Harvest Pointe Christian Church, Milford Ohio is a non-denominational Christian Church (Church of Christ) on the Eastside of Cincinnati OH
People Who are Afraid |
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| Sunday, 01 June 2008 | |
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Speaker: John Robinson Series: The People We Meet
People Who are Afraid Luke 8:22-25 Series: The People We Meet I. Storms Strike Fear. II. Fear Becomes Faith. III. Faith Becomes Fear.
Full Text
Jesus has been traveling around a region called Galilee. Let's go to the map.
We are looking at Israel during the time of Christ.
Jerusalem is in the south, down at the bottom. Galilee is at the top, in the north.
Notice in the middle of Galilee is
a large body of water called the Sea of Galilee. It is 13 miles long and 7 miles wide. At its deepest point the lake is only 150 feet deep. At 685 feet below sea level, the sea of Galilee is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the 2nd lowest lake of any kind.
See the Dead Sea at the bottom of the map?
It is a saltwater lake and it is the lowest lake in the world.
Now to the picture.
The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by hill country. This means strong storms strike suddenly.
BiblePlaces.com says, "The peaceful calm of the Sea of Galilee can quickly become transformed by a violent storm. Winds funnel through the east-west aligned Galilee hill country and stir up the waters quickly. More violent are the winds that come off the hills of the Golan Heights to the east. Trapped in the basin, the winds can be deadly to fishermen."
Now, with that in mind, let's read Luke 8:22-23.
"22One day Jesus said to his disciples, 'Let's go over to the other side of the lake.' So they got into a boat and set out. 23As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger."
Picture this:
Jesus says ;let's cross the lake. The sail off towards the other side of the lake. It 's peaceful on the lake. In fact, Jesus, exhausted from a hard day of teaching and healing, falls asleep.
The disciples are doing what Jesus told them to do:
they are sailing across the lake. Everything is going smoothly.
Suddenly, clouds appear on the horizon.
The wind picks up. The waves begin to grow. Then the clouds burst open, dumping their water on the boat.
Between the waves and the rain,
the boat is filling with water. The boat is in danger of sinking. Jesus and the disciples are in danger of drowning.
Verse 24. "24The disciples went and woke him, saying, 'Master, Master, we're going to drown!'"
At least 4 of the disciples were fishermen.
They had grown up on this lake. For them to be afraid, it had to be a bad storm! This storm struck hard and fast and it struck fear in the disciples.
Point 1:
I. Storms strike fear.
The storms of life strike us all.
If you are not in a storm, either you just left one behind or you are about to be in one.
And seeing those thunderclouds form on the horizon
strikes fear in the bravest of souls.
People fear a whole list of things.
Fear of high gas prices. In case you haven't noticed, the price of gas is higher this year than last.
Fear of a downturn in the economy.
The rising cost of energy is causing the price of everything to go up.
From air travel to ice cream,
from groceries to college, people can't afford to purchase what they did.
This means not as many people are needed to
make the product or provide the service. That means fewer jobs.
Which brings us to fear of job loss.
Just this week DHL announced a major cut back. There could be 7,000 jobs lost in our area.
Fear of failure.
Some people are so afraid of failing that they don't even try or if they do try, they panic and get nervous and don't do their best, making their fears a reality.
Fear of fat.
People's fear of too much weight effects their self image and the way they treat others.
Sometimes they can literally starve themselves,
destroying their health. They become bulimic or anorexic. One of my favorite singers, Karen Carpenter, died of anorexia. Such a beautiful, full voice.
Fear of getting old.
People endure plastic surgery, buy special creams, and dye their hair. They want to look young.
But what they don't realize is
no matter how good the car looks on the outside, you can't change the mileage.
Fear of disease and death.
People go to the gym, pop vitamins, and drink horrible sounding stuff! all to keep their health and strength. Fear of an enemy. People fear the Muslims. People fear China. People fear a bully at work. People fear a bad tempered family member.
And our list could go on and on.
Often people's fears are well founded.
They have been hurt and they don't want to be hurt again.
Someone was in love, but
it didn't work out and they were hurt. They project the qualities of the one who hurt them into others and become gun shy.
Maybe a dog bit them when they were little and
they carry that fear of dogs with them for the rest of their lives.
A parent has sugar diabetes, and
they are afraid of having problems, too.
The storms of life strike fear.
Everyone has experienced a fear.
Several years ago, Randy Reed, a 34-year-old welder, was working toward the top of
a newly constructed water tower outside of Chicago.
All of a sudden, Randy Reed slipped and
he fell 110 feet. That's probably about 4 times the height of our ceiling. He fell 110 feet, barely missing rocks and debris, and Reed landed in the middle of a 6 foot pile of soft sand near the base of the tower.
Coworkers called 911.
Within minutes a rescue crew was on the scene, and miraculously all he had was a bruised lung.
Ironically, while he was being
carried to the ambulance on a stretcher, a couple of feet above the ground, he said to the paramedic unit, "Please don't drop me!"
He survived a 110 foot fall, lived to tell about it,
but once he got on that stretcher a few feet above the pavement, he was a little bit concerned.
Storms strike fear.
But when we survive the storm, 2ndly,
II. Fear Becomes Faith. Verse 24. "24The disciples went and woke him, saying, 'Master, Master, we're going to drown!' He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. '25Where is your faith?' he asked his disciples...."
Everyone is working hard to save the ship.
Suddenly somebody realizes not everybody is helping. Jesus is asleep!
Jesus must have been completely, totally exhausted.
I can understand that.
A friend of mine was being checked out by a doctor
who told him that ½ hour of public speaking carried the same strain on the body as 8 hours of hard physical labor.
Jesus was speaking for more than ½ hour a day
for an extended time.
Marsha and I have been on choppy waters
in sailboats with a much heavier keel than the one Jesus would have been in.
Trust me.
Jesus had to have been tired to sleep through the tossing and pounding of a storm.
Mark tells us Jesus was sleeping on a cushion
in the stern, or the back of the ship.
McGarvey and Pendleton tell us
the cushion was a seat cover made of a sheepskin with the fleece that could be rolled up as a pillow.
So they wake up Jesus.
They need more help!
How does Jesus respond?
He gets up, which in itself is a challenge in a tossing ship.
Then he rebukes the wind and the water.
Mark tells us Jesus told the wind and water, "Quiet! Be still!"
Have you ever been exhausted and
you try to take a nap, and 2 rambunctious, mischievous boys attack you?
I picture Jesus having that same
aggravated attitude as He simply looks up at the sky and tells the wind, "Quiet!" and the howling wind instantly stops, like throw somebody threw a switch..
Ever throw a rock into a pond?
The waves go until they hit the shore. Just calming the wind wasn't going to stop the waves from battering the ship.
So Jesus looks at the waves and commands,
"Be still!" and instantly the sea is calm.
At this point I don't think any of the disciples
were grumpy pessimists and complained, "Why'd He do that? With out the wind, we're going to have to row to shore!"
After commanding the wind and water,
Jesus looks at His exhausted, soaked to the bone disciples and throws his arms up in the air and asks, "Where is your faith?" "Sheesh! Can't a guy get any sleep around here?" And Jesus lays back down and dies to the world.
"Where is your faith?"
I'd bet a big hunk of money that they had plenty of faith in Jesus after that storm was over!! And that faith stayed with them the rest of their lives.
After the storm is over,
fear turns into faith.
I remember people fearing the storm of
35 Cents a gallon gasoline!! Can you imagine that?
I was one of those people that
thought about walking if it ever got that high. But you know what? God got me through 35 cent a gallon gasoline just fine.
I'm still Heaven bound.
I'm still happily married. The world did not end.
Fear became faith.
When people were fearing $1.00 a gallon
we weren't as concerned, because God is still with us.
Then there was
$2.00 and then $3.00 and $4.00 a gallon gasoline. Now the fear is $5.00 a gallon gasoline.
God has gotten us through in the past.
I am confident He will continue to do so in the future. (But that doesn't mean I can't complain about it!) We were in Michigan during the last real recession. The southern half of St. Clair County had a 57% unemployment rate. Due to a botched attempt at a nuclear power plant, our electric increased 50% a year for a few years. 60 % of the people our Church reached moved away out of state.
But you know what?
God got me through a terrible recession just fine. I'm still Heaven bound. I'm still happily married. The world did not end.
Fear became faith.
Now, I don't like our current economic climate,
but I know God will be with us every step of the way. ------------------------------------- My 1st funeral was a 55 day old baby girl. I almost quit the ministry over it. I did not want to go through that again.
But you know what?
God got me through that horrible experience just fine. I'm still Heaven bound. I'm still happily married. The world did not end.
Fear became faith.
Since then I have had more difficult funerals.
A Scripture reading during my Grandfather's funeral. I've had the funeral of aunts and uncles, a brother-in-law and a nephew. Each time God has sent just enough strength and peace to get me through. That's why I believe He will continue to get me through.
No matter what your fear,
turn to God. Ask Him to be with you through the storm and trust Him to be there.
Too often we are all like the man who
fell from the top of the water tower. He survives a 110 foot fall, but is concerned about a 2 foot fall from a stretcher!
Listen, when we do have a hard fall,
there's that 6 foot pile of sand to soften our landing. We may be badly bruised, but we survive.
And if we're honest about it,
aren't we all being carried around on God's stretcher because we've all been badly hurt by the world?
If God was with us through a great fall,
why should we doubt His care during any fall?
We need to let fear become faith.
----------------------------------------------- There was a business man who returned home from a trip.
He'd been out of town for some time and
he got home just after a storm had hit- thunder crashing, severe lightning.
He went up into his bedroom anxious to
crawl into his own bed, his own pillow. However, his 2 kids had crawled into bed with his wife and they were all 3 sound asleep.
So he went and he slept in the guest room that night, but the next day he said,
"Hey, kids, if Daddy's been out of town, he can't wait to come home. You've got to get over this fear. If there's a storm, you've got to try to sleep in your own bed because Daddy wants to sleep in his own bed."
A few weeks later he went on another trip and
when he returned his family met him at the airport.
They came walking down the hallway
to the gate where he was, and the 4 year-old son hollered out as loud as a 4 year-old can, "Daddy! Daddy! I've got good news!"
His dad yelled back, "What's the good news?"
The little boy shouted,
"Daddy, the whole time you were gone, nobody slept with Mommy!" It got real quiet there in the airport. People were waiting to see this woman coming around the corner.
Obviously the 2 children's fear of storms
had turned to faith in the security of their home.
Each time you come through a storm,
your confidence in God grows. Your faith deepens. Fear becomes faith.
But then
III. Faith Becomes Fear.
Verse 25 concludes: "In fear and amazement they asked one another, 'Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.'"
These men had seen Jesus
heal the sick and raise the dead. They had become used to that.
But they still had Jesus in a box way too small.
I'm certain the disciples waited for Jesus' snores
before talking about Him! Nobody wanted Jesus knowing their bewilderment!
I have a wonderful Dad.
We would go hunting and fishing and wrestle around and play ball and all sorts of things together. I love my Dad and have had some great times with him.
But when we were disobedient or bad children,
my mother could strike fear in us by saying, "Just wait till your father gets home!" because we knew we would get an even harder spanking from Dad! And that is the balance we need in our view of God.
Yes, we love God and He loves us.
God wants to bless us. We long to be in His presence.
But we also need to have a healthy fear
when we consider being disobedient.
Most of the time I obey God out of love.
And the older I get the more it is because obedience is the logical thing to do.
But there have been times when fear of punishment
is what kept me on the straight and narrow.
Sometimes we need that.
Jude wrote in Verses 21-23,
"21Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 22Be merciful to those who doubt; [That's the loving God approach. But he goes on to show the other side, the just God] 23snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear-hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh."
God is loving, but He is also just.
Jesus does the same thing when He says in
Matthew 10:28-31, "28Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. [This is the just God side. Jesus goes on to tell of the loving God side.] 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
"Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
In times past, it seemed the emphasis was on
fearing an angry God who was waiting to zap you when you sinned.
But now it seems the pendulum has swung the other way.
Most Churches seem to focus on a loving God who accepts you just as you are.
But we need a balance.
If you just focus on fearing an angry God,
you lose out on the relationship of love and joy that Jesus wants you to have with Him.
But if you just focus on a loving God
who accepts you just as you are, you have no incentive to live the life Jesus commands you to live.
You see, both views are right.
It's just that you have to put them together.
The Scriptures maintain that balance.
In I John 5:12 John wrote: "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."
Yes, there is a loving God who accepts you just as you are.
But it is a conditional relationship. If you do not accept the grace and lordship of Jesus, if you reject Him, then God has no choice but to punish you.
We need to have a healthy fear, an awe of God.
And the more we fear and love the Creator,
the less we fear and dread the circumstances and problems that we face.
If we are in awe of the power of God,
we have confidence that His plan will be worked out in our lives, no matter how bad the storm seems at the moment.
But why do we have to go through these storms?
Chuck Swindoll writes, "But how about those storms of life? Life is filled with God-appointed storms. A sheet of paper ten times this size would be insufficient to list the whirlwinds of our lives. But two things should comfort us in the midst of daily lightning and thunder. First, we all experience them, and second, we all need them. God has no other method more effective. The massive blows and the shattering blasts-not to mention the small, constant irritations-smooth us and humble us and force us to submit to the role that he has chosen for us."
When we go through a storm,
we grow and become the person God wants us to be. And our fear becomes faith.
Scott Krippayne wrote a song entitled,
Sometimes He Calms the Storm It goes:
All who sail the sea of faith
Find out before too long How quickly blue skies can grow dark And gentle winds grow strong Suddenly fear is like white water Pounding on the soul Still we sail on knowing That our Lord is in control
Sometimes He calms the storm
With a whispered peace be still He can settle any sea But it doesn't mean He will Sometimes He holds us close And lets the wind and waves go wild Sometimes He calms the storm And other times He calms His child
He has a reason for each trial
That we pass through in life And though we're shaken We cannot be pulled apart from Christ No matter how the driving rain beats down On those who hold to faith A heart of trust will always Be a quiet peaceful place
Sometimes He calms the storm
With a whispered peace be still He can settle any sea But it doesn't mean He will Sometimes He holds us close And lets the wind and waves go wild Sometimes He calms the storm And other times He calms His child Are you a child of Christ? If not, and you would like to be born into the family of God, come forward in faith when we sing, repenting of your sin and be baptized into Christ.
Or if you've already done that and
would like to place your membership with us, come forward as we stand and sing. |
    
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