Sunday Sermon March 29th 2020
Dear PBPC Friends,
Blessings to you on this 5th Sunday of Lent. I hope that you are all safe and well. I have included the link to today's sermon, and I have also attached the manuscript if you prefer to read it.
May God grant you love, grace, and peace today!
Pastor Chris
 | Chris Coon, March 29, 2020, The Journey of Faith |
"The Journey of Faith"
March 29, 2020 – Fifth Sunday of Lent
Chris Coon, Park Boulevard Presbyterian Church
Matthew 8:23-27
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25And they went and woke him up, saying, 'Lord, save us! We are perishing!' 26And he said to them, 'Why are you afraid, you of little faith?' Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. 27They were amazed, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?'
I have never been a seafaring man. I've spent very little time on boats in my life. Several years ago I had the opportunity to go whale watching with a friend on Monterey Bay. I was a little nervous about the idea because I thought I might get seasick, but we decided to go for it. We boarded the boat and headed out into the bay; it was a good-sized vessel, in my opinion, and seemed very stable. After a few minutes I got used to the ups and down as we moved over the waves, and I began to freely move around the boat. I felt that I had gotten my sea legs, as they say. We began looking for whales. Suddenly, it seemed, the ride got a lot rougher and the ship bounced up and down violently. When I asked what was going on, someone told me that we had just left the calm of the bay and entered the open ocean – this was actually normal. I immediately began to get sick. I had to find a quiet corner inside the ship where I could sit and close my eyes; otherwise, I knew I would lose my breakfast. I heard people shouting as they saw the first whale. I didn't care.
This is a fun story to tell, because, frankly, it's funny. Even though I was miserable, I knew I wasn't going to die. And at the same time, I was surrounded by other people who were having a great time. What seemed like a horrible tropical cyclone to me was actually just normal weather and waves. But the point is that it felt like a storm to me. While I may not have feared for my life, I did feel absolutely out of control – and that is one of the distinctives about the storms we face in our lives: we feel that we have no control over them.
Each of us faces many storms in life. Often we are speaking metaphorically; the storms that we face have to do with the personal trials that we have to face and get through. These trials might have to do with our work, our health, or our relationships – we might lose our job, we might deal with a major medical issue such as cancer, or we might lose a loved one or experience a divorce. These are all huge life-events, and it is appropriate to think of them as storms because we can feel out of control and that our lives are in danger of being completely overwhelmed by our circumstances.
There are also literal storms that we face in our lives. The disciples in our scripture passage today were facing an actual storm, an act of nature over which they had no control. The sea of Galilee is below sea level, and it is known to have violent squalls when the winds rush swiftly down into the valley and across the waters. It is significant that the disciples were fishermen by profession; they had probably spent their whole lives out on that lake, and yet this day they felt completely out of control, at the mercy of the winds, and afraid for their lives.
Friends, we are facing a storm right now. It is a literal storm, in that it is an act of nature that is coming against over which we feel that we have little or no control. It threatens our very lives and the lives of our loved ones, as well as threatening our livelihoods and very way of life. It is a universal storm, something that we are all facing and feeling the effects of. But it is also very personal, because it affects each one of us in different ways. Some of you are experiencing less fear and are content to ride this out, while others are experiencing a great deal of fear for themselves or their loved ones. Some are feeling a great deal of anxiety about how they will pay their bills, or how they will keep their children occupied for the coming weeks, or just how long this will go on. Many of us just feel completely out of control.
The disciples felt completely out of control, in fear for their very lives. They realized that they couldn't do anything more to save themselves. Looking around, they realized that Jesus was sound asleep in the back of the boat. In desperation, they cried out to him, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" In the Greek, they actually say, "Lord, save!" What an amazingly simple cry of desperation – Lord, save! And you know what, in their desperation and need, that is what Jesus did – He saved. He rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was calm. A big part of what the gospel accounts want to tell us is that Jesus has power and authority – over demons, over diseases, over sin, and even over the forces of nature. There is no storm that we face that Jesus doesn't have authority over.
It is important to note, however, that Jesus' interest is not only to deliver his disciples from the storm. The passage clearly states that Jesus got into the boat, and his disciples followed. In other words, Jesus led them into the storm! Why? Well, Jesus has just previously been telling people who want to follow him that it will not be easy and requires total commitment. So this boat ride is really a training exercise for the twelve disciples, that group that is specially chosen to be with the Master. And the disciples do not make an impressive showing.
Before he even calms the storm, Jesus takes a moment to admonish them: Why are you afraid, you of little faith? Jesus has apparently invented a new word here, for it appears nowhere else in Greek literature: Oligopistos, which literally means "little-faiths." Jesus is not simply scolding or shaming his students; rather, he is pointing out to them that their faith is inadequate for the situation that they are facing. The goal of this whole expedition is that the disciples will realize who Jesus is and grow in their faith. This is the proper reaction to Jesus and his authority: not simply a religious response of awe or frightened prayer, but faith – the trust that is Jesus is Master over all the circumstances of our lives.
The Christian author and philosopher Dallas Willard describes three kinds, or levels, of faith. The first level is the faith of propriety. This is the socially acceptable faith, what we might describe as the faith of the Pharisees. This doesn't mean that it's bad – there is much good in it. It focuses on living a good, moral life; but it also tends to result in the belief that if you get it just right, then everything will go your way. And of course it runs into problems, because not only do we sometimes make bad choices, but things can go badly even when we do everything right. The fact is that sometimes God allows things to go wrong – we face storms.
The second kind of faith is the faith of desperation. Again, this is not bad or wrong. This is the faith of the moment, when propriety falls apart. It is the crying out to God and trusting when the winds blow and the waves threaten to overwhelm us. Often God allows us to reach the moment of desperation so we can learn how to trust. When you have nowhere to turn except to God, and you turn to him, your faith of desperation will meet the fullness of God.
And this brings us to the third level of faith, the faith of sufficiency. This is the faith that has learned to trust in God, that knows that God is sufficient for all of our needs. In fact, it is the faith that says, "It doesn't matter, I have God, and that is all I need." It doesn't matter what the wind does to us, it doesn't matter if the waves swamp the boat. As long as Jesus is with us, then we know we have all that matters. Now it is important to remember that faith is a gift from God, that we are responding in trust to what God is doing in us. So don't worry if you don't feel like you have this kind of faith. God is more concerned with the type of person you are becoming than in what you can accomplish with your faith.
Friends, as we are facing this very real storm together, and as each one of us is facing our own storms in our personal situations, it is important to remember that Jesus is right there with us in whatever we are facing. Following Jesus doesn't mean that we're spared from facing the storm, but it does mean that he has promised to be with us. And through it all, he wants to teach us to trust in him, that he has authority over anything that threatens us. He is going to bring us through this storm that we are now facing. But more importantly, Jesus wants us to grow in our faith, so that we can truly trust that whatever happens, we have Jesus, and that is what really matters.
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