John 6:16-21 - ”Chaos Controller” - Abundant Life (Gospel of John)

two readings today. Our first from the

Old Testament from Psalm 107

uh verses 23-31.

Some went down to the sea in ships doing

business on the great waters. They saw

the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous

works in the deep. for he commanded and

raised the stormy wind which lifted up

the waves of the sea. They mounted up to

heaven. They went down to the depths.

Their courage melted away in their evil

plight. They reeled and staggered like

drunken men and were at their wits end.

Then they cried to the Lord in their

trouble, and he delivered them from

their distress. He made the storm be

still, and the waves of the sea were

hushed. Then they were glad that the

waters were quiet, and he brought them

to their desired haven. Let them thank

the Lord for his steadfast love, for his

wondrous works to the children of man.

And our New Testament reading from John

6-

21.

When evening came, his disciples went

down to the sea, got into a boat, and

started across the sea to Capernaum. It

was dark now, and Jesus had not yet come

to them. The sea became rough because

strong wind was blowing. When they had

rode about 3 or four miles, they saw

Jesus walking on the sea and coming near

the boat, and they were frightened. But

he said to them, "It is I. do not be

afraid. Then they were glad to take him

in the boat, and immediately the boat

was at the land to which they were

going. This is the word of our Lord.

Thanks be to God.

>> So, did you guys know that the German

army invaded Canada during World War II?

How many you raise your hands if you

knew that

one? And I'm not surprised the guy who

knew it. You'll understand in a sec.

I didn't know this until I watched a

biography the other day. Oh, probably

half a year ago. You see, the Germans

knew one thing that they needed to know

the weather. If they were going to win

this war, they had to have the weather

down because they had these convoys

going. They had these submarines trying

to kill them. And they had to know when

was the weather going to be good to make

their moves. Here's the problem.

Most of the Allies had the land that was

the best to read what weather was coming

in. So in 1943

they put this little thing up. They

didn't do a really good job. They count

called it the Canadian meteor meteorical

association because there was none of

that. They just made it up and they

spelled it poorly. But they literally

took a submarine. This is how important

knowing the weather was. From Germany

all the way to northern Labrador to a

little rock and it was called the Kurt

Station.

Why do I tell you that? Because weather

matters.

There's a movie right now called

Pressure that's out there. It's all

about whether they should land on D-Day.

They made a whole movie about this. And

the reality is if you don't know how

weather works, you can't move an army.

You could lose an army. You could be

destroyed. The main thing the Allies did

in all their bombing wasn't the cities.

It was actually weather stations. The

best people they caught were

meteorologists.

This is a side of war that's not

exciting. Unfortunately,

they knew that weather could turn, that

weather was chaos.

How much more would they have known that

in the ancient world

where they had no way of knowing what's

coming? And this whole story is a story

I'm going to try and get you to

understand

through the lens

of that kind of thinking.

Now, we've got our little satnavs, but

even now, I want to say this. What

happens when a a true bad hurricane

comes? Do they have control? Do we have

control?

Right.

The weather, we just have made the

illusion we have more control. But I'm

telling you, the weather causes chaos.

Do we agree with that?

And this is a story that's just about

that. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your

living word. We pray that you will

breathe upon this and that the

meditations of my heart will be pleasing

unto you. Amen.

So the ancient world really knew about

weather and they knew that the ocean is

the most scary thing that exists. So in

all of the creation stories that were

not our creation story, and there were

tons, the weather, the ocean, the sea

was always typified as a angry, dark,

brooding monster, a god that was

untrustworthy.

And then the god of war would always

fight with the god of the sea. And these

stories, these narratives were all about

trying to get calmness, [snorts]

bringing it down so that the people

could use the sea waves. They were

always trying to plate the gods like

Poseidon. In fact, there was only one

god that you would sacrifice more than

the ocean god and that was the war god

because that was just as important.

They knew that it was chaos and they all

called it chaos. The whole ancient world

called the sea chaos because one day

you're there on a boat and next thing

you're not.

So that was their stories. Constant

battle between gods. Then you end up

with this creation story out of Genesis.

And I'm going to tell you something.

There is no other creation story out of

all those creation stories that's like

this. Because in this creation story,

the sea is neutral. It's chaotic. But

there's only one God.

There isn't God's fighting. The sea

doesn't have some power independent of

God. You remember at the beginning

in the beginning God created the heavens

and the earth. The earth was without

form and void. In other words,

disordered and darkness was over the

face of the deep. The darkness me has a

negative connotation like chaos.

And then the breath of God or the spirit

of God was hovering over the face of the

waters. And once that happens, order

begins in the creation story. So, this

isn't a battle between two gods. This is

a yes, chaotic,

disordered world, but it's God himself

who's going to bring it together.

In fact, the Jews were so convinced that

all of the other gods were not

responsible that they noted again and

again how it was only God that

controlled the seas.

Job. Or who shut in the sea with its

stores? When it burst out from the womb,

when I made the clouds its garment, and

thick darkness its swaddling band, and

prescribed limits for it, and set bars

on its doors,

and said, "Thus far you shall come, and

no further, and he shall and here shall

your proud waves be stayed." That's God

speaking. This is his power. He can

control all of this.

Again, the psalmist describes God's

words this way. When the waters saw you,

oh God, when the waters saw you, they

were afraid. Indeed, the deep trembled.

It was two very different worlds.

You had the world of the Jews and their

creation story and their God who the the

waters were not to be feared. And then

you had the pagan stories.

Why do I tell you this?

Because Jews hated the water.

They were known to absolutely despise

the water.

But they often wondered, "How in the

world could we control the chaos?" So

they would pray and fast at times that

this God would control the chaos. But

sometimes it didn't happen. And there

was this Sea of Galilee where a storm

could come up. It had something to do,

and I'm not a meteorologist, had

something to do with the hot air coming

down and the cold air from the lake. And

once it hit, you'd have these massive

10-ft squalls within 30 seconds.

And you got to understand the fear they

had because how many times have they

said bye to an uncle or an aunt on well

probably an uncle on the to going

fishing and you never saw them again.

People recognized the sea was dangerous.

Well, what happened so far? We just saw

Jesus feed 5,000 at least, probably

20,000 because they only counted men.

He's just shown that he's got the 12

loaves left over. He's shown all of

these incredible scenes just from their

eyes.

And then all of a sudden, they want to

make him king by force and Jesus sneaks

out the back door cuz he will not be

shoved in through that lens. So what

happens now?

Well, the disciples just take off. They

just get ahead of Jesus. Now, I got to

imagine how just how just un

Have you ever followed somebody and they

do something so weird

that you're just like staring at them

like they've lost their mind?

That's probably the disciples of Jesus.

I mean, here's our chance to be king and

you just ran off

cuz they wanted a king. Well, here it

says, "When evening came, his disciples

went down to the sea, got into the boat,

and started across the sea of Capernium.

It was now dark." Now, do you remember

the creation story I just read? Remember

where it said

that it was it didn't have form or void,

and it was what on the water?

>> Dark. How does John's gospel start?

in the beginning. How does Genesis

start?

Do you don't think he's trying to make a

point here? You've got chaos. You've got

darkness again. And this now is the God

who's going to, but we'll get into it.

Deal with it. And Jesus had not yet come

back to them. The sea became rough

because a strong wind was blowing.

When they had rode about three or four

miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea

and coming near the boat. Notice it

doesn't say they were frightened before

this,

but then they see Jesus walking on the

water and they were frightened.

Okay,

there's a reason for that.

Every Jew knew one thing.

Every Jew.

There's some things that only God can do

and only God can walk on water.

They had their Old Testament memorized

and they knew one thing. Only God could

walk on water.

They had the book of Job and it's so

many spots. I'll just give you a couple.

Who alone stretched out the heavens and

trampled the waves of the sea. or the

psalmist.

Your way was through the sea. Your path

through the great waters, yet your

footprints were unseen.

It was only God

again who walked on water. They now had

a fear that had nothing to do with the

storm. They had a fear because they knew

one thing as good Jews. You see God in

person, you die.

That's what they've been told since they

were little kids.

I want you to imagine yourself sitting

there. They don't understand this Jesus.

They think it's just going to be a king

like David.

And all of a sudden, he just walks up

and they are terrified.

They have the right reaction.

And maybe they would have stayed in

their ter terrified state except Jesus

says to them.

I don't like this translation. It says

it is I. It's them trying to make it

nice.

He doesn't say that. He says ego ami.

The very words of I am.

And if you know the Moses story and he

says to them to whom shall I say your

name is to the people. And what does he

say? I am that I am.

Now, if you have any question if Jesus

is God, put it to bed. In fact, I'm

going to give you permission. Next time

you run into somebody, and this this is

you can say your pastor gave you

permission for this argument. Next time

you run into somebody who says, "Well,

Jesus was a nice teacher and he was a

really nice fellow and he taught us nice

things, but he wasn't God." Here's your

your your loudest response. Ready?

Okay,

I give you permission.

It's not a great argument, but it works.

Ego, God. So, he's admitting who he is.

And then he says those words we have to

hear. Do not be afraid.

They should be afraid of God. except

he's a god who says you don't have to be

afraid.

Then they were glad to take him into the

boat.

And immediately, it says, this is the

second part of this miracle, not just

him walking on the water. Immediately,

the boat was at the land to which they

were going. They had arrived.

Immediately, they were in the middle of

the ocean and immediately the boat

arrived.

But why did he bring in that immediately

the boat had arrived?

Because he's also John wants you to go

back to a psalm, a psalm that was well

known in the ancient world, a psalm that

talked about God and the weather and see

if you cannot see similarities.

Some went down to the sea in ships doing

business on the great waters.

They saw the deeds of the Lord, his

wondrous works in the deep.

For he commanded and raised the stormy

wind which he lifted up, which lifted up

the waves of the sea.

They mounted up to heaven. They went

down to the depths. Their courage melted

away in their evil plight.

They reeled and staggered like drunken

men and were at their wits end.

Then they cried to the Lord in their

trouble, and he delivered them from

their distress.

He made the storm still, and the waves

of the sea were hushed.

Then when they were then they were glad

that the waters were quiet, and in the

actual Greek it says in the Septuagent,

"And immediately

he brought them to their desired haven."

So, who's Jesus in this story of the

psalm?

He's the God they cry out to.

He's the God who controls the storm.

What I'm trying to tell you guys right

now is what this story is telling us is

not just that's a really neat thing that

Jesus walks on water. Did he have foam

on his feet?

This story is about the God who does the

incredible and deals with chaos. And

this is the God who can do this again

and again and is not afraid of any of

the chaos of this world.

He can turn it like that

and they knew it.

The question I have is why didn't they

keep believing it?

This is the most profound miracle you

see. This is the most pointing to Jesus

as God you will ever see.

So what does it say to us? Well, first

of all, it was written to them, but it

was written for us. What do we take out

of this? Well, the first thing is the

fear of the Lord.

We live in a culture right now where God

is like a really bad drunk uncle.

What I mean by that is he just wants us

all to have a good time. Just be who you

are. Just have some fun. Here, come

here. I'll give you a new Oh, there you

go, buddy. Okay, go play.

We have a very very warped view of the

God of the Bible.

It's this view that he really isn't

caring much about us. He just wants us

all to quote CS Lewis to have a good

time.

It's a very western view of God. But let

me tell you something about God in the

Bible. The God in the Bible is is kind

of scary.

He wipes out whole tribes

when when an I love when these people

tell me, "Oh, I saw an angel." And I'm

like, "What happened?" "Oh, we played

canasta." I'm like,

"Have you read the Bible? When they run

into an angel, what do they do?

They fall on their faces."

Right?

See, the big illusion is that God's just

a really nice us.

He is far greater than that. He is holy.

He is good. And he is true.

And the truth is, if we did face him

face to face

without Jesus, we would die.

It is a healthy thing to have the fear

of the Lord. That's why the proverbs say

the beginning of wisdom is what?

The fear of the Lord.

And the fear of the Lord is actually a

great gift. It's a great gift for us who

are fearing everything on this world

because we think that our problems are

the worst things that have ever

happened. our marriage problems, our

business problems, our whatever

problems.

But what if I were to tell you those are

your little worries.

But when you have a meet the living God,

all of a sudden you have a large fear.

Carl Bart said this,

"Be not afraid is not that fear of

little of life which we all know too

well. This little fear would soon have

been swallowed up by the great fear they

feared with great fear is the literal

translation

which is the fear of the revelation of

God. Now we might ask if we know of this

great fear apart from our own little

fears which may appear big enough to us.

We might further ask if it is we who

also know that the great fear can in

fact swallow up the little fear so that

the little fear is abolished by the

great fear and the latter remains the

only one really serious fear which which

one we must be afraid.

What he's saying there is all our little

fears, I know you have fears, you have

anxieties, you all do.

Guess what would happen if the Lord

showed up on your way out of here?

You wouldn't give a rip about those

anymore.

They would be swallowed up in a minute

because a true and the only thing we

should fear would encounter us.

Notice what they don't say about the

disciples. They fear God. They don't

even notice the storm that's going to

kill them. You notice that

the great gift of when you get the fear

of the Lord too

is you no longer have to fear man. Man

actually becomes quite pathetic.

We fear man because we have little

fears. We fear what they might do to us,

how they might. This whole cancel

culture we've been on is all just people

trying to make people afraid that they

might no longer be their friends or

somehow do something to them. That fear

of man is sick and demonic.

When you have the fear of God,

you are no longer going to worry about

what people think or say about you

because you have fear something much

greater.

Chester Chesterton,

as only he could do, said, "Next time

you fear man, just take some moments and

just sit around and think about the

wrath of God for a few minutes and then

see how much you're afraid of man after

that."

Fear of God is good and it is the

beginning of wisdom. We should take him

seriously.

But thank God we have this.

Yes, the fear of God is good, but we

have do not be afraid.

That's so essential to us or we would

never have a relationship with God.

Every time you see God and a theophony

running into anyone in the Bible, they

are terrified and they fall down. And

every time you say them, do not be

afraid.

That's the gospel by the way. Post

Genesis 3, we should be terrified. We

should be dead.

But God keeps coming back and saying,

"Do not be afraid." And that's because

he wants relationship with us.

It says this should this do not be

afraid should convince the disciples

that in virtue of the glory given him by

God no darkness was too deep waves too

high or sea too wide for him to find

them and be with them in the mo in the

midst of that torment.

He is the kind of God that comes into

it. And when you're in the midst of that

fear, he takes away your fear of the

small things by showing you the sphere

of who he is. And then he says, "Do not

be afraid because I'm with you." And now

you really don't have to be afraid of

anything.

How important will this be for these

disciples?

Do we know what's going to happen?

They're going to follow Jesus and

they're going to follow Jesus and

they're going to find more vitriel and

anger and they're going to misunderstand

him and they're going to get to the

cross. That storm is at its peak when

they get to the cross and they don't

know what to do with this guy

and they're afraid. They're afraid

they're going to be killed

and they're terrified of everything

that's going on. every one of their

hopes goes back. And this story must

have been given to them for those

moments

that when chaos is going on, God's still

in control.

And they saw the fear of the Lord. I'm

sure when that Jesus died on that cross,

but on the resurrection when he came

three days later, he could say, "Do not

fear."

The question of course the Bible has

always said is

are we willing to follow him?

The question for us in our chaotic world

and I know you have chaos and so do I

is are we really going to trust him?

Are we going to be focused on the little

fears around us?

And when he comes up to us, are we going

to say, "Come on into the boat?"

This whole story is laid in the picture

of the bigger story

called the chaos conquered.

Right from the beginning, God has had a

plan.

It starts in the Genesis account. You've

got the story of the darkness over the

deep. You've got the chaos. And then the

spirit of God breathes upon it. Right?

And then we have chapter three, the end

the the sad tragedy where humanity says

we would like to be like gods. And then

you just see the curse start to take

place. And it just builds for the next

nine chapters, doesn't it? And more evil

happens and more evil happens because

humanity becomes like God. And then you

can sense that this ordered world that

God had made in the first seven days is

slowly becoming disordered to the end

where it says they did greater evil than

anyone could imagine.

They choose chaos. So what does God do?

Remember

it was disordered and there was that

great ocean of chaos. Remember that at

the beginning that he ordered.

What do you think the known story is

about?

He releases the chaos.

He releases the disorder. He gives them

what they want.

It's no longer is he keeping the

boundaries in of the waves. He just lets

it go. And the chaos represented by the

sea engulfs everyone except one family.

And in that one family, you know the

story. Noah's family. They're on the

water and they send out the ravens at

first, right? It's ravens. Was it crows?

I don't know.

But the important point is they sent out

then a dove. Do you remember that?

And in that dove, they find new creation

because everything was destroyed. It had

to be new creation. And they eventually

ended up on this new creation, but it

hadn't quite yet got there. But God was

telling them something there. Out of

this chaos, he's going to bring new

creation. He vowed with the rainbow.

That's what the rainbow really means, by

the way.

to never do harm again this way.

But there's still chaos, isn't there? I

mean, Adam and Eve get some rules and

they're just kind of weak. They're not

even as strong as the Sorry, not Adam

and Eve, Noah and his wife. Adam and

Eve's rules were at least for the earth.

These guys were just like, "Don't do too

much bad." So, it's still bad after

Noah.

And then you still continue to see this

and there's chaos and chaos. Israel's

running into chaos until finally they're

under Egypt,

right? And that is absolute chaos.

That's disorder. They are in the storm

as a nation.

And what does Yahweh do? He sends a guy

with a stutter

to go there and deliver them out of this

storm and chaos. And he makes sure that

they don't think it was their greatness

they did it. God does the great plagues.

He allows the uh the Egyptian kings to

get every one of their kings dethroned

because every one of those plagues

represented one of their kings. And then

he takes Israel after all of that and he

takes him and he gets them walking out

and the Egyptians decide to chase him

and what do they run into right away?

They run into water.

Here we're back to water. They're back

into chaos. And what does God do?

He leads them through it. He separates

it. And he gives dry land. He gives them

a path through the chaos.

And the people of God are invited to to

go off into promised land. And maybe

this is it. Maybe this will be the

redemption of the loss of the fall of

the garden.

But it doesn't happen. And we know the

rest of the story. Israel falls again

and again and again choosing chaos and

disorder and sin

and the and the and the prophets are

crying out for God to do something to

deliver them. They know they've never

arrived.

How will we solve this by the time of

Jesus? Well, their answer was we can

solve chaos with chaos. We can solve

with a sword. Just give us our Messiah.

Give us our militant Messiah. give us

our man.

And they were waiting and they were

frustrated because every nation was

causing chaos to them. They were in the

storm non-stop.

And then showed up Jesus.

And what happens with Jesus that makes

him different.

Well, he sits there and he's getting

baptized and something profound happens.

It says, "The spirit of the Lord fell

down upon him like a

dove.

So, what do you think God's saying

there? Well, what is a baptism?

Baptism's in what?

Water,

right? What was the thing that calmed

the water?

The spirit of God, right?

We agree with that.

Spirit falls on him and he's in water.

Spirit falls on him like a dove. Well,

where did we see a dove before?

Noah's ark. new creation.

So what fell on this person is the God

who's bring calmness and order to old

cuz that's what the spirit does.

And then he's the God who's going to be

the God of new creation.

And instead of now him judging us with

letting the crazy

chaos overtake us like he did with Noah,

he carries his cross.

He takes the punishment we deserve.

That's why it doesn't happen again, by

the way, folks. Because there's justice

and there needs to be justice. And the

only reason it doesn't happen again is

because God himself took it for us.

He took the punishment you and I

deserved.

And not only did he do that,

not only did he take all of that upon

himself and bring order,

and by the way, if you don't believe

this, notice that every time he runs

into a demon, this God of creation who

brings order, what do they always do?

They always throw themselves into fires

or lakes. They want to destroy creation.

Do you notice that?

But he creates creation and healing and

all of that. And then he dies on a cross

in the midst of a storm

and the worst storm ever. And he takes

all of our chaos upon himself. And then

3 days later, new creation,

the promise of the dove.

And now we live with that promise.

You want to know what the gospel is at

its core? believe in him because he is

the new creation

or don't believe him and continue to

embrace chaos.

He's the only one that can do it.

Believe in him cuz that's where life is.

Everything else is death.

Now we live in the in between.

He's conquered. He's defeated. He's

brought order out of chaos. He's done

all those things. But we still live in a

world of absolute chaos. Right?

But what he has said to you and I is,

I've got a deal for you. You believe in

me. I'm going to give you my spirit,

the very spirit that brought order. And

I'm going to begin to change you

for the future.

And you'll be saved today and you'll be

saved later.

You see, because there is still chaos,

it has to be dealt with. But we know it

gets dealt with. We know in the end,

because I've read it, that all of the

disorder of this world, all of the chaos

of this world will be dealt with one

day. Do you know what verse I'm going to

go to?

Revelation 21.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

For the first heaven and the first earth

had passed away, and the

was no more.

No more chaos,

no more disorder.

The God of creation came into our world.

He took the disorder upon himself.

He walked and showed them that he was

that God through the cross. He dealt

with it. And now we have new life and

new creation. And that new creation, you

ready for this? You're going to love

this. When that day comes,

there will be no more chaos.

There will be no more dis disorder.

You'll be free.

So what do we do today?

Well, he still is the God that brings

order.

He asks you to follow him, but not just

because he's narcissistic or some

strange thing like that. He loves He

asks you to follow him because he loves

you. And he knows without him you will

live in chaos. He knows without you at

some point you will be destroyed. He

knows without him you will not have

life. And he knows without him the

waters will overwhelm your boat.

So he wants us in this to walk with him

and he wants us to let him into our

lives

in the midst of chaos he comes not when

it gets all better.

Before I was a pastor,

I used to find the most funny thing

happened to me. I'd go to church when

everything was okay.

As long as everything was okay, I'd go

to church

and then something terrible would happen

and I would stop going.

Anybody else?

Or if I sinned a certain amount or

something like that and there was just

chaos, I thought I just I'm just I've

had enough.

That was the foolish thing to do.

Cuz this is the God who comes into our

boat when we're in the chaos.

This is the God we should run towards

when it gets terrible.

And we should be a church where people

are having their worst weeks ever who

can come in here

and know that God.

It's not going to be perfect.

You're going to have rough seas.

But Jesus has promised through this that

he will calm the storm eventually.

And the best news of this story

is we might be on this ocean still. We

might be in around chaos and everything.

But one thing this thing promises us

is he will get us to where we're

supposed to go.

Matthew Henry.

If we have received Christ Jesus the

Lord, have received him willingly.

Though the night be dark and the wind

high, yet we may comfort ourselves with

this, that we shall be at shore shortly,

and we are nearer to it than we think we

are.

I know you guys have struggles and so do

I,

but let Jesus in. And I trust me when I

say this, and I know this as I get

older. We're closer,

closer than we think to that day

when all chaos is gone.

And he will get us there. He promises.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this

story.

We thank you that you are the God

that we should fear.

And we thank you even more that you're a

God who says, "Be not afraid."

Father, we come with you to before you

in the chaos of our lives.

We ask you to come and join us. We're

glad to receive you.

Help us through this and get us to the

shore.

And Lord, help us to to have

forbearance.

Help remind us that we have been chosen

to be part of your disciples.

And as much as we don't understand it,

as much as they didn't, we can trust you

that one day,

as long as we stick with you,

you can find the shore. And it's a lot

closer than we think.

In Jesus' name, amen.