The Sooner the Better!
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The Sooner the Better!
The Sooner the Better!
One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out,
and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger.
They went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm.
He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”
Intro:
“Only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God.”
Banning Liebscher, Ch.4
And the reason this quote resonates with me is because......
.....I realize the key to getting the results we want in our lives involves recognizing who has the most invested in our lives!
(pause)
Freedom......
We must never forget that.......
1. God creates order
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
The raging sea is a frequent symbol of chaos whereby the world was created, and to which it could return. However those of us who place our confidence in God have nothing to be afraid of.
Danger by definition is....
......a condition of threat in which evil, malice, accident or destruction is emerging
However......
......if God creates or brings order to a chaotic world, this means there is no danger that cannot be brought into order.
As a matter of fact Romans 8.35 says.....
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
And in verses 38 and 39 he comes back and says in so many words...
“I am convinced that nothing chaotic in our lives will be able to refuse the Order that God brings to the life of the believer!”
(pause and expound)
Look at it now.....
One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out,
According to the text......
Jesus makes a statement that proves who is in authority of their journey.
(pause)
It was not their decision to cross over the lake.....
This was Jesus’s idea....
And so......
.......the disciples are embarking on a journey that Jesus started!
(pause)
And I believe that a lot of times in our lives......
.......we forget that God has given us the authority to live out our journeys.
And so.......
........we didn’t give the initial go ahead for us to be here
.......God decided our lives should begin when they did!
(pause)
And that reassures us to understand that ultimately.......
God is the one who brought order to our lives.....
(pause and expound)
Look at it.......
and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger.
Notice now......
“While they were sailing he fell asleep”
As they were living life in the authority of Jesus’s instruction......
Jesus falls asleep....
(pause)
So......
Jesus is resting as they are maneuvering in what he has brought order to!
(pause)
And according to the text........
Chaos shows up while they are in the process of operating in order.
Now here’s what’s incredible.....
Jesus is all knowing.......
meaning that there is nothing that God does not already know...
And so......
Jesus falls asleep, knowing.......
....that a storm is coming!
(slight pause)
Freedom family may I suggest to you that........
........our Faith goal should be getting to a place in life where even when we know a storm is on the horizon
......that doesn’t mean our Rest becomes disturbed!
And.....
Freedom, I don’t know about you......
......but I have some Roots that have grown to a place where
........some of my best sleep is in a STORM
(pause and expound)
And watch the text....
because the text says.....
....this storm sweeps down on the lake
and.....
The boat was filling with water and they were “IN” danger
(pause)
And this storm is described by some scholars as “a squall”
.....when strong winds would come down the ravines
.....and you know what a ravine is don’t you
that’s a small narrow steep sided valley
(pause)
And so if you can picture it.......
......it’s almost as if this thing is happening so fast
......it just came out of nowhere!!
(pause)
And remember now.....
Danger is the threat of destuction emerging....
But what’s even worst is when
......something gets up on you faster than you can see it coming!!
(pause)
And now here these disciples are.........
......in a boat that’s filling up with water from a Storm that they never saw coming!
(pause)
And.....
.......if water fills up on the inside of this boat
........the ship is going to sink and of course that means that they are going to drown in this lake.
(pause)
Here’s what I need us to see.........
The bible does not say that they are probably in danger......
The bible says....
........they are IN danger.
But.........
What I got to get you to see today is that.......
Before they were in danger
.......they were in order!
And the only question is.......
Who put them here?
(pause and expound)
And the reason this question is so important is because........
Whoever put our lives together and placed them here.......
.....has to handle whatever comes!
(pause)
And the good news is.......
We didn’t start this!
We didn’t have enough power to even think about starting this......
Creating Order is not our responsibility......
Our responsibility is to follow God’s instructions!!!
(pause and expound)
Now......
Whenever Chaos shows up and disrupts what was organized.......
Our next move should be to......
Regain Authority and Restore Order!
And........
if you ever want to overpower Chaos.......
.....all you got to do is keep following God’s instructions
Because.......
regardless of the pressure
......it cannot gain more authority than the command of God over our lives.
(pause)
But in most scenarios instead of Restoring Order.....
We try to master our reactions to the Chaos!
Because if you put enough pressure on us......
......instead of perservering
.....we began panicking.
And we do this by finding comfort in being reactive until it no longer works.
we begin managing the Chaos as if it is our only option.
we become overwhelmed by what we cannot control.
(pause)
And what we must remember is that......
Order is not supposed to be disturbed by Chaos!
Pastor how do you know that Order is not supposed to be disturbed by Chaos?
(slight pause)
Becuase the text says......
Jesus is sleeping inside of the same boat that water is filling up!
(pause and expound)
And so....
Freedom family......
Here’s where I am with it.......
Until I see God get worried........
(slight pause)
I’m cool!
Now......
.....that does not mean that I am unaware
.....that does not mean that I am anesthesized into ineffectiveness
But what it does mean is that.........
......I’m not giving my Chaos more authority or power than it really has!
(pause)
Here’s the question that I had........
If this STORM is so CHAOTIC......
.....and if water is filling up this boat
(pause)
How is it that Jesus is STILL SLEEP?
I mean literally speaking........
this boat is not CARNIVAL cruise ship........
Jesus aint sleeping comfortably in a Balcony suite!
This is a small fishing boat.....
.......and I have been on some cruise ships that rock back and forth if the waves are too strong.......
Jesus aint felt nothing........
The water aint touching him
The boat aint rocking hard enough
The frantic movement of the disciples aint bothering him
And according to the text.........
........there aint nothing happening in this CHAOTIC moment
.......that’s able to DISTURB Jesus
(pause)
But according to this next verse.....
Jesus does not move........
.......until he is CALLED!!!!!
(pause and expound)
Watch the text.....
They went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm.
Freedom.....
Don’t miss this........
I’m not 100% sure exactly what the timeframe is in terms of when they decide to go and wake Jesus up......
But what I do know is..........
The sooner the better!
And what i discovered is that........
Chaos does not call God
because Chaos has no relationship with him
And so
God does not respond to Chaos
But......
because we are God’s children....
God responds to God’s children when we are IN CHAOS
When our lives get OUT OF ORDER......
That’s when God responds!!
(pause)
And the text says......
As soon as they wake Jesus up........
Order RETURNS to the SHIP!
(pause)
But Freedom I want you to listen again to what the disciples just said to Jesus......
“Master, Master, WE are perishing!”
Now.......I’ve heard this scripture preached 1,000 times.........
And I don’t know how many times I have preached it myself.......
But here’s what God showed me this time.......
(pause)
Because.....
Theologically,
I have always seen Jesus in the boat......
But....
I have never seen Jesus in danger......
(pause)
And because of this......
I have never truly heard the disciples words in Luke’s Gospel account fully.....
Because in my mind......
Jesus is sleeping in this boat with the disciples
But......
.....there is no way that Jesus is in danger
(pause)
But the text says that in the mind of the disciples.........
If the boat is in danger of sinking
.....and Jesus is with us in the boat
That means that everybody in the boat including Jesus......
.....is facing a threat of being overcome by this storm.
Which is why the text says....
Master, Master....
We are perishing!”
(pause)
But what the disciples needed to realize is.......
You can’t put ORDER inside CHAOS and expect there to be no ORDER!!!!
(pause)
And.....
if God is with us
.....does that mean God is present without power
......or that God is still God even in our Chaotic moment
(pause)
And then all of a sudden I had to go back and check myself over my past experiences.........
Because I needed to know......
......am I praying to God as if God is sinking in my boat too?
.....am I in my boat like these disciples talking about “WE”
(pause and expound)
And Freedom family......
If you are ever going to become more ROOTED........
You’re going to have to do what I did when I read this verse......
You’re going to have to examine your own theology......
You’re going to have to wrestle with your own self and then ask God to tell you if you need to work on some stuff.....
(pause)
David said it best in Psalm 139.23
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
In other words......
The Sooner things get back in order......
.......The BETTER!
(pause and expound)
Look at it.......
“And having been awakened he rebuked the wind and the wave of the water......
.....and they stopped and it became calm”
(pause)
According to the text......
....as soon as ORDER returns
........ CHAOS is handled accordingly!
(pause)
Now lets talk about what started this CHAOS...........
(pause)
And in my spiritual imagination if Jesus is bringing ORDER.....
.....that means that the exact opposite of God has to be bringing CHAOS
And the exact opposite of God is Satan......
And because we already know that wind and water are not personal to us as if they exist with motives against our humanity.......
.....we understand that Jesus is rebuking Satan who was using his power to cause this storm in the first place!
Because watch this.....
Order said “Let’s Cross over this lake”
Chaos said “Disrupt them so much until they only think about surviving”
(pause)
And Freedom family,
I aint saying that the Devil doing everything........
But that rascal always up to something......
He’s always trying to STOP something God started!
(pause)
But.......
.......whether or not we agree on the origin of the storm or not
.......what is most important is the fact that CHAOS got real CALM when Jesus put things back in ORDER!
(pause and expound)
Look at it.....
He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”
Jesus says to them.....
“Where is your faith?”
In other words......
“Why did you allow the pressure to convince you that God wasn’t still in Control?”
Because you see.......
It was Jesus who gave them the command to “Cross over to the other side of the lake”
And so.......
How could anything come along with enough power to STOP the Order?
(pause)
And I believe that sometimes in our lives we get caught in the middle........
Just going along........
minding our own business.......
and then all of a sudden we get caught in the middle.......
(pause)
We heard what God said.........
.......and we were trusting God which is why we were living life the way we were in the first place
(slight pause)
But........
........some how or another
.......here comes something with just enough power to make us feel like we aint going to make it
(pause)
But......
In my spiritual imagination I hear Jesus saying,
“Don’t you know........
......I’m not going to let anything happen to you!”
(pause)
I’m the one that told you to come out here in the first place!
(pause)
And the SOONER you TRUST ME........
......The BETTER!
(pause)
And the SOONER the disciples wake Jesus up.......
.........the shorter the timeframe of the STORM
(pause)
And so Freedom here’s my question......
“What you waiting on?!”
Call on the God who STARTED this!!!!
And.......
THE SOONER..............THE BETTER