Is God Just a Lifeboat?

Introduction

Good morning and welcome back!

This morning we are going to be looking in the Gospel of Mark, particularly in a short passage found in chapter 4.

We will be focusing on verses 35-41, in a passage that is somewhat familiar to us.

And one thing that is particularly interesting about this section in the Gospel of Mark is that it begins a series of miracles that Jesus performs to show His true identity as the Son of God.

In fact, in Mark chapters 4-5 Jesus performs four miracles that show Jesus' power over the hostile powers of the world (calms the sea, casts out demons, cures disease, and raises from the dead).

And the section we will be looking at this morning, immediately begins after Jesus concludes a teaching to the people and His disciples regarding many things through the use of parables.

And just for reference, this section we are going to talk about is mirrored in Matthew 8:23-27 and Luke 8:22-25.

Which tells us that it left such an impact on the disciples that 3 of the 4 gospels talk about it.

And if it was that important to mention in 3 of the 4, it should be something we should also take a closer look at.

However, this morning we are going to look at a different side of the coin.

And we are going to talk about our tendency to use God as a lifeboat and nothing more.

Stowed away and forgotten until we need Him.

Only pulling Him out when we are in trouble.

So, let’s get into it this morning and see where the Lord leads us.

Starting in verse 35 of chapter 4, Mark writes . . .

Scripture Focus

Mark 4:35–41 NIV - Anglicised

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Jesus Leading the Disciples

So a very interesting account of events are taking place here.

But it actually picks up at the end of the Disciples day.

Again, verses 35-36 tells us . . .

Mark 4:35–36 NIV - Anglicised

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.

So, what is going on here is that Jesus had been teaching all day to the masses and the crowds.

He and the disciples were tired and exhausted and the evening time had come.

So, Jesus gathers His disciples and leads them into the boat, telling them it is time to leave and go to the other side of the lake.

And there are a couple of reasons for Jesus doing this.

First, this is so Jesus can get away from the crowds for a while and rest, but also for a change of venue to take the gospel to others.

When it talks about “the other side,” what it is referring to is Gardara or "the region of the Gerasenes", which was an area that was predominately Gentile.

Which begs the questions, why would Jesus want to go over there?

After all, he is not preaching to the Gentiles, so why bother?

Well, even though it was a Gentile dominated area, there were still Jews there, so they needed to hear the Gospel also.

And as a secondary result, all of these Gentiles would still be hearing the Gospel, even if it was not directly delivered to them.

So indirectly, Jesus is actually laying the foundation of the coming Church that you and I belong to.

So, no opportunity is wasted here!

So, what Jesus does is he gathers his disciples, sends the crowd away, and they go into their ship and they begin to cross the Sea of Galilee.

However, even though part of the reason was to get some peace and quiet and some rest along the way, they were not alone.

The Bible says that "there were also with him other little ships."

So even at this attempt, others still followed Jesus across the Sea.

HOWEVER, THE KEY TO THIS PORTION OF SCRIPTURE IS NOT THE SEA, NOT THE OTHER SHIPS, NOT THE CROWDS, but THE FACT THAT JESUS HAD LED OR DIRECTED HIS DISCIPLES TO GO TO THE OTHER SIDE.

Why this is important is because, this is a clear indication that Jesus was with them.

Jesus was in charge.

And anything that would happen would be according to His Will.

Which is a point that we are going to return to shortly.

But one question we often ask is, what is the purpose of what I’m doing?

What is the purpose of what the Lord leads us to do?

Well, sometimes we do not immediately know what the purpose is or why we are being asked to do what God is asking us to do.

It all boils down to faith and whether we have enough faith to do it anyway.

Regardless of whether we know for sure the “why” or not.

With the disciples here though, we know that Jesus is trying to show his disciples who He really is.

They had just been in the "classroom" listening as Jesus had spent all day teaching the people through parables.

Remember the parable of the sower talking about sowing the word of God and its actually impact is dependent on the ground (person) it is sown in.

We also have the account of the candle under a bushel or keeping the light of the Word of God private.

It is not to be kept private but shared with all.

There is the parable of the seed being cast to the ground talking about our responsibility to spread the gospel.

And then finally, there is the parable of the mustard seed, which is not talking about faith as a mustard seed but rather how that the gospel seems small now, like a mustard seed, but like the mustard seed grows, the gospel message will spread into greatness.

Those are the things that Jesus has taught them up to this point.

AND NOW, Jesus is going to put their classroom learning to the test, taking it out into the field.

AND THE SAME THING IS TRUE FOR US.

We spend time in our homes praying and studying don’t we?

Time in the church praying and studying, right?

All designed to equip us to take what we have learned in the classroom and apply it to life. To the field.

The problem is that many of us do not spend the time in the prayer closet, in God's Word, and in church in order to be able to learn the necessary skills to be successful in the field.

That is why when storms come, we end up like the disciples here.

The Great Storms

Look at verses 37-38 . . .

Mark 4:37–38 NIV - Anglicised

A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

So, here we are.

They are crossing the Sea and the Bible says "there arose a great storm of wind," in the KJV.

The NIV calls this a "great squall."

We are familiar with "squalls" or "squall lines" from our own weather.

And what this was, was a great huge thunderstorm that blew up in the evening/night time.

These types of storms were common on the Sea of Galilee because of where it is situated.

The Sea of Galilee sets 700 ft. below sea level and sits between two mountain ranges.

So, cool air from the Mediterranean Sea is drawn down the narrow mountain passes and clashes with the hot humid air over the Sea of Galilee making for these huge thunderstorms.

And, this one was particularly bad.

So bad that the Bible says the "ship was nearly swamped."

Or it was beginning to fill up with water that was crashing over the sides.

Anybody knows that a ship taking on water is bad news.

And the ship that Jesus and the disciples were in was not a huge vessel like we see today but was a average size fishing boat.

One found in 1986 thought to be from Jesus' day measured to be 26 1/2 feet long, 7 1/2 feet wide and 4 1/2 feet deep and had an elevated stern.

It was said to be designed for about 15 people.

So, this was a bigger boat but still if it was sunk, it meant bad news for those on board during a storm like this.

So things were getting pretty rough, but Jesus was "in the stern, sleeping on a cushion"

So, Jesus was in the back asleep!

Now, why in the world would Jesus be asleep in the back during a time like this, a huge storm?

Did he not know that their lives were in danger?

That they could drown?

And this was what was going through the disciples head at the time.

The Bible says, they woke him up and asked him if he didn’t care that they were getting ready to drown!

In other words, "Jesus, don't you care that we are going to die!"

Or to put it a different way, "Jesus, don't you know this storm in my life is about to defeat me!"

"Where are you at Jesus?"

IS ANY OF THIS SOUNDING FAMILIAR?

Isn't this what we do?

We try to carry on our lives, doing things and taking care of things the way we think is best.

We continually make decisions and do things in our own power and our own might.

We exclude God from things until it becomes painfully obvious that we can't handle it on our own.

THEN WE GO TO GOD FOR HELP.

THEN WE ASK HIM TO FIX IT.

THE BOTTOM LINE IS, WE LACK FAITH AND WE ARE USING GOD AS A LIFEBOAT AND NOTHING MORE.

We already know that the Bible tells us that trouble will come.

Storms will come . . .

Matthew 5:45 NIV - Anglicised

that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

And John . . .

John 16:33 NIV - Anglicised

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

And back to Matthew . . .

Matthew 7:24–27 NIV - Anglicised

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

The storms are coming, so what are we going to do about it?

Are we going to continue to use Christ as lifeboat or is He going t be our Lord and Savior?

We have to decide.

Why Are We So Fearful

And our disciples had to decide where there faith was as well.

However, Jesus being Jesus takes care of things . . .

Mark 4:39–40 NIV - Anglicised

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

So, Jesus seeing that if He did not intervene that they would indeed perish performs the first of a series of miracles in chapters 4-5.

The Bible says that Jesus, "rebuked the wind" or He actually talked to the wind.

He said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" Or in plain English, "Silence! Be Still!" meaning "be still and stay still."

And with this the winds immediately ceased and a great calm came over the sea.

Now, it wasn't the winds began to die down and the waves slowly calmed. It was immediate.

Think about how miraculous that is just on a natural level.

Has anybody ever been fishing in choppy water?

Even after a storm and the winds die down, it usually takes a little while for the waves to die down. T

hat energy has to dissipate.

It wasn't like that here. This was an immediate reaction.

And the same is true for the storms in our lives.

When Jesus intervenes and calms the storm.

It is over, completely over!

And if we just left it at that, that would be great!

However, that isn't all that happened here.

Jesus not only rebuked the storm, but he also rebuked His disciples.

Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? He asks them.

Going back to the original Greek gives indication on how powerful this rebuke was.

The word used here for "fearful" is "deiloi" and means "cowardly fear."

So, He is asking them, "after all you have learned and seen, why are you so afraid of the storms?"

And Jesus doesn't ask them if they have faith, He asks them, "why they have no faith."

And he asks us the same thing when the storms of life come.

Instead of trusting God and putting it in his hands, we go here and there trying to "fix it,"

And we only end up making a mess out of things and then we get scared and run and hide.

"Where is our faith?"

What is our faith in?

What is it in our lives that keeps us from having faith enough in God?

1 John really emphasizes what Jesus is getting at here . . .

1 John 4:17–19 NIV - Anglicised

In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.

Perfect love is brought about by the Holy Spirit.

If we are living under the control of the Holy Spirit, in perfect love, we will not have fear but rather power to endure the storm.

So, where is our faith?

In God or in man?

The storms are coming what are we going to do about it?

Altar/Challenge

And that’s really where we are going to finish up.

The last verse of this passage, verse 41 . . .

Mark 4:41 NIV - Anglicised

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

This being terrified in verse 41 was not the cowardly fear but a reverent fear.

Matthew and Luke say they "marvelled." Or they were astonished.

It was also a true fear, like you have when you know you have come into contact with God Almighty.

And, why were they so afraid?

Because they knew their Old Testament.

They knew that only God has the power that Jesus was displaying.

Psalm 89:8–9 NIV - Anglicised

O Lord God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O Lord, and your faithfulness surrounds you. You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.

And Psalm 104 . . .

Psalm 104:5–9 NIV - Anglicised

He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.

They asked the question, "What manner of man is this?"

So, they understood that Jesus was a great teacher or Rabbi.

And they were beginning to understand that He was the Messiah they had learned about all their life.

However, at this point they did not fully understand that they were with the Son of God, who would not only save them in the here and now, but offer them eternal salvation.

Are we asking that same questions?

We know all about Jesus, but do we know Him for who He really is?

Only you and the Lord can answer that question.

What is the Holy Spirit telling you right now?

What will your response be?

Let’s pray . . .