ࡱ > M O L @ * bjbj $8 ؝ ؝ " 2 ( R R R R R R R R ( ( ( ( ( ( ( $ U) R + * D( R R D( R R Y( F R R ( ( R F J " ( o( 0 ( " , w L , D , R > , $ R R R D( D( $ 25 May 2008 [evening] : John 6 : 16-24 If you happened to be at Crailing this morning, you will know that we looked at the passage immediately before this one, where Jesus arranged the miraculous feeding of the 5,000. Tonights lesson follows on from that, and so lets bear in mind, as we think about it, the fact the 12 disciples had just seen the most breathtaking demonstration of the authority Jesus exercised over even the natural order of things. They had the evidence before their very eyes that, in Jesus, they had a revelation of the truth set out in a the prayer of the prophet Jeremiah : Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day. On that very afternoon, they had seen precisely this as Jesus fed the 5,000. That being so, how come they pressed the panic button when they were out in the boat, in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, and the weather turned dodgy? Perhaps because [v.17] : it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. You and I know just what thats like. Sunday morning, there we are in our accustomed pew, belting out the hymns at the top of our voice with the best of them. Monday afternoon, something happens, the faith we sang so boldly about seems to evaporate in 2 seconds flat, and its pity-party time. Anyone identify with that? Yes, we can all sympathise with the disciples. Jesus, where are you? Why have you forsaken me? When are you going to get a shovel and dig me out of this mess Im in? We know how the disciples were feeling. Just one problem with that. The disciples had a bit of an excuse not much, I grant you, after what they had seen, not least just a few hours beforehand. We have no excuse. Let me explain. The disciples got caught in this storm before Easter. At that moment, as events would clearly testify, they really hadnt much of a clue what was going to happen. They did not have a New Testament. They had never read John 20-21. They didnt understand that Jesus would come back from the dead and give them His Holy Spirit. They hadnt yet received the promise : I am with you always, to the very end of time. They had at least some excuse for hopping up and down and tearing their hair out in panic every time Jesus was out of sight. We have no such defence. Every single one of us has heard how the story ends. Every single one of us has a Bible, including the New Testament, at home. We should know better. We should know that, even when the fur and hairs flying, the promise holds true : I am with you always, to the very end of time The mistake we make is to believe more in our circumstances than in our inheritance, to give more credence to what the world says than what the Word says. Why do we get all hot and bothered when we hear some motor-mouths been gossiping about us in the Co-op checkout? Who gives a rats tail what anyone else says about us when God says in His Word that we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ? [2 Cor 5.21] Heres another question. Which do we trust more to tell us the truth the Sunday Post or the Bible? And hey, I enjoy the Broons and Oor Wullie just as much as anyone else! But why, when weve got some aches or pains, do we choose to believe the gloom and despondency from the doctor in his newspaper column, telling us its probably some deadly disease, when the Bible tells us so clearly that God sends his Word to heal us [Psalm 107.20] and by the wounds of Jesus we have been healed [1 Peter 2.24]? Listen. This is not yet a perfect world, and until Jesus comes back, as one day he most certainly will, there will be storms. We have a choice how we deal with them. We can flap and wave and weep and wail in unbelief, just like the heathens, and make things even worse in our panic, or we can exercise faith in the Word : Its tough right now, but Jesus promised : I am with you always, to the very end of time. We can take to ourselves the promise Paul shared with the church at Philippi : My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus [Philippians 4.19]. When faced with trouble, the appropriate response is to turn to the Word of God, in the sure and certain knowledge that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever [Hebrews 13.8], which means that what he has done before, he will surely do again. What storms are buffeting your life at the moment? What crossroads are you at in your life, where you just cant work out which way to go? What burdens are you carrying, about your job, your health, your relationships, your family, your finances? There will be no shortage of empty advice from empty heads that will leave you feeling emptier still, but if you get into the Word, armed with a concordance, and look up scriptures that deal with the situation youre in, you will find faith to see you through. Jesus is gracious, Jesus is merciful. Even though I guess he would have been a wee bit disappointed that the disciples, after seeing such signs and wonders, could still lose the plot the way they did out in the boat that night, he didnt give up on them. We read that Jesus came to them, walking across the surface of the water. And the disciples let out a whoop of glee to see him is that what it says? No, we read they were terrified! Somethings wrong with this picture. The disciples were cracking up because Jesus wasnt there, yet when he did turn up, they were more frightened still! This, Im sorry to say, is still prevalent today. As a minister of the gospel, meeting people in trouble is an important part of my job description, but what most people in hot water seem to expect from me is a pat on the shoulder, and some soothing sympathetic noises that sound all very pastoral, but dont actually do anything to change the situation. As some of you know, I dont do sympathy! For me, the trouble with the softly-softly approach is that ends up reinforcing the problem. Letting people talk on and one about how bad things are, and how rotten they feel, doesnt actually help. In Proverbs we read that death and life are in the power of the tongue. The more you go over and over your problems, the higher you build the prison wall round yourself. I think my job as a minister is to bring the Word of God in redemptive power to people in trouble. But sometimes it goes down like a mug of cold tea. For example, if anyone starts on at me about how ill they feel, Im likely to stop them halfway through the litany of aches, pains, coughs and sneezes and tell them : right, lets take our God-given authority over this, in accordance with 1 Peter 2.24, Luke 10.19 and Mark 11.23. And I usually get a look like a rabbit caught in headlights. We had a healing service a couple of weeks ago and I made a point of telling several folk who, in their own words, would do anything to get well again but they didnt come. So there was one thing they wouldnt do! Its a shame, but the devil has got away with deceiving nice people, sometimes even kirk people, people that God loves to bits, people that Jesus died for, people for whom the atoning blood of Christ has brought about as a free gift the fullness of Gods blessing, life in abundance, to the full, till it overflows. The devil has deceived people into thinking that God cant do anything to change their lives maybe everyone elses, but not theirs and so theyre afraid to trust him enough to ask him. That makes me really angry. Theres people in our congregation and parish struggling on against cancer, diabetes, emotional upheaval and umpteen other afflictions because theyre frightened to ask for help in case God refuses. What sort of teaching about God has brought about such a horrible misunderstanding? The Bible teaches very plainly that the death of Jesus has already achieved all that is necessary to release into the lives of believers the same fullness of Gods power that raised Jesus from the dead. Romans 8.31f : If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? John 14.13f : Jesus said : I will do whatever you ask in my name, that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. 3 John 2 : I pray that you may prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers. Forgive me, but what part of those texts do we not understand? In our troubles, the very last thing we should do is be afraid of Jesus as he comes to us in supernatural power and love and authority to rescue us from our mess. Tonight lets give all doubt and unbelief the red card once and for all, and let Jesus be who he came to be, our Saviour, Redeemer, Healer, Deliverer and best Friend. ( ) * \ g d f g s ~ J L U V ' , @ D K ̸̸̰̰|tkcWcWchi" hi" 6CJ aJ hi" CJ aJ hoo 6CJ aJ hwF CJ aJ h