WHAT MAN IS THIS?

INTRO

Just this past week in New York Andrew Cuomo was being interviewed about the situation of the coronavirus. As he was being interviewed he made it very clear who was to get credit for the numbers of virus cases going down. New York as more cases than any one country outside of America. As the cases began to get lower he said this “We brought the numbers down. God did not do that, fate did not do that, destiny did not do that. We did that.” At this time in the world, not only do we have the Corona virus situation but we also could have a hunger pandemic as well, with nearly 900 million people that could be facing starvation at the end of 2020. In the article as people are looking at this other possible crisis this what the leader of an organization said ,“I do believe that with our expertise and partnerships, we can bring together the teams and the programs necessary to make certain the COVID-19 pandemic does not become a humanitarian and food crisis catastrophe." Why do I tell you about these quotations. Because this afternoon Mark has led us to the story where Jesus calms the storm. It is one of the greatest recorded miracles of Jesus’ ministry. The storm was a legitimate crisis for the disciples as we will see, and the bible shows us that there is a temptation in all of us, NOT JUST THE GOVERNOR of New York, but in all of us, to trust in ourselves and to think that as humans have advanced and made more progress the more self reliant we can be. We tend to believe that the more science can “solve” the more we don’t need God. This afternoon Mark’s point in including this story is to remind us of our limitations and lack as humans and the greatness of the power of Jesus. God leads us to moments like this storm and like times we are experiencing to allow us to see our human futility and His all exceeding power. Mark calls us to look at the God who is able. Let’s stand for the reading of God’s word.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 4

On that day, when evening had come, he told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.” 36 So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat. And other boats were with him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 And they were terrified,ag and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”

聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 第4章

35 當天黃昏，耶穌對門徒說：「我們渡到海那邊去吧。」36 門徒離開群眾，耶穌已經在船上，他們就載他過去，也有別的船和他同去。37 忽然起了狂風，波浪不斷地打進船來，艙裡積滿了水。38 耶穌卻在船尾靠著枕頭睡著了。門徒把他叫醒，對他說：「老師，我們要死了，你不管嗎？」39 耶穌起來，斥責了風，又對海說：「不要作聲！安靜吧！」風就停止，大大地平靜了。40 然後對他們說：「為甚麼這樣膽怯呢？你們怎麼沒有信心呢？」41 門徒非常懼怕，彼此說：「這到底是誰，連風和海都聽從他？」

GREAT STORM 偉大的狂風

(Jesus enters our suffering with us)

Mark begins his eye witness account by describing the first “great”. This whole story is put together around three ‘greats’ there is a “great storm” followed by a “great calm” ended with this “great awe”. Mark records for us that after this full day of teaching was done, Jesus was still in this boat and He asks His disciples to go to the other side. Mark is wanting us to see that the idea to travel across the sea was actually Jesus’ idea which will be important for us to realize here in a moment. Mark says the disciples left the crowd and began traveling in the boat with Jesus, and there were other boats on the water as well. Now remember many of these disciples had been fishermen their whole life. This is the sea of Galilee where they grew up, fished their whole life, had taken countless trips by boat before. So as this story is beginning, everything is really common for these disciples. Then Mark states that a great windstorm arose. (how many of us enter storms? Jobe going in, in, or coming out of ta storm) Mark shows us that it was the disciples obedience to Jesus that led them into this great storm not their disobedience. We must learn to trust completely, even if our obedience to him leads us into storms, whether persecution or anything else. Sometimes we assume that storms show disobedience, but this is not always so. The text says that the water began to rise and break over the boat so that the boat had begun to sink. So the disciples are here stuck in this storm, stuck in this moment of crisis. And I imagine if they are like me, when the water began to rise little by little, they first tried to solve this problem by their own effort. Peter is shouting out orders to James and John, row harder, put the sails this way, go this direction, and it wasn’t until they realized their complete inability to save themselves that they run to Jesus. And they began to get really scared. They realize that they have no way of saving themselves. Where did they find Jesus? He was sleeping! This is the only record of Jesus sleeping in the gospels. Why? Mark is showing us the complete contrast of the disciples terror and the peace of the Lord Jesus. He is sleeping. The disciples interpreted Jesus rest and peace as a sign of His lack of compassion. How many times have we done the same thing, that we’ve been in a situation or a moment where we are struggling, where we are in pain, and if we don’t see immediate action by God, we ask the same question the disciples ask, “DON’T YOU CARE GOD?! We are going to die. How many right now are asking that question. God don’t you care? Aren’t you concerned with our current problem? Are you there, or can we only hope in people like the governor of New York, or our own human effort to attempt to save us. This first point of the storm reminds us that God is not a God who is distant from our suffering but He is in suffering with us. Where is Jesus during the storm? HE’S in the boat! He’s not walking on the water or just water skiing to the other side of the sea. He’s not on the shore saying “good luck out there guys!” No He is in their suffering with them. This is what the Gospel shows us clearly that God is a God who enters into our suffering with us.

I had a friend who when his wife was pregnant began experiencing sympathy pains. IT was the weirdest thing, because this guy was a former navy seal, but during times when we would be out he would talk about how he was experiencing sympathy pains and couldn’t do stuff. I was like what bro? Your wife is the one having the contractions, ect. The bible shows us that Christ is not a Savior who simply has sympathy pains for us, but He is a Savior who enters into our storms, our suffering with us, and ultimately suffers FOR us!

Tim Keller says this about our suffering or our storms “Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you.” (58)

Christian Standard Bible Psalm 34

18 The LORD is near the brokenhearted;

he saves those crushed in spirit.

聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 詩篇卷34

18 耶和華親近心中破碎的人，

拯救靈裡痛悔的人

So here they are stuck with nothing left to do but to ask Jesus to save them! Now at this point real quick, outside of Christ we are left with two options that we see often in our culture. There are people who would say, just trust in human progress, just keep rowing harder, figure it out and good luck! OR other people say, you know what, we are all gonna die anyway, so let’s just party. Peter, John, get the drinks, get the food, we are gonna have a party because this ship is going down! But the Gospel gives us a better way.

GREAT CALM 偉大的救主

（GREAT SAVIOR)

He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Jesus was sleeping not because He wasn’t concerned for the disciples but because HE CARED for them. That might sound hard to understand, but God often leads us into moments like these when we realize “You don’t really know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.” (5)

Mark says that “he got up”

"means He was stirred" He got up! It’s this picture of not just being woken up from sleep but like “oh wow, we’ve awoken the giant”. It’s like when maybe you are a kid and you’ve disobeyed and you know uh oh Dad is home. This is a biblical character trait of God, that He is stirred, that He is moved by the suffering of His people. God's primary concern is for His own glory, but another concern is also for the salvation the goodness of His people. The answer for the disciples question of “do you care” is Jesus rising and exerting His power to calm the storm!

Psalm 107:28-29 “ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper, and the waves of the sea were hushed. They rejoiced when the waves grew quiet. Then he guided them to the harbor they longed for. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity.”

Psalm 107:28–29 CSB

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 詩篇卷107

於是他們在急難中呼求耶和華，

他就拯救他們脫離困苦。

29 他使狂風止息，

海浪就平靜無聲。

Psalm 89:9

Psalm 89:9 CSB

You rule the raging sea; when its waves surge, you still them.

聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 詩篇卷89

你管轄海洋的狂濤，

波浪翻騰的時候，你使它們平息

In contrast to the Roman rulers about whom all sorts of hyperbole(exaggeration) were written about in public notices and official documents, Jesus is the real deal. He speaks the word, and it happens. Mark is here showing us once again that Jesus is God. To the suffering church that Mark is writing to, he is saying, this Jesus you are suffering for holds the power to silence the seas. To God alone belongs the power to rule and quiet the seas.

We see that in a word, actually 2 words in the original language Jesus silences the storm that was overtaking the disciples and drowning them. Let me ask you, does Jesus silence and rebuke the storm because the disciples had this great faith. No right? It wasn’t the disciples who had this great faith to cause the storm to cease, and they didn’t even really have a ton of faith in Jesus. You see in verse 38 they call Jesus, Teacher. It’s like come onJesus use some of that miracle magic to get us out of this situation! Can you do it? Yet what I love about Jesus, is that He doesn’t leave the disciples because of their unbelief. Jesus could have been like, “alright guys you know what, I’ve tried to teach you I’ve tried to show you, you still don’t get it, I’m gonna just step right out, let you guys drown and get me a new group of disciples.” No why not? Because Jesus had chosen these guys as His dudes. Jesus had covenanted with them as His people. He was with them, in the storm, and was going to carry them through the storm. What good news, what a great savior! This great calm, doesn’t come because of the disciples great faith, great actions, great righteousness, but only because of a GREAT SAVIOR. And it is the same with us who have trusted in Christ. That even in our unbelief and while we were enemies of the cross, Jesus, because of His compassion and love for us, came and suffered with us, then exerted His power by defeating and conquering the sin that we were drowning in. Salvation isn’t a combination of man’s effort and God’w work. Salvation is God’s power, God’s grace, God’s kindness IN SPITE of your effort. God’s ultimate answer for "don't you care" is the cross? God don't you care that my daughter is suffering being bullied at school? Look at the cross! God don't you care that my relatives are being effected by this coronavirus, LOOK AT THE CROSS! GOD don't you CARE that I am drowning in my own sin and in my own selfishness, look at the cross! The cross is God's answer to the question of “do you care?”. It is on the cross where God shows HE cares so much that He was willing to take all of suffering all of our shame and bring us out of sin to the other side of His grace. Transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son. He looks at these unbelieving scared disciples and says “I got you!” He says those same words to us, He has chosen us to be His, we will not be lost in storms, in sufferings, in crisis, even in death, because we have a great Savior, who stretched out His arms on a cross and says I’ve got you! He rose from the dead and says “i’m coming again,I’ve got you”. Then finally He will come again, very soon, and if you have repented and put trust in Him, we will be with Him forever and He will say Welcome Home, I’ve got you. Romans 8:31-38

Romans 8:31–38 CSB

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 第8章

31 既是這樣，我們對這一切還有甚麼話說呢？　神若這樣為我們，誰能敵對我們呢？32 他連自己的兒子都捨得，為我們眾人把他交出來，難道不也把萬有和他一同白白地賜給我們嗎？33 誰能控告　神揀選的人呢？有　神稱我們為義了。34 誰能定我們的罪呢？有基督耶穌死了，而且復活了，現今在　神的右邊，也替我們祈求。35 誰能使我們與基督的愛隔絕呢？是患難嗎？是困苦嗎？是迫害嗎？是飢餓嗎？是赤身露體嗎？是危險嗎？是刀劍嗎？36 正如經上所記：

「為你的緣故，我們終日面對死亡，

人看我們像待宰的羊。」

37 但靠著愛我們的那一位，我們在這一切事上就得勝有餘了。38 因為我深信：無論是死、是生，是天使、是掌權的，是現在的事，是將來的事，是有能力的，39 是高天的、是深淵的，或是任何別的被造之物，都不能叫我們與　神的愛隔絕，這愛是在我們的主耶穌基督裡的。

So then, after this moment. How do the disciples respond?

GREAT FEAR 偉大的敬拜

(From teacher to WHAT MAN IS THIS?)

Well I tell you how they don’t respond. They don’t respond by saying “Hey Guys, lets just be clear, it wasn’t GOD who brought us through, WE DID IT”. No they responded in awe, and worship.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 4

And they were terrified,ag and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”

Jesus rebukes them and says “do you still not yet have faith”? As Jesus was sleeping the boat, their fear towards the seas and their unbelief towards Jesus showed that they had more belief in the power of the storm than in the power of Jesus. Many times we struggle with. We tend to put more belief in our circumstance than in a God who is able(tease that out). This is how we often deal with issues in our lives, our lack of trust and dependence on Christ reveals our unbelief in who He is and what He can do, and we find ourselves in similar situation, drowning in our problems in our sins and overworked, just rowing the oars of the boat as fast as we can but going nowhere. But look at what happens to the disciples.

they were MEGA afraid, it takes the greek language 3 words to describe what they felt, let me tell what that word is " OH MY GOSH!" who is their fear directed towards? Jesus, no longer the waves. Why are you still afraid, but then they respond in MEGA FEAR. Fear of God beginning of wisdom.

God’s revelation doesn’t lead us to be impressed with our accomplishments but overwhelmed with our need(JD)

Look at what happens in this story, a great storm, led the disciples to see their great lack, which led them to see a great Savior. This storm caused them to move from addressing Jesus as “teacher don’t you care” to “OMG what man is this?” to fear awe and worship.

How many of us need this to happen to us? How many of us also have such a familiarity with Jesus that we aren’t moved to this kind of awe and worship. How many of us are still just stuck rowing our boats, putting pails in to get out the water instead of falling on our knees and running to the God who is able? I wonder if some of us here are stuck in this place where we feel like our passion for Jesus is neither red hot, but it’s also not cold, it’s just “eh”. Could it be because you are unable to see Jesus for who He really is? In His glory in His majesty. Because Scripture shows us that when the veil is lifted and our minds, our eyes behold Jesus’ glory, we must worship. Even people who don’t believe in Christ, will one day when they see Him bow their knee and confess that He is Lord.

Story of Walt Disney daughter? Awe and wonder. Church we need to pray for this kind of revelation. Where we have grown familiar to His grace, His kindness, His goodness, and let us pray again that the Holy Spirit would light a fire in our hearts and minds for the glory of Jesus. When is the last time we’ve been so amazed with who God is, or have seen Him do something in our lives, where we asked the question “wow, God who are you? I thought I had you figured out, but wow you blow me away?”

Job my ears have heard but now my eyes have seen. Many times this awe this wonder, this kind of worship only arises out of times of suffering, trials, and hardship where we are acutely aware of where our strength ends and the vast resources of God’s power begins. In many different religions, like here in Taiwan, bad things, or bad events are things to be avoided, or if you go through something bad you might think it’s because the gods are angry at you. But the bible shows us that suffering isn’t because God is angry at us, rather, suffering reminds us that HE is with us, and just like this storm, it will ultimately be over.

Paul reminds us of this here:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

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

聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版） 第1章

那時我們受到了過於我們所能忍受的壓力，甚至活下去的希望都沒有了，9 而且斷定自己是必死的了；然而，這正是要我們不倚靠自己，只倚靠那叫死人復活的　神。10 他救我們脫離了那極大的死亡，而且他還要救我們，我們希望他將來仍要救我們

CONCLUSION

IN every human heart we tend to overestimate our own ability and underestimate God's power and His kindness. We lean into our own strength and wisdom and neglect God's power and kindness.

What: Trust God instead of our human ability and strength.

Where: In all situations, God wants us to come to Him. God wants us to depend on Him and rely on Him.

How: In prayer in requests, in bible reading

Why: Because He is a God of limitless power and of boundless grace and love.

Hallelujah, oh my soul It(the cross) will not ever let me go Hell may rage but it will hold I'm tethered(tied) to the cross

So church let’s run to Him. Even if He leads us into storms, even if He leads us into suffering, because He is the God who is able, the God who is with us, and has said “I got you.”

Let’s pray.