Walk in Faith and Not Fear

INTRO

In Mark 3, we looked at the opposition Jesus faced from His own family and from His enemies while His ministry was growing. Crowds of people followed Him, as He preached and cast out demons. However, His family thought He was out of His mind and wanted to restrain Him. The scribes felt what Jesus was doing didn’t fit into their religious box, so they accused Him of being from Satan. Jesus explained that Satan couldn’t cast himself out and pointed out that the scribes has blasphemed against the Holy Spirit—the one unforgiveable sin. The chapter ended with Jesus’ statement that His family were those who did the will of God. That backdrop is important for chapter 4, because the crowds continued to grow and needed more from Him. He must have been getting exhausted, but He kept going.

TEACHING

Mark 4:1-9: Jesus started teaching by the sea when a large crowd gathered around Him. Jesus moved to a boat and taught one of His most famous parables—The Parable of the Sower. Jesus described the sower throwing out seeds on different types of soils with drastically different results. Then He explained that the way people receive the gospel is very similar to how the soil accepts the seed.

Mark 4:10-20: Jesus talks about why He uses parables, explaining the kingdom of God in this way. He said some people will understand and some won’t. In His parables, Jesus used everyday objects to make a spiritual point, and to communicate to both believers and nonbelievers. Then Jesus would break down the meaning of the parable to His disciples.

Mark 4:21-32: Mark included three more parables in this chapter. The first was about putting a light on a lampstand so the light could be seen (vv. 21-25). The second was about growing seed and its harvest (vv. 26-29). The third was about the impact of the tiny mustard seed (vv. 30-32).

Mark 4:33-34: Jesus only taught the crowds, using parables, but He explained everything to the disciples.

Mark 4:35-41: Wiersbe points out that “God’s Servant, Jesus Christ, is the Master of every situation and the Conqueror of every enemy.”¹After a day of teaching, Jesus told the disciples to take the boat across the sea, possibly to get some time away from the crowds (vv. 35-36). The Sea of Galilee is eight miles wide, 700 feet below sea level, and surrounded by mountains that rise from 3,000 to 4,000 feet about sea level. The sea experiences cool evenings. As the boat started across the sea, other boats followed. When the storm came (v. 37), all of the boats would be spared. Sometimes Jesus wants us to go through storms to refine us to become more like Him.

Verses 37-38 show Jesus’ humanity as He slept soundly during the storm, even as the boat began to fill with water. The disciples were crying for help while Jesus slept. Hiebert explained that the disciples’ reaction “was a cry of distrust, but one often matched by believers today in difficult circumstances when they feel that the Lord has forsaken them.”2 The disciples were fishermen who knew the storms on Galilee, and they expected Jesus to fix things. As Jesus slept during the storm, they became frightened. Unbelief begins to create fear. When people experience fear, they become frozen. And, when they become frozen, they no longer walk by faith. And when they stop walking by faith, their faith becomes stagnant and dead. Jesus told His disciples that they had no faith (Hebrews 3:12).

In verse 39, Jesus “rebuked” the storm. One commentator wrote, “In the calming of the storm (4:35-41) his ‘rebuke’ of the wind and ‘muzzling’ of the waves are phrased in the language of exorcism, recalling the power of God over chaos at creation. Both episodes are effected solely by the word.”³Jesus was ceasing all the evil activity by telling it to stop. Jesus, the Creator, could speak to the seas because He had created them (Hebrews 1:2). Jesus asked the disciples (v. 40), “Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?” Over and over, Jesus’ disciples showed timidity and a lack of trust.

2 D. Edmond Hiebert, Mark: A Portrait of the Servant(Chicago: Moody Press, 1974), p. 115; quoted in Thomas L. Constable, Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable: Mark, p. 112; available online at https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/mark.pdf.

That should give us hope. As we do ministry with people, as we pour into communities, Sunday School classes, discipleship groups, small groups, and our families, and wonder why they’re not getting it, remember that the disciples didn’t get it either (Mark 7:18; 8:17-21).

Fear paralyzes people. If you don’t have a healthy perspective of who Jesus is, the fear from the storms will overwhelm you. But when you have a proper perspective of the storms and who Jesus is in them, you almost welcome the storms because then God is refining you more and more. God uses these moments to make us look more like Him for His glory.

In verse 41, the disciples were terrified and asked who Jesus is that even the wind and sea would obey Him. They didn’t have a clue who Jesus was or what He could do. They were more afraid of the storm until they saw Jesus control nature. When we go through storms, we can see how big God is and how He is in control. Psalm 89:8-9: “LORD God of Hosts, who is strong like You, LORD? Your faithfulness surrounds You. You rule the raging sea; when its waves surge, You still them.” Jesus can do this just as God does. It shows Jesus’ divinity, and it proves that we can trust Him in the storm.

Mike Query offers reasons why we don’t walk by faith:

1. We’re afraid (Exodus 3:11). God responds, I’ll be with you (v. 12).
2. We might get pushback (Exodus 3:13). God responds, It’s not about you (vv. 14-15).
3. The people are the problem (Exodus 4:1). God responds, I Am is bigger than people (vv. 2-9).
4. I’m not talented enough (Exodus 4:10). God responds, I’ll make up for whatever you lack (vv. 11-12).⁴

CLOSING

We have a lot to learn from the disciples being in the storm. It’s all about the perspective of the storms, that we are being refined by them to walk in faith and not in fear.