Max Lucado - Why are you Afraid ?

to welcome our next friend ministered to me for years and years with one amazing word from God after another as books have touched millions of lives including mine my wife's and all of my family so thankful to have with us tonight would you make welcome Max Lucado really a great privilege for me to have just these few moments with you and now when he got into a boat his disciples followed him and suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea so that the boat was covered with the waves but Jesus was asleep and then his disciples came to him and awoke him saying lord save us we are perishing but he said to him why are you fearful why are you fearful o ye of little faith and then he arose and he rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm and so the men marvelled saying who can this be that even the wind's and the waves obey Him the question of Jesus in their storm and in ours is why are you afraid at first we wonder if he's kidding if he's teasing if he's pulling a quick one kind of like one swimmer asking another wire you went how could we not be afraid but then Jesus does not smile he's dead earnest he really wants to know why are you afraid he's serious and so are the men to whom Jesus is posing this question thanks to a Galilean storm their dinner cruise across the Sea of Galilee has been turned into a white knuckled plunge here's how Matthew remembered the trip he said Jesus got into a boat and his followers went with him and a great storm arose on the lake Matthew doesn't just use any word here storm just like in English he had several options he had words that would sound like our equivalent of thunder cloud or torrent or squall but Matthew remembers the bouncing boat in the pouncing tempest and so it's almost as if he pulls his Greek thesaurus down off the shelf and he runs his finger down until he lands on the right word and he says ah that's it this is not a storm this is a sighs mos sei sm o s a great-sized MOS we used that word when we describe an earthquake seismologists study earthquakes seismographs measure them and what Matthew remembered from that Galilean storm was the shaking of the boat and the shaking of the water the shaking of the horizon and surely he was shaking in his sandals as he remembered the storm he only used that word two other times in his gospel once to describe the shaking of the earth at the crucifixion Christ wants to describe the shaking of the earth at the resurrection of Christ wants to describe the forgiveness of sins and wants to describe the defeat of death and now he uses it to describe the way Christ can conquer our fears sudden fear the older translation reads suddenly a storm came upon the sea not all storms come suddenly but some of them do some storms you can see coming from a distance but then some storms just seemed to jump up out of the grass like a lion and pounce on us and Matthew seems surprised for he writes Jesus got into a boat and his followers went with him in a great-sized most arose on the lake so that the waves covered the boat you'd expect a happier consequence to following Jesus than a star wouldn't you Jesus's followers got into the boat and their rainbow arched in the sky or happy doves flew over or the water was the smoothest glass but Matthew connects these two phrases as if to say get on board with Christ and you might get soaked with Christ and his not so subtle and not so popular reminder is that followers of Christ get afraid as well they grow fearful and that's because Christ's followers contract malaria they bury children they battle addictions and as a result they face fears it's not the absence of storms that sets us apart it's the one we discover in the storm and here's what the disciples discovered and who they saw in the storm here's the line that you want to underline in Matthew chapter 8 Jesus was sleeping somewhere in the midst of the Thunder and the screams of the disciples was that of Christ he was sleeping and this wasn't a catnap it wasn't just a slight siesta he was sound asleep could you sleep during a kettledrum concert could you sleep in a wind tunnel could you snooze in a rollercoaster in a loop 'ti loop Jesus is doing all three and they wake him up and Jesus lifts his head and he looks at the disciples and he looks at the storms and he asks an honest question he says why are you afraid any chance he's asking you the same life comes with fears it's a scary thing this thing called life it comes with fears fears of tomorrow fears of failure fears of economies fears of wars life comes with fears in fear serves its purpose because of fear we run out of burning buildings because of fear we avoid bad habits for fear of the law we drive slower for fear of punishment we behave and there's even a a wisdom that begins when we start to fear the Lord so fear in and of itself serves a healthy purpose and fear in and of itself is not a sin but mismanagement of fear can lead to sin when we treat our fears with drunken binges or sullen moods or vice like control when we try to control the world that seems out of control we exclude God and we subject ourselves to a position of fear allowing anxiety to dominate us in define our lives this is what Christ warns us against more than any other command in Scripture Jesus urges us do not be afraid do not live in a state of fear do not place yourself in a position of fear for God has not given us a spirit of fear you see the truth of the matter is fear will always knock on our door but the truth of Christ is we don't have to open it when fear knocks on your door don't invite it in for dinner and for heaven's sake don't invite it to spend the night fear will always fill the world but it doesn't have to fill your heart you really can fear less tomorrow than you do today when I was six years old my dad let me watch the movie Wolf Man with the rest of the family boy did he live to regret that decision after the movie I was convinced that Wolfman lived in our living room and I was convinced that he lingered behind the couch awaiting his meal of six year old freckleface redheaded boys and the fact that I believe that Wolfman was in our living room proved problematic because in order for me to get from our bedroom to the kitchen I had to go through the living room and my father had carefully taught me when you wake up thirsty and you want a glass of water don't wake me up just walk into the kitchen and get it but now all of a sudden I knew the wolf man was in the living room and I can vividly remember stopping on the threshold of the living room entrance several times several nights in a row thinking I'm not going in there and I would turn and I would go into my father's bedroom and I would wake him up just like Jesus he was asleep in the storm and I would shake him and he would open a sleepy eye and he would look at me and I'd say dad I'm afraid and he would say what are you afraid of and I'd tell him about Wolfman he would sigh and climb out of bed and say alright and I can remember grabbing ahold of his tank top t-shirt as he would walk right through the living room no fear whatsoever and I would stand in the kitchen next to my father drinking that glass of water and I would look at him and think what kind of man is this Jesus awoke from the afternoon nap and he took one look at the storm and he rebuked it Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the waist and it became completely calm he handled the great quaking with the great calming and the sea became as still as a frozen lake and the disciples were left wondering what kind of man is this could it be that God views your fears the way my father viewed my Wolfman angst and could it be that all that stands between you and courage is a prayer to your heavenly father I believe your love is faithful all my homes have cry it is standing strong and a boom when everything else

Channel: Daughter of a King

Views: 769,344

Rating: 4.8834915 out of 5

Keywords: Max, Lucado, Why, are, you, Afraid

Id: 6c1FVpVFb8c

Length: 12min 36sec (756 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 16 2012