Courage in the Saviour

Would you please turn with me in the Word of God to Mark 6, the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 6.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

As we do so, let us pray and call on the Lord for illumination.

O Lord, our God, we are so thankful that you have given us your Word, that you have not

left us dependent upon the imaginations of our minds, the idols of our hearts, but that

you have revealed yourself to us, that you have spoken clearly and beautifully of hope

for sinners, of confidence in you.

We pray that the Spirit will now open our hearts and our ears so that we may hear and receive

your words, the words of your law and your Gospel, even as you have promised.

We ask all this, gracious Father, in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Mark, Chapter 6.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

Our verse tonight is particularly verse 50.

Take heart or take courage.

It is I.

Do not be afraid.

But we'll pick up the story at verse 30 and read down to verse 52.

So Mark 6, verse 30.

Mark 6:30

Let us hear God's own Word.

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.

And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.

For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns

and got there ahead of them.

When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were

like sheep without a shepherd.

And he began to teach them many things.

And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, this is a desolate place, and

the hour is now late.

Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to

eat.

But he answered them, you give them something to eat.

And they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to

eat?

And he said to them, how many loaves do you have?

Go and see.

And when they had found out, they said, five and two fish.

Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass.

So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties.

And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing

and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people.

And he divided the two fish among them all, and they all ate and were satisfied.

And they took up 12 baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish, and those who ate the

loaves were 5,000 men.

Immediately, he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side,

to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.

And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them.

And about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking on the sea.

He meant to pass by them.

But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out,

for they all saw him and were terrified.

But immediately he spoke to them and said, Take heart.

It is I.

Do not be afraid.

And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased.

And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

So far, the reading of God's word.

It seems to me that from reports in the media, from world events, geopolitics, things unfolding all around us,

many people today are afraid.

I think we live in an age of fear and of growing alarm.

We're certainly concerned with the destruction of war,

great hardships that have come already from that and that seem likely to come.

We face difficulties on the economic front.

We look around and see what seems to be a radical revolution in the culture's understanding of seemingly everything under the sun.

And I think many of us are anxious about the world in which our children or our grandchildren are growing up.

The world, if you're younger, the world in which you're coming of age that seems so unstable in our time.

I think our instincts are either to be fearful or angry or proud,

to think that in our time of crisis,

we need somehow to redouble our efforts to create stability for ourselves,

to build the right kind of relationship,

to find the right solution to world politics that will work,

to have sufficient resources,

to fund our pensions,

things that are good and worth pursuing but are not ultimate.

But it seems that it is a moment of great instability.

For many people, this has been and continues to be a time of a great deal of stress and a great deal of distress,

a time of a great many questions.

And when the things that surround us, that we enjoy,

that we so often take for granted,

are removed or threatened or challenged,

it seems that we often fall prey to that great temptation

to put our confidence in the creation,

in the things that we build and do

to try to find some stability.

But that's why we as Christians are so privileged to know

that our confidence, our foundation,

our security rests not in anything created,

but in the Creator.

Not in our efforts or our policies or our disciplines.

That's part of the wonderful heritage that we have from the Reformation.

Before the Reformation, I think many Christians,

perhaps most Christians,

were dominated by a fearful outlook on the world.

They feared a world full of demons

and all sorts of superstitions.

They sometimes feared the church and its inquisition.

They feared themselves and their own propensity to sin.

And they feared God.

Perhaps not a proper fear of God that drives one to seek mercy,

but because God was most presented only as a righteous judge

who would in any case send them to hell.

So Christianity was often characterized by a fearfulness

that I think was encouraged,

that too much confidence, too much assurance,

too much peace with God will make people indifferent,

will make people sinful.

But when the Reformation came

and when people like Luther and Calvin

began to recover a sense of the power of God's Word,

they were profoundly moved by verses like our text tonight.

The words of Jesus,

Take heart.

Take courage.

It is I.

Don't be afraid.

The message of the Gospel, you see,

the message of our Savior, Jesus Christ,

is indeed good news.

It's good news that is designed to bring peace and hope

and an ultimate heavenly stability into the hearts of his people.

It is the remedy, the antidote to fear.

It is the firm foundation on which we ought to rest as God's people.

And one of the great fruits, it seems to me,

of the Reformation is a confident and courageous kind of Christianity.

Not a kind of Christianity that never faces a fear

or never has a problem or is triumphalist,

but a kind of Christianity that in the face of problems and fears

turns with confidence to God.

And from that confidence in God derives a remarkable level of courage

to face the realities, the difficulties of this life.

So I would like to preach to you tonight about that courage,

that confidence that ought to be ours,

that call of the Savior who says to us,

even now, as he said to his disciples long ago,

take heart.

Take courage.

Be courageous.

Don't be afraid.

Well, how is it that we can be courageous?

From where does that courage come from?

I think in this text,

this text particularly of our Lord coming to his disciples

as they struggle in the sea, in the midst of a storm,

this story illustrates for us in a variety of ways

how we can have courage,

how Christ would have us to take courage.

And the first thing that this story says to us

is that we are to take courage from his presence.

From his glorious presence.

We see this story.

It's a rather touching story in many ways.

The apostles have been preaching.

They come back exhausted,

yet the needs of ministry continue.

Jesus and the disciples are surrounded by needy people.

They don't even have time to eat.

Jesus says,

we'd better get away so we can have some quiet for rest.

They get in a boat thinking they can head off from the crowd,

but the crowd filled with great need is so determined

that they run ahead and gather others

so that when the boat lands,

there's a larger crowd there waiting.

And Jesus ministers to them.

Perhaps you notice that the first great act of his ministry to them,

as we read it in verse 34,

is he began to teach them many things.

We must never disparage the critical nature

of the church's teaching ministry to those in need.

I think that there's nothing more foundational

that we need to live the Christian life than the truth.

And Jesus, in his exhaustion

and in the exhaustion of his disciples,

continues to teach.

And then seeing the hunger,

he feeds them,

and a vast number, over 5,000 are there,

and then still concerned about the disciples.

Jesus sends them on alone,

thinking apparently that the crowd won't follow

if he stays there with the crowd for a while,

and the disciples are sent on.

But then the disciples find themselves

caught on the sea in difficulty.

And Jesus comes to them walking on the water,

a most remarkable event in and of itself.

We might be tempted to say,

well, isn't that the glory of his presence,

this display of his miraculous power,

the amazing ability of our Lord

to do what no human being could do on his own,

to walk upon water,

to walk upon stormy water,

and come to the disciples.

But I think when we look a little closer at the text,

the revelation of the glorious presence of Christ

is much more profound than just that miracle,

as important and significant as it is in itself.

But there are other things in the passage

that point to the glorious character,

the presence of God,

of the presence of Jesus with his disciples.

The first of these we see there in verse 48.

He saw the disciples straining at the oars

because the wind was against them.

About the fourth watch of the night,

he came to them walking on the sea.

He was about to pass by them.

He was about to pass by them.

Why about to pass by them?

Isn't that sort of a waste of time and energy?

If he's just going to walk on by,

why walk out in the first place?

If we compare the word here to walk by

with what we find in the Old Testament,

we see that the same verb is used

in the Greek version of the Old Testament

to describe when Moses had asked to see God's glory.

And God, as it is recorded for us in Exodus 33,

had taken Moses and hidden him in the cleft of the rock

and said,

I will pass by.

I will accommodate myself to your weakness.

And as I do so,

you will see the glory that I show you,

which is my goodness.

My goodness.

You will find good news as I pass by.

You will find the gospel as I pass by.

That's the glory that I will show to you.

And that seems to be what's on Mark's mind

as he records this story

and its meaning for us here in this text.

How is the glory of Christ revealed?

It's revealed not only in the fact

that he can walk along the sea,

but also that he is walking past them.

He's taking the role of Yahweh himself

and the revelation of his glory.

And he is saying to them,

I am your God come in the flesh to be with you.

I am not just a wonder worker who can walk on the sea,

but I am God himself who comes to you and for you.

And I am here with you even now.

I am that cleft in the rock.

And I will hide you in my protection.

My presence will give you the true stability

that you're looking for.

But as so often in the gospel account

and from this fact,

I suppose we should take a lot of encouragement.

The disciples are so often wrong.

They so often miss the point.

It shows the great patience of our God.

And the patience of our God

is something that we should be reassured about often

because we are so often wrong.

They completely miss the point.

They don't see the glory.

They don't anticipate that this Jesus,

whom they've seen multiply five loaves and two fish

to feed over 5,000 people,

they're surprised that he is glorious in this way.

And so they completely mistake what was happening.

Verse 49,

when they saw him walking on the sea,

they thought it was a ghost.

Isn't that pathetic?

They're still caught up in all kinds of superstitions.

They can't believe their own eyes.

Rather than believe that Jesus is the glorious God

come to be with them and to help them

and to reveal himself to them,

they take refuge in some kind of superstition

about ghosts on the water.

And they cry out and are terrified.

So not only does the Savior perform this miracle

of walking on the water,

not only does he seek to reveal his own glory

as he would pass them by,

but then he speaks to them.

And here too we see something

of the glory of his presence.

He not only says take heart

or take courage

and don't be afraid,

but also we read here that he says,

it is I.

It is I.

Now that's not a bad translation

of what we read in the Greek,

but it misses the force

of what Mark has intended for us to hear

in the words of the Savior

because the text literally says,

take heart,

I am,

don't be afraid.

I am.

Here again you see the Savior

is identifying himself

with the great Old Testament God,

Yahweh,

who revealed himself

as the great I am

whose very name Yahweh

is rooted in the very notion of being.

Jesus is saying to them,

like I told Moses long ago,

I am.

Or as we find him saying

in the Gospel of John,

before Abraham was,

I am.

This is a claim of divinity.

No Jew would have missed it.

Mark doesn't want us to miss it.

This is part of the glorious presence

of the Savior.

We are to know

that Savior is indeed true man,

but here the point of this text

is that he is true God,

come in the flesh

to be with his people,

to be present with them,

to show his glory,

that we might be encouraged,

that we might be confident,

that when we face distress,

we can know that the great I am,

the eternal almighty God,

who made all that there is,

is with us in the face of Jesus Christ,

and that the Savior will come to us

and will help us.

And that's the second point of this text,

I think.

It's not only his presence,

the glorious presence of the Savior

that's revealed,

but also his power that is revealed

to encourage us here.

His power is displayed here

for a gracious purpose,

to help and to save.

He saves them, doesn't he?

They're straining at the oars.

They were not sure

they could reach the shore

because the wind was against them.

Caught in a storm,

they are afraid,

and Jesus comes to them

and speaks a word,

and the storm is calm.

Here is power,

power for a gracious purpose,

to save, to provide.

Once again,

the disciples live up

to their total inability

to grasp what is going on,

verse 51 and 52.

They were utterly astounded.

They are completely amazed

because they had not understood

about the loaves,

but their hearts were hardened.

It's as if Mark is saying,

why should they have been so amazed?

But the reason they are so amazed

at the miracle

of the calming of the storm

is because they had never understood

the miracle of the feeding

of the 5,000.

That's to say,

they had never seen

in Jesus Christ

what they ought to have seen,

what was clearly revealed to them

by these actions.

Look at verse 34

of Mark chapter 6.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

When he, Jesus,

went ashore,

he saw a great crowd

and he had compassion on them

because they were like sheep

without a shepherd.

He had compassion on them

because he was the good shepherd.

His heart was filled with love

for his people

because he was fulfilling the duty

and the privilege

that the Father had given him

and that he had freely undertaken,

that he had come to be

that good shepherd.

That savior of his people.

The provider for those in need.

The one who would exercise

gracious power for them.

He had shown that

by taking time to teach them.

And he had shown that

by providing bread and fish

to nourish them.

But they didn't get it.

Why didn't they get it?

They didn't get it

because for them

it was all about themselves.

It was all about

what they could get

out of Christ.

When they had rushed ahead

to get ahead of Jesus

in the boat

before the feeding

of the 5,000,

why had they rushed?

Was it because

they were so devoted

to the Savior?

Was it because

they were so eager

to be with him,

to have fellowship

with him?

Was it because

they had sensed

his glorious presence

and his gracious power?

No, they had rushed ahead

so that they could get healed.

So that they could get

what they wanted.

When they were hungry

and he fed them,

they didn't think about him

but only about themselves

and what they required.

So too,

when the crowd,

when he comes,

when Christ comes

and he saves the disciples

as they're caught

in the storm,

do they think about him

and who he is?

No, they don't get it.

They don't get

that this gracious power

is revealing to them

a Savior

and a provider

beyond what they

could have hoped.

One who will never

let them go.

Who will never

abandon them.

Who will provide

for them

all that they need

so that they can

take courage

and not be afraid.

So that,

as things so often

seem,

as the world

crumbles around them,

they can be sure

of the permanence,

of the reliability,

of the stability

that they have

and the Savior,

the great I am

in Christ,

that God's ultimate

verdict is sure

that nothing

can thwart

his purposes.

You see,

the disciples here

as they so often

do are trying

to fit God

into their story.

They're always asking

the question,

how does God

apply to my life?

How does God

fit into what I

want to do?

How does God

meet my needs?

That's not the first

question I think

God would have us

to ask,

is it?

Our question

ought to be,

how has God

brought me

into his story?

How have I been

brought into the

great history

of redemption?

Which goes back

to Israel

in the Old Testament,

back to Abraham

and the patriarchs,

back to the promise

in the garden,

back to the eternal

plan of the Father

and the Son

with the Spirit

that Christ

should be given

a people

that he will save

and redeem,

a kingdom

that has no end?

You see,

when we first know

the character

of our Savior,

when we see

how the Lord

reveals his compassion

and his love,

his care

and provision

for us,

it must melt

our hearts

if we are

his people.

It must enable

us to say,

whatever distress

I face,

whatever difficulty

I know,

I can take courage

because I have

such a Savior.

And the Scriptures

invite us to have

that kind of courage

even when Jesus

does not come

immediately

to remove

our distress

as we would wish.

think of these

words in Hebrews

Hebrews 10:32

chapter 10

verse 32

where the author

of the epistle

to the Hebrews

is trying to

stir up in the people

the kind of devotion

and confidence

that they have once had.

Hebrews 10

32

we read,

Remember those

earlier days

when you had

received the light

and stood your ground

in a great contest

in the face

of suffering?

Sometimes you were

publicly exposed

to insult

and persecution.

At other times

you stood side

by side

with those

who were so treated.

You sympathized

with those in prison

and joyfully accepted

the confiscation

of your property

because you knew

that you yourselves

had better

and lasting possessions.

So do not

throw away

your confidence.

It will be

richly rewarded.

You need to persevere

so that when you

have done the will

of God

you will receive

what he has promised.

For in just

a very little while

he who is coming

will come

and will not delay.

But my righteous

one will live

by faith

and if he shrinks

back

I will not be

pleased with him.

You see

these were

suffering people

and they were

prone sometimes

to wonder

where is God?

Where is the promise

of his coming?

Where is the help

that I need?

And Hebrews

says even

when that help

does not come

as quickly

as we would wish

as we would

like it to see

as we would

like to see it

we're told

do not throw

away your confidence

for in just

a very little

while

he who is coming

will come

and will not

delay.

That's the promise.

That's the promise

that he's not

far away

that he is not

late in coming

that he knows

our need

and will use

his gracious

power to give

us what we need

to sustain us

therefore take

heart

be courageous

don't be afraid.

Our courage

comes not only

from his presence

and from his power

but also from

the prayer

of the Savior.

we need always

to remember

that Jesus

was a man

of prayer.

He was a man

of prayer

not only

to model

for us

the centrality

of prayer

the importance

of prayer

in the Christian

life

but also

and above all

because he was

in constant

fellowship

and communication

with the Father.

So we read

in verse 46

of Mark

Mark 6:46

chapter 6

verse 46

after he had

taken leave

of them

that is the

crowd

to whom he

had been

ministering

he went up

on the mountain

to pray

and when evening

came

the boat

was out

on the sea

and he was

alone

on the land

and he saw

that they were

making headway

painfully

straining

against the oars

for the wind

was against them.

Now

did he see

them in his

prayers?

Did he finish

his prayers

and then see

them?

I think the

text is unclear

but it does

want to relate

very carefully

and very closely

the prayers

of the Savior

to his seeing

the needs

of his people.

And we need

to remember

that that is

still true

of the Savior

today.

His priestly

work you'll

remember is

twofold.

First to offer

himself as the

sacrifice for sin.

That's the first

great work of a

priest to offer

sacrifice.

But the second

work continues

even to this

day.

The work of

prayer.

The priest

first of all

offers sacrifice

for the people

and then he

intercedes for

them.

He prays for

them.

And the

scripture tells

us over and

over again

that Jesus

Christ is

still praying

for us.

That he still

knows our

need.

That he still

sees us in

our difficulty.

and he

prays to the

father for

us that we

would be

guarded and

protected.

The Savior

knows our

weaknesses.

He knows our

doubts.

He knows our

difficulties.

He knows even

our times of

indifference to

the things of

God.

But he tells

us, doesn't

he, draw near

for I am with

you and you

will receive

mercy and

grace to

help in

times of

need.

Again we

read in

Hebrews 6

and 7 that

Jesus is our

priest forever.

That he

always lives to

make intercession

for his

people.

And he

says to us,

I have come

to you that

you might flee

to me for

refuge, that

you might have

strong encouragement

to hold fast to

the hope set

before you, the

sure and

steadfast anchor

of your soul.

And that's a

critical part of

the work of our

Savior.

That he is

always caring

for us, that

he is always

guarding us, that

he is always

providing for us

all that we

need.

Let us remember

loved ones that

we have such a

Savior, that we

have such a

mediator who

cares for us, who

never forgets us.

You see that's

the reality that

so moved our

forebears in the

faith with

confidence in

God.

Perhaps some of

you have heard

one of the great

16th century

Reformation quotes

from a Spanish

soldier who

said he would

rather face a

whole army than

one Calvinist

committed to

doing the will

of God.

That's a

motivating confidence

in God.

It says, my

God is with me

in his presence,

in his power,

in his prayers,

and in a world

of difficulty and

discouragement,

of conflict and

war, of political

soundbites, of

forces that would

compete for our

attention endlessly,

that would jostle us

like boats in a

storm.

We need to be

reminded that in

our Savior, Jesus

Christ, we receive a

kingdom that cannot be

shaken, and that we

have even now a

foretaste of all that

we will have fully on

the last day.

I was reminded of

that this morning.

That's why we come

to church, isn't it?

So that we can hear

again and again,

because we forget,

we doubt, we're not

always convinced it's

true.

We need to be reminded

that God has made real

promises to us with

real words.

We can see, as we did

this morning, twice,

real water to seal

that promise to us

in baptism, real bread

and wine to nourish

us in the supper.

We come so that we

can hear and sing

and pray God's word

together, so that we

might be a people

together that knows

our God and that has

great confidence in

him.

But then we read in

Mark 6 that at the

time, the disciples

were amazed.

They were

astounded.

That is, they were

filled with wonder.

That is, they were

impressed.

Throughout the gospel

accounts, we find people

being impressed.

The trouble with being

impressed is that it's

what happens to those

who go to the circus,

to those who hang out

with celebrities,

politicians who can

promise to do

impressive things.

our Savior does not

want us to be

impressed.

He wants us to

believe.

But what is it to

believe?

It is here revealed to

us that believing is to

see the glorious

presence of Christ and

not be afraid.

To know that he is not

a ghost, but he is

alive and he is with

us.

It is to have faith,

to know and trust that

the gracious power of

our Savior is

exercised for us.

to know and trust that

the guarding prayers of

our mediator surround us

at all times.

To hear and believe when

he says to us,

take heart, take

courage, be

courageous, do not be

afraid.

What difficulty that we

face could ever stand

against our Savior?

May God grant to each

one of us that courage

that we find only in

Christ.

Amen.

Let us pray.

O Lord, our God, we

thank you that we have

such a Savior.

We pray that again and

again that we might be

renewed in our

believing.

We confess it is so easy

for us, O Lord, to be

overwhelmed by the things

of this world.

By very real and

legitimate fears and

struggles and to take

our eyes off of the

Savior so that we do

not hear his gracious

word.

But, O Lord, we ask

that word would ring in

our hearts and minds

that he is and that he

is for us who are his

people.

He is the mighty one

whose kingdom cannot be

toppled.

By your spirit, we ask

that we may embrace and

hold fast to that

blessed hope of eternal

life which you have

given us in Christ.

We pray that you would

fill us with that faith,

O Lord, and from that

faith let courage flow as

we live for you.

Hear us, for we pray all

of this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.

Would you please stand with

me as we sing together our

final psalm, Psalm 121.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Speaker 3, 0 Spinning

Em bumpy

wind

This is Awakening

出来

In Mississippi

in mi

my

shoe

23, 0

That it is

fire

Wow.

Devil

Inim