Part 21, Calming the Storm

...before Christmas and the new year in a series called Great Stories, Eternal Truths. Great Stories, Eternal Truths, where we’ve just been looking at the great stories. We were in the Old Testament, things like Jonah and the great fish and Noah and the ark, the great stories of the Bible, and revisiting them.

And since Christmas, we have been in the New Testament, the great stories in the life of Jesus. And this morning, we turn to Mark’s Gospel, chapter 4. Mark’s Gospel, chapter 4, beginning in verse 35. And we see the great story of Jesus calming the storm.

Mark’s Gospel 4, verse 35.

If you’re using the Pew Bible as I am, it’ll be page 891.

When you get there, if you are able, would you stand with me as we honor God and the reading of his word?

Mark’s Gospel, chapter 4, beginning in verse 35.

And now hear the word of the Lord.

On that day, when evening had come, he told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.” So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat, and other boats were there—were other boats were with him.

A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat. So the boat was already being swamped.

He, Jesus, was in the stern sleeping on a cushion. So they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to die?”

He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence,” or, “Peace. Be still.”

The wind ceased, and there was great calm. Then he said to them all, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

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

May God his blessing to the reading, the preaching, and now your hearing to understand his holy word. May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ forever be praised.

And all of God’s people say, “Amen.”

Amen. You may be seated.

Honestly, everyone knows a little bit what it’s like or how it feels when you’re drowning.

Now, hopefully that wasn’t, in your case, in actual water. If you have had an instance where you felt like you were drowning in actual water, I’m praising the Lord that you’re here with us this morning. Amen.

But the sense, the feeling that you’re going to drown, comes from many places.

It comes from things like the bills that come piling in, and you know, they just won’t quit. The mailbox seems like it never shuts down. They just keep coming and keep coming and keep coming. And it can feel like, financially, it can feel like you’re going under. You’re going to drown.

Anybody?

Maybe you feel like you’re drowning because of a diagnosis you received. The test came back, and you were shocked by what the nurse practitioner—because you never get to talk to a real doctor—but what the nurse practitioner told you, right?

And this wave of emotion, this wave of uncertainty comes over you because you don’t know what’s going to happen next, and it just feels like you’re drowning.

Or maybe it’s in relationships.

Maybe it’s a marriage, and you feel like you make one step forward in the marriage, you make two steps backwards in the marriage. And something happens, and you rejoice because that’s a good thing. That’s something you were praying for. And then, bam, two other things happen that tear you right back down.

And in that relationship, you just feel like you’re barely holding your head above water.

Maybe it’s a weward child, a loved one, and you’ve tried everything you can try, and you’ve done everything you can do. And you have spent hours on your knees weeping and crying and praying, and you’re just—every time the phone rings, you’re startled because it’s like, what is it going to be now?

And it feels like you’re drowning.

Drowning in loneliness.

Maybe somebody in this whole big crowd of people, and you’re surrounded by people, but you still feel so lonely that it feels like you’re drowning.

Drowning in anxieties, your nerves on edge all the time, or drowning in grief, or drowning in fatigue, emotional fatigue.

And all of us—you see what I’m talking about?

Whether or not we’ve ever been in actual H2O water with our head bobbing, we can all identify with what it feels like to be drowning.

Sometimes life piles on so much that you’re breathing, but just barely. You’re functioning. You’re going to your job. You’re checking off the boxes. You’re going through the motions, but you’re completely exhausted.

You’re surviving, but you’re overwhelmed.

And you wonder, “Lord, am I going to make it through this?”

In our great story this morning, the disciples thought they were going to drown literally.

But what happened on that lake, on the Sea of Tiberius, teaches us what we should do today when we feel like we’re drowning, because storms happened back then when Jesus walked the earth, and they haven’t stopped since then.

Amen.

We begin—or continue with—the outline for all of these sermons is the same.

Number one, we begin with retelling the story.

The setting: it was a long day.

We read there in verse 35, “On that day.” “On that day” is important. It is clear there. “On that day, when evening had come,” it had been a long day.

It’s important here. What day had it been?

Mark chapter 4 there, following Mark chapter 3. It’s been a long day preaching. Jesus has been teaching the crowds. He’s been explaining the parables because they didn’t understand them. He’s been answering questions.

Those of you who’ve been in education, do you know that a day long of just answering questions again and again and again and again and again, that can weary you and make you tired.

Sometimes that happens in ministry as well. Sometimes I want to scream, “It’s in the bulletin. It’s been in the bulletin for a month. It’s there. It was on Facebook. We announced it.”

But Jesus is teaching the people, and he’s reanswering their questions because they don’t get—he’s ministering nonstop, nonstop all day long. And evening has come, and he is tired.

And this is important.

I want you to see the humanity of Jesus.

Jesus got weary. He got physically exhausted, and Jesus needed physical rest.

And so he says, “Let us go across to the other side.”

Ricky, do you know what Jesus said there? If we just put it in the vernacular, he said, “I got to get away from these people for a while.”

So if I ever just disappear for a couple of days, I’m just doing what Jesus...

Sometimes you got to get away from these people for a while.

But I want you to notice, in his humanity, he’s tired. He said, “We got to go to the other side of the lake for a little bit.” And he gets in that boat, and he lays down on a cushion, and he goes to sleep.

Jesus napped.

And then the storm came.

They’re in the boat. They’re out there trying to cross the lake, and suddenly the Bible says a great windstorm came on the Sea of Galilee, Lake Tiberias.

These happened.

The cold air rushing down from the mountains would collide with the warm air from the lake, and it would just be—boom—a thunderstorm come up out of nowhere.

If you’ve ever fished much on Oak Tibby—Oak Tibby Lake—let me pause here a second. I’m from there. Grew up there on the lake.

This is how people in Collinsville know if you’re from Collinsville or not. All right? If you’re from Collinsville, you say it right: Oak Tibby. Everybody else says Okat Tibby.

That’s how we know if you’re there from there or not.

And if you’ve ever fished on Oak Tib in July, August, you can be out there fishing and you can hear a thunder, and you can look and dark clouds can come rolling in on that lake. And I mean, they can happen.

It’s happened to me twice in my lifetime. One time I was really scared, where it seems like you’re about to drown on that little lake, and how quickly that storm...

That’s how it happened.

They’re out there on the Sea of Galilee, and they’ve got Jesus, and he’s asleep in the boat on a cushion, and he’s resting. And they’re just making their way across, and that storm comes rolling in with such intensity.

And the waves are crashing, and the wind is blowing, and the boat is rocking, and the rain coming down so hard that every drop is like a needle poking you in the head.

And all of a sudden, the boat starts filling with water.

It says it was about to be swamped. And undoubtedly, they don’t have a—they don’t have a pump in the boat. They got buckets, maybe. They’re bucketing out the water.

And suddenly, all of a sudden, somebody realizes, we’re not getting the water out of the boat faster than the water is getting into the boat.

And maybe it’s starting to—if you’ve ever been in a boat like that, where it starts filling with water and it starts sitting lower and lower in the water.

And have you ever been in a crowd when everybody realized something at the same time?

Where everybody looks at each other and everybody understands what’s happening at the same time?

These men, who were experienced fishermen, who were experienced sailors, they are now all terrified. They realize they’re about to drown.

And Jesus was asleep.

In the stern of the boat, it says, asleep on a cushion. He was so tired.

He’s sleeping through a hurricane.

Have you ever had a nap like that, where you were so tired and you got in the recliner—and don’t look at me like nobody else knows what I’m talking about—and you wake up and you don’t know if it’s evening or if it’s Tuesday morning and you’re in fourth grade about to miss the school bus?

You’re just lost to the world. You slept so hard.

His humanity.

Listen, Jesus is fully God, but Jesus is also fully man. He was worn out. He was sleeping through that storm.

And somebody says, “Will somebody wake up Jesus?”

And they wake him up.

And this phrase is so important. They say, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to die? That we’re going to drown?”

And it was raw.

It was honest, right?

That’s how people talk when they’re terrified in a storm. It’s raw. The emotion is there.

“Lord, don’t you see this? Lord, don’t you care? Lord, where are you?”

And Jesus wakes up, and Jesus stands up, and Jesus speaks up.

And he commands to the waves that are rolling over the side of the boat, the lightning in the sky, the thunder rolling in the chest.

And he just says to it all, “Peace, be still.”

And the wind stops, and the rain quits, and the clouds roll back, and the sun is shining in the sky once again.

That’s what the text says.

And it says, “And there was a great calm.”

A total calm. Not gradual, not partial. It was immediate.

That’s his divine authority.

And his disciples, “Who is this?”

I mean, they’re already following Jesus. But this—“Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him.”

And Jesus had calmed the storm.

Amen.

We catch our breath for a moment. Retell the story, but not just a great dramatic story. Sure, it is.

But let’s, number two, let’s remember the truths.

If you’re taking notes, this would be a good place.

Number one, we see that being with Jesus—truth number one—being with Jesus does not mean that there’s no storms.

Despite what some Christian influencers on social media—we used to say on TV, everybody’s on the—they don’t do that—the wealth and prosperity, despite what they tell you, there are storms in life.

The disciples were exactly where Jesus told them to be. The disciples could not get in proximity any closer to Jesus. They were literally in the boat with Jesus, and a storm came.

Folks, following Jesus does not, does not, does not mean that there will be no trouble.

Following Jesus does not mean there will be no sickness.

Following Jesus does not mean there will be no hardship or loss.

No, following Jesus means that when those things happen, that you don’t face them alone.

Storms in your life are not proof of disobedience. They are a part of life in this fallen world.

Jesus said, “In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, for I’ve overcome the world.”

Number two, Jesus understands our weakness.

Jesus was tired.

He had limits in his physical body. He was tired. The book of Hebrews says that he was tempted and tested like us in every way, and yet was without sin.

Jesus understands.

I don’t know who each one of these is for. I don’t have an insight into your life, but one of these is going to hit you square across the forehead like a 2x4.

Jesus understands your burnout.

Jesus understands your fatigue. The fatigue not of just muscles, but fatigue in your heart and your mind and your soul, the very core of your being where you feel like you’re about to break.

Jesus understands it.

The emotional strain that you may be under, he understands it.

The weariness.

The weariness of it seeming like your wheels are always spinning, but you just can’t move forward. The weariness that comes from that.

Jesus understands our weakness.

Folks, when you pray, when you tell it to Jesus—tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that’s well known.

When you pray, you are never talking to a Savior who doesn’t get it.

When you talk to Jesus, I’m telling you, he gets it.

Amen.

Number three, fear reveals what we really believe about God.

Listen again to the text.

The disciples, when they’ve all looked at each other and had that moment of realization, they say, “Don’t you care? Don’t you care, Lord, that we’re going to drown? Don’t you care?”

That’s the real issue.

The waves were not the real issue.

The wind was not the real issue.

The real issue was their doubt.

Their doubt.

The disciples had doubts.

Folks, in storms, we don’t lose our faith. In the storms, we reveal the faith we’ve really got.

In the storms, we reveal the genuiness, the authenticity of the faith.

You don’t lose your faith when the storms come. You reveal your faith.

When fear comes, fear asks, “God, can you handle this? God, can you really handle?”

That’s what they were saying. “Lord, don’t you care that we die?”

Fear says, “God, can you handle this?”

Faith says, “My God is bigger than this.”

Number four, Jesus is merciful.

Jesus is merciful.

Jesus will save.

He is merciful to crying saints. Oh, how I’ve experienced this this past week.

The psalmist said that—listen, somebody needs to hear this—the psalmist said that he sees all of our tears, and he stores them in a bottle, and he forgets not a single one.

When the disciples cry out, Jesus doesn’t say to them first, “Why did you wake me?”

What is—you got to get this.

Jesus, when they cry out, “Lord, don’t you care that we die?” Jesus does not begin by rebuking them, “Why’d you wake me up?”

No.

First, he saves them.

He saves them first, and then he corrects them.

Mercy first, correction second.

Mercy first, correction.

That’s our Savior.

He rescues before he rebukes.

Before he said, “Are you still doubting?” he says, “Peace, be still,” and calms the storm.

And that’s what we see.

Number five, Jesus has absolute authority.

Verse 41, and I love this, when the disciples say—they’re just in awe and amazement—“Who then is this that even wind and the sea obey him?”

Only God can control creation.

And Psalm 107 says that God calms the storms.

The disciples, in this moment, and for the first time, it’s like the light bulb came on. They realized this is no ordinary rabbi.

This is no just miracle worker who can make a sick person well or turn water to wine. This is not just a teacher.

This—this is the Son of God that can control the wind and the waves.

Get this.

Maybe write this down.

Jesus is human enough to need a nap, but God enough to command the oceans.

Amen.

Amen.

He has absolute authority.

Moving quickly, how do we respond?

Responding with faith.

Bring your fears to Jesus.

Now, the disciples, they did everything right, even with the wrong motives. They took their fears to Jesus.

But don’t run from Jesus when the storms come.

Run to Jesus when the storm comes.

Messy prayers are better than silent despair.

Can Jesus handle messy prayers?

Oh, yes.

Respond with faith. Bring your fears to Jesus.

Number two, trust his presence, even when he seemed silent.

Just because Jesus was asleep didn’t mean that he was absent.

Just because you don’t feel close to Jesus doesn’t mean he’s gone.

Just because you don’t feel that God is close to you doesn’t mean he’s left you.

He says, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

The boat didn’t sink, did it?

You know why the boat didn’t sink?

Because Jesus was in the boat.

That boat could not sink as long as Jesus was in it.

And neither can your life.

It may feel like it sometimes, but as long as Jesus is in your life, your life cannot sink.

Respond by letting the storms grow your faith.

Jesus asked them, “Why are you so afraid? How do you still no faith? Oh, you of little faith.”

Folks, the storms are classrooms.

The storms in life teach us dependence on God.

The storms in life teach us humility when we think we’re so high and mighty, and we think we’re so strong, and we think we’ve got it all together, and we think we’ve got it all under control, and we think we don’t need any help.

The storms come and teach us humility.

The storms teach us to trust God.

And the storms teach us to pray.

Storms are a classroom.

Faith that’s never been tested is going to be weak faith.

Faith that’s gone through the storms is a faith that’s strengthened.

Lastly, worship the one who commands the storm.

The disciples, when Jesus says, “Peace, be still,” and the storm has just miraculously calmed and disappeared, the disciples move—their attitude changes. Their outlook changes.

They change from panic, thinking they’re about to die, to awe and wonder.

“Who is this?”

Fear of the storms turns into reverence for the Savior.

That’s maturity.

That’s growing in your faith.

When your focus—say focus.

Focus.

When your focus shifts from your circumstances to your Savior, you’re growing in your faith.

When your focus shifts from what’s wrong to who he is.

Some of you are in a storm right now, maybe coming from multiple directions.

Some are about to head into a storm.

Sorry, I hate to tell you, but it’s true.

Some of you are just coming out of one.

But the same Jesus is still in your boat if you’re a Christian.

Whether the skies are like they are today, clear, blue, bright, and shiny, or if the clouds are dark and thunder on the horizon, Jesus is still in the boat.

Still sovereign.

Still powerful.

Still merciful.

And still saying, “Peace, be still.”

Not always to the storm.

Sometimes saying, “Peace, be still,” to your heart.

And when he speaks, it is enough.

Conclude this way. Same way every week.

Come to Jesus.

Come to Jesus with your fears, your despair.

Yes.

Come to Jesus with your sin and be forgiven and be saved.

That’s what our time of invitation is for.

Let us pray.