Let us launch out into the deep

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 2023

Luke 8 verses 22 – 26

A picture of our lives is seen in these 5 verses.  A few hours spent in a little boat.  Here we see the faltering and failings of the disciples.  They walked so closely with the Lord, spent time with him yet here they thought he didn’t care about them.  They thought they were going to perish.  Sometimes we get thoughts like that.  We go through hard difficult times and some times people don’t really understand what we are struggling with.  Remember Jesus on the cross.  He was going through a difficult time.  He cried “my God, my God why hast thou forsaken me.”  He prayed it himself.  We could nearly forgive the disciples here in these verses because of that.  The ups and downs of Christian living is seen here.  Some think that the Christian life is airy fairy living but it is not like that.  There are deep valleys, sorrows, burdens, heartbreaks.  So many things can happen in our living for Christ.  Those who are closest to the Lord thought their master had forgotten about them, that he would see them perish.  Thinking of these 5 verses as life’s journey.  Jesus said to his disciples “Let us go over unto the other side of the lake and they launched forth.”  No questions asked.  Let us look at this journey they were on.  They launched forth.  Have we launched ourselves, left the shoreline, depending on nothing else but the Lord?

Every journey has a commencement – there is a beginning, a starting point in the Christian life.  This was a busy day for Jesus and his disciples and it ends with a decision to be made.  They had to plan their next step.  Jesus got into the boat with his disciples and he said these words unto them: “Let us go over unto the other side of the lake.”  The disciples were prepared to do it.  Am I prepared to do what the Lord asks me to even on the busiest of days?  Are we too prepared, too settled in our own lives and not thinking of others?  Are we reading the scriptures daily?  Are we prepared to listen to what God has to say?  God speaks through his word and the disciples launched out.  They listened to what he wanted them to do and they obeyed.  Are we certain of that day, the moment when we followed Christ?  The apostle Paul came to Athens in Acts 17.  He was looking around him and he could see the whole city given over to idolatry.  Men and women were worshipping idols.  The seemed to be happy, content in it.  They had a multiplicity of gods.  One altar stuck in Paul’s mind – one to the unknown god.  They didn’t want to leave this god out.  Paul took up this theme.  "Let me tell you about this god you worship unknowingly.”  He said to these philosophers and Stoicks “one day God will judge the world, one day this scene of time will be wrapped up.”  (Hebrews 1 verse 12).  One day the Lord will fold this world up just like you fold a garment and we need to be ready for that day.  Paul told these philosophers – this lifestyle you have, God has looked at it.  God has winked at it, turned a blind eye to what you are doing.  You have heard of this Saviour.  God demands you to repent.”  As Paul looks at these people in Athens he seems them content with their religiosity,   There has to be a moment in our lives when we repented, looked to Jesus, bowed the knee to him, took him as Saviour, were born again of the Spirit of God.  Nicodemus was a very religious, righteous man.  He made his way one night to Jesus.  Jesus could say to him “except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  It didn’t depend on his religiosity.  He had to trust Christ as Saviour and Lord.  Have we launched out?  Are we following after Christ?  Have we launched out on our spiritual journey?  What about Peter?  He fished all night and caught nothing.  The next day Jesus said to him “launch out”.  Sometimes we don’t mind launching out a little bit but not too far.  We don’t want to get too involved.  Jesus passed by Matthew one day and he said to him “follow me”.  Matthew left his desk and followed Jesus wholeheartedly that day.

The company on the journey.  The disciples were in the boat travelling with the Lord, they had their eyes fixed on him.  They had listened to what he had to say.  They were happy to be in the boat because Jesus was with them.  How important company is on life’s journey.  Paul said to the Corinthians “be not unequally yoked with unbelievers.”  He was speaking of relationships and friendships, the saved and the unsaved working together.  People get into trouble whenever they go with the wrong crowd.  In Psalm 1 we read the testimony of the psalmist “blessed is the man”  He has found something good.  He is not walking with the ungodly, not standing in the way of sinners and not sitting in the seat of the scornful.  You usually find there will be people to encourage you in life but there are plenty of others who just want to pull you down and discourage you.  Company is important.  Fellowship is important.  When Mathew rose up from that desk that day he was following good company.  He had his eyes set on the Lord but he was following the Lord.  He didn’t know what was in store for him.  The disciples didn’t know what would happen when Jesus told them to launch out.  Maybe we want to know our end from the beginning.  We don’t need to know that but rather need to follow Christ.  In Numbers 22 the children of Israel had to pass through the land of the Moabites.  Balak was their king and the children of Israel were a threat to him.  He sent word for Balaam to come and curse them.  God took notice of this meeting.  Balak sent messengers to Balaam with news that he would give him great riches.  God told Balaam not to go.  God is interested in our company.  The same thing happened to Rehoboam.  When he came to the throne he went to the peer group he had grown up with and asked them for advice on how he was to rule.  He neglected to listen to the older men.  Paul said in Corinthians “come out from among them and be ye separate” (2 Corinthians 6 verse 17).  We are living in a society where church is a social movement made up of all sorts of functions.  It is no longer the place where the gospel is proclaimed.  People are sitting under a man who does not proclaim the gospel message.  We need to be in good company today.

The crisis that hit.  After the toil of the day Jesus went and fell asleep in the boat.  You can almost see what happened next.  A storm arose and the boat began to fill with water.  The disciples tried to deal with it in their own ability but couldn’t get out of the crisis.  The master was there all the time.

The confusion – the disciples were confused about the master’s position.  They had forgot the master had said “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.”  Jesus asked them “where is your faith?”

The comfort.  Jesus got up and rebuked the winds.  Everything was calm.  Calmness came through the word of the living God in that time of crisis and confusion.  We will find comfort in the word of God.  The people in the Corinthian church were scared.  They thought they had missed out on Jesus’ return.  Paul said “comfort ye with these words”.  We find comfort in God’s words.  Let’s leave the shore behind.  It is safe there yes but will we say to the Lord today “here I am, I am willing to go wherever you want me to and do whatever you want me to do.”