This is a copy of my talk given at Saint Stephen’s in the Anglican Church of Paphos on Sunday 23 June 2024. The Bible Reading was Mark 4:35-41.
Prayer
Heavenly Father
I thank You for Your word
By the power of the Holy Spirit
May You speak to my heart
And change my life
In the precious name of Jesus I pray
Amen.
Introduction
Have you ever tried to get away from the storms of life, only to find that they have followed you? If so, you can understand something of what happened in Mark 4:35-41. Jesus needed to get away from the crowds. They were draining him; he was tired and needed to rest and so he asked his disciples to take him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by hills, is 700 feet below sea level, and it is prone to sudden, violent storms. You could be out on a boat enjoying a beautiful day, and quite literally out of the blue, a life-threatening storm could hit. One minute, things are quiet and calm; and the next, there is a raging storm threatening to capsize your boat. One minute, life is going along quite smoothly. Quietly, calmly, routinely. And the next minute, quite suddenly something happens which throws our life into complete and total chaos.
At least four of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen, who had surely survived storms on this sea, but they’d also have known fishermen who were lost at sea. They were strong, self-reliant men who would handle danger as a matter of course. The danger on this evening is not moderate, but deadly. The storm was unsettling the disciples, and so was the fact that Jesus was asleep during the storm. The disciples wanted Jesus to be awake and alert. They wanted Him to take command of the situation. Perhaps they were scared that Jesus would abandon them in a crisis. The heart of their fear was the lack of faith.
Have you ever experienced storms in your life? It’s an obvious question, I know. I’m thinking about those times where things just didn’t seem to make sense? Times where your problems seemed so big, and your faith seemed so small? Times where you felt so swamped and so afraid that you were going to be overtaken by the storm? I think we’ve all had feelings like that, haven’t we? Jesus’ disciples were no different. In Mark 4:35-41 we see what happened when a storm arose, and I want to draw comparisons between Physical Storms and Spiritual Storms.
- Storms Will Come
Even if everything is going great right now, the storms will come. It only takes a split second for everything to change; for everything to be flipped upside down. You may lose your job or suffer an unexpected bereavement or become a victim of wildfires. I’m sure you can all think about your own personal storms, because the list can be quite long at times.
For the disciples it wasn’t a spiritual storm, but rather a physical storm. When they left the docks that evening, everything was fine, but it only took a few seconds for things to go wrong. The winds picked up and the waves crashed over the boat, and the disciples were afraid. And that’s true for us, isn’t it? When the storms come, they bring emotions of fear, anger, frustration, and uncertainty.
If we know that storms will come our way, we have to ask how do we deal with these storms when they come? The first thing we need to do is to never give up. We need to take the storm that is plaguing our life for what it is, and that is a test or trial or temptation. We must remember to never give up!
The next thing we need to do to deal with the storms is to keep focused. It’s so easy when times are hard to lose our focus from the things that are really important or the tasks that we need to accomplish. And isn’t that how Satan traps and entangles us? By putting other things in our life to break our focus and to make us lose sight of our goal. Of course it is. That’s why we need to keep focused.
The third thing we need to do in order to deal with the storms in our life is that we must remember! We must remember to have faith! With faith in Jesus, we can be assured that no matter how bad things get, the storm will not stick around forever.
- Storms Will Go!
I don’t know about you, but I have never seen a storm that has hung around forever. I know that when we have a lot of rain and its cold and miserable outside, it feels like the storm may never disappear, but what eventually happens? The SUN comes out, the temperature rises the rain evaporates and before we know it, the storm is over. We can always take hope in the fact, that no matter how bad things get, the storms will pass.
Jesus’ disciples saw the same things. They thought this storm may last forever, or at least long enough to put an end to them. But what do we see from the story, the SON came out and calms the winds and the waves and the storm that they were so worried about is over.
And isn’t that the way it usually goes! When we realize that we can’t do it on our own, that’s when we ask for help. That’s when we start looking for Jesus. And why do we do that? We do that because we know that Jesus will always be there to calm the winds and the waves of our spiritual lives. He will always be there to strengthen and comfort us. And that leads us to my third point.
- Jesus Is Always There
Just because Jesus is there in the storms of your life, doesn’t mean that you can’t look for Him in the good times. It doesn’t mean that you should only ask for His help and guidance in the bad times, because He wants to be there when things are going great. He wants to share in your joys as well as your sorrows. Jesus is always there.
When we look at the disciples in the story, at what time did they go and get Jesus. It was when times were really bad, it was when they had no place else to turn. I think that is something that each and every one of us should think about! I like the poem called Footprints. For those of you that have never heard it, it goes like this:
A lot of people feel that the greatest phrase in this poem is the last line where the Lord says: “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.” And while I agree that it is a wonderful phrase, it’s not the best part to me.
The best part to me is during the rest of the man’s life, there were two sets of footprints in the sand. The two sets of footprints in the sand remind me that Jesus is always there!
Conclusion
When we go through stormy times in our lives, we need to keep our perspective and realise it’s just a season and it won’t last forever. God is by our side through whatever storm comes our way and after the storm comes the calm, the sun/Son shines and life continues.
Whilst our plans may be interrupted by storms, God’s plans never are. And sometimes, just sometimes, the storm in our life is God’s way of moving us on to a new place for a new purpose and those are the storms and experiences we should never ignore. They lead us, to a new beginning; a new vision; a fresh start.
Safety is not an absence of trouble. It is the presence of Jesus. He has command over everything, even though it sometimes doesn’t appear that way to us. The fact that He slept through the storm reflects his human nature. The fact that He calmed the storm proved that he was fully God at the same time. Warren Wiersbe writes
When trouble comes to our lives, we can do one of three things: endure it, escape it or enlist it. If we only endure trials, then trials become our master and we have a tendency to become hard and bitter. If we try to escape our trials, then we will miss the purposes God wants to achieve in our lives. But if we learn to enlist our trials, they will become our servants instead of our masters and work for us; and God will work all things together for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28).
I was brought up in the Independent Methodist Church and these are the words of a hymn we used to sing:
Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift, or firm remain?
Will your anchor hold in the straits of fear,
When the breakers roar and the reef is near?
While the surges rage, and the wild winds blow,
Shall the angry waves then your bark o’erflow?
Will your anchor hold in the floods of death,
When the waters cold chill your latest breath?
On the rising tide you can never fail,
While your anchor holds within the veil.
Will your eyes behold through the morning light,
The city of gold and the harbour bright?
Will you anchor safe by the heavenly shore,
When life’s storms are past for evermore?
We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love.
Words: Priscilla Jane Owens (1829-99) Music: W J Kirkpatrick (1838-1921)
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER The text contained in this sermon is solely owned by its author, Revd Paul A. Carr. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name.
revPACman 