I. He Has Never Failed You 00:09
…word this morning. I pray that you would help us to give our troubles, the storms of our life, to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I just wanted to start… It felt like this whole service, through the worship, the collect, and the readings, God just put on my heart a word that goes right with the sermon, but I need to say it now: he has never failed you. He has never failed you.
Now, the reason why I say it that way is because all of us have places in our life, places of pain, places of difficulty, places where maybe we took offense at God, or we thought, “Well, I can trust him now, but where was he then?” And what I felt like God was encouraging me to say is: bring those things to him. He has something to say about it. I know in my life I had several moments where I had to go to God and confess how angry I was at him: “God, where were you?” But we read in our collect, he never fails to help. We just sang, “His love never fails.”
So wherever that place is, that place of pain, that place of hurt, if you don’t bring it to God (look for where Jesus showed up, look for his grace, ask him about it), it will be the thing that robs you of your faith when the storm comes, because you will have a deep-seated mistrust. It’s like a dog who had an abusive relationship with its owner, and it gets adopted by a new owner, but it always has difficulty with trust because it was abused. We can actually view God that way. What an awful way to view the loving Creator, the Father who never fails you. But the pain in our life, the difficulties in our life, can so easily be laid at his feet. And so today I just want to invite you, as we talk through this story, to not let those things poison your view of the good Father, the one who loves you.
And so that’s just an invitation to keep in mind. Because as we look at these disciples, what were they doing in this story that we just read for our Gospel? They were talking about God as though he was going to fail them. In fact, Jesus was asleep during this. In a way, justifiably so, we can think, “Man, God, where are you?” He was asleep. So we’re going to dive into that.
II. Three Paintings 02:33
And I just wanted to start by bringing up a couple of ways this has been painted in the past. So we’re going to look at three images here, and each of them kind of pulls out some of the drama of what’s going on.
This one might be my favorite, because I love the shirtless guy in the middle who looks like he’s like, “Oh, everything is falling apart!” And the artist didn’t do a particularly good job of making the storm look that bad. They look okay, and they’re all freaking out like a Shakespearean tragedy: “What is happening?” And then you’ve got Jesus, who looks like… I don’t know what he looks like, but he’s sleeping, and he’s very contented, and he’s very beatific. You’ve got the shining halo. Imagine if that’s what the disciples actually saw: Jesus is lying there, and there’s just a shining halo, and the light is bathing his face. There’s something about this art… I know it’s communicating something, but it kind of misses the point, in my mind.
So let’s go to the next image here. Okay, so we’ve got our classic icon, our iconographic rendition. And there’s so much… We’ve been doing these great icon studies with our catechism class and our young adult home group. There’s so much in the icon to pull out about what’s happening here. But I’m just really confused why there are two Jesuses. This is the part that really gets me. There’s the one standing up, and there’s the one sleeping. So I think what they’re trying to communicate is that God’s in control no matter what it looks like. But I mean, come on.
Let’s move to one that I think really does capture the emotion of the story. Let’s go to the next one here. There you go. That’s a painting I like. I mean, there are some clear skies somewhere in there; there’s some light coming in. But you see the darkness and the contrast and the drama. In fact, I pulled this one up so you could zoom in a little closer (it’s hard with these screens), but you see all these people, and Jesus is there, and they’ve just woken him up, and he’s looking at them with this face like, “I was having a good nap. What are you doing?”
And I love that, because that feels real to me. I know I’ve been woken up by my [kids] in the middle of the night, and they just had a nightmare or something, and they wake me up, and they basically ask me, “Do you not care that I’m perishing?” And they have this offense: “Why are you sleeping?” It’s like, “I’m sorry. Well, let’s get you back to bed. I’ll pray for you; you’ll be fine.” But you can see in this (this is Rembrandt) some really beautiful imagery. But I mean, those look like some serious waves for that little boat up there.
And so we’re going to keep those images in mind as we go through the Scripture, because I don’t want to lose, as we talk about the storms of our life, the reality that Jesus and his disciples were actually going to die. It’s not a joke in the story when they say, “Don’t you care that we’re perishing?” They were facing deadly peril in this moment. So let’s just keep that in mind as we talk through these things.
III. Let Us Go Across to the Other Side 05:23
Mark 4:35. It says:
35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” Mark 4.35
So Jesus has been preaching about the Gospel. They joined up with Jesus. And I’m just going to make one comment, especially if you read the book of Mark: you get this sense that they didn’t rest a lot in those three years when Jesus was on earth. Mark’s always saying “immediately,” “on that day,” “right then.” And you can kind of hear the communication. We think Mark is probably telling Peter’s story; that’s really where Mark’s getting this, as a firsthand account from Peter. You can hear this sense that when Jesus was there, it was time to work.
And I just want to remind us, in this building Jesus has been meeting us Sunday after Sunday. The presence of God is with us. If you were at the wedding on Friday, what a beautiful wedding. Chrissy and Ian joined together forever. God was there. The anointing on this church has been such a blessing. And so I want to remind you that when Jesus shows up, it’s time to work. What can we do to spread the kingdom? How can we reach out to one another, to those around us, and build the kingdom that God’s building right here at this church?
And so they’re moving, and Jesus is like, “Okay, you’ve just been working all day long. I want you to sail me across. I’m going to take a nap.” There might have even been a little resentment there. These are fishermen. This is the trade; it’s work. They know that the Sea of Galilee is prone to these storms, especially at night. They’ve been working with Jesus all day long, and he goes, “Okay, now rig up the boat.” And guess what, guys? It didn’t have a motor. They had to sail it across the Sea of Galilee. That’s a lot of work. They’ve got jibs and rigging, they’ve got stuff. I don’t know what they do, but they do things, and they get across the water.
And so you can see they’re tired. They’ve been ministering all day, and Jesus said, “No, we’re not done yet. Get me over there.” So imagine their attitude as you’re leaving and you encounter a storm: “I could have told Jesus that a storm would be out there today.” That’s probably what they thought. “I’ve sailed the Sea of Galilee. I know how this… I could have warned him. If he would have just listened to me, we wouldn’t be in this situation.” You can feel the resentment that could be building up in there. So first of all, they respond with obedience. But I have a feeling there might have been a little bit of reluctant obedience going on: “Okay, fine, I’ll do it.”
IV. Get in the Boat 08:33
And we see in verse 36:
36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. Mark 4.36
Something interesting: you don’t hear about those other boats anymore after this. Where’d they go? Well, I suspect that, like we see in the modern day, there were a lot of people who were trying to follow Jesus but weren’t ready to get in the boat with him. There are a lot of people who wanted to follow the ideas that Jesus was talking about without trusting the person of Jesus. I’m making a little bit of an allegory here, a little bit of a stretch. But I know that I’ve been looking around in our culture, and there are a lot of people who are starting to understand the ideas of Jesus but want to hold the church at arm’s length.
Let me give you a secret. Anytime in the Gospels you see the disciples and Jesus in a boat, it represents the church. That’s been well taught, well interpreted. In fact, it’s the reason why churches have this structure, with the ribs going across. That represents the underside of a boat. It’s actually intentionally meant to give you this idea of Noah’s ark and the disciples in the boat. And what does Jesus make them? He makes the disciples fishers of men (Mark 1.17). Because what are they supposed to do? They’re supposed to get the fish that are in the chaos of the world and bring them into the church. That’s the whole imagery that’s going on here.
And there are a lot of people following Jesus but not willing to engage with the church. They’re not willing to get on the boat. And guess what? They don’t get through the storm, or they turn back the minute it gets rough. We need each other. We need the church. I wouldn’t be a Christian if it wasn’t for this church. This church is what has introduced me to Christ and his teaching and has supported me day in and day out through the storms of this life.
So you look at people like Russell Brand, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Mikhaila Peterson. These are famous figures in the podcasting, YouTubing, influential world, and they talk about getting baptized. For years they talk about the ideas of Jesus, but then they entered the church, and they say there’s something different: God is there. In fact, Mikhaila said it this way: she said it was like she was being a Christian without knowing Jesus, and it made all the difference. And so, all of that to say, there are images in this text that are rich and good. And if you’re feeling like you’re on the outskirts, get in the boat. Jesus is there.
V. Three Reasons for Storms 10:40
Okay, verse 37:
37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. Mark 4.37
The minute you decide to do what Jesus asked you to do, the minute you embark (get it? It means get on the boat; “bark,” if you didn’t know), the minute you do that, the storm comes.
Now, there are three reasons for storms in our life. The first one is pretty obvious: you’re running from God. You’re trying to do it your own way, and you experience the consequence of your actions. You can drum up some serious storms in your life that way.
Think about it this way. With my kids, there are a couple of different ways they can encounter storms. First of all, if they disrespect their mom (that’s a big one), I get to be the storm in that context, turning them back to the way of life and peace. I get to bring the storm into their life to discipline them. And just like that, our good Father does that. He brings storms into our life to bring us back on his path, the way of life everlasting.
But you know, there are other times, like when I tell them not to touch the pot on the stove, and they touch the pot on the stove, and their hand is burned. They’ve encountered a storm, a storm of pain. I would never bring that storm into their life. I would never take a hot pan from the stove and burn their hands to teach them a lesson. But the consequence of their sin, of their rejection of their father, is that they encounter the storm in the world.
I want you to know that there’s a difference. There’s the discipline of God, the loving hand of your Father, and then there’s the consequence of your actions in the world. And let’s not act as though God brought about the death of a loved one to punish you. That’s not the God we serve. Yes, absolutely: in that moment, what do I do with my kid? I comfort him. I look for his healing. (I mainly focus on the boys; the girls seem to be a little smarter about that stuff.) But either way, I’m comforting them. I’m trying to restore them. But you know, I’m going to teach them too. I’m going to use that opportunity to teach them about never touching hot things, about hearing the voice of their father, absolutely.
And in the same way, when you encounter the consequences of sin and brokenness in the world, God will use that to teach you. But let’s not call evil God’s good. Let’s not say that somehow God made these things happen to you. You need to recognize both the loving hand of discipline and the consequence of a broken and fallen world. But you know what you do in both cases? You turn to Jesus, so he can calm your storm. The solution is the same: turn to Jesus. He will calm your storm. He will bring healing and life.
Now, there’s a second type of storm, and this one’s the one that you should all prepare for: the type of storm that comes when you do what God tells you to do. This is the storm the disciples are in. They went where God told them, and there’s opposition that came. There’s a storm that was drummed up. Did you know that they could have turned around? Now, granted, of course there are unexpected things that happen sometimes. But let’s comment on the faithfulness of the disciples, who are riding into the storm because they trusted Jesus. But they only trusted him until they thought they were going to die. Their trust only went so far.
And in our lives it’s like that. We encounter opposition to what God has told us to do. Maybe you take a job, and it’s awful, and you’re like, “God, didn’t you tell me to do this?” And he’s like, “Yep.” And you’re like, “But why?” And he goes, “Trust me.” And we go, “I don’t want to.” In our hearts, that’s our response. But he’s doing something in that. He’s going to bring us through it. And even if you look at this, it’s actually the same solution. Same solution as the discipline storm, the consequences-of-sin storm: following Jesus, you hit that storm, you also turn to Jesus. I don’t know if you guys have done Bible school, but what’s the answer? Jesus, always. The answer to the storms in our life is Jesus, regardless.
Now, the third type of storm is called random difficulty. And we make so much out of random difficulty. It’s like, “I spilled my coffee. Why doesn’t God love me?” It’s like, okay, let’s calibrate ourselves a little bit. Sometimes bad things just happen, partially because we live in a fallen world. Or maybe you stubbed your toe. I honestly think even in the garden Adam might have stubbed his toe and felt pain. I don’t know. But it’s like an eternal type of pain, you know what I mean? And so you encounter things in the world that sometimes just happen. It says God rains on the just and the unjust alike (Matt 5.45), and apparently it storms on the just and the unjust alike.
Now, I say that… and why am I even teasing out all of this, if the answer is always Jesus? But we have to keep our hearts pure towards God. If you take offense at something that God didn’t do, then you’re double the fool. Because, first of all, don’t take offense at God; everything he does is for your benefit. Second of all, he didn’t even do that. So keep in mind, you’re going to encounter storms. It’s sometimes helpful to decide whether it’s discipline or the consequences of sin, where you need to change; whether it’s just something you’ve got to go through, and turn to Jesus, and he’ll bring you through it; or whether this is just something that happens in the world, and just call on help from Jesus again to help you through it.
VI. Asleep on the Cushion 17:20
Okay, let’s keep going. So what happens here, in verse 38?
38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Mark 4.38
I love that he was on a pillow. He had gotten comfy. And in this moment they awoke him and said to him, “Jesus, do you not care that we are perishing?” I mean, the most sarcasm you’ve ever heard: “Jesus, why don’t you care? We’re dying!”
I mean, first of all, the competency at sleep that Jesus has. I can’t take a nap during the day, because I hear the kids and I’m like, “Oh!” Jesus is like, “Storm? I’m good.” I do think there is a lesson there. I want to be like Jesus in this story. Jesus has so much peace that he can sleep in the middle of his storm.
But now the disciples: “Do you not care that we are perishing?” That’s where I think this whole trust thing really is tested, because Jesus rebukes them for this. They go to the right guy. They ask Jesus for help when they’re facing the storm. But the way they ask him shows no faith: “We’re dying! Why don’t you care?” That’s why I think we have to keep our hearts pure towards God. We’ve got to keep that relationship open, so that even when the storms come, we go to God and say, “Please help,” not “What the heck are you doing?”
But I will say, no matter what you bring to Jesus, if you go to him for help, he helps you. He doesn’t say, “Because you had no faith, you die.” He doesn’t. He saves them. He rescues them, and then he tries to teach them. That’s how good our God is. Even if you’re angry, just go to him. Even if you’re sad, go to him. Whatever you bring to him, he will accept, purify, transform. That’s what he does when you go to him. So when they come to him, he saves them.
VII. Christ Asleep in You 18:28
Now, there’s one classic interpretation of this passage, and Augustine kind of brings it out. He says: why are we on the verge of shipwreck in our life? The winds are going, the storm… Why are we on the verge? And he’s really talking about the heart, because ultimately, no matter what happens to you, your heart is what the Lord is after. And he says, why are we on the verge of shipwreck?
“Because Christ is asleep in you. What do I mean? I mean you have forgotten his presence. Rouse him, then; remember him, let him keep watch within you, pay heed to him.… A temptation arises: it is the wind. It disturbs you: it is the surging of the sea. This is the moment to awaken Christ and let him remind you of those words: ‘Who can this be? Even the winds and the sea obey him.’”
Now, I wanted to pull that interpretation out because I think we often think about this story as though Jesus sleeping is kind of just an accident that happens, and they should have had faith, and if they had had faith, then Peter could have said to the winds and the waves, “Be still,” and they would have been still. I actually don’t think that’s the case. I think Jesus wanted them to learn that he was the creator of all things. I think Jesus wanted them to learn that he would save them. And I think Jesus wanted them to trust him.
But when you take this and you kind of extract it into this allegorical reading, it has this power to apply to our lives. Are you letting Jesus sleep in your boat during a storm? Are you just trying to solve it yourself? I can imagine the disciples. They know a lot about boats (I don’t, so I’m not going to even try), but they’re like, “Fix the thing, and do that other thing, and we’re going to do this, and we’re going to solve all the problems of this storm.” And then the boat almost sinks, and they’re finally like, “Okay, wake him up. All right, you’ve got to do it.” You know what I mean? They tried to do it themselves. He’s like, “If you had faith, not only would you know I could save you, you would have woken me up when the trouble came.”
They thought what Jesus wanted was for them to be the best fishermen in all the land. And what Jesus wanted was for them to be his sons, who trusted him, who followed him, who looked to him for salvation.
VIII. Peace! Be Still! 21:39
And so when they finally wake him up (“Jesus, we’re dying!”), he calms the seas. And what does he say? Here we go:
39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4.39
Maybe you need to write that on your mirror or something at your house. I know I forget this. But that power: “Peace! Be still!” You think that you know how to get out of your problems. At least I do. I can map the journey: “If I could just do this and that, and this and that, then I can make it to the promised land.” And all it takes is for Jesus to come out and say, “Peace! Be still!” and I’m there. That’s incredible.
Let’s look to Jesus for our salvation. He has the authority in our life. I have a whole thing about authority that we’re not going to be able to get to today, because it’s hot and it’s been long enough. But there is nothing in your life that Jesus cannot handle. So stop trying to do it by yourself, and wake up Jesus in your life to help you.
IX. Jesus Was Asleep in My Boat 22:47
I just have one more thing to say, and we’ll close. First of all, of course, they’re shocked. They’re like, “Who could possibly command the wind and the sea?” (Mark 4.41) They’re starting to understand that they’re encountering God in the flesh. The one who created the wind and the sea can command the wind and the sea, and we need to remember that.
But this morning I was getting gas, and I took my son Rowan to go to the bathroom at a Starbucks. I’m going to end on this story. He goes in there, and he’s six years old, and he’s just doing really good at going to the bathroom. But people are starting to queue up. There’s only one bathroom there. So I’m knocking on the door: “Rowan, are you done?” He’s like, “I’m washing my hands.” I’m like, “Great.” Then I hear a bunch of garbled nonsense, and I’m like, “Rowan, just open the door.” He comes to the door, and he’s like, “Actually, I went number one; I’ve got to go number two.” And I’m looking at the people behind me, and I’m like, “Oh gosh. Okay, go, go, go.” It’s way better that you do that now than that whatever else could happen happens.
And so I’m standing there, and I went to go get my wife’s drink, and I come back, and there’s a queue, and this guy’s like, “He needs to hurry up.” And I lost it. I was so mad at this guy. Because my son is doing so good. I’m so proud of him for telling me he needed to go to the bathroom. It’s a good moment. He’s doing everything right. And this guy’s giving me a hard time, and I just got so mad at him: “My son’s in there!” And he’s like, “What’s your problem?” And then he walks away. And then this other woman comes from her table around the corner, like two minutes later, and it’s like, “What’s taking that guy so long in there?” And I was so mad.
Let me tell you, Jesus was asleep in my boat. I was not calling on the grace of God to deal with these wonderful people at Starbucks. And I was just so embarrassed after it all happened. I basically told her, “My son’s in there. He’s six years old.” And she goes, “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” But I was so mad. And so, all of this to say, it just has not left my mind since then. I’m like, how much better could I have been in that situation?
Don’t let Jesus fall asleep in your boat. You don’t know when the storm’s coming. You don’t know where it’s going to go. But I shipwrecked my heart that morning. I lost it on some random people who just needed to go to the bathroom. They didn’t know who was in there. What is the point? And then what if they walk in on Sunday morning, and I’m sitting here preaching to them, and they go, “What a jerk,” and then they just walk right back out the door? “Who wants to hear that guy preach? He chewed me out in a Starbucks because I had to go to the bathroom.” It just is so silly. And so don’t let Jesus go to sleep in your boat. Bring him with you everywhere. He’s on your side, and there’s nothing that you can encounter in this world that he cannot bring peace to. Amen.