Where is your faith?

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay on 20 February 2022

Readings: Luke 8:22-25

​Storm Eunice

Well, storm Eunice was a bit more than a squall, wasn’t it. I hope you have not suffered any major damage, just a slightly broken fence panel and a plastic shed window for me. That’s because we were warned, and got everything tied down. Bad weather can be frightening, did you see the news, and the woman standing in front of her crushed car saying she thought she was going to die?

​Story

I’m going to start by telling you a story from my past, then I will reflect on it based on the passage in Luke.

​Sought Out

The story does not involve me directly and comes from a time before the great storm of 1987. Where I worked then, the Data Processing programming teams were split into two. I worked for the sales team, the other was the manufacturing team. Each team had its own manager. The work was very different, and although we were in the same office, there was very little interaction. One lunchtime, I was on my own in the canteen- an unusual event in itself, when the manager of the manufacturing team asked if he could join me.

​Manager’s Story

He talked about various things, mostly his recent holiday. He had been on some sort of trek, I don’t remember the details, and had reached the top of a mountain. The weather had changed suddenly, from being a pleasant day it became cold, foggy and stormy all at the same time. They could no longer see their path, where they had come from, or where they intended to go. They were cold and very wet. They felt stranded and were fearful that they would not make it safely off the mountain. Then they prayed. I’m not sure if they knew who exactly they were praying to or cared at that point. Quickly, the weather eased enough for them to make some progress, and eventually they made it down the mountain and no lasting harm had occurred.

​Only Christian

As the one and only Christian in the office, I’m guessing that I had been sought out and that this was a report of God’s good work and possible some sort of thanks.

It was an interesting conversation to have when you have been a Christian for only a couple of years.

​The lake

Try to keep that story in mind while I do a little scene setting for the bible passage.

The sea of Galilee is 13 miles long, 8 miles wide and 33 miles in circumference, at its deepest it is 143 feet deep. Its surface is between 705 and 686 feet below sea level, and is the lowest freshwater lake on earth. It is surrounded by hills, which leads to some unpredictable weather at times, and squalls are common.

​Peter – not prepared

Peter, though, had previously made his living as a fisherman on this lake, so he should have been aware of the weather and mostly been able to see it coming. One of the common threads that runs through my story and Luke’s is that there was no advanced warning. They weren’t prepared for what happened, nor was there a way that they could have been prepared. Life is like that. Things happen that you cannot prepare for or have any inkling that they were about to happen.

​Two ways

It is Jesus though that plays the central role in the story, and we can understand the story in two ways depending on what we think was happening with Jesus.

​Hard Day

In the first approach, Jesus has had a hard day, and perhaps a bad night the night before. He gets in the boat, and knows that the disciples will do all the sailing, so he relaxes and the gentle rocking of the boat sends him to sleep. Being tired, and absolutely confident in His Father in heaven, nothing needs to disturb his sleep – he knows they will get to the other side whatever happens.

​Be Still (1)

So when the disciples wake him up, and he sees what’s happening he calms the storm for their sake – to bring them comfort, and to show a little more of his power.

​What were the disciples expecting?

Just as an aside here for a minute, let’s ask the question “What were the disciples expecting him to do?” In the Matthew version of this story they are recorded as saying “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

That would imply that somewhere deep down they expected Jesus to calm the storm.

​Just one of those unpredictable things

If we assume that the storm was just one of those unpredictable things that happens, and that God can overcome them when we ask him, then we will think like I did as a young Christian. It will lead to questions, though – why doesn’t God answer prayer for everyone like this? Why didn’t the storm that the programming manager experienced clear up completely, so they could get down the mountain easily?

​Another way

There is another way of looking at it, though. Jesus plays an even more central role in this view than He did in the last one.

In the second approach, it doesn’t matter so much whether Jesus has had a hard day or not. He gets in the boat in the same way. He knows that the disciples will do all the sailing, so he sits in the boat and relaxes.

​Sleep

The gentle rocking of the boat sends him to sleep, just as he intended it to. This is the only record in the Bible that Jesus ever slept, although, being a man, He must have done so every night. Here, He sleeps so that the disciples in the boat can experience the storm without His immediate presence.

The storm arrives exactly on schedule, it is a sudden violent squall just as He wanted. The boat will be overwhelmed unless the storm abates.

​Be Still (2)

So when the disciples wake him up, he already knows what’s happening. He calms the storm for their sake – to bring them comfort, but more importantly to teach them an important lesson about relying on God in all circumstances. Now the question “Where is your faith?” becomes a question designed to start a conversation to see how much the disciples are really learning.

​God’s Storm

If we attribute the storm to God specifically, rather than saying that the evil one was permitted to send it, or that it is just one of those things, we get a different view of what God is doing in our lives – and we get a different view of God. We are acknowledging His sovereignty.

In this view, God has much closer control, He is in charge of the storms that arrive in our lives and their length and intensity.

We know he can do this because we have already seen him calm the storm. If He can do that with a few words, he can just as easily cause one.

​God in control

So, with God in control of all things, when the hikers on the mountain are caught in the storm, God is sending it to push at least one of them to go and talk to at least one professing Christian.

God doesn’t have to wait for a scheme of the evil one which He allows, and then work to bring good from it, rather he sees the good that we need and creates the situations that will drive that good. The good here is not our comfort, but our growth – the character building and faith building that is the purpose that He has for us in preparing us for Eternal Life.

​All Things ...

This view also helps me to understand how “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

​Saying

There’s a saying popularised by John Lennon, but its original author is not known. “Everything will be alright in the end, if it isn’t alright, it isn’t the end”.

Billy Graham was known for saying he’d read the Bible to the last page, and everything was alright in the end.

God is preparing us for the end, but we may have to go through more difficult trials, that He will not rescue us from.

There are thousands of Christian martyrs that God used to bring others to faith, they will get their reward in heaven. Here are just two of them:

​Ridley and Latimer

In October 1655, two of the great people in the history of Anglicanism, Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer, were burned at the stake together. As the fires were lit, Latimer cried out,

“Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as I trust shall never be put out!”

​Where is your faith?

So, we must answer the question, “Where is your faith?” Is your faith in the God who made you, and all men and women – as we saw in the Genesis reading -, or is it in some sort of balance of good and evil? With God permitting schemes of the evil one. If the disciples had realised who Jesus was – the word present at the creation – they may not have been panicked by the deadly squall.

So, “Where is your faith?”

​Prayer

Father,

We may never face the fate of Latimer and Ridley, but help us to grow in faith and love, just as the disciples did. That we are prepared to face any trial, knowing that you have already saved us and have a secure place for us in heaven.

Amen.