Title: Calming Our Fears

Elder Host: N/A

Prayer: Chas

"Lord, we come to this morning casting our cares onto you because you care for us. You carry our burdens so that we can find rest in you and discover that you are gentle with our anxious hearts. You have called us to set our hope's above and to build our lives on you, the rock. So that when the rain falls, the floods come, and the winds blow we will not fall, because our foundation was set on the rock. That we will be like a tree planted by water,that sends out its roots by the stream,and does not fear when heat comes,for its leaves remain green,and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

Yet, we confess we are anxious. We are tempted to cry out like disciples in the heart of the storm 'do you not care that so many are perishing?' Lord, in this season of communal drought, help us to know the perfect love that drives out fear. Help us not to be dismayed by knowing that you are with us. Help us in our frailty to be strengthened by the comforting truth that you are our God and our shield. Hold us up through your righteous right hand. You have redeemed us. You have called us by name, we are yours, you are with us. The hairs on our heads are numbered, we are the great joy set before you to endure the shame of the cross where you eradicated the pandemic of sin that kills our souls. We are your little flock, it is your great pleasure to give us the kingdom. You are the first and the last. You have given us your Spirit of power and love, not a Spirit of fear or slavery. We have the Spirit of adoption as children of God, by whom we can cry out Abba Father! O Christ our king, calm us in this storm of our distress! We need you, we love you, we trust you. Amen"

Call To Worship: Leader:Habakkuk 3:17-1917 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines,the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food,the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,

All:18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.19 God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.

All:Psalm 42:1111 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Leader: Belgic Confession Article 13: The Doctrine of God's ProvidenceWe believe that this good God,after creating all things,did not abandon them to chance or fortunebut leads and governs themaccording to his holy will,in such a way that nothing happens in this worldwithout God’s orderly arrangement.

All:This doctrine gives us unspeakable comfortsince it teaches usthat nothing can happen to us by chancebut only by the arrangement of our graciousheavenly Father,who watches over us with fatherly care,sustaining all creatures under his lordship,so that not one of the hairs on our headsnor even a little birdcan fall to the groundwithout the will of our Father.

Central Text: Read by _____________ 35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he 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?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was

a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Benediction:

Psalm 107 23:-32

23 Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters;24 they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep.25 For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight;27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits' end.28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.29 He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.30 Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.31 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Notable Quotes:

“Worry doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrows, it empties today of its strength.”----Corrie ten Boom

"God is God. If He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere but in His will, and that will is infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."—Elizabeth Elliott

“Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith. I don't agree at all. They are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the Passion of Christ” ― C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

Pastoral Notes: Commentaries used: France, R.T. “The Gospel of Mark: The New International Greek Testament Commentary”

Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002

Lane, William L. “The Gospel of Mark The New International Commentary of The New Testament” Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1974

Edwards, James R. “The Gospel According to Mark: The Pillar New Testament Commentary”Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2002

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.

Mark chapter 4 begins with this important detail “Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables”. Verse 35 indicates that on this very same day, at evening time, Jesus instructed the

disciples that it was time to head out to the other side of the sea of Galilee. Mark’s account of this event is far more detailed than Matthew and Luke’s account. For example, Mark notes here that essentially Jesus left in the same boat he taught from when he notes” they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.” Mark also notes the presence of other boats, likely an indication of the larger circle of disciples beyond the twelve.

The below pictures are (1) a picture of a boat recovered in 1986 carbon dating between 120 BC and 40 AD found near the sea of Galilee preserved in mud. The second picture (2) is a modern replica of a Galilean boat Jesus and his disciples would have used. Jesus would have been sleeping with a cushion on one of the decks built into the boat.

37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. The sea of Galilee is a lake that sits some 700 feet below sea level. The topography around it contributes to quick moving and violent windstorms (today it is referred to as the shark wind because it can be deadly). For example, just 30 miles away lies Mt Hermon which sits at 9200 feet above sea level creating an interchange of cold sinking air that meets the warm rising air from the Galilean basin. Additionally, the lake is surrounded by mountains except for a cleft on the southwestern side which the unstable air pushes through. If you have ever walked between two buildings on a windy day you have experienced the rapid acceleration of wind that occurs. Such a situation happened the evening Jesus and his disciples departed. It was rare for such storms to happen this late in the evening, typically they would happen much earlier in the heat of the afternoon. This indicates that this windstorm was even more severe and intense that it occured in the evening. Mark details that wind was so severe that the waves were breaking over the boat. The typical height of the boats used in those days were about 5 feet high. Therefore these waves were exceeding that height.

38 But he 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?”

The candor and panic of these experienced fishermen indicate the reality of this frightening event. This was not hyperbolic. The disciples in the moment truly thought their lives were about to come to a tragic end. Most notable in their response is their perceived uncaring lack of concern demonstrated by Jesus’ nap at this strange time. Jonah was noted as being fatalistic and unfaithful by sleeping through the storm that occured while he was on the boat

Jonah 1:5-6 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

I remember distinctly my Hebrew professor Mark Futado making an interesting point about the book of Jonah. That there was irony in the responses between Jonah and the pagan sailors. The pagan sailors demonstrate more faith by rowing and crying out to God in their fear vs Jonah who was passive and cynical.

Jesus was not being passive or dismissive. Let us not forget, he truly was exhausted. He had been standing all day teaching to a loud crowd in the heat. It's exhausting to talk all day. Secondly, he is the greater Jonah, he completely trusts his father over all works of providence

39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Jesus responded to their cries by getting up and first rebuking the wind which literally means he censured the wind. He stopped it from howling immediately. Then he spoke directly to the sea calling forth from it to hush (the Greek word for peace is not use here but rather the word siōpaō which means to hush) and then he says “be still!” which literally meant that he muzzled the sea. The word ‘great’ (megas) occurs three times in this section. It first occurs to describe the great wind. Later it is used to describe a great fear the disciples have after witnessing a display of Jesus’ power. Here it is used to describe that the calm was just as great as the storm was at its height. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”

After calming the wind and the sea, when things returned to tranquility Jesus asked an important question. Jesus asks, “why are you so afraid?” Sequencing is important here as the answer to this question precedes the question ‘have you still no faith?” The answer to the question ‘why are you so afraid’ should be obvious which raises another question. Does Jesus expect us to never be afraid? This was afterall a harrowing account. The brain is designed to feel fear in the midst of danger so as to remove ourselves from it. Does Jesus expect a stoic response in the face of difficulty? Jesus actually does not use the Greek word for fear (phobos) but a rare Greek word here (deilos) which is similar but technically means ‘to be timid and fearful’. I would argue this is a question led by compassion, similar to the father’s question to Adam in the garden of Eden “where are you?”. It's an invitation in. It's an opportunity to ask ‘why am I so afraid right now? What do I really believe about God? Do I really believe that in the midst of storms he ceases to be good, uncaring and powerless? To expect one not to be afraid is not realistic and affirms our stoic heritage syncretized into Christianity. The question is a healthy one becuase it is an opportunity to grow in faith, rather than simply to grow in the elimination of fear. When we do not take the time to answer ‘why am I so afraid, why am I so downcast?” we can cover up issues in our faith that are fueled by the great lie Satan continues to tell us. That God is indifferent and powerless. Jesus demonstrated his power first in spite of their faithless response to him. Then he first asks about their fear. Lastly, he asks ‘have you still no faith?” In Luke’s account, Jesus asks , “Where is your faith?” Faith is something we can have and yet not bring with us into the storms as we revert back to well worn and trusted paths of self salvation. Jesus wants us to submit to him all of our fear and trust in him becuase by doing so we can have the inner storm within us calmed.

41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

The disciples move from timidity to outright fear (phobos: to put to flight by terrifying, to scare away,to put to flight, to flee, to fear, be afraid). The irony here is the become they move from a fearful timidity to downright terror at seeing the power of Jesus. Somewhere along the way I

have heard this quote “Jesus was the only religious figure that left people asking ‘who are you’ and ‘what are you’)