A Lesson on Faith
Luke 8:22-25
July 22, 2018
This morning we are moving forward
Into a bit of a different theme in Luke’s gospel.
I think it is always important to seek to recognize the points that the writer is making
As he reveals to us the facts about the Lord.
What we have in the remainder of Luke chapter 8 are
4 very powerful miracles worked at the hands of Jesus.
1) Jesus will calm the storm
2) Jesus cleanses the Demoniac with a legion of demons
3) Jesus heals the hemorrhaging woman
4) Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead
Now, on one hand it would be easy,
And perhaps an over simplification, to simply say that
This section then must be about the power of Jesus.
It would be easy to say that Luke is using these stories to reveal to you just how powerful Jesus is and that He is in fact the Son of God.
And that is not necessarily wrong.
The only problem with taking that approach, is that if that is all that is occurring here, then Luke is being obviously redundant.
For Luke has already revealed that Jesus has this type of power
And he has done so many times over.
For example:
The first miracle here reveals Jesus’ power over nature,
• But Luke has already revealed that when we saw Him command all the fish in the sea of Galilee back in Luke 5.
The second miracle reveals Jesus power over demons,
• But we’ve seen that too; many times.
• He did it in the synagogue in Luke 4:31-37
• And then several times Luke mentions that many people were being healed of unclean spirits (4:41; 6:18-19; 8:2)
The third miracle reveals His power over sickness,
• But that too has been well documented.
• The first was in Luke 4:38 when Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law.
• Beyond that we’ve seen the paralytic healed, the leper cleansed, the Centurion’s servant delivered, the withered hand restored,
• Beyond that we still have those generic statements where everyone who had an ailment was being healed.
The final miracle of the chapter reveals Jesus power over death,
• But we’ve already seen that too with Jesus raising the widow’s son in (7:11-17)
My point to all of that is that Luke must be doing more here
Than just documenting the power of Jesus,
For he has already done that.
SO YOU LOOK FOR NEW THEMES.
We look for other consistencies among these 4 miracles
That will help us identify what it is that Luke is revealing
By lumping all of these miracles together.
ONE CLEAR THEME IS THAT each of these situations magnify the power of Jesus because they are all hopeless situations.
• (8:24) During the storm the disciples cry “Master, Master, we are perishing!”
• (8:29) Reveals human inability to control the demons in the man by saying “he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard, and yet he would break his bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert”
• (8:43) Notes that the hemorrhaging woman “could not be healed by anyone”
• (8:49) Jairus gets word that “Your daughter has died.”
All of these miracles are pictured as hopeless situations,
Which certainly seems to magnify the power of Jesus.
But in reality all of the situations Jesus has dealt with
Have been hopeless ones.
Paralysis and leprosy and withered hands and a dead man in a casket
Are all pretty hopeless as well.
ANOTHER CLEAR THEME IS the response to these miracles
And the common response is fear.
• (8:25) When the disciples see Him calm the storm “They were fearful and amazed”
• (8:35) When the crowd saw the demoniac in his right mind, “they became frightened.”
• (8:37) That same crowd asked Jesus to leave “for they were gripped with great fear”
• (8:47) “When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him”
• (8:56) The parents of the dead girl “were amazed” when they saw their daughter raised.
And one then could say that Jesus deity was on full display here
And so Luke is driving home the point that
People are recognizing the divine power of Christ
And associating Him with Holy God.
But honestly, Luke has been very faithful about revealing that already too.
• (1:12) “Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him.”
• (1:30) Mary was told “Do not be afraid”
• (1:65) The crowd who hear Zacharias prophesy, it says: “Fear came on all those living around them”
• (2:9) Regarding the shepherds, “they were terribly frightened”
• (4:36) After cleansing the demoniac, “amazement came upon them all”
• (5:8) When Peter saw the catch of fish he said, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man”
• (5:26) After the paralytic was healed, “They were all struck with astonishment…and they were filled with fear’
• (7:16) After raising the dead man, “Fear gripped them all”
So obviously it’s not the first time Luke revealed that
This crowed recognized that they were in the presence of someone remarkable.
My point in all of this is
That while these are new stories with different miracles,
There is some question as to what Luke’s purpose is here.
The question we are asking is: WHAT’S YOUR ANGLE LUKE?
• Why are you now revisiting the power of Jesus?
• Why are you seemingly re-revealing what you’ve already adequately shown?
• What’s the point here?
What you need to realize is that
An important shift is occurring in the ministry of Jesus
And it is one that you’ve already saw being put into effect.
Let me contrast for you the way the Jesus started out preaching with the way He is preaching now.
The first sermon Luke recorded was in Nazareth:
Luke 4:16-21 “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
And we know that He went about preaching like that
With conviction and clarity all over Judea.
But recently we’ve noticed a shift in His preaching style.
Do you remember how the most recent sermon started?
Luke 8:9-10 “His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant. And He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND.”
And we noted that Jesus was no longer
Freely laying truth on the table for all to see.
Now He was only granting truth to those who had been willing to listen.
And in closing the sermon
Jesus made a very pertinent and revealing statement.
Luke 8:18 “So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”
That was no idle statement.
Jesus was announcing a shift in His ministry.
He is now narrowing His scope and focusing in more directly.
He is now about to be begin
Giving more revelation to His disciples.
This is the difference we begin to notice occurring with the miracles in chapter 8.
• For these miracles all the disciples are present (they weren’t before).
• In some cases, only the disciples are present
• For these miracles the disciples are intimately affected.
• It is the disciples who will be delivered on the boat.
• Only the disciples and the herdsmen witnessed the miracle of the demoniac being cleansed
• When raising the dead girl He will purposely take Peter, James, and John in the room with Him.
When you get the chapter 9,
• Jesus will for the first time send the 12 disciples out on their own for ministry,
• And He will give them some of His power and authority as they go.
He will then work another miracle (feeding the 5,000) which was a miracle that benefited many, but the lesson was for the disciples.
Luke is driving to Luke 9:20 where Jesus will confront the disciples
By asking specifically, “Who do you say that I am?”
And when they bear witness that He is the Christ,
He will begin to reveal the plan of the crucifixion to them alone.
HERE’S THE POINT
What Jesus said at the end of that parable of the soils is actually happening.
• Those who have loved the truth are now getting more.
• Those who have not listened are gradually losing their access to it.
In fact in Mark’s gospel, the transition reads like this:
Mark 4:34 “and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.”
What we have here is Jesus beginning to teach the disciples
On a more direct and intimate level about
Who He is, why He came, and what He wants from them.
And the message of the day for the disciples?
FAITH
This trip they are about to go on is no incidental trip.
• It is sovereignly planned by God
• To purposely grant the disciples the opportunity they need
• To see the power of Christ and have their faith in Him enlarged.
Look at the setting of this first miracle.
(22) “Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out.”
No reason is given.
• You could ask the age-old joke here, “Why did Jesus cross the lake?”
• Someone might say, “To get to the other side”
BUT THAT WOULD NOT BE TRUE.
Jesus has sovereign plans of testing and growing the disciple’s faith.
Do you not think He is well-aware of the storm that is coming?
This is an object lesson for the disciples about who He is,
The power He holds, and the faith they need to develop.
And this is a good lesson for us.
• We talk about it all the time; namely that our God is sovereign.
• He knows tomorrow as clearly as you know today.
• The storms of life are not a surprise to Him.
• In fact, much of the time, He ordains to put you in them.
It is part of His plan to show you who He is and to grow your faith.
There is no doubt that this is what Jesus is doing here with His disciples.
SO LET’S WORK THROUGH THIS FAMILIAR STORY THIS MORNING.
We’ve already seen the setting.
Jesus commanded the disciples to get into a boat with one simple expectation.
“Let us go over to the other side of the lake.”
#1 THE DILEMMA
Luke 8:23
First we recognize “But as they were sailing along He fell asleep;”
On one hand I certainly think this was a calculated plan by the Lord.
• This is part of the test.
On the other hand it is a tremendous indication of Jesus’ humanity.
• Before we see Him demonstrate His divine power to control nature,
• We first see a demonstration of His human nature to require rest.
In one story we have all the mysteries of the person of Jesus.
Fully man, fully human, with all the limitations one might expect.
And yet fully God, fully divine, with all the authority one might expect.
He is a marvelous mystery.
But after He falls asleep we read:
“and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger.”
In short we get a storm.
Mark adds in his gospel that the waves were “filling the boat”
Matthew (a tax collector, not a fisherman) wrote:
Matthew 8:24 “And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep.”
The word for “great storm” that Matthew used was SEISMOS
(where we get our word for seismograph).
Of the 14 times it is used in the New Testament,
13 times it is translated “earthquake”.
The tax collector described it as “an earthquake on the sea”
Mark and Luke speak of the tremendous wind which descended on the lake and made the waves so large that they were filling the boat.
THIS IS NO SMALL STORM.
THIS IS LIFE THREATENING.
And not only has Jesus intentionally placed them in it,
But He is now sleeping on the boat.
They are in danger. They are helpless.
They are NOT alone, but they feel alone.
I’m betting you’ve had storms in your life
That symbolically compare to what the disciples are going through here.
That’s the dilemma.
#2 THE DELIVERANCE
Luke 8:24
Of course we read that the disciples approach Jesus.
What I also like are the differences in the way they do it from the 3 synoptic gospel writers.
Of course Luke records:
“They came to Jesus and woke Him up saying, “Master, Master we are perishing!”
• You certainly pick up on the fear.
• You also pick up on the hopelessness of the situation.
• From Luke’s perspective it wasn’t even a request, they are just announcing to Jesus that He should wake up before He dies.
Matthew records it like this:
Matthew 8:25 “And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!”
• Matthew also points out the impending doom,
• But he includes the request for salvation.
And then we get Mark’s version (Peter’s take)
Mark 4:38 “Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
• That one is probably my favorite.
• Not only do we get the fear,
• But also the frustration seen in the fact that Jesus has thus far done nothing about the storm.
No doubt some have used the discrepancies in the story to cast doubt on the accuracy of at least some of these accounts, but there’s not a problem here.
You’ve got at least 13 people on this boat.
You’ve got several other boats also in the water with them.
They are all about to drown.
Do you suppose that just one person approached Jesus?
Do you suppose only one did the talking?
The various accounts simply represent
They mayhem and confusion of the moment.
You’ve got the Peter’s of the boat
• Who were experienced fishermen and who were trying to take control of the
boat and are now frustrated that Jesus has thus far been no help at all.
You’ve got the Thomas’s of the group (pessimists)
• Who are certain they are all going to drown just huddled in the corner saying
their final good-byes.
You’ve got the Matthew’s of the group
• Who know nothing about sailing and who only know to ask Jesus for help.
It actually reminds me of an incident that occurred on our first trip to Zimbabwe.
• We had been out well past dark showing the Jesus Film and preaching at the
local orphanage.
• And it so happened that on that night we had had a group of men at the
meeting who were probably drunk and who were very disruptive who had
already left and walked off into the darkness.
• We then loaded up in the back of small pickups to make the drive to our
campsite (about a 10 minute drive over very rough terrain)
• It just so happened that as we drove home we drove through that group of
disruptive men, who then started chasing the truck.
• And because it was a rough road they were catching us.
• The whole back of the vehicle broke into hysteria (and yes, I was one of them)
• Some were hollering at the driver to drive faster
• Some were hollering at the men to “get back”
• And someone broke into the song “Jesus Loves Me” which we all started
singing at the top of our lungs
To someone watching from a distance
I’m sure we looked like models of faith and courage.
I think that paints a pretty good picture of these disciples on this boat.
They were anything but resolute pillars of strength.
AND THEY CRY OUT TO THE LORD.
Now, first, I DON’T THINK the decision to cry out to the Lord is the problem.
• We are pretty adamantly commanded to call upon the name of the Lord.
• In just a few moments that hemorrhaging woman is going to figuratively cry out to Jesus to heal her by touching His garments and Jesus will praise her faith.
Several times the Psalms even allude to crying out to God who can in fact deliver even during times when nature is threatening.
Psalms 65:5-7 “By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; Who establishes the mountains by His strength, Being girded with might; Who stills the roaring of the seas, The roaring of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples.”
Psalms 89:9 “You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.”
Psalms 107:23-31 “Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters; They have seen the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, Which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths; Their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, And were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, And He brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, So that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they were quiet, So He guided them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men!”
That Psalm could be a prophetic announcement of this very miracle.
But the point is, that crying out to the Lord in your distress
Is a good thing.
Namely because He delivers.
“And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm.”
And we have to take a moment here and make sure you understand
THE ENORMITY OF WHAT JUST HAPPENED.
You must understand the problem of creation here.
When you read The Creation Account there are two primary truths that emerge as absolutely essential.
1) God created everything
2) God created everything perfect
You must see that first.
All creative power is His, and His creation is perfect
But not long into the narrative we are struck with the reality
That what God formed, sin deformed.
One of the consequences of the curse is the fall of creation.
• What once bore fruit now bears thorns
• What once was a friend of man now tries to kill him
• What once was subject to man now rebels against him
Nature is a dangerous place
Look at the fires and mudslides of our recent days
Just this past week we saw news of a boat sinking and several people drowning
NATURE IS NOW OUT OF THE CONTROL OF HUMANITY.
• We can fight a fire, but we can’t command it to stop
• We can prepare for a flood, but we can’t command the rain to stop
• Humanity has no authority over creation.
ONLY GOD CAN DO THAT.
And that is a very important point to grasp here.
And that makes what Jesus does here remarkable.
He commanded the wind and the waves to stop “and they stopped”
This is an unescapable picture of the deity of Jesus.
Jesus just did what only God can do.
It is also an unescapable picture of JESUS AS REDEEMER.
He just reversed the effects of the curse.
This falls in line with all the other miracles He has worked.
• Every healing of sickness
• Every deliverance from death
• Every calming of violent nature
It has all been a picture of the ability of Jesus
To redeem humanity from the effects of the curse.
Jesus just put His divine and redeeming power on full display.
He commanded the sea.
AND THAT IS WHY JESUS ORCHESTRATED THIS EVENT
Don’t forget that the One who commands the storms to stop
Is also the One who commands them to start.
Can I read again that passage from the Psalms about the great deliverance in the storm?
Psalms 107:23-25 “Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters; They have seen the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, Which lifted up the waves of the sea.”
God caused it and then He delivered from it.
This storm was all the plan of the Lord as well.
He is investing in the lives of His disciples
And He is taking opportunity to show them who He is.
He is the One who has authority over creation.
He is the One who delivers in hopeless situations.
That’s a pretty important lesson for them to learn.
The Dilemma, The Deliverance
#3 THE DISCOVERY
Luke 8:25
Now before we actually see the discovery of exactly who Jesus is,
It’s important that you see the discovery about who the disciples are.
“And He said to them, “Where is your faith?”
Mark records it like this:
Mark 4:40 “And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
And Matthew like this:
Matthew 8:26 “He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?”
Again, each passenger picked up on the rebuke a little differently,
But one thing they all grasped was that their FAITH WAS TOO WEAK.
The disciples just learned that they had a faith problem.
Their faith was still not what it needed to be.
And this was the teaching lesson that Jesus was orchestrating.
Their faith was not complete.
If you need a measuring stick.
Take the panic stricken response of the disciples in this storm and contrast it to the response of Paul in a similar situation later.
TURN TO: Acts 27:21-38
The disciple’s faith needed to grow.
The specific problem (as both Matthew and Mark point out)
Is the presence of fear
Fear is the opposite of faith.
• Whereas our flesh teaches us to fear the possible and worry about what might happen,
• Faith teaches us to trust God, to reject anxiety and worry, and to trust in God’s deliverance.
The disciples (like me so many years ago in the back of that pickup)
Had far more fear than they had faith.
And the Lord just exposed that.
They still had a ways to go.
But the beauty of the Lord is that He didn’t just expose it.
HE ALSO GREW IT.
• Jesus didn’t just rebuke them for their little faith in the middle of the storm.
• He also demonstrated His total control in the midst of the situation by
calming that storm.
THIS WAS TO GROW THEIR FAITH.
The storm was great, but Jesus was greater.
Despite the threat, they could trust Jesus.
Perhaps you can identify.
• Ever wonder why the storms of life can hit so violently and without warning?
• Ever wonder where they come from?
• Ever wonder why God seems to be so distant in the middle of them?
• Ever consider that perhaps He is both exposing and establishing your faith?
These storms and these hardships are orchestrated by the Lord.
• It is important that we come to the end of ourselves and our own sufficiency.
• It is important that we learn who is really in control.
• It is important that we learn to trust Him in those storms.
What Jesus did with these disciples was not cruel.
It was in fact a blessing.
• He was already finished revealing Himself to those crowds.
• He was already speaking to them in parables.
But the disciples were getting to go to graduate school.
He was taking them to the next level and that is a phenomenal thing.
They were getting the “MORE” Jesus talked about
And while we are certain that
The disciples caught a glimpse of the weakness of their faith,
Luke actually records THEIR MAIN DISCOVERY.
“They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “When then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?”
This fear is common anytime anyone recognized the presence of God.
• See Moses in fear before the burning bush
• See the children of Israel in fear at Sinai telling Moses to go on their behalf
• See Isaiah crying “Woe is me!” at the presence of God.
• See Ezekiel falling on his face as a dead man
The disciples just caught a glimpse of deity
They realized that this was no mere man in their boat.
Doesn’t it seem to you like they should have already known that?
I guess all the other miracles weren’t able to get their attention like this one did.
Maybe we are also slow to learn
Here they are amazed by two things.
1) HIS AUDACITY
“Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water..?”
I mean really, what man thinks He can just tell the storm to stop?
Here is what that means.
When they woke Him up in the boat, they certainly wanted His help,
But never in a million years did they expect that He’d just stop the storm.
They were shocked at His audacity.
2) HIS AUTHORITY
“and they obey Him”
• Who even knew that the wind had ears?
• Who even knows the language to communicate with the sea?
None but the One who created it.
Psalms 104:5-9 “He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; The waters were standing above the mountains. At Your rebuke they fled, At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away. The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the place which You established for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass over, So that they will not return to cover the earth.”
Job 38:8-11 “Or who enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band, And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors, And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop’?”
Jesus is this God.
And the disciples are starting to see it.
Had they heard it before? Yes
It just hadn’t fully registered.
The Lord walked them into this storm
That He might reveal it and grow their faith.
Perhaps that helps you understand your storms as well.
