Jesus Changes Everything

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We are a community of Christ followers extending grace and engaging others in their faith.

Glorify God, Worship Jesus, Love People.

Sermon

Today we are continuing our sermon series on the 7 signs in the book of John

John picks his miracles very carefully. He doesn’t give you all of the miracles that Jesus performs. Actually he’s very strategic about which ones we are privy to

The reason is found in

English Standard Version Chapter 20

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John wants us to understand that the miracles Jesus did… the signs he performed were for a purpose. He was pointing us to something greater than the sign itself

We all know that a sign is not what’s important… the sign points to a reality beyond itself. The sign points to a truth that is deeper than the sign can fully explain. A red octagon with white lettering on it… even if you don’t uderstand the letters on it… translates to you that you need to stop and pay attention to whats around you

The sign points to the truth beyond it

Today we are going to be talking about a sign that goes along with what we talked about last week but gives us a little different information about who Jesus is

The signs all point to Jesus and some truth about who he is… and today we are going to see that

Jesus Changes Everything

READ/PRAY

This story of Jesus walking on water is told in Matthew, Mark, and John

WE are all probably more familiar with Matthew’s telling of the event. That’s where we see peter step out in faith and then sink. We see Jesus save him and bring him into the boat

We see them doubt weather or not it actually is jesus … thinking him to be a ghost

AS I was preparing this sermon, I was looking at the text and thinking about all that I know surrounding this event from the other texts yet i kept asking what is it that Christ want’s us to see about who he is in this text

What is it that this sign is pointing to

Jesus is pointing to a couple things

I’m not going to keep you long. We are going to touch on these briefly and then get on to our potluck!

First thing is that when Jesus enters into the situation … everything shifts

In this telling we don’t hear that the wind and the waves stopped… but we do see that as soon as Jesus enters the situation it all changes.

vs 17b… It was dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough… they are struggling to row their way across the sea… which is about 8 miles

They are rowing in a storm… at night… and then Jesus shows up

We don’t see that they were frightened until Jesus started walking up to them

I mean they did just see a dude walking toward them on water… a guy they thought they left on the shore 4 miles away

Their focus was no longer on the physical possiblility of danger that surrounded them but it was on the supernatural appearance of Christ in the middle of what they thought they had a fighting chance of handling

We know from Mark’s account that the storm was pretty rough and the wind was what kept them from getting across the sea

So these men were working with all their effort to complete a task and that’s all they were focused on… until Jesus shows up… we’ll

2nd Thing

Jesus does all the heavy lifting

Please hear me… I’m not saying that you don’t have responsibility

But what I am saying is that when you are trying to make things happen by striving by forcing by trying to control… chances hare you are going to be just like the desciples… in the middle of nowhere and tired

And here’s the crazy thing.. they were doing something Jesus instructed them to do and were frustrated

They went across the sea… which since they were disciples we know was a command by their teacher

But they went about doing it without Jesus

Whenever we go about any task… even one we feel we are supposed be doing for the Lord… we will be frustrated and fighting and striving if we are going at it without Jesus

But as soon as they set their eyes of Jesus, they were immediately at the shore

Jesus got the boat to other side after they recognized him and were seeking to be with him… not seeking to get to the other side

They didn’t ask Jesus for a push

They were welcoming him into the boat and suddenely, they were at the other side

It says that immediately th boat was at the land to which they were going

Jesus, being God, is able to transform your situation. The thing that you’re facing that looks like its going to take all of your time and all of your power to overcome…It really only takes Jesus

All that your situation needs in order to be completely flipped on its ear is the presence of Christ

When he shows up he brings fulfillment, he brings maturity, he brings completion

They recognized Him, went to take him into the boad and they where there

Once they stopped focusing on the sea and the storm and started inviting Jesus into thier mess… they were there

Finally

Recognizing Christ for who he is helps us to overcome fear

When Jesus presented himself to them and said It is I… or some translations have I AM

As soon as that happens the first commandment is to not be afraid

Because I am… because it’s me… you can lay fear aside

He didn’t say, It’s me AND i’m going to get you to the shore really fast

He just said… Yo, it’s me. Chill out

In other words… I am the Lord. You have already seen my power to heal and to multiply and create food… Trust that when I am with you, you are good.

Don’t be afraid of what you think you see or even what you are experiencing… it is I

One of the things about following Christ and growing in grace is what Paul calls this peace that surpasses all understanding

Isaiah talks about how God keeps those in perfect peace who keep their minds stayed on him

Nothing about being a christian is about the easy life.

Please hear me… I’m not saying that you don’t have responsibility

But what I am saying is that when you are trying to make things happen by striving by forcing by trying to control… chances hare you are going to be just like the desciples… in the middle of nowhere and tired

But as soon as they set their eyes of Jesus, they were immediately at the shore

Jesus got the boat to other side after they recognized him and were seeking to be with him.

There is nothing in this book that promises comfort and ease… but what we are promised is Jesus

It says that immediately th boat was at the land to which they were going

And we see that it is Jesus, who in the middle of our stuff… in the middle of us working ourselves into a fury, in the middle of us being frustrated by our own efforts… he is able to show up and simply by being him disuade fear in our lives

Focusing on Jesus and trusting in who he is and who he has proven himself to be over and over and over… that helps us to lay fear aside and to lean into Jesus and not our situation

Jesus, being God, is able to transform your situation. The thing that you’re facing that looks like its going to take all of your time and all of your power to overcome…It really only takes Jesus

All that your situation needs in order to be completely flipped on its ear is the presence of Christ

When he shows up he brings fulfillment, he brings maturity, he brings completion

They recognized Him, went to take him into the boad and they where there

Once they stopped focusing on the sea and the storm and started inviting Jesus into thier mess… they were there