Sermon notes from Sunday 17 May 2015
Matthew 8 verses 23 – 27
The Miracles of Jesus Christ
There
is a tremendous lesson about the disciples in these miracles. We see a failure on their part, they had
somehow lost the wonder of this miracle working in the man in their midst. These were the same men who walked with him,
ate with him, preached with him, prayed with him, seen so many mighty miracles
performed but somehow they couldn’t put this miracle working power into their
lives. The Jesus in the midst of the
storm in the sea of Galilee is the same one who stands in our midst today. Remember the words of the apostle Paul. I think he got it right when he weighed up
the whole situation he was in from time to time especially to the church of
Ephesus “now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in
the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” Let’s apply His guiding hand to our lives
today, apply it to the storm going on in our lives look to the one who with one
word can calm the storm within.
The
course that was taken. Verse 23 “and when he was entered into a ship
his disciples followed him.” Here’s a
course set out for the disciples that would take them into the midst of the
storm. The disciples knew nothing about
it, didn’t know what lay ahead. Here
were the disciples at the bidding of the Lord, got into the ship and followed
him. Are you following the Lord today
through his word as you meditate on it, as you hear him speaking to you through
it? Are you involved in the things he
really wants you to be involved in this morning? He is asking you to follow him. Maybe you are unsaved. If you haven’t stepped out to follow the Lord
yet he beckons you to follow him. “All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In our natural state we will never see
heaven’s gates nor look into Christ’s own face.
He asks you to take his hand so that he can show you Calvary, to see
Christ dying there for your sins. He
wants to take away your sins and make you ready for home one day. In Mark 4 where this same story is recorded
we read Jesus saying “let us pass over unto the other side.” Here was the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to
the disciples and telling them “I want to get into the boat and go to the other
side and I want you to be with me.” He
wanted their company that day. He said
to the disciples “let’s go to the other side”.
They didn’t know that half way across they would run into a serious
storm, run into an awful crisis. Right
now in your life there is something happening and the Lord has spoken to you
and you are following him. Through the
words of Mark’s gospel there is a sense that there was going to be a far
side. There was no way this boat would
sink in the middle. We might have many a
storm but Christ is in control, in the midst of the storm. It is up to you and I to keep our eyes on
him. Peter said “we are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation.” (chapter 1 verse 5) John 10 “my sheep hear my voice and I know
them and they follow me.” He is speaking
of his sheep, how they hear his voice and they follow him. A hireling they will not follow, the hireling
is just paid to do the job, he doesn’t care for the sheep. “My people hear my voice and follow me.” Great onus is on you and me today, to read and
meditate on the word of God, following hard after the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I need to get so acquainted with the
word of God that we know his voice.
Jesus said to the disciples “let us get into the boat and they followed
him.” What course are you on today? Have you heard his voice? Are you following after him? Jesus speaking to the apostle Peter in John
21 verse 18 said “Verily verily I say unto thee, when thou wast young thou
girdest thyself and walkedst whither thou woudest but when thou shalt be old,
thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee
whither thou wouldest not.” The Lord was
telling Peter he wouldn’t die before he reached old age. The Lord is in control of your situation and
life today.
The
crisis that developed. They soon found out, would find a crisis,
there was a calamity, the tragedy. They
thought they would perish in the midst of this storm. In the place where they thought God wanted
them to be yet found a calamity. Isn’t
that what Abraham found when he came to the land of promise? The first thing Abraham
found was a famine in the land. Are we
in the place where God would have us to be today? Yet there is a tragedy. Verse 24 the storm arose. The sea is surrounded here with mountains and
very quickly a storm could rise up. This
little boat was in the middle of the sea.
They were startled, gripped with fear.
You can be going on with the Lord so well when something happens. A crisis comes into your life and somehow you
are gripped by fear. The apostle Paul
saved by God’s grace on the road to Damascus called into service to preach the
word of God, small churches were formed and he encouraged them in the
work. Something happens in the life of
Paul, he referred to a thorn in the flesh and he asked the Lord to take it
away. Think of the Old Testament days when
David was raised to be the king. They
were difficult times for him. He went
down to face the giant, felt so strongly about the presence of God. “You have come with all your weaponry,
experience in battle but I come to you in the name of the Lord, the God of
Israel” he told Goliath. He knew the
presence of God in his life yet one day he had to flee from Saul the king of
Israel – why – because Saul got jealous of him.
The people used to sing “Saul has slain his thousands but David his tens
of thousands. David had to flee from his
presence. Later we find he had to flee
again because of his own son. We will
face crisis in our lives. Maybe you are
going through one crisis at this moment in time. The one who has called you into the midst of
it will be with you, through it all.
Jesus was sleeping in the boat when the storm rose up. He was still with them, right in the midst of
the crisis. There may be disappointments
at this moment in time. God has meant it
for good. Elijah was God’s prophet,
evangelising, all out for God. God told
him one day to flee to the brook Cherith.
He was right in the centre of God’s will. He would take a drink from the brook, looked
to the heavens for the ravens who would bring him bread and flesh in the
morning. At the time when he felt
peckish again in the evening he looked for the same ravens. He trusted the Lord would point them in his
direction. They never failed. The only time they stopped was when God moved
him onto the next stage.
The
cry they made. It was a cry that revealed a lack of
trust. The master was sleeping at the
back of the ship. The disciples felt he
didn’t care. Sometimes we get to the
place where we wonder is God in this, could I have taken the wrong step? That is where the disciples were. Their cry was directed to him. It might have revealed a lack of trust. They came to their feet. When Jesus sent his disciples out he told
them they would have power over demons and spirits but they had something very
special than that. “Rejoice because your
names are written in heaven.” That is
far more important, that is the most important thing. That your name is written in heaven. When the disciples began to worry about food
and clothes he told them their heavenly father knew all about that but they
were not to concern themselves. He knew
all about them even in the midst of the storm.
The children of Israel were delivered from bondage in Egypt by the blood
sprinkled on the door of the house. The
Lord delivered them out into the wilderness but somehow they forgot about the God
who had delivered them. He had power to
bring them out of slavery. They saw the
Egyptian army coming after them and they started to doubt that God was with
them. They faltered and didn’t trust
God.
The
challenge Jesus gave. The disciples asked him to save them or they
would perish. Verse 26 “why are ye
fearful?” Isn’t that what the Lord wants
us to do? The challenge is we must bring
our fears, doubts and unbeliefs to him.
The disciples had such fear that they couldn’t see the great miracle
taking place before them. Verse 27
sometimes in a crisis we have cause to reflect.
Sometimes we feel the finger of God on us. Peter walked on the water, able to do that
unnatural thing because the Lord had bid him to do it. As long as his eyes were on the master he
could do it but when he took his eyes off the Lord he began to sink. “Why did you look away, where’s your faith”
Jesus asked him. It was all Peter’s own
thinking. Did the disciples feel the
storm would defeat God? Did they think
He had no control over the sea? Did they
lose out on his power? Their cry went
before the Lord. There is a storm today,
a crisis today. Sometimes we don’t have
any answers, cannot’ understand it.
There will be things in our lives we cannot understand, there will be
things in our world we will never understand but I have to keep trusting the
God of heaven as go through because he is in control of the storm.
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