That's me. All right, well, good morning. My name is Ricky, and this week, in a week where the upcoming election on every level has been in the news lately, as we've discussed at length, probably the various twists and turns of our city and county governance structure, I am grateful for Psalm 97:1, which says, the Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Amen.
Amen. We're going to turn to Mark chapter 4 today. Mark chapter 4.
Now, I'm going to share something from my childhood, one of my traumas. And after you hear it, you may think, 'Okay, Ricky, come on.' As a kid, one of the most traumatic things that happened to me repeatedly was what Freddie was afraid of. Storms. As a kid, I was deathly afraid of storms. Specifically, I was afraid of the wind. And it was not uncommon for me, for my mom to find me staring out in our backyard, looking at the backyard, whispering to myself that the swings were moving, a storm was coming, right? And so if you think like, that kid's gonna need some help later in life, it was probably me. Any kid that's living staring out the back of their house, whispering to themselves that a storm is coming as he watches swings move. He's probably gonna need some help. And they would've been right. As a kid, that was the worst to me. And I had a complex system for measuring the wind level in my backyard. Level 1 was if the swings were moving, didn't take a whole lot, but that always leads to level 2, the trees moving, and it never stops there. Level 3, Level 3 was probably the bushes shaking. Level 4 was if, I remember thinking, if the basketball, you know, backboard thing that we've got in our backyard, if that sunk into the concrete starts moving, it's a hurricane. That's a hurricane coming. Now, my parents tried to repeatedly explain to me as a child, El Paso is not set up for tornadoes or hurricanes or typhoons. Did nothing to help me, right? They could get maps out, they could be like, 'This is the ocean, this is us. Do you see this, Ricky?' I don't care. We're gonna die. And so, you know, as a kid, I remember laying in my bed, listening to the wind go, shh, and of course they gave me, they put my bedroom on the windy side of the house. And we were in this cul-de-sac and we're off the mountain and the wind would come off the mountain and then whistle by my room and I would just sit there freaked out. Now, as an adult, I look back and think, okay, come on, kid, like, get it together here. But I realized there's a kernel of that fear that we all have. The kernel of like why I was afraid in that moment was that I was a very organized kid. I liked things to be in control. I had boxes for my Legos and other stuff that I had, my toys. I wanted things to be organized. And storms and wind were one of those things where I realized, I can't control that. I can't organize that. I can't make that kind of organizable in my life. It just is way outside of my control. And I think even for us as adults, maybe this week has brought this out for you, we fear when circumstances far exceed our control. We fear being overwhelmed or having something come out of nowhere, knock us down, and us not knowing what is next.
But our passage today has good news for us. Our passage today brings us the good news that it's okay that we are not in control because we have something better than being in control.
Mark chapter 4, verse 35. This is God's word. On that day, when evening had come, he, Jesus, said to them, 'Let us go across to the other side.' And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?' And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still.' And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said to them, 'Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?' And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?' This is God's Word.
Well, we're going to walk through the text today with 4 questions that are in the text.
6 · The preacher provides essential first-century Jewish cultural context: the sea represented chaos, unpredictability, and danger to the Israelites, who were not seafaring people, and carried associations with threatening creatures and destructive storms
And the first question is the question that the disciples asked Jesus: Don't you care? Now, there's something you have to understand about the sea in this day and age, in the 1st century. Especially for the Israelites, the sea was a symbol for chaos. It represented the— they were not a seafaring people. So the sea represented to them this untamable, unpredictable part of life. The sea was the home of storms. Storms came from the sea. The Leviathan, you know, was in the deep. Who knows what else is out there? There's winds that take you and all of a sudden are about to destroy the ship. They would probably think of stories like Jonah, that, you know, he's on this boat and the boat's being pounded and it's almost gonna break up. That's what the sea was to them.
7 · The preacher establishes the geographical and meteorological context of the Sea of Galilee—its below-sea-level position and surrounding topography made it particularly prone to rapid, dangerous weather changes, but the disciples as experienced fishermen would have known how to navigate it under normal circumstances
And the Sea of Galilee was in some ways more dangerous and unpredictable than even the Mediterranean Sea. The Sea of Galilee is far below sea level. And because of the way it's situated next to the Mediterranean and against the surrounding mountain ranges, weather systems change rapidly on the surface of the Sea of Galilee. So for men like Peter and the other fishermen among the disciples, they would know that this sea was a dangerous, an unpredictable, often chaotic place. But as fishermen, they knew their way around the sea. They could probably tell, oh yeah, you know, this is not a good time to sail, or, you know, okay, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do that.
8 · The preacher references the earlier miraculous catch of fish to establish that the disciples had already witnessed Jesus's superior knowledge about the sea, raising the stakes for why Jesus's sleeping during this storm would be particularly confusing and offensive to them
And yet they've already been shown up by Jesus who earlier tells them to cast their nets when they already cast their nets, they fished all night, they didn't catch anything. Jesus says, do it one more time. All of a sudden they get the catch of a lifetime. They've already seen, okay, Jesus knows better than us how to sail, apparently. He knows more about this sea than we do. So he's asleep and they begin to try to tackle this storm.
9 · The preacher emphasizes the extraordinary severity of this particular storm—described as a 'great windstorm'—which was intense enough to overwhelm even these seasoned fishermen who had survived hundreds of previous storms
Now, they would know various techniques and ways of dealing with swells and winds and all of this stuff. But what happens is that this sea, this chaotic storm is not just a windstorm, it's a great windstorm. So wild, so unpredictable, that as it began to pound their boat, it was overwhelming the boat, filling it with water. And the men, these experienced fishermen who've been through hundreds of storms in their lifetime, they panic, right?
10 · A cultural reference to reality television about Alaskan fishermen serves to emphasize that the disciples were precisely the kind of hardened, experienced men who normally would not panic—making their terror in this moment all the more significant
Now you think like, okay, you know, there's always the old weathered sea captain and he's got, you know, if you watch those like ice fishing or whatever shows that, you know, they're up in Alaska, these fishermen, they got the hat and it's, and they're just like, ah, I don't care, you know? And that's the disciples, right? These guys aren't scared by anything, but they're scared right now.
11 · The preacher exposes the disciples' reasoning: they blamed Jesus for their predicament because he had commanded them to cross the sea, and their anger stemmed from his apparent indifference—sleeping while they struggled
And in this moment, they turn with fear and frustration and anger to Jesus. Now, why? Why did they do this? Well, remember, Jesus was the one who told them to go across the sea. Right? Isn't it his fault that they ended up here? And they're angry that he was allowing them to continue to be in the storm. Why wasn't he awake? Why wasn't he stopping this?
12 · The preacher highlights the disciples' failure to approach Jesus with submission or request for help, instead coming with an accusatory question that challenges both his compassion and his competence
And so they ask him. Now, notice what the disciples do. When they wake Jesus, they do not wake him and say, 'Teacher, what would you like us to do?' Just notice there's a— A horrible windstorm and we're gonna die soon. So is there, you know, just checking in, just wanting to see what you wanna do with this? Did they do that? No, they didn't even come to Jesus with, hey, teacher, please help us. We're out of our depth here. No, what do they do? They come to Jesus and they say, do you not care?
13 · The preacher identifies the theological logic driving the disciples' accusation: they had already witnessed Jesus's power in previous miracles, so the only explanation for the continuing storm was either lack of power or lack of care
Right, they know from all the other miracles they've seen with Jesus, that Jesus has power. So they think, okay, well, if he has power and if he cares, then this wouldn't be happening.
14 · A brief pastoral comment affirming that Scripture's honesty about the disciples' doubt creates permission for contemporary believers to acknowledge their own similar struggles with God's care
And I love that the Bible is so honest with the disciples' reaction here because it invites us to ask the same question ourselves.
15 · The preacher applies the disciples' theological error to contemporary situations—teaching challenges during the pandemic, job insecurity, business failures, and health crises—where believers may similarly conclude that suffering means God lacks either power or care
Where in life do we ask the same question? Do we look at a situation in our lives and say, okay, if this is happening, then it means God either isn't powerful or he doesn't care. Maybe for you, it's something in your past that you go back and think, if God had really cared and been powerful, this would never have happened. Maybe it's something in your present. Maybe it's something this year. Maybe you are, I know we have a bunch of teachers, and you're just thinking, okay, trying to teach a class of like 60 kids 7-year-olds over Zoom is just insane. And maybe at first it's kind of funny, but you get to the point where you think, this is insane. I don't know if I can keep doing this. If God really cared, this wouldn't be happening. Or maybe your job has been affected, or you own a small business, or you're employed by a small business, and you've watched the money begin to dry up, and you're looking around thinking, okay, if God doesn't intervene somehow, then we are maybe not gonna pay We're not going to perish, but we're all going to— this is going to be bankrupt. I'm not going to have a job anymore. Or maybe you find a relative who's sick or they're waiting a test result and you're thinking, okay, if God really cared about us and if he had power, we wouldn't be going through this.
16 · A brief pastoral pivot indicating that the text's purpose is not merely informational but diagnostic—designed to expose the reader's own doubts about God's care
The text invites us to examine ourselves.
17 · Structural signal moving to the second of the four questions organizing the sermon
The second question, though, is why are you so afraid.
18 · The preacher highlights Mark's literary style—terse and action-oriented—to emphasize the effortless immediacy of Jesus's miracle: no ritual, no buildup, just two words and instant transformation
Jesus' first question to them is, 'Why are you so afraid?' And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still.' And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Now, the thing I love about Mark is Mark does not waste words. Mark's Gospel is terse, it's brief, it's action-oriented, but there's really no buildup. Jesus does not summon his power, you know, It doesn't need to do a complex incantation. He rolls out of bed, as it were, and says two words and the storm is done.
19 · The preacher unpacks the two-fold miracle: the instantaneous cessation of wind (halting millions of air molecules in complex motion) and the immediate calming of waves (which naturally continue even after wind stops), demonstrating power over both atmospheric and hydrodynamic forces simultaneously
And what the text reveals is that two things happened at once. The wind ceased. That does not mean the wind began to gradually lessen and become a gentle breeze. It means that all of the complex, all of the millions of air molecules in motion as a result of different pressure systems and heat and cold and all of this, all of it, bam, was brought to stillness. And second, there was a great calm. Now, this refers to the waves, meaning that all of the waves that were in motion kind of roiling under the surface, churning under the surface. I don't know about you, but you can't, you know, if I'm at the beach, when a wave's coming, I'm not like stopping the wave, right? The wave's coming regardless of whether you push on it or not. It doesn't matter how much force you exert on the air or on the waves, they're gonna keep moving. And Jesus has an ability beyond anything that they've ever seen, and that both instantly stop. There's no wind. The water is like glass, according to one of the commentaries that I read.
20 · The preacher clarifies that Jesus's question about fear is not addressing normal, healthy fear responses to danger (like jumping back from a snake), but rather a deeper fear that has gripped and controlled the disciples' hearts
And then Jesus turns and asks them a question: 'Why are you so afraid?' Now, at first, Jesus' question seems a little bit ridiculous. If I was one of the disciples, I would be tempted to say, 'Oh, I don't know, Jesus. Perhaps it was the 50-mile-an-hour winds that made me afraid.' No, it was the 10-foot waves. No, it was the fact that our boat is 40% full of water. You know, like, any of those would be the reason that I'm afraid. But that's not actually what the text is after. That's not what Jesus is after. Jesus is not talking about sort of the normal, understandable human fear reactions. Right? You see something scary, a rattlesnake slithers out from under your car, you know, there's a probably helpful fear reaction where you jump back a bit, right? Or if a storm is coming, boom, you're okay, okay, are all the windows shut? Now that's not what is in view here.
21 · The preacher exposes the disciples' faulty theological reasoning: their all-consuming fear stemmed from the premise that divine love is incompatible with suffering, leading them to conclude Jesus must not love them
He says, why are you so afraid? Their hearts have, in a sense, been taken over and gripped by fear to the point where they are allowing fear to drive all of their thinking, all of their actions. And the reason they are afraid is that they think if Jesus loves them, they would not be going through a storm like this. So Jesus must not love them. That's why they question Jesus and accuse him of not caring.
22 · A propositional theological claim asserting that the content and intensity of our fears function as diagnostic instruments revealing our actual beliefs about God's character, regardless of what we profess
What this shows us, guys, is that when fear rules our heart and our minds, it reveals what we really think about God.
23 · The preacher applies the diagnostic principle personally, acknowledging the gap between Sunday worship confessions and Tuesday's fearful accusations, demonstrating pastoral vulnerability while reinforcing the theological point
But count me among those who can come on Sunday and we could sing songs about God's sovereignty and his faithfulness and his, you know, the fact that he reigns. And all of a sudden Tuesday, in a hard moment, I'm asking, why don't you care? Why does that happen? Well, fear reveals what we really truly believe about God.
24 · A structural pivot moving from diagnosis (why are you so afraid) to the remedy (where is your faith), framing the third question in the sermon's structure
But Jesus doesn't leave us there. He asks then a second question, 'Where is your faith?'
25 · The preacher provides crucial exegetical clarification: Jesus's question concerns not the quantity or intensity of faith but its location—the disciples had removed their faith from Jesus and placed it elsewhere, likely back on themselves
The two are related. They're a one-two punch. 'Why are you so afraid?' Jesus, in a sense, answers for them. Where's your faith? They are afraid because their faith is not where it should be. Jesus' question here would be better translated not perhaps, 'Have you still no faith?' but rather, 'Where is your faith?' Or perhaps, 'Why isn't your faith where it should be?' Jesus is not— this is super important— Jesus is not criticizing the strength of their faith, he's criticizing the object of their faith. He's not saying that somehow you gotta have a level 100 faith, and because you disciples, you've only got a level 50 faith in me, I'm not gonna help you, I'm not gonna rescue you, I'm not gonna give you what you need. That is sometimes taught in churches, and that is abominable theology. To shame people and think, okay, you gotta have a level 100 faith in order for God to somehow be unlocked and unleashed, and he's gonna do something in your life. No, that's not what Jesus is saying at all. He's saying, 'Where is your faith?' The problem is that they don't trust Jesus— is not that they don't trust Jesus enough. The problem is that they, in the midst of their fear, have stopped trusting Jesus altogether. They have taken their faith off of Jesus, as it were. And Jesus is asking, 'Why did you remove— Where did you remove your faith from me? Where did you go with it? Where did you put it?'
26 · The preacher identifies where the disciples likely relocated their faith (back on themselves) and establishes the central theological principle: the object of faith is more determinative than the strength of faith
Vince pointed out they probably put it back on themselves. They're thinking, 'Okay, well, I'm going to have to be in charge again, and you're not pulling your weight, Jesus. I'm going to have to get us out of this storm, and I'm angry about it.' That phrase is key. 'Where is your faith?' The glorious good news of Scripture, the glorious good news of Jesus even asking this question, is that it is the object of our faith that matters most, not the strength of our faith that matters most.
27 · A hypothetical scenario contrasting two Passover households—one with strong faith, one with weak faith, both applying the blood—demonstrates that the object of faith (the lamb's blood), not the intensity of faith, determines salvation
I was talking to Vince about this this week, and he was sharing a D.A. Carson illustration that I will try to reshare with you, just not as well as Vince or D.A. Carson. This is what I'm resorting to in the pandemic, using thirdhand illustrations that I've never even heard from the original source. But here we go. Imagine in the Passover, There are two families, two Jewish families, Jones and Smith. Just, okay, their names are not right, but just let's roll. Mr. Jones is full of faith. The Lord's told them, 'Take the blood of a lamb, a spotless lamb, take it and put it over the door of your house and your firstborn son will not die.' And so Mr. Jones, he is whistling. He is like, 'All right, here we go.' You know, the Lord, he's singing worship songs. You know, he's thanking Yahweh even in advance before the angel of death comes and passes over them. He's got the blood on his door. Across the street, Mr. Smith is grumbling to himself. He's slaughtering the lamb, he's got the blood, he's putting it over the house. He's saying, 'Man, I hope this is gonna work. You know, I hope, man, I really hope Yahweh comes through.' Right, Mr. Jones, when he, takes his firstborn son and puts him to bed. He kisses him on the head and says, 'I will see you tomorrow, son. The Lord is good.' Mr. Smith, he's holding on to his firstborn son for dear life. He's weeping over him. He's praying that God allows him to see the morning. And the two maybe greet one another across the street before going to bed. And Mr. Mr. Smith, fearful, it's notable. Mr. Jones tries to encourage him, 'Don't worry, the Lord has this.' And Mr. Smith says, 'Well, I hope so.' 'Well, didn't you put the blood of the lamb on your door?' 'Well, yeah, yeah, I did do that.' 'Well, then I will see you and your son tomorrow.' So both men close their doors, they go to sleep, the angel of death descends, And D.A. Carson asks, 'Which one of these men lost their son that night?' The answer is neither one. Neither one, because it is the object of your faith that saves, not the strength of your faith. And is, you know, is Mr. Jones' strong, resilient faith Is that glorifying to God? Yes. Is it effective for saving? Yes. But is Mr. Smith's fearful and vacillating and tearful faith enough to save? Yes, it is.
28 · The preacher applies the Passover illustration to contemporary believers facing 2020's challenges, emphasizing that Jesus does not demand constant strong faith but simply asks that faith be placed on him, regardless of its fluctuating strength
Similarly, Jesus, friends, this is the good news of this passage. Jesus is not expecting his disciples or us that throughout all 2020, He's not telling us, 'Hey, you gotta maintain a level 100 faith no matter what happens. I don't care if the city gets shut down. I don't care if the cases rise. I don't care. You gotta stay at level 100. And if you do, then I will come through for you.' That is not what Jesus says to us. He says, 'Put your faith in me.' And one day on Monday, you may be at level 5 or level 10 or level 20 or level 1, but it's the object of your faith that saves, not the strength of it. That is what he's asking his disciples. Why did you move your faith away from me? And he's inviting them to put it back on him.
29 · A structural pivot to the fourth and final question, framing it as the mechanism by which believers relocate their faith onto Jesus
That's where we get to the fourth question, and that's what helps us put our faith back on him. They ask, who then is this?
30 · The preacher identifies the disciples' astonishment at Jesus's identity as the turning point: despite prolonged proximity to Jesus, they had not truly known who he was until this revelation of his authority over creation, and this knowing becomes the path from fear to faith
Verse 41, they were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the See, obey him. Church, this is such good news. What they realize in the end is that they did not really know Jesus, right? They'd spent weeks, perhaps a year with him by now. They know what he eats in the morning. They know what he teaches. But they did not know him. They see that Jesus is so much greater than they ever knew. And you see what happens? Put their faith in him. The way that we move from fear to faith in the storms of life is by seeing who Jesus is and putting our faith, sometimes as weak, sometimes as feeble as it is, in Jesus.
31 · The first of four Christological assertions: Jesus is the Lord in the boat with us, meaning the incarnation places God not as a distant observer but as an intimate companion in suffering who understands experientially what believers endure
And what does this text reveal about who Jesus is? Well, first, it reveals that Jesus is the Lord in the boat with us. This is such good news. Church, the Lord, whatever is going on in your life, he is not watching you, you know, detachedly from the shore. He is in the boat with you. The incarnation, which we will soon celebrate over Christmas and Advent, is, as it were, God getting into the boat with us. Us. So that when we think, 'Oh, God doesn't understand my life. He doesn't understand how hard this is. He doesn't understand what it's like to lose a loved one. He doesn't understand what it's like to get sick or be, you know, to not— to wonder.' He doesn't— I'm sorry, as I'm talking about this, I'm just thinking about real situations in our church. And I'm trying not to just, like, name them out. Oh, man. It's not as though the Lord looks at a test result or a cancer diagnosis detachedly from a million miles away and then criticizes us for our faith level not being 100. No, he is next to us when the doctor delivers the news. He is next to us when we wonder if our kid is going to be okay. He is next to us when we get the notice in our email that our job has been lost. He is next to us in the storms of life, not far apart from us. You know, the only thing that helped me when I was a kid, when I would be afraid of the wind, It wasn't my dad showing me how far we were from the ocean. It wasn't, you know, this complex meteorological explanation of how bad the storm was going to be. The thing I wanted most when I was a kid is for my dad to lay down next to me until I fell asleep. Church, wherever you are, whatever you are experiencing in life, the Son of God himself has come to earth and has come into your life, and he is right now right next to you. He is the Lord in the boat with you.
32 · The second Christological assertion: Jesus is the Lord over the storm, meaning he exercises absolute sovereignty over all creation including what appears chaotic, and this extends to every circumstance believers face
Second, he is the Lord over the storm. Now look, sometimes I think well-meaning Christians will try to help God and say, well, he's not totally in control. He really does love you, but, you know, he does the best he can. You know, he has certain limits on what he can or can't do, and that's why the world is hard. No, church, we got to see the Lord as he is in Scripture. And Scripture reveals to us a Lord who is sovereign over every molecule and black hole and life and decision and event and year. And it is true that Satan intends evil, that people intend evil, that creation is subject to futility and seeming chaos, but over And above and through those things, God reigns. God is the Lord of the storm. And as much as the Hebrews were afraid of the sea and its chaos, they confessed this in Psalm 107, 'For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.' Amos 4:13, 'For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what is his thought.' 'Who makes the morning darkness and treads on the heights of the earth. The Lord, the God of hosts, is his name.' Who sent the storm to the disciples? Who was in each wave and howl of the wind? It was the Lord of the storm.
33 · A theological synthesis using a Tim Keller quotation to establish that God's sovereignty means he can both love believers and allow suffering because his knowledge exceeds theirs, and his will is the only safe place
But church, if we get this, if we will allow the true and real picture of who God is to be the person we put our faith in, we find a better hope than we could have imagined. Tim Keller comments this way on the passage. He says this, God can love somebody and still let bad things happen to them because he is God, because he knows better than they do. If you have a God great and powerful enough to be mad at, because he doesn't stop your suffering, you also have a God who's great and powerful enough to have reasons that you can't understand. If you're at the mercy of the storm, its power is unmanageable, and it doesn't love you, the only place you're safe is in the will of God.
34 · The third Christological assertion: Jesus is the Lord in the storm, meaning he entered the chaos we deserve through his substitutionary death, proving his love by enduring what we should have experienced
God. He is the Lord of the storm. But even in that moment, we may be tempted to doubt his heart. Well, but does he really love me? He is also the Lord in the storm. See, the disciples thought if he doesn't stop the storm, then he doesn't care. But they're wrong. This storm is actually remarkably like another storm in the Bible. Almost beat for beat, this story maps onto the story of Jonah. Perhaps you remember the story of Jonah. Usually, you remember the big fish. It's not that part, although that part becomes important later. In the story of Jonah, you have this rebellious prophet who really actually represents the rebellious people of God and he gives them something to do, but he runs— Jonah runs away. And so the storm comes and it's about to break apart the ship. And so Jonah realizes there is only one thing to do. He tells the sailors, 'You're gonna have to throw me out of the boat into the storm. And if you do that, you will live. If I die, you live. If you live, like, I have to die.' Okay? And so Jonah, Obviously, he couldn't swim. He gets tossed out of the boat, and we all know the rest with the fish, right? Now, Jesus, interestingly, in his ministry says that, okay, one of the signs of what the Messiah will do is the sign of Jonah. Okay, what fresh chaos is this now? Is it just a COVID reminder? Okay, great. It says stay home? Okay, that's awesome. Only essential activities, friends, only essential activities, and what could be more essential than this book? Amen? So Jonah, Jesus says, is a foreshadowing of who he will be because Jonah, has to be thrown into the sea, this symbol of chaos and terror, as a result of his own sin. But think about Jesus. Jesus is the prophet. He is the Israel who only does what God says, and he does not run away. In fact, he's the only one perfectly— who should be sailing perfectly across the water. And yet, in his death, what does he do? He says the exact same thing Jonah says. He says, 'If I die, you will live.' What Jonah's picture gives us is this picture of the Son of God who does not deserve to be thrown into the sea being thrown into the sea for people who deserve to be thrown into the sea. And the good news of the death of Jesus is that we will never have to be thrown into the heart of the sea the way Jesus is. It may be stormy, it may be windy, we may take on water, but we will never go to the depths the Son of God has gone to for us. That, friends, that is good news because it reminds us when we think, 'How could God allow this and still love me?' we look again to the sinless Son of God offered for us and we remind ourselves, 'I don't know, but what I do know is that he loves me.' Amen.
35 · The fourth Christological assertion: Jesus is the Lord of the calm, meaning his miracle is a preview of the Bible's entire arc from chaos to peace, culminating in eschatological rest where no chaos remains
Alright, last and briefly, the Lord of the calm. The Lord doesn't leave us in the storm, friends. Despite the lack of faith of the disciples, he stops the storm. Anthony, who's here, is Anthony here? Anthony sent me a great quote. Anthony's going to write the first meteorological commentary on the Bible. He works for the National Weather Service. And I asked him to just give me, okay, like, what would it take for Jesus to do, what is Jesus doing in his calming of the storm? And he says this, he says, for Jesus to bring calm means he has to bring balance to pressure differences and still the motion of the waves. The atmosphere cannot even bring balance to itself. Weather is its attempt to bring balance, but it always overcorrects and the sun is always heating the earth unevenly, creating more imbalances. So in essence, by calming the storm, he's bringing peace into chaos, doing what nature itself cannot even do. 'Then do.' This miracle is a picture of the entire ministry of Jesus, a picture of the entire trajectory of the Bible going from chaos to calm. The story of the Bible is the story of a storming sea being brought back to peace through the work of the Son of God. Jesus is thrown into the storm that he might speak the word 'peace' to us. At the end of the Bible, friends, there is no sea of chaos anymore, only the water of life flowing gently through the city. And this is the trajectory of your life if you are in Christ. Hear this: the storm will not last forever. There will come a day when the Savior turns to you and speaks, Peace! And all will be still for all time. So whether we endure one more wave or 100, we know this: He is the Lord of the storm. He is in the boat with us. He endured what we should deserve but will not have to. And He will eventually, in His good time, bring peace.
36 · The preacher transitions to communion by inviting the congregation to bring their honest doubts and fears to the Lord while holding the elements, framing the sacrament as God's tangible answer to the question 'Don't you care?'
So let's do this. Please grab the communion that's right around you. And as we do, we are going to remind ourselves. As you grab that, just— I would encourage you, just be honest with the Lord about where you're at this morning. If you are a Christian, we invite you to participate in communion. If you're not, just refrain. And I want you to take those elements in your hand, and those are a reminder of Christ's blood shed for you and his body broken for you. And I want us all to ask the question, maybe through tears, don't you care? Do you care, God? I want to invite you to take the bread in your hand. This is Christ's body broken for you. Go ahead and take the bread. Do you care, Lord? Take the cup in your hand. Christian, this is Christ's blood shed for you. Take the cup and let's stand and pray as we end.
37 · The closing prayer rehearses the sermon's four-part Christological structure (in the boat, over the storm, in the storm, bringing peace) and asks God to help the congregation simply relocate their faith onto Jesus rather than striving for strong faith
Lord, only you know where each member of our church is. Only you know the private places that they may be tempted to ask whether or not you care. Lord, I pray that as we very much feel ourselves in the storm this year in various ways, you would remind us that you are in the boat with us, that you're over the storm, that you were thrown into it, and that one day you will bring peace to it. And I pray that we would today not work up a level 100 faith. But rather do something simple and attainable for any of us, which is just take our faith off wherever it is and put it on you. In your name we pray for your help. Amen.