March 15, 2020
Evening Service

I wanted to follow up on this morning’s message with a few other instances in which Jesus either encouraged us to trust Him, or His actions proved that we can trust Him.  In this time of unrest, it is very important that we can not only say we trust God to guide us along our path, but also to be able to act upon it.  Peter was given such an opportunity as Jesus was teaching and He brought up something that was very hard to understand.

Joh 6:47-54 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  (48)  I am the bread of life.  (49)  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  (50)  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  (51)  I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."  (52)  The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  (53)  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  (54)  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

            This had to be a very difficult thing to understand for the disciples at the time.  Later at the Last Supper, Jesus revealed this to refer to the communion service that He instituted that night; partaking of His body and His blood.  But at the moment, the disciples had a choice to make about something that they really did not understand, in a way similar to what we are going through at this time.

 

Joh 6:66-69 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  (67)  Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  (68)  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  (69)  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

            Some lacked the faith and trust needed in Jesus to continue to follow Him at a time of difficulty and chose to leave Him.  Peter on the other hand was convinced of who Jesus was fully trusting Him and despite not fully understanding the meaning of the teaching still chose to follow and even testified rightly that Jesus was the Christ.  Peter’s relationship with Jesus was personal and he chose to follow even when he could not understand.  Lord grant to us the same unwavering faith and trust in our Savior.

            Jesus also taught about worry and stress in His Sermon on the Mount and it ties in well to what were are talking about this morning.

 

Mat 6:24-34 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.  (25)  "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  (26)  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  (27)  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  (28)  "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; (29) and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  (30)  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  (31)  "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  (32)  For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  (33)  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  (34)  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

            Jesus challenges us to trust Him with all of our daily needs by pointing us to nature.  He cares for the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field “are you not of more value than they?”  Can worry change anything?  Worry is only a lack of trust in what we believe God either can or will do.  Our affluent society sometimes is a curse in us placing our trust fully in Christ.  We all have jobs that we can fulfill all our needs and many of our wants and it falsely makes us think we can do this without Christ’s aid.  Where did your health and abilities come from to perform that job?  Who placed in position to attain and keep your job?  We are more to Christ than what we do, we are His beloved and we need to acknowledge that we have nothing without Him and are found complete in Him.  Trust Him with your life and all the little things that go along with it. The true answer to curing worry is by “seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”   In this time of crisis, know that we are of great value to God and He will not forget us.  My next example comes the Gospel of Mark.

 

Mar 4:35-41 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side."  (36)  Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him.  (37)  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.  (38)  But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"  (39)  Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.  (40)  But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?"  (41)  And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!"

        Trust in Jesus here comes to the disciples by more of what He does than from His Words in this instance.  Jesus, asleep on a pillow, is awakened to a fearful cry that “help, we are about to die!”  He shows His power by rebuking the storm causing the winds to cease and a great calm to occur.  He can do the same for us today.  Cry out to Him and He has the power to not only end the storm, but also to bring that calm assurance upon our lives (or could we say the peace that surpasses all understanding?).  Is there any storm more powerful than He?  Can we fully trust Him even in the midst of the wind and the waves of life?  I will end with the most comforting words a Christian could ever hear from their Savior.  A quote we all heard this morning at the communion table.  A quote that can bring peace to our hearts as we trust Him to one day make it all come true.  Jesus speaks directly to our hearts in His loving and caring way.  In this time of anxiety, picture yourself face to face with Jesus looking deeply into His eyes that are filled with love and He begins to speak to you. 

 

 Joh 14:1-3 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. (2) In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

 

Heavenly Father open the eyes of our heart to fully trust You even when we don’t understand.