“Pursuing Excellence”
Mark 4:35-41
As we examine the life of Jesus as it is recorded for us in the four gospels, we get glimpses through windows, as it were. Not every detail of His life and ministry is recorded for us, nor could it be. The Apostle John tells us in John 21:25: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written.”
Our text this evening is just one such “window” into the life and ministry of Jesus.
‘And on that day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us go over to the other side." And leaving the multitude, they took Him along with them, just as He was, in the boat; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. And He Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" And being aroused, He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, "Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?" And they became very much afraid and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’
At first reading, it seems obvious why it was recorded. We see Jesus, weary from a long, long day of healing and teaching and feeling the very real needs and sufferings of those around Him, we see Him sleeping peacefully in the rear portion of the bottom of the boat. He senses no danger and so sleeps peacefully and serenely, showing His disciples just how calmly one can sleep when they have a pure conscience, and when they know they are safe in the hands of God. The disciples, though, have a limited confidence and faith. They know that the Master is with them and that He can indeed save them, but they have not yet fully realized that the Son of God, the Messiah, was on board. They should not have forgotten that He had power to save to the uttermost, and that with Him they were truly and completely safe. So, too, Christians should never fear danger, disease, or death. With Jesus they are safe. No enemy can reach Him; and as He is safe, so we shall be, too.
Then, He rebukes the winds and the waves and commands them to be still, to be at peace, to stop storming. What irresistible proof that He is divine. The storm subsided; the ship glided smoothly; danger fled; and in amazement they stood in the presence of Him who controlled the tempests that God had raised; and they felt that "He" must be God himself, for no one but God could calm the heaving seas and disperse the gale. No scene could have been grander than this display of the power of Jesus. The darkness; the dashing waves; the howling winds; the heaving and tossing ship; the fears and cries of the seamen – all by a single word hushed into calm peacefulness. Nothing else they had experienced could present such an image of power and divinity so grand and yet so frightening. On obvious message to all of us who call upon the Savior that when life and the world and the devil himself threaten our peace and our safety, that going to this same Jesus is the surest place for comfort and security.
That is a brief overview of the conspicuous message of this text. Tonight, I want us to look deeper. I want us to look beyond the obvious. I want us to look, as it were, between the lines and behind the scenes. The parallel account of this event is in Matthew 8:18, 23-27. When we combine the activities of Jesus from the two accounts, we see that He was extremely and intensely busy that day.
Jesus has taught extensively that day on the nature and character of the Kingdom of God, stood firm in His expectations of anyone who would call themselves a true follower of His, He has healed a leper, healed the Centurion’s servant, and healed Peter’s mother-in-law, as well as had private teaching time with His Chosen Twelve. The man is tired! Mentally, emotionally and physically, He is worn out. He needs restful sleep, and He knows that He won’t get it staying where He is. So, He commands His disciples to take the boat they are in and sail to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. This boat was not prepared for a trip – Jesus had had them push it our a little way from the shore so that He could teach the multitudes gathered around. There were no provisions, no extra clothing, no supplies of any kind. Yet, the Master wanted to sail away, and sail away they did. The sea was calm and there were no obvious signs of a storm.
As a side note, the Sea of Galilee sits at the base of Mount Hermon. When the warm air from the Mediterranean meets the colder air of Mount Hermon, the two fronts smash together and sudden, violent storms strike this small body of water that lies 600-feet below sea level.
What I want us to look at is Jesus’ response when He is wakened from a deep, deep sleep; when the one thing that He needs more than anything else is suddenly and quite rudely jerked away from Him. He is thrust violently awake and confronted by a large group of very large men, roaring and yelling out in terror. He is hit full in the face with windblown rain, immediately drenched to the skin. The noise from the men and the storm is deafening. The surface He stands on is pitching wildly up and down and from side to side – without rhythm and without pattern, just a wild bucking.
Jesus’ response? “Hush, be still.” His rebuke is to the wind and the sea, not the frightened men around Him. He looks beyond the reactive ruckus of His disciples to the cause of their unruliness. He removes the cause of their fear and the reason for their reaction; He gives them what they really need; He gives them His best; He “fixes” it.
Let’s take a moment and look forward a few moments. At the beginning of Chapter 5, Jesus and His disciples are immediately confronted with a major demonic presence when they get off the boat. Again, what is Jesus’ response? He meets the need of the suffering man before Him without questions, without recriminations, without demanding that prerequisites be met – He just meets the need. He once again gives His best.
So, let’s get real with this in our own lives. Let’s take a look at our own attitudes and actions and see if we are truly answering the call of Christ on our lives. For, we are all called to be like Him if we claim His name. In John 13:34-35, Jesus very clearly states: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
Jesus gives us the badge of discipleship that we are to wear. It isn’t our clothes, it isn’t our make-up or hairstyle, it isn’t the translation of the Bible that we carry, and it isn’t where we live or whom we have as friends. It is the attitude of our heart toward our fellow man that distinguishes us from those who do not follow Christ. Beginning with our service to Him and flowing into our relationships with others, we are expected by God to give our very best in all things – to “Pursue Excellence”.
See what Paul tells us in Colossians 3:17: “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
That word “whatever” is really a very big word. Let’s look at our whatever’s for a moment. No matter-what, anything-at-all, doesn’t-matter-what, anything-and-everything, whatsoever, by-any-means; phrases like these encapsulate the meaning of our “whatever”.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:7, we read, “For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.” We are called of God to be set apart, to be different from the world in every way that is not in complete agreement with the nature and character of Jesus Christ. We are called of God, in the words of Peter, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:14-16). In 1 John 2:15-17, we are warned, “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever.”
See, our agenda, our purpose, what we love and desire, how we treat others, how we think about them, how we talk, everything about our presentation of ourselves in the world is meant to point to Jesus Christ – His life, His character, His love, His mercy, His grace, His purpose for coming here to this earth, and everything that He loves and desires.
Why did Jesus come? The Bible clearly answers that in 1 John 3:8: “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” So, as Christ ambassadors, as ones who represent Jesus Christ and not themselves, when people see us and hear us, when people experience us in their lives, they are supposed to see and experience Jesus.
Do they?
We had a discussion the other night with several people about the call to excellence and how many in the Body of Christ seem to be missing the implications of that call. The conversation was mostly around how many have become lackadaisical and half-hearted about what they bring to God. Specifically, we talked about the sloppy, careless approach that many have toward entering the house of God – what many call “going to church.”
What we have seen a drastic decrease in is a sense of the holy, a sense of propriety, a sense of bring God our best and being our best – an attitude of negligence toward reverence toward and awe of God and the things of God.
Whatever happened to wearing our “Sunday Best” to church? Whatever happened to quiet and reverence in the sanctuary? Whatever happened to the “sanctuary”? How did it become an auditorium? How did it become “okay” to not prepare to enter into corporate worship of The Most High God? How did it become acceptable, even end up promoted, that bringing espresso and other entertaining drinks into the sanctuary was pleasing to God? When did feeding our flesh and denying the spirit become the standard of good?
Jesus shows us by His own life, by His own reactions, by His own priorities, by His own words what it means to pursue excellence. Peter walked side-by-side with Jesus – he was in the boat that day when Jesus calmed the storm. And, it is Peter who tells us in his first letter, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Were in God’s name has he given us permission to approach the world He created with mediocrity? Where in God’s name did Jesus teach that mediocrity in our worship of and service to God was our mandate? Where in God’s name did the apostles instruct the developing church to evangelize for the Kingdom of God in mediocrity? Where in God’s name do we get off representing the Savior of Mankind in mediocrity? What is mediocrity? It is weakness, powerlessness, faultiness, frailty, helplessness, vulnerability. It is indifference, lack of concern, apathy, lethargy, laziness, slothfulness, inaction an ineffectiveness. It is being out-of-order, broken, shoddy and defective.
We must remember that “whatever [we] do in word or deed, [we are to] do all in the name [as the representative] of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17 again).
It is past time for His Church, His Body, His Bride to act like it. We are not instructed, encouraged, or even authorized to approach life with any other agenda. It is time to “be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).” The word Jesus uses for “perfect” here is not flawlessness and freedom from error and sin. It is a word that means fully realizing the purpose for which someone or something is planned and designed and made. It is time that we fully realize the purpose for which we as believers and for which the Church as a whole was planned and designed and made.
How do you treat people?
How do you react when people do foolish, or mean or selfish things?
Do we condemn people – do we say, “well, they got what they deserved”?
Do we think that the faults of others are much worse than our own faults?
How do we approach God and the things of the Kingdom?
Do we bring our cast-offs and present them as “first-fruits”?
Do we slop ourselves together and present ourselves as “a royal priesthood”?
Do we pursue a deeper and greater understanding of God through the study of His Word, or do we use our “spare” time to feed the flesh and satisfy our earthy and earthly desires?
You see, there is no half-way, so-so, mediocre path in Christianity. Jesus says very clearly that, “He that is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. (Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23).”
In other words, if we aren’t helping and cooperating with Jesus, then we are standing in direct opposition to Him. If we are not working for Him, then we are actually working against Him.
Jesus did nothing except in the most excellent way for the most excellent reasons. If we are satisfied with anything less, then we are accepting mediocre and not excellence.
From our text, we can even see what Jesus’ response to us will be when we come to Him and say, “Lord, can You see that I am perishing?” When we admit to Him that we have accepted less than the best that He has offered us, less than the best that He has made available to us, He is ready to say in one simple word, “Hush, be still,” to the storm that rages around us and in us.
Tell Him what it is that troubles you.
Tell Him what it is that has you unsettled or fearful or concerned. He will calm and hush that storm as well.
Tell Him that you want His best for your life.
Tell Him that you want His best for those around you.
Tell Him that you have accepted less than the best and that you desire more than anything to pursue His excellence.
He will serve your need just as He has served the needs of everyone who has ever called upon Him in times of trouble.
Then, go to Him in worship and adoration, for He alone is worthy of our praise.
Walk with Him into the excellent future that He has called you to, and that He died to give you.
