Introduction
When Anne and I were much younger, we use to fly a lot. And I was always amazed as I looked about the plane’s cabin at the number of people who could sleep while the plane was in the air. No matter how much I tried to go to sleep on a plane, I just couldn’t. Anne could, I couldn’t. One day, as we were flying, I finally figured out why I had this problem of not being able to rest on a plane. In my senior year in high school, I took physics, I could not understand it; it was like they were talking a foreign language; and I failed it miserably. So, to this day, I don’t understand the physics as to how planes can fly, and therefore, I have no trust in that planes fly even though I see them flying. Secondly, I don’t know the pilot. I don’t know if he graduated 1st in pilot school, or if he passed by the skin of his teeth or if he had a relative that pushed him through aviation school. And it is because I do not know the pilot that I don’t have any trust in the pilot. And then it hit me. Where you have no trust, you have no rest.
Jesus tells us in the New Testament in Matthew 11:28 (NIV) 28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. And some of us, although God has promised us rest, are not resting. And I know why. There is some area or multiple areas of our life where you are not trusting God. And where there is no trust; there is no rest.
So, I set out to discover what I could find in the Bible about the relationship between resting and trusting. I got to be honest with you; I struggle with rest because there are areas that I struggle with trusting. So, this message was important for me to find out about the relationship between resting and trusting.
Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 8:23-27 (NKJV).
Scripture
Matthew 8:23-27 (NKJV).
23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.
24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.
25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!"
26 But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27 So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
Point #1
JESUS AND HIS APOSTLES ARE BOTH IN THE SAME BOAT GOING THROUGH THE SAME STORM, BUT THEIR DIFFERENT RESPONSE IS THE RESULT IN WHOM THEY ARE TRUSTING.
23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.
24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.
25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!"
In this Scripture, you can obviously see that Jesus and His Apostles are in same boat, they are experiencing the same storm, but they end up with two completely different responses to the storm. I believe the different reactions are a result in whom they are trusting.
Of the twelve Apostles, we know that Peter, Andrew, James, and John were fisherman by occupation which means that being in a boat was second nature to them and being in a boat during a storm probably was something that they encountered many times in their career. I think it is fair to say that they, as fishermen, would have known what to do in a storm and they would have trusted in their skills as fishermen.
Jesus was a carpenter, not a fisherman. As a man, He would not have known what to do in a storm not having been on the water all his life like His apostles. But He is the one that is resting; and the experienced fishermen are the ones who are panicking. Why?
How many times in the Gospels are we told that Jesus came to do the Father’s will; that Jesus and the Father is one; if you have seen Me you have seen the Father so Jesus knew that the Father’s will would one day take Him to a cross where He would die for the sins of the world! He could rest in trusting what God had in store for Him; and it was not to be lost at sea. Jesus knew His Father, and He trusted in His Father so he could rest in God.
The Apostles, on the other hand, had some experience in battling storms at sea and they trusted in their skills. But this storm was greater than their skills, and they knew that they were in trouble.
Let me tell you something, you may think that you can handle the storm that you are now facing or you may know someone who can help you handle this storm, but let me tell you around the corner is the next storm and that storm maybe bigger that you or whoever you get to help. You better figure out who you are going to trust in. I am going to trust in God.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
And if you can do that-trust in God- you can rest- no matter how big the storm.
Point #2
IF I AM GOING TO TRUST YOU AND REST IN THAT TRUST, I GOT TO KNOW YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU SAY.
26 But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27 So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
Let’s suppose I feel like I am having the symptoms of some type of heart problem. So, I schedule an appointment with my podiatrist, and he tells me, Dave, it is definitely your heart. I need to schedule you for surgery so I can take a look at it. I am not going to be restful about that upcoming procedure because I don’t know that the podiatrist has the power to do what He says he can do.
But if I go to my heart surgeon, the one who did my previous open-heart surgery and he tells me I need to schedule you for surgery that is a different story. I know that he has the power to do what he says, he has already done this one; and I know that he can do it again. I can be at rest having this procedure because I know that he has the power to do what he says he can do.
In our passage of Scripture, verse 27, it says that the Apostles marveled. The Apostles at this point in following Jesus obviously did not know that He had that type of power that even the wind and waves obey Him.
But what is so interesting to me is before they got in the boat in Chapter 8, Jesus had healed a man of leprosy; He spoke words of healing without being in the presence of the centurion servant and that servant was healed; Peter’s mother laid sick with a fever and He healed her, he casted out many demons and healed all who were sick. And all this before Jesus got in the boat.
Here is the problem we are more likely to trust a relative, a good friend, a co-worker than we are to trust Jesus. We are always looking for one more miracle from Jesus so that I can trust Him and rest in that trust.
Let me tell you this-Jesus is worthy of trust without having to show you one more miracle because if you look at your life, He has done miracle after miracle. He has done what He said that He will do for you; He has done what you have asked in prayer; He has even done what has been the desire of your heart even without voicing it in prayer. You just need to trust and rest.
Point #3
ONCE I KNOW THAT I CAN TRUST WHAT JESUS SAYS I NEED TO STAY FOCUS ON HIM NO MATTER WHAT THE CIRCUMSTANCES ARE TELLING ME AND THERE I WILL FIND REST.
25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!"
26 But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
It will be six chapters later that Jesus comes walking to the disciples on the water during a storm and Peter asked the Lord to allow me to come to you, and Peter began to walk on the water. Remember, Peter has already been through a storm with Jesus where Peter thought he was perishing. So, Peter knew he could trust Jesus, but Peter had to learn another lesson to stay focus on Jesus. The Scripture says, “when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid” and began to sink. But when He cried out to the Lord to save him, the Lord reached out His hand and lifted him up again. The lesson is clear: know that Jesus can do what He says and stay focused on Him, NOT on your circumstances.
Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…
And if the Apostles in today’s passage of Scripture really knew that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God at this point in Chapter 8 they could have rested in the storm just like Jesus.
Today, we may need to take our eyes off that storm in our life and place our eyes on Jesus. I can assure you Jesus can do what He says that He can do and that the storm can never give you rest; and Jesus can always give you rest. But you must stay focused on Jesus.
Matthew 11:28 (NIV) 28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Let us pray!
