“Why Are You So
Afraid?” Mark 4:21-34
SCRIPTURE INTRO:
Gospel of Mark is the record of an invasion.
It’s about the Son
of God coming into our world
and challenging our
perceptions about what God is like.
This is a record of one of Jesus’ great miracles—calming of
the storm.
INTRO: Out at St. Bernard Abby, there is a door
going into the chapel—
the lintel is a
large piece of limestone with a picture carved on it.
It’s a boat, in some waves, with some men in it, and one of
them standing up.
It’s a picture of
this miracle—Jesus calming the storm.
Over the picture
are the Latin words ecclesia sancta.
Reason it says that is because from the very earliest days
of the church,
Christians read
this miracle and applied it to themselves.
They said, we are all like the disciples in that boat.
We go through the
storms of life, we get fearful, we wonder if God cares.
And all along,
Jesus is right there with us in the boat.
He has said that we are going to the other side.
He has told us he
loves us and proved that on the cross.
He has all power in
heaven and on earth.
So why are we afraid?
Why do we panic?
Let’s have faith in
Jesus. He’s in the boat.
The church father Origen, who was
born about 150 years after Christ,
was the first
person who actually put this in a sermon.
He was preaching on this miracle and he said:
“For as many as are
in the little ship of faith are sailing with the Lord;
as many as are in
the boat of holy church will voyage with the Lord
across this
wave-tossed life . . .”
So this is the common experience of all Christians—the whole
church.
Reason this miracle
is so important, one we need to remember.
It shows us in a vivid way that in the storms of life you
should have faith
and not panic,
because Jesus is in control, and he loves you.
I want us to look at this miracle under three points—little
long—
so if you don’t get
them, I’ll repeat them later.
First, there will be times when Jesus will take you through
storms.
Second, in those storms you might panic, but Jesus is still
with you.
Third, Jesus wants you to get out your faith and put it to
work.
MP#1 There will be times when Jesus will take you
through storms.
Why were the disciples out on the lake that night and not
eating supper
in
Because Jesus had said:
“Let us go over to the other side.”
Jesus had some
things he wanted to do on the other side.
He had a plan. He had an agenda.
And that required
crossing the lake.
So it was because of Jesus’ decision that they were in this
ferocious storm
fighting for their
lives. Jesus took them into the storm.
As a Christian, the sufferings, pains, losses, and storms
that you go through
are not chance events.
They are not bad luck.
You are taken into
these storms by Jesus Christ himself.
He has a plan—and
you are in it.
His plan requires taking you somewhere with him—
and sometimes that
means taking you right through a storm to get there.
This bothers some Christians.
Woman who started
attending church I worked in during seminary.
She had a chronic
illness—one night at prayer meeting, asked prayer for healing.
Elderly woman prayed for her. Prayer something like this:
Lord, please heal
Julie of her painful disease,
and help her to see
that this illness is from your hand,
and give her the
grace to trust your plan for her life.
Well, it ticked her off.
God had nothing to do with my disease!
It’s not his will! It’s not his plan! This is a bad thing!
God doesn’t do bad
things! How would you have answered her?
You could point to Job. Satan hated Job.
He said to
God: “Job doesn’t really trust you. His religion is just a show.
He’s trusting in
all the wealth and success you’ve given him.
Let me at him.”
And God said to Satan:
You’re wrong. Job does trust me.
Do whatever you
want to do to him—just don’t kill him.
You know the story: By
storms and raiding parties and illness,
Satan destroyed Job’s
wealth, killed his children, ruined his health.
He poured out his
evil hatred on Job with God’s permission.
God used Satan’s hatred to take Job through a terrible
storm—
so that on the
other side he could affirm that his grace is sufficient for his people,
and pour out on Job
greater riches of wisdom and grace than he had ever known.
Or what about Joseph.
His brothers kidnapped him and sold him into slavery.
In
And you remember that remarkable way Joseph explained his
suffering
years later when he
was reunited and reconciled with his brothers:
“And
now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me
here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you . . . God sent
me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives
by a great deliverance. So then, it was
not you who sent me here, but God.
God
used the evil actions of Joseph’s brothers to take Joseph
through a terrible storm so that on the
other side he could accomplish his plan.
Joseph
so sure of this that he could look at his brothers and say—
you selling me into slavery was God’s way of
working out his salvation plan.
And there are many other examples—Daniel,
Esther, Peter.
Now,
you always need to be very careful how you express this.
You have to be biblical.
The Bible never calls bad things good. It calls bad things bad.
We
should never call bad things good. If
you call bad things good, you are wrong.
Diseases are bad. Natural disasters are bad.
Results of the fall. And as we see in Job, sometimes used by
demonic forces.
The
Bible always calls evil evil. What Joseph’s brothers did to him was evil.
We should never excuse evil. We should always oppose it.
But
at the same time, in a mysterious way, the Bible also affirms that God—
who is completely good, untouched by evil,
has a sovereign hand
in all the suffering and pain and evil and
bad things that you go through.
He
leads us through storms because he has a plan for his glory and your good.
You
may see that plan unfold in your lifetime—like Joseph did.
Or you may not. Might not be revealed until you get to
heaven.
But
if you are in a storm right now, can hold on to this—not chance, not bad luck.
Not because you didn’t stay at home, but got
into a boat instead.
Because
Jesus, your Lord and Savior, has a plan and you are in it.
He has decided it’s time to cross over to the other side—a storm on the way.
MP#2
In the storms you might panic, but Jesus is still with you.
How
did the disciples respond to the storm?
They panicked.
Jesus was in the boat with them.
Jesus had said they were going to the other
side—but they panicked.
And
look at the way they expressed their panic.
They woke Jesus up and said: “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?!”
They were angry. They were perplexed.
Here they were in their hour of greatest
need and Jesus was asleep.
Have
you ever felt the same way? Have you
ever said:
God if you cared for me, if you really loved
me—
this would not be happening to me!
I’m
drowning in this financial crisis.
I’m drowning in this marital turmoil.
I’m drowning in depression, bitterness, or
grief.
Lord,
don’t you care if I drown?
Lord, I’m bailing for all I’m worth, where
are you?
Have you ever said that to God?
My
guess is that every one of us has. We
shouldn’t, but we have.
Why
are Christians susceptible to panic in storms?
The simple answer is lack of faith—but it
helps to be more specific.
We
forget that God’s intentions toward us are always good.
Look at the disciples: When they started this boat ride they in high
spirits.
They were certain God’s intentions towards
them were good.
Studying
Mark this way in little segments we miss the flow of the action—
but this had been a big day. A day of huge success.
The
crowds were so huge, Jesus so popular, that they had to put him in a boat
a little bit off shore so that he could
teach the people without being crushed.
That’s
why Mark says at the beginning that they took him in the boat
just as he was—he was already in the boat.
No
doubt the disciples were amazed at the response Jesus was getting.
They still had some very mixed up ideas
about what kind of Messiah he was.
But
even so, they were certainly excited by these crowds and saw God’s hand.
No doubt as they started to sail said, What
a day! Isn’t God good!
And
that’s the way we all are.
We tend to say, “The Lord is good” when
something good has happened to us.
When he has given us something we wanted to
make us happy in some way.
And
that’s ok. Nothing wrong with that.
But then we start to think that God is good
because of these good things—
and that sets us up for panic when bad
things happen.
What
happened to the disciples? The storm
came and their view of God changed.
One minute they were sure God was for them
and out to bless them—
the next minute they were sure God had
forgotten them.
Is
God like that? Does he change his
intentions toward us? Jeremiah 29:
“I know the plans I have for you,” declares
the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.”
We
panic because we forget God’s intentions for us are always good.
We are like little children in our thinking.
Never
forget taking one of the girls to get a shot when about a year old.
She had no idea what was about to
happen.
Put her on examination table, started to
play, do funny things, make her laugh.
Dad is good.
Funny dad. Making me happy.
In
walked the nurse, stuck needle in thigh.
That baby face, that had been so happy,
laughing—got this horrible look.
Seemed to say: Why did you do that to me?! Meanie!
But
my intentions toward her had not changed—
even though one minute I was playing pattycake, next minute let nurse hurt her—
my intentions all along, in the good and the
bad were to bless her.
Maybe
that will help you when you are tempted to panic in a storm.
God’s intentions toward me have not changed.
But
here’s the good news. If you are in
crisis this week, and forget his sermon.
And panic, and get angry and perplexed with
God for not caring—
He’s still with you. Jesus is still in the boat.
God’s
intentions toward you have not changed—he will prosper you and not harm.
You’re
going to suffer mental anguish that you wouldn’t have to suffer
if you had more faith. But no matter what, the Lord has your good in
mind.
MP#3 Jesus wants you to get out your faith and put
it to work.
How did Jesus respond to the disciples’ panic?
He did two
things: He showed his power and he
challenged his disciples.
1. He showed his
power.
He rebuked the wind and said to the waves, be still.
He spoke to this
storm like you would speak to a child.
Be quiet and stay quiet.
Not only did the
wind stop, but it became as smooth as glass.
Change so dramatic
that it terrified the disciples.
This was an affirmation of Jesus’ divinity.
His way of reminding
Christians throughout the ages—
that he has
complete control over every storm you go through.
No matter how complicated or impossible it is—with one word
he can solve it.
So if a storm
continues, it’s because Jesus is choosing to let it continue.
He can make
anything completely calm with a single word.
2. He challenged his
disciples.
He asked them two pointed questions.
“Why are you so
afraid?” “Do you still have no faith?”
Jesus asked those
questions to make the disciples think.
That was their problem—they weren’t thinking—they were
panicking.
That’s why they
came apart in the storm—same reason we do—quit thinking.
Faith is not
putting your mind in neutral—it’s putting it in gear.
Jesus is saying—think about it.
I’m with you. I’ve said we’re going to the other side.
I have all power in
heaven and on earth.
Why are you so afraid?
There is nothing
that can destroy you.
Even death cannot
destroy you.
Where is your faith?
Get it out, put it
to work.
Think through these
things.
Jesus wants you to take a hold of yourself in the very same
way—
ask the same
questions—Why am I so afraid? Where is
my faith?
Think through all
the implications of Jesus’ work for you.
And we have a resource that the disciples did not have.
Remember I told you when we started this study that Mark is
saturated with OT.
Mark patterns many
of the things Jesus did after important OT stories.
This story is
patterned after Jonah 1.
We read it earlier in the service—what are the similarities?
Both Jesus and
Jonah are in a boat
storm, asleep,
sailors wake them (do something, perishing)
miraculous
intervention
sailors more
terrified afterwards
But there is one big difference.
Jonah says: Throw me into the storm. If I die, you will live.
That doesn’t happen
in this story. But it will.
In just a few chapters Jesus will face a storm that is much
more terrible.
It’s the storm of
God’s wrath for our sins.
And that storm will
destroy every one of us.
The guilt of our
sins will sink us in hell forever.
Jesus allowed himself to be thrown into the storm of God’s
wrath.
He groaned under
it, he sweated drops of blood, he went to the cross for you.
If Jesus did not abandon you to the biggest storm of all—
why do you think he
will abandon you in this little storm you are in right now?
How wrong, how petty it is for us to say:
Lord, don’t you
care that I’m suffering?
Of course he
cares. He went into the storm for you
all alone.
To the degree that you believe that—
to the degree it
goes in deep, your fears will subside,
and you will have
faith in the storm.
You will row, bail, press on—confident that the one who died
for you
is in the boat, and
that you will reach the other side.
CONC: As we come to the Table, sing two verses
of “Be Still My Soul.”
Favorite of many
Christians in the little storms of life.
If you are going through a storm now—take hold of the last
line, press into heart.
“Be still my soul, the waves and winds still
know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.”
The waves, the winds of the storms you are facing today
are still ruled by
Jesus Christ. Trust him. Trust him.