THREE DEGREES OF TRUST

THREE DEGREES OF TRUST Mark 6:45-56 With grateful acknowledgement of these sources of direction and inspiration: the Holy Spirit; the Word of God; Evangelist Ed Miller, sermon preached at Praise Gathering, October, 2002; Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah; Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew; Elton Trueblood, Company of the Committed Feb 9, 2003 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introductory In May 1995, a 34-year-old construction worker named Randy Reid, was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower outside Chicago. According to the news-writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding he stood on. The scaffolding tipped, Reid lost his balance. He fell 110 feet, landing face down on a pile of dirt, just missing rocks and construction debris. A fellow worker called 911. When paramedics arrived, they were amazed to find Reid conscious, moving, and complaining of a sore back. Apparently the fall didn't cost Reid his sense of humor, because as paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, Reid had one request: "Don't drop me." (Doctors later said Reid came away from the accident with just a bruised lung.) Sometimes we resemble that construction worker. God protects us from harm in a 110-foot fall, but we're still nervous about three-foot heights. Why do we have a hard time trusting the God who saved us from hell and death, when it comes to the everyday things we face? Text - Mark 6:45-56 Right after His miracle of feeding 5,000 men and their families, Jesus sets up a test for his disciples. Read with me beginning at verse 45. "Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went into the hills to pray. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night (about 5 a.m.) he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, 'Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.' Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And everywhere he went-into villages, towns, or countryside-they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed." I want to come right at you this morning with four key truths about discipleship that this passage brings to mind. The first is: 1. When the Lord teaches you something, there will be a storm Look again at verses 51-52. There we are given a clue by Mark, that it is important to link the account of the feeding of the five thousand and the walking on water incident. "…he climbed into the boat with them and the wind died down." The disciples recognized this was a miracle, because the rest of the verse says, "They were completely amazed…" But look at the next phrase. They were amazed "…because they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened." When Jesus worked the miracle of the loaves and the fish, it was apparently more than simply a provision for the famished crowd. It was also a lesson for the disciples. A word about what that lesson was in just a moment. First, notice that the disciples were given a test based on what they were to learn. When you took biology or other science classes, you first received the lesson in the classroom, then you went to lab, where the practical (and often messy) side of what you were supposed to learn was played out. That happens in the spiritual, too. Did you ever notice when you learn a new word, it always seems that you hear that word used four or five times in the next few days? To fully understand the lesson of the storm we need to understand the lesson of the loaves. That brings us to the second truth. 2. All of God's commands are impossible, humanly speaking Have you ever noticed that Jesus went to great lengths to involve the disciples in the miracle of the loaves and fish? When they came to Jesus to remind Him that it was late and the people were hungry and should be dismissed so they could go eat, Jesus tested them. "You give them something to eat," He said. [webmasters note: Mark 6:37] And how did they respond? Not in pure trust, it is safe to say. Jesus wanted to involve them in the miracle. He always uses people. At least part of the reason for that is, He wants to mature them through their involvement. He wants to show us that when He gives us impossible commands it is not so that we will do them in our own strength-we can't-but so that we will run to Him! God is all about reminding us that He is El Shaddai - He is enough. He requires of us what is not humanly possible so that we will always have this truth in our face-we are inadequate without Him. How many times you've struggled with a problem, a temptation, a stubborn situation, only to finally fall under the strain. It is then, when you are spent and in despair that you are finally ready to admit your need for Him. How blessed are those who realize early their utter dependence on God to fulfill even the smallest act of obedience. It is in His power, which He freely offers to us, that we find freedom from strain and anxiety. When Jesus told his disciples to feed the people, He knew they hadn't brought along a half-ton of fish and a truckload of bread to feed that crowd. Instead of saying something inane, like, "No way, Jesus! We can't afford to buy food for all these people!" He was giving them an opportunity to say, "This is impossible, Lord, but we trust You to provide." Verses 49-51 explain that they missed the opportunity to exercise pure faith and trust: "…when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Then [Jesus] climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for the had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened." The third truth 3. God always deals with you where you are in order to bring you to where He wants you to be. Picture the scene. It is dark and windy and the waves are sloshing against the boat. The disciples are dead tired from rowing against the incessant head wind for hours and getting nowhere. They're a little hurt that Jesus sent them on without Him. Suddenly they see Him. Maybe a flash of lightning illuminated His presence, or maybe He was actually so near the boat that they couldn't miss Him. It appears that they recognized Him, yet they thought He was a ghost. Whatever they were thinking, they were scared. I love that the scripture describes carefully what Jesus did at this point. First, it says, He reassured them He was there, He was fine and they needn't be afraid. "Then he climbed into the boat with them…" [webmasters note: Mark 6:51] He didn't just walk on by, even though it seems He intended to go on by them. The faith failure of His disciples brought a merciful response from Jesus. When we fail the trust tests, the Lord's attitude is not, "Well, I guess you'll just have to get along without me, then!" No, He comes near and calms our storms, even when our faith is low. When my spiritual immaturity causes me to be faithless, He is still faithful. The Lord never ridicules His children in their immaturity. He always comes to us where we are (even though we're not where we ought to be yet) and deals with us there, so that He can bring us on to where we ought to be. 1 John 1:9 assures us that no matter how many times we fail and sin, He is faithful and just. In mercy and forgiveness He comes to those who will repent and admit they blew it, He cleanses them from all unrighteousness, and fully restores them. Now, I will make it clear that this is true for those who have come to the Lord on His terms. This promise is true for Christians that every time we fall He will come to us as soon as we cry out to Him. He calls you to grow into spiritual maturity, and He is committed to your being ultimately in the likeness of Christ. But when your faith falters, He doesn't turn on you and cast you out, but He comes near and helps you. If you've ever turned to Him in faith, but you've fallen recently, and you're afraid He'll reject you if you call on Him, be assured that He "will never leave you nor forsake you." (Joshua 1:5) Call on Him today, and do you know what He'll do? He'll climb right into your boat and calm your storms. If you are a believer in Christ, there is one more truth for you today 4.    You will always trust the Lord in one of three ways at any time • You may trust Him by SIGHT This is the level of trust we find in the disciples in the boat out on the stormy lake, and standing beside Jesus with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Their faith was not mature, but when they faltered, the Lord saw their hearts, that they were sincere in their love for Him, and He responded with compassion and mercy. We tend to think that if we doubt and our ability to trust God is not strong in a given moment that we don't have any faith. But the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves. 1 John 3:19-20 - "This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." Sometimes, when the vicissitudes of life beat against us like wind-driven waves, and hard as we might row, we feel we're getting nowhere, our trust levels get low. Even though the doubt you're giving in to is not God's best for you, when you're sure the Lord has forsaken you, He comes to you and works His miracle. God is most interested in your growing in faith, and sometimes it takes a miracle to bolster you. It certainly helped the faithless disciples that day, didn't it? When it seems impossible and you can't seem to muster an ounce of trust in God, cry out to Him and He will answer you with His presence and his miracle. His purpose in it all is to bring you to the place where you trust in the INVISIBLE GOD. • You may trust Him Wavering The second level of trust is when we're somewhere between robust faith and doubt, wavering. You love the Lord and you are trying to trust Him. That level is well illustrated by the disciples when they thought they saw a ghost. You think you recognize God in your circumstances, but you're just not sure. These are the seasons when you find yourself really identifying with the mustard seed-size faith. Here again, we never meet with God's rejection. He is FOR us, not against us. God does not reject you when you waver-it's only a sign to you that your trust in Him needs to grow. Have you been there? In that place where you're pretty sure God is in charge and He has kept His promise not to forsake you, but you're a little shaky? It's been a long time since you witnessed the Lord's miracles and you're wondering if you've missed Him. That's when you need to look up and watch for Him. He comes to you walking on the water, responding to your questions and your fears. His reassurance comes to you through His Spirit's "Abba" cry in your heart, just as sure as if He were walking past you on the water. When you find that place of intimate relationship you will see that all along He has been growing your ability to trust Him. If He never seemed distant, you would never grow to trust Him as deeply as he wants you to. If all you could do were to trust Him when He was in sight, you would remain a child in your faith. There is a third level • You may trust Him in Pure Faith The key to understanding what level of faith the disciples were operating on is to get a look at what they were like when they were on the boat facing a seemingly impossible task, and Jesus was back on the mount praying. Verse 48 tells us "He saw the disciples straining at the oars." He knew all about their difficulty, and He knows all about ours. What a comfort to know He "sees". Warren Wiersbe said, "When God permits His children to go through the furnace, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat. His loving heart knows how much and how long." But why does He let us struggle so long in our own strength? So we will re-learn the primary lesson of faith-that we need Him in everything. God's purpose is to build you strong in your faith through your struggles all the way to this third level. So strong that when you go through those times when Jesus seems miles away on the mountain praying, and you're out there rowing and struggling, you will not lose your God-confidence. A depth and durability of faith that will sustain you if you never saw another miracle in your life. A rock-steady trust in the midst of storms that can face anything and still say, "I am His, and He is my Redeemer!" "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!" (Job 13:15) It does seem to be true that God is palpably more real to us when we are young in our faith. Those days of fresh, new faith-when every prayer is answered precisely the way we asked it, when miracles surround us and support us, when joy is abounding and unending. This is the "mother's milk" of our early life in Him. But soon, for reasons beyond any of us, God inches us toward the edge of this comfortable nest of easy-to-perceive assurances. Then He begins to call us upward to where the winds blow and the seas churn, and He is not palpably present. It's new and challenging territory where miracles are few, because in this level they are no longer necessary to sustain our maturing faith. It does seem sometimes to me that our "need" for a miracle or a "touch from God" or a "big ol' blessing" is more a sign of our immaturity than an evidence of level three faith. Think about that. The truth is this - God always deals with you wherever you are in order to bring you to where He wants you to be. Whether you're trusting Him blindly in the thick of trial, or pining for a miracle in a jostled fishing boat, or even stuck in the uncertainty of a wavering faith, He will meet you there. Conclusion When once the disciples boldly asked Jesus, "Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5-6), He answered them in a somewhat enigmatic way. He said, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you." What did He mean? Whatever level of faith you have, exercise it, and it will grow.     [Back to Top]