Dr. E. Stanley Jones, that great Methodist preacher & missionary, once said, “I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath, these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely, these are my native air.
[Then Jones shares this story], A John Hopkins University doctor says, ‘We do not know why it is that worriers die sooner than the non-worriers, but that is a fact.’ But I, who am simple of mind, think I know; we are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to live against reality.”So, how is it in your life today? Are you living life—or parts of it—motivated by faith … or by fear? What is the ‘native air’ that you breathe? Listen to what happened to the disciples one day as they too were learning lessons of faith & fear (John 6:16-21, NLT)…
That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. 17 But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. 18 Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. 19 They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, 20 but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here!” 21 Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!
This section of the Gospel story takes place immediately after the Feeding of the 5,000 miracle. The people were wowed! They knew that this had to be the military Messiah that they’d been looking for! And, leading up to today’s story, we see that Jesus sensed danger in the crowd; they were ready to force him to be their earthly KING … and so he slipped away to be by himself (or take a walk with God the Father)…
The disciples, as usual, went down by the shore of the Sea of Galilee and waited for Jesus to return. When he didn’t according to their schedule, they took matters into their own hands … and got into a bit of trouble. [I know that some of the other Gospels add some things or take a different perspective, but today we’re dealing with John’s perspective of this event…]
How many times have we decided to pray about the serious things of life … and then when God doesn’t answer our prayers in our time, we go ahead and move on with what we have planned? Let’s begin there…
SOMETIMES, WE GET OURSELVES AHEAD OF GOD… So, how many of you here today can honestly say that you’ve done this— got yourself ahead of God at times … especially you men!
I’ll give you an example of something that happened in my life within the past week or so… Have you ever wanted something [and, yes, I mean selfishly] so badly that—even though you knew you needed to pray about it, you basically just told God [and the rest of the world], “I’ll handle this one myself?”
I really wanted a particular kind of speaker to go in my vintage guitar amplifier [’67 Princeton Reverb]. I hunted and hunted and hunted for one on eBay. I was looking for one that didn’t need repair … and those were hard to find. Well, I finally found one—just like I’d been looking for—a couple of weeks ago … and placed a [maximum] bid on it. Then, you just kind of see how the auction goes…
About a day after I’d bid on this special speaker, I was talking to a friend of mine down in Platteville, very proud of myself for finding this speaker, and let him know what I’d done. Being extremely knowledgeable on this subject, he asked me a question. He said, “Did you check the ohms?” [Silence…] “The ohms,” I said. “Yep, the ohms. The ’67 Princeton takes an 8 ohm speaker. Make sure you didn’t bid on a 16 ohm speaker.”
I quietly got out of that conversation … and then wondered to myself: “How in the world am I going to tell Jane that I bid (probably over-bid) on a speaker that wouldn’t work in my amp?” How dumb can I be?
You know, folks, my dad taught me a long time ago to … pray about everything! People have said that my father walked so close to God that he didn’t even sneeze but what he asked God if it was O.K. first… I grew up with that man! You’d think I would have learned this lesson a long time ago, wouldn’t you?
Now, folks, for me … it was a $250 speaker. For Klint McCutchin … it was probably coming home and telling Wanda, “Oh, by the way, I bought a $100,000 crane today.” It doesn’t matter what it is—a decision on something to buy, an important decision regarding a relationship (God, should I marry this person?), or a decision about something like a new job… Are we getting ahead of God, as the disciples did, or are we waiting on the Lord—in prayer—like scripture teaches us to? Well, the disciples decided not to wait … and they got into ‘a boat-load of trouble!’ (Please excuse the pun…)
Unlike Bray Lake, that we’re blessed to be by today, the Sea of Galilee is 650 feet below sea level, 150 feet deep, and surrounded by hills. It is very susceptible to sudden windstorms that would cause very high waves. Such storms (especially for those disciples who’d fished there) were expected … but, nevertheless, frightening! And that’s where the disciples found themselves—about 3 miles out in the middle of Galilee, in the middle of a storm that was capable of taking all of their lives! But, then came Jesus…
They were probably thinking to themselves, at this point, ‘We’d have been better off if we’d been more patient and waited back on shore with the crowd.’ Folks, make no mistake about it, by this point they were full of FEAR! But, then they hear that strong, very familiar, voice say (v. 20), “Don’t be afraid. I am here!” And they eagerly receive him into the boat. Well, sometimes we do get ahead of God…
BUT, IN THE MIDST OF OUR FEARS, BY FAITH … WE SHOULD EXPECT GOD TO BE THERE! Here, Jesus is giving these disciples … the assurance of his presence! Again, verse 20 reads: “… but he called out to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here!’”
About the only thing I can liken this too is when scary things would happen in the middle of the night when I was a kid…
Does anyone here remember having bad dreams as a kid? I did. (My mother used to tell me that I must have had a guilty conscience…) But, I would wake up in the middle of the night, apparently making enough noise that my parents came running, and they would wake me, let me know they were there, and everything was going to be O.K.—the assurance of their presence…
One night, my brother and I were sleeping in the same lower bunk (because we’d snuck cookies and eaten them in the upper bunk and it was full of crumbs), and we were so crowded that—in the middle of the night—I hit my head on the corner of a window sill … and, well, woke to a horrible sight (blood everywhere, etc.), was take immediately to the doctor, etc. Anyway, my mom was the only one there that night … but, I could count on her. I had faith in the fact that she would be there for me … and she was—the assurance of her presence…
In the same way, Jesus wants to give each and every one of us … every time we get ahead of him [though we should learn this lesson sooner or later] … the assurance of his presence in our lives! And what can take place when we put our faith in him, allowing Jesus into our lives (our boats), is this:
WHEN WE ALLOW GOD TO DWELL [TAKE UP RESIDENCE] IN OUR LIVES, WE TOO WILL BE BROUGHT TO SAFETY! Look how this story ends in Verse 21: “Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!”
Now, sometimes we miss what happened at the end of this story. Just before … the Feeding of the 5,000. Here, John tells us that when Jesus is allowed to get into the boat … ‘immediately they arrived at their destination!’ So, what happened here? Did time pass fast because Jesus was telling them ‘loaves & fishes’ jokes along the way? Was he some kind of wizard cruise director who kept things going while they were afloat? NO! What happened here, the way that John remembers it, was yet another miracle! When Jesus got into the boat, they were immediately at a safe place on shore… And, why not? He just got done feeding several thousand people with a few loaves and fishes…
Folks, faith is believing in (being conscious of) the fact that Jesus is always there. Do you believe that today? And, just knowing that he is there—the assurance of his presence in our lives … can get us through anything we face in life—even our own foolish blunders! Won’t you let the Jesus who calms the storms of life … dwell in you today? May his peace and his presence … be yours today!