The Counselor, Pt3: Discouragement

August 19, 2018                                    NOTES NOT EDITED

The Counselor, Pt3: Discouragement

John 5:1-16

SIS: Though we live in a broken, sinful world full of discouragement, the gospel story gives us hope that discouragement does not have
to become a way of life.

One of the most harshly criticized and yet highly successful leaders in history was Sir Winston Churchill.  Without Churchill England would have certainly been lost to Hitler, and the entire outcome of WW2 could have been tragically different for the entire world.  Biographers record many times in Churchill’s life when he faced great discouragement from both the circumstances of war and the chastisement and criticism of his political opponents.  Churchill never surrendered, either in war or to a personal attack.  He never let discouragement take root and bear its ugly fruit.  On one occasion, a very well-to-do and socially upper crust member of English society was overheard criticizing, upbraiding, and chastising Churchill at a political rally.  Perchance the lady came face to face with Churchill and continued excoriating him directly.  With the precision of a spitting cobra the lady delivered verbal venom saying, “Sir, if I were your wife, I’d put poison in your tea!”  Churchill, not willing to shrink away discouraged replied with equal acrimony saying, “Lady, if you were my wife, I’d drink it!”  Churchill could not prevent the verbal assault, but he could keep it from plunging him into discouragement.

Circumstances abound to which, if we give in, they overwhelm us to the point of despair and discouragement.  Discouragement will paralyze us emotionally and spiritually as surely as polio paralyzes one physically.  Our text this morning shows us how we can overcome the paralyzing effects of discouragement by prostrating ourselves before the King of Heaven.  The message in every miracle is hope.  Let’s Read about that hope.  John 5:1-16.

As we unwrap this miracle we see that the message has three distinct parts.  First, there are FOUR PICTURES THAT FRAME THIS GOSPEL STORY; second, there are FOUR ACTIONS THAT ACTIVATE DISCOURAGEMENT; and finally, there is ONE ACTION THAT DE-ACTIVATES DISCOURAGEMENT.

I.  Four Pictures That Frame the Gospel Story

No miracle in the Bible happened in a vacuum.  All miracles are framed by the story of the gospel.  Physical comfort is a by-product of God’s mercy, but not the central issue.  As I often say, “Jesus did not die so that we could be happy; He died so that we could be holy.”

(1) Notice first the picture of a DESPERATE World (1-3)

After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  ² By the Sheep Gate  in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda  in Hebrew, which has five colonnades.  ³ Within these lay a large number of the sick—blind, lame, and paralyzed.

It is unlikely as a high school graduate you escaped a journey to Walden’s Pond and the transcendental thoughts of Henry David Thoreau.  This 19^th century commentator on life once said,   The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation . . . Despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.

Our text paints a terrible picture of man’s plight with a lump of broken bodies strewn about on the covered porches surrounding a mythical healing pool.  Men and women desperate for a better life, a clear path, a more significant purpose.  The gospel is “good news” precisely because the state of mankind is so bad.  The world is a desperate place where hope is pursued but not **appropriated***

(2) Notice also the picture of a DELIVERING Savior (6).

⁵ One man was there who had been sick for 38 years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time,  He said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

What does the number five in the Bible mean?  Well, first of all it means 1 plus 4 or 2 plus 3.  It is a quantity; a standard of measure.  Yet, in the context of the gospel story it is something more.  Five is considered the “number of grace.”  The healing pool is called, “Bethesda,” meaning, “grace.” The “Fifth Commandment” is the only one with a promise (grace) attached to it.  It was with five loaves Jesus that Jesus graced the hungry multitude.  We have a desperate, drowning throng in need of deliverance.  We have the desperate souls of mankind meeting the Delivering Savior on the porch near the pool called, “grace.”  The pool is near the Gate of Sheep, pointing to the Delivering Savior as the “sacrificial Lamb Who takes away the sin of the world.”  There is no more joyful, hopeful place than at the intersection of human desperation and Divine Deliverance. 

(3) We also have the picture of DEAD Religion (10-11, 16)

¹⁰ so the Jews  said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath!  It’s illegal for you to pick up your mat.”

The Jews represent religion without a relationship with God. There are two particular versions of religion that must be avoided as if they harbored fleas carrying the bubonic plague. Religion will impoverish you, if not materially, certainly it will impoverish you spiritually.  The word translated, “mat,” often refers to the bedding of the impoverished forced to camp out on the streets.  Nothing will kill hope quicker than “dead religion.”  It really doesn’t matter if that religion is considered, “dead right,” or “dead wrong.” 

The world is drowning in sin and despair, with the flood waters of disaster rising every day.  A drowning man cannot save Himself.  A drowning world needs a RESCUER.  DEAD religion cannot bring life and hope any more than one drowning man can save another drowning man.

Apart from the gospel story there is NO hope for our despair.

(4) Now, consider the picture of a DEDICATED Disciple (13-15)

¹³ But the man who was cured did not know who it was,  because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.  ¹⁴ After this, Jesus found him in the temple complex  and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

In verse 13, the man didn’t know who healed him.  But, another encounter with Jesus in the Temple, and the man knew exactly who healed him (v15).  A dedicated disciple is always seeking a deeper understanding of Who Jesus is, and what Jesus requires of us.  The call to “sin no more” (v14) is the essence of the disciple’s call to increased holiness.  We call it, “sanctification.”

Jesus will meet us where we are—blind, crippled, desperate—but Jesus never intends for us to stay there!  Dedicated disciples live holy lives.  That’s the sparkling jewel of salvation.

The framework of every miracle is to demonstrate that “apart from the gospel story, there is no hope for our despair.”

II.  Four Actions that AGGRAVATE Discouragement

The worst outcome you can have when circumstances bring you to a point of discouragement is to let it become a way of life.  Three actions aggravate feelings of discouragement.

(1) TOLERATION (5)

“sick for 38 years!”  Never stop fighting.  Never give up.

(1)  EXAGGERATION (7a)

Lame Man:  I have “no one to help.”  Elijah likewise exaggerated his situation:  I am the “only one left.”  When we exaggerate our circumstances we complicate our recovery.  I like to remind people, “A person can make excuses or make progress, but one cannot do both.”  The man began to make excuses for his condition and it only exaggerated the size of his problem.

Toby came into the office an hour late for the third time in one week and found his boss Mr. Epstein waiting for him. "What's the story this time, Toby?" Mr. Epstein asked sarcastically. "Let's hear a good excuse for a change."  Toby sighed, "Everything went wrong this morning. My wife decided to drive me to the harbor. She got ready in ten minutes, but then the ferry didn't turn up."  "Rather than let you down, I swam across the river, ran over the mountain, borrowed a bicycle and cycled the 20 miles through the field to this office." "You'll have to do better than that, Toby," said Mr. Epstein, disappointed. "No woman can be ready in ten minutes.”


(2)  HESITATION (7b)

“someone goes down ahead of me.”

It takes little to no effort to get a place at the “end of a line.”  There are no “participation trophies” in life.  Success is never found at the end of a line, but is greatly enhanced at the starting line.  Very often great finishes are secured by the way a runner starts. 

We have all kinds of clichés and adages in regard to the value of “striking while the iron is hot.”  Well, there’s one.  We all have been told numerous times, “the early bird gets the worm.” 

Doubt and discouragement are close cousins.  Hesitation fuels doubt and doubt leads to despair.  In the book, My Ancestor Was An Ancient Astronaut, we read, “Doubt is a creature within the air. It grows when someone hesitates.” I’ve always been fascinated by the simple Scripture text that records Matthew’s call to ministry by the Lord.  Upon hearing the Lord’s call, the Bible records, “And immediately ******.”  Unless the Lord specifically commands us to wait, we should be on the move.  Hesitation is the food discouragement feasts upon.

(3)  ACCOMMODATION (7)

⁷ “Sir,”  the sick man answered, “I don’t have a man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

By “Accommodation” I mean taking a course of action that attempts to shape God’s holiness to facilitate our sinful condition. We look for fleshly ways to meet our needs.  Accommodation is a form of compromise.   It leads us to straddle the fence between flesh and spirit.  Seeking hope and holiness through religion is a type of accomodation.  Seeking purpose through pleasure or prosperity is a type of accomodation.  A functional alcoholic trying to manage his or her drinking instead of abstaining is a form of accomodation. Accomodation is a sort of “halfway house” where our addiction to worldliness is not quite set aside or overcome, but only managed. We stop hating our sin and just try to live in harmony with it.

The church is full of people who are “compensating” for their condition instead of conquering it through Christ.  The Bible says,

“more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37).  No compensation. No accommodation. No Compromise.  Only complete and total victory through a “Spirit-led, sold-out, sanctified life of sacrifice.” 

The Paralytic Man remained powerless until He came face to face with the Living Lord.  He had to stop TOLERATING his condition.  He had to stop EXAGGERATING his condition by making excuses. He had to stop HESITATING at the cross-roads of doubt and faith.  Finally, to get victory over disease and discouragement, he had to stop COMPENSATING for his sin and confront his need for a Savior.

Yet, confronting the reality of one’s desperate state is only part of the the path to overcoming one’s discouraging circumstances.  Ending the Four Actions that Aggravate Discouragement does not, in itself overcome the bondage of sin.  Remember the Rich Young Ruler.  He had attempted to keep every commandment, but when confronted with His greed by an encounter with Christ, instead of changing his ways, the Bible says, “He went away sad.” (Mat. 19:22).

Jesus was a Master Counselor.  He realized that this man had never really “confronted” his condition.  This is why Jesus asked (v6),

6 “Do you want to get well?”

The man could not simply answer, “Yes!”  He had been trapped in a whirlpool of discouragement aggravated by TOLERATION, EXAGGERATION, HESITATION AND COMPENSATION. 

Discouragement is like a 30 year old child living in their parents basement.  It won’t leave on its own—you have to kick it out!

After examining the FOUR PICTURES that frame the gospel message in this story, and analyzing the FOUR ACTIONS that aggravate discouragement, our text shows there is only

III.  One Action That DE-ACTIVATES Discouragement (5)

Discouragement can only be overcome by:  PROSTRATION (5)

The man hung around a mythical healing pool when what he needed to do was “fall prostrate at the feet of Jesus!”  There is only one source of hope for the paralysis of despair and that is the Power of the Living Lord.  I love that great hymn that declares,

All hail the power of Jesus Name! Let angels prostrate fall
Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown Him Lord of all!

I have not counted them, but someone has said that the word, “prostrate” occurs over 256 times in the Bible.  The idea of “laying at the feet in worship or prayer” (which is what prostrate means) occurs many times when the actual word, prostrate, is not used. Prostration is mentioned 13 times in Revelation alone.  In fact, the last act of a disciple in the Bible is prostration.  Rev. 22:8-9 says,

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship (proskuneo) at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me. ⁹ But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow slave with you, your brothers the prophets, and those who keep the words of this book. Worship God (proskuneo, fall at His feet).”

What was Jesus really asking the man?  On the surface, of course the man at least thought he wanted to get well.  That is why he kept showing up at the “healing pool” for 30 plus years!  But, I don’t think Jesus was merely asking him if he wanted “well body?”  Notice the words, “Jesus saw him” (v6).  This is a common way in which the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) introduced miracles.  It has the obvious meaning of physical sight, but also has the added dimension of “spiritual insight.”  Jesus looked into the man’s soul and knew the man was discouraged because he was riddled with doubt and had been clobbered by disappointment day after day for years when trying to get into the “mythical healing pool.”

Let me pose the question of Jesus another way, consistent with the miracle stories in the Bible.  Jesus was asking, “What is keeping you from being healed.”  The man gave his perspective on the situation by explaining “I have no one.”  The man was partly correct.  The obstacle to his healing was a “relationship problem.”  That’s the whole point of this miracle and every other miracle of Jesus in the Bible.  Without a relationship with Him, power of disease, doubt, discouragement, and even death is impossible.
The point of this story is not the healing of the man’s body.  It was the healing of the man’s soul.  His paralysis was not his primary problem but his ignorance about the Person of Jesus.  Notice how this miracle unfolds within the framework of the gospel story.  A desperate soul meets a Delivering Lord.  Notice how how the story progresses.

Upon being questioned by the religious leaders the Verse 13 says, “But the man who was cured did not know WHO it was [that cured him].”  Then, notice Verse 15, The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

The man’s primary obstacle in overcoming his desperate situation was that he had “no relationship with Jesus!”

Until we are willing to “fall on our face in worship to Jesus Christ”  we will never overcome the desperation and discouragement that comes by being powerless in our sinful condition.
“Every miracle comes with a message—Jesus is Who we need and has what we need.”  Mark this down, “Every miracle is framed by the story of the gospel which simply tells us we are lost and the only hope is The Savior.”

Though we live in a broken, sinful world full of discouragement, the gospel story gives us hope that discouragement does not have
to become a way of life. 

If you want to overcome the discouragement that cannot be avoided in this sinful world, you must “recognize Who Jesus is and fall prostrate at His feet in desperate devotion.”

The man in our story had been a hopeless cripple laying on a mat of despair for over 38 years, only feet away from a pool promising healing and hope.  His answer to Jesus indicated he had pretty much given up on the idea of ever being made whole.  He had suffered disappointment after disappointment for over 38 years, until discouragement had overtaken him like weeds overtake an untended garden.  Discouraged.  Broken.  Lonely.  Valueless.  This was his life.

Suppose I offered to give you a 1000 dollar bill, would you take it?  What if I wadded it up and through it on the ground?  Would you still want it?  What if I wadded it up, threw it on the ground, and stepped on it?  Would you still take it and spend it?  What if I wadded up, even spit on it, threw it on the ground, and stepped on it?  Would you still take it and spend it? The answer is:  yes, we would all take it.

The bill did not lose value because it was abused and neglected.  The bill has value not because of how it looks, where it has been, or how it has been abused.  An ugly, tattered, abused 1000 bill is as valuable as a crisp new one thousand dollar bill.

You may feel like you have been wadded up, thrown to the ground, stepped on and even spit on.  You may feel dirty, unworthy, useless and utterly discouraged.  You may even be so discouraged, for so long, that you simply compensate and adapt to you circumstances, instead of seeking to overcome them.

The essence of the gospel story is that you have value to God, regardless if you feel beat up, forgotten and discarded.  Don’t let discouragement become a way of life.  The porch on which you sit today is by the “Pool of Grace.”  Today, you can de-activate your discouragement by letting Jesus deliver you.

The Counselor, Pt. 1: Why Worry?

August 5, 2018                          NOTES NOT EDITED

The Counselor, Pt1:  Why Do You Worry?
Phil. 4:6; Mk. 4:35-41

SIS:  Worry is wasted effort that is both fueled by and fuels fear, but it can be overcome by trusting Jesus through prayer.

Released in September 1988, it became the first a cappella song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.  Written and performed by Bobby McFerrin, all the instrumental sounds are generated by his voice alone.  Here’s how it begins:

Here's a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry, be happy
In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy
Don't worry, be happy now

This is not a particularly, “religious,” song but it does reflect upon something the Bible teaches in Phil. 4:6:

Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

The clause, “don’t worry, be happy” translates a what is known in the original language as an “imperative of prohibition.”  It literally means, “Stop worrying.”  When the construction of the second clause is considered, it must be noted that the conjunction, “but,” does not appear.  This is done intentionally, known as an asyndeton, which causes the emphasis in the sentence to be put on the phrase, “in everything through prayer.”  Therefore, a better translation, acknowledging the imperative of prohibition and the asyndeton, would be, “Don’t worry; instead pray.”  Prayer is the antidote for worry.  It is impossible to live in this world, captive to this body of flesh, and not worry.  Worry is a “natural law,” much like gravity.  You cannot “will away worry” anymore than you can will away the effects of gravity.  You have to proactively “do something” to mitigate and counteract worry.  Consider that you are on a tall building and you fall off.  A friend, who is concerned for your well-being says, “Stop falling.”  You cannot simply stop the affect of gravity.  It must be counteracted.  It would be better if your friend said, “Don’t crash into the ground, pull your parachute.”  That is what Paul is saying here:  “When you worry—and you will—pull the parachute of prayer” to counteract the negative effects of worry.

Worry mostly takes root in the emotions, not the intellect or the will.  Fear is essentially an emotional response, often times a response to irrational fears.  I’ve heard it said that “90% of what we worry about and fear in life never happens.”  Regardless of what the actual percent might be, worry NEVER solves a problem.  As the song said, “In every life we have some trouble // But when you worry you make it double.” 

We counteract the negative consequences of worry by considering three important lessons from the Bible and exercising our will to place our focus (our trust) on Jesus, and not our circumstances.

1.  We realize, PROBLEMS are a PART of life (v37)

³⁷ A fierce windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.

There is nothing unremarkable about this statement.  Sudden squalls were common on the Sea of Galilee because of the geography of the lake, and these squalls, or storms, were quite violent.  The Sea of Galilee is 700 feet BELOW sea level, and Mount Hermon to the northeast is 9000 feet ABOVE sea level.  The cold air from Mt. Hermon would glide down the many ravines like wind tunnels.  When it met the rising warm air from the sea, the collision resulted in sudden, violent storms.  Add to this the fact that Galilean fishing boats had low sides, it is easy to understand why the boat was so easy swamped and in danger of sinking.

Life in this broken world being as it is, the reality of sudden, violent storms arising often in our lives is a given—challenging circumstances constantly provide fuel for worry, and worry generates fear, and fear often creates paralysis in our lives.

It seems that to say, “Problems are a natural part of life,” is to state the obvious.  Life is a challenge from the moment of birth.  Life begins with the challenge of breathing air for the first time.  In the old days, the time of  “worry-free comfort in the womb” ended with a swat on your backside!  What a way to say, “welcome to the world!”  I’m glad we have passed those barbaric days of medicine back in the ancient days of the 70’s. 

I’ve mentioned the hard, realistic, no-holds-barred picture of life provided by Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes.  He paints a picture of life in this world, apart from any relationship with God.  What does he conclude (Eccl. 2:22-23):

²² For what does a man get with all his work and all his efforts  that he labors at under the sun? ²³ For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest.  This too is futile.

Next to the Bible, no writer has influenced the English language more than William Shakespeare, who took his writing cue from the Bible ofttimes.  In the Tragedy of Macbeth, these lines, very similar to those of Solomon in Ecclesiastes have been immortalized in English:

Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (Act V, Scene V)

Life is always going to provide abundant opportunities for worry to be seeded into your life.  Don’t let worry take root.  An old ages teaches, “To be forewarned is to be forearmed.”  The punch that usually sends a boxer’s opponent to the canvass ending a match with a knock-out is the punch the opponent did not see coming.

Worry has less opportunity to take root and grow when we understand ahead of time that “sudden, violent storms” are a natural part of life. But we must also realize that in the storms of life,

2.  Christians have the POWER of God’s PRESENCE (38-39)

³⁸ But He was in the stern, sleeping  on the cushion. So they woke Him up  and said to Him, “Teacher! Don’t You care that we’re going to die?”

One of the difficulties of interpreting the Bible is the fact we only have words on a page, without any tone or inflection.  What was the attitude of the disciples?  Many commentators, and common readers, I have heard over the years give the disciples’ question to Jesus a disrespectful tone, as if they were accusing Jesus of intentionally letting them die.  There may be a little of that in their voices because they were panicked, but I think we must consider the “entire” text, not just these two verses in isolation. 

Consider where Jesus was sleeping.  The text says, “he was in the stern asleep on a cushion.”  According to one respected commentator, “In these boats the place for a distinguished person is on a little seat placed at the stern, where a carpet and cushion are arranged” (Barclay).  The disciples had given Jesus the place of honor in the boat.  There love, though fragile, was genuine.  There respect for Jesus was deep and meaningful—absent the panic that they allowed to overtake them because of the circumstances of life.

This is a common problem disciples have faced from the beginning.  It is easy to love, respect, and trust Jesus when life’s seas are calm, but when we allow worry and fear to take root, it always damages our relationship with Jesus.  Whereas the winds of circumstance should press us tighter against the Savior’s bosom, it more often blows us away from him.  When we allow worry and fear to detach us from Jesus, we lose the POWER of His PRESENCE.

Consider this:  was Jesus any less PRESENT with the disciples during the storm than He was before the storm?  The answer, of course, is no. As a man, Jesus was indeed sleeping.  But, as God, Jesus is NEVER ASLEEP.  The Bible says (Psalm 121:1-4)

¹ I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? ² My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. ³ He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. ⁴ Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.

So much of success in life depends upon what we are focused upon.  Going back to Ecclesiastes, Solomon said that when he focused on pleasures, it was futile.  He said when he focused on possessions that brought fame and fortune, it was futile.  The target we focus upon is the target we are most likely to hit. 

I remember many times riding my bike down a country path.  As I gained speed, I tended to lose control.  I’d see a rock or tree up ahead.  I could not take my eyes off of it.  Guess what?  Yep!  Hit it every time.

I’m told that when police officers are trained in high speed automotive maneuvers they are told that if the car begins to spin to keep your eyes on where you want to go, not where you are headed.

There is no “power” in our circumstances—whether they are good or bad.  There is only POWER in the PRESENCE of the Lord.  He is the “mountain from which our help comes.”  We must ALWAYS keep in mind, Jesus is as PRESENT with us during a storm as He was before the storm! 

Let’s look at the POWER of that PRESENCE.  Verses 39-40:

³⁹ He got up, rebuked  the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence!  Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Notice that the calm that came to the sea came by the Word of God.  No fanfare.  No gimmicks.  No spiritual gyrations like you see in the “so called” healing ministries on T.V.  Just the Word.  And, why would we not expect that the One who caused the sea to come into existence by His Word alone could not control that sea by His Word alone.  God said it, and it was so.

The great worry in the life of a believer relates directly to a believer’s ignorance of God’s Word.  Listen to this promise (John 15:7):

⁷ If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.

The POWER over worry comes through PRAYER, and the POWER of prayer is the WORD of God. 

Prayer connects us to the PRESENCE of God and the PRESENCE of God brings POWER over the circumstances of life.  Jesus is as PRESENT with us during a storm as He is before the storm.

To overcome worry we must realize that PROBLEMS are a natural part of our worldly experience and regardless of the circumstances or storms of life we have the POWER of God’s PRESENCE.  We must also realize that even the storms in life are part of God’s

3.  PURPOSE for our lives (40-41; 35)

Throughout this series on “The Counselor” we will discover that the essence of the counseling method of Jesus, the Master Counselor, was to ask questions.  After this episode of the storm that raged on the sea and the panic that raged in the disciples’ hearts, she asked a question:

⁴⁰ Why are you fearful?  Do you still have no faith?”

Notice the reaction to everything the disciples just witnessed:

⁴¹ And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

At first, the disciples feared the storm and worried they would die.  Now their fear was put into the proper perspective—they feared God.  This is the only fear that bears fruit—the fear of God.  Too often Christians fear being POLTICALLY incorrect more than they fear being THEOLOGICALLY incorrect.  Christians fear MAN more than they FEAR God.  This is why the Bible reminds us:

²⁸ Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul;  rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

The disciples saw Jesus calm a storm with His Word and were amazed and terrified that Jesus had power over creation.  Yet, Mark records that prior to the calming of the storm Jesus had healed a man with an unclean spirit, healed Simon’s mother-in-law, healed a leper, healed a man with palsy, and healed a man with a withered hand.  These are only miracles Mark recorded.  Mark 1:34 says,

He healed many who were sick with various diseases  and drove out  many demons.

In fact, in one miracle the disciples witnessed before the miracle of calming the storm, was the casting out of a devil.  Jesus in fact used the very same words to cast out the demon as to calm the sea, Jesus “Rebuked him and said Be still” (Mk. 1:25).

So, it is clear that knowledge about Who Jesus is and what He has done is insufficient to cancel worry and counteract fear.  Disciples must not only know of God’s POWER, but we must know of God’s PUPOSE.  Even the storms of our lives are part God’s PURPOSE for our lives.  Listen to Romans 8:28:

²⁸ We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.

Notice, it is insufficient to simply know ABOUT Jesus, but victory over worry and fear come from LOVING Jesus and having a relationship with Him.  That is what Jesus meant when He asked, “Do you still not have faith?”  Faith isn’t a matter of intellect, it is a matter of WILL.  Jesus is saying, “Are you still not willing to fully and unreservedly put your trust in Me?” 

Too many church-goers are FAIR WEATHER Christians.  They may give a religious nod to church and Jesus from time to time when things are going good, but when the seas start getting rough, they begin to cry out, complain and consider jumping ship altogether.

The Prosperity preachers have condemned millions to lives of perpetual dissatisfaction by declaring that God’s intent for your life is to be trouble free.  Problems, to prosperity preachers are a sign of a lack of faith.  THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE!  Storms are not always a sign we are OUT OF GOD’S WILL, but more often are a sign we are in the CENTER OF GOD’S WILL!  Notice:  the storm did not come because the disciples were AWAY from Jesus but because they were WITH Jesus!  He was in their boat and in their storm.

Now, go back to the beginning of this episode in the life of learning about faith  Look at verse 35: He told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.

Jesus had a purpose for the disciples that day.  It was not, “Let’s go to the middle of the sea and sink.”  The purpose was, “Let’s go to the OTHER side.”  The storm was a part of the purpose of God for the lives of the disciples that day.  Through it, their faith was strengthened.  They went from “fearing the sea,” to “fearing the One Who calmed the sea.”  Through the storm, the purpose of God was moved forward in the lives of the dsicples.

Worry will absolutely destroy your walk with God.  Worry will ensnare you with a net of fear and completely shipwreck your life.  You cannot avoid worry.  You can counteract its damaging effects by realizing that PROBLEMS are a PART of life, that the POWER in a disciple’s life is the PRESENCE of Jesus, and that even the storms of life are part of the PURPOSE of God for our lives.

Who do you go to when you are worried; when you need a miracle; when the problems pile up; or when you doubt?
We all have counselors in our lives. These people can be of enormous help to us. Ultimately, there is only one True Counselor. Jesus, Himself. As the time approached that Jesus would be departing, He told His disciples,
"I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever." (Jn. 14:16).
Jesus had a very unique style of "counseling." When people came to Him looking for answers, He often responded with a pointed, thought-provoking question--sort of a Spiritual Socratic Method.
The key in seeking good answers is to ask good questions. The key to asking good questions is to know what God's Word says on any matter. The underlying theme of this series of messages is to "look to God in His Word for the answers to life's questions."

So, why are you worried?  Pray instead.