A PLACE OF GRACE
“Is God Asleep?”
Mark 4:35-41
Let me begin with a quick question this morning. What is the one thing this world needs right now? More than anything else, what is it? That question has been posed many times; often in beauty pageants like the Miss America pageant. And the answer is always the same. World peace. Stop wars around the world, stop arguing with each other. Let’s have world peace. The problem is it’s just not an easy thing to solve.
I asked my oldest son, David, who is in his early 40’s … he has spent his entire adult career serving our country. 21 years in Army reserves. 9 years working for the Government is Military Intelligence. Been deployed twice. I asked him this week how many wars are currently being fought in the world. He said right now there are at least 3 major wars happening. Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. There are also about a dozen armed conflicts going on in Africa right now. And at least 40 others taking place in other countries. The difference between the two by the way is this-an armed conflict is declared a war once 1000 people have been killed. So in a real sense we are at war with the Coronas Virus. Because as of this morning there are ______________ deaths worldwide.
One more fact. Of the past 3400 years, man has been entirely at peace only 10% of recorded history. Man has always had difficulty finding peace.
And so did the disciples. Now remember they had the opportunity to hang out with Jesus 24/7. You would think their lives would be peaceful all of the time. In the gospel of John, Jesus has just identified Judas as the one who will betray him. In addition, he has predicted that Peter, considered to be the leader of the 12; he has predicted that Peter would deny Jesus three times. And he does.
He has also let them know once again that a time will come very soon when he will be leaving. The disciples have built their entire lives around Jesus for over three years--- they were learning from Him daily. They left jobs and family and other commitments behind to follow him and now he is going away. The last thing the disciples felt was peace. Jesus knew this of course so as he begins to speak the disciples listen to what he has to say... Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. One word Jesus uses, is a Greek word that means to join together or to be tied together as a whole. In other words peace often involves taking something that is broken, disconnected, fractured, shattered and putting all the pieces back together. Peace can be about putting pieces together. But it also means something even deeper. And that is what we find in this story today.
ROPE ILLUSTRATION---THERE WILL ALWAYS BE
THOSE WHO WILL TEAR IT APART
MARK 4:35-41. The Sea of Galilee is just 5 miles wide and 13 miles long but it has a very unique history involving storms. Fact is, it is 600 feet below sea level, so deep in the basin where it sits that cold air and warm air often come together and the result is a huge storm. Jesus had just finished speaking and this was exactly what happened. Jesus had just completed a long day of ministry. He had been confronted by some of the leaders of the day; the crowds were constantly with him, he was teaching them and by now he was physically exhausted. So Jesus took a boat to cross the lake and did what most of us would do. He went to sleep. God was asleep in the boat.
That was when it seemed that out of nowhere a terrible storm begins. Matthew uses the word seismos, which means earthquake, to describe the storm. This storm was more like a hurricane. Luke tells us it was so bad that the ship was full of water. The waves covered the ship and unless something were to change they were headed for the bottom of the sea. Here are some truths that really stand out to me.
• Storms can happen when you least expect them. When you are not prepared in the least.
• Sometimes they happen because we sin----we bring these storms on all by ourselves.
• Sometimes they happen because we do something that is just plain stupid. We’re not being smart.
• Sometimes they happen because of the actions of someone else.
• Sometimes they seem to happen for no reason at all. Or at least it seems that way.
Write this truth down please. You can be in the absolute center of God’s will and still experience a storm.
The disciples were. They were physically in the boat with Jesus. Just a few feet away and the storm began. When they started out, Jesus had a plan. The plan was to go to the other side of the lake. But what the disciples failed to understand was that this storm came for a reason….. for a purpose---to teach them about the power of God. Jesus reminds us that when we face trials, storms, tribulations, that the storms have a purpose. James tells us that purpose is for us to learn endurance. Endurance produces maturity. Think about it. How have you grown as a person in recent weeks? Have you learned anything new about how to navigate a storm?
We all learn through experience. It would be great if we could simply learn from the mistakes and trials of other people. It would be great if our teenagers would let us describe the mistakes we made as teenagers and they would listen. It would be amazing if we would learn to take advice from godly people. But that would be too easy. We think we’re bulletproof. Our kids think they’re bulletproof. Just because 100 other people did something it turned out bad for them, we think it will turn out different for us.
Here is a fact. If we don’t learn from the storms of life, we will sink.
Trials will simply swallow us up. Now Jesus had the right idea. Because when the storm came up Jesus decided “I think I’ll take a nap.” He lies down and goes to sleep. Got a storm on the horizon? You need to be refreshed. But the disciples didn’t see it that way. They responded by saying this, doesn’t He know what’s happening? Doesn’t He care? We are in danger and God is asleep at the wheel! Wake Him up! In 1960 TIME magazine cover read with this question….”Is God Dead?” And that’s what happens when we face a storm. We think God isn’t there for us. We think He doesn’t understand. We think nobody understands. He’s asleep. He’s on vacation. The wind and the waves surround me and nobody cares. Not even God.
So the disciples speak out. They cry out, Lord we are perishing! There they were. Soaking wet. Straining to keep the boat on top of the water. The wind is so loud they figure Jesus can’t even hear them shouting. Their faith was paralyzed by their fear. You see, Fear is like
dropping an anchor in the water. It stops you dead in your tracks. They said we are perishing. We’re dying. But the truth is they were wrong. They were in a place of grace. Right in the center of God’s will. Right where they needed to be. And they about to see an incredible miracle. They were right on the verge of witnessing something spectacular. But that’s what fear does to us. Have you been there before? Perhaps that’s where you are today. You cried out and you felt as though no one heard your voice. The storm was coming in and you needed some help. Lord I feel alone. Don’t you see me? Can’t you hear me? Wake up Lord, how could you sleep at a time like this? Then look at what happens.
Look at verse 39. Jesus arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And the winds completely stopped. And the water was calm immediately. Just completely, instantly became still. Jesus stood in the boat and he shouted the words, peace, be still.
Let me give you a few things that we need to understand about the storms that we face in life. (1) With one word Jesus can calm the storms in your life. That word is peace. That was all it took. The disciples were amazed. All of the forces of nature seem to be working against them yet with one word, in a matter of seconds, the sea was completely calm.
(2) With one word Jesus can calm the effects of the storm in your life. Living in Florida we all know what the waves look like in a storm. We’ve seen them destroy homes. We have watched them crashing in. And we all know it takes hours or even days for things to calm down when a storm ends. But not here. Here the wind stopped. That was the first miracle. The second miracle was that the water was suddenly calm. Immediately. That just doesn’t happen.
Look with me at verse 41. (3) If we’re not careful, one fear can be replaced by another. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus uses two different words to describe the fear of the disciples. When the storm comes upon them, Mark says, they were afraid. But after Jesus stilled the wind and the waves he says they were terrified. What Jesus had done to take the storm away was more frightening to them than the storm itself. (4) When storms come, they will test our faith. And our response will be critical. Luke tells us that Jesus turned from rebuking the storm now to rebuke his disciples saying, where is your faith? Why are you living as though you have no faith? Take notice of something here.
The storm did not disturb Jesus; what disturbed Jesus was their response to the storm. It caused them, the disciples to ask a final question. Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? Our real faith comes out in a crisis. Crisis reveals who we are. When we come to this place we have three options. We can worry, work or trust. • Now if we choose to worry all of us know deep down nothing changes. • We can try harder, really work at it until we realize is nothing else we can do. Until we realize it is completely out of our control. • Or we can in faith fall before the Lord and just ask for his help and put our complete trust in Him. First Peter 5:7 says let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking of you and watching everything that concerns you. Now that we’ve read it, let’s practice it.
So man arrived at the doctor’s office for his 3 o’clock appointment. In fact he arrived exactly at 3 o’clock. Because the doctor was still involved with an earlier appointment, the man had to wait. In fact he had to wait for five minutes. He spent the time pacing in the reception area back and forth looking at his watch every 30 seconds. We was finally called to examining room question the doctor said sit down please. The man shouted back: I don’t have time to sit down! I’m too busy! The doctor said if you want me to examine you sit down. Now what seems to be the trouble? The patient answered: well Doc, It’s like this. I’ve got troubles in my business, troubles at home, troubles everywhere—and I am just plain run-down!
The doctor proceeded with the examination, listening to the man’s pulse, taking his blood pressure and so forth. When he had finished the physician said to the patient, “you’re not rundown. Just the opposite-you’re wound up!” The man responded, “Well Doc, give me something to slow me down in.” “What do you want,” asked the doctor? “Give me a tranquilizer or something.” Very well, the doctor set down and began writing a prescription. The man took the prescription and stuck it in his pocket without even looking at it. He raced off to the neighborhood drugstore to get it filled. When he handed it to the pharmacist, the pharmacists looked at the prescription and said to the man, “I’m sorry but I can’t fill this prescription!” The man shouted at him and said “what do you mean you can’t fill the prescription?” This is a drugstore isn’t? He said yes. And you are a pharmacist right? And the doctor signed it right? He said yes. But I can’t fill it because we don’t keep this in stock at our store. If you want this filled you will have to go home and get your bible.
The man looked at the prescription for the first time and it read: Take 3 doses of Colossians 3:15 every day. He got his Bible and read it out loud……. It says: “let the peace of God rule in your heart. Immediately the man called the doctor and said what do you mean by giving me this prescription? The doctor said, well your real trouble is not physical, it’s spiritual. What you need is peace. I can’t give it to you. The pharmacist can’t give it to you. Only God can give you peace. He is the one you need to see.
