Storm-Stiller

Jesus is our “Storm-Stiller”

Mark 4:35-41

In the Name of Jesus, the one who calms all our fears, Dear Christian Friends?

Do you have a worry tree growing in your back yard? The story is told of travelers returning from a journey in the Drakensberg mountain ranges and reporting on a most peculiar sight. They tell of coming upon barren tress; trees that had no leaves, but yet were very colorful. These trees of no leaves were decorated with colorful strips of cloth hanging amidst their many branches. Even more interesting than the strange sight is the reason for the colorful decorations. The travelers were told that these barren trees were worry

trees. As fear would grip the hearts of those living in this region—fear that someone who is ill may die, fear of hunger, fear of attack—

they would tear strips from their clothes and tie them to the branches of these trees with the hope that their fears would never become a

reality. You can well imagine that over a life time of fear one’s worry tree, while empty of leaves, would be filled with strips of cloth.

While our culture may not deal with fear in this manner, that’s not to say that it doesn’t exist. We know all too well that if our fears were suddenly to turn into strips of cloth and hang from a tree in our front yard, every yard would have a worry tree and most would be covered with many colorful strips of cloth. In the words of our text we have glimpse of the worries and fears of the disciples. You might say we have a picture of their worry trees. When we see how many strips of cloth were hanging on these worry tress of Jesus’ own disciples, we are reminded of our own lives, our fears and our own worry tree.

The worries of the disciples centered around a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee. The worries which we experience center around the raging storms of life in this sinful world. And yet Jesus' words assure us that the storms of life don't

need to cause us such worry and fear. May God the Holy Spirit lead us to know and trust that while 1) Jesus allows such storms to rage

2) he also has the power to still and quiet all the storms of our life.

1. He allows the "storms"

Storms are easy to identify. When the skies darken and the clouds roll in and the winds begin to pick up it's a pretty safe bet that a

storm is coming. This no doubt was the case for the disciples on the Sea of Galilee. This body of water was frequently the target of

sudden developing storms with high winds that would rush down from the shoreline hillside. The Bible says: A FURIOUS SQUALL

CAME UP, AND THE WAVES BROKE OVER THE B0AT SO THAT IT WAS NEARLY SWAMPED.

This storm was particularly violent. Even for Jesus' own disciples of whom many were veteran fisherman by trade, we frightened as it

had tornado like winds. In fact, it would appear that in the opinion of these seasoned fishermen, the situation was life threatening. And

yet when we look at the circumstances and the perilous situation of the disciples we remember that it was the all-knowing Lord and Savior who had first suggested that the disciples and he set off from shore to escape the crowd for a time. It was Jesus who said:

LET US GO OVER TO THE OTHER SIDE. While it might have appeared to the disciples that this storm came out of nowhere, Jesus

knew otherwise. He knew it was going to come and he knew it would serve his purpose. Just as the storms on the Sea of Galilee are easy to identify so also are the storms that rage in our own lives.

One of the continuing temptations every Christian has to deal with is the misleading thought that, just because the Lord is with us and we are on his personal agenda, everything will turn out smoothly. Mistakenly we assume or others help us assume that life in the Christian congregation, the Christian school, the Christian marriage and family ought always to be blissful and problem-tree. After all we are the Lord's people doing the Lord's work. That ought to count for something. Right? While it is true that God promises to bless us, we need to know that

all of his blessings are ours by grace. None of them are earned or merited because of our Christian faith. Because we have a sinful nature, what the Lord desires for us and what we desire for ourselves are often two different things. Our

sinful nature is wicked, self-centered and lazy. It is content to know as little as possible about God. It abhors a life of service to him. It

wants a life served to it on a silver platter.

God's desires for us, however, are just the opposite. He wants us to know our sinful nature, admit our weakness, and acknowledge our

need to depend on him alone for everything. Sometimes the way God chooses to accomplish this is by allowing us to battle the storms

of life, letting their waves’ crash over us so that we find ourselves swamped. It is then that we realize our sinfulness, admit our weakness and acknowledge our human limitations. It is then that God has our attention so that he can begin to show us his grace, mercy, and love. It is then that our hearts are ready for God to rescue us from our spiritual drowning.Because Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen and when, he felt that best thing for the disciples to see was a sleeping Jesus. So he slept peacefully amidst imminent danger. What a contrasting picture Jesus, by design, lays before us. On the one hand, the disciples are fearful for their lives and doubtful about their safety. And then there's Jesus who appears not to have a care in the world as he lies asleep in the boat. On the surface it's enough to make a person down right frustrated and angry.

Isn't that the way it sometimes seems with our lives too. Daily we struggle with fears and doubts. We fear loneliness, or illness or guilt

for our sins before God. We sometimes doubt if God is still in control of the raging storms in our personal life or our family life or our

married life. At times it may appear as if Jesus is sleeping when it comes to caring for us and protecting us. We sometimes get the

impression that Jesus doesn't really care or maybe he cares but he's powerless to help. Fear and doubt breed accusations and finger

pointing. Such was the case with the disciples. And they were pointing the finger right at Jesus when they said:

TEACHER, DON'T YOU CARE IF WE DROWN?

Jesus wasn't unaware of the situation. But Jesus wasn't worried either. Why should he be? Why should he worry when he has all power

in heaven and on earth at his command? Why should he worry when he has already conquered the fiercest of all foes, Satan himself?

Jesus, as true man, knows the storms of our sinful life. He too had to endure them and defeated them by his perfect life, innocent death

and glorious resurrection from the dead. And so why should we worry when in faith we believe that Jesus is on our side, that he is our

Savior, that he is our God, that his victory over sin, death and hell is our victory over every fear and doubt?

But we, like the disciples, are children of God who are slow to learn. So we often confuse Jesus' loving discipline with the sinful

attitude "You just don't care about me." A child would say this to a parent after being disciplined. A Christian might even accuse the

heavenly Father of the same, "You just don't care." The truth of the matter is, God does care. He cares so much that he gave his only

Son to die for us. How then are we to act when it appears as if Jesus is sleeping right through our sleepless, worry-tilled nights? How it

is that we are to respond to the loving discipline from our heavenly Father? By listening to His Word. That's what the disciples did. By

listening to Jesus' words they soon learned the lesson that while Jesus allows the "storms" he also calms the "storms."

2. He stills the "storms"

After the disciples had awakened Jesus from his sleep he rebuked the wind and spoke to the waves: QUIET! BE STILL! Immediately

the wind and the waves calmed down. This striking contrast from a violent storm to a glass-like stillness on the water's surface was no

mere coincidence. It was a result of the power of Jesus' Word over the forces of nature. Modern technology and advanced weather

forecasting can only warn communities of a devastating tornado. They have yet to prevent one from occurring. And yet the simple

words of our Savior calmed the devastating forces in nature. It is this same power of God's Word that created this world and the

universe. It's that same powerful God who caused the sun to stand still in the sky so that Joshua and Israelites could defeat their

enemies. It's that same powerful God who through Moses parted the Red Sea and rescued his people from the armies of Pharaoh.

That same powerful Word of God that created the world, parted the Red Sea, and stilled the storm, calms all the storms in our lives as

well. It's that powerful Word of the Lord, like in Psalm 12I, which assures us: THE LORD WATCHES OVER YOU, THE LORD

IS YOUR SHADE AT YOUR RIGHT HAND; THE SUN WILL NOT HARM YOU BY DAY, NOR THE MOON BY NIGHT.

THE LORD WILL KEEP YOU FROM ALI HARM, HE WILL WATCH OVER YOUR LIFE; THE LORD WILL WATCH

OVER YOUR COMING AND GOING BOTH NOW AND FOREVER. That same powerful Word of the Lord removes all our

fear and guilt over our many sins. With God nothing is impossible, even the cleansing of our souls from sin and guilt. The powerful

Words of Jesus assure us: TAKE HEART, BE OF GOOD CHEER, YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN.

A growing faith in Jesus as Savior from sin is the only lasting cure for worry and fear. It's the only thing that is going to prevent the

worry trees from growing in our lives. And the Bible tells us that this faith, faith in Jesus as Savior, comes from one thing, “Faith

comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Long ago Jesus stilled the

storm on Galilee and today he continues to still the storms in FDL, at Faith Congregation and in our personal lives. Only the Word of

God can truly still every storm in life.

After Jesus had spoken to the wind and waves and had stilled the storm on the Sea of Galilee, he then spoke to his disciples in a way

that once again revealed his power. Jesus asked the disciples: WHYARE YOU SO AFRAID? DO YOU STILL HAVE NO

FAITH? Earlier the disciples had called Jesus TEACHER. It was apparent that they still had not taken their teacher's teachings to

heart. Even now with the winds calm and the waves removed Jesus looked into the hearts of his disciples and saw their wavering faith.

He read their hearts. Jesus wanted them to know that in spite of the fact that he had stilled the storm on the sea, he knew that the storm

was still raging in their hearts; the storm of a weak faith, a doubting faith, a faith still filled with fear. And so with his Words of love he

calls them to repentance for their weakness of faith: DO YOU STILL HAVE NO FAITH? As if to say to his friends, "Come on guys,

don't you know who I am and what I can do for you? Stop doubting and believe."

Jesus knew that the disciples had not yet grasped the truth of who he was and why he came. There own words revealed this when they

asked, WHO IS THIS? Jesus came not primarily to still the storms of day to day living. But he did come to forever still the storm of

sin that rages in our hearts and lives. This storm is life threatening. It has eternal consequences. Jesus waged war against sin, death and

the devil. And Jesus won the victory by his resurrection from the dead. Now he gives that victory to you and me and every believer.

The Bible says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We have no need to fear, no need to worry about

where we will spend eternity. Jesus is the storm stiller.

When the Holy Spirit leads us to believe that Jesus is the greatest storm stiller then our lives will be changed. When the Spirit leads us

to trust in Jesus' victory over sin and death and hell, then all our fears will be put to rest. The worry trees in our lives will fade away.

The questions and the doubts about God's care for us will be replaced with certainty and confidence in his power and love for us. May

the Holy Spirit keep us close to the Word of God so that worries of life do not over take us. And may that same Spirit give us a

stronger faith to know and believe that Jesus has stilled every storm in this life and for eternity. Amen