Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on February 2, 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Audio Transcript
I invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 8. We always have your convenience, the words on the screen, but it’s good to pull out your own copy of God’s Word and follow along. Today we’re looking at Jesus power over your external struggles. And we’re going to find the disciples doing what they did day after day. They’re in a boat, they’re rowing across the Sea of Galilee. Many of them were fishermen. They did this every day. But in the midst of the everyday, over and over, what? They’re extremely useful. All of a sudden there’s a dire emergency that comes upon them. It leaves us asking these questions, where is God? When difficult circumstances arise in our lives, what is he doing? When our normal routine just. Just falls apart? We tend to do the same thing every day. We get up, we drive into work, we go through the day seeing the same people doing the same things. But sometimes in the midst of the day today, things just absolutely fall apart. Does that ever happen to any of. And you ask yourself, where is God? Why is this going on? Sometimes we even ask the question, why doesn’t God keep bad things from happening to us if he is truly good and if he truly loves us? This is the situation that we’re going to find the disciples in today. And we’re going to see that this is an incident in the life of Christ that we should remember back about so we can picture it in our mind and so we can gather from it the comfort that God wants us to have from understanding better who he is. I’ll begin reading in Luke 8:22. One day he and his disciples got into a boat and he told them, let’s cross over to the other side of the lake. So they set out, and as they were sailing, he fell asleep. And then a fierce windstorm came down on the lake. They were being swamped and were in danger. They came and woke him up, saying, master, Master, we’re going to die. Then he got up and he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. So they ceased and there was a calm. And he said to them, where is your faith? They were fearful and amazed, asking one another, who then is this? He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey Him. May we pray for understanding. God, we thank youk for your word. Help us to see how this story applies to us. Father, this incident where you were present, you were in control. And so it is. When difficult things arise in our life, you are ever present with us. Let us learn to turn to you for Help. In your Son’s name we pray. Amen. Verse 22. One day he and his disciples got into a boat. It was just an ordinary day, just like any other. And they got into a boat that they were so familiar with. It was their normal vehicle of transportation and they were taking their normal path, just crossing over the Sea of Galilee. We know that Peter, Andrew, James and John were all fishermen by trade. So they were in boats a lot. They were in the Sea of Galilee a lot. It’s just like us. We have our car and we, we get in the car and we start it and we put it in a gear and we drive off. Sometimes we’re not even thinking about what we’re doing and we can get to work and realize I didn’t even see everything on the way there. Does that ever happen to you? Because we’re just so used to it and we get to work and we see the same people and we do our same things. But on this particular day for them, something changed. Something was different. Going out in the water was a normal event for them, but this day was different. Navigating a boat was just second nature to these fishermen. But this day was different. And I’ve got a picture here of what their boat probably looked like. This is actually the remains of a first century boat that was found in the Sea of Galilee. And there’s also what it would have looked like when it was built. It was about 27ft long, 7 1/2ft wide, 4 1/2ft deep. The bottom was flat so that they could pull up close to the shore and get out. It was just their normal vehicle that they traveled in. Every day they were going across the Sea of Galilee, which is also sometimes called the Sea of Tiberias. Tiberias, sometimes Gennesareth Lake or sometimes Kenneret Lake. Scripture, you might find different names for it. Just as the boat was familiar to him, the lake was familiar too. You know, its main source is the Jordan River. It has underground springs. It covers 64 square miles and it is the lowest freshwater lake in the world, 686ft below sea level. Imagine going to the beach and digging a whole 686ft down into the sand. That’s how low on the earth this lake was. If we think about lakes around us, think about Lake Wisconsin. It’s about 15 square miles. So it’s about a fourth the size of the Sea of Galilee. Or if you went up to our largest lake, Lake Winnebago, Galilee was only about a third of the size of Lake Winnebago. But. But what I’m wanting you to see, it’s just a normal day. They’re familiar with everything that’s going on. And Jesus says, let’s just cross over to the other side. And they’re all in the boat, they’re ready to go, no big deal. And so it tells us in verse 23, they set out. And as they were sailing, he talking about Jesus, fell asleep in the back. It wasn’t just a nap he was taking. The Greek here tells us this was a deep and prolonged sleep, not just a nap, it was sound. And we’re going to find that he is able to rest in the middle of this terrible storm that is about to come upon them. And so it is in our life when we’re going through the day to day circumstances. God is never surprised. He is always at rest. Even if he knows, and he does know what is about to happen next. Jesus is like the psalmist says, the good shepherd in Psalm 23, when the sheep are running, when the sheep are scared, when the sheep are unsettled, the shepherd always remains calm so that he relays that to the sheep that are around him. And so here Jesus was resting in this boat. The question comes to my mind, did Jesus know what was about to happen? And then we go to the doctrine called the kenosis, which is the doctrine of Christ self emptying that we get from Philippians 2, verses 5 through 7. So I just wanted to spend a little time on doctrine this morning. Did Jesus know what was about to happen that day? He was God. He is God. He is omniscient about all things. But Philippians tells us that Jesus emptied himself of some things when he came to earth. We read there adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. He was the form of God. He was equal with God the Father. That’s what it’s saying. But he didn’t hold on to all of that when he came to earth. He didn’t descend from the clouds with an army of angels. He came as a baby to live among us. It says instead he emptied himself, and that’s the word kenosis in the Greek. He emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant and taking on the likeness of humanity. The passage does not say what he actually emptied himself of, but it does say what then he filled himself up with. He took on the form of a servant. Instead of appearing as God Almighty, he appeared as a servant. And he appeared in the likeness of humanity. Now we have to keep it straight. He was still completely God when he was in the flesh. He did not set aside any of his deity to be human. But he also was completely human in every way, just like us going through the pains and the pleasures of life, except the one thing that was different. He was sinless. He was perfect. So in the kenosis, Jesus set aside his glory, he set aside his heavenly appearance, and he refrained from making his life easier. In other words, he didn’t say, well, I don’t want to walk to the market. I’m God, I can just transport. He actually walked through, going there. He got tired, he got thirsty, he needed to eat, just like us and praise the Lord. Because he did that, he understands all of our needs and what we go through. But the question is, did he know that this storm was about to happen when he went to sleep? It doesn’t really say, because we find in the New Testament evidences that there were times that Jesus seemingly gave up his omniscience of things, but other times, he knew exactly what was going on. I just want to read some verses along these lines. Matthew 24:36. Jesus said, now, concerning that day and hour, no one knows. Neither the angels of heaven nor the Son, except the Father alone. Jesus said, this is something that here in my human flesh, I don’t even know. But then we find in another passage, he was omniscient about things. In Luke 6, he knew their thoughts and told the man with the shriveled hand, get up and stand here. He knew what the Pharisees and the Sadducees were thinking before he even healed the man. Even in John 13, we learned that he knew who would betray him. This is why he said, not all of you are clean. He knew when he called Judas Iscariot, he was going to love him and work with him, but he would be the one that would betray him to death. So some passages suggest that sometimes he laid aside his knowledge of future things, but other times he demonstrates his omniscience. We know that Jesus only did what the Father told him to do. We know that he only spoke what the Father told him to speak. He was setting an example for us. We’re supposed to live our life day to day. Before we encourage someone, we should be having the attitude of God, how do you want me to encourage this person today? Or when we experience something, instead of just having an attitude about it, we’re supposed to say, God, what do you want my attitude to be? And before we fix problems or do things. Supposed to have the attitude, God, how do you want me to fix this? What do you want me to do? I think kind of an example of this. Did Jesus know and he didn’t know. Goes back to the wedding at Cana where they ran out of wine and his mother came to him to ask him to do something. He said, woman, my hour has not come. It’s as if I’m not going to perform this miracle. That’s what he told her. But then what does he do? He turns the water into wine. It’s as if God the Father had not shared with him when his mom came. But then after that, God said, now it is the time. You should do a miracle here. So whether Jesus knew what was going to happen on the boat that day or not, we know that he is God and he is omniscient. What was it like that happened then? It says they set out in verse 23, and as they were sailing, he fell asleep and then asleep. Then a fierce windstorm came on the lake and they were being swamped and they were in danger. This word, fierce windstorm, it’s talking about tornado, whirlwinds, hurricane, a tempest. And it tells us that the boat was swamped. The Greek here means it was completely filled to the brim. If there was any day that that boat was going to sink, it was at that time. And they weren’t just having a difficult time, they were in extreme danger. According to Google, this type of storm happens on Galilee even today. We read there that storms on the Sea of Galilee are known for being sudden, violent, and can develop rapidly due to the lake’s low position in the Rift Valley, where winds from surrounding hills can drop sharply onto the water, creating strong gusts and large waves, sometimes even described as hurricane like in intensity. We live in a world where we are in constant danger. We’re not exempt from the results of sin in the world. The death, the disease, the destruction, the war, the disturbances that are continually, possibly around us. And so it was that day that in a familiar place, in a familiar boat, doing what they did day after day, suddenly they were overwhelmed in their daily routine. That’s what happens to us sometimes we’re just doing what we normally do. But all of a sudden, some disaster in our life overwhelms us. And what did they do? Instead of going and asking Jesus to help, they went and they woke him up and said, master, Master, we’re going to die. In other words, we’re going to die. We want you to wake up and die with us, okay, we’re upset. We want you to wake up and be upset with us. Mark tells us that they said, teacher, don’t you even care that we’re going to die? But there’s a key here. They called him Master twice. And that word master means someone who is in control. And that’s why Jesus was able to be sleeping so soundly in the boat, because as master of the universe, he was still completely in control. No one was going to die that day unless he allowed it to happen. The. The word die here, it’s an intense word. They were saying, we’re going to be wholly destroyed. This is such a terrible storm. But again, they didn’t ask him to do anything. They just informed him of their impending death and said, at least be awake with us so we can all die together. They neglected to ask him for help when they needed it most. And so often it is with us in our difficult times that instead of going to God when disaster strikes or something difficult, we call a friend. We cry, we get nervous, we get anxious, we get upset. And the whole incident here is teaching us that when times like this happen in our lives, our first option should be to go to God and to ask for help. The question for us all is, is our first resort when we have difficult times and difficult situations, to pray out to God for help? Or do we resort instead to fear and crying and calling friends and complaining about the situation? That’s what the disciples did. We could say, well, they’re ignorant. They didn’t know. Well, Jesus had already done a lot of miracles. He had already taught the words of God, and they had the entire Old Testament to know what God’s character was like. Let’s go to Jeremiah 31:35. This is what the Lord says. The one who gives the sun for light by day, the fixed order of moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea and makes its waves roar. The Lord of armies is his name. And then the psalmist says, lord, God of armies, who is strong like you, Lord, your faithfulness surrounds you. You rule the raging sea. When its waves surge, you still them. They should have remembered. God is the maker of the sea. God is the one who controls the sea. He can stir it up and he can calm it down. But instead of remembering that they did not ask Jesus for help, I’d like us to look now at Psalm 107. It’s almost a prophecy of what happened that day that we find the psalmist writing about. It’s almost as if he has this picture of the disciples in the boat, I’ll begin reading. In verse 23, it says that others went to sea in ships conducting trade on the vast water. They saw the Lord’s works, His wondrous works in the deep. He spoke and raised a stormy wind that stirred up the waves of the sea. And rising up to the sky and sinking down to the depths, their courage melting away in anguish. They reeled and staggered like a drunkard, and all their skill was useless. People in a ship that’s going not like this, but going way up and coming way down. And the storm, it says, was caused by God. He stirred up the waves. But unlike the disciples, the psalmist says that these people did the right thing. They cried out to the Lord in their trouble. They didn’t just say, lord, look at our trouble. Enjoy it with us. They said, do something about it. And he brought them out of their distress. He answered their prayer. He steeled the storm not just to this, but a complete whisper. And the waves of the sea were completely hushed. And. And the result was that they rejoiced when the waves grew quiet. Then he guided them to the harbor that they longed for. Lord, let them give thanks to the Lord for His faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity. Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders. They should have remembered this psalm that God delivers his people. People when they call out to him for help. And the result is that they know God better and they praise his name more. All the difficulties that happen in our life should lead us to praise God. We all have friends, hopefully, and friends are great friends. Until you go through a difficult situation with a friend, and if they stay beside you, you love them more. Your friendship is deeper. And so it is with all the problems that we have, if we go to the Lord for help, he’s there with us. We appreciate him more and we praise him more. Let’s go back to Luke, chapter eight. It says they got up. He got up and he rebuked the wind and the raging waves, just like the psalmist had said. And they ceased. And like the psalmist said, there was this whisper, there is this calm. And Matthew talks about the same situation. He says it wasn’t just calm, but it was a great calm. The waves supernaturally just went to a pure, smooth lake. It wasn’t ordinary, it was great. And we see in this that God is always able to do more for us than we can possibly imagine. But it starts with asking him for his assistance. Jesus then rebuked the disciples. In verse 25, he said to them, where is your faith? Mark recorded it this way, why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith? They’ve been walking with Jesus. They’ve been living with Jesus. They brushed their teeth with Jesus, they ate breakfast with Jesus. They were with him all the time. And they still didn’t realize completely who he was. We have to learn to rely on faith, and we have to learn to rely on God when difficult situations come. Because when we have faith in God, it truly removes the fears, because we know that he’s the Good shepherd, that he is in control. What did this cause to them? It says that they were fearful and amazed, and all of a sudden they’re asking one another, who then is this? He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey Him. Mark says that they were terrified and they asked one another, who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him. Seeing God work helps us to appreciate Him. More difficult times help us to grow in our faith and to be spiritually strong. We grow closer to him as he goes through problems day after day with us and without us. I want us to go back to Psalm 107, because the Psalm doesn’t just talk about the problem of being in a sea storm, but it talks about other things that God helps people in other difficult times. And it tells us in verse 43, let whoever is wise pay attention to these things and consider. Consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love in all the situations. In Psalm 107, we’re supposed to remember God’s love. The first verse says, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His faithful love endures forever. So not only God’s love is to become more evident to us, but his goodness also is likewise. Let. Let’s look at some of the other difficulties people were having in Psalm 107. There were some that were hungry and thirsty to the point that their spirits failed within them. And unlike the disciples, they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress. He led them by the right path to go to a city where they could live. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity. For he has satisfied the thirsty and he’s filled the hungry with good things. Who is this God of ours? He’s the one that can meet our needs. Verse 10 says that there were others who sat in darkness and gloom. They were prisoners in cruel Chains. And they are, because it says that they had rebelled against God’s command and they despised the counsel of the Most High. Therefore he broke their spirits with hard labor. They stumbled, and there was no one to help. The other situations, the circumstances came upon them, they had no choice. They couldn’t control the weather. They couldn’t control that they didn’t have enough food. But in this case, these people have broken God’s law and he’s actually allowed them to go into prison. You could say that God might think, well, I’m not going to help them. They’re guilty. They’re getting what they deserve. But even in this case, when they’ve rebelled against the Lord, it says that when they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, he didn’t disregard them. He saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and gloom and broke their chains apart. Verse 15. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity. For he has broken down the bronze gates and cut through the iron bars. In all these difficult circumstances, when they called out to the Lord, he delivered them. You should read the rest of the Psalms sometime. In verse 35, it says that there were those that he turned the desert into a pool and dry land into springs. Another set of statements there that he lifts the needy out of their suffering. But in all of these cases, God says, if you ask me to help you, if you come to me first, my love and my goodness will take care and provide for you. But then a question arises. If God is powerful to help and he’s loving and good, why doesn’t he seem to help me at times? Why doesn’t God always lift me out of my troubles? Why does he even let me have them to start with? Well, the first thing that we find out in Isaiah chapter 55 is that God doesn’t think anywhere like we think. All right, some of you think completely different than I do. All right, I think completely different than some of you. Well, that’s maybe a gap like this. But when we talk about God’s wisdom, His knowledge, it’s so far above us, he sees down all of eternity. So when he makes plans and when he does things, there are reasons behind it. God says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Your ways are not my ways. This is the Lord’s declaration. For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. There have been multiple times in my life that I’ve known exactly what God needed to do. And I’ve gone to him and said, God, this is what you need to do in the circumstances, I want you to do this. And you might not believe this, but sometimes he doesn’t do it the way I want him to. All right? Like God, you know, why didn’t you do this sooner? Why? Why are you letting this happen? Why did you not do this? I had it all planned out. And many times, whether it’s weeks later or years, I find out if God had done it my way, I would have been in a lot bigger trouble. Because he was looking forward to the future. His thoughts and ways were above mine, and he knew better what I needed than I knew myself. If God is powerful to help others, why doesn’t he seem to help at times? Jesus answered this question in John 16:33. I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. God promises us ultimate rest in him. We can sleep in the boat like Jesus was asleep in the midst of the storm. But he also said, but in spite of this peace you can have, you will have suffering in this world while we live in this life. But be courageous. I have conquered the world. Eventually you’re going to be taken out of it, and then the world is going to be remade new, and we won’t be suffering as we do now. So why is it that God doesn’t seem to help? Why did he say, we’re going to have these struggles? Let’s go to Romans, chapter five, verses one through five. And we read here what afflictions and problems do for us. They actually produce good things in our life. It’s like exercise. I don’t like to exercise, but if I do it, it produces good things in my life. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We’ve also obtained access through him, by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. We’re justified. We have peace. We have access to him. We have hope. And not only that, not only do we boast in all these wonderful things, but we’re told that we are also to boast in our afflictions. And this is the reason why God allows afflictions, because we know that afflictions produce endurance. And endurance is a good thing. Endurance produces proven character. And proven character is a good thing. And proven character then produces hope, which is a good thing. And when we have this type of hope, it will not disappoint us, because God’s love has Been po poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Where is God? When difficult circumstances arise in our lives, we need to remember the incident. Where was Jesus? He was right there with them. He was there in the back of the boat. When we have these times in our life, we need to go to him in the turmoil instead of being overwhelmed. He’s not surprised about what’s happening to us. He’s still at rest. He’s completely calm because he’s the Master. He is in control. And there is purpose in what he is allowing to happen to us. What is he doing when our normal routine falls apart? He’s still in the back of boat, resting. The Master, in control of all things. And when we ask the question, why is God letting this happen to me? He’s not surprised. There is purpose in it to ultimately help you to know him better, to lift him up in praise, to have more hope in your life that carries you through this life. There’s a famous hymn by Horatio Spafford. It’s called. Called it is. Well, have any of you ever heard it? Just want to review the story. The hymn was written after traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the great Chicago fire of 1871, which ruined him financially. Then his business interests were further hit by the economic turndown two years later in 1873. And at that time, Spafford had planned to travel to England with his entire family. And they were going there in the midst of their troubles to help Dwight L. Moody as he did his evangelistic campaigns there. Just as on Monday night, we’re going to be going over to help with an evangelist that’s going to be sharing the gospel with high schoolers that come to the meeting at night. You need to be praying for that, that they show up. But we’re going to help him to pray with people and to share the gospel. Spafford, in the midst of all of this turmoil, going in his life instead of staying there taking care of his financial things indefinitely, he did what he could and then he was going overseas to help to spread God’s word to people. But there was a late change of plans. He didn’t go along. Instead, he sent his wife, Anna, and their four daughters, Annie, Maggie, Bessie and Tonetta. And while Spafford was delayed on business at home, his family was going across the ocean. And the story goes that the ship sank rapidly after it collided with another sea vessel. Two hundred and twenty six people died that day, including all four of his daughters. When his wife got to the other side. She sent a telegram with just two words, saved and alone. It was shortly afterward, as he traveled to England to meet his grieving wife, that it is said that as he went over the place where his daughters had all died, that he was inspired to write this hymn that we sing to this day. I’d like us to read some of the verses together. When peace like a river attendeth my way and when sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul it is well, it is well with my soul. With my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought, My sin, not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. O my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul. With my soul it is well, it is well with my soul. And looking forward to the future, he writes, and Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trumpet shall sound and the Lord shall descend even so. It is well with my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul. With my soul. Oh, it is well, it is well with my soul it is well with my soul. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are with us in the boat at all times. We thank you that in the midst of our struggles and the disasters and the turmoil and the hardships, that you are still calm, knowing everything that is going to happen. We thank you that you are able to remedy our problems. But we also come to you with thanksgiving when you allow the things to continue on. Because we know in your wisdom and in your thoughtfulness so high above ours that you understand that everything that you allow for us brings about good things in our lives. Let us learn to turn to you first in difficult situations. Let us grow in our understanding with you and praise your name and all these things. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.