I need not pause to suggest how delighted I am to be in your midst. In the midst of erudite scholars like yourselves, I felt I ought to at least have an interesting introduction that sounded impressive with some big words. So I, like Al Louis Patterson who pastors the Corinth Church in Houston, thought of two. I am Hippopotamus glad and Elephant proud to be here.
We Need To Talk! The headline I want to highlite in our little chat is this: “It Happened At Night” The Text I have tagged and targeted for teaching is John 6:16-21.
I submit to us that The Lord intends to lead us to a Higher Level of Living (Living Life in the Presence of God-Matthew 6:1-34); to a Deeper Depth of Understanding (Understanding the Operations of His Providence); to a Higher Stratus of Commitment-c/f vs 66-68) to even a Higher Plateau of Ministry (other than simply being Transporter and Distributers of Fragments of Loaves). I submit the Lord intends to do a New Thing in our lives!
However, Between where we are now and where the Lord intends to take us, Between us and that Higher Plane of Living, Stands Some Sea of Challenge that Must be Crossed! The only way to get to the Capernaum of Excellence from the Bethsaida of Mediocrity is by way of Some Galilean Sea of Challenge. So says John in verses 16 and 17a of our Text (read).
Sometimes, to reach Excellence, we must leave the Safety and Shore of Land and hazard the Perils of Travel by Sea. Sometimes, to get from where we are now to where the Lord intends to take us, we have to board ships we never traveled on before, and take hazardous routes previously unknown to us. Being a disciple of Jesus means Venturing By Faith; so subsequently, we are forced to face Some Sea of Provocation and board Some Ship of Destiny in order to reach our Capernaum of Excellence. So John says in verses 16 and 17 a of our Text (read).
Now I submit that if you and I have not yet experienced our Capernaum of Excellence, it is because we are still living on the shores of our Bethsaida of Mediocrity. And if we want to reach the other side, we have to face our Sea of Provocation, board our Ship of Destiny, and cross over to the other side. For if we would Cross the Sea, we would experience the Capernaum of Excellence! If we would Cross, we would Excel; and
we’re not Excelling because we haven’t Crossed!
And so, because Some Sea of Challenge stands between where we are now and where the Lord intends to take us, I thought it would be helpful to open this matter up for mental investigation, spiritual scrutiny and theological dialogue to see if we could discover for ourselves-
I. WHY DO WE HAVE SEAS IN OUR LIFE?
Why do you have Seas in your life? You love the Lord, try to live right, bring your tithes and offerings, sing in the choir, serve as an usher, active in the curriculum and activities of your church, and even try to treat everybody right - so Why do you have a challenging and provocative sea?
Why must you face the darkness of depression?
Why do you at times feel Jesusless?
Why do you have hard trials on every hand?
Why do you have heartaches and pains?
Why do you seem to toil and toil and get no where?
The question is: Why do you have Seas in your life?
Well, there are Two Possible Reasons for the Sea of Challenge in your life. I wanted to suggest that the First Reason we have Some Sea in our life is quite possibly TO TEST THE SINCERITY OF OUR DESIRE. What I mean is this. You really don’t mind serving in your present capacity, but you really prefer something more challenging and exciting. Passing out loaves and fish is needful, but you really long for something more. Passing the basket and collecting the fragments is necessary, but you really long to do something else. Transporting 12 baskets filled with fragmented pieces of bread to the hungry and homeless is honorable, but you really long for something more significant. So, the Lord says, If you want a promotion or rise to another level in ministry, then Here is a Sea: Cross it and then we’ll discuss your promotion!
Let’s face it. Everyone who talks about ministry doesn’t really want to minister! Oh yeah, they want the Title but don’t want to take the Towel of Service and wash someone else’s feet. They want the Position but not the Preparation; but there is always the Evening of Preparatory Crossing. In order to get to the other side, we are going to have to be prepared to go down to the sea and get into the ship! Oh yeah, folk want the Prestige but not the Pressure. They want the Office without the Offence, the Wages but not the Work, they want the Crown without the Cross! So Jesus Tests the Sincerity of our Desires by giving us Some Sea of Challenge to Cross. For sometimes we ask for things we really don’t want because at Evening Time, we aren’t willing to pay the price: we don’t want to Cross Over the Sea of Challenge. But, you’ll never see Higher Service if you don’t Cross the Sea of Sincerity! The Sea of Sincerity leads to the Plateau of Higher Service!
And I wanted to suggest that the Second Reason we have some sea of challenge in our life is possibly because AT TIMES GOD HAS TO HUMBLE US TO USE US. Ah yeah, we all fall prey to the spirit of arrogance and pride, thinking we know all there is to know. Meaning, the Lord has allowed us to become familiar with the ways in which He has dealt with us in the past. He healed us a certain way. He usually blesses us financially thru a certain channel. He usually delivers us from our dilemmas and jams thru this door. He has always answered our prayer in this fashion. He has granted us success in ministry this way. He handles our enemies this way. And so, we think we know how the Lord operates because He has always done it this or that way. Therefore, we are no longer open to what new or different thing God is doing. We are looking for God to come down this street when in fact, He is tapping us on the shoulder because He has taken an entirely different route.
So, God challenges us to take a ride on the Sea of Challenge to show us we don’t know all there is to know about Him or His Ways. Yet, not discounting the fact that we might have seen Him heal the sick, cast out demons, raise some dead hope, dream or plan from the tombs of finality; we might have witnessed him saving the unsavable and reaching the unreachable; we might have seen him turn water into wine and even feed over 5,00 folk with just 2 small fish and 5 small barley loaves. Yes, we might be familiar with His authority over man, demons, sickness, disease and death, but we don’t know about His Authority over Nature; so He challenges us to Ride on the Sea! He wants to show us He is Master of the Winds and the Waves, the Weather and the Atmosphere!
God sometimes puts us into elements He knows we know we can’t handle, just to take us From Faith To Knowledge. Meaning, to take us from saying “I believe that you can handle this,” to “Lord, I Know you can Handle this!” So, He puts us on some sea of difficulty, on which we row and make no progress, winds of adversity toss us here and there, and waves of affliction sweep over our souls. And then, when it seems like the end is near, Here He Comes walking on the Seas of our difficulty, strolling unflappable against our winds of adversity and unmoved by the waves of affliction dancing at His feet. And our only recourse is to receive Him willingly into our ship, and confess “What manner of Man is this that even the winds and sea obey Him!”
Yes, sometimes God has to humble Us To Use Us! I might as well tell you, don’t ever think you know what God is going to do or how He’s going to do it. To so is to ask for A Sea of Challenge! So, if the Lord has been good to you; if the Lord has come to your rescue in the night walking on the sea of your dilemma; if the Lord has soothed your doubts and calmed your fears in the night of your storm, then your song ought to be:
“Search me, Lord,
shine a little light from heaven on my soul.
If you find anything that shouldn’t be,
take it out and straighten me.
I want to be right, I want to be saved,
I want to be whole.”
Thus Seas of Challenge and Provocation are Beneficial (Romans 5:3-5). “Thru it all! I’ve learned to trust in Jesus; I’ve learned to trust in God!”
Now my primary purpose for bringing this passage of Scripture to your gaze is to assure you that God Still Acts; He’s Still Involved; He Still has Personal, Hands-On Experience with the Human Condition. What I really want to say is:
II. Between the Launching and the Landing, GOD IS AT WORK IN THE NIGHT.
If you remember nothing else, remember this: God Is Involved, God Is Interested, God Is Operative At Night when the Storm Is On!
And so, I need to let you know WHAT HAPPENS AT NIGHT BE
TWEEN THE LAUNCHING AND THE LANDING.
Verse 17b says We are going to be In Darkness Between the Launching and the Landing. “It was now dark.” Between the launching and the landing, we are going to be in the darkness of temporary lostness and alienation, rowing fearful, fretful and frustrated. We are going to be in the long night of lostness and sorrow waiting for the joy of the morning of the next day of possible light. Having lost the Light of our life and Center of our joy, we are going to toil in the Darkness and Gloom of our Senseless Senses. Yes, it is possible for those who fear the Lord and obey the voice of His servant to walk in darkness and have no light. Oh, but at time like those, we must trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon our God.
Verse 17 c says We are going to be Jesusless between the launching and the landing. It was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.” Well, Brother Harris, how is it possible for a believer to be Jesusless when He has promised never to leave nor forsake? Well you must understand that while that is a fact, it is also true that often we feel Jesusless.
In The Night, we can’t Sense the Divine or Hug the Holy
Or Touch the Intangible or Sniff the Sublime
Or Sight the Sovereign or Taste the Real Deal;
We Feel all alone on a wide blue sea and never a soul takes pity on our soul in agony.
I wonder, have you ever been there and done that? We want a personal sighting of Jesus in the Night of our Storm. We want to be able to have Him on board our ship when the storms of life are raging so that all we have to do is wake Him up. But we can’t sense or sight Him because most of the time we walk by sight and not by faith. Yes, between the launching and the landing, we are going to feel Jesusless.
But the good news is that verse 19 says that We’re Going to See Jesus between the launching and the landing! When we have exhausted our strength in rowing, we shall see Jesus! We shall see Him doing the Unthinkable-Walking on the sea of our adversity, strolling unflappable against our winds of difficulty and walking unmoved by the waves of affliction dancing at His holy feet. He is going to approach us AT
NIGHT in our Storm. We are going to hear His Credible Claim and Calming Command- “It is I: the Light in your Darkness. It is I: Your Comforter in loneliness, the Evidence of things not seen. It is I: the Master of the winds and the waves. So, Be not afraid; dare to believe; dare to be brave.”
In between the launching and the landing, the Lord is saying “I’m still in charge here!” Storms can only rage for awhile, billows can only dash for a season. Evil sits on a temporary throne and Wrong has no permanent station.
But there is a God, and He still makes wrong right.
There is a God. He still gives truth power over lies.
There is a God. He still gives power to the faint and might to the strengthless.
There is a God who still makes house-calls, still shows up at midnight, still walks on the sea of challenge and still commands winds of adversity and waves of affliction.
Yes, there is a God who still rules earth and heaven; in Him there is relief from every pain and care. For He knows just how much e can bear.
So, don’t worry about your Sea! Don’t fret about the Sea. No need to toss and turn, to pace a hole in your carpet. No need to worry if you’re going to make it thru the Night. Because between the launching and the landing GOD IS AT WORK IN THE NIGHT! Yes, William Cowper was right when he wrote:
“Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy,
And shall break with blessings on thy head.”
God Works AT NIGHT when a chill falls over the earth.
God Works AT NIGHT when the birds hush their singing and only the crickets compose a noctural symphony.
AT NIGHT God works, when the moon has made its majestic march to its appointed throne, gleaming against the black curtain of creation.
AT NIGHT God works, when the heavens weep filling the seas and rivers with her tears, and the thunder clear its throat in the sky while the lightning zigzags across the purple ether of the night.
God works AT NIGHT when the dew has kissed the ground, when the hoot owl takes its post and all other animals have found their way to their dens and caves.
As I’m on my way to my seat, let me pull a few transcripts from the files of my own experience; for I believe that God Does His Best Work At Night.
It was AT NIGHT in July of ‘69 that the Lord showed me He Works. It was on American Airlines descending from the heights of 35,000’ over the Republic of South VietNam. As we descended lower and lower, I could see red flashes of light emanating from several places on the ground below. I soon realized I was in a war zone. As we descended lower preparing to land, all on that plane felt the pains of fear and terror, and we all began to call on the name of our God. The artillery fire became louder and louder, as if aimed at the plane. Finally we landed at Long Bingh Base At Night; and we were told before deplaning, to squat down as low as we could and run hurriedly to the nearest hanger. So we deplaned one by one and ran as fast as possible to safety. But shortly thereafter, I was told to board a jeep because I would have to travel 30 more miles thru a war zone to reach Tan Son Knat AFB Saigon. So IN THE NIGHT we rode in an uncovered jeep with an armed guard and a gunner who manned a machine gun mounted on the rear. I need not pause to suggest that I really was in contact with the Lord all way to Saigon. Oh yeah, I was in my first real storm. But Jesus assured me that not only would I make it to Saigon safe and sound, but also the whole year I would be there that No weapon formed against me would prosper. So, Here I am 33 years later.
It was in June of ‘71, somewhere in the state of Pennsylvania, that the Lord showed me again He Worked AT NIGHT. Though I had already experienced the Lord to be my strong high tower, shield and buckler and my strong deliverer in time of war, I still had not yet yielded to Him by faith. So I got in my Cadillac Deville with a lid of grass and a fifth of vodka on my way to Columbus, Ohio from Kansas City, Mo. Somewhere on I-70 between Indianapolis, Indiana and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania I passed out. I woke up in a field, the left side of my Cadillac scratched from headlight to tail-light, not knowing where I was nor how I got there. To this very day I still do not know what happened. But this I do know: that Night the Lord took control of that car, my life and of that situation; for Here I am 31 years later!
And finally, it was late one Sunday Night in May of ‘78 that the Lord showed me once again He Works AT NIGHT. I had been saved about 5 years and married about 2 years. My wife and I had laid down to go to sleep. About 11 o’clock that night, I was awakened by a Cry that sounded like it was coming from outside. So I woke my wife and asked her if she heard the cry, but she answered ‘no.’ So I laid down again and again the Voice Cried louder and louder as if not breathing. So again I asked my wife if she heard the voice, and again she answered no.
So I got up and went outside to investigate; but I couldn’t detect from where the Cry was coming. So I came back in the house and laid down again. But a third time this Voice came Crying louder and clearer and nearer. So this time I didn’t bother my wife. I gently slipped out of bed, got my Bible and sat down at the dining table. Then the Lord said “Turn to Isaiah 58:1.” I turned there. And He said “Read it.” I read it. It said, “CRY loud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” He didn’t need to explain it; I knew. But then He said “Turn to Isaiah 40:1-2 and read it.” I did and it read: “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and CRY unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that here iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”
Need I say more? That was My Call to the ministry. And Here I am 24 years later still CRYING in the wilderness.
Yes, I’m convinced that God does His Best Work AT NIGHT!
AT NIGHT - His Power defends me
AT NIGHT - His Faithfulness abides with me
AT NIGHT - His Holiness washes me
AT NIGHT - His Justice satisfied me
AT NIGHT - His Kindness keeps me
AT NIGHT - His Mercy holds me
AT NIGHT - His Word hides me
AT NIGHT - His Love enfolds me
AT NIGHT - His Angels guard me
AT NIGHT - His Rod and Staff comfort me
IT ALL HAPPENS AT NIGHT!!!
