[Machine transcription]
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Dear Saints, the Lord Jesus is with the disciples and with us in the boat in the midst of the storm. But he’s asleep. And the disciples cry out, “Lord, don’t you care that we’re perishing?” Jesus never answers the question. But he does stand up in the middle of the boat and rebuke the wind and the waves. And now the storm is calm, like glass, the sea. And the disciples, rather than their fear going away, are in fact even more afraid, looking at Jesus saying, “Who is this? Even the waves, the wind, and the sea listen to him.”
So our text this morning, and we want to, I think I’d like to pull out three things, lift up three things from the text for you, for us this morning to consider. The power of Jesus, and prayer, and fear. Those are the three things: power, prayer, and fear.
First, this text is given to us to remind us that Jesus is powerful, that He is the one who speaks and the world is. In fact, there’s an echo of creation there. When in the beginning the Lord said, “let the waters be separated, sea from the sky and sea from the land,” the Lord spoke and it was, “let there be light” and there was light. And so now the same Lord who created all these things stands on the boat and says, “Be still,” and it’s immediately obedient to his word.
It’s still true. In fact, one of my favorite lines from one of Cary’s favorite hymns, “Be Still My Soul,” is this: the wind and waves still know the voice of him who ruled them while he dwelt below. The wind still knows what it means when Jesus says, “Be still.” The waves still know what it means when Jesus says, “Stop it.” The Lord can still bring an end to trouble with a word.
Jesus sits on the throne of God at the right hand of the Heavenly Father to rule and reign in all things and in all places and all of this for the sake of the church. Now this is good for us to know. We confess it every week in the Creed. We know that Jesus is powerful, that he’s omnipotent, that he controls all things and rules all things, but it’s good for us to remember because it’s easy to forget. We’re tempted to forget, I think.
We’re tempted to forget when we read the news that Jesus is in charge. We’re tempted to forget when we look outside. We’re tempted to forget when we get the bad news from the doctor. We’re tempted to forget when we get the call from our friend. We’re tempted to forget when things seem like they’re going wrong. We’re tempted to forget that Jesus is the one who rules the winds and the waves and all of the troubles.
So we need to be reminded of the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and to remember that he is the one who works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. In other words, not only is Jesus in charge, he’s in charge for you. He’s in charge to bless you, his people, and we who are part of his church. So we rejoice in the power of Jesus.
The second thing that I want to lift up from the text is prayer, and especially this: that when Jesus is there on the boat in the midst of the storm and the waves are filling the boat, in fact, the way that Mark, I don’t know if you caught it, the way that Mark says it, he switches to the present tense and says, “the waves were already filling the boat.” It’s like he’s almost there. He wants you to feel the panic of the disciples, and they’re looking around and they’re bailing the water and they’re trying to get to shore. They probably lashed the sail. They’re doing everything they can.
And these fishermen knew the sea, but this was a tricky sea. The Sea of Galilee was shallow; it was in a valley. When the winds came up, it would really kick up, but this seems like almost a supernaturally dangerous storm, and they’re looking around and trying to figure out what’s going on and what’s Jesus doing, and they find Him asleep. And so they go and they wake Him up. This is, I think, for us to remember that the Lord would have us to wake Him up with our prayers, to cry out to Him so that He would hear us and wake up and stand and do something.
I was thinking about it this week. I just pulled a few verses of the Psalms where this theme comes up, that we awaken God with our prayers. Here’s a few verses: Psalm 3, verse 7. “Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for you strike all my enemies on the cheek. You break the teeth of the wicked.” Psalm 7, verse 6. “Arise, O Lord, in your anger. Lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies, awake for me. You have appointed a judgment.” Psalm 9:19, “Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail. Let the nations be judged before you.” Psalm 10:12, “Arise, O Lord, O God, lift up your hand, forget not the afflicted.” Psalm 17:13, “Arise, O Lord, confront him, subdue him, deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword.” Psalm 74:22, “Arise, O God, defend your cause.” Psalm 82, verse 8. “Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all the nations.” Psalm 132, verse 8. “Arise, O Lord, go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.” This prayer that we would cry out to the Lord. Arise, Lord. Awake, Lord. Help us. Stand up. Do something.
For we are helpless, and this is the point: we’re helpless. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot rescue ourselves. We cannot fix the problem on our own, so we go with our prayers, “Lord, wake up.” Now I do not know, I think we just take the Scriptures literally when it tells us that Jesus was asleep on the cushion. I just can’t help but think that Jesus was asleep like this. Now that this is… and this is the point that He’s waiting for them to come and wake Him up.
He knows all things. He can do all things. And this is… and He’s waiting for them to say something to Him. They’re trying to fix it on their own. And this is the point: for us, the Lord will often… I mean, when you read the Scriptures, this is the Lord’s pattern. He brings us to the end of ourselves so that we finally, seemingly as a last resort, pray. And He wakes up and solves the problem and rebukes our little faith.
So let us learn this. Oh, that God the Holy Spirit would in each one of us teach us to pray, to cry out, “Lord, arise, Lord, awake, Lord, come and help me, come and help us.” The situation seems desperate and we need you now, so come and deliver us, come and help us. May the Holy Spirit teach it to us.
So, power in prayer. The last point is, and this is maybe the main thing I want to dwell on, is fear. I want you to notice how the disciples go from fear to great fear. They don’t go from fear to comfort, but their fear is transferred. When the waves were crashing over the boat, they were afraid. They were afraid of the storm. They were afraid that the boat was sinking. They were afraid that they were going to die.
But then Jesus wakes up and stands up and rebukes the ocean, and it’s calm and smooth. And then it said, “the disciples were filled with great fear,” more fear for Jesus than for the storm. And they said, “Who is this that even the wind and the sea listened to him?” And that, I think, is the point. Jesus, by that miracle, that night on the sea, was claiming the fear of the disciples, and He wants to claim your fear too.
Now part of our Christian life is being a good and faithful steward of our fear and to recognize that the one who deserves our fear is God and God alone. That’s the first commandment. Remember? You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
Now I used to think – I’ve told you guys this before – I think for 25 years I had this wrong, the first commandment. It took me 25 years to get here. I wonder if in 25 more years that I can preach on the second commandment. But I used to – here’s how I used to think about it. I used to think that here we are and there God is, and the thing that should happen between us and God is fear and love and trust.
In other words, the commandment was telling us how we should be towards God. Now, I actually don’t think that’s how it is at all. This is the idea. When Luther says that we fear, love, and trust in God, it’s like this. Your heart is a fearing heart and a loving heart and a trusting heart. In other words, you’re already fearing and loving and trusting. The question is what or who?
It’s like, here’s a catechism retreat illustration, I was thinking about it this week, so we were there all in the mountains, so you’ve got to picture, can you picture a boy with a pocket knife? And that pocket knife has a blade and an awl and tweezers. And that boy is going to use the pocket knife, he’s going to cut and poke and pinch. The question is, what? What is he going to cut? What’s he going to poke? What’s he going to pinch? The back of the seat in front of him in the car? The wall in his room? His sister?
So I, as dad, give a stick to the boy and I say, “Cut and poke and pinch this.” And when I do that, I’m saying, “Don’t cut anything else. Don’t poke anything else. Don’t pinch anything else. All your knife, your cutting and poking and pinching belongs on this stick.” Well, that’s what’s happening with the fear of God in the first commandment. When the Lord says, “You shall have no other gods,” what He’s saying is all that activity of your heart, all of that fearing, all of that trusting, and all of that loving belongs to God.
And all of your fear belongs to God, and your love and your trust above everything else belongs to God, that you are already fearing something, and loving something, and trusting something, and the commandment says that all of that belongs to Jesus.
So that Jesus, in that night on the boat, is saying to the disciples, “Whatever it is that you’re afraid of – the waves, sinking, dying – whatever it is that you’re afraid of, you should not fear that. You should instead fear me.” Now, this is a test for us. If you’re fearing things, I am too. And that question, “What are you afraid of?” is I think the quickest way to see what are your false gods. Who are your idols? What are you worshiping aside from the Lord?
And to know this with clarity, that Jesus has not authorized you to fear anything else but Him. But we say, “Lord, there’s a lot of scary things out there.” There is, for example, death, the grave, Sheol, who’s never satisfied, who’s just devouring one after another after another. From the beginning into the end, it seems like we should be afraid to die. And Jesus says, “No, I have not authorized it. You are not given permission by Jesus to be afraid of death. In fact, Jesus says, I’ve destroyed death already, three days is all it took, boom, and done. And now I come to you and I give you the gift of death as the way to eternal life. You are not authorized to be afraid to die.”
What about the devil? We say, “What about the devil? He’s scary. He prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he can devour. He’s always tempting us and troubling us and threatening us. It seems like we should be afraid of the devil.” Jesus says, “No, I’ve made a public spectacle of him, triumphing over him in the cross. For this reason the Son of God was manifest, to destroy the works of the devil. You are, in fact, James tells us, amazingly, resist the devil and he will flee from you. You’re not authorized to fear the devil.”
What about sickness? Jesus heals all our diseases. What about the waves? Jesus calms them. What about mockery? Jesus is with us in the midst of shame. What about rejection and loneliness and whatever it is that our fear is drawn to? Are we allowed to be afraid of that? Jesus today says, “No, do not fear.”
You’re the one who takes away life, who can destroy your life, but the one who can take your life and soul in judgment. You are authorized to fear God alone. Now that’s what the Lord Jesus is doing with the disciples on the boat, and it’s what He’s doing with us today when He calms the storm. He’s saying to you and to me that our fear belongs to Him. And whatever else we’re afraid of, whatever else we fear above Him or next to Him or even beside Him, this is a call to repentance of that idolatry.
To fear the Lord and to fear Him alone. And when finally and at last we fear the Lord, we fear the Lord Jesus who says to the winds, “Be still.” When we give our fear to Him, He says to you and to me, “Do not be afraid. I am nothing to fear. I come not in judgment but in peace. I come not to condemn the world, but to save the world. I come not in wrath, but with forgiveness. I’m here not because I’m angry with you, but because I love you, and I’ve suffered and died for you so that you can be with me forever, and live forever in my presence, and in the new heaven and in the new earth, that I have all of this for you.”
When at last, you see how it goes, when at last our fear of everything else is taken away, and there’s just fear for Jesus, Jesus says, “Fear not.” And there is no more fear left. Perfect love casts out fear. So we, like the disciples in the boat, have a great fear for Jesus, and he says to us all as well, “I love you. Your sins are forgiven. Heaven is open. Your life is eternal. My wrath is spent, and you will be with me forever.”
So may God grant it. May God, the Holy Spirit, grant this great gift, this transfer of fear, like the from the waves to the Lord, so may He grant us that fear today, so that we would fear the Lord and rejoice in His great gifts. May God grant it for Christ’s sake. Amen. The wind and waves still know the voice of Him who ruled them while He dwelt below. Amen.
