Straining in the Darkness

Introduction

We are back in the Gospel of Mark

Last week we looked at the feeding of the 5,000

And the story today is continuing the same movement

Right after the feeding of the 5,000 we have another very recognizable story of Jesus

Jesus walking on water

Walking over waves/Through?

Scripture Reading

(SLIDES)

Mark 6:45–56 CSB

45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After he said good-bye to them, he went away to the mountain to pray. 47 Well into the night, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 He saw them straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Very early in the morning he came toward them walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them. 49 When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke with them and said, “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded, 52 because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened. 53 When they had crossed over, they came to shore at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized him. 55 They hurried throughout that region and began to carry the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 Wherever he went, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch just the end of his robe. And everyone who touched it was healed.

I love this story, and think it speaks directly into the Christian life

We all face storms and trials, and we have the promised presence of Jesus through these difficult times

(SLIDES)

Outline

The Storms of Life

The Presence of Jesus

The Hardening of Hearts

The Storms of Life

(SLIDES)

Mark 6:45–48 CSB

45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After he said good-bye to them, he went away to the mountain to pray. 47 Well into the night, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 He saw them straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Very early in the morning he came toward them walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them.

If you’ve been following with us through the gospel of Mark, you’ll remember that this isn’t the first time the disciples faced a storm at sea

At the end of chapter 4, we have the story of Jesus asleep on the boat while the disciples are fighting for their lives—and they finally wake Jesus up, and he calms the sea—and the disciples are left in awe

And here, its a similar scenario, except this time, Jesus isn’t in the boat with them…

But he is watching them, and he comes to rescue them

But let’s look at some of the things we learn about the Storms in our own lives

Take some time —name our storms—

Maybe its the same from a couple months ago

But it also might be something new

(SLIDES)

Jesus sends us into the storm

When we find ourselves in a stormy season and it starts getting difficult, I think we can find ourselves tempted in two directions

We forget that Jesus called us in the first place

We blame Jesus for sending us into the storm

But we can’t forget that Jesus made them get into the boat and head across the sea (it was his idea!)

And in our lives, whenever we approach a storm, it does not catch Jesus off guard

Often he sends his disciples through storms that they might grow in faith and trust

Just because life is getting difficult, doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong track

In fact, Jesus promises hardships and sufferings

Secondly we see that

(SLIDES)

Jesus sees you in the storm

He was watching the disciples strain away into the middle of the night (3-6am)

He wasn’t careless in sending them across

He kept his eyes on them

And seeing their struggle, seeing them come to the end of themselves, he began to come towards them

Similarly, when we find ourselves in the storms of life, even when it feels like God has abandoned us

We can be assured that Jesus is always watching over us

(SLIDES)

Psalm 139:1–6 CSB

1 Lord, you have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up; you understand my thoughts from far away. 3 You observe my travels and my rest; you are aware of all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue, you know all about it, Lord. 5 You have encircled me; you have placed your hand on me. 6 This wondrous knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.

And lastly we see that

God will sometimes give you more than you can handle

Mark 6:48 CSB

48 He saw them straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Very early in the morning he came toward them walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them.

How many of you have heard:

“God will never give you more than you can handle?”

It’s not found in the Bible, and its simply not true

Even Paul writes:

(SLIDES)

2 Corinthians 1:8–10 CSB

8 We don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed—beyond our strength—so that we even despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and he will deliver us. We have put our hope in him that he will deliver us again

The reality is that in many of life storms, God will give us more than we can handle

Because he is trying to get us to come to the end of ourselves

He trying to get us to stop trusting our own strength, wisdom, pride, and cry out for help

And we see this here with the disciples

Jesus watched them struggle all night in their own strength, and decided to finally come down once things had gotten too much for them

So we see the storm, but it is met with the presence of Jesus

The Presence of Jesus

(SLIDES)

Mark 6:49–51 CSB

49 When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke with them and said, “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded,

We must notice Jesus in the storm

We can focus on the storm or on Jesus

The question is where are we looking

What we look for we often find

Psychology lab

(Confirmation Bias)

Or annoying sibling

Like having a lens on everything you see

Where might God be in this storm?

Are we paying attention?

Are we expecting him to show up?

Or are we focused on our circumstance?

Or distracting ourselves from the problem?

We must listen to Jesus in the storm

It’s not just fixing our eyes on Jesus and centering on him

It’s about listening to him

Again they are in a storm—its loud

To tune in to what he is saying

soundboard analogy

“Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid”

We listen by staying in God’s word

By returning time and time again to the scriptures

Soaking in it

The most important thing we can do in the storm is to listen to Jesus

Jesus calms the storm

Sometimes its immediate

Sometimes he gets in the boat with us and its still raging

But Jesus brings a peace that surpasses understanding

Paul also experienced a storm

But he was left shipwrecked after a storm lasting 2 weeks

Acts 27:22–25 CSB

22 Now I urge you to take courage, because there will be no loss of any of your lives, but only of the ship. 23 For last night an angel of the God I belong to and serve stood by me 24 and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. It is necessary for you to appear before Caesar. And indeed, God has graciously given you all those who are sailing with you.’ 25 So take courage, men, because I believe God that it will be just the way it was told to me.

You see, once we focus on Jesus, whether or not the storm stays or goes is not important

There is peace

There is an anchor that goes down deep—no circumstance can destroy us

So we see this amazing rescue of the disciples by Jesus

but the next thing we read is super interesting

We see that their hearts were hardened

The Hardening of Hearts

(SLIDES)

Mark 6:51–52 CSB

51 Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded, 52 because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.

In this story we see that:

God’s Grace can harden our hearts

This might sound shocking

But for many of us who have been walking with Jesus for a while—I think we all know this feeling

At first we might be astounded by his grace

But then we begin to expect it

A license to sin

Like spoiled children

We can behave however we like because we know God will forgive us

You see the disciples are failing to understand who Jesus is

Time after time he is showing them that he isn’t just a prophet

He’s greater than even Moses

That God himself is among them

And they get glimpses of it

But they still don’t understand

As a result, their hearts are becoming hardened

Jesus had already calmed a storm with them

Why couldn’t he do it again?

They were forgetting who Jesus is

Probably the most important lesson of this story is the importance of:

Keeping our hearts tender

This is one of the hardest, yet most essential things in the Christian faith

We must keep our hearts soft

What hardens our heart:

Sin

Separation from God

How to keep our hearts soft:

Prayer

Scripture

Community

Pressing into trials

Like dough

it gets stiff and hard when not used—when cold

Our aim is to stay tender and soft to the hands of God

Conclusion

As we wrap up, I just want to talk about one of the themes we see here, and it’s a bigger theme throughout Mark

The disciples are constantly making mistakes

They mess things up, they think about things incorrectly, they do things for the wrong reason, they let Jesus down

Particularly in Mark, the disciples are seen as examples of what not to do

We’ll see more examples as we continue through Mark

But one of the main lessons of the gospel of Mark is that:

(SLIDES)

Part of Discipleship is making mistakes

Even in our walks with Jesus

It’s not about never making a mistake

We are expected to make mistakes

We are weak and flawed

It’s like expecting a baby to start walking without crawling or support or tripping

But we see time and time again that:

Jesus wasn’t done with the disciples

He is so patient with them

There are times where he is stern

But he never leaves them behind

And this is something that you and I both need to hear

Jesus isn’t done with you

He’s not tired of you

He’s not fed up with all of your mistakes

He loves you

He’s more patient and forgiving than we can imagine

Even when we harden our hearts to God

He will faithfully and consistently chase us down

He is relentless in his pursuit of you

(SLIDES)

Philippians 1:6 CSB

6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Its such a weight off of our shoulders to know its not up to us to earn God’s approval and finish what he started in us

No matter how many mistakes we make, God will still be absolutely committed to each of us

Don’t we have such an amazing God?

Reflection Questions

What storm(s) are you going through?

We have to know and name our problems

Being unaware in a storm/fight

2. What are ways you can keep your heart soft to God?

Or what are the things that harden your heart to God?