Jesus & the Storm

I. Introduction
A. And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 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. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:23-27)
II. Explanation
A. 23-24 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.
1. Where do storms come from?
a. Psalm 147: 8 God is the One who covers the heavens with clouds and sends rain to the earth.
b. Ps. 47:18b He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow.
c. Ps. 148: 8 says that the clouds and the stormy wind obeys His command.
d. Ps. 89:9 "You rule over the surging sea."
2. God makes it this way on purpose.
3. “the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep” This is supposed to surprise us.
a. Jesus was very unpredictable. Usually it’s because of something He does or says.
b. Here, He surprises us by sleeping on a boat being rocked and swamped by waves in a storm.
4. The disciples scurried around trying to deal with the storm. But at some point, they’d done all they could do and it obviously wasn’t enough.
B. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”
1. Airplane turbulence: “Look at the staff (stewardesses and stewards) to see if they’re alarmed.”
2. Experienced sailors saying, “We are going to die!” This must have been a BAD storm!
3. Only a few times in my almost seven decades have I felt like I might die.
4. This was an intense moment. Jesus saves them from the danger, from the perceived death, but He doesn’t save them from the trauma of feeling like they were going to die.
5. He doesn’t even comfort them in it!
C. 26a And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”
1. The word for afraid here is not PHOBOS, the common word for fear, from which we get our word phobia.
a. It’s possible to act courageously while feeling fear. That’s not what Jesus is rebuking.
b. But this word is about cowardice, about timidity, about panicking or cowering in the face of danger. It’s actually the word we talked about a few weeks ago in Rev.21:8, which is the only other place outside this story that the word is used in the NT, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
c. It’s human to feel fear in the face of danger. What Jesus is talking about here is losing your head in fear, being immobilized by fear, the kind of fear which makes people run their car into a tree because a deer ran into the road, or fall to their death from a ladder because they got attacked by a bee. It’s the kind of fear which takes over your life, which drowns out everything else.
2. I love the fact that Jesus rebukes them before He rebukes the storm! Was Jesus out of control? so angry with them that He couldn’t wait till the storm was stilled before He spoke His mind? No.
a. I also love the similar detail that Jesus was sleeping in the boat during the storm. Was He disinterested in His disciples? Did He have no concern? Was He out-of-touch with their needs?
b. The point, it seems to me, is that, contrary to the disciples, Jesus was not at all in a panic.
(1) He was not afraid of the storm. He didn’t let it disturb His sleep. And He didn’t even feel the need to calm the storm before making the point about their littleness of faith.
(2) By His example He’s teaching them not to react with panic when facing fearsome things.
(3) He’s teaching them to always recognize that He is the big thing in any situation – not the danger, not the disappointment, not the loss, not the failure, not even the sin.
3. He says, “you men of little faith.” He rebukes them for their weak faith.
a. They were doing what most people would do in that situation. When is it time to fear if it's not when you think you are going to die?
b. In the text there are six evidences of the disciples' littleness of faith:
(1) They were debilitated by fear.
(2) They went to Jesus last, not first.
(3) They went to Jesus in a panic instead of humbly.
(4) They acted as if Jesus didn't know about their problem.
(5) They acted as if Jesus didn't have their best interest in mind – “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38)
(6) They were surprised that Jesus could help them.
c. He wanted them to trust Him even when they were in danger and He was asleep.
d. Jesus also talks about having little faith in Matthew 17:20–21.
(1) He said to them, “If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you’ll say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.”
e. It’s not that the disciples had no faith. They had a tiny mustard seed of faith – and in the end it moved mountains – of water.
(1) How do we see their faith in this story, even though it was small? They came to Jesus. Eventually. They gave up on their ability to do it themselves and they turned to Him for help.
(2) That was a lot better than cursing God as the ship sank, wasn’t it?
D. 26b Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
1. The amazing thing here is what He didn’t say! He didn’t say to them, “Forget it! If your faith is so small, then I'm not even going to help you. You can get out of this mess yourselves. Of course, I'm in no danger because I can walk on the water.”
2. He calmed the storm. He didn't refuse to help them in spite of their tiny faith!
3. But, of course, along with His help He adds a challenge.
4. Jesus is building their faith – through sending them trials, through showing Himself to them, through teaching them, through rebuking them. He’s working on them, patiently but persistently.
5. Just like He works on us.
E. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
1. Now the disciples are impressed by the right thing!! Now they see that there’s something bigger than the storm, bigger than their danger, which was with them all along.
2. Instead of standing in awe of the storm, they are standing in awe of Jesus, the storm-stopper.
3. That’s was the goal all along: for Jesus to get bigger and bigger in their view of the world, so that the storms get smaller and smaller.
III. We’re in the same boat as the disciples.
A. As we go along in our lives, storms arise, often without warning, and often way beyond what we can handle.
1. Little storms: He makes us wait. He keeps us in the dark. He withholds things we think we need.
2. And big storms: He allows heart-breaking loss. Or He allows one crisis after another to crash into our lives.
3. And God rules over all those storms. He sends the clouds and rain. He causes the wind to blow and the waters to flow. He rules over the surging sea.
B. And we’re just like the disciples. We have little faith too.
1. We go to Jesus last, not first.
2. We go to Jesus in a panic instead of humbly.
3. We act as if Jesus doesn't know about our problem.
4. We act as if Jesus doesn't have our best interest in mind.
5. We forget God is in control.
6. We panic/fear/worry/get anxious.
7. We get depressed/give up/self-pity.
8. We get angry.
9. We blame the storms for our anguish. Or we blame God.
C. But Jesus sends the storms because He wants us to learn to trust – not in ourselves but in God (2Cor.1:8-9).
1. He has things to do in us that we’re not always interested in Him doing. But they’re good things.
2. For the storms expose what’s in our hearts: the unbelief, the idolatry, the self-reliance, the pride.
3. But it’s tempting to spend our life trying to avoid storms, to cry out: "Be still my circumstances!" instead of "Be still my soul!," to focus on changing what's going on out there and not what is going on in here.
4. It’s easy to dread the storm instead of dreading our unbelief.
5. If we dread the possibility of being cowardly or embittered or demoralized when future storms come, that’s good – because if that’s what we’re afraid of, there’s something we can do about that now.
IV. But what can we do? How can we change? How can we learn to trust God in the face of storms?
A. We can learn to be faithful in the small things.
1. We can work on trusting God when the light turns red when we’re late to an appointment, or when we drive to a store and it’s closed, or when someone is rude to us, or when we get a cold, or when our child doesn’t do what he/she’s supposed to do.
2. When we feel discouraged about our lives or our future or our society, we don’t just give in to that, we don’t just find something to take our minds off it, we fight for hope with the weapons of the Spirit, with the truth of Christ, with the promises of Scripture.
3. We’ve got to start by engaging in spiritual warfare in the little battles.
4. Luke 16:10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
5. If we can’t handle the little rain showers, how are we ever going to handle the hurricanes?
6. When the storm is raging, it’s too late to prepare for it. You can’t build your house on the rock in the middle of a storm. The time to prepare is when the sun is shining and the weather is fine.
7. But prosperity is intoxicating. It lulls us into thinking that storms aren’t actually going to come.
8. Laodicea: the church in the city which was prospering was the one which was worst off.
a. Revelation 3:17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
B. The second thing we can do is pray for the HS.
1. Think about this. The 12 disciples were very ordinary men - fishermen, not scholars or leaders.
2. And all through the gospels, it seems they were doing the wrong thing – not always but mostly:
a. Panicking in the face of the storm,
b. Thinking about themselves,
c. Competing for top spot,
d. Not catching what Jesus was saying,
e. Taking their eyes off Christ,
f. Shooing the kids away from Jesus,
g. Falling asleep during crucial prayer,
h. Thinking the kingdom is coming now,
i. Rebuking Jesus for talking about cross,
j. Scattering, even denying they knew Him, when He was arrested,
k. Hiding in fear from authorities after the crucifixion,
l. Hardly ever praised by Jesus, but many times rebuked!
3. How many times Jesus said to them: “How long shall I put up with you?” (E.g. Matthew 17:17)
a. How many times He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe.”
b. How many times He called them, “O men of little faith.”
4. They were just like us – UNTIL. Until the Holy Spirit (HS) was poured out upon them.
5. Now there is no record of how the twelve reacted to a storm AFTER the HS came.
6. But we do have something close.
7. In Acts 27, we have a record of how the HS-filled apostle Paul reacted when he was on a boat taken by an even more severe storm – a storm which held them in its grip for two weeks, a storm which sent the ship’s sailors into full-blown panic.
8. He was a prisoner on the ship, and yet not only did he not panic, he ministered to the soldiers guarding him and to the sailors, comforting them and encouraging them and guiding them and helping supply their needs.
9. And that was possible, not because Paul was a better apostle than the others, but because the HS had transformed the apostles into men of great wisdom and stability, men who did not flinch in the face of danger, who stood up to the very ones before whom they had previously cowered in fear, who sang hymns of joy even when they were beaten and imprisoned, who gave vibrant testimony to Jesus Christ all over the world, laboring tirelessly, loving not only their friends but even their enemies, and who willingly died for the cause of Christ.
10. My point is: We need to be filled with the HS too. And God wants it, and He wants us to seek it.
11. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” – Luke 11:9-13
V. (Wake Jesus up!)
A. In the midst of our storms, Jesus often seems like He’s asleep: like He’s non-engaged, uninvolved.
1. He didn’t look powerful, sleeping there in the boat.
2. It’s easy to count Him out, easy to not factor Him in.
B. Of course, that sleeping Jesus, that seemingly irrelevant Jesus, is actually much more powerful, and much more dangerous, than the greatest storm – though the superiority of His power is often hidden. And His interest in us is often hidden. And His readiness to help is often hidden.
C. He’s promised it – over and over again. And He asks us to trust Him – to trust that He’ll do what He promised.
1. He rebukes the disciples because they believed the impression they got from what they saw, instead of believing what He told them. They walked by sight, not by faith.
D. Without Jesus in view, it’s no wonder people get demoralized/panicky/bitter.
1. With Jesus in the picture, this world isn’t such a terrible place to be, and its troubles can be faced – because there’s a big, powerful Jesus in our boat, a Jesus who loves us very much, even when it seems like He’s asleep.
E. Jesus wants us to wake Him up!
1. Have you ever rebuked someone for not waking you up when they should have woken you up?
2. That’s what Jesus is doing here! “You should have woken me up!”
3. Part of the disciples littleness of faith is that they left Jesus asleep. Instead of rousing them with their petitions, they left him over there catching a few Z’s while they were trying to handle it.
4. “Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! 24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? 25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. 26 Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!” Psalm 44:23-26
5. Most of the time the reason Jesus is sleeping is because we haven’t woken Him up with our prayers!
6. They thought the problem was that Jesus wasn’t paying attention to them, but the real problem was that they weren’t paying attention to Jesus!