Welcome to Trinity Sermons. Here at Trinity Church,
Streetsville, we want to share messages that inspire you in your faith journey as
we learn to gather to love Jesus, live like Jesus, and lead others to Jesus. Now
this is episode 3 of our sermon series, Jesus is the Question. Today we are
fortunate to have guest preacher with us, Reverend Peter Blundell, and today
he will be preaching about the question Jesus asks his disciples, where is your
faith? He asks this question when they all find themselves in a bad storm out
at sea. Now before we begin, please make sure to take a minute to follow our
podcast so that you can stay up to date on all of our future episodes. We hope
you enjoy the sermon today and God bless.
Our reading is from Luke chapter 8 verses 22 to 25. One day Jesus said to
his disciples, let us go over to the other side of the lake. So they got into
a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the
lake so that the boat was being swamped and they were in great danger. The
disciples went and woke him saying, master we're going to drown. He got up
and rebuked the wind and the raging waters. The storm subsided and all was
calm. Where is your faith? he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they
asked one another, who is this? He commands even the winds and the water
and they obey him. Trinity, this is the word of the Lord. Good morning. Good to be
with you. It's been I think six years since I was here. I don't know where. Who
remembers six years ago? Covid. It's all a blank isn't it? My name is Peter and
it's a privilege to be able to share the word with you. I think they had too much
fun making that video but it's great stuff. Lots of questions hey? But let's
pray before we start. Heavenly Father we thank you for the spirit inspired
inerrant scriptures. We invite you to challenge us where we have become
comfortable but we implore you to comfort us where we're being challenged
and in the storms of life. And we ask this confidently in the name of Jesus
our Lord. Amen. Now there are a few crazy folk out there. I've met them. They enjoy
storms. I've been caught up in a hurricane right in the middle of it. It's
not fun. It's awful. Some people go and seek that. They're hurricane seekers. Good
luck to them. In life we have storms that aren't just physical. They're the real
deal. They come in. They smack us around and they can leave us really broken. But
often when we look back we discover that we've learned things during the storm
that we never would have learned if life had just been calm. So there's a number of
things we're to learn from this storm that occurred for the disciples and
Jesus that day on the Sea of Galilee. But before we go there and I hope you do
have these notes somewhere near you in front of you. There's a key phrase that I
put right at the top of these notes. It's a phrase or an understanding that
occurs right throughout Scripture from the beginning. It appears most prominently
with Abraham and onwards. It continues and it is actually the answer to this
question is the way we would deal or not deal with issues and crises and fear and
worry. And the question is this. It's very simple. Will the Lord provide for me, for
us, and will he protect me? Will he protect us? Because if you believe that
he can do that then an awful lot of the fears that we have go away. Okay I don't
have to worry about that. That was the the focus of Jesus' teaching in Matthew
chapter 6. He said what are you worried about these things for? Seek first the
kingdom of God and all these other things that your father knows that you
need will be given to you as well. So if we can trust him we will discover that
God is a faithful God because he is a promise-keeping covenant-keeping God.
I'm going to come back to that phrase throughout this talk. Hopefully by the end
of it you'll go yes we know what you're going to say. But the idea is that we
appropriate for ourselves. You see every single person, every single generation
without exception has to learn this for themselves. There aren't shortcuts. There's
no such thing as secondhand faith. We've got to learn it ourselves. It was
true for Jesus' disciples. They had to learn this on the lake that day. It's true
for us as well. That's why for example the Lord's Prayer. We all know the Lord's
Prayer. I'm going to say it later in the service if you're not familiar with it.
The latter part of the Lord's Prayer has four prayer requests, five I think prayer
requests, but three of them at least are about the Lord's asking the Father to
provide for us daily bread to protect us from temptation and evil. So let's get to
this storm, this passage that we had read out. And I think the first thing to
notice, this can come as a surprise if we don't study it, is that it was the Lord
who led these disciples into the storm. He did it. It's Jesus who said we can't
deny it. It's there in black and white. Let us go over to the other side of the
lake. It was his idea. Now we can ask the question, did Jesus have any idea what
they were getting into? And the answer is obviously yes he did. It didn't take him
by surprise. God has not taken by surprise. It took the disciples by
surprise. They clearly weren't expecting it. Remember a number of them were
fishermen. They knew this lake like the back of their hands. And believe me if
they thought that this enormous storm was coming they'd have taken Jesus to
one side. They weren't shy about talking to Jesus and said whoa not a good
idea. You're a landlubber, you're a carpenter. You don't know this lake like
we do. We're not leaving the shore. Okay that's what they would have said. If
you're not familiar with the Sea of Galilee it's about 21 kilometers long.
It's about 11 kilometers wide. It sits in a depression which is 250 meters below
sea level. It's surrounded by hills which rise up to what we might call mountains
615 meters above sea level. If my math is correct that's 830 meters from the
top of the mountain to the level of the water. And when the winds come they
funnel down these mountains and these hills and they hit that lake and it
becomes a sudden violent unpredictable unexpected storm. It's a very common
occurrence. And what a storm that was. These fishermen they feared for their
lives. So on the surface doesn't it seem a little bit crazy to you that that the
sovereign Lord intentionally led them directly into this storm? Is that what we
expect from Jesus? Oh you'd never do that we say. You know I've heard people say
this. I've had the privilege of being a full-time pastor for 30 plus years and
I've heard people say in the middle of a trial the Lord the Lord he didn't cause
the trial he only allowed it. Some might even go a bit further and they say
Satan not God caused this tragedy. Have you been there? I think that perhaps they
think that by blaming Satan they're letting God off the hook. They're not
letting God getting egg on his divine face. I mean why would you do that?
Because you're frightened that people think that this God that you follow is
not powerful enough to stop the storm or he's not loving enough to care that
you're in it. And so we make excuses for God but the problem is we do so at the
expense of God's sovereignty and that's a very bad equation. We're making him
less than almighty if we make excuses for these things. The Bible clearly the
Bible actually unashamedly claims that God is simultaneously both holy and
sovereign and holy and loving. Now of course God does use Satan and his
minions to bring trials just ask Job and he uses them to punish his people.
Babylonians come rushing in and take out the southern kingdom of Judah for
example. But again and I've given you this reference in your notes it appears
many times in scriptures but I've just taken two verses to illustrate this.
Isaiah 45 verses 6 and 7 just listen to these words. God speaking I am the Lord
and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness. I bring prosperity
yay we say but look at the next bit and create disaster. I the Lord do all these
things not just the half not just the light and the prosperity but the
darkness and the disaster I do them all. He's not ashamed to admit to this. Friends
we will never find any comfort in our trials if we deny God's sovereignty. We'll
only be comforted if we affirm God's absolute holy sovereignty and his
unfailing holy love. Well this storm teaches us a number of things about our
lives and life storms. We're reminded for example that storms can come suddenly
they come out of the blue and they wallow us. You go I don't see that one coming. And right now
some of you lucky few of you your life is really good the moment it's smooth
sailing I don't wish this on you but you really don't know what's gonna happen
this afternoon that led tomorrow or six months down the road. Something unexpected
can happen that phone call could occur and you will find yourself in the middle
of an unexpected crisis. Storms also test and they develop our character but here's
the scary bit in the midst of a storm they reveal our character to others. The
facade is stripped away. A picture I love drinking coffee I haven't had one today
that could explain a lot and and picture me with my mug of coffee it's filled too
full I always put more in and then I want to put my milk in and I should put
them up anyway and I'm going along and then somebody accidentally bumps into me
what happens the coffee comes out I mean that's fairly obvious you're going to go
why is he stating the obvious because it makes me sound good but here's what
happens when someone bumps into you and offends you or when a storm of life
assails you then what spills out of you at that moment is what is inside you and
the world gets to see the real you for better or for worse and we find ourselves
saying whoops I don't know where that came from that's not the real me how many
times we heard that phrase and the truth is that is the real you you've just
kept it covered up for a very long time but now it's been revealed now what that
means is the best time to develop our character and our maturity that we're
going to need to ride these storms whether they come suddenly or build up
over time but they're coming believe me is before they strike if you don't
develop your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the calm times of life
you won't know him nor will you know how to trust him in the storms so we learn
the storm storms can hit suddenly but here's a wake-up call storms hit
believers there's some people who think if I'm a follower of Jesus Christ
nothing's gonna happen but storms hit those people who had Jesus actually in
their boat I mean physically there in this case marks telling of this story
tells us the storms hits other boats which were also on the lake that day
Jesus wasn't physically present with them now if this was a fairy tale you
know how I'd write it Jesus in their boat sails serenely through the storm
they weren't touched not even a raindrop fell upon them whereas all the other
boats were swamped with water and they sank and tongue lesson of the story
have Jesus in your boat the truth is Christians are not magically exempted
from the storms and trials of life just because Jesus in your boat or actually
probably better to be in Jesus boat but that way around it doesn't mean it's
going to be smooth sailing but let's just drill down a bit further because
what we see is that this particular storm hit obedient disciples this isn't
just one following Jesus but I could be being disobedient at the moment and that
got me into trouble these guys were being obedient and Jesus still led them
directly into the storm and then when I read that I think well that's great
thanks Jesus obviously being obedient to you puts me smack dab in the middle of
trouble I would be better off being disobedient and staying on the on the
shore dangerous isn't it I don't think we would be but you know that's the way
we can think I'm not following him he's dangerous ask Paul wherever Paul went
two things happened revival or a sort of a rebellion a riot it was a fun being
around Paul but it wasn't like nothing happened now Jesus of course sets the
example for us doesn't he he led the way he said to his father not my will be
done but yours and then he went obediently into the heart of the worst
storm ever on the cross because it's one thing for the Lord to deliberately lead
them and obediently lead them into the storm but it gets even worse and more
puzzling is the fact that he checked out during the storm he leaves them to
battle it all by himself this is the only time we actually get a specific
mention of Jesus asleep I reckon he slept most days but he there he is asleep
it shows that he's fully human but it shows us two important things here first
that he was exhausted that's okay guys he done a lot of extensive ministry but
second and this goes back to my opening statement it shows that he was totally
confident in his father's protection he knew the storm was coming but he
believes that the covenant-keeping promise-keeping God will provide and
protect but that said what a great time to fall asleep Jesus you know wouldn't
it be better if you've been up there with them getting wet trying to pull on
ropes whatever they do on boats and saying helpful things like hang in guys
we're gonna make it when they felt better about that but just when they
needed his calm assurance he zonked out at the back of the boat oblivious to
everything on a serious note have you been there I've been there middle of the
storm things are going completely crazy and I go where are you have you gone a
wall have you left me alone if you have that moment when you pray and just
bounces back off the ceiling well that's what it feels like it feels like you're
bailing out the water like crazy and the waves are just overwhelming the boat and
you're about to sink and you're about to drown and you're saying where are you so
we go back to the passage because that's why it's there and we say oh but the
truth he is there the wonderful truth the encouraging truth is the Lord was
with them in the storm because he's promised that although it might appear
that he's not with us in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5 he says never will I leave
you never will I forsake you now I'm it sometimes he waits to wear at the wits
end doesn't he I'm right at the end of the rope I'm just holding on fingertip
stuff it reveals to me how desperately I need him but now no matter what by the
hurdy spirit he's always with us for good reason we celebrate that his name
is Emmanuel God with us so the very first thing we've got to do when we
find ourselves in the storm of life is to affirm that Jesus Christ is Lord over
any and every storm and that same Jesus is with us and for us and how do we do
that we do it by reaffirming our trust here we go in the covenant-keeping
promise-keeping God who will provide for us and who will protect us at all times
now I put myself in the disciples shoes for a bit and I think if ever there was
a time legitimately to panic this could be it I'm in the major storm the boats
being swamped and I'm about to drown and if you don't know me I actually can't
swim I can float but I'm not great at swimming okay so I'm is not great but
Jesus rebukes not only the storm but the disciples for the lack of faith I've
told you that storms have a habit of exposing things perhaps the most obvious
thing they expose is a lack of trust in the Lord that's why Jesus had to
challenge them where is your faith now faith is not faith until it's tested and
everyone goes through testing including Jesus see when the waters calm we can
fake it I can impress anybody in calm water but the storm reveals how much I've
been trusting in my own painfully inadequate resources storms also have a
way of exposing my selfishness my self-focus I don't whether you watch the
sitcom Seinfeld I do find a bit of a giggle and there's that guy George who
I probably associate more with than I should and and George is there at a
children's party and he sees smoke and he shouts fire and the next thing you
see him doing is he's pushing all the kids out of the way because he's gonna
be the first to leave the house see when the disciples said to Jesus hey Jesus
master master they said we are perishing the we probably included Jesus yeah but
I suspect first and foremost in their in their minds was we're in trouble Jesus
we are in trouble you've got to do something about it
they're fit fearing first and foremost for themselves see believe me I can
virtue signal with the best of you until I realize it's gonna cost me and at that
point every man for himself okay women and children first great idea until I'm
on the Titanic okay that's where I'm at and with
self-centeredness come self-pity that's another sure sign that we've got a
distorted view of ourselves anytime I indulge in a pity party a whoa is me
attention grabbing moment a look at me anytime I put myself at the center of
attention we need to hit the pause button we just start we need to breathe
we just say hang on we're told to fix our eyes on Jesus take your eyes off me
I know I'm sorry I made a mistake it's Jesus we're gonna look at we get a big
picture of what Jesus can do and who he is so storms reveal our distorted view
of Jesus that's why the disciples asked in awe who is this and that actually was
their biggest problem wasn't it they didn't really get who Jesus was if
they'd known they wouldn't have been so amazed what happened I mean think about
this the very same God who said let us go over to the other side of the lake
had previously commanded let there be light and there was and so believe me
those disciples were going across across the lake that's a non-negotiable
God has said so really the only question was how comfortable was the trip gonna
be was it gonna be above the water through the water or under the water but
they're going across the lake because God has said so they underestimated
Jesus and as a result they underestimated both his power and his
presence and we do the same thing when we panic in a crisis we try and solve
the problem ourselves we figure everything into the equation except the
supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and we can sincerely believe we're
trusting in the Lord we can pass the lie detector test until the storm hits and
then we realize that all along we've been trusting in our bank balance or our
health or our job or the number of likes we get on Instagram how big is your God
if you put him in a box is he that small personally my God is infinite I follow
the most high God the Lord Almighty but again I can hear the disciples protesting
hang on whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa we were trusting in the Lord that's why we work
him up that's why we bleed it with him to save us but clearly that wasn't faith
because Jesus rebuked them and said where is your faith what they needed
most in this dire situation was to trust the living God and that is what we need
most to now the Bible talks about three types of faith I've given you this in
your notes there's believing faith that's the faith we all need to accept
Jesus Christ as our Lord and be born again and Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8
and 9 tells us that this believing faith is given to us by God so that no one
can boast no one can say and claim that they made any contribution to their
salvation including the faith needed to believe none of us had that we had to be
given it that's where no one can excuse themselves I'm not a follower Jesus I
don't have your faith doesn't make sense God will give it to you second faith
the faith for miracles first Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9
Holy Spirit gives all of these spiritual gifts including this this gift of faith
but we see in verse 11 that he gives them just as he determines the gifts that
you have received is because the Holy Spirit determined that you would have
them which means that we don't get jealous of what somebody else's got and
we don't get proud of what we have and so it means that no one can boast it's a
gift but the third is the day-to-day faith that's the one we choose to use
it's like a muscle we have to exercise we have to believe day to day in the
promises of our good and our holy God and Jesus told us that this faith has
to be the size of a grain of mustard seed that's the faith Jesus is referring
to when he asked where is your faith now notice what Jesus didn't ask them he
didn't ask them how big is your faith why not because he couldn't care less
it's not about being your faith is it's about where or in whom have you placed
your faith Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 now faith is being sure of what we hope
for and certain of what we do not see so faith is a four letter word spelt s u r
e sure you see ultimately it's not the size of your faith that matters it's
your faith in God's faithfulness that matters you're putting your faith in the
faithful one will he be faithful I put my mustard seed faith in him will the
promise-keeping covenant-keeping God provide and protect you in the storms in
the trials in the setbacks and in the suffering of life and the answer is yes
and you can be sure of this and you can be confident of this and that my friends
is faith just as an aside Jesus only commended two people for their great
faith a centurion and a Canaanite mum both of them Gentiles not Jews which
means that by inference having great faith is very rare it's unusual and you
know what this is very comforting the father knows that so here's a bit that I
like it means as great value in weak faith yeah everybody nod okay that
includes me I mean however weak or indeed non-existent the faith of the
disciples was at least they woke up Jesus at least they did that and even
though he rebuked them for not using the faith that they did have he still heard
their cries and he still calm the storm so be encouraged though your faith may
be weak it will still be sufficient for you to go confidently to Jesus he will
hear your cry he will answer your prayer but faith in the Lord is not an
automatic thing it's something we have to choose to exercise I find it helpful
to remind myself on occasions of how God has been faithful to me and to others
it's one of the reasons that I read the scriptures every morning because when I
see how God helped the Jews and other such people in their hopeless and
difficult situations it raises my faith and then I choose to pray out loud I put
my confidence in my promise-keeping covenant-keeping father the crucial
question is actually uttered by the disciples who is this clearly Jesus was
fully human he had a body he got so exhausted he could sleep in the midst of
this storm but not only is he fully human he's also fully divine he simply
spoke and the winds ceased and the waves stopped I'm told by the clever people
the instant stopping of wind can happen but not water you see the waves should
keep going because of something called kinetic energy and now out of my depth
when it comes to science but I hope someone's nodding kinetic energy keeps
the waves going but in this case all was calm and this in particular is what
freaked out the disciples so Jesus full humanity encourages us because he
understands suffering on a personal level but his full deity also encourages
us because he is powerful to act on our behalf nothing is too difficult for the
living God not a breath of wind not a drop of water can defy his sovereign
will the better we know him the better we can trust him in our trials I
guarantee that if you actively trust the Lord Jesus in your current trial your
faith will be strengthened to trust him in the next storm but whilst the wind
and the water they had no option they had to obey the Lord Jesus that was that
was the way it is we of course have free will we can choose to disobey and the
reality is all too often we do so notice first the disciples were fearing the
storm and then they feared the Lord you see what happened they feared the storm
because of their lack of faith they feared the Lord because now they're in
awe of his power I wrote this talk I put an amen at that point I thought I've
covered it I'll expect a big round of applause and then the Holy Spirit said
typical half a job oh well half a job and what do you mean there's an elephant
in the room and you've skirted round it and there's a lot of people when you're
speaking they're nobody's fool they know you've skirted around the elephant in
the room you have to at least talk about it even if you don't know the answers and
so yeah I'm going to talk about the elephant in the room and some of you're
going like thank you that's really what I wanted to hear because here's the truth
sometimes the boat sinks even if we're trusting and obedient to Jesus that's
the elephant in the room isn't it sometimes the phone call comes and says
it's stage four cancer sometimes you walk into the office and the boss says
come in we don't need you anymore sometimes the letter arrives in the
mail and the bill is so big you go like we can't do this sometimes the family
breakup is so awful do I need to go on John the Baptist wasn't delivered from
prison was he he asked Jesus why am I still here effectively he lost his head
Jesus had to go through the cross Stephen was stoned do I have to go on
they it happens doesn't it and in these extremely difficult times what happens
if you begin to doubt is there any room for questioning and uncertainty I think
about the father of the epileptic boy do you remember him he said Lord I believe
that's faith help my lack of belief that's doubt what happened the good news
is Jesus healed his son friends every Christian has doubts they can be
extremely tough they can be very real and that's okay in fact it's normal if
these doubts are wisely addressed they often are a catalyst to spiritual growth
now most people believe and this is the problem that doubt is the opposite of
faith it isn't unbelief is the opposite of faith and unbelief is a killer Jesus
could only perform a few miracles in his hometown because of their unbelief so
unbelief is the willful refusal to believe but doubt is the inner
uncertainty the word doubt has its roots in the word double that's why there's a
silent be in the word it means to be in two minds about something it means
you're not sure it's the middle ground between what you know is true where
you've placed your confidence and your faith and what you know is false and you
have rejected and it's essential therefore to work through these middle
ground issues so many people mistakenly think that struggling with God means
that they lack faith but it's not true read the Psalms it's okay to question
God Jesus will not rebuke you his desire is to build up your faith how big is
your God my God runs the universe without my help my doubts are not going
to upset him tell him your doubts cry out to him for help struggling with God
is actually a sure sign that you do have faith in fact if you never struggle you
will never grow in your faith the key is to believe your beliefs and to doubt
your doubts we get into trouble when this gets crossed over and we start
believing our doubts and doubting our beliefs now we're in trouble what we
should do of course is to keep our eyes on Jesus but let me come back to the
crucial question what do we do if we trust in the Lord and the miracle
doesn't happen and the boat still sinks well then my friend we keep trusting in
the Lord and we worship Jesus even as we go under the water we go down with our
eyes on Jesus we follow the example of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail we
sing we state our faith and we can only do that if we have invested in our
relationship with him if we've discovered that it is true that he is a
promise-keeping covenant-keeping God then we can say with Paul for me to live
as Christ and to die is gain Philippians chapter 1 do you know Jesus in this way
if you don't I beg you seek him now don't wait until the storm hits trust
him now as your Lord and your Savior as your brother as your friend as your only
hope for heaven learn to trust him daily with your mustard seed of faith in the
small problems that you face so that when not if but when the hurricane hits
whether he instantly calms it or whether your boat sinks you can know the peace
the world cannot know the peace that goes beyond understanding the true peace
that comes from trusting Jesus the Lord over all of life storms let's pray
heavenly father we thank you for the promise that no matter what happens
nothing can ever snatch us out of your hand or separate us from your love we
are so grateful Lord Jesus thank you for being Emmanuel God with us as we keep
our thoughts and eyes on you the author and perfecter of our faith we invite you
to be the Lord of every aspect of our lives
Holy Spirit thank you for growing within us the spiritual fruit of peace may we
know this shalom in the midst of every storm we ask all these things in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ amen again thanks for listening to the sermon today
if you found the message thought-provoking and inspiring please
feel free to rate our podcast so that we can better share the message of good
news with others this sermon was taken from the August 6 2023 service at Trinity
Church streetsville in Mississauga Ontario