THROUGH THE STORM

Introduction

-Just a week and a half ago the east coast braced itself as Hurricane Florence brought with it the fury of wind and rain. While the wind and storm part maybe didn’t do as much damage as initially predicted, the aftereffects of the storm are still being felt, as the heavy rains brought with it rising floods that have yet to subside. Hurricane Florence caused much trouble, much damage, and much pain.

-This is a reminder to us that the earth is cursed, and natural disasters are going to be the norm until all of creation is redeemed by the return of Jesus Christ. What atheists might attribute to the fury of nature is actually a display of how wrong things are in the world because of human sin.

-But as much as the storms of nature are damaging, there are personal storms that we go through that seem to bring with it as much pain and suffering as if thunder, lightning, wind, and rain had pummeled our bodies and lives.

-I believe it was Adrian Rogers who used to say:

“You are either currently in a storm, coming out of a storm, or you are heading into a storm.”

-No one has a life of constant sunshine. Storms will happen! How we view the storms and how we view the God who is in control of storms goes a long way in our response to the storm and how it is we come out the other side.

-We are going to look at two accounts of the same passage since they each focus on some different aspects of the historical narrative. To give you some background:

~Jesus had just performed the miracle of the feeding of the 5000. As the crowd who took part in the miracle began to get so excited about it that they were going to try to take Jesus by force to make Him King, Jesus dismissed the crowd, sent the apostles by boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and went to a secluded area to pray and recuperate.

~In our passage the apostles are in the boat trying to get to the other side, but a storm appeared. While His apostles battled through the storm, Jesus displayed His power and demonstrated His identity and proved that faith placed in Him is never misplaced.

-What we learn today is that whatever type of storm you may be weathering in your life, Jesus will display His power and demonstrate His identity while you go through that storm. And Jesus is calling you and me to place our trust and faith in Him to get us through to the other side.

John 6:16–21 ESV

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

Matthew 14:22–33 ESV

22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

-I just want to consider four lessons today about going through storms:

I) Jesus compels us into storms for our growth

-When looking at Matthew 14:22, you notice that it says that Jesus made them get into the boat and go before Him to the other side.

-Jesus specifically told them to get in the boat and go. And seeing that Jesus is the God-man, He is omniscient, and He knew that His disciples would run into this terrible storm.

-Now, to give you a bit of a mental picture of what is going on here, they were on the North-east shore of the Sea of Galilee. They were told to head to Capernaum which was about 5-6 miles on the other shore.

~The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by mountains on all sides and is about 700 feet below sea level creating almost a bowl-like effect. Storms would come over the mountains without warning, and with it being so low in the middle of mountains, the wind would be stronger than normal, bouncing off the mountains.

~The apostles in their boat get stuck in a terrible storm. They have to let down the sails or be torn apart, but that means they have to try to row the rest of the way to make it, but the storm is making that near impossible.

~The Scripture says that at the 4th watch (between 3-6 AM) they had made it about 3-4 miles. That means that it has taken them nearly 9 hours to get a little more than halfway across.

~They are making no headway, they are tired, they are scared, and the storm is still coming down hard on them.

~But get this: JESUS SPECIFICALLY SENT THEM THROUGH THIS STORM

-I don’t know if we’ve ever thought this through. We all know through life experiences and a decent grasp of theology that bad things happen in this world because of the results of man’s Fall. So, we know that there is always a possibility that we are going to suffer something in life.

-But I’m not sure if we’ve ever really thought that Jesus specifically sent us into that storm. We think that somehow Jesus is going to protect us from ever being in a really bad storm. Sure, He might let a few sprinkles hit our spiritual heads, but surely Jesus wouldn’t send us into a hurricane, would He?

-He absolutely would send us into a storm, but it is for a specific purpose. What we find from the particular passage that we are looking at today is that Jesus sent the disciples into the storm to grow them as disciples, to grow their faith, to grow their understanding of who He is.

-God doesn’t send the storms to destroy us—God sends the storms to turn our spiritual eyes toward Him and to mature us to be more like His Son who Himself suffered greatly through a storm we couldn’t even begin to understand.

-And when we go through a storm, it is as if God is saying to us:

THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO GO THROUGH RIGHT NOW SO THAT YOU WILL MATURE AND COME TO KNOW ME MORE AND TO GIVE ME GREATER GLORY.

-When a storm comes, do not automatically think that it must be the devil’s work in your life to bring you down.

~Think of the book of Job, God sent Job into the storm using the devil so that God could prove to Job and the devil who He really was.

-So Jesus will compel us into storms, but before we get anxious, we then need to see:

II) Jesus enters into storms to manifest Himself

-So, as if battling the storm wasn’t enough, they see this figure coming toward them walking on the water. That is definitely not a normal thing, so they make an assumption that probably any of us would have made—it’s a ghost coming toward them. And they are scared out of their wits.

-But it isn’t a ghost coming toward them—it is Jesus, walking into the storm with them, and in doing so Jesus shows Himself for who He really is, and that is why these gospels were written.

-Matthew’s gospel was written to Jews to demonstrate that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah for the Jews, and so the way he wrote his gospel is geared toward that, and this particular narrative shows that is who Jesus is.

-John wrote his gospel for Greeks and Jews to give evidence that Jesus is the LOGOS=the Word, the rationale behind the entire created order. And this narrative demonstrates that.

-Both of them record Jesus’ response after the disciples start freaking out—to give them peace in the storm Jesus cries out to them “IT IS I” as translated by our English versions. But that is not really what Jesus says. Jesus says in the Greek: EGO EIMI, which would be better translated I AM!

-Jesus is saying that the God who revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 3 is the man walking toward them on the water.

-Jesus is manifesting His deity and His sovereignty over all of creation, therefore He is expressing to them that He has all the power that they need and that He is worthy of their trust, even in the midst of the storm.

-You see, Jesus isn’t walking on water to be a show off—Jesus is walking on water to reveal Himself to them. So He walks into their storm saying I AM!

-And Jesus is going to walk into your storm and reveal who He is to you, so you have a better understanding of Him.

-And He is speaking to you in your storm. While you battle with an addiction, while you face an unknown future, while you argue with your spouse, while you struggle with your finances, while your world is crumbling all around you

Jesus is saying:

~I AM your Salvation

~I AM your Deliverer

~I AM your Sovereign Master

~I AM your Provision

~I AM your Only Hope

~I AM the Lover of your Soul

~I AM your Ever-present Help in Trouble

~I AM your Bread of Life

~I AM your Light of the World

~I AM your Door to Green Pastures

~I AM your Only Way

~I AM your Fountain of Truth

~I AM your Source of Life

~I AM your Heavenly Defender

~I AM your Alpha and Omega

~I AM your King of kings

~I AM your Lord of lords

~I AM your Almighty God

I AM!!!!! I AM!!!!! I AM!!!!!

-Jesus comes into your storm, and He IS everything that you need. So what is our response?

III) Jesus calls us during storms to express faith

-In the Matthew account our English translation has Peter saying: Lord, IF it is you…

~But in the Greek there is no doubt in Peter’s voice about Jesus’ identity

~Peter really says: SINCE it is you Lord, command me to come to you

-Jesus says come, and Peter steps out, and he’s walking on water for a while. Here is all this wind and rain and thunder and lightning going on around him, and Peter wants to get out and get to Jesus.

-Peter knows Jesus can help in this storm, and Jesus beckons Peter to literally step out in faith—and that’s what Jesus calls from us. Step out in faith, even when things don’t make sense, even when the storm blurs your vision of Jesus a bit, even when the storm is blowing hard all around you, take your steps toward Jesus.

-Bu taking these steps toward Jesus is based on our faith and knowledge of who He is. Like I made mention last week, our faith is not blind, but is based on what we can know to be true about Jesus and about the Christian faith.

-Peter stepped out because of what he knew about Jesus—it wasn’t an attitude of having nothing to lose. It was all about: I KNOW MY JESUS, AND I AM MAKING MY WAY TOWARD HIM~~~~it’s better to walk on water with Jesus in a storm than stay in a boat without Him.

-But then Peter starts paying more attention to the wind and the rain and the waves in the storm—His mind focuses-in on His surroundings and circumstances! And when his focus gets off of Jesus he begins to sink. Peter lost his faith.

-But what is so awesome about our Savior is that even when we do not have faith we can cry to Him and He still rescues us. Peter starts drowning and cries out SAVE ME! And Jesus is right there, grabs his arm, lifts him up, and puts him in the boat. And all of a sudden, very supernaturally, they are at the shore and the storm is over.

-During our storm it is not time to curl up and try to hide, it is time to show faith in a Jesus that has overcome the world, much less our trials and tribulations, and if we lose our focus on Him, all we need to do is cry out, and there He is. He will walk toward us in our storm, and then He calls us to Him—to come to Him in faith.

-And what is our next response?

IV) Jesus receives after storms our praise and worship

-Jesus joins them in the boat and all of a sudden the wind ceased, the rain dissipated, and the shore that was still miles away just a second ago is all of a sudden right in front of them.

-So, what do they do? Jesus just delivered them out of the storm. What do they do?

~They go about their business like nothing ever happened. No!

~They boast about how hard they rowed to get to the shore. No!

-Look at Matthew 14:33

AND THOSE IN THE BOAT WORSHIPPED HIM, SAYING, “TRULY YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD.”

-Jesus put them through a storm to grow them and to give an opportunity for Him to come into the storm to manifest who He is, desiring a greater trust to form, so that in the end He gets all the praise and honor and glory above all else.

-Anybody here been through a storm in life?

~Did Jesus meet you in that storm and get you through it?

~Let’s give Him some praise right now!!!

-That ought to be our response—not only after He gets us through the storm, but even during that storm. That’s part of the step of faith. As the song says: I Will Praise You IN This Storm

Conclusion

-Maybe during the invitation, you want to come to the altar and praise God for getting you through a storm—come and worship Him.

-Maybe you are going through a storm and want to come to the altar to pray—or maybe you’d like prayer from our staff or deacons—I’ve invited the deacons to come up to make themselves available. Come up, grab one by the hand and ask them to pray for you…

-Maybe you’d like to join a church where we help one another through storms and point people to the Savior, we invite you to come up and join…

-But maybe you don’t know this Jesus who comes to us in the storms…