaching the demonised man at Gadara. The only way he could do this was to make them believe what was contrary to the Word of God. So he made the winds to blow and a storm to come up so that the boat began to fill with water. All these were meant for the disciples to believe what was contrary to what Christ had said. And he was successful in that the disciples who were seasoned fishermen became afraid. They were so frightened that they woke Jesus up and begged Him to rescue them. They could have behaved like Jesus who just kept on sleeping through the storm confident that His Father was completely in control. The real problem with the disciples was not the wind and the storm but believing what was contrary to the Word of God. Have you faced a storm in your life or maybe you are even facing a storm at the moment? There is no one, and the Christian is not exempted, who will not face a storm during his or her life. If you have not faced a storm in your life you will definitely face one and how you deal with the storm is of crucial importance.
The only way to deal with the storms of life is to know the source of the problem. Jesus saw things as they really were and not as they appeared to be. He was able to discern the spiritual forces that were shaping the visible lives of the people on earth. In every situation we face in the world we need to act in accordance with the Word of God and not contrary to the Word of God. We need to understand that the Lord is able to help us and that He wants to help us. We need to understand and believe that Christ has power over the wind and the waves and that He can still the storm and calm the troubled waters. But we also have to understand that we need to trust Him and live a life of faith. When we proclaim the Word of God they fulfil their purpose. In the words of Christ “the Words that He speaks to us are spirit and life”. When as believers we speak His word it is as if they have been spoken by Christ Himself.
Satan’s main task and desire is to prevent God from being glorified. Whenever God is not glorified in a person’s life, in a Church, in a city, or in the world as a whole, Satan has in that degree accomplished his objective. He enjoys it when human beings and human society are as miserable as possible. He has come to steal, to kill and to destroy. Wars, poverty, oppression, sickness, racism, greed and similar evils do not bring glory to God. And this is why Jesus came into the world to seek and save the lost and wherever He went He destroyed the works of the devil. After destroying the works of the devil in many lives, Jesus desired to extend His activities further and so He decided to go into the country of the Gadarenes. The Gadarenes had backslidden so far that they were even keeping pigs that were forbidden by the Jewish law. Their lives were such that they were actually living outside the blessings of God and the area had become Satan’s stronghold. It was therefore no wonder that the strongest demoniac Christ dealt with, a man possessed by over 2000 demons, was found there. It is obvious that the enemy would not want God to be glorified in the land neither in the demon possessed man and the best way to prevent this was to prevent Jesus from reaching the place. The storm Jesus and His disciples encountered on that day was no ordinary storm. The disciples however, had a word from Christ. All they needed was faith. We can always rest peacefully because no storm can prevent the fulfilment of God’s purposes.
God has made provision so that the storms of life do not overwhelm or destroy us. When Christ died on the cross it was not only to pay the penalty for sin by taking our place but also to make available to us all that belonged to Him. We are now identified with Him. As the Scriptures declare when He died we died with Him. When He was buried, we were buried with Him. When He was made alive, we were made alive with Him. When He rose from the dead, we rose with Him. When He ascended into heaven to be at the Father’s right hand, we ascended with Him. We now have authority over the enemy seeking to destroy us. We need to know who we are in Christ and 1 John 4:17 declares “As He is so also are we in this world”. Our relationship with Christ is crucial for a successful Christian life. As Christ’s disciples are we living His life? Are we manifesting His power and authority to overcome challenges in our lives? Let our lives glorify the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!
