Riding the Storm Out

So I asked Pastor Eric if there was anything he hoped I would preach about today. And he said, well, you can pick whatever you want. Well, that was overwhelming to me because you know how many things someone could pick from to preach about, right? So there’s literally thousands.

The Bible has 66 books, 1,189 chapters, and there’s 31,102 verses. So I thought, well, I guess we can start at the beginning and see how far we can get. So I’m just kidding.

So I reverted to my training, and I referenced the lectionary. And if you don’t know, the Revised Common Lectionary is a three-year cycle of Bible readings for Christian worship in most mainline churches in the United States and in Canada. And I believe God wanted me to pick from theirs, and it became clear after a little prayer and reflection.

So let’s pray. Almighty God, I pray the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts will be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Lord, flood this place with the Holy Spirit.

Soften our hearts. Open our ears so we might receive your word in the way you meant it to be heard. We know you are always with us.

You will never leave or forsake us. Strengthen our faith that you are always there with us through anything we may face. All of this I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

So today’s sermon is called Riding the Storm Out. Now, some of you may recognize that title. It was an REO Speedwagon song, right? And I told Eric that, sent it to him in a text that the title of the sermon was Riding the Storm Out.

But then he sent out the order of worship, and he called it Riding Out the Storm. And to me, there’s a huge difference in those two titles. Riding the Storm Out makes me think about facing something without fear.

It makes me think of being in the moment and dealing with whatever happens. While the other one, Riding Out the Storm, makes me think of facing a storm with fear. You’re hiding and needing to be sheltered.

And that’s why I called it Riding the Storm Out and not Riding Out the Storm. So that kind of sets the stage for where we’re going here. So as far as storms go, if you ever watch the news, they like to tell us the weather, well, it’s getting worse all the time, right? So this is from a May 20th Associated Press article.

It says a series of powerful storms swept over central and southern parts of the US during the country’s Memorial Day holiday weekend, killing at least 22 people and leaving a wide trail of destruction and power outages. So they’ve been saying it’s getting worse and worse for as long as I can remember. Many people say that this weather change is brought about by us, the people.

They claim much of the worsening weather is because of the cars that we drive and the cows in the fields because both emit greenhouse gases. But I don’t know if that’s true, but I know we have had some crazy thunderstorms this year, especially at the end of May. So this is a picture of our dog, Max.

Now, you can see his real name up there on the screen is Maximus Gouge. But he goes by Max. Max thinks he’s pretty tough and he looks pretty fearless in this picture, but I assure you there’s one thing that scares Max more than anything else, and that’s thunderstorms.

So to keep Max from suffering cardiac arrest during the storms, he has to be prescribed multiple medications. So these include anti-anxiety, medicine, and tranquilizers. And so Michelle and I, we try to remember to give these to him whenever we know a storm is coming.

In fact, Max has more prescriptions than Michelle and I combined. So regardless, he still hides under the bed during a storm. You know, last month for a while, it really seemed like every night there was a storm.

And in fact, one night a tornado came down after Michelle and I had gone to bed and hit an area in West Shawnee about a mile from where we live. You know, our bedroom is on the second floor, you know, pretty far from the relative safety of our basement. And it was a little disturbing to know that this happened without any notice.

There was no sirens went off, you know, and it happened evidently too fast for them to, you know, activate sirens. And we didn’t find out about the tornado until the next day. And we were surprised to see the story about the tornado on the news.

And we were like, hey, that’s right across the highway from us. Michelle and I had slept through the storm. Max, of course, was scared to death.

Hiding under the bed, he was riding out the storm. So please stand as you’re able as I read from the book of Mark chapter four, verses 35 through 41 in the New King James Version. On the same day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us cross over to the other side.

Now, when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was. And other little boats were also with him. And a great windstorm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling.

But he was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

But he said to them, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey him? This is the word of God. For the people of God. Thank you, you may be seated.

Okay. So almost two months ago, Pastor Eric was working on finding the words to describe the calling of One Hope Church. You know, doing something like that can be really difficult.

It’s not something that I would personally want to try to do. Just how do you put something together that’s short enough that sums up what we’re about? And you know, this can be hard work, but he and Lori and others, well, they ended up coming up with a statement of calling that captures what I believe is the essence of why this church came into being, and this is what it says. Our calling is to build a boat where people of every generation can experience God’s grace, like Noah’s family, and trust in Jesus, who is our one hope from the overwhelming floods of life.

So let’s unpack this statement a little. The boat we are to build in this calling statement is this congregation. It’s this church, One Hope Church.

Now, the church isn’t a building or any building, but it’s a group of people. No matter where we are together, we are the church, and this church is to serve as a refuge. If One Hope is a refuge, it’s a place of safety or shelter from danger or trouble.

So Noah, as mentioned, was told to build a boat, the ark, a gigantic boat, because of the wickedness of the human race and God’s grief over what he had created, and the Bible says that every inclination, meaning every little bit of the thoughts of people’s hearts was only evil all the time. Wow, only evil all the time. So like Noah, we must trust God and continue to build this boat by inviting others to join us.

So this boat has nothing to do with having our own building, our own building to worship in. It’s about the people and the relationship with Jesus. It’s about the people who currently make up this congregation and those who will make up this congregation in the future, regardless of where we meet.

So building this boat has not and will not happen overnight. You know, Noah may have taken anywhere between five and 75 or even more years to build the ark, depending on what expert you believe. You know, I pray that One Hope Church will never be completely finished with building this boat.

You know, we will continue to reach people for Christ until the end of the age. Next, it mentions trusting in Jesus as our one hope. You know, today, there’s a lot of confusion, confusion about what is right and good.

You know, often I feel like we’re running out of time, because we live in an upside down world where good is called evil and evil is called good. And I’m sure that you guys know what I’m talking about. So how do we navigate these troubled waters? How do we know what’s right and what is wrong? So how do we distinguish what is good and what is evil? Should we just rely on our feelings? How about we look to the culture to guide us? You know, because so many people in our society, they do that and churches are doing these things as well, relying on feelings and bowing to the culture.

God asked Pastor Eric to build this boat. In this boat, One Hope Church, we trust in Jesus as God’s, and God’s word, the Bible, as our true north. And Pastor Eric preached about Jesus as our true north a few months ago.

You know, but it is something worth repeating. So when we say that Jesus is our true north, we mean that he is the never changing source of truth and life. The Bible backs up this statement in Hebrews 13, eight, says that he’s the same yesterday and today and forever.

The ideas, values, and laws of man, well, they’re constantly changing and moving. Well, not so for God. First Peter 125, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

When we say that Jesus is our true north, we know if we get lazy and we don’t pay attention and hold ourselves and others accountable, we might end up like it says in Ephesians 4.14, tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. When we say that Jesus is our true north, we honor the Lord who provides the moral standards, which are always in alignment with his nature. God’s word will keep us on the right course, like a compass that aligns with true north and keeps us moving the right way.

Psalm 18.30 says, as for God and his way is perfect. The Lord’s word is flawless. He shields all who take refuge in him.

So when we follow Jesus as our true north, we can’t pay attention to the influences of the world that may change our course. So just like a compass may point in the wrong direction because of nearby objects, I think Eric demonstrated that, we too can be swayed by things in the world. We have to constantly check our direction.

Where are we headed? We have to check it against God’s word. Our compass must point to the truth and not turn because of personal opinions, changing values or worldly views. And this is how our boat is going to stay on course.

So the calling Pastor Eric wrote ends by referencing the overwhelming floods of life. So these floods of life, when I think about the floods of life, I know these aren’t the good things that we experience every day. That’s not what he’s talking about.

In fact, people in flooded areas are always cautioned to not enter through the floodwaters. In May in Brazil, more than 160 people died due to flooding and many more died after the flood due to disease. Floods are dirty and they’re cold and they ruin whatever they touch and they destroy things and they kill.

And whenever it floods, it always leaves a mess when the flood is gone. These floods, the calling references, well, there aren’t actual floods like I was describing, but they’re symbolic of the hardships that we face. These floods are brought about by the storms we experience in our lives.

And I’m not talking about thunderstorms and tornadoes and ice and snow, even though those things can bring about some of the great troubles that I’m talking about. I’m talking about things that happen to us or to those we know and love that are not what we planned or wanted. You know, they really often take us by surprise and we feel helpless.

Things like an accident with serious injuries, you know, a deadly disease, losing a job, going through a divorce, the death of a loved one, or something else that seriously, emotionally challenges us. These are the storms. So from experience, I know this kind of heartache, and you probably do too.

And we often feel brokenhearted, lost, and overcome. You know, these storms can include, as you very well know, having to leave a church family because the church we grew up in or spent years in and developed great friendships in decided to change course and follow the culture and not the true north. For we know that 2 Timothy 3 and 4 says, for the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.

Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. So who here has experienced some storms or floods in your life, you know, raise your hand.

All right, that’s everybody, that’s what I figured. So, and you know, if someone hasn’t, maybe the little ones back there, you know, they will eventually in their life. And you know, they can be hard to navigate.

And they can be hard or impossible to really wrap our minds around. And often we may wonder why the storm is happening at all. So when you’ve been going through storms in your life, have you ever wondered that, wondered why it was happening? Why God was allowing this horrible thing to happen? What had you done or not done to deserve this? You know, over the years, many people have asked this and they’ve asked it out loud often.

Some have asked me as though I could know the answer. You know, I hear these questions while working as a chaplain and usually all I can do is be there for them. It’s natural to have those feelings.

It’s biblical to have those feelings. It’s in the Bible. Job had those feelings and Job had those same questions.

So Job 38 verses one through 11 is also in the lectionary for today. So that moves us into that. So if you know anything about Job, then you know Job was a godly man and lived a righteous life.

But you also know that he had gone through some serious storms by chapter 38. He had lost just about everything by then. His wealth, his home, his children and his health.

His wife had told him he should curse God and die. Wow, that seems harsh, but in her defense, you know, she was going through that too, wasn’t she? And I think that she probably blamed Job for what he was experiencing as his friends did. Job had three friends come to visit him over time and they all had their opinions of why Job was suffering so much and they all questioned what he had done that could lead to such suffering.

And they blamed Job for the evil things that happened to him. And they did that because they did not see or know the plans of God. In their human minds, they couldn’t understand why God would allow his faithful servant to suffer the way that Job did.

They thought surely he had done something to bring it on himself. Well, Job denied that. He denied sinning against God and Job, however, would never curse God even though he was upset with him because he thought he was not being treated justly or rightly by God and he voiced this.

So in chapter 38, God begins to talk to Job. The Lord answers Job’s questions by questioning him. Job needed to understand the power and the greatness of God.

He would then realize that God has all things, even Job’s situation, in his control. He will never leave or forsake us. So verses one through 11, it’s on the screen, they go like this.

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said, who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man and I will question you and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me if you understand.

Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know. Who stretched a measuring line against it? On what were its footing set or who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness when I fixed the limits for it and set its doors and bars in place when I said, this far you may come and no farther. Here is where your proud waves halt.

So God is the creator of all. He truly is all powerful. And these verses demonstrate his command over the seas.

He shut the sea up behind doors. He fixed the limits for it and commanded where its waves would halt. So full circle, this brings me back to Mark 4, 35 to 41.

The God who told Job he controlled the sea revealed this power to the disciples through Jesus. Many of the disciples had spent much of their lives on the sea as fishermen. If they had known a storm was coming, when Jesus said to go to the other side of the sea, they probably would have said something.

Maybe something like, I see a storm coming or ay-ay, Jesus, I feel a storm blowing in or maybe we should wait. Instead, they simply did as he asked. And this tells me they probably didn’t know that there was a storm coming.

You know, that’s kind of how the storms in our lives happen, isn’t it? We all know about storms. We’ve all been through storms, but often, here we go, we go sailing right into them without realizing it until it’s too late. You know, storms of our lives, so often they do take us by surprise.

When the storm comes and the boat is being flooded, well, the disciples, what do they do? They go to Jesus. You know, I think that this is a good example for us when we face troubles, even though we should be going to Jesus even when there isn’t a storm. When our lives are disrupted by unexpected events, when our health fails, when our family breaks apart, when our emotions are crushed because of betrayal and when we lose our job or our church turns from the true north and takes another direction, we need to call out to Jesus.

It’s interesting what they say to Jesus when they wake him up. Teacher, don’t you care if we are perishing? They were clearly freaking out, right? They were in a panic. They thought they were all going to die.

I mean, that’s what perishing means, right? And Jesus was just lying there, sleeping. Well, God doesn’t panic. He knows everything.

Jesus knew there was a storm. He knew the disciples were going to experience it and he knows what’s going to happen because he’s God. God may show pity on us.

God probably feels sorry for us as we panic and worry, but God doesn’t panic and worry. So one commentary that I read says, we do ill to try to communicate our despair to God. Instead of rushing to communicate our panic to him, we should allow him to communicate his calm to us.

So some people seem to have found that calm, that peace that surpasses all understanding. For those people, whether the storm is calmed or the storm increases and gets worse, they don’t have fear for God is with them. The apostle Paul said in Philippians 4, 11 through 13, that he had learned the secret of facing the storms and challenges in life.

Because he says, no matter what, he can make it through with Christ. And he wrote, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. So in the story, Jesus calmed the storm that day.

And if he didn’t calm the storm, it wouldn’t have been because he didn’t care. Christ cares. Christ cares and he’s with you even when the worst storms of this life are raging.

Even if your ship goes down. If we die from whatever the storm brings, we will not perish if we have Christ. We shouldn’t ever need to ask Jesus if he cares if we’re perishing.

He’s already shown us. He doesn’t want us to perish. He died on the cross to keep us from perishing.

He did all that was necessary to make sure that when our ship goes down and our earthly lives end, that we do not perish. We only perish if we aren’t believers and followers and don’t have Christ with us. And he is with us.

He died for each one of us taking our place. And he promised he would be with each of us until the end of the age. This story of Jesus calming the storm shows his power.

And just as he rescued the disciples, he can rescue us. But this rescue that Jesus provides doesn’t keep us from the storms. But his rescue does something much greater.

It keeps you from perishing. And it changes the way that we look at the storms. So this scripture reminds me that people are perishing.

And we, many of us here in the church, we seem to be sleeping. And we’re sleeping because we’re living lives focused on our own needs, our own comfort, and our own wants. And if they, the ones without Christ, only knew the truth about what’s going to happen to them, they would be crying out to us saying, don’t you care that we are perishing? Unlike Jesus knowing that the disciples would be okay, we know just the opposite about the people without faith, the lost and the unreached in the world.

They’re not gonna be okay. They have to be told about Jesus. They have to be told that they’re perishing.

Maybe not in those words, but they have to be told. It’s up to us to let them know that we care. So invite them to church.

Invite them to Hope Builders. Invite them to coffee or lunch. You know, they don’t have to perish.

We know what will keep them from perishing, don’t we? It’s Jesus. And we must tell them what Jesus has done for us and then point them to the true north. So let’s pray.

Almighty God, heavenly Father, mighty Comforter, blessed Savior, we praise you even in the storms. We thank you for all you have given us. We know that with you, all things are possible and we need not fear where your spirit is leading us.

We know you care for all people and desire for us to be a missional church by reaching out to those who don’t know you and inviting them to worship with us here at One Hope Church. Give us all the heart of loving confidence to do your will. All of this I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.