Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.
It's our hope that these sermons will draw you
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Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and
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Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this
sermon. God Bless. Lord God, we thank you for
your Word. God, I pray that you would speak today
into the places of our fears, of our uncertainty,
and that you would assure us of your great loving
presence to us. Lord, we're thankful for the
Word that you give us. We pray that we would
hide it in our hearts this morning. Amen. All
right, so let me tell you about one of the things
that my kids are into these days. We have a competitive
crew and so this spills out into all kinds of
things. One of the things that spills out too
is in watching commercials. So we're watching
like a basketball game or something and a commercial
comes on and the game is who can name what company's
commercial it is first, right? So that's what
they do. They saw it's this company or that company.
And it becomes a game and it becomes competitive.
But the commercials that they know the best are
the ones that seem to be on the most, which are
insurance companies. They know Flo well, and
they know that she goes with Progressive. They're
familiar with Doug and the Emu, right? and the
jingle, liberty, liberty, liberty, right? You
all know it, come on. They know the farmer's
insurance, we are farmers. Yeah, you all know
it, you all know it just like I do, just like
they do. They know that when Dean Winter's face
comes onto commercial, the end of the Allstate
commercial will say pretty much something like,
and you can be protected from mayhem. Like me
y 'all know that Now I think this is a rather
controversial take And it's something that can
be debated, but I think the best ones are those
ones the mayhem like me ones I think maybe because
flow kind of just annoys me anyway But I also
think because a lot of them are actually fairly
mundane like things that are taking place There's
the one with the baseball dad You know who I'm
talking about? If you don't even know the commercial,
you know the baseball dad. The guy who was yelling
at his kid to hit the ball, and he's getting
in the ref's face, and he's like yelling at the
coach, put my kid in. And then the end of it
is this baseball bat flying through the air and
just landing in the middle of this lady who's
in the parking lot with windshield. And you're
like, yeah, I can see that happening. Pretty
sure that happens. There's one. Where I hesitate
to do this because I'm gonna go probably out
of I know there's people watching online But
where where he's he's a raccoon in an attic,
you know, and he's just like he's bundled up
like this with all this like You know all the
stuff around him all the attic insulation and
and he's like nodding on some wires and you're
just like yeah, yeah Raccoons, we know those
problems. We had them a lot growing up. They
would get into our trash and the trash would
be all over the place. And actually, my parents
had tons of chickens growing up. And it was just
sort of a normal thing that all of a sudden there'd
be a lot of feathers. There's the beauty blogger.
Oh, y 'all, I know that you have this fear. The
beauty blogger, she leaves the hair straight.
And you know how many times you've done this
and you're like, I better go home because I do
not know if I left the curling iron on, the hair
straightener on, whatever it is, right? They're
playing off of us, off of the real realities
of our fear. And then there's this one that I
actually have had this thought quite a bit. I
still kind of have this thought where he's playing
the gate that comes down when you're driving
out of a parking garage. and it malfunctions,
and he's like, and then your car's just got this
crease on the front hood. And I'm telling you,
I have that thought somewhat regularly when I'm
leaving a parking garage. I'm like, I'm pretty
sure it's gonna malfunction. I'm pretty sure
the hood of my car is gonna have a crease in
it now. And of course, why are these ads so ubiquitous?
Because fear sells. And because these things
actually really could happen to us. It's not
totally divorced from real experience. I mean,
I can tell you, I really do sometimes have the
thought when I am leaving one of those garages
that has one of these, it's gonna, it's possibly
gonna come down on me. And maybe it's because
I watched the commercial. I don't know, but I
have those thoughts. Or, you know what? I was
up above the ceiling two weeks ago with a roofing
contractor. I'm pretty sure there's a squirrel
up there. Thankfully, it looks totally fine.
But these are like real things. We're like, yeah,
raccoons really do get into these spaces and
they really do wreak havoc on us, right? And
I don't know what part of the house they're eating,
you know, this time or whatever. Or the fear
of your child being on a team and one parent
just going berserk on them is a legitimate fear
that happens. I mean, it really happens. That
stuff happens. So why are there so many insurance
ads? Partly because the fear sells, but partly
because these things are actually true. We actually
live in a world that can be very fearful. One
of them is leaving. coals on a grill and then
going into the football game and then you come
out and your car's on fire and you're like that
probably doesn't happen but except when it does.
And these of course in some ways aren't actually
the big fears that we actually have but they
are real fears. In fact, the big fears we have
are in some ways like what our dear sister Donna
Weatherly is living through right now. She's
spent the last two months not at home, not able
to be at home. She's been moved from one rehab
to another rehab, one hospital actually at times
to another hospital. And as grateful as I am
that some of you have gone and visited her and
ministered to her, the truth is that very likely
she will not be with us again in worship. I mean,
that's very likely where that is going for her.
In some ways, the stories of the insurance are
like, they're real, but they're not like the
deep ones. Instead, we actually know sort of
the deeper fears that we have. We live, of course,
in a time of such upheaval. If you maybe kept
track of speeches to Europe recently, last year
you might have heard our vice president sort
of distance. the US relationships with Europe,
and then you just heard maybe our Secretary of
State tried to bring them back together, and
you're like, I don't really know where we are
internationally. Maybe you've actually followed
somewhat the fact that we as a country have moved
aircraft carriers and destroyers close to Iran.
How unsettling. An uncertain time. Will we be
in another war? But it brings up all kinds of
unknowns, right? And of course unknowns bring
up all kinds of fears. What is going to happen?
I spoke a little bit on Wednesday, if you were
here, to just the unbelievably quick development
of AI. And it is going so much faster than I
had any idea of. What will happen when you look
for your next job? That is a legitimate question
for many. Will it be overtaken by a computer
as many jobs have been? What will happen with
the prospect of where your children are when
they are looking for jobs? Those are like real,
real deep -seated fears and understandable ones.
So is it any wonder that insurance ads are ubiquitous?
Of course it's not. Is it any wonder that we
live in a world where we are so eager to vote
for people that say they want strong power and
control, or that you could offer you some level
of safety with free things? That's not surprising,
given the uncertainty of our life, given the
fear that we live in. Now I want you to, I wanna
think this morning of our passage really in two
ways. I want us to sort of walk through where
the disciples find themselves and then I want
us to walk through where Jesus finds himself
and where they find him. And the first thing
that I think you're gonna see, actually the thing
you're gonna see kind of throughout is that where
the disciples find themselves is actually often
just in a place of fear. The first one I wanna
say is related to relational fear and I wanna
say this is relational escape in a way. So verse
45, that first verse that I read, it said, immediately
he made his disciples get into the boat and go
before him to the other side to Bethsaida while
he dismissed the crowd. What we read, if we were
reading the same passage in the Gospel of John
is that he does this and he does it quickly because...
Because Jesus had perceived that after he fed
this enormous crowd, they would want to make
him the king. And of course they would. I mean,
he's just able to feed this enormous crowd of
people and tend to them and care for them. And
they're like, we don't know where else where
we can have this kind of safety and provision.
So Jesus sees this possible riot of this crowd
and he puts his disciples in the boat. He says,
leave. Think about this, the disciples, had already
tried to get away from people, right? I mean,
the passage that Melise read for us actually
begins with Jesus trying to get them away from
people and them needing to get away from people
because they had no leisure even to eat. And
what happened in that story, of course, they
get in the boat and they cross over and then
it says the. people from all the different towns
run and they beat them there and they get to
shore and they're like oh man people again um
all right another crowd um and what do they say
what do they say to jesus i'm actually i'm really
glad malice read this for us send them away we
are so tired of people And now there's this crowd
that we know from John is acting in some kind
of riotous way, which of course once again makes
the disciples in some ways want to hear Jesus
and get in the boat and get to the other side.
Now we're gonna get to their experience of when
they get to the other side and what happens in
the boat and all of that. But listen to what
does happen in verse 53 and 54. When they crossed
over, they came. to land at Gennesaret and more
to the shore. And when they got out of the boat,
the people immediately recognized them and ran
about the whole region. It's the exact same thing
that was happening before, people running all
over and coming to find them. The crowds are
at it again. I mean, people can be exhausting.
They're wanting a relational escape. Jesus even
invites them to it and then they don't find it.
And okay, I just want to say this very seriously.
Isn't some of the great fears that we have in
our lives that we won't be able to handle the
relational dynamics that are given to us? On
a really small level, Some of you feel this at
the passing of the peace, right? And I want to
say it's totally fine if you just want to stay
exactly where you are while other people come
up to you. And if you don't want to say the peace
of the Lord be with you to everybody, that's
okay. Churches need to be very welcoming to people
that are more introverted. And I know I'm I'm
eager to say hello to everybody, and so maybe
I need to give people some space, right? So some
of you know, like, there's a relational thing
that you're like, I cannot handle this, right,
on that kind of level. But, of course, this happens
on much more serious levels, right? Think of
the mother who is overwhelmed by a child who's
so sickly. and a husband who doesn't know how
to engage with this well and their relationship
is more and more distant. And the friends that
seem to be going to the wayside because so much
time is spent just caring for the child whom
this parent loves and who now there's like this
almost anger towards and there's a relational
dynamic that is just so overwhelming and so full
of fear and it brings up so much insecurity and
so much uncertainty. Or think of Ben Rector's
song, Wonderful World. The second verse he sings,
I've taken medicine, I bought an ottoman. He's
talking about becoming a middle -aged dude. I've
taken medicine, I bought an ottoman. I got a
bigger house with bigger trees. And then he says
this, I'm getting better at not blaming mom and
dad. I'm trying to figure out what it all means.
And some of you are parents living with the real
heartache that your children are still blaming
you. Still so upset. With seemingly everything.
On the other hand, maybe some of you are learning
actually how deeply wounded you are from your
family. From your family life. Some of you are
angry at your parents. and you don't know what
to do with it and you don't know when that anger
will subside. What I'm saying is that there's
like a relational overwhelm this in this passage.
And that's part of like the fear that the disciples
live in given that the last passage is them saying,
send them away. And then they are fraught with
the idea that they're all still right there.
The first movement that we see the disciples
make here is a relational escape and they find
themselves right back in it. And what I'm saying
is that some of the great fears that we live
in is actually the relational dynamics and how
can we actually live into them well or how do
we do this when we don't live into them well?
It all seems so broken. Where is the crowd at
the end? Did you actually notice this? The crowd
is like everywhere at the end. with 55, and this
is talking about the people, they ran about the
whole region and began to bring the sick, the
people in their beds, and whoever they heard
he was. And wherever he came in villages, cities,
and country sides, they laid the sick in the
marketplace. Villages, country sides, cities,
marketplace, wherever they're running, and just
like, okay, we're right back in it. Which is
to say, in some ways, there's no real escape.
And for a lot of us that's a great fearful thing
because we don't know how to deal with even the
relationships that we are given. Okay, so that's
the first movement I'm suggesting. The second
movement I want to call vocational toil, okay?
So there's this relational dynamic that's at
play and then there's this vocational dynamic
that's at play. So verse 47, where do we find
them? Verse 47, the boat was out to sea. These
people are out at the sea, which, let me remind
you, in some ways would have been the most normal
thing for these people. In some ways, this would
have been the place of some of their comfort.
You know what I mean, right? Some of you going
to work is actually the relational escape that
you... Like at least I can kind of control things
here a little bit. You know, my students listen
to me when I talk to them and they do what I
tell them because they get a grade or I can control
this little bit of work that I'm given. So they're
out there on. on the sea, we know that at least
four of the disciples, four of the 12 disciples
are fishermen. We think that probably two of
the others are fishermen. So six of them probably
just live most of their life on the sea. And
this is the place where they are comfortable.
But then what does verse 48 tell us about their
experience of where they are? And he saw that
they were making headway. painfully. They were
making headway painfully. And what we know actually
is that they did this all night long. Because
what it says is it was the fourth hour of the
night, the fourth watch of the night, the fourth
watch of the night would have been right before
dawn. And the passage began with immediately,
they had just eaten all this, they got the 12
baskets. So from dinnertime to dawn, all they're
doing is rowing painfully. So in the place where
they're like, this is the kind of stuff that
I can control my work, they're actually finding
that their work itself is filled with pain and
toil. In fact, the word painfully there can be
translated troubled or even more tortured. It's
in their vocational life where maybe they can
get a relief from their relational angst, where
they're actually finding that they are being
tortured. And think about this, a lot of our
fear is that even in our work, even the work
that we've been trained to do, it just doesn't
yield what we long for, what we desire, what
we think we've been made to offer into the world.
And even what we do work on and what we do yield
into the world is so painfully accomplished.
We can work on even good things that we believe
God has called us to, and at times it feels a
little bit like torture. We're told to pursue
our dreams, then we find out that our dreams
are hard. and that they need to shift and we
don't know how they're gonna shift and we don't
know what we're gonna do and we don't know how
we're gonna provide and all of that. And of course,
so much of the fear around work has to do with
our inability with regards to our agency that
we actually don't accomplish the things that
we think we're supposed to accomplish and they
don't provide what we think they're gonna provide
or offer into the world what we had hoped. I've
said this before. though Jess shared with me
that she has similar dreams. I have an ongoing
nightmare that I've shared with you before, and
that is that I show up and either one, I don't
have my notes with me. And for some reason, even
though I've worked on it quite a bit, I have
no idea what I'm saying. And then the other thing
is that while I'm blabbering on having no idea
what I'm saying, You're just one by one getting
up and leaving and then I'm stuck here and like
not even my family's here and I'm like, what
am I doing with my life? What am I doing with
my life? I work on this and I have nothing to
offer. Nothing. There's so much fear around our
work. They make their way in what they actually
do vocationally painfully, tortured. all the
way through the night, just plowing along. Of
course, the experience in a way of the disciples
builds even. So there's this relational dynamic
that's at play, there's this vocational dynamic
at play, but then of course, there's also this
spiritual dynamic that's at play in this story.
Because what we next find about the disciples
about their experience. Well, let me begin this.
Where is Jesus? Well, according, they don't actually
know where he is. We know where he is because
we're reading, but all he does, let me read it,
okay. He made his disciples get into the boat,
verse 45, and go before them to the other side
to Bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd. And
after he had taken leave of them, he went up
to the mountain to pray. All they know is that
they're in the boat without Jesus. They're like,
okay, our experience of this painful toil is
that Jesus isn't with us. And we're not really
sure where he is. He just made us get in the
boat and said, leave. As far as they're concerned,
he's just gone. And in his absence, which is
to say in the absence of God, who knows what's
gonna happen. And what does happen? Well, what
happens is that they see this guy walking on
the water past them. And verse 49 says, they
thought it was a ghost and cried out. They saw
him and they were terrified. They were terrified.
They have a spiritual experience that God is
not with me and some kind of spiritual dynamic
is at play and I'm freaked out because something
is still going on, but Jesus is not in the boat
with us. I love that Eugene Peterson's translation
of the message said, They screamed. Which is
exactly what you would do if you thought you
saw a ghost. Then he says, for they were scared
out of their wits. Which is to say that part
of the, so some of their fear is not just relational
fear or vocational fear, but it's also spiritual
fear. The abandonment of God. Which is to say
isolation and abandonment from God, anything
could happen. their greatest fears could be there
right before them. Now, I do think it's kind
of wild that with the decrease in church attendance,
there's actually been an increase in spirituality
broadly and specifically more in the occult.
Some of you probably know this that, Church attendance
for adults in the United States went from about
42 % in 1975 to now they think it's around 22,
23%. It's kind of hard to exactly measure this.
And there is a little bit of an increase just
the last couple of years, which makes sense with
the big dip during COVID and all. But as you
read about these things, what has not diminished
necessarily is the idea of the spiritual. Maybe
it's the rejection of God's presence with us
in Jesus, but there's this attentiveness to the
broadly spiritual. And to see ghosts still freaks
people out. Maybe you've heard this. I think
some of you are probably familiar with the idea.
that we live in what's called a closed world.
And all of you will understand this. That for
the most people in the world, they engage with
the world as though the world is all there is,
right? So it's kind of odd. It actually feels
like it feels separated from this idea that spirituality
doesn't necessarily decrease with church attendance,
but a lot of people treat the world as though
it's sort of just a natural world, that God is
not present, that the divine is not present.
And maybe some of you know that actually a lot
of people have treated this passage and the one
before it out of this closed world kind of idea.
So a lot of people say, Jesus didn't really walk
on water. I mean, when he gets in the boat, it
seems as though they're already there. They were
just in shallow water. And he's just walking
and they think that he they're actually they've
they've travailed so far that they actually have
gotten farther. And they just think that he was
walked nowhere. He wasn't really doing that.
Maybe some of you know that there's an explanation
that some people give for the feeding of the
five thousand there. Jesus didn't really multiply
five loaves into fish. the young boy who gave
these, that is mentioned in John, inspired everybody
else to go, wait a second, I did bring my dinner
and I should share it with others. But what I'm
saying is that we vacillate spiritually from
this idea of Jesus isn't present with us. We
don't know if we should engage with him, but
we'll kind of engage with some kind of spirituality
ghosts. Let's just explain everything away materially.
Close world. But I wanna suggest to you that
everyone, or nearly everyone, when they're actually
deeply in the deepest place of their fear, when
their spouse is on their deathbed, it cries out,
God, help. God, do something. God, I cannot do,
I cannot control, I need you. God, heal. God,
act. And in some ways, I think this is, we don't
know what they cried out. We know they were terrified,
but I wonder if they cried out in that moment,
oh Lord, help. Because their fear had been increasing
and increasing. Now, this is the experience of
the disciples. Now, I want to shift and I want
us to see what Jesus was doing. And we do not
have a lot of time, so I'm going to try to race
through this. So where's Jesus in the midst of
our fears, right? Our relational, vocational,
our spiritual fears, where is he? First place,
he is up on the mountain. And my guess is that
for a lot of us, we're like, that's not very
helpful. Jesus, why aren't you in the boat with
your disciples? But what's he doing on the mountain?
Two things it says he's doing. He's praying and
he's seeing. Verse 46 said he went to the mountain
of the prey, verse 48, and he saw that they were
making headway painfully. And I think so much
of our fear is actually related to the idea that
we're just not sure where Jesus is or what he
is doing. But what the Bible tells us is that
Jesus is seeing what's going on. And specifically
right now, what the Bible tells us again and
again and again is that He is at the right hand
of the Father and He is interceding for us. So
that we hear that Jesus is at the right hand
of the Father and Acts and Romans and Colossians
and Hebrews and Peter and Revelation. They're
all saying God is right at that place of authority.
And then what we hear about a couple of times
is that He is, what is He doing in that place
of authority? He is interceding on our behalf.
It is not that in the midst of their sort of
travail that God is just absent. It's not in
the midst of your travail that Jesus is just
gone. He is seated at the right hand of the Father
and He is interceding for us. That's the first
place Jesus is. Second place Jesus is is on the
water. So verse 48 says, and about the fourth
watch of the night, He came to them walking on
the sea. Now we just talked about how the disciples
are like, ah, a ghost! But what this says is
that He came to them. Right? They're not actually
in the midst of their vocational travail all
alone. They're not. He had seen them and He comes
to them. Think of Jesus and John saying I'm with
you always even to the end of the age or peace
I leave you my peace I give you When he gives
us the helper the Holy Spirit the Holy Ghost
it Comes to us in our place of fear Okay, where
is Jesus next Jesus again in the midst of people
In the midst of the crowd doing what he does,
which is to say Jesus is the compassionate shepherd
that we heard of in the last passage He's providing
for he's caring for the crowd in their need The
story ends right with Jesus being this compassionate
shepherd who provides and who tends to and who
cares Jesus is feeding. He's healing. He's teaching
Which is to say that he addresses our spiritual
fears and our vocational fears and our relational
fears What we do not hear in the last passage
is actually what we heard the disciples say before
send them all away Because Jesus in some ways
has addressed that fear with his disciples and
now they're present and able to minister as he
calls them to to have these relationships That
he's calling them to have Okay, now here's here's
the I need I need to end and I need to end with
this Aren't there a couple weird passes parts
of this passage? What do you think is the weirdest
part it's anybody Anybody had a weird part The
hearts were hardened yeah, okay, we're gonna
get we're actually gonna talk about that when
we go to the supper, but what's another part?
He meant to pass by them What is going on? Is
Jesus like, hey guys, I'll show you how fast
I can walk on water. I was saying, you know,
on the mountain over there and now I'm going
to be to the shore. What's going on? No, I mean,
that can't be it. Why would Mark highlight he
meant, he had intention to pass by them? Why
would Jesus want to pass by them? Well, I think
the clue is in what he says to them. And what
does he say to them? He says, take heart, it
is I. And that it is I is the Greek words, ego
a me. Those Greek words are the very words in
the Greek Old Testament when the Lord appears
to Moses in the burning bush and Moses is freaked
out. And of course he's scared for all kinds
of reasons. Moses is scared. Relationally, he's
had to flee Egypt. He's had to leave his job
vocationally, right? He's wandering. He says,
what is this, you know, this phantom I'm seeing,
this bush that's burning and it's not, what's
happening? What does the Lord say? I am. Those
are the Greek words, ego a me. In the midst of
the deepest places of fear, what God is saying
is, I am. You can take heart because I am with
you. Do not be afraid. Take heart. Brothers and
sisters do not be afraid. That's what Mark is
saying. The very God who was hovering over the
face of the waters in Genesis chapter one, bringing
order out of chaos. The same God who actually
very interestingly in Job chapter nine, Job talks
about God walking on the waters. The same God
that was with Job when it seemed like he had
lost everything. The same God who who met with
Moses in the midst of almost everything seeming
to be taken away and his people being enslaved
down in Egypt. That same God is the Lord Jesus.
That same God is the one who says, I will never
leave you. I will never forsake you. He's telling
us today, take heart, take heart in his eye.
There is no fear that's too great for me. I am
with you Let's let's do this let's collectively
end By saying together Take heart do not be afraid
Say with me Take heart do not be afraid when
you turn to your neighbor quickly really look
at somebody say take heart Do not be afraid Okay,
turn to your other side, please. I'm serious.
Look at each other in the eyes. Say, take heart.
Do not be afraid. Let me pray. Lord God, what
a wonderful passage. Lord, we pray that in the
midst of all that is so fearful in our world
that we would know that you are with us. You
are the great I am. It is you. Therefore we may
take heart and not be afraid. Amen. Thank you
for listening to Second City Sermons podcast.
We hope this sermon has encouraged you to worship
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