Mega Storms of Life
Mark 4:35-41
Good morning.
According to ranker.com, the 1991 Perfect Storm was named by a weatherman named Bob Case, who saw three separate storms on track to converge off the coast of Nova Scotia.
The weather systems combined to create a single massive nor'easter that inspired the 2000 film The Perfect Storm starring George Clooney.
The storm claimed 13 lives in the process, including those of the six crew members aboard a boat called the Andrea Gail.
The vessel was at sea in search of swordfish when the storm hit and the crew never made it home.
No one knows exactly what happened to the Andrea Gail, because the ship never even sent a distress signal.
The Coast Guard led a massive search covering 186,000 square miles over the course of 10 days.
The only hint regarding the crew's fate was a small amount of wreckage found; including an emergency beacon, an empty life raft, fuel drums, and a propane tank.
After 10 days, the search was called off and the storm ultimately caused nearly $500 million in damage.
Again, Bob Case Dubbed It 'The Perfect Storm'
"Perfect" may not seem like an appropriate word to describe a storm that took the lives of 13 people; but, it was "Perfect" because it was perfectly terrible - it couldn't have been worse.
Please open your Bibles to Mark 4 as we continue that study
Last week, we studied three different parables about the unstoppable Kingdom of God.
Jesus told a parable about common house-hold item, a lamp.
As we live in this dark world, our lives and words should expose the darkness; but, that is not where it ends. We need to lead people out of their darkness and point them to new life in Christ
Then Jesus told the parable of the growing seed.
Even though it is a mystery how the Lord grows His kingdom; we are blessed to be in a partnership with the Lord to grow it.
What is our part? First, we receive the free gift of salvation, and then we surrender to the Leading of His Holy Spirit.
And finally we immerse ourselves in the Word of God so we can be ready to share with others.
The last parable was the parable of the mustard seed.
In that parable, the encouragement was that the Lord can take very small things and grow them because of who He is.
The warning from was the mustard plant in this parable seems to have grown to an abnormally large tree. Unnatural growth.
As Warren Wiersbe said, “Some of the growth will give opportunity for Satan to get in and go to work!
The Kingdom of God is unstoppable and this magnificent Jesus has granted us the privilege of being a part of His Kingdom!
Now this morning, we will learn about a Mega storm that happens right after Jesus finished teaching those parables.
I. The Lord determined the timing of this event.
Read Mark 4:35-36
Jesus had just finished teaching three parables about the unstoppable Kingdom of God and trying to teach His followers the importance of knowing the Word of God.
Memorizing the Word of God is very important; but, trusting the Word of God is more important during the storms of life.
The Lord basically takes His followers from the classroom of learning into a practical life application situation.
Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.
Psalm 37:24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the LORD upholds him with His hand. NKJV
While all this was happening, these followers may have thought this situation was happenstance; however, the Lord had a plan, even leading up to this storm.
2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. NKJV
Peter was telling his readers to remember the Lord is outside of human time and space. In the Lord’s economy a thousand years is just like 24 hours to us.
Adam Clarke said, All time is as nothing before him, because in the presence as in the nature of God all is eternity; therefore nothing is long, nothing short, before him; no lapse of ages impairs his purposes.” (Clarke)
We need to understand, it is the Lord who created time; therefore, Jesus is not in a hurry and He can never be late.
Wiersbe, “Since a thousand years are as one day to the Lord, we cannot accuse Him of delayed fulfillment of His promises. In God’s sight, the whole universe is only a few days old!
He is not limited by time the way we are, nor does He measure it according to man’s standards.
When you study the works of God, especially in the Old Testament, you can see that He is never in a hurry, but He is never late.” (Warren Wiersbe)
We trust and wait on the Him because He is trustworthy and we love Him.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
1 John 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us. NKJV
Loving the Lord first in our lives comes from a grateful heart response to how He loves us.
We serve and love the Lord because He first loved us; it is a response from a love relationship, not based on our deeds.
The only reason you can love God or anybody else is because He first loved you and proved His love by sending Jesus Christ.
And once you learn of His unconditional love, then you can in turn, love others.
God does not require or desire for us to have a relationship with Him based upon rules or duty.
He desires our relationship to be based upon faith, trust, and love.
When we come to know the Lord personally, we learn to trust Him and have faith in Him.
As we understand God’s perfect timing and He allows His plan to happen in our lives; now we are to live for Him every day!
Hebrews 6:13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,
Hebrews 6:14 saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you."
Hebrews 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. NKJV
God came through with His promise for Abraham, even giving Abraham a guarantee of the promise with an oath;
Since the Lord could swear by no one greater; He swore by Himself, showing God’s promises never change. Abraham’s belief in God was the conduit to the fulfillment of the promise.
Spurgeon said, “Unless we purposely live with a view to the next world, we cannot make much out of our present existence”.
So Jesus asks His followers to leave the crowd behind and jump into a boat and go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
II. A great storm happens.
Read Mark 4:37-38
Jesus’ Disciples; Peter, Andrew, James and John were all from this very area and were all fishermen on the Sea of Galilee.
These Disciples are on a boat on the Sea of Galilee which they know well; in fact, it was probably one of the Disciples’ boats.
The Sea of Galilee is 13 miles long and 8 miles wide; it is actually 30 miles away from the Mediterranean Sea.
The Sea of Galilee is also 600 feet below Sea level with a canyon between it and the Mediterranean Sea that acts like a wind tunnel with shifting air and heavy winds.
Mark 4:37 tells us this was “A great windstorm arose” on the Sea, so large that its waves started covering the boat.
According to the Greek Lexicon, the word Great is the word “megas” (English for Mega); meaning big, exceedingly great, large, high, loud, mighty, or strong.
Windstorm means a tempest, wind, a violent agitation and stream of air; or a very strong tempestuous wind.
(So) This wasn’t just a little storm; this was a Mega-storm.
Warren Wiersbe said, “There were at least three good reasons why none of the men in the ship should have been disturbed, even though the situation appeared to be threatening.
To begin with, they had Jesus’ promise that they were going to the other side (Mark 4:35).
His commandments are always His enablements, and nothing can hinder the working out of His plans.
He did not promise an easy trip, but He did promise a guaranteed arrival at their destination.
2nd, the Lord Himself was with them, so what was there to fear?
They had already seen His power demonstrated in His miracles, so they should have had complete confidence that He could handle the situation.
For some reason, the disciples did not yet understand that He was indeed the Master of every situation.
Finally, they could see that Jesus was perfectly at peace, even in the midst of the storm.
This fact alone should have encouraged them. Jesus was in God’s will and knew that the Father would care for Him, so He took a nap.
Jesus slept in the storm because He was truly secure in God’s will.”
Psalm 4:8 I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. NKJV
These followers of Jesus obeyed and got into the boat; here, they are enduring a loud, mighty, exceedingly great, MEGA storm, because they obeyed Jesus.
III. Is the Lord sleeping in my time of need?
Read Mark 4:38-40
Here we see a bunch of sailors/fishermen waking up a carpenter to rescue them from the violent sea; so, we know they are in serious trouble.
Jesus was “asleep on a pillow”, so the Disciples probably asked;
• How could Jesus sleep at a time like this?
• Is Jesus indifferent to our needs, doesn’t He care?
• What kind of “god” sleeps anyway?
First we must note; Jesus was sound asleep in the midst of the storm because He was perfectly secure within the storm, because His confidence was in the Father.
Psalm 89:8 O LORD God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
Psalm 89:9 You rule the raging of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.
Also, as we see in all the Gospels; Jesus knew what it was like to be exhausted, because He is fully man as well as fully God.
There is a term within Christian Theology called the Hypostatic union which describes the union of Christ's humanity and His divinity, found within One entity.
Colossians 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. NKJV
In other words, Jesus was fully God (all the fullness) while indwelling a fully Human body.
Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. NKJV
Jesus has just finished ministering to the multitudes of people and He cared enough to meet them individually, so He was tired.
Jesus is also our High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses; He endured our temptations, but without sin.
Paul also says in Romans 8:34, It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. NKJV
Jesus can intercede for us because He has experienced the same temptations we have gone through; yet, without sin, so He understands our weaknesses.
We need to remember these men grew up in this area, fishing on this very lake; how many times do you think they sailed this Sea?
In the NLT of Matthew 8:25 The disciples went to Him and woke Him up, shouting, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" NLT
Even though these men were used to fishing on this Sea, the Disciples are facing something far beyond themselves.
It is often in our place of comfort and strength that we forget to rely on the Lord; Jesus allows us to go through storms beyond our own abilities, in order to bring us to an end of ourselves.
Sometimes it feels like Jesus is asleep and oblivious to our needs. Sometimes it is during a time of personal strength that we find ourselves in the Mega storm and suddenly we are insecure.
Are there areas of our lives, where we thought we were in total control and comfortable; and then the Lord allowed a storm and we found ourselves saying, “Wake up God, I need you!”?
We say, “Jesus I know you are in the boat, but are you asleep?”
We need to remember as Kingdom Citizens, there is always a purpose within the storms that Jesus allows in our lives!
The Disciples think Jesus doesn’t care and say, “We are perishing!” so He surprises them by revealing their real problem
Their problem was not the storm; their problem was unbelief!
Again, Mark 4:38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"
In Mark 4:40, Jesus rebuked the Disciples’ unbelief before He rebuked the storm, because unbelief is way more dangerous to believers than any storm this life can throw at us.
Jesus understood these men needed to be rescued; but, they needed to be corrected about their unbelief more than they needed a physical rescuing.
In this life there will be plenty of storms; however, there is only One boat that can bring us to the shores of heaven.
Acts 4:12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." NKJV
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. NKJV
Getting into the right boat, trusting Jesus for Salvation, does not exempt Christ followers from the storms in this life!
We need to trust Jesus to see us through the storms and believe He has a purpose for us to learn to weather the storms in life.
BUT Jesus even saved His followers while they are in sin.
God is faithful! And after Jesus rebukes His followers for their lack of trust; He rebukes the storm with some specific words.
Mark 4:39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" NKJV
In the original language, be still is actually be muzzled. This is the same thing Jesus said to a demon; so, many commentators believe this storm was a satanic attack to try and destroy Jesus.
Jesus rebuked the waves and the wind and there was calm.
The winds and the waves had to obey the voice of the Lord; in fact, the only parts of creation given the ability to disobey the Lord, are human beings.
But this is not a natural phenomenon, so the Disciples ask…
IV. Who can this be?
Read Mark 4:41
How could this happen; how could this Rabbi control nature?
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. NKJV
All things were created by Jesus; so, it is only natural that all of creation would obey its creator.
But there is a misconception when we face the storms of life; we can start to believe that storms only come from disobedience.
You may remember the story of Jonah after the Lord told him to go to Nineveh and preach salvation to those brutal people.
He boarded a ship going to Tarshish as he ran from God’s call.
The sailors on the ship ask, Jonah 1:10 "Why have you done this?" For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. NKJV
The men in Mark 4 were in a storm because they obeyed Jesus’ call; He told them to get into the ship and go to the other side.
One of the reasons Jesus allowed this storm was to teach these Disciples that Jesus has absolute authority over the storm.
Notice, Jesus didn’t promise them an absence of storms; but, He promised them they would make it to the other side.
Nothing can hinder the Lord’s plans, not even a satanic storm.
Jesus said in John 16:33 In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." NKJV
Jesus promises us as His followers, you may have troubles; but, you will arrive at your destination at the perfectly right time!
These men said, “Who is this man that even nature obeys Him?
These men have witnessed Jesus’ miracles and been taught directly by Him; but, they still don’t get the whole picture that Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.
Mark 4:41 tells us, “They feared exceedingly,
Now these men have Mega-Fear because they were more afraid after Jesus calmed the storm, than they were at the storm.
Why? Once they realize who Jesus is, they are really scared!
Tim Keller said, “They were scared because they realized Jesus was less manageable than the storm.”(Keller) Mark 4:41
People often say we cannot control nature; but here, these Disciples realize they could not control Jesus.
V. Practical Application.
In our narrative, Jesus rebuked the Disciples’ unbelief before He rebuked the storm; because unbelief is way more dangerous to believers than any storm this life can throw at us.
How many of us want a “god” of our own making?
Yet we must come to Jesus and realize He transforms us, and we do not get to conform Him, into our desires; He is the Lord.
Jesus’ power cannot be controlled, just as a tornado’s power cannot be controlled.
Jesus’ love, power, wisdom and foreknowledge are mightier than we could ever imagine and He allows storms in our lives to teach us the things we need to learn.
In C.S. Lewis’ book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Mr. Beaver said. “Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."
Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”
We are never promised an easy trip; but, we are promised an arrival to where He directs. We are not in control; Jesus is.
During all of the trials and storms of life, it may get windy and scary; but, if we trust and obey the Lord, we can experience His perfect peace.
We need to have faith that the Lord will bring us safely to the destination He has determined we should go!
Jesus will never leave nor forsake us; especially in the Mega storms of life!
Just as Jesus was resting during this storm; may we learn to rest in Him as He allows storms to enter our lives…
