This is week three of our STORM series and we have
learned so much about the storms we have in our lives! We’ve learned about how storms always have an
end, but also that they take time to pass through. We’ve learned that storms show us our weak
spots – the areas of our lives that we aren’t fully giving over to Jesus. We’ve learned that sometimes storms are just
God’s way of getting our attention or, as Ky shared last week, changing our
direction and getting us on the path God wants us to be on. And finally, we’ve learned that our storms,
no matter how ugly, are a beautiful gift from God.
But if you’re like me – a.k.a. a normal human being – this
idea that storms are a beautiful gift is a frustrating one. Because when you’re in a storm it feels
ANYTHING but beautiful! We know that if we
can see things from God’s “big picture” perspective, we can see that storms are
beautiful, but if they’re so beautiful, why don’t we like them? What's the
problem with feeling like everything is going against you? What's the problem
with the chaos? What's the problem with the stress?
The problem is that as humans we are constantly seeking
after this one thing – PEACE. Not “world
peace” or Peace Tea – peace in our minds and our hearts and our lives. Everything that we go after – relationships,
money, status, accomplishments, possessions, fame, all of it is an effort to find
PEACE. We think that when finally get
those things they will make the tension, the stress, the pain, the sadness,
whatever it is, go away and then we will feel that peace that we’re craving.
When we have storms, we want them to go away because the
peace we had (or thought we had) at one time or the peace we’re aiming for is
being disturbed – and all that tension and anxiety and frustration and stress
and sadness just seem to be pelting us and pushing against us. In
the middle of the storm, even if it is “beautiful”, we still want it to go away
faster - we all want to FIX our storms.
The problem is that storms are usually in so many ways
out of our control and no matter how hard we try, most of the time we cannot
make them go away. Just like an earthly
storm that passes over us, we can’t make our storms pass by any faster. But
there is a way to FIX your storms – there is a way to regain your peace, even
in the middle of the worst storm in your life.
Try this: stand up and grab one leg and hold it behind
your back and try to balance. Now, while
you’re doing this, keep your head up and keep your head moving and looking
around at everything that’s going on around you.
Now stop and try it again. This time, I want you to pick one spot on the
floor or a chair or the wall – pick something that’s not going to move. Focus your eyes on that one spot and don’t
look away. Whatever you do, don’t look
away from that spot. Is that easier?
We’re
going to read a story from the Bible about a group of men who were caught in a
little bit of a storm. I picked these
guys because they were followers of Jesus.
And I think a guaranteed way to get yourself into a storm is to do what
they did – start following Jesus. Or
even better – make a real commitment that you want to give your WHOLE LIFE to
Jesus like these guys did.
Some
of you might recall making decisions and commitments like that in the past year
or so. In my eyes, this is a 100%
guarantee that God is going to give you this amazing gift of a storm – because
it’s one thing to SAY you’re gonna “surrender it all to Jesus”, but He is never
going to just let that be words. He’s going
to make sure that’s what you really want, He’s going to make sure it’s not just
an “I’m on SERVE and Jesus is just the best thing ever… until I get home” kind
of commitment.
Matthew 14:22-32:
Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that
his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake,
while he sent the people home. After
sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell
while he was there alone.
Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far
away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About
three o’clock in the morning Jesus
came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking
on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a
ghost!”
(I
think we always kind of picture Jesus walking toward the boat on this peaceful,
quiet water. But, how much more
impressive is it that he was walking on water in the middle of “HEAVY WAVES”!)
But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t
be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”
Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s
really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”
“Yes, come,” Jesus
said.
Peter
was the classic “open mouth, insert foot” kind of disciple. He was constantly getting himself in trouble because
he just wasn’t afraid to say whatever was on his mind! So, it was not out of his character to be
like “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the
water.” But can you imagine what was
going through his head when Jesus told him to actually do it! “Woah, ummm just kidding! I didn’t really actually mean that!”
But he did it:
So Peter went over the side of the boat and
walked on the water toward Jesus.
Peter made a big statement and a big
commitment, but pretty soon he found himself in the middle of a storm.
But when he saw the strong wind
and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.
Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed
him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus
said. “Why did you doubt me?”
When they climbed back into the boat, the
wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they
exclaimed.
Jesus asked Peter - “Why did you doubt me?” I don’t think this was the kind of question
where Jesus was looking for Peter to actually answer – so as far as we know, he
didn’t. But what was the answer, why did
he doubt Jesus? Because instead of
keeping his eyes and his focus on Jesus, he started looking around at the
storm.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 says:
“For our present troubles
are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly
outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now;
rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see
now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
“We fix our gaze…”
What does it mean to “FIX” your gaze on something? The definition of “FIX” in this context is to
“stick” and “stay” – meaning you STICK the focus of your eyes on this thing and
you STAY focused with your attention on that thing.
“So we don’t look at the
troubles we can see now…”
The storms and troubles around us are the things we can see
all too easily because they are pelting us and rocking us on a daily
basis. Those are the “thing we see now”
but this verse says we need to FIX our gaze on what is UNSEEN and here is what
the writer of this verse, Paul, is talking about:
2 Corinthians 4:6
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the
darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory
of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Peter
could have fixed the problem if he had just kept his eyes on the face of Christ. It might not make sense and it might be
incredibly hard to take your gaze OFF all of those things in your life that are
swirling around you, but that is how you fix your storm!
In the David
Crowder song Ky played for you last week (“I Am”), one of the lines was: “There’s no place where we can’t find peace”. Fixing your gaze on Jesus doesn’t
mean that the storm will go away, but you
fix your storm by finding peace in the MIDDLE of the storm. And you find peace in the middle of the storm
by FIXING your gaze on Jesus.
If you can take your gaze off of your self, off of your
pain, off of your storm and, instead, focus on the awe and wonder and glory found
in the face of Christ and all that He is, you WILL find peace.
Have you ever spent time in the South? How many of you
would like to go south now and get out of this winter business? Some of you
might know that Tim's parents have a house down in North Carolina in a little
Smoky Mountain town called Bryson City. It's amazing there, we absolutely love
it! Everyone is just super-friendly and
people just smile and talk to you like they've known you forever.
They also have their own “dialect” down there and have some
phrases that are confusing to us northerners – things like "Ya'll" or
"All y'all". One of the phrases that has always intrigued me is
"fixin' to". "We're fixin' to go get us some Bojangles. Ya'll
comin'?" (You mean you have to fix
something before you go to Bojangles???) Basically "fixin' to"
just means that you are preparing or getting ready to go somewhere or do
something.
You FIX your storm
by FIXIN’ to FIX your gaze on Jesus. Trying to learn to fix your eyes in the middle
of your storm is going to be incredibly difficult, so you have to learn to do
it BEFORE your next storm. You have to
prepare or get ready for it.
If a large earthly storm was headed our way, it might be
suggested that we create a "Storm Preparation Kit” – which might include
things like flashlights in case you lose power, bottled water, non-perishable
food in case you’re stranded, blankets or other things to keep you warm or dry,
and first aid supplies.
Because a storm is “on your map” and headed your way, here’s
what you need in your Storms of Life
Preparation Kit:
1) A marked up
Bible
I walked past a car this week and there was a Bible
sitting kind of in the back windshield area of the car and it was like a nice,
decorative, clean pretty white gold-paged Bible. And all I could think of was how sad that was
to me – because God’s word was never meant to be a decoration! It was meant to be USED, it was meant to be
read and studied by us over and over, opened and closed so many times that,
like my friend Sam’s Bible –you’ve opened it so many times that the pages fall
out!
Get a Bible – a real Bible – if you don’t have one,
please talk to us and we will get you one.
You need a real, paper Bible that you can write in and highlight verses
so that when that storm hits, you can look through and find those words that
are going to point you to Jesus so you can fix your gaze on Him and find peace
in your storm.
2) An arsenal of
worship songs about God’s character
You hear a lot of songs here and one of the reasons we
give you a paper bulletin in your hands is so that you can see the list of
songs and then go home and YouTube or Spotify them and listen to them on your
own.
I have a playlist going right now of songs that I turn to
when I’m feeling pelted by the wind and waves.
There are a lot of great Christian songs out there about “struggles” in
life and the “pain” that we go through, but for me the last thing I need is
more of a reminder about my storm and mySELF.
So, I have a separate playlist with songs I’ve collected that talk about
who God is and the glory of Christ so that I can listen to them and they can
help me fix my gaze – even if it’s just for that three or four minutes – on the
face of Christ.
If you’re not a music person – maybe for you it’s a list
of verses about God’s character that you can pull out during those times when
you want to fix your gaze on Him.
3) An
accountability partner or small group who will point you to Jesus
When you’re in a storm it’s really easy to lose your
perspective and sometimes you just need a kick in the butt to stop obsessing
over your self and your storm and start looking at Jesus. And a lot of time that kick in the butt comes
from someone you’ve purposely asked BEFORE the storm to give you that kick in
the butt DURING your storm.
So, start “fixin’ to” and ask someone NOW – get to know
them and allow them to get to know you before your next storm hits.
Did you watch any of the Olympics over the past couple of
weeks? I was a little bit obsessed, but
my favorite events were skeleton and snowboarding. One of the things I’ve learned about both of
these sports – and this is true for many extreme sports – is a principle called
“Look there, Go there”. Basically the idea
is that wherever your eyes are focused is going to be your destination.
So, if you’re riding that sled down a track at 80 miles
an hour and you’re not looking ahead at what curve is coming next, and the
exact line you’re going to take on that curve, you’re gonna crash. And since you’re going head first on a track
made of ice, that would be really bad!
If you’re snowboarding down the mountain (I know this personally because
I’ve done it!) and you see a pile of snow you DON’T want to hit and you stare
at it, thinking “Don’t hit that, don’t hit that!” – you’re going to end up IN it. It
doesn’t matter where you WANT to go or where you SAY you’re going to go, it
matters where your GAZE is focused.
If your gaze is on Jesus – on HIS power, on HIS strength,
on HIS beauty, on HIS love, on HIS grace, on HIS glory, on HIS peace, then THAT
is where you’re going to end up. You fix your storm (you get your peace back)
by fixin’ to (by preparing ahead of time) to fix your gaze (to keep your
attention focused on) the face of Christ!
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