Who’s in the boat with you?

Luke 8:22–25 ESV

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

OFFERING

DISMISS KID MIN

Introduction:

When I was a boy, my mom would tell me this story: Pete and Repeat went out in a boat. Pete fell out. Who was left?

She thought she was pretty cute.

That joke doesn’t work the same with other names. It’s not the same if Joe and Jim go out in the boat and Jim falls out. Then it’s not a joke, it’s an emergency. It matters who is in the boat.

In today’s passage it matters greatly who is in the boat with the disciples. We are going to walk through this event and see what it tells us about who is in the boat with them and what it means for you and me.

This is one of those passages that if we give a cursory reading to we might be in danger of misunderstanding or misapplying. We, as a church, want to make sure we are correctly handling the Word of God. This passage is not about how Jesus calms the storms in your life. This passage ultimately is about Jesus’ identity as God as displayed by His power and authority over the natural world. In the next passage we see His authority over the spiritual world. There’s a spoiler for next week. :)

This passage is not about you and me. We are far to quick to try and put ourselves in the story. The Bible is not about you. It’s about God. We have to take the text as the text is and not add any of our preconceived notions to it.

So what is going on here? This account appears also in both Matthew and Mark. I’m taking those into account as we talk about Luke’s version of the story.

From those passages we know that Jesus has been teaching and it sure seems like he’s tired. It was evening so he tells the disciples to go across to the other side with him. They get in the boat and head out. Jesus goes to sleep on the boat.

They get out into the water and a great windstorm arose. Now, these were not abnormal for the Sea of Galilee. It was surrounded by mountains and wind would drop down in and circulate violently. Remember, you have experienced fishermen who were used to being out on the water. But they were terrified. The waves are breaking into the boat and it’s starting to fill with water. They were right where He wanted them.

I. Jesus wanted them in the storm.

Many times as we live our lives, we encounter circumstances that surprise us or aren’t what we expected. Often, we are doing something that God has commanded us in the scriptures and then it doesn’t end up going the way WE planned. The thing we must understand is that God works through our circumstances. Not only do they not come as a surprise to Him but further, He wants us to go through them as a means of helping us trust Him more. He brings events into our lives to mold us.

Think about this passage of scripture. Jesus told them to cross to the other side. Do you understand? Jesus led them straight into the storm. He knew it was coming and led them right into it. He wanted them in the middle of the wind and the waves. In the storm was right where God wanted them. He had a purpose in it. He was about to show them more about Himself. Many times in our lives we find ourselves in the middle of a storm and our only desire is to kick and scream and get out as soon as possible but God purposes to shape us and teach us more about Himself.

God is never the author of evil.

But our suffering never comes as a surprise to Him.

Some of our suffering is caused by the sins of other people and some by our own sin.

“Having a personal, saving relationship with Jesus Christ does not mean that somehow we will escape all of life’s troubles. On the contrary, Christians suffer the same natural disasters, the same sinful abuse, and the same daily misfortunes as everyone else. In fact, sometimes knowing Jesus takes us right into the storm, especially when in some way we suffer for our faith. We can be “in the center of God’s will,” as people say, and yet still find ourselves at the center of the storm, as the disciples did.” Ryken

God knows when we are headed for rough waters and sometimes, in order that He may grow us, He guides us there.

I once heard someone say, “Jesus will not protect you from that which will make you closer to Him.”

Remember that in the rough waters of life that suddenly come upon you, God is still sovereign.

“By affliction He teaches us many precious lessons, which, without it we should never learn. By affliction He shows us our emptiness and weakness, draws us to the throne of grace, purifies our affections, weans us from the world, and makes us long for heaven. In the resurrection morning we shall all say, ‘it is good for me that I was afflicted.’ We shall thank God for every storm.” - J. C. Ryle

God is sovereign over our circumstances.

It was exam time. Had they been listening to what Jesus had been teaching and what would their response be to seeing His divinity and divine power on display?

What is our response to this?

Wiersbe: “faith must always be tested… It is not enough to merely learn a lesson or repeat a teaching. We must be able to practice that lesson by faith.”

This testing was not so God could see something about them. He knows it all already. But so they could see Jesus as divine, the God, whom He claimed to be, and who could be trusted.

And that brings us to the third main point that we see. We see a Savior who can be trusted.

II. The Word of God calms the storm.

They go to Jesus, who is ASLEEP on a cushion in the stern of the boat which is where the rudder is located. It’s where the person who steers the boat would have likely sat. He had been teaching and he was tired. He was not worried. He was resting. (This is a little aside but…My friend Jim says…) Sometimes the most Godly thing you can do is take a nap. When you’re so sure of your Heavenly Father that you can sleep soundly when the world is flailing around you… Amazing. They wake him up and accuse him of not caring that they’re going to die. This man who was teaching them and they had left everything to follow, this man who would ultimately die on the cross in the place of them as payment for their sins, and here they were doubting if he even cared that they were dying in this storm. He wakes up and rebukes the wind and tells the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And everything was calm. He asks them why they are so afraid. He then says something that just stings. “Have you still no faith?” Then the text tells us they were filled with great fear. Literally, (says) they feared a great fear. They were in awe of the one who could still the wind and the waves.

All the good little Jewish boys of that day knew that there was exactly one person who had control over the wind and the waves, one person who had authority over nature. It is written about in Psalm 107. Let’s look at specifically verses, 23-32.

Psalm 107:23–32 ESV

Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

God has authority over nature because He is the Creator God. Jesus has authority over nature because He is God. Now imagine you’re sitting in that boat and you know that only God controls nature and BOOM, here’s a guy in your boat doing the same thing. They feared a great fear.

So we see Jesus’s divinity on display. It reminds me of a story I heard about a missionary over in Africa or some third world country. He told this story to the people in this more primitive culture. Now we have americanized it and made it about us. In America as I mentioned earlier, you tend to hear a devotional, me centered explanation of this story. But the people in this other country were not struck by that. There was no talk of oh, Jesus calms the storms in my life, or Jesus goes through the storms of life with me. No, their comment was “He must have been a very powerful man.” They got it. The point was Jesus and His power and authority because He is God. His divinity was on display.

But we also see His humanity on display.

He was tired. He went to sleep. We see throughout the gospel accounts that Jesus got tired, he got hungry, he got angry, he cried, and he died. The Christian church has always believed that Jesus was 100 percent God and 100 percent man. The God man. The only qualification that is ever put on His humanity is that He had no sin. He never sinned. He was perfect. He lived a perfect human life that none of us could possibly live. That meant He could be the perfect sacrifice for all of our sin.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus must have been exhausted from all of the teaching and being around the crowds and so he was sound asleep in the stern of the boat right through a storm. One commentator notes that this is the only time in the gospels when we read about Jesus sleeping. But that did not change the fact that He was still God and still in authority over every drop of the very water that was carrying them to the other shore. He could rest with complete trust in the care of his Heavenly Father. Jesus knew there was still work for him to do so he rested to be energized for the work ahead of Him.

So we see both Jesus’s humanity and divinity on display. We now need to look at the storm itself and in that we see God’s sovereignty in our circumstances.

III. God was in the boat.

The activity of the disciples and their accusation about Jesus possibly not caring about their lives being at stake showed that they didn’t have faith in Jesus. He knew this. But now they knew it. They were panicking about their lives.

When we lose faith in the one we should trust, the result is PANIC! (fear, anxiety)

The greatest danger facing the disciples was not the storm. The greatest danger they faced was unbelief in their hearts. This miracle validates everything that Jesus had spoken about in His previous teaching. It was the first of four miracles that demonstrate His Lordship. The disciples were filled with a great fear. They were in awe of the power Jesus displayed. It was a validation of everything they had just heard Him teach.

Mark is likely intending to indicate that faith is more than learning or intellectual assent but is trust in a specific person - Jesus the Christ of God. So the question we have to bat around in our hearts is, do we really trust Jesus? Have we truly believed the gospel, that He is who He says He is? When God leads us through a storm it becomes evident where our faith stands.

Imagine you are in that boat. You have just witnessed this amazing display of authority and power. Now, time passes and this same man, the very Son of God, their authoritative teacher, their compassionate leader, would lay down His life for them even though He had the very power of God available to Him.

Yet this man would endure the pain, the humiliation, the death of crucifixion as a substitute for them because of their sin. And as a substitute for you and me because of our sin. Imagine you’re there three days later when you hear reports that the tomb where they laid his lifeless body is now empty and that He has risen.

They could, and we can have a faith in Jesus that perseveres because we know the one who not only calms the storms but commands their very existence.

Conclusion:

I know a lot of pastors would probably go the route of simplifying this passage into saying that Jesus calms the storms of life or that Jesus is with you even in the storms of life.

That’s nice but it’s bigger than that.

We have to get away from thinking everything is about us.

We can’t a live me-centered life for Jesus. Our lives must be centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s the only thing that changes us.

He sends us out into the storm knowing that He is always in full control of every situation. He wants us to trust Him in these very troubling circumstances. He is not worried or afraid because He knows who holds the power. We should too. When we trust in Him, in this, in His sovereignty, total authority and control, we experience a much deeper resolve, a deeper relationship and trust. He is in complete control and reigns supreme so I can obediently walk any path He lays before me…. even one that leads through suffering.

Yes He is with His people.

Yes He can calm the storm. But as the old song says, “sometimes He calms the storm and sometimes He calms His child.”

We can have complete confidence in His authority and control in all of life. Trust and do not fear. Do not worry.

So---- Where is your faith?

Have you ever put your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation? Have you trusted that he died willingly on the cross in your place as a perfect sacrifice to atone for your sin? Have you believed that He rose from the grave and have you repented of your sin and trusted in Him alone for salvation?

Have you been toying around with serving Christ in a deeper way but you’re scared? Maybe now is the time you need to trust who He is.

Are you someone who has a storm swirling around you right now? Jesus is in that storm and wants you to trust Him. And this time, He is not asleep. He’s leading you, guiding you, and teaching you more about Him. That doesn’t mean it’s not painful or scary. I want to encourage you to reach out to your brothers and sisters in this church family and ask them to pray for you. I’m just crazy enough to believe they want to serve you in this way. I want to encourage you not to panic but to trust God and walk faithfully through whatever it is. He is worth it.

We have heard the truth. Now is the time when we respond in our hearts to the Lord’s calling. How do you need to respond to Him today?

Let’s pray.

PRAY