Fully Engaged -- Mark 6:45-52

Sermon notes 10-12-08

Have you ever been in a situation when you were trying to do what you thought God had told you to do but every time you turn around it seems like nothing is working out the way you think it should? I have. You begin to wonder "God - where are you? Why isn't this working out? What am I supposed to do? Am I doing something wrong?" doubts begin to creep in. Maybe he has left you in a lurch, something else got his attention, but what am I supposed to do?

I remember when I was 37 yrs old. I believed God had told me to leave my career, move from our church, friends, family, sell our home and move to a different city to do what he had told me to do - go to seminary.

There had been a miraculous series of events occur to confirm and establish the direction it seemed he wanted us to go. God had spoken to me in a dramatic way, and events had occurred just as he said which opened up a miraculous opportunity for a job for me in this new city.

some time earlier, i had put together this whole schedule of things that needed to occur in order for us to make this move. by this time we had 3 young children, a home, job, responsibilities... it was not like when we were just married and we could pack everything up in a pick-up truck and turn our lives like we were rowing a canoe, we had become the titanic and it was going to take some time and space to move our lives and so I put together this Gantt chart schedule. One of the dates on my schedule was to turn in my resignation at Boeing, my employeer. I felt like I needed to give them at least 3 weeks notice because of some of the projects I was involved in that would need some transition, so I set the date to turn in my notice as July 3 by my schedule. That was going to leave us 3 weeks to move, get unpacked and set up before I and the kids would start school.

God had opened up an opportunity for a job for me, discussions were going very well, they liked me, I liked them, but no official offer had come yet. Was i going to turn in my resignation, leave my career of over 10 years without something certain in hand yet? what if they didnt offer me the job, what if something happens, someone else that I dont' know about they are talking to and decide to offer it to them, anything can happen at this stage.

I am getting very nervous, I am trying to do what God told me to do, but what is with all this drama? did he go to sleep, this this some sort of test, what am i supposed to do? I know the miracles God had just accomplished to bring me to this point but now what?
the resignation letter was typed, signed and sitting in my desk drawer, am I going to turn it in? Why hadnt God provided me the job yet?

Maybe you have gone through something where your not sure where God is at, has he forgotten you,

Jesus disciples had just experienced a most amazing miracle, He fed 5000 people with a few loaves of bread, not only that but when they were cleaning up the dinner, they picked up more food than they started with - after everyone had eaten all they wanted.

They just get everything picked up and then he makes them get in a boat to sail to Bethsaida, but he doesnt go with them, he stays and says he is going to pray, they wish they could have gotten a little rest, but no, they are heading out after a long day and to make matters worse a wind storm comes up and makes it a long and hard night.

We can get so caught up in our own circumstances that we loose sight of the fact that:

Jesus is always in control:
45- made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him
Jesus always seemed to know exactly what he was doing and what he wanted the disciples to do. He knew what others around him were thinking, saying, doing

Mark tells us that Jesus would know what the scribes and Pharasees were thinking
He knew when a person was dealing with a phsical illness or a demon
He raised the dead - he calmed storms - made lame to walk, blind to see
he was not influenced by the pressures of other people, but stayed focused on what the Father had sent him to do.

He knew he was separating himself from the disciples - evening was coming - they were going to be in the middle of the lake and he was on land alone

God's best does not necessarily equal our comfort - he will test us - he will put us and / or allow us to be in difficult and challenging circumstances, that does not mean a compromise of his love for us - but it does mean he wants us to experience what it is to be in a relationship with him in less than comforting circumstances.

he dismissed the crowd - people did what he told them to do
46 - he made time to pray

with Jesus things didn't 'just happen' but they happened just as he determined them to be - Jesus was and is always in control.

why is it that sometimes we are not as sure, could it be we still relate his contol to our comfort?

Jesus is fully aware of what is going on
48 -he saw the disciples straining at the oars
He knows the challenges you and I face - He knows what we are going through in our lives
He is not distant and out of touch, but sees and knows what is going on

he is willing to let you struggle, and watch you struggle through it
from evening to the fourth watch of the night -he watched them struggle. that is from evening to after 3am. the fourth watch was from 3am-6am.
Jesus watched them struggle all night, in the dark and cold of the night.

he was on the side of the mountain and watched them. He was up there to pray with the Father, no doubt perhaps he prayed for them as he kept a watchful eye on them.

Rom 8:34-35 ...is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

It is no small thing that Jesus is able to keep his eye on them. It is dark, they are getting further and further away, it is windy, likely cloudy weather - remember there was a tremendous storm only a couple of nights earlier - there is likely not much moon light out, but for Jesus it really doesnt matter - and that is the point, he sees what is happening in a small boat trying to make its way across a rough lake in the middle of the night.
He sees your life trying to make it across the rough waves of your circumstances. He sees your sleepless nights. He knows when your heart is cold and alone.

cant you imagine the discussion going on in that boat that night:
"Why in the world did Jesus make us get in this boat - so late in the day. He knew how long it would take for us to get across and besides he saw those clouds coming in,. That's what you get when you have a carpenter trying to use a boat.
Doesnt he know how tired we all are, doesnt he care?"
"Why is it so important that we make it across tonight, what are we going to do anyway when we get there, there is just going to be a bunch of people who want to see him and were going to have to clean up the mess again. With no sleep, after killing ourselves all night in this stupid wind"

Do you know how cranky tired people get in the middle of the night.
Ask a tired parent.

Ps 139
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them
we want things to 'just work out, without much struggle'
when things get hard, we may think 'where is Jesus now, when we can use him'

Jesus goes to where you are
:
he went out to them, He took the initiative - walking on the lake
He meets you in the midst of your storm, your difficulty, your pain

Not only did he walk out to them - which by the way didn't appear to be nearly as difficult for him to manage the waves as it had been to the disciples., the waves didn't even phase him. They didn't slow him down in the least. as a matter of fact the scripture says "he was about to pass them by"
what do you mean he was going to pass them by... I thought he was going out to help them.

there have been a number of explainations of why Jesus was going to pass them by.
- he was going to 'playfully surprise them on the other side'
- he was on his way to the other side and saw their distress and decided to stop to help - not what the text says...
- perhaps it was the disciples mistaken impression that he was going to pass them by

more likely this was not a rescue plan at all but that Jesus had more in mind when he went out to them on the water. The disciples, while struggling, they were frustrated, but not in peril like the last time when they thought they were going to die.

Walking on the sea is something no ordinary mortal can do and to pass by is no mundane mistake. Jesus desire to pass by the disciples is similar to other Old Testament epiphanies. The greek verb 'parerchomai' (to pass by) when connected to a divinity, refers to an epiphany, when God would make a "striking and temporary appearance in the earthly realm to a specific person or group for the purpose of communicating a message to them." (Meier)
There is the story of Moses in Ex 33 when Moses asks God to show him his glory, and God responds by passing by him and proclaiming his identity. God held Moses in the cleft of a rock and covered him with his hand so he could only see God's back but not his face, as God proclaimed:
Ex 34:6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

in 1 Kings 19 the Lord tells Elijah to stand on the mountain "for the Lord is about to pass by."

When Jesus wants to pass by his disciples, he wants for them to see his transcendent majesty as a divine being and to give them reassurance. While mortals can not see the face of God, we can see the face of Jesus. The one who comes to the on the sea is not simply a successor to Moses, who fills baskets with bread in the desert. Only God can walk on the sea, and Jesus' greeting is not simply a cheery 'hello', but a divine self-revelation, "I am"

Is 43:1 “Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
Is. 43:2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
Is. 43:3 For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

the disciples didn't recognize him - "who is this person...?"

we don't always recognize him

but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified.

He wants you and I to see him
- not physically, but His sovereignty - He is God -

He makes Himself known to you - he reveals himself
Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

When Jesus gets into the boat, he demonstrates his divine power even further, his mere presence causes the wind to cease howling and enables the disciples to continue on in there journey.

He did not say "here i am, let me take over for you..."
He didn't get in and take an oar but enabled them to continue on their way in peace.

Where Jesus 'comes in' He brings peace
51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

he did not start rowing with them, he did not take over their work, but he calmed the waves. He made it possible for them to continue on and know that He was God, he was in control, he knew where they were and what was going on around them and that they were in a unique relationship with the divine living God.

He did not change their perspective, it says their hearts were hardened
Mark directly ties the earlier events of feeding thousands with their current experience of Jesus walking on water to them and calming the waves.

the disciples were completely caught up in the circumstances they missed the message of what Jesus was teaching them
Jesus is God - and he is concerned for people to the full glory of the revelation of God 'in the face of Christ"

when Jesus said "you give them something to eat" in Mark 6:37 - all the disciples could think of was the logistics and how it was going to impact them.
They didnt understand how so many had eaten on so little, but they were the servants and clean up crew and then Jesus made them leave.

when Jesus reveals himself as God, they don’t get it and while he brings peace to the waves they don’t experience that same peace in their hearts

That does not have to be you or I, Jesus says in

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

In my story, I didn’t know what to do, so I prayed.

I prayed with a friend and at the end of our prayer time I realized I could slide my schedule a week and God restored my peace. A week later I was prepared to turn in my resignation, but still hadn’t received an offer. After lunch that day, I decided to call Mike, the man I had been talking with at the new company to see where things were at. Mike said as soon as he heard my voice, “I am so glad you called, I just talked to personnel and they are sending you an offer, I don’t know exactly what it is, but if you are willing to work for us, we want you.”

That was enough for me to turn in my resignation and leave my career to make this step to follow God’s lead in my life. Jesus was fully engaged in my life and he was bringing a peace that passes understanding.

A week later I received the offer. It was very generous with a salary that was more than I was making at Boeing, all the normal benefits, plus a generous retirement, moving expenses, and an offer to cover our mortgage until our house in Wichita sold, which took a year. I discovered He longs to work in peoples lives in a way that will make Himself known.

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