Psalm 91 has always, from very early in my Christian life, been one of my favorite Psalms, because it speaks so beautifully and certainly of the Lord’s protection. I mean, just listen to it—it’s makes for beautiful poetry as well as for comforting thoughts—“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the Shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “my refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust. For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions and under his wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. And it goes on to say, that a thousand may fall at your side, then thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” O what wonderful words to hear, what we want to hear about our Lord and his relationship to us.
But this week I’ve found myself asking, are these promises good for anyone, anyone who might read them and claim them. Or are they for just certain kinds of people? Are there qualifications or conditions?
When I think of other blessings promised in the Bible, it’s struck me that there are conditions, there are qualifications. For instance, when it comes to provision—the promise that God will provide for our needs, the promise actually comes with a condition in Matthew 6:33: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all other things will be added unto you.” And even when it comes to the matter of providing wisdom, there’s a condition, at least if you look at James 1. Ask, with faith, not doubting, not being a double-minded man. Trust God w/a whole heart, follow him, not the world, with a single-minded devotion to Christ. And then there’s Romans 8:28 that tells us that all things work for the good. For the good of just anyone. No, for the good of those ho love God and are called according to His purpose.
And so, I want to suggest to you, that God’s promises of protection are also conditional, also conditional on the relationship that a person has with God—whether he loves and serve God or not.
God’s promises of protection are for those who love him and live for Him with a single-eyed devotion to His Glory and His Kingdom.
Now this morning we come to a story that illustrates this truth in a pretty dramatic manner. Because in this story we encounter two very different kinds of people. Two kinds of people who at least initially are attracted to Jesus and who follow Jesus. But they are different in one very important way. One of these kinds of people can be described as users of Jesus. And the other kind of people can be described as servants of Jesus, those who live to be used by Jesus.
And the story actually begins in verse 15 in John 6. If you’ll remember from our last time together in John, Jesus is now at least two years into his ministry. He’s been ministering in Galilee and at this point He’s riding the crest of a wave of popularity that is unprecedented even in His amazing ministry. He and his disciples have been busy ministering to crowds consisting of thousands of people and in the midst of this incredibly busy time they depart in boats for a lonely region on the northeast section of the Sea of Galilee, only to be followed around the northern coast of the lake by at least 10,000 people And what has just happened is that he has fed these 10,000 people late in the day with five small loaves of bread and two small fish. And in addition to all the miracles and healings he had been working, this event has excited the people to a near frenzy. They are deciding that this Jesus is truly the Messiah, the prophet that Moses predicted, and now verse 15 tells us that this popularity has now resulted in a threat to Jesus’ God-ordained Mission. For there is a plot afoot to kidnap Jesus and by force, make him King of Israel.
We pick up the narrative there, in verse 15: “So Jesus, perceiving that they (some of the people in the crowd) were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.”
Now three different Gospels tell this story of Jesus walking on the water, but only John provides this critical detail about what the multitudes who were following Jesus were about to do. And he uses an interesting Greek Word here to describe the would-be kidnapping of Jesus. It’s the Greek Word harpazo. And it’s used two other times in the gospel of Matthew. One time in Matthew 11:12 when Jesus says, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.” And another time it’s used in Matthew 13:19 with regard to how Satan snatches or takes the Word of God away from those who don’t understand it in the Parable of the Sower. And so clearly, what’s about to happen is a very violent sort of thing in which men would take Jesus against His will and make Him their puppet king over Israel. And if Jesus perceives this is about to happen, and He is the Son of God, then it’s a fact, it’s about to happen. And it his knowledge that this violent thing that is about to happen to him that motivates all of his actions at this point.
First, we see in verse 15 that it’s the reason Jesus withdraws. It’s precisely because He perceives this kidnapping’s about to occur that he ultimately withdraws to the mountain by Himself alone. So, he essentially disappears for the moment, and ultimately in the course of the night, He will disappear from that scene entirely, from that side of the Sea of Galilee altogether.
And in verse 16, were told that when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them, nevertheless, the disciples, embarked for the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Now the other two accounts of this story make it clear that Jesus was behind this departure of the disciples, if there were ever any doubt in anyone’s mind. In fact, in both Matthew 14:22 and in Mark 6, were told that Jesus literally made the disciples get in the boat and head to the other side of the sea. And were told still of a third action he took. He dismissed the crowd. He bade them farewell, as Mark 6 puts it. So, there are three actions Jesus takes at this point, knowing the mood and the intentions of the crowd. He dispatches the disciples to where He would minister the next day—on the other side of the sea. His dismisses the crowd. And He himself withdraws, and He will disappear from the scene altogether. And all of this, I believe, was primarily motivated by the knowledge of what was about to happen, what would have happened, had He not taken the actions which he did. Willful men were about to come and kidnap Him, take Him by force, and try to make him their puppet king in Israel and use Him to fulfill their political aspirations of overthrowing the Roman oppressors. And Jesus’ means of thwarting their plan was just simply by disappearing from the scene.
These people were people who were intent on using Jesus for their own purposes. Their concern wasn’t the will of God. Their concern was not to submit to Jesus or to establish righteousness. No, none of that. They just simply saw in Jesus a chance to make Israel an independent nation again, free of Roman power, and by golly, by hook or by crook, they were going to get their way.
And Jesus’ actions here demonstrate how he responds to people who would use him for their purposes rather than be used by Him for His righteous purposes. He simply withdraws. He won’t be there for them when they want Him. And that’s our first point today: If you’re using Jesus, don’t expect Him to be there for you when you want Him.
If you’re really all about yourself and using Jesus for your purposes, don’t expect Jesus to be there for you when you want Him. Because that’s not what Jesus is about. After all, He’s God. He calls the shots. You don’t come to Him and get His cooperation on your terms in accomplishing your plan. You come to Him on his terms and cooperate with His plan.
In other words, don’t count on Jesus if you’ve got your own plans and you want Him to fit into your plans. That’s not what He’s about. You can count on Jesus only when you’re ultimately about His plan, and that’s when He will be there for you.
And there’s a couple of other lessons to note here as well. They have to do with His presence and His manifestation in our lives and in our churches. For how Jesus behaves here shows us exactly how the Spirit of God behaves in relationship to His people.
Have you ever been in a dead church? Have you ever been in a church where there’s simply no life, no love, no joy, no peace? A lot of times that will be a liberal church, a church that has rejected God’s Word and the Gospel. That will be in a church where men have an agenda of their own apart from God and apart from His Word. And when men have an agenda of their own and insist on establishing their plan above God’s Word and God’s plan, you know what happens? God’s Spirit withdraws. The Spirit disappears just as Jesus did here.
And believe it or not, this can even begin to happen in a Bible-teaching church. It can happen when there are factions in the church and because of those factions or divisions, the deeds of the flesh begin to be practiced--gossip, slander, backbiting, bitterness, hatred, taking sides. And when men begin to behave in this way, rather than in accord with the fruits of the Spirit, well, guess what happens, Jesus withdraws! That is, the Holy Spirit of God withdraws. It’s again because the agenda or the will of carnal men begins to be established in place of the will of God, and the Spirit thereby begins to disappear or withdraw. And people will be asking, what’s happening to our church? What’s missing? What’s gone wrong? And almost invariably it’s because some human agenda, and some very carnal characteristics, have begun to eclipse both the plan of God and the fruit of the Spirit.
But the real question for each of us to consider here is where are we in this picture? Are we a user of Jesus or a servant of Jesus? Do we follow Jesus simply because of what we can get from Him? Or have we become one who so loves Jesus that we want to serve Him for His purposes rather than having Him serve for us for our purposes.
Because though He won’t be there for those who use Him, He will be there for those who love him and live for Him, as is about to become apparent with his disciples.
So Jesus has sent His disciples off into the lake, the Sea of Galilee. It’s located at 689 feet below sea level and is 13 miles long by 8 miles wide at its widest point. It’s been an extremely busy day once again, on top of all the other busy days. And as verse 17 says, it had become dark, and they had left without Jesus. Jesus had not yet come to them. Instead, he’s withdrawn to the mountain to pray.
And so as the disciples have rowed a distance, the sea began to be stirred up, it became aroused, because a strong wind was blowing. So there are waves and waves that are building because of the wind. And the story sounds all too familiar to yours truly, a fisherman, who has often boated when the wind and the waves come up, and it can truly be frightening experience, especially when you don’t have a motor.
And clearly these 12 men didn’t have a motor. More than that, other details that emerge from the other Gospel accounts tell us that they were about halfway, or perhaps, a little more than halfway across the lake. They were three or four miles into their journey when this wind blew up. And more than that, Matthew 14:24 tells us that the wind was contrary. I like that word “contrary.” In other words, it was blowing against them. It was blowing the opposite direction that they were rowing. So they were rowing against the wind, they were traveling from east to west, and the wind was blowing from west to east, and I’ll bet they weren’t making much progress.
And to top it off, according to the other Gospels, when the wind hits them, these men have been rowing nearly all night long. It’s the fourth watch in the night, between 3 and 6 a.m. And as I say, ministry, their work had been overwhelming from the crush of the crowds. If anything, they needed a break, and here not only were they not resting, but they were striving against the wind in the middle of the night and the prospect of getting to shore any time soon was not looking good.
So put yourself in their shoes, and what would you be thinking about this time? It doesn’t take too much imagination does it? I’ve had it with this! This is crazy! This isn’t what I signed up for! I don’t think I like this anymore! I want to quit! Whose idea was this anyway!
And that last question was a very good question. Because the answer to that question can make or break a journey like this one. It can make or break a ministry! Whose idea was this anyway? And I’m sure it wasn’t hard for the disciples at this time to remember that it was clearly Jesus’ idea. That Jesus as Matthew and Mark put it, had been the one to make them get into the boat and go over to the other side. And I wonder if they weren’t thinking, well, where is Jesus when you need Him?
Now I just want to pause here for a moment. Why do you think this happened to the disciples? Well, I do have an idea. It was training. It was preparation for what was about to happen in their lives. It was training for ministry. It was a wake-up call. Some time they were going to be following Jesus. Some time they were going to doing exactly what Jesus told them to do, exactly what Jesus called them to do. And guess, what, what Jesus told them to do was going to deliver them right into the teeth of a storm. Yes, sometimes it would be God’s will that would drive them right into a storm--a storm where the wind would be contrary, where the wind would be against them. And they would be wondering if this was what they had signed up for, and they would be wondering where is Jesus when you need Him, and they would be wondering whether they ought to continue on the journey, or in light of the opposition whether they just ought to quit altogether and do their own thing.
And that time was about to happen about right now, in fact as soon as they got off the lake. Because from this night forward the wind would no longer be at their backs, but against their face. Because Jesus was about to take a different tac. He was about to confront the crowds who were following about their motives for following Him, and suddenly Jesus wouldn’t be so popular anymore. In fact, He would become really unpopular with some in the next year or two, namely the Jewish authorities, and He would be crucified.
And there was something the disciples needed desperately to know. Something His disciples and His servant today need desperately to know. And that’s this, that sometimes, when you’re a follower of Jesus, when you’re a servant, He leads you right into the teeth of a storm. You might as well know that right up front. Not everything is going to be hunky-dory for you if you follow Jesus. He didn’t promise us a rose garden by any means. In fact, it’s just a few chapters later in John 16:33 that Jesus tells them “In the world you will have tribulation,” but then he goes on to say, “But take courage, I have overcome the world.”
And so why is this story here? Just so we can know Jesus can walk on water? Well, that too, but not that alone. This story is here so that we who serve Jesus, who love Him and live for Him can be prepared in advance. Sometimes following Jesus means moving right into a storm. There will be tribulation. So plan on it advance. And know that it doesn’t necessarily mean you got off track with the Lord. No, you may be on track as you have never been before, and that may be precisely why you’re in the midst of the storm. Because when you follow Jesus, you’re not always going to be popular. When you follow Jesus, not everyone’s going to want to go along, or see you go along with Him. And more than that, there is this thing called spiritual warfare, and when you follow and serve Jesus, you’re going to have some enemies in high places, some aerial spirits, who wouldn’t be opposing you otherwise.
This is something Jesus really wants to you to know and consider. Because knowing it in advance can make all the difference in making it through the storm.
And along these very lines I have a story to tell you and picture to show you. It was about 14 years ago when I was in an early morning prayer meeting with people from other churches and someone read the story about Jesus being in the boat and stilling the storm, and a lady I hardly knew at the time spoke up and told me that that story was for me, specifically. She was quite adamant. And I was quite surprised, and, at first, I took it with a grain of salt. If I remember correctly, that was a Wednesday morning, and I had no clue at that moment that I was about to enter any kind of storm whatsoever.
But by Thursday night, I had more than a clue. And for some reason I can’t remember all the details, but some root of bitterness had risen somewhere in the church and it was about to defile many over the course of a couple years. And that bitterness was something about me and my family. And as I talked with Jeanie about it that Thursday night Jeanie wanted to show me a picture that my daughter Abby had drawn. Now Abby was about seven years old at the time. She was just learning to read and write, and she drew me this picture, and she had drawn it for me on that same Wednesday morning the lady at the prayer meeting had told me this story was for me. And of course we see me in a boat and guess who’s in the boat with me. It’s Jesus. And yes there’s a fish or two underneath. But guess who has his hands raised over the sea. It’s Jesus, calming the sea.
Why did God give that to me? It was in part to know that He was leading me into a storm--to prepare in advance. And to prepare for what all who love and serve Him can know.
That when you’re serving Jesus, do expect to Him show up when you really need Him. When you’re all about Jesus, when you love Jesus and you’re living for Him, well, He knows what’s happening to you, and He’ll be there when you need Him.
And in the Gospel of Mark, it’s interesting, because we’re told that Jesus could see that boat with the disciples as He looked out over the sea from the mountain where He was praying. And what you’ve got to know is that at least some of those prayers, probably a lot of those prayers, were for his disciples, the ones who loved him, out there in that little boat bobbing wildly around in the middle of the Sea. I’m sure He must have been praying that their faith would not fail, that they would continue steadfastly attempting to achieve their master’s will even when it seemed so tiring, so difficult, so impossible. And that’s precisely when the impossible happened. That’s when verse 19 happened: “Then when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. Now I think they were already frightened, but it’s clear that they were especially frightened when they saw Jesus walking on the water, because they thought they were seeing a ghost. And they even cried out in fear. Verse 20: “But Jesus said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’” And having calmed the storm in their hearts, they were willing to receive Him into the boat.
Now John abbreviates what happened here. The other Gospel writers tell us that as He got into the boat, the waves were calmed. And now a third miracle is recorded. “And immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” Jesus could not only walk on water. He not only did, but He calmed the storm. He showed Himself to be the Master of the waves and the wind and the weather. And we’re told in those other Gospel accounts that the disciples as they saw the wind and waves subside immediately worshiped in the boat. And He did not object. And then, He showed Himself to be transcendent over both time and space, not only for Himself, but for the boat and the 12, and they were all immediately transported in a twinkling of an eye to land.
And you know what this tells us? It’s this: If you’re serving Jesus, do expect Him to show up when you need Him. Because He will.
Oh, I’m not saying He’ll physically show up as He did on this day. But somehow, He’ll show up. Somehow, He’ll calm the storm in your heart. And somehow, He’ll calm the storm in the sea about you.
How did it happen for me? Well, I’ve told the story probably too many times for some of you. Suffice it to say that it happened in the order given here. First, he flat miraculously calmed the storm in my heart. And then He sovereignly arranged to calm the storm in the seas about me, in the church. And you know what else He did? He reminded of something I had forgotten, something I had discounted—that He had called me in the first place--that the reason I was in the midst of the storm was that I was following Him; I was doing his bidding, and for that reason, He would make sure I got safely to the other side.
You know, as I think back to Psalm 91, it is an awfully neat Psalm. And it does say what I think this passage is saying—it says that God shows up to protect those who love Him.
You know where it says that. Not right at the outset, although there are hints here and there. But way down in Psalm 91:14. It’s there were God gives the reason why he protects the man who takes refuge under his wings, so to speak. “Because He has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him, with a long life I will satisfy him, and let him see my salvation.”
Jesus said something like that in John 14:21. He said that indeed there is a certain kind person who can expect God to show up when he really needs him—it’s the person who loves and therefore obeys Him: “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father and I will love and and will disclose Myself to Him.”
So back to our original question. Who does God; who does Jesus protect? Not those who use Him, but those who love and live for Him. Those kinds of people can expect Jesus to show up, one way or another, when they need Him the most.
So the only question to be answered this morning is this: Are you one of those kinds of people? Do you love Jesus? Do you show it be keeping His commands? If you’re not sure this morning, why not decide to become one of those kinds of people? Why not decide to love and live for Jesus?
Let’s pray.
