"is God Asleep"

A PLACE OF GRACE

“Is God Asleep?”

Mark 4:35-41

Let me begin with a quick question this morning. What is the one thing this world needs right now? More than anything else, what is it? That question has been posed many times; often in beauty pageants like the Miss America pageant. And the answer is always the same. World peace. Stop wars around the world, stop arguing with each other. Let’s have world peace. The problem is it’s just not an easy thing to solve.

I asked my oldest son, David, who is in his early 40’s … he has spent his entire adult career serving our country. 21 years in Army reserves. 9 years working for the Government is Military Intelligence. Been deployed twice. I asked him this week how many wars are currently being fought in the world. He said right now there are at least 3 major wars happening. Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. There are also about a dozen armed conflicts going on in Africa right now. And at least 40 others taking place in other countries. The difference between the two by the way is this-an armed conflict is declared a war once 1000 people have been killed. So in a real sense we are at war with the Coronas Virus. Because as of this morning there are ______________ deaths worldwide.

One more fact. Of the past 3400 years, man has been entirely at peace only 10% of recorded history. Man has always had difficulty finding peace.

And so did the disciples. Now remember they had the opportunity to hang out with Jesus 24/7. You would think their lives would be peaceful all of the time. In the gospel of John, Jesus has just identified Judas as the one who will betray him. In addition, he has predicted that Peter, considered to be the leader of the 12; he has predicted that Peter would deny Jesus three times. And he does.

He has also let them know once again that a time will come very soon when he will be leaving. The disciples have built their entire lives around Jesus for over three years--- they were learning from Him daily. They left jobs and family and other commitments behind to follow him and now he is going away. The last thing the disciples felt was peace. Jesus knew this of course so as he begins to speak the disciples listen to what he has to say... Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. One word Jesus uses, is a Greek word that means to join together or to be tied together as a whole. In other words peace often involves taking something that is broken, disconnected, fractured, shattered and putting all the pieces back together. Peace can be about putting pieces together. But it also means something even deeper. And that is what we find in this story today.

ROPE ILLUSTRATION---THERE WILL ALWAYS BE

THOSE WHO WILL TEAR IT APART

MARK 4:35-41. The Sea of Galilee is just 5 miles wide and 13 miles long but it has a very unique history involving storms. Fact is, it is 600 feet below sea level, so deep in the basin where it sits that cold air and warm air often come together and the result is a huge storm. Jesus had just finished speaking and this was exactly what happened. Jesus had just completed a long day of ministry. He had been confronted by some of the leaders of the day; the crowds were constantly with him, he was teaching them and by now he was physically exhausted. So Jesus took a boat to cross the lake and did what most of us would do. He went to sleep. God was asleep in the boat.

That was when it seemed that out of nowhere a terrible storm begins. Matthew uses the word seismos, which means earthquake, to describe the storm. This storm was more like a hurricane. Luke tells us it was so bad that the ship was full of water. The waves covered the ship and unless something were to change they were headed for the bottom of the sea. Here are some truths that really stand out to me.

• Storms can happen when you least expect them. When you are not prepared in the least.

• Sometimes they happen because we sin----we bring these storms on all by ourselves.

• Sometimes they happen because we do something that is just plain stupid. We’re not being smart.

• Sometimes they happen because of the actions of someone else.

• Sometimes they seem to happen for no reason at all. Or at least it seems that way.