THREE LEVELS OF FEAR IN THE MIDST OF THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD
Mark 4:35-40
[I had posted this sermon a few weeks ago on here, but am reposting it after several revisions I had made to it.]
INTRODUCTION:
1.) This morning I want us to see an account of a great miracle that Jesus performed on the Sea of Galilee.
2.) I know that the account we are going to look at is one we are very familiar with, and perhaps because of our familiarity with the account we may even miss the main detail in this account.
3.) Today, I want us to see three levels of fear these apostles had on the Sea of Galilee in the midst of the very presence and power of God.
4.) The background to this passage of Scripture is that the Pharisees had just accused Jesus of using the power of Satan to cast out demons.
A.) Jesus then gave many teachings to the people.
B.) as evening came, Jesus dismissed the crowds and here on the Sea of Galilee Jesus performs a miracle for the apostles that would leave no doubt in their minds that the miracles he was performing was by the power of God alone.
I. THE APOSTLES WERE FACED WITH THE FEAR OF THE STORM.
1.) A furious squall came up.
--Mark 4:37
A.) Those who work on the water, are used to storms and rough seas.
aa.) For anyone working on the water, high winds and seas are just part of the perils that go along with the job.
ab.) The Psalmist spoke of the ocean, and of working on the sea, and the power of God as it is displayed in the powers of the deep.
aba.) Psalm 107:23-27
B.) The Sea of Galilee often experiences storms.
ba.) The geography around the Sea of Galilee is such that when storms come they are often very sudden with little or no warning, and many times rapidly become very severe literally in just a matter of minutes.
bb.) On both the Eastern and Western sides of the Sea of Galilee there are high mountain steeps with the Sea itself being 700 feet below sea level.
bba.) The extreme contrast in geography makes for some very sudden and severe storms when the winds come down the mountain steeps and into the Sea.
bbb.) Certainly the New Testament Scriptures many times describe of such storms on this sea.
bbc.) Many of the fishing boats on this Sea have been greatly challenged in the storms.
C.) In more recent years the discovery has been made of an ancient fishing boat from around the time of Jesus.
ca.) In the winter of1986 after several years of drought an old abandoned fishing boat was found in the silty bottom of the Sea of Galilee.
cb.) That particular boat would have been typical of the fishing boats used in that area when Jesus walked on this earth, and up to about a century ago.
cc.) This particular boat would have been 27 feet in length, 7 ½ feet in width, and about 4.3 feet deep, and after twelve years of preservation has been put on permanent display in a museum.
cd.) Carbon-dating on this boat has dated it between 120 B.C., and A.D.40. (http://www.seetheholyland.net/jesus-boat/).
ce.) This particular boat was a fishing boat, but it was also one that could accommodate up to 15 people in the boat.
cea.) Certainly in that day without engines and machinery they needed more men on the boats to haul up the nets.
ceb.) On more than one occasion the New Testament Scriptures record Jesus and the twelve disciples getting into one or two fishing boats to cross the Sea.
cf.) Certainly, this boat that was discovered would have been typical of the style of fishing boats that would have been used by Jesus and the twelve.
cg.) It is also possible that many of the fishing boats would have been much smaller than this particular boat, and therefore would find it quite a challenge in the midst of one of these storms on the Sea.
2.) The waves came over the boat.
-- Mark 4:37
A.) As fishermen, I am sure this is a sight they had seen and experienced many times before.
B.) But this time the waves continued to keep coming over the bow of the boat.
ba.) Picture the scene: As the waves continue to break over the bow of the boat the men are bailing the boat, tending the sails and manning the oars trying to get back to shore.
baa.) No matter how hard these men worked at staying afloat, the situation only continued to get worse and more and more hopeless.
bb.) This experience on the sea brought them to something new.
bba.) Now the issue was no longer just fear of the sea, but they were faced with an even greater fear, and that was the fear of death.
II. THE APOSTLES HAD TO FACE THEIR FEAR OF DEATH.
1.) The boat was being swamped.
A.) It was no longer just the waves coming over the boat.
B.) Now the boat was starting to fill with water.
C.) It was beginning to look as though this might be the day, that the water would prove greater than either the boat they were in, or their own ability to manoeuver through the storm.
ca.) It was beginning to look as though this could be the day they would be going to the bottom of the sea and to a watery grave.
D.) It was only at this point that their focus turned to Christ.
da.) Where was Jesus?
2.) Jesus was asleep on the stern.
-- Mark 4:38
A.) To the best of my knowledge, this is the only time the Scriptures ever speaks of Jesus being asleep.
B.) At this time, Jesus had been doing a great deal of teaching, and miracles and was exhausted from it all and lay back to be rocked asleep in the waves of the sea.
ba.) This cushion Jesus was on was certainly no lush cushion as we might like to imagine it.
bb.) Tony Benson in his article: The Galilee Boat describes the cushion as follows: "As for the cushion, the definite article indicates that the reference is to a standard part of the boat’s equipment, and the reference is thought to be to a sand-filled bag used for ballast, as still used by Arab sailors a century ago and called by them either a ballast sack or a ballast pillow, according to size. Such would be stowed out of the way in the space under the stern platform when not being used, and would therefore have been available for Jesus to have rested his head on."
(http://www.testimony- magazine.org/back/Special_Issues/Oct90/art20.htm)
2.) “Teacher, don’t you care that we drown.
-- Mark 4:38
A.) The Apostles were now faced with a new fear—the fear of death.
aa.) Any fear they had already experienced form the storm was now replaced with their greater fear of dying.
B.) Anyone who works on the water long enough eventually comes to experience this same fear at the force of the wind and waves, and of a boat taking on water.
C.) We all know this account and that that Jesus stilled the wind and the waves.
ca.) In many ways this point of the account would be a great place to close this message, and to say they lived happily ever after with a nice story book ending.
cb.) But to leave it at this spot we would miss the main point of this account.
cba.) the main point of this passage of Scripture is not that Jesus had calmed the wind and the waves.
cc.) You see, the greatest thing that happened in this account was not the miracle on nature, but the miracle Christ performed in the hearts of these men.
III. THE APOSTLES HAD TO ALSO COME FACE TO FACE WITH THE FEAR OF BEING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
1.) The peace of God was there in that boat.
A.) Through Christ, God had just performed one of the greatest miracles that had ever been performed on this planet.
aa.) By merely the spoken word, Jesus gave orders to the very forces of nature and brought the peace of God onto the wind and the waves.
B.) At this moment, most in that boat were not experiencing the peace of God.
ba.) These men were face to face with the power of nature at its worst, and were in great fear that this would be the day they would lose their lives to the sea.
C.) In fact, the only one in this account who was experiencing the peace of God was the One who was God in the Flesh – Jesus the Christ.
ca.) Having within himself the peace of God, Jesus had been able to sleep in the stern of the boat while everyone else panicked with the fear of death.
2.) The Power of God was there in that boat.
--Mark 4:39
A.) Jesus rebuked the wind.
B.) Jesus rebuked the waves.
C.) Instantly the wind died down and it was completely calm.
ca.) To go back again to Ps. 107 we find words that very much remind us of this account in the Gospels.
caa.) Ps. 107:28-29
cb.) Anyone used to the water would have been shocked at this. Even if the winds immediately died down, it would often take as much as a day or more for the waves to die down.
cc.) Yet here the power of God brought instantly the Peace of God on all of nature.
cca.) Within seconds the scene changed from violence on the sea to a quiet glass-like surface on the sea.
D.) This dramatic display of the power of God could have brought these men to experience the peace of God with the storm and the sea ended.
da.) They had that which they had desired in the state of peaceful calm on the sea.
db.) With God granting their request and giving the desires of their heart you would think they would be now very happy, and content.
dba.) In reality, what they experienced was the very opposite for something else was there in that boat.
3.) The fear of God was there in that boat.
-- Mark 4:40-41
A.) Jesus had calmed by the words of his mouth the wind and the waves.
aa.) The peaceful calm that had come upon nature did not come on these fishermen and Apostles of Christ.
B.) The men said: “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him?”
ba.) At that moment the fear these men had experienced from the wind, the waves, and even the possibility of their own death was replaced with a fear greater than any they had ever experienced in life.
baa.) These men now faced the realization and fear that they were in the very presence of God.
bab.) These men were now so afraid they could not even talk to Jesus, but rather talked to each other about Jesus.
bb.) These men more than any others had known some of who Jesus was.
bba.) These men had heard more of the teachings of Jesus, and had seen more of his miracles than any of the other people.
bb.) They had at least some concept of who Jesus was.
bc.) But this day they experienced Jesus as they had never experienced him before.
C.)Anytime the Word of God describes man in the presence of God, man is always overcome with terror.
ca.) Even though these men had walked and talked and fellowshipped with Jesus many times this was the first time they had really seen Him.
cb.) Now before them was not just their friend, Master, Teacher or Messiah; Instead, they realized for probably the first time they were standing in the presence of God.
cc.) with that knowledge these men were experiencing fear greater than anything they had ever experienced in life.
CONCLUSION:
1.) As I close this message this morning there is one thing I want to happen.
A.) I want you to see Jesus!
2.) Don’t just see Him as you have always seen Him.
A.) Don’t just casually look at Him. Don’t just see Him as your friend, your teacher, or even your Messiah.
B.) Don’t even just look at Him as the one who died on a cross for you. Do not misunderstand me. I am in no ways undermining the great work that Jesus did on a cross.
C.) But look even beyond that. Realize today that in the person of Jesus you are standing in the very presence of God.
ca.) If you can leave here with that vision of Christ today, then like these Apostles of old you will leave here today in the fear and reverence of being in the presence of God.
cb.) May we leave here today not seeing Jesus as we have always seen Him, but may we leave here conscious of the presence and Power of God.
