Matthew 8:23-27
Psalm 107:23-32
A storm of grace
When I went to visit my folks in England last year, I flew from Sydney to Singapore and then from Singapore onto Manchester. A lovely 24-hour journey!
It was just a quick two hour stop-over in Singapore.
I remember just making my connecting flight at Singapore just in time, as I navigated my way around the huge airport.
And as I eventually flopped into the seat, the back seat of the air craft, we took off and soon after we hit a storm.
It seemed a bad storm.
It was one of those where the crew were told to sit down and fasten their seat belts.
And as the storm went on, the plane started to shake more and more, so much so, that the person sitting next to me, shouted “I don’t want to die”.
And at that point, when either people were deadly quiet in fear, or grabbing on to their loved ones, the plane plummeted 100 feet in the air. Cups and trolleys went up in the air.
I wish I could tell you that I was as clam as a cucumber, but I wasn’t.
I must confess, at that point, I was fearful.
I was thinking this could be it- I got my mobile phone out and started to text one last message to Kari.
And then as I tried to get my fingers on the buttons of my phone, the plane stopped dropping and the pilot seemed to gain a bit of control.
I never sent the text, but I did say a prayer, I prayed Lord, if you have got more for me to do on earth, let me live.
And as the plane eventually came out of the storm and we hit calmer weather, I remember praying many prayers of thanks.
But I must confess, for that moment, during the eye of the storm, I was scared.
Before the storm and after the storm, I could talk a good talk, I could say I know where I am going if I die, I could say I know that Jesus is with me now and always, but in that moment, in the eye of the storm, even though I knew those truths, I was still scared.
Now I could beat myself for not remaining calm in that situation, for a moment wavering in my faith perhaps, or I can take comfort from this passage before us today.
I could take comfort knowing that the disciples of Jesus, also became scared when they were in the eye of a storm……and they had Jesus, the man, the physical Jesus right there with them, right there in the boat, not just in Spirit, like we have today, but in person.
I can, we can take comfort, that these mighty men of faith, who were martyred for their faith in Jesus, also had moments of fear, had moments of doubt, and yet Jesus brought them through it.
It is comforting to know, that when the storms of life hit us, it doesn’t depend on the amount of faith that we have, but it totally depends on whom we put our faith in, not matter how big or small that faith is.
When storms of life hit us, it is important for us to remember that Jesus is holding us, as we hold on to him.
When the disciples became fearful that day, they turned to the only person that could have saved them, they turned to Jesus.
Friends, whether you have been a follower of Jesus for 20 years, 6 months or not a follower at all, we all need to be constantly turning to Jesus in all situations, whether in stormy days or sunny days.
Look at verses 23 and 24 with me:
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.
And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea,
so that the boat was being swamped by the waves;
but he (Jesus) was asleep.
Matthew starts this little story by telling us that his disciples, - probably the 12 in this case, followed Jesus onto the boat to go to the other side of the sea of Galilee.
Now if you remember from the previous passage, a scribe approached Jesus and had boldly claimed that he would follow Jesus where ever he went. In response, Jesus had told him that following him was no stroll in the park. Jesus had told the scribe, that if he really wanted to be a follower of Jesus then he would have to hold to worldly possessions very loosely, even what some people would consider a necessity, such as a house would have to be held loosely if he wanted to follow Jesus.
And so now, Matthew illustrates this point even further, he literally shows that following Jesus isn’t a walk in the park, but following Jesus can often mean walking into a storm, because as the disciples and Jesus got on the boat, a storm arose.
And we know that this was a really bad storm, the boat was being swamped by waves, it was so bad that even experienced fishermen like Peter and James and John were afraid, they thought the storm was so bad that the boat was going to sink.
Jesus had told his disciples to follow him -they did…… and moments later they were in the eye of a storm.
If they would have never followed Jesus that day onto the boat, they would have been safe on the shore, they would have been comfortable, but because they followed Jesus, they entered into the eye of a storm.
Friends, as followers of Jesus, one thing that we are promised by Jesus Himself is persecution. If we follow Jesus: we can be guaranteed a storm of some sought in this life.
It doesn’t mean we deliberately look for persecution, but if we are truly following Jesus: persecution will come, storms will come.
Listen to what the apostle Paul tells the followers of Jesus in 2 Timothy 3:12
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
Now I am not saying this, because I like the victim mentality, I think there is far too much victim mentality today, but I am saying this, because if you are here today and considering being a follower of Jesus, I want to give you the full picture. I want you to know what you would be signing up for.
Jesus tells us in Luke chapter 14, that if you truly want to be a follower of Jesus, you must know the whole picture. Jesus compares it to a builder needing to know if he has enough materials before he builds it, or a king deciding to go to war, knowing he has enough troops or not.
Friend, being a follower of Jesus means you will suffer persecution.
And why?
Because as a follower of Jesus, you start living against the tide of this world.
And often being a follower of Jesus means that Jesus won’t remove all the storms in your life, although sometimes he will, but being a follower of Jesus means he is right there with you in the storm.
And knowing that Jesus is with you in the storm, is far better than being comfortable on the shore without Jesus.
And sometimes, just like Jesus did that day with his disciples, he deliberately leads us through storms, so that we would trust and rely upon him.
Look at the disciple’s response to the storm in verse 25
5 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”
When the storm hit, the disciples turned to Jesus.
Peter and the others didn’t try and use their experienced boating skills to save themselves, they didn’t come up with a plan, they just turned desperately to Jesus.
“Save us Lord, we are perishing”
Friends, sometimes God will send storms in our lives, to remind us, that we cannot save ourselves, we need to be reminded that we desperately need Jesus to save us from our sins.
Sometimes, we subconsciously rest on or loreals, we rest in the money we have given to charity, we rest in the sermons we have preached, we rest in the people we have brought to know Jesus, we rest thinking we are good enough in ourselves to make it to heaven. We think we have done enough.
And then God in his grace, send us a storm to remind us, that we are in fact weak, He sends us a storm to remind us, that we are not gods, but there is only one God and He is Jesus.
Christopher Ash wrote a great little book called “Zeal without burn out”, and in it he mentions that at times God gives us little pricks of grace to remind us that we are not god, and that we need to constantly lean on Jesus. He uses the example that one day, we can feel on top of the world and ready to take on anything, and then just after one night of bad sleep, just one night …….. it can all feel very different the next day- it can all fall apart.
By the way, don’t you just love it, that while the disciples were running around like headless chickens in panic, Jesus was just sleeping in the stern on his pillow.
Whether Jesus was just exhausted after another day of healing, teaching and discipling, or whether he was just a deep sleeper, like my daughter Hannah, who would sleep through an earthquake, we don’t know, but we do know that Jesus was at peace, while the others where panicking.
In the middle of the storm, Jesus was at peace.
Oh Lord, let us be more and more like Jesus.
And as Jesus was woken up by his disciples, have a look at what he said and did.
Look at verse 26
And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”
Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Jesus awoke and he actually wasn’t that comforting to his disciples with what he said, there was no pep talk, of “poor you, it will be alright, we all get scared at times”….none of that- He just rebuked his disciples instead- A bit of tough love!
Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?
The disciples had fixed their eyes so much on the storm rather than Jesus, that they were afraid. They were so overwhelmed with the reality that the waves were swamping the boat that they were afraid- they had taken their eyes off Jesus- the one who had power over the wind and the waves.
Friends, when we take our eyes off Jesus, we can easily become scared of the storms that we are in. We see the reality of the storm and forget that Jesus is the one who controls the storm.
As the apostle Paul reminds us again and again, we are a people who live by faith and not by sight.
This is why Jesus rebuked his disciples, they feared the storm more than they feared Jesus.
In Mark’s account of this same story, Mark tells us that when Jesus eventually calmed the storm, the disciples fear for the storm was replaced for a fear of Jesus. Not just amazement, as Matthew said, but they were fearful of Jesus, after they had seen him calm the storm.
In Proverbs 1:7 it tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Perhaps today, we have domesticated God so much, that we simply do not have a rightful fear of him, ----Jesus has the power to calm a storm with just a word, if we truly had a healthy fear of Jesus, it would put all our other fears into perspective.
That fear of the plane dropping from the sky is put into perspective, knowing that Jesus could carry that plane in his hands if he wanted, he could stop the storm at any time.
The fear of that government doing wrong after wrong, is put into perspective knowing that Jesus is the sovereign over all the governments of the world, it is Jesus that we need a healthy fear of, which puts all other fears into perspective.
And one thing that Matthew leaves us in no doubt with at the end of this story, is that Jesus is the God, the one true living God whom we should fear.
What sort of man is this (his disciples asked) that even winds and sea obey him?
And the answer.
This man Jesus is God himself.
In Psalm 89:1 it says this about God
You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.
In Psalm 107:25 it says this about God
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.
In Psalm 107:29 it says this about God
He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.
As Jesus spoke to the wind and waves that day and said “peace be still”- He was again showing his disciples that he indeed was and is God.
Friends, I don’t know what storms you may be going through today, this week, this year, and I cannot promise you that Jesus will take you out of those storms, I can promise you this though, if you follow Jesus, if you trust in Jesus, if you believe that Jesus truly is the son of God, who paid for all your sins, you too can have peace, peace in the eye of that storm.
Friends, no matter what storm you are in, you can be still and know that Jesus is God.
Let us pray