Unrecognized Savior
Unrecognized Authority • Sermon • Submitted
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· 11 viewsEven Jesus’ closest disciples do not recognize that Jesus has authority to save them.
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Unrecognized Savior - Matt 8:23-27
Unrecognized Savior - Matt 8:23-27
And as open your Bibles let me give you a brief overview what we are learning.
We are in the middles of a series that we are calling “Unrecognized Authority” that will take us through Matthew chapters 8 through 10
and the big idea of these three chapters is this: Jesus has all authority over all creation but even though he demonstrates his authority through many might works, those who saw Jesus deeds did not recognize Jesus’ authority much less his identity.
Now, up until today as we have been going through Chapter 8 we have seen Jesus do three specific miracles.
he healed a leper
he healed a centurions servant
And he healed Peter’s mother in law
I want you to notice that the common thread between these first three miracles is healing.
And by the end of these three healings, disciples catch on to this such that by the end of these three healings we see this about the disciples:
So the disciples recognize Jesus right? Why would we call this unrecognized authority…
Well if look at the Scripture from Isaiah that Matthew is quoting we would read this:
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
During our small groups we are going to start memorizing these two verses… Because here in Isaiah we see the heart of what Matthew 8-10 is showing us. That is that Jesus came to carry our griefs, namely our sins, transgressions, and iniquities.
But Isaiah 53 also shows us this, that even though Jesus came to carry our sorrows we still esteemed Jesus as stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
In other words… we did not recognize what Jesus was doing for us much less who he is… That he is the very Son of God to whom all authority belongs to such that we ought to worship and obey him.
But up until this point the disciples did recognize Jesus right? Yes, that is until last week when Jesus taught us about discipleship where he told us that following him was not just about healing…
but we learned that following Jesus comes at a cost…
So this week we begin the second set of thee miracles where we will really see people including Jesus closest disciples demonstrating just how much they missed the point as to who Jesus was and is.
So last week we finished the first three healings followed by a discourse about discipleship. And this week we will begin the next section of three healings followed by another discourse on discipleship.
Okay, are we ready to start?
Let’s stand together for the reading of God’s word.
23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
Let’s pray.
Today’s sermon is called Unrecognized Savior…
and before begin to look closely at tonight’s text I have a video I want to show, but it requires your close attention. So if you’re distracted focus… if the person next to you is distracted, tell them to pay attention to this short video.
Video:
This video provides us with a demonstration of how easy it is to miss the obvious.
Which is similar to what we see happening with the disciples…
They have been watching Jesus…
Jesus called back in Cha 4…
So far we see that he has called SimonPeter, and his brother Andrew, and James and John the sons of Zebedee… Now all for of these men are fishermen (keep this in mind as today’s Scripture takes place on the Sea of Galilee… But notice, the Disciples have heard Jesus preach the sermon on the mount… they have watched Jesus heal great crowds.
23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.
Jesus is the one entering the boat, and the disciples follow Jesus… So far so good.
24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”
Now these are fisherman remember… they know about the dangers of storms at sea… and though they are experienced when at sea, they recognize that they are at the end of themselves for the danger of this storm is one that will kill them.
But listen to Jesus response:
26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Right about now we might come up with a lot of ideas as to what this Scripture is about. Things like this:
The boat is an image for the church - and just as Jesus kept the boat from being swallowed by the storm, so too will Jesus keep the church from being consumed by the problems in the world
or
If you follow like the disciples did Jesus you will be safe from every danger because Jesus is in control of them all…
Now, while these kinds of interpretations aren’t untrue entirely… these two interpretations have great problems. Namely it undermines what Jesus taught in the Scripture that we studied last week… namely that following Jesus will come at a cost to each of us.
And here we see the demonstration of the kinds of dangers that a disciple would experience.
And if we make tonight’s text about howJesus won’t let harm befall the Christian, then we would also have to take this text and isolate it from the rest of Jesus’ teaching and the majority of the stories found in Acts that tell about the persecution of the church.
In fact Just listen to how Jesus will put describe the dangers that the disciples will experience towards the end of our series
16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.
If Jesus’ calming the storm is not about how Jesus will always protect his disciples from harm then what is it actually about?
Well look carefully again at Jesus response to the disciples cry for help:
25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
The disciples are worried about what?
The great storm that is threatening their lives..
But Jesus does not respond to their cry for help by immediately rebuking the great storm, but instead Jesus responds to them by first rebuking the disciples for their little faith.
1) Jesus is more concerned by our small faith than our big storms.
1) Jesus is more concerned by our small faith than our big storms.
First of all, not only were the disciples blind to recognizing Jesus in this moment. But they were also blind to their biggest problem… that is their little faith
Let’s define terms: what is faith? Do you know?
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Now why is little faith a greater problem than big storms?
The answer is quite simple…
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Faith accompanied by God’s grace is the means by which all are saved…
Faith in Jesus Christ is the means by which we have life
Recall Hab 2:4 as it is recounted by the writer of Heb
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
Faith filled obedience is the way we please God
and that without faith, God takes no pleasure in us
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
Is faith important… you bet it is
for it is by faith that we are able to please God
It is by faith that we are counted as righteous
it is by faith that we are to live
And it is by faith that we are saved from death
With this in mind, let’s go back to tonights text again:
25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Notice, they are crying out for salvation, but they do so with little faith in Jesus ability to actually save…
And yet it is by grace filled faith that we are in fact saved.
Do you want to be saved?
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Do you notice the language here those lacking faith… they are like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
Very similar to the disciples who in their own little faith are also being tossed to and fro by the wind and the waves…
These disciples are double minded and unstable in all their ways.
Torn between God and the world
Do you understand what I mean when I say that little faith is a bigger problem than great storms?
And all the while, Jesus has already made it clear that we can trust God back in the sermon on the mount
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
Now, there is more in common between Jesus’ teaching on little faith, and the disciples demonstration of their own little faith - namely little faith is marked by fear and anxiety.
Listen to how it is that Jesus identifies their little faith:
26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
2) Our present fear of real dangers reveals our missing faith in our real God.
2) Our present fear of real dangers reveals our missing faith in our real God.
Now we know a thing or two about fear and anxiety right?
Especially here in 2020… this has been a year full of all sorts of problems that have produced great fear in people:
Sickness or disease be it through COVID or anything else
Loss of jobs by many across the country
Threats and rummers of war
And all the while protests have taken place all across the US and very close to even our own homes
We living in the present uncertainty as to who will lead our country next
We have experienced raging fires, and smoke filled air that have caused people to flee their homes
Oh, and don’t forget about the killer hornets
And even most recently there is a hurricane heading right for the US gulf coast
And what all of these have in common is the way they threaten our lives, and no matter where you live you cannot escape the many threats to our lives.
And all the while you all are in school… (though you are having to navigate how to do online learning from home) I’m sure for many of you I could have just talked about school and the uncertainty of your future for you to have been well aquatinted with present fears and anxieties.
But there is something I want you all to recognize… Your fear is a symptom of your little faith.
What do I mean when I call fear a symptom
A symptom is a visible feature that is an indication of an underlying problem…
Such having a high temperature is a symptom/indication that you are sick…
but the high temperature isn’t the problem, it’s just the proof that there is an underlying problem.
So too, fear is but a symptom of the greater problem… that is little faith.
and as we have previously seen , without faith, we cannot please God, w/o faith we are not counted righteous, w/o faith we are not saved
If we are afraid… then we have little faith.
We are much like the spies from the book of numbers that are going into the Canaan. Do you remember the story…
The spies were sent ahead into the land that God has promised them after he delivering them from the hands of Pharaoh… And listen to the report that they brought back
31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height.
1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Are you kidding me? Haven’t you seen all that God has done to provide for them and sustain them all the while delivering them from Egypt?
It’s no wonder that Just as Israel was about to enter the land that Moses commanded the children of Israel:
6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Do you hear this… God is with them... and he will not leave them or forsake them…
And all the while we see the same thing happening here with these disciples in the boat with Jesus… Haven’t they seen heard Jesus… haven’t they walked with him… haven’t they seen his authority over sickness, disease, and even the demons… and so why now are they so afraid?
26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
What sort of man is Jesus… notice the language describing the disciples in 27…
They are described as men marveling about the other man that is with them… Who is he?
While they don’t recognize it yet, they really ought to have… For the Scriptures are far from silent concerning the identity of the one who commands the winds and the seas…
Listen to the word of God’s revelation of his power:
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
This same scriptures is reflected a number of times:
Job 38:8-11…
Ps 29:3-4;10-11…
Ps 65:5-7…
Ps 89:9...
Ps 107:23-32…
God’s sovereign control over the waters is a common theme in the OT… what what does it recount?
in one sense… it recounts creation…
remember on the third day, God spoke and the land came out from the sea…
But this is also what God did when he delivered the children of Isreal and saved them from their first captivity...
And he did it again as he made a way for Joshua and the Israelites to enter into the Canaan…
So in light of all this:
27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
Who is this man? Make no mistake… he is God… who was with his disciples in that boat… and Just as Moses said at the end of Deuteronomy so too do we have this promise at the end of Matthew
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
3) Jesus is more than a solution for sickness or a stopper of storms; he is a savior of sinners.
3) Jesus is more than a solution for sickness or a stopper of storms; he is a savior of sinners.
Let me close by reading Ps 91 in it’s entirety
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
