Have you ever gotten a pop quiz? (ELAB)
In todays text The disciples are about to get a pop quiz. John 6:16-21
• What we see is that have just been through an incredible day.
• After sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing Him teach the multitude,
• They watched Him feed over 5,000 people with five bagels and two sardines.
• This wasn’t a Trick (ELAB)
• And when it was over and everybody had eatin as much as they wanted
• They picked up twelve bags full of leftovers.
That was the lesson for the day.
• It was a lesson about the power of Jesus
• And it was a lesson about His sufficiency.
• And Now that they have been exposed to the lesson,
• It's time for the quiz.
• And The quiz comes in the shape of a strong wind.
DISCIPLES IN THE STORM. (John 6:16-18).
Jesus and His disciples had been on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
• The disciples then got on their boat and start across to the northwestern shore
• It is a distance of about five miles.
• And while it may seem like that the disciples
• Had abandoned Jesus and left Him behind
• What we're doing is reading more into the text than is really there
• We have to compare this account with the account that we read in
• Mark 6:45-46 where it says
Mk 6:45 Immediately after this, (Talking about the feeding) that Jesus made his disciples get back into the boat and head out across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home.
Mk 6:46 Afterward he went up into the hills by himself to pray.
He sent them away.
• Jesus told His disciples to do something and they did it.
• And in the middle of doing what they were told
• They found themselves in the middle of a storm. (The Quiz)
And the question for today is Are you in the middle of a storm right now?
• You may be thinking to yourself, "Lord, what did I do to deserve this?"
• And sometimes what makes a situation even harder is that
• It’s possible that you haven’t done anything wrong (ELAB)
• And even though you have been faithful
• You still find yourself in the middle of a storm.
And if you are I want you to know that you aren't alone
• Now if the disciples were paying attention they would have realized
• That this wasn't the first time they were caught in a storm
• They’d been here before ---Maybe even in the same boat
The first time this had had happened
• They had been in the same spot on the lake
• And the boat had begun to sink
• So they woke up Jesus who had been sleeping in the back of the boat
• And Jesus calmed the storm.
And now it was happening all over again
• So We can imagine Peters first response is
• No problem I’ll just go wake Jesus up
• He can turn the storm off!"
• And John answers, "Uhh Peter, we have a bit of problem.
• Ya see We left Jesus back on the shore."
• And to make matters worse, They had taken the only boat.
So What do you do when you are alone in the middle of the storm?
• Well we know one thing and that’s Jesus knows what we’re going through.
• But sometimes no matter how hard you look sometimes ya just can’t see Him.
But through all this I believe that there was something in the boat
• That should have comforted the disciples.
• And that was the 12 baskets of leftovers
• And the reason that I feel that this should have comforted them
• Was because it showed them the power and the compassion of God.
• When they looked at those baskets,
• They should have realized that the God who provided for the needs of all those people
• Is the same God that wouldn’t fail them in the middle of this storm
And when it comes down to aren’t we guilty of the same thing.
• God blesses us in so many ways
• But whenever we get caught up in Life's Storms -----We forget.
• This is why we are instructed to remind one another.
(John 6:19-20).
The disciples had found themselves dealing with a strong wind.
• Our translation tells us that they "rowed,"
• But when we think about the term oars
• We have to remember that these were massive oars that were used to pilot these ships through storms
• The point isn’t so much the method repetitive rowing
• But the fact that it involved heavy toil on the part of the disciples.(It was work)
Now something we need to understand is that The Sea of Galilee is 600 feet below sea level
• And at the same time it’s surrounded on the east and west by mountains and steep valleys.
• And Because of this these mountains and valleys would act like a wind tunnel
• And it would cause the cold air to come rushing down from the heights above,
• And cause it to whipping across the water
• In the middle of these winds and the cold and the darkness
• The disciples suddenly see someone walking on the water
Now there are 3 things we can see in this encounter
1The first thing we see is the Reason for the Walk:
• Why did Jesus come walking on the water?
• This is more than the old chicken crossing the road answer
• Of He wanted to get to the other side.
Jesus was walking on the water because He wanted to teach the disciples something.
• But the question is what / What did He want to teach them
• It wasn't to teach the disciples how to walk on water.
• Because Bible they never Walked on water after this
• And most people running around today
• That claim they can perform miracles have a real problem with this one.
The reason that Jesus was walking on the water was to prove that He can.
• Jesus can always do the impossible.
• But why did the disciples need to know this?
And the reason was because He was going to send them out to do the impossible,.
• Jesus is going to give them the commission to make disciples of all men in every land.
• And this sounds Impossible!
Mainly for the fact that these men weren’t natural born leaders.
• They’re weren’t seminary graduates.
• They didn’t have degrees
• But these men would go on to accomplish the impossible.
• Because as we have learned that with God, all things are possible
But why do we need to know this?
• And the reason is because God has called us to do the impossible.
• He has called us to be a witness for Him.
• He has called us to make Christ to the world.
• And He has shown us that this is possible because He is with us.
2. The second thing we see is the Fear of the Disciples:
• They were terrified (6:19). (Elab on would you be)
• It had been a long day.
• They were wet / tired.
• And because of the storm they were ready for a break.
• But nowhere do we read that they had been afraid until now.
They had faced storms in the past.
• And they didn't really bother them
• But now there’s something else that is troubling them.
• And that would be the sight of Jesus walking on the sea.
These disciples weren’t ignorant.
• They knew they were in some deep water / Dealing with a Problem
• But in the middle of all this
• The one thing that they were sure about was that
• It’s impossible for a man to walk on water.
• There was something going on right in front of them
• That went against every bit of human reason / human experience.
• Here they could see Jesus doing the impossible.
And What is their reaction? They were Scared.
• They’ re frightened because they realized
• That there was something happening that was greater
• Than they could imagine
• And They were frightened in a way that the storm could never frighten them.
But What was it about this situation that frightened them so much?
• They were frightened by the Holiness of Jesus.
• What does it mean to be holy?
• The term "holy" often brings up images of Divine goodness and serenity,
• But I think this falls short of the real meaning of the word.
Holiness refers to the way in which God is holy.
• He is set apart and distinct from all the rest of His creation.
• The sixth chapter of Isaiah tells us of Isaiah’s heavenly vision of the Lord
Isa 6:2-3 Hovering around him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the remaining two they flew. Isa 6:3 In a great chorus they sang, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty! The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
Isaiah’ reaction to this vision is compelling.
Isa 6:5 Then I said, “My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD Almighty!” (Isaiah 6:5).
Isaiah realizes that He is in the presence of something
• That is way beyond him
• He realizes that he and the rest of humanity fall way short of such holiness.
• And this is the same thing that the disciples realize
• They realize that there is One in their presence
• That exceeds human understanding and it frightens them.
• Think about it how you would feel (ELAB)
These disciples saw Jesus doing what the ordinary man couldn’t do
• They saw it and it filled them with fear.
• And It’s at this point that Jesus calls out to them and tells them, Not to be afraid
Which bring us to The 3rd thing and that is they are TOGETHER IN THE BOAT (John 6:21).
• What we see here is that when we get past the fear,
• Then and only then we can come to Jesus
• When you come to Jesus, all the problems that you have don’t seem so bad.
So the question we need to as today is what’s your storm? What are you struggling with?
• The storm of acceptance? / security?
• The storm of aging? / significance?
• The storm of loneliness?
What we need to understand that when storms strike
• We need to invite Jesus into our boat,
• And when we do this we realize that our problems aren’t so bad.
When we invite Jesus into our boat we find that we’ve been
• Accepted in Christ.
• Given eternal security.
•Given the opportunity to accomplish what we were designed to accomplish.
• Given the Promise that He will be with us both now and forever.
Looking back, each one of us can see that there was a reason for the storm.
• The storm was given as a test.
• The storm reveals what we are depending on
• Are you depending upon your own strength?
• Or are you depending upon the One who can calm the storm
As we close I want us to remember what we can learn from this passage.
1. If you follow Jesus, there will be storms.
• We need to be careful to make this clear to people.
• There are times when, we share the gospel,
• That we make it sound if we just trust in Jesus
• That there will never storms again.
But This isn’t true
• What is true is that we have the love and the care
• From the One who calms the storm.
2. Jesus never denies the reality of the storm.
• He doesn’t say, "Don’t worry, the storm isn’t that bad."
• He doesn’t say Anything to indicate that the storm is small.
• What He does is to show that He is bigger than the storm.
• God is bigger than any of our storms
3. The purpose of the storm is to get us to realize that God
Is and always will be the Master of the storm.
