Jesus vs. Nature (Matthew 8:23-27)
Jesus vs. Nature
Matthew 8:23-27
As you know we are now in the middle of Matthew’s thesis
On the power of Jesus.
Matthew has done his research and is bringing a solid argument That Jesus is the Messiah as made evident by His power.
And having already tackled sickness and disease
Matthew now moves to chapter 2 in his thesis.
We might call this Jesus vs. Nature
And before we get into this amazing story,
Let me first of all explain to you why this is such an important event.
It is vitally important that Jesus not only reverse the effects of disease,
But that He also reveal the power to reverse the effects of nature.
If Jesus can fix disease, but not nature,
Then He cannot be the redeemer,
For mankind is not all that needs redeeming.
Let me explain.
You know how the story began.
Genesis 1:26-31 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
And without getting into a whole different sermon on the creation story,
There are two main things that I want you to recognize in that passage.
1) Everything God created was good.
2) Everything God created was placed in subjection to man.
So God made it good and He gave it to man.
Creation began with perfection and the establishment of authority.
No animal dared cross Adam…
No wilderness dared starve him, or cause him to thirst…
No sun dared scorch him…
No dark dared frighten him…
No water dared drown him…
No wind even dared to mess up his hair…
Creation was perfect and Adam was in control.
Not because of his own authority but because of the authority
That the Creator of all things had bestowed upon him.
It was good and man was in charge.
But you know that it didn’t last for long.
Man fell in to sin
By reason of his rebellion against the command of God.
And because of this not only was man cursed, but so was creation.
Genesis 3:17-19 “Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
Because of the sin of man, not only was he cursed
So was the creation in which he dwelt.
Paul explains it this way:
Romans 8:19-22 “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
Very simply put: SIN WRECKED THIS EARTH
Now environmentalists will tell you that it was Styrofoam
Or Hairspray
Or plastic water bottles
Or CO2 emissions
But Scripture is clear about what has caused the wreckage of this earth,
AND IT IS SIN.
Isaiah 24:19-20 “The earth is broken asunder, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.”
The sin of man wrecked this earth.
And that reveals to us an obvious problem.
It is a problem that is lamented by the writer of Hebrews.
Hebrews 2:5-8 “For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere, saying, “WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM? “YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”
You see the writer of Hebrews is tackling a perplexing issue.
It is this.
• God promised in Genesis 1 that man was in charge of creation.
• Furthermore David wrote in Psalm 8 (which he quotes) that God “appointed him over the works of your hands; You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”
But the writer of Hebrews read Genesis 1 and Psalm 8
And then he looked out his window and said,
“But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”
He pointed out a glaring problem with the way things operate,
And that is that they are operating
Opposite of the way God intended them to operate.
CREATION ISN’T IN SUBJECTION TO MAN.
If you don’t believe me, sometime watch Animal Planet.
“I SHOULDN’T BE ALIVE”
And watch stories of people who get lost in remote areas, and in a matter of hours are on the brink of death from dehydration, hypothermia, or heat stroke.
“FATAL ATTRACTIONS”
About people who try to keep dangerous animals as pets, which eventually harm them. (Venomous snakes, or Tigers, or Lions, or a Buffalo, or Monkeys, one lady fed Bears)
And if those shows don’t convince you.
Just watch the news.
You may not have heard but in Japan
They are having a little trouble with creation.
They call it the worst devastation since the Atom bomb of WW2
The point being is that the creation that at one point
Would not have dared to cross Adam in any way
Now adamantly, ruthlessly, and continually seeks to kill him.
It is like the writer of Hebrews said,
“But we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”
But it is at this point that the writer of Hebrews
Interjects a little hope into the situation.
Hebrews 2:8-9 “YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.”
For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”
We don’t see creation subjected to man, “But we do see Him”
WHO?
You know the writer of Hebrews refers to Jesus,
The One who has the power to restore things to its proper order.
• The One who has the power to put creation back in subjection to man.
• The One who has the ability to redeem creation from the usurper to which it was sold and put man back in authority.
“We do see Him”
You see, if Jesus healed every disease, but never dealt with nature,
There would still be a problem.
For creation (like man) also needed to be dealt with.
That is what makes a story like this so vitally important.
Before we can sign off and Jesus as the redeemer
We need to know if He can reverse all of sins effects, including creation.
And that is what we see here.
5 quick points.
#1 THE STORM
Matthew 8:23-24
The story picks up where we left off last week.
“When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.”
You remember the day.
• That morning in the synagogue He cast out a demon.
• That afternoon He healed Peter’s mother-in-law.
• That evening He healed all that the crowd brought to Him.
• When trying to leave He got cornered by two would be disciples.
• The Scribe who loved comfort
• The Disciple who wanted to collect his inheritance
By now it is dark, Jesus is tired, and they finally get in the boat.
It is probably also noteworthy to point out,
That even though Jesus was leaving He still wasn’t alone.
Mark 4:36 “Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.”
So Jesus only effectively got away from part of the crowd.
The part that had access to a boat went with Him.
So here it is late Saturday night or possibly even early Sunday morning
And Jesus and His disciples are in a boat crossing the sea.
(24) “And behold”(That word is used to speak of the suddenness of the storm)
“And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea”
John MacArthur writes about this:
“The sea of Galilee lies just over 600 feet below sea level, near the northern end of the Jordan River. Mt. Hermon rises 9,200 feet to the north, and the strong northerly winds often plummet down the upper Jordan valley with great force. When they meet the warmer air over the Galilee basin, the intensity is increased. Hitting the cliffs on the eastern shore, the winds swirl and twist, causing the waters beneath them to churn violently. The fact that they come quickly and with little warning makes the storms all the more dangerous and frightening.” (MacArthur Matthew commentary 8-15, pg. 33)
If I was a weather man I would expound on that a little for you.
But the point is due to the terrain surrounding this sea,
The wind was sudden and the wind was violent.
This was no small storm.
In fact, let me give you a little interesting tidbit.
“great storm” translates SEISMOS
It is where we get our word for seismograph.
Of the 14 times this word is used in the New Testament,
13 of those times it is translated “earthquake”.
Only hear is it called “a great storm”
Matthew’s literal words?
“there arose an earthquake on the sea”
That paints a visual for you doesn’t it?
Even more so now that we all know about Tsunamis
And the devastating force they bring.
This is no small storm.
Matthew called it a Tsunami.
We’ve watched the news in recent days about what just hit Japan,
Now imagine having been in a fishing boat just off the coast of Japan
When that thing hit.
And you have an idea what we are up against.
But just to help with the imagery.
Matthew goes on to say, “so that the boat was being covered with the waves;”
Marks says:
Mark 4:37 “And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.”
Again, this is a massive storm that these men are caught in.
I cannot imagine what it must have been like.
And then we come to the first truly puzzling statement of the text.
“but Jesus Himself was asleep.”
Now in one sense I can relate.
I sleep hard on Sunday night after preaching
(sometimes I even snore Carrie out of the bed)
SO JESUS IS TIRED
That alone (by the way) is a tremendous picture of His humanity.
Jesus was fully man, and He was tired.
However, even the sleepiest among us
Wonder how He could have slept through this.
It is not like this was a yacht.
There is no where Jesus could have been sleeping
That He wasn’t getting wet.
The boat was rocking…
The wind was howling…
The disciples were screaming…
Water was splashing Him…
And He is asleep.
The Storm
#2 THE SOLUTION
Matthew 8:25
And this isn’t hard for anyone to figure out.
No doubt at this point the disciples have tried all they know to do.
Remember that Peter, Andrew, James, & John were raised on this sea.
But as I said, this was no small storm.
And to make matters worse, Jesus is asleep.
Brings to mind a few Old Testament passages
From a few other saints who felt abandoned.
Psalms 44:22-23 “But for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever.”
Isaiah 51:9 “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; Awake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not You who cut Rahab in pieces, Who pierced the dragon?”
I don’t know if those passages came to their minds,
But we know they would have quoted them if they had.
For that is exactly what they do.
Despite any type of confidence they may have previously had,
They now all see the need for someone greater than themselves.
Don’t you love it when you see people come to the end of themselves?
We know that until we come to the end of ourselves
We never come to Jesus the way He desires.
So the disciples, having seen Jesus
Handle sickness and demons with no problem whatsoever,
Determine to let Him try His hand at tsunamis.
Their solution is to wake Jesus up.
(25) “And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!”
It was no longer a possibility, it was about to be a reality.
We are dead men.
The Storm, The Solution
#3 THE SURPRISE
Matthew 8:26a
“He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?”
Every time I read that, it just blows my mind all over again.
That is a puzzling statement!
“Why are you afraid..?”
This is one of those moments that I would really have liked
To have seen the expression on the disciples faces.
Remember, that they just woke Him up.
They are tired.
They are soaked.
They are terrified.
And presently the waves are still crashing.
The boat is still rocking.
They are all clinging to things in the boat to keep from being swept overboard.
We are still in the middle of the violence of a tsunami
In this little fishing boat.
And Jesus says, “Why are you afraid..?”
Does anyone in here not know the answer to that question?
I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO SEEN THE DISCIPLES FACES
You see the real question here is not what Jesus asked the disciples,
The real question is what every disciple would have wanted to ask Jesus.
Which was, “Why are You not afraid?”
Now before we go any farther.
I know we commonly read this story
And focus on the small or little faith of the disciples.
But I am going to suggest to you that their faith
Is not the whole point of the story.
Can we just for a moment see the enormity of Jesus’ faith?
You see what we have here is Jesus’ faith
In comparison to the disciple’s faith.
None of us here can for a moment question the size of the disciple’s faith.
They are in the boat.
They left their homes.
They are clinging to Jesus.
We know their faith is larger than ours.
Yet compared to Jesus their faith looks almost non-existent.
Sort of helps us understand when Jesus says,
“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed…”
It is obvious that Jesus has a faith
That is far beyond anything we have ever even contemplated.
Jesus has faith of such degree that until now
You or I may not have even realized how large faith could be.
Could faith indeed be so great that you could be in a fishing boat in the middle of a tsunami and not be the least bit concerned?
Can we agree that the faith of Jesus
Is unlike anything we have ever seen before?
Sure we can.
He has amazing faith.
Now, let me take you one step further.
DO YOU KNOW WHY JESUS FAITH IS SO MUCH GREATER THAN THAT OF THE DISCIPLES?
Is it because He’s been to heaven and seen it all?
No, faith has never been about sight.
Is it because He knows the future and they don’t?
No, the word of God tells us the future, but we still get afraid.
THE REASON HIS FAITH WAS SO MUCH GREATER THAN THE THEIRS:
He was the only One in the boat
Who had a proper understanding of who He was.
He was the only One there who truly knew who He was.
In essence He had the greatest conviction.
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
The disciples faith was little
Because they did not yet know Him well enough.
Let me give you some more perspective.
Remember a couple of weeks ago when we talked about the day Jesus marveled?
Matthew 8:9-10 “For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.”
Jesus was saying, this man knows Me better than anyone in Israel.
The size of your faith is directly proportional to how well you know Jesus.
In my mind it sort of magnifies that statement by Paul in Philippians.
Philippians 3:7-11 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
I like how the NIV puts it.
“I want to know Christ”
Why wouldn’t you?
Knowing Jesus matters.
That is why the disciples were afraid, but Jesus was not.
They didn’t know Him very well and as a result they had “little faith”.
The Storm, The Solution, The Surprise
#4 THE SILENCE
Matthew 8:26b
“Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.”
When I started talking about a tsunami some immediately wonder
If a tsunami ever hit the shore of Galilee.
And the answer is “No”.
Jesus stopped it before it got there.
This is miracle power all the way.
This is Jesus doing what no man has been able to do
Since before the fall.
He commanded creation, and it listened.
Psalms 107:23-30 “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.”
And don’t miss Matthew’s point.
Here is a man who has the ability to undo the effects of sin on creation.
For a brief moment creation found its Master.
And it is an undeniable proof to us that Jesus is indeed the Redeemer.
Who else could undo sickness?
Who else could cast out a devil?
Who else could command the sea?
Which brings us to our final point.
#5 THE SHOCK
Matthew 8:27
“The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
You see, they didn’t know Him well enough yet.
They were still caught off guard.
And they ask, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
Do you want me to answer that one for you?
A GOD-MAN
• He must be the Savior of the world.
• He must be the Messiah of God.
• He must be the Redeemer of fallen creation.
And you see that takes us back
To where we started with the writer of Hebrews.
He said, “But now we do not yet see all things subjected to [man]. But we do see Him”
Right now creation is still in chaos.
Just like right now sickness and disease still run rampant.
But that doesn’t change the fact that we know the One
Who will one day put everything back in its proper place.
CHECK THE TIME
In fact: TURN TO: REVELATION 5:1-10
John saw the One who could redeem the earth back to God.
And if you keep reading that book.
You find that in chapter 6 Jesus starts the process.
READ: 6:1
And 7 seals give way to 7 trumpets.
And 7 trumpets give way to 7 bowls.
And at the conclusion of those judgments
The Lord returns to take back what is rightfully His.
And the usurper is overthrown.
Revelation 20:1-2 “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;”
You and I know what that 1,000 years is.
It is the millennium.
It is the time when things are put back in their proper order.
Isaiah actually wrote about it.
Isaiah 65:17-25 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness. “I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying. “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed. “They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. “They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.”They will not labor in vain, Or bear children for calamity; For they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, And their descendants with them. “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.”
And friends, Jesus is the One who will accomplish that.
He is the One who can redeem this fallen creation back to God.
And He is the One who can redeem your fallen life back to God.
DO YOU KNOW HIM?
And if you do, is it possible that you could know Him more?
Could it be possible for your faith to be grown?
THEN THIS MORNING CRY OUT TO KNOW HIM MORE.
Pray.
