Jesus, Our Peace In The Storm (Mark 4:35 – 41)
The story is told of a man who fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a tree limb on the way down. The following conversation ensued: “Is anyone up there?” “I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?” “Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can’t hang on much longer.” “That’s all right, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch.” A moment of pause, then the man said: “Is anyone else up there?” When the going gets tough, faith is often not our first reaction. Fear and panic usually come much more naturally to us. And we have all kinds of fears.
Peladophobia: fear of bald people. Porphyrophobia: fear of the color purple. Chaetophobia: fear of hairy people. Dextrophobia: fear of objects on the right side of the body. Thalassophobia: fear of being seated. Odontophobia: fear of teeth. There’s even such thing as Phobophobia: fear of being afraid.
You may not have a fear of bald people, or hairy people, or teeth, but we all have some fears. And when the going gets tough, in the storms of life, our fears are often exposed. But Jesus wants to displace your fear with faith (4:35-41).
The passage begins with “on that day, when evening came.” It had been a long day of teaching enormous crowds. In fact the crowd was so overwhelming that Jesus had to get in a boat to escape the pressure, and preach from the boat (3:20, 4:1). All day Jesus was pressured and preaching in the hot sun, so by nightfall He was probably exhausted, and He did what He often did. He said, hey guys, lets leave this crowd so I can get some rest. Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, understood the value of resting.
So Jesus climbed in the stern (back) of the boat and fell asleep. But during His sleep a terrible storm came whipping through the Sea of Galilee and caused the disciples to fear for their lives.
If you’ve ever been out to sea when a furious storm hits, you know it’s very scary. I grew up on sailboats and my dad was a little crazy. When the hurricane warnings came out, all other boats were battening down the hatches, but we were raising the sails. So I’ve been out in some horrible storms. I can tell you, when nature’s wrath is unleashed in the power of wind and water together it can be a helpless feeling. I’ve been out to sea on a boat when the wind and waves were so bad it just kept flipping the boat over again and again. And every time I righted the boat, the wind would pick us both right up out of the water and flip us over again, until I just had to hold on and let the storm take me wherever it wanted to. It’s a scary feeling.
The apostles were in that type of wicked storm. A fierce gale of wind was whipping through the deep ravines, pouring into the Sea of Galilee. Those strong winds were creating giant waves that were consistently crashing onto the boat. They were getting absolutely pounded by the sea and the wind, to the point that the boat was on the brink of sinking or coming apart. It was a life-threatening storm.
But in the middle of that furious storm Jesus was teaching His disciples the importance of faith over fear.
In the Storm: We Tend to Panic (38): The apostles were freaking out in the storm. “Don’t you see what’s happening Jesus, don’t you get it?” Have you ever felt like the apostles, when life gets scary do you tend to think Jesus just doesn’t get it? “Can’t you see what’s happening Jesus, everything’s coming apart at the seams and you just don’t seem to get it. Don’t you care.” If you’re like me you can relate. There is some comfort in this passage, even the apostles, who had Christ right next to them, tended to panic in the storm.
I know my tendency in the storms of life is often to panic, rather than being faithful. A few weeks ago my son was late coming home. Now he knew he wasn’t supposed to be late, and my temperature was going up the later he was. 10 minutes late, and I was upset, 20 minutes late, and my blood was starting to boil, 30 minutes late and the smoke was whistling out my ears. So I picked up the phone and dialed his cell phone number, or so I thought. Actually I dialed the 752 prefix, rather than 572. And to really appreciate the story, we later found out I happened to get one of my son’s schoolmates. So this kid answers the phone, not knowing there’s a man with whistling smoke coming out his ears on the other end. And I said “Where are you?” The kid said “why?” That bothered me, so I said, “do you know how much trouble you’re in?” And the kid said “no.” Now I’m getting really ticked and I say “you get your butt home NOW!” And the kids says “I am home man, you’re freaking me out!”
In the heat of the storm I am certainly no different than the apostles on this account. Panic and fear can often come more natural than faith. But the really good news is there is a way to cast out fear and panic, it’s through faith in Christ.
In the Storm: Christ is at Peace (37-38a): I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to sleep in a small boat during a storm, but it’s not very comfortable. Imagine being on the log flume (wet roller coaster) and sleeping through it. Jesus was so peaceful that He could sleep through the log flume. When the apostles were freaking out, Jesus was completely peaceful.
When the heat is really turned up some people scream and shout, other people fret and worry, still others go in circles of fruitless activity, and every indication is the apostles were doing all those things (demonstrate), but Jesus was asleep, at peace. Jesus had perfect faith that casts all fears away. Wouldn’t you like to have that kind of peace in your life? I would. Jesus wants to give us that kind of peace (Jn 14:27).
The more faith we have in Christ, the more we’ll be at peace, realizing the storms have no power over our Savior. In fact, the power of Christ is one of the primary reasons we can have faith in the storm.
In the Storm: Christ has all Power (39): Literally, Jesus said, ‘Quiet, be muzzled.’ Jesus commands the wind and the waves and they obey. And the picture here is not that Jesus spoke and the storm gradually died down. The tense of the verb here indicate that the storm immediately stopped. Imagine that scene, they went from holding on for dear life, having to scream just to hear the person next to them through the howling winds and crashing waves, to immediate calm waters and silent wind.
Jesus’ power was perfect in the storm, and that shouldn’t surprise us, after all, we know from Scripture that He is the Creator of all that has been created, and He is the sustainer of the universe, so it only makes sense that He has complete authority over all creation. There is no created thing that is outside the providential care of God the Son. So of course He’s at perfect peace in the storm, He has complete power over the storm.
It would be as if a two year old was threatening to beat you up. You wouldn’t fear, you’d laugh at the threat, because with one hand you could easily hold the child off. Even more so, at His command the creation must obey. Moms, wouldn’t you love it if you had that kind of power over your 2 year old.
Because Jesus’ power is perfect, we can have full faith in Him, no matter what type of storm we’re in.
Now I know this, there’s not one person here that’s not going through some kind of personal storm. For some of you it’s a hurricane, for others it’s a sun shower, but all of us are going through some kind of storm, and all of us will go through many very difficult storms at different points in our lives.
What’s your storm? Is it a troubled marriage or a troubled child, is it financial stress, is it strained friendships or relationships, maybe you’re struggling with physical pain, a crippling addiction or even a deadly disease. There are all kinds of storms out there, and we all go through many of them.
But the good news is that none of them are outside the providential care of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is almighty over any storm that we’re going through. We may feel like He just doesn’t get it, or He’s powerless to change things, but the truth is He’s right there with us, fully aware of all that’s going on, providentially allowing all of it to happen, and able to change it all in a heartbeat.
Since He is all-powerful in whatever storm we’re in, it only makes sense to have faith, rather than fear.
In the Storm: Faith casts out Fear (40): If the disciples had faith in Christ, they would not have feared the storm. Faith casts out fear. Now let me ask you something, is that true, or is it just Sunday morning talk? Really now, if you were on that boat wouldn’t you want to respond to Jesus’ question with something like this…’I’ll tell you why we didn’t have faith, the wind was blowing our boat apart, the waves were crashing on the hull, we were just about to sink and you were sleeping, that’s why we were fearful not faithful.’
Why do we act fearful rather than faithful in our personal storms? Isn’t it because we think everything is coming apart, spinning out of control, and Jesus seems asleep at the wheel? Does it really make good sense to just have faith in the storm?
Listen, Jesus wasn’t asking his followers to have blind faith in the storm. The faith He called them to made perfect sense, if they truly believed in Him. At this point in His ministry He already told them He was the Christ, the Son of God, the Lord of the Sabbath, the forgiver of sins. If they believed Jesus, they had to know the Lord was with them. At this point they had already witnessed many miracles. They saw demons being cast out, crowds of people miraculously healed, paralytics made to walk, lepers healed, deformities restored.
Jesus wasn’t calling them to blind faith in the storm, He was calling them to a faith that was completely consistent with who He was and what He had already done. In the storm Jesus expected radical faith, but not blind faith. Blind faith would sure feel like Sunday morning talk that really doesn’t make sense for the rest of the week. But that’s not what Jesus expects of us. His desire is that we have a radical faith in Him because He has fully earned that faith.
Hasn’t He fully earned your faith? He went to the cross because His love was so great for you. He rose from the dead because the grave couldn’t hold Him. By His miracles He demonstrated that He is the Lord of all creation. He promised that He will never leave you nor forsake you. He promised that He’s preparing a place for you in heaven. He promised that He’s coming back for you. Given all He’s done for you, and promises to continue to do for you, isn’t it reasonable to have faith in Him through whatever storm you’re going through, hasn’t He earned it?
Faith in Jesus is the answer to fear in the storm.
Storms Stretch Our Faith (41): This frightening storm experience stretched the faith of the apostles. They went from fearful panic to awe and wonder about the magnificence of Jesus. But they had to go through the storm to get to that point. The storm was a maturing thing. Difficulties in our lives are usually maturing things for us to. When you go through the storm and you come out the other end, and you see how the Lord worked, your faith grows.
Being a Christian doesn’t keep us from the storms of life. In fact, without difficulties, stresses, and failures, we would never grow to be what we should become. Storms are part of the process of spiritual growth.
The apostles needed to go through this storm so their faith would be stretched, because in just a short while Jesus was going to send them out to go preach the gospel. They were going to move from student to intern, and their faith needed to get bigger in order to handle the bigger responsibility. So Jesus sent the storm, He allowed the apostles to fear, then He stopped the storm by His mighty word. The result was the apostles were in awe of Jesus, and their faith grew. Storms stretch our faith.
Application: Let Faith Cast out Fear: I know we’re all going through some kind of storm today. If you’re like the apostles, your tendency in the midst of the storm is to fear or panic. Maybe you’re afraid of another person. Maybe you’re afraid of your financial situation. Maybe you’re afraid of a physical condition. Maybe you’re afraid of failure or afraid of death, or afraid of stress.
I don’t know what you fear, but I do know what we should do about that fear? Let faith cast it out. Have faith that Christ is not ignorant of your trouble. Have faith that Christ is not impotent to handle the situation. Have faith that Christ knows all, is providentially over all, is all-powerful to completely handle the situation, and is with you through it all. Have faith in Christ; He’s earned it.
One John Hopkins University doctor once said, “We do not know why it is that worriers die sooner than the non-worriers, but that is a fact.” But I, who am simple of mind, think I know; we are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to live against reality.
Whatever you’re fearing today, let faith in Christ cast it out, so you can experience the peace of Jesus.
