Following Jesus (4)
Scott Bayles, pastor
Scripture: Mark 4:35-41
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 1/22/2017
For the past few weeks we’ve been on a journey through the Gospel of Mark in hopes of seeing Jesus more clearly and following Him more nearly.
Although the threat of ice prevented us from meeting together last Sunday, many of you joined me online for the third installment in this series. In Mark 3:1-6, Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath to the aggravation of his enemies. In this short, simple story, we saw the compassion of Jesus, the criticism of the legalistic religious leaders, and the compliance of a disabled man with a deformed hand.
Following this wonderful miracle, Jesus continues His mission, appointing twelve of his followers for the special task of being apostles. He then continued healing people and casting out demons, which once again garnered the attention of the religious establishment. The scribes and Pharisees accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan. Jesus recognizes their claim for what it is—a nonsensical accusation. They accused Jesus of blasphemy, but ironically they were guilty of that very sin when they looked Jesus in the face and identified Him with Satan.
On the heels of that encounter, Jesus tells the parable of the Sower. The farmer sows seed indiscriminately over four types of soils—some good, some bad. Of course, Jesus is the Sower and the seed is God’s word. The point is—not everyone will accept the Word of God and not everyone will hold tightly too it when life gets busy or difficult. The challenge for us is making sure our hearts and lives are good soil.
That brings us to our passage for today—Mark 4:35-41. It’s a familiar story that so many of us can relate to. So if you have a Bible or an app on your phone, you can open it up or just follow along on screen.
As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.
Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the water, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!” (Mark 4:35-41 NLT)
The lake which they had set out to cross was the Sea of Galilee, a freshwater lake in northern Palestine. It was about 13 miles long, 8 miles wide, 680 feet below sea level and shaped like a heart—a place of inspiring beauty. However, with mountains surrounding most of the lake, the fierce downdrafts of cold air from the higher elevations to the warm air of the sea, often made it victim to violent storms—which was the case this particular night. For these veteran fishermen to be afraid for their lives means that this was no ordinary storm. This was a raging tempest with gale-force winds. The sky rumbled above them, the water churned beneath them. Their fishing boat bounced and spun on the white-tops of angry waves.
It’s no wonder they were afraid. Fear often gets the better of us. We’ve found some strange things to be afraid of. For instance, psychologists say one of the most common fears today is nomophobia, which is the fear of not having your cell phone with you. Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns. My favorite is Arachibutyrophobia, which is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. However, the trophy goes to Luposlipophobia, first coined in a Far Side comic strip, it involves the fear of being pursued by timber wolves around a kitchen table while wearing socks on a newly waxed floor.
Most of our fears aren’t quite so funny. We fear failure, foreclosure, and being forgotten. Maybe you’re afraid of being abused, abandoned, or alone. Every sunrise brings fresh reasons for fear.
But did you notice Jesus’s question? “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Faith, Jesus seems to say, is the antithesis of fear. Faith is the solution to fear. And faith is essential to following Jesus because, as the disciples learned it won’t always be smooth sailing.
But when we look closely at this story, I think we can find at least three reasons to have faith even in the midst of life’s storms. First, we can have faith in Jesus’s plans.
• FAITH IN HIS PLANS
Jesus wanted to put miles of water between him and the multitudes of people on the western shore. Which is why Jesus said to his followers, “Let’s go across the lake” (Mark 4: 35 NCV). This is important because it shows us that it was Jesus’ idea to cross the sea and go into the eastern countryside! Peter, James, John and the rest were simply following where he led them. That’s what we want to do, right, follow where Jesus leads?
So the question is—did Jesus know that the storm was coming? And I think the answer is—of course, he did! Jesus arguably knew that the storm was coming, and it was within his power to prevent it, but instead he deliberately guided them into the storm. He did so for a purpose! It was the perfect storm designed for the express purpose of helping Jesus’ followers to trust him in every circumstance. No matter what storms we may experience, we can trust that God has a purpose for every problem.
God assured the people of Israel: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV). I think this promise belongs to us too.
God has a plan for each one of us. Of course, you might look at your life and think, “I’m not seeing the plan here.” I don’t think the Israelites saw it either. We often quote this verse, it’s seen on posters and plaques, but we forget its context. Let’s back up a verse: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:10-11 NIV). Hold on. Seventy years? The people of Israel were going to be exiles in a foreign nation, many of them slaves for the next seventy years. And this was all part of God’s plan. From an earthly perspective, that’s not a very good plan. But God sees things from an eternal perspective.
On the front porch of his little country store in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln and Berry, his partner, stood. Business was all gone, and Berry asked, "How much longer can we keep this going?" Lincoln answered, "It looks as if our business has just about winked out." Then he continued, "You know, I wouldn't mind so much if I could just do what I want to do. I want to study law. I wouldn't mind so much if we could sell everything we've got and pay all our bills and have just enough left over to buy one book—Blackstone's Commentary on English Law, but I guess I can't."
Just then, a strange-looking wagon wobbled up the road. The driver angled it up close to the store porch, then looked at Lincoln and said, "I'm trying to move my family out west, and I'm out of money. I've got a good barrel here that I could sell for fifty cents." Abraham Lincoln's eyes went along the wagon and came to the wife looking at him pleadingly, face thin and emaciated. Lincoln ran his hand into his pocket and took out, according to him, "the last fifty cents I had" and said, "I reckon I could use a good barrel."
All day long the barrel sat on the porch of that store. Berry kept chiding Lincoln about it. Late in the evening Lincoln walked out and looked down into the barrel. He saw something in the bottom of it, papers that he hadn't noticed before. His long arms went down into the barrel and, as he fumbled around, he hit something solid. He pulled out a book and stood petrified: it was Blackstone's Commentary on English Law. Lincoln later wrote, “I stood there holding the book and looking up toward the heavens. There came a deep impression on me that God had something for me to do and He was showing he now that I had to get ready for it. Why this miracle otherwise?”
If God hadn’t allowed Lincoln’s general store to go out of business, he never would have gone on to become a lawyer and eventually President. There will be plenty of turbulent and trying experiences in your life and mine. And in the midst of the storms, it can be nearly impossible to see a plan at work, but we can have faith that Jesus has a plan for every storm.
Furthermore, we can have faith in His presence.
• FAITH IN HIS PRESENCE
I’ve never even been sailing before, let alone caught in fierce storm in a small fishing boat, so I can’t imagine how frightening this must have been. Visibility was poor. Waves were crashing into the boat. Their tiny ship was tossed to and fro. But even in the eye of the storm, they had an anchor for their faith—Jesus was in the boat!
Mark says that “Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion” (Mark 4:38 NIV). He was asleep, but he was there. Immanuel—God with us—was with them. Jesus was in the boat. He was right in the middle of it all. In the midst of this terrifying storm, Jesus was with his followers.
What was true for them is true for you.
Jesus told his followers, including you and me, “I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20 TLB). Sometimes it feels like our world is coming to an end. Sometimes it feels like the world crumbling all around us. But even then, Jesus is right there with you.
One summer night during a severe thunderstorm a mother tucked her small son into bed. She was about to turn the light off when he asked in a trembling voice, "Mommy, will you stay with me all night?" Smiling, the mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, "I can’t dear. I have to sleep in Daddy’s room." A long silence followed. At last it was broken by a shaky voice saying, "The big sissy!"
Having four kids at home, I can relate to this. Whenever they get scared, they just want to be in our presence. They’d rather sleep on the floor in our room than a comfortable bed across the hall. Jesus offers to do for us what we do for our children.
He is with us everywhere we go. He’s all around us and within us. He could live anywhere in the universe, yet he chose your heart for his home. God assures us in his word: “Do not be afraid, for I am with you” (Isaiah 43:5 NIV). I don’t know about you, but I would rather be in a storm with Jesus than anywhere else without Him. So, if you are in midst of s turbulent, tumultuous time, my advice to you is to remember that Jesus is with you and He’ll see you through. Trust Him. Have faith in his presence. He will not abandon you or let you down. He will be with you wherever you go.
First, have faith in His plans. Furthermore, have faith in His presence. Finally, have faith in His power.
• FAITH IN HIS POWER
When Jesus’ disciples cried out to him, the Bible says, “He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39-40 ESV).
Can you imagine how Jesus’ followers felt at that moment? Jesus calmed both the wind and the sea simply by the power of his word! Usually after the winds die down, the waves remain rough for hours; but in this case, everything became calm immediately and stayed that way. When Jesus speaks, even the wind and the waves listen.
No wonder the Bible says, “Praise him down here on earth, you creatures of the ocean depths. Let fire and hail, snow, rain, wind, and weather all obey” (Psalm 148:7 TLB). Two thousand years later, the words of Jesus have not lost their power. God’s Word is just as powerful as ever. Not only did the words of Jesus have the power to still the storm on the Sea of Galilee, but when you read the little red letters painted across the pages of your Bible, his words have the power to still the storm within you!
When we feel lost—when the struggles of this life are overwhelming us and it feels like our ship about to sink—we can open our Bibles, listen to Jesus, and let the power of his word calm the storm raging within us!
Listen, no matter what else is going on—the same God who was sovereign on the Sea of Galilee, is sovereign over everything. In any and every situation, Jesus is in control. When a close friend is in the ICU, Jesus is in control. When the economy is failing, Jesus is in control. When tornadoes rage out of control, Jesus is still in control. And he still calms the storms of life.
Conclusion
Caught in the storm, these fishermen looked out and found danger, they looked within and found fear, but they failed to look to Jesus and find faith. Let’s not make the same mistake. Following Jesus may take us places we don’t want to be. But in the words of hymnist Mary Ann Baker,
Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea
Or demons or men or whatever it be,
No waters can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean and earth and skies.
When blackness overshadows the sky and the waves are crashing high—when life gets tough and we don’t know where to turn—let’s trust in the plans, presence, and power of Jesus and find the faith to conquer fear.
Invitation
If you’re ready thinking about following Jesus, I want to challenge you to make that commitment today.
