Certainty in the Storm

There is a great story in Mark's Gospel that gives great insight and affirms the blessing of God's great Sovereignty and I would like to highlight this reality in this post. So...here we go...

Mark 4:35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

The Certainty of God’s Sovereignty – Mark 4:35-36

The doctrine of God’s sovereignty is an essential foundation to our faith in Christ.  This whole day and this experience in the boat was completely under Christ’s sovereignty.  He knew all that would go on, all they would face, where they were going, and whom they would meet on the other side of the lake (5:1-2).

What we fail to see at times is that Christ is going somewhere with this world and truthfully in many ways, we are just along for the ride.  He is not basing what He is doing on us for that would make us central to the His unfolding of history.  Everything that goes on in the world has been sifted through His hands.

Ex.  Jonah – One of the Great Pictures of God’s Sovereignty – Jonah had the freedom to run but He could not go further than the reach of God.

The Certainty of Life’s Storms – Mark 4:37

The Sea of Galilee’s surface was 682 feet below sea level making it the lowest freshwater lake on the earth.  Its location is at the bottom of the Jordan River valley and it is surrounded by steep hills and mountains that can create a funnel of winds come from the Mediterranean on the west and the winds from the desert on the east.  It was not uncommon for there to be violent storms there but just about all of them took place during the day.  Most of the fishing on the Sea of Galilee took place during the night.  One of the reasons they may have been so fearful is that this storm took place at night.

On the surface, it looks like a storm of nature, but what was happening in the boat was a storm of the heart.  This was the greatest storm going on that night.

They were doing exactly what Jesus told them to do, to go to the other side and this brings up an important point – Perfect obedience does not mean that we will be exempt from the struggles of life.  Sometimes like them, we find ourselves in the very fight of our lives and we are overwhelmed and we think they are going to destroy us.

The Sovereign Storms are sent our way

not to destroy us, but to develop us.

At times there are lessons and wisdom that can only be known through struggle.

Q:  What do we do when the “boat” of our life begins to take on water?

Life is just this way at times – things are going smoothly and then the bottom seems to fall out of everything. 

It is interesting how easy it becomes for us to doubt the Lord in the seasons of our lives when the storms arise and think that He is unconcerned about our the predicaments of our lives.

Storms will be encountered 

but they are no match for His Sovereignty.

The Certainty of an Unshakeable King and Kingdom – Mark 4:38a ; Hebrews 12:18-29

Jesus is not worried about anything, but is asleep in the stern.  He was in the storm but He was not bothered by it for He was Sovereign over it.  This must have been a shocking sight for them.  Truthfully for us who have had His Holy Word come to us, this is one of the most insightful pictures of Jesus’ humanity that we have.  He is exhausted and is sleeping through it all.  He is sleeping like one who had no worries on the earth.  This is the only place in the gospels where it says Jesus slept.  Teaching is exhausting and even Jesus experienced this human reality.

What does Jesus do in the midst of our storms?  The answer is not “sleep” through them but He is in a state of absolute calm.

The storms will come, you can count on it, but we must remember we have an unshakable King who reigns above all.

Worship - Is Jesus Enough?

John 4:20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” 

Jesus had a unique conversation about worship in John 4, one that we have lost a bit of clarity on in our day.  As they talked Jesus told her these things...

• True Worship is not tied location - 4:20-21
• True Worship is about knowing God - 4:22
• True Worship is expressed in spirit and truth - 4:23-24 - makes sense as it is about knowing the Biblical God
• True Worshipers are sought by the Father - 4:23-24
• True Worship's aim is the exalting of Jesus grounded in His Words - 4:25-26

This is one of our most insightful texts on the subject of worship found in the Bible and the Holy Spirit led John to include such a long narrative on the subject for us to continue to digest and apply to life. These principles form for us a framework in regard to how we should see worship in the church and in our personal worship time.

What does worship look like in the life of a Christ-follower?  How does it play out?

One of the great examples of this is when Paul and Silas are in Philippi in Acts 16 and suffer at the hands of the Romans.  It is in this narrative where we see how worship in spirit and truth plays itself out in real time.

After casting the demon out of the young girl & causing the financial loss for those who controlled her, Paul and Silas are persecuted and thrown in prison (Acts 16:19-24).

Here is the precursor to their authentic worship...

1.  Tore the garments off them - Usually slaves would have done what the magistrates do here in the tearing of the clothes off of the guilty.

2.  Gave orders to beat them with rods. - Roman law commanded people to be stripped down to their loincloth or underwear, and they would be forced to face and be tied to a large stake with their back and legs uncovered and exposed for the coming punishment. The “beating rods” were usually ¾ of an inch thick so that they could be swung quickly and powerfully. Jewish legal tradition gave a maximum number of blows that could be delivered when beating a person (40), but under Roman, no law existed limiting the amounts of blows.  The rod beating process could cause internal bleeding, broken ribs, crushed vertebrae of the spine, organs damaged, and it at times ended in death.

3. they threw them into prison, - In the Greek, this word means to throw without regard to where or how something lands.  It is a violent word that full of description for contempt for someone else.

4. he put them into the inner prison - The jailer, desirous to guard the missionaries well, threw them into the inner prison, which was a subterranean dungeon where there was little to very poor ventilation, little or no light, dampness, rats, lice, disease, existed in their own filth as there were no bathroom breaks for the prisoners. Being in the inner most cell in the bottom, the refuse and waste of the other prisoners would be been all in Paul and Silas’ cell as they were down below.

5. and fastened their feet in the stocks.

The stocks were in a sense a kind of plank with varied holes designed to keep comfort an absolute impossibility for anyone to remain in, as within the plank there were several holes designed to spread the legs out going out wider so that cramping would ensue.

Here is what authentic worship looks like...

16:25a About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,

Sometimes perfect obedience leads to great persecution.

Q: How do you live in that very moment?  When you cannot find comfort even if you tried.  Q: Is Christ still worth it? They saw the moment as worthy of God exalting prayer and praise.

Tertullian said of this text…“The legs feel nothing in the stocks when the heart is in heaven.”

In this moment for Paul and Silas, they were not looking for Jesus as if he were gone from them, but they exalted Him for they knew He was closer than their breath!

As we peer into this worship service of two, notice...

1. God-centeredness of their worship. 

All eyes and affections were on him. For them, Jesus was enough and they were not having a hard time finding Him in the darkness of the cell.  There was a light inside that prison that with the eye you could not see and it was the light of God’s presence enveloping two men.

2. Simplicity of Pure Worship

Nothing is needed but a heart alive and Jesus to worship. Notice what is not present and this is critical for us to see in our brand of American Christianity. Paul did not turn to Silas and say...how are we going to worship without a hip band? Where are the lights? There are no comfortable chairs? There is not going to be enough people to make it all exciting? Where is the energy we need to get us going?

“It smells in here too much to worship.  It is too hot in here.  It is too dark. Etc. etc”.

Our brand our American Christianity can be so weak that if we are not careful we will never reach the intimacy like we are reading here, and part of the reason is that we think we need the perfect environment to make the worship gathering good and effective and where we can say…”I would grow to maturity if my minister, leader, parents, music, band, etc. were better”. 

They had none of the things that are emphasized and longed for in the western church. Their environment had no AC, padded chairs, their clothing was bloodstained from persecution, and their worship furniture consisted of chains and stocks for their feet.  

Hopefully you and I have not bought into the lie that deep worship and maturity only come from the right place and environment.  

(3) Deep Confident Trust in God’s Sovereignty

They knew God was in control of all things.  One does not get this kind of a worshiping life by solely relying on the pastor, the right music, the right amount of energy. They had deep trust in God’s Sovereignty. They walked and worshiped in Spirit and Truth!

(4) Deep Intimate Knowledge of His Word

These men knew the God of the Scripture and their worship was branded by it. For these men, they did not come up with an excuse in the stocks as to why they should tame and delay their worship.

2 Corinthians 4:8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  Paul looked at Christ in the midst of his horrible circumstances and that is how they did not crush him.

I long to worship like this where my heart is so alive to Who He Is.