Who is This Man?
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
A few months ago there was a water-shed moment in the Guerry household. One night Betsy and I got home late after having dinner with some friends. It was one of those really clear nights, no clouds, no wind, everything was just really still and quiet. Then all of the sudden while we were driving home we hear our son Judson from the backseat yell, “LIGHT!” We couldnt figure out what light he was talking about, until we got home. I go to get him out of his car seat and when I open the door His eyes were about as big around as basketballs and he was starring straight up into the sky…and then he points and says it again, “LIGHT!”
He had found the moon for the very first time. And he his little 18 month old mind was blown. Now we have an obsession with the moon. Almost every night we go outside, the first thing Jud starts doing is yelling for the moon. When we go inside, he says “Night, night moon!” The kid is obessesed.
Just a side story, I really like that he loves star gazing so I talked to Betsy and we agreed that we would get him a telescope that he could use. I started looking at telescopes and found out that they cost as much as small vehicles…so look kid, heres some binoculars…Daddy is a on a pastor’s salary...
Something occured to me that night that Judson found the moon. While I was standing their holding my son looking up at the moon, I realized how long it had been since I had really stopped to appreciate how beautiful space really is. It took me seeing the moon through the eyes of a kid to wake me up to the wonder of the universe.
See, I realized that the reason that I hadn't noticed the moon in so long was because I had grown so familiar to the moon being there, that I had lost sight of the beauty and wonder of the universe that we live in.
The 19th Century French novelist, George Sand said it like this, “Admiration and familiarity are strangers.”
When we grow familiar
Familiarity is the enemy of AWE and wonder.
Here is my fear this morning. Im afraid that many of us here have become so familiar with the Jesus that we have lost our wonder of who He is. Sure, we show up. Sure, we sing songs. Sure, we pray. But if we were honest, far too many of us come and do the church thing, we go through the motions and then we leave. And nothing is different. And I think the problem for many of us is just that weve grown familiar. Our knowledge about Jesus has taken the place of our experience of Jesus.
Birth of Jesus the Christ ()
So this morning my goal is simple. I hope to be like my son Judson…you see when he pointed me to the moon that night. I realized that the reason I hadnt seen the moon in so long wasnt because the moon hadnt been there. I just hadnt looked up to see it in awhile. He just made me realize what was always there.
When friends become ordinary, we take fellowship for granted.
And this morning, what I hope happens for us is that we stop together, and for a few moments, are awestuck by the wonder of who this Jesus is that we worship!
And…sometimes
The
The
He’s the Son of David (). He is God’s Annointed-King.
Jesus Has a Purpose in Our Pain
Jesus Has a Purpose in Our Pain
He is Immanuel (). He is literally “God with Us”
, He is the King:
He is the Ancient of Days—The Eternal King of Heaven ().
Have you ever
Jesus Prioritizes our Humility
Jesus Prioritizes our Humility
As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping. So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!”
matthew 8:23
What Does it Say?
What Does it Say?
Just before this passage, Jesus had just challenged his disciples.
He effectively had just said that in order to be His disciple, to be His apprentice, you had to surrender everything. Nothing could be more important. One’s family, friendships, career, or anything else could be more important than their commitment to Jesus. He was calling them to a reckless abandonment of their old way of life and absolute surrender to Him.
This is just as true for us today as it was for them then. If we desire to follow Jesus it means that we must be “All In” for Jesus. Nothing can be more important to use than radical obedience to Jesus. Where he calls us to go, we go. When he tells us to move, we move.
So here in verse 23, we see the disciples have an unwavering commitment to Jesus. He get’s into the boat and Matthew tells us that the disciples don’t even raise a question—they just hop right up into the boat with him. No questions asked, no desire for an explanation. If the boat would have had a radio, you can guarantee that Chris Tomlin would have been faintly playing in the background of this scene, “Where you go I’ll go, Where you stay I’ll stay, When you move I’ll Move…I will Follow You!”
And why in the world wouldnt they have followed Him? I mean just in the past couple of days they had seen Jesus preach an incredibly powerful sermon where he spoke with an authority that could only come from God. He had healed a man from leprosy with just a simple phrase, “Be clean.” They had seen Jesus heal the paralyzed slaves of one of a Centurion. Then he healed Peter’s mother-in-law with a simply touch. Im sure Peter found that to be very bitter-sweet. A lot of yall are thinking to yourself, “I wonder if Jesus can heal my mother in law too...”
Yall are wrong for laughing, I didnt even mean it like that......Okay, actually yes I did…I meant it exactly like that...
Here is the point, the disciples had witnessed the power of Jesus on display. They had front row seats to watch Jesus turn the impossible into possibilities. So when Jesus got into the boat, of course they would get into the boat with Him. Why wouldnt they have? Life with Jesus was exciting!
But Jesus was showing these men that they were no different than the men that he left behind on the shore. They cared about their lives more than they cherished fellowship with him. They didnt really know who Jesus was, and it was revealed in the fact that they had so little trust in Jesus.
Look with me again at verse 23:
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.
Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping.
Out of now-where, Jesus and the disciples encounter a big problem. Matthew calls this problem, a “violent storm.” But the way that Matthew describes the storm is interesting.
For one, Matthew says that the storm came “suddenly.”
it was totally unexpected.
What is interesting about this story is that each of the disciples on the boat with Jesus at this point was very familiar with the sea. They were fishermen. One would expect that a group of veteran fishermen would have known that a storm was brewing, but these men seemed to not expect it at all. I imagine these men setting sail with Jesus believing that it was just going to be another day on the water…and then out of nowhere they are being slammed by the waves, water is rushing into the boat, they are doing everything they can to stay afloat, fighting to survive.
Secondly, Matthew shows us that this is a supernatural event.
The word that Matthew uses to describe the incident was σεισμὸς—Earthquake. Matthew uses this word 3 other times in his gospel, each time he uses it when he talks about the 2nd coming of Christ—the Apocalypse.
σεισμὸς
Why does he use that word here? Because the Holy Spirit speaking through Matt. here wants us to see that this isnt just any old storm.
This was a storm that was coming from the depths of the earth and the earth was quaking. This was a sinister storm sent to destroy them.
The storm was unexpected, the storm was incredibly powerful, it left the disciples helpless and hopeless. The fishermen were filled with fear.
We can empathize with the disciples here. Most of us are attempting to follow Jesus just like these disciples. We have heard the call of Jesus to abandon our wants and our dreams and have surrendered ourselves to following Him. We have gotten into His boat and just like the disciples, we’ve found ourselves in the middle of the greatest storms of life.
I know many of your storms, because I know many of you. Cancer, death, depression, anxiety, betrayal. You may have lost your job. Maybe your marriage is falling apart. You are in facing a financial crisis. Or maybe it isnt something quite so serious. Maybe for you it’s just discouragement, or maybe you just feel cold toward the things of God.
I want you to hear me, brother/sister…God has a purpose in you pain…
C.S. Lewis words on this subject are helpful—he says,
Surely they would
C.S. Lewis words on this subject are helpful—he says,
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
Struggling, suffering, pain, problems; these are all instruments in the hands of our Redeemer.
God’s main concern in life is not that we live free of pain and suffering. His main concern is that we joyfully plod our way through the problems of life, clinging on to Him as the anchors of our soul!
The trials of life are not roadblocks to experiencing joy. Trials, pain, suffering; these are God’s
Here is what I know, there are those of us in here that are facing things in life that
So what is God’s purpose to our Problems and Pain?
Through our Pain
Through our Pain
Jesus Promises His Presence
Jesus Promises His Presence
(Im not gonna lie…Im reaching a little bit with this point. Im a Baptist through and through and Im almost positive that Jesus used aliteration when he preached. )
Here’s the point that I believe we see in the passage, through our pain—Jesus desires us to trust Him enough to ask Him to help us...
Look with me at verses 25.
As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping. So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!”
So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!”
He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
matthew 8:23-25
The disciples were on this boat with Jesus. In this incredibly terrifying storm. The waves were crashing over them, the boat was sinking—yet Jesus was sleeping.
Why in the world was Jesus asleep?
One would think that a storm like this would have woken anyone up. Was it because Jesus was just that exhausted? Maybe. He had been busy healing lepers, calling the lame to walk, freeing people from demonic oppression, and preaching. Jesus was fully man…and he subjected himself to growing weary of work just like we do.
But I think that there is more going on here than just physical exhaustion.
Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that they needed Him.
On the shore, Jesus had told the disciples to follow him…He didn't give them explanation…He just called them to trust Him…But they hadn't really had to until this point.
Up until this moment, when they were staring death down in the face, nothing had put their faith in Jesus to the test. A leper trusted Jesus to make him clean, a Centurion had trusted Jesus to heal his servant, and many others had displayed their trust in jesus…but the disciples hadnt understood what that meant yet. Until now…
Their fear of the storm had exposed their faithlessness in Jesus.
Had Jesus just hoped up and calmed the storm, the disciples would not have seen that the only way that they would survive is by crying out to Him for help.
On the
And eventually that is exactly what they did.
Look again at their prayer: “Lord save us! Were going to die...”
Jesus Promises His Power
Jesus Promises His Power
Look with me at v.
The sea in ancient cultures was an unconqurable force. It was the epitome of chaos.
The Bible actually is a story about our God who brings order to chaos.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
describes God hovering over “watery depths” a sea…
The sea has no structure, no order
Its chaos
And into that mess, God creates everything beautiful and good
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth;af for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,ag and the sea was no more.ah 2 I also saw the holy city,ai the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,aj prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.ak
af ; ;
In the new Heavens John tells us that “the sea was no more...”
ag ; ;
ah ; ,
ai ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
aj Gl 4:26; ; ; ; ;
It’s an odd thing to include in the description of what Heaven will be like.
ak ;
But the significance is in the fact that the sea was the picture of unconqurable chaos.
Again, this is
Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .
In the City of God…there is no chaos, no pain, no suffering…because God has conqured it once and for all
This is what the story of the Bible is about....The god who conquers the chaos of our world.
And this is what is so important about this passage this morning...
Matthew tells us that Jesus conquered what was unquoncorable…and he did it with no effort at all.
He didnt call down the power of God, he didnt do some magical incantation, he just spoke to it.
Like a father who corrects a child…He told it to settle down…and it did.
This is why Matthew writes v. 27
The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”
matthew
Jesus is our conquering King. He controls the uncontrollable. He stills the greatest storms in our life with a single breath.
I know what some of you are thinking right now. You’re saying to yourself, “Well how do you know that Jesus will do this for me? You dont know what Ive done. Im an adulterer…Ive been cheating on my wife…will Jesus calm that storm? He will.
My marriage is falling apart…my spouse left me…they hate my guts right now…I want you to hear me, brother/sister—Jesus can calm your storm in the blink of an eye.
We are prone think that our storms in life are God’s punishment. And sometimes they may be the natural consequences of our own sin. But often, when we face hardships in life, God is leading us through a storm because he wants us to experience Him.
Sometimes it takes us losing the things that we hope in before we can realize that Jesus is our only hope.
Our college students have heard this story.
