Jesus In Mark: Wk 6

Intro:

Illustration:

Golf Stories- golf cart and pick up truck.

Transition:

We all find ourselves in these situations. The difficulties are rising, or the stakes are high and stress is growing. We are struggling with something in school or a relationship, or our personal life. Whatever it is- we feel our minds just closing in to where we can only see, hear, think about or imagine everything that is going WRONG! We can only feel our stress, our anxiety, our struggle. We can only see the failure, the sin, the brokenness. And we can’t find our way out of it because we are so caught up in the mess we are in.

It’s in these moments where we always have two choices, even if we don’t feel like it. We can either focus on what is falling apart, or we can look at how things can come back together. We are either completely consumed by our struggle, or we can see the other side, the possibility of getting through it. Now, to be clear, I am NOT talking about just simply thinking positively or trying to be an optimist. That isn’t terrible but it doesn’t actually help you when your life is falling apart right? No, I believe the way we face these dark times, or terribly difficult situations is completely dependent upon how we see Jesus. Your view of Jesus will determine how you go through the struggles of life. How you view Jesus will completely change how you go through the hardest struggles of your life.

Context:

Turn with me to Mark 4 tonight. We will be in the tail end of the chapter that we started last week. As you turn there, there are a few things you need to know about what is going on since where we left off. Jesus, if you remember is spending a day teaching the crowd through parables. Specifically, what Mark mentions are parables all about the Kingdom of God. Jesus is teaching them about the arrival and impact of the Kingdom of God for all the earth! And where Mark will go next, as we will see, is to show 4 miracles that happen immediately following these parables. So, Jesus teaches all this stuff to them about who He is and what the Kingdom of God is like and then takes them into the world where they see the power of the Kingdom of God on full display 4 times in a row. It’s like Jesus is giving them the chance to test their faith in Him and see if they understand what he has been saying! It’s an encouragement to believe all that He has taught them by now seeing the things he does! And we won’t likely get into all 4 of the miracles here, but we are going to dig into the first one tonight and see how it helps us think about those difficult times in life.

Last week we heard that if you aren’t rooted in JEsus and abiding in him you will fall away when the hard times and persecution come. Here the disciples will go through a very hard situation and we will see where their faith is at.

It challenges us to have the proper view of Jesus in the midst of life’s hardest moments!

Let’s dig into the passage together.

Mark 4:35-41

“On that day, when evening had come, he told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.” So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat. And other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?” He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!””

Now, this is a story that we are likely very familiar with. Jesus calms the storm. And that is usually what is focused on by people talking about this passage. Hey life will bring you storms, Jesus can calm them! And that is one hundred percent true, and I do hope you know that, and we will even talk about that tonight. But what if I told you that’s not the focus of this passage. The point of this passage is not about the storm, but about how the disciples view Jesus.

Let’s go back through the story with an open mind and see what’s going on here.

So, This is an incredible moment for the disciples to be with Jesus. They are loaded up in a boat with him and he has been teaching all day, the crowd has been locked in. And, It’s now getting into the evening and they are all wiped out! Jesus tells them to cross the sea. Maybe this was to get away from the crowd, maybe it was for rest, but all we know is Jesus has plans on the other side of the sea and tells the disciples to cross the sea in their boat with Him.

This is an important detail for Mark to include here. Why? Because it means that the disciples weren’t about to go through this storm because they were disobedient or sinful. Many of you should be familiar with the Story of Jonah in the old testament right? He was disobedient to God, he runs from him even, gets on a boat, and God does allow a storm to rise up and threaten the safety of the boat and everyone on board. However, in this case, the disciples are not going into a storm because of their disobedience but because of their obedience to Jesus.

This is tough for us because many times we want to think, or we believe even if we know it isn’t true, that following Jesus makes life easy and perfect and all our problems should go away. But that’s hardly the case. If you have followed Jesus for any amount of time you know that hard times still come, trials and pain are still a reality. In fact, persecution and suffering are even promised to followers of Jesus. So, why follow Jesus obediently if it can possibly lead to storms like this?

Because Jesus doesn’t just want to deliver us out from storms, he wants to deliver us THROUGH storms.

Jesus will use storms in our life to grow our faith and reveal more of Himself to us.

We don’t follow a Savior who just delivers us FROM the hard times, He doesn’t just take us out of our struggle, or remove us from the painful situation. Jesus saves us in them, and he grows us through them. He will give healing and power in the midst of the storm, not just take us out of it. And ultimately, it leads to our faith growing as we know more about the Jesus we follow.

So obedience, not sin or disobedience, leads the disciples into the storm.

But what is this storm like?

Well, this sea that they are on, the sea of Galilee, is actually still infamous for unpredictable storms. People to this day, talk about the bad storms that you can get caught in on the sea of Galilee.

And you can see from even this brief story that this storm is really bad. It has massive waves crashing across their boat, water is flooding into where they are riding in the boat. They are struggling to push through.

Story of Canoe with Harrison… we were in out of our league as teenage kids with little experience. But these were legitimate fishermen who practically lived at sea!

And REMEMBER there are multiple experienced fishermen with them. They practically live on the water and they are freaking out in this storm- that means it was seriously bad out there!

It’s in this moment we see their fear, their panic, their feeling of weakness and insufficiency. Which is good because it led them to go get Jesus. But let’s look at how they address Jesus and see where their attitudes were at. Read verse 38 with me.

Mark 4:38 (CSB)

He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?”

So, where is Jesus in the midst of this crazy storm? Sleeping under the boat. He’s down sleeping from teaching all day while the disciples are fighting for their lives against the storm up above. And this does maybe makes us think for a moment that Jesus doesn’t care. And this is what the disciples think. They even say it- don’t you care that we are going to die?

Have you ever felt like God just didn’t see you in the midst of your struggle? In your darkest, most painful, most lost moment- it felt like God wasn’t even looking your direction. As we will see from the story, that isn’t true. That is just your perception, not reality.

The disciples thought for sure that this storm would destroy them, so why was Jesus so calm, enough to sleep even? Because, Jesus knew the storm didn’t have any power over them.

Jesus is about to display that he has authority and power over the wind and the waves, so why would he ever fear them?

Listen, what you are going through is real. It is powerful. The waves are big and and the winds are strong. But that storm in your life does not have the power that it looks like it does. Your relationship may be falling apart. You may be addicted. You may be anxious or afraid. You may feel like you don’t know who you are...

But Jesus has more authority than anything you are going through.

The disciples didn’t view Jesus properly. They said, Teacher, don’t you care?

Jesus cares, He just has more power than you so He isn’t afraid.

And we see this even more clearly in what happens next.

What does Jesus do next?

He got up and spoke. He said Silence! Be Still!

With just a few words Jesus silences the storm and stills the raging sea.

With just a sentence Jesus calms the chaos that had the disciples losing all hope.

Jesus has more power in his breath than you do in your entire strength and efforts.

Jesus has more power than anything you can do.

Jesus has more authority than anything you re going through and he has more power than anything you can do.

But listen, this storm it revealed the weakness of the disciples’ faith. They clearly weren’t viewing Jesus properly.

That’s why he then turns to them and says what he says in verse 40

Mark 4:40 (CSB)

Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Remember, he just spent an entire DAY teaching about the Kingdom of God and receiving it. These guys had been with him as he did other miracles and poured out the power of the Kingdom of God through his life. And yet, this storm revealed the reality about their faith- they still weren’t viewing Jesus properly.

Again, how you view Jesus will completely determine the way you face the storms in your life.

Will you stay focused on the wind and waves or will you keep your eyes fixed on the one who can calm the chaos with just a word from his mouth?

Jesus wasn’t upset with them for waking him up, or even for wanting Him to help them. He corrected their fear because their fear showed a lack of faith in His ability to save them.

If you don’t believe in Jesus as Lord of your life, as King of Heaven and Earth, then you will constantly face fear, doubt, and hopelessness in your life because you don’t see Jesus as big enough to save you!

But when you DO know Jesus as Lord of your life and as King of Heaven and Earth, then you never have to walk in fear, doubt our hopelessness no matter what situation comes your way because you know He IS LORD! He is lord over the wind and the waves and he is Lord over every single struggle that you face.

He is Lord over you relationships.

He is Lord over your lust.

He is Lord over your pride.

over your insecurity.

over your depression.

over your injuries.

Over your failures.

over your addictions.

over the abuse.

Over your sexuality.

over your past, present and your future.

JESUS IS LORD. You can trust him in the midst of lives biggest and baddest storms. Keep your eyes on HIM.

But you will only be able to do that if you have the proper view of Jesus.

The disciples at this point didn’t. It says they were afraid and asked themselves:

Mark 4:41 (CSB)

And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”

First they called him teacher and were afraid. Now they were afraid of Him and asked who he even was.

You want to know what is so interesting about this moment? In the very next story, after the boat lands on the other side of the sea of Galilee, they get out and encounter a man who was possessed by many demons. The demons speak to Jesus and say this in

Mark 5:7 (CSB)

And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you before God, don’t torment me!”

The demons immediately know who Jesus is. And they are afraid of Him.

The only need to fear is when Jesus isn’t on your side!

Through whatever you face, if you are saved and have the Spirit of the Living God in you, you have no reason to fear. It can be hard, it can be painful, it can be the biggest storm you have ever faced. Jesus is God, come to save you, and He will be with you through every single storm. View Him properly- as Lord over your life and over Heaven and Earth! Even the winds and the waves obey him, so nothing you face will stand a chance!

Our faith will always fail when our eyes are on our storm instead of our Savior.

Follow Jesus as Lord and you have nothing to fear! The chaos, trouble, pain and suffering of this world have no power over you because the God of all creation is living in you!

Know Jesus is Lord, keep your eyes on Him and watch him deliver you through the storm.

Response:

Bow your heads and close your eyes with me.

Have you been saved by Jesus from your sin? Before He walks with you through storms in your life, you need Jesus to save you from the SIN in your life.

Are you focused on the storm in your life or are your eyes fixed on Jesus as Lord over everything you are going through ?

Just take a moment now to remember Jesus is LORD, of Heaven and Earth. Nothing you are going through has any power over you. Jesus has all authority over it and more power than you. Talk to God about what you’re going through and Invite Jesus to come take over, to show you his power to save you in the midst of that storm.

3. If you aren’t in a storm right now, you will be one day- ask God to prepare you to trust Jesus as LORD today, and when that storm comes!

PRAY