The Peace of Not Being in Control (John 6:15-21) || 05/03/26
Sermon Manuscript
As I sat with this text and studied and prayed I just continually came back to the idea that this miracle of Jesus walking on water is very tied to the feeding of the five thousand and it’s showing us another angle of the same picture. Jesus provides for us in ways that we can’t possibly think or imagine he can. He takes the scarcity mindsets that we all too often have and he shows us that if He is with us, then we have everything that we could ever need plus much more than we think to ask for.
In this passage we see that the disciples, and you and I can surely relate, become well aware that they are not in control of the things that they experience, but that Jesus’ presence and the peace that comes with it is exponentially better than being in control of their own circumstances. When Jesus is present with his people, we don’t need to be in control because he is. This is what this passage is getting at! Jesus wants us to not be afraid even when we are confronted with the very real reality that we are not in control.
I think that a storm might be one of the strongest reminders that we are not in control of the way that we experience the world. I remember the deep fear I felt during the night when a hurricane hit the first time after Allison and I had purchased our home. I was well aware that there was nothing I could do to prevent damage to our house, or to protect Allison, my strength was nothing against a tree falling through our roof. And I still felt deep fear about the fact that I was so aware of how out of control I really was. Storms regularly remind us that we aren’t in control, that what we have is not enough. John’s gospel shows us that Jesus’s presence is the only thing that can cause us to say, this is enough. When it comes to control, Jesus’ presence causes us to know that we have no control and that is exactly what we need.
Jesus will lead us into scary places and situations in this life. Often, these are places that if we were in control we would never go ourselves. But the beauty of a sovereign God who is always looking out for our good is that those storms that Jesus leads us into will be places that we can look back to and say, “Yes! God was at work there!” So there’s three things that I want us to see in this text today about our need for control in the midst of a storm. First,
- Jesus does lead his people into storms, not always around them (15-18)
Even though Jim preached this verse last week, I wanted the text for this week to start in verse 15 because the connection between these two miracles is so strong. Jesus has retreated because the people around him, disciples included, have a misunderstanding about who he is and what his purpose is. He’s not supposed to be a worldly king who will enact change through political power. To boil him down to that is reductionistic and misses the point totally. And so for the sake of correcting them and recalibrating their understanding, Jesus sends his disciples to cross the sea, alone.
You might be thinking, “Jesus didn’t send them out, they just went themselves!” But when we look at this story in Matthew and Mark’s account, Jesus sends them out. I think it’s important to bring that detail into this text as we consider what it means for how these disciples ended up in this situation. The Sea of Galilee was known for storms that would come out of nowhere and could get violent quickly, especially at evening and night as the temperature cooled quickly coming off the mountain. It generally wasn’t a super safe cross unless conditions were absolutely pristine.
So the disciples being out there at night should not invoke that same feeling you get when your friend goes out in a bad part of town at night and gets pickpocketed. This wasn’t the disciples being dim or thickheaded. Jesus told them to go out and cross the Sea and that he would meet them on the other side.
Often in life, we think that the best path forward is the path of least resistance. That may be true sometimes, but the true-all-the-time truth is that the best path forward is the one that God is putting you on. (SLOW) And when we are misunderstanding something about who Jesus is, Jesus will graciously bring us through a circumstance that will stretch us and help us see who he is and where he is at work in our life. He recalibrates our understanding! He shows us that he isn’t able to be reduced down to something that we put on a throne and leave there and let speak to one aspect of our life, but that he is a King who gets to rule over all of our life. And he very well can use storms to get us there. We can’t misunderstand him and expect it to be okay for us to stay in our misunderstanding of Him.
Misunderstanding your boss, or your spouse, is a problem! Misunderstanding Christ is an eternal problem. It seems like what the misunderstanding is here would be classified as mission critical to Jesus. Jesus is willing to put his disciples into a storm to show them that he is in control of all things. And we are all well aware of the feelings inside of us that rise up when things seem dark, chaotic and out of control. The reality of this life is that we are far more out of control than we like to admit, but the God who is in control is far more in control than we can understand.
The disciples, and the people who want to make him King, have made a Jesus into their own image. They think that Jesus is here to serve them, true, and give them anything they desire, not true. They think that because he can feed them well, he would be most effective as their Earthly King. Instead of asking, “Who are you and what are you here for?” they form him into an image that they want him to be. And Jesus knows this, he perceives it, and so he goes away to pray and lets what’s next happen.
Jesus could have immediately gotten in the boat with them knowing that the storm was going to rise up and that he would need to step in, that’s actually what Jesus does in Mark 4, when he is asleep in the boat while a different storm rises up. But in this passage, he doesn’t because sometimes for our sake we need to be led through storms. Maybe you’re in a boat like me right now, and you are waiting to see how the storm that you are weathering is good for you… if that’s you: don’t forget the promise that it is good for you, and never stop looking for how it might be.
There are things in our lives that I’m pretty sure we will never totally comprehend how it can be for our good and God’s glory, but we continue to hold onto God’s promise that he is using the storms in our lives for our good and his glory. While this is true, instead of taking us around a storm, Jesus leads us through storms to teach us, to recalibrate a misunderstanding and show us something, He can also often wait until our sense of control is gone before revealing his presence.
- He often waits until our sense of control is gone before revealing His presence (19-20)
So the disciples have rowed about 3-4 miles. They’re in trouble. Things are not how they are supposed to be. And the only hope that they have is that they can just keep rowing and rowing until they finally hopefully hit the shore on the other side of the lake. But that’s going to be an all night thing. Night, strong wind, rough seas. Dark, chaotic, out of control. Jesus lets us sit in that for a time because he has something for us in that!
If you’re like me, when you find yourself in trouble, in a storm, the first thing you do is start pulling levers. Start trying to work something out. Let me think and think and think about how I can get out of it. Something is broken, how do I fix it? Something hurts, what can I do to make it feel better? I’m in danger, how can I preserve? But I’m not sure that’s how we are supposed to respond in trials in life. Because what it shows is the idea that is guiding you at your core is this: if I was in control, I wouldn’t be here. Or it’s this: okay I’m here, it’s up to me to get through this storm. Storms stir up anxieties but our first thought is not to let it be and trust that God is working things out! Often our first thought is to look for the systems that we have in place to save us.
This just isn’t true and it’s a horrible perspective. Even if it was true that you could fix things and get yourself out of the storms that you find yourself in, there is a theoretical storm that you’re thinking of that you KNOW you couldn’t get yourself out of. At some point in our life, we hit a storm where we come to the very acute understanding that we are in over our heads and there isn’t anything that we can do to see ourselves out of it. Do you want the prayer to be to yourself or to someone who can do something about it? Do you want to try to keep figuring it out? Digging yourself deeper in thinking that you’re digging your way out? Or can you look up and see that Jesus has revealed himself to you? He says, it is I. Don’t be afraid.
Is anyone here a card carrying member of the “Learning How To Ride A Bike Gave Me PTSD” Club?. For me, it wasn't that bad. For my brother? Horrible. My dad did have a certain ability to really make you feel like you were about to fail before he intervened at the last moment. I remember when I was learning to ride a bike, you get confident with the training wheels, and then the training wheels come off, and then you think you can still be confident and you’re going, but then the wobbles start and that’s a feeling that you’ve never felt before and just as the screams start and the bike starts to lean past that angle of no return and it’s almost like you can already feel the scrape on the knee, Dad catches you. And for all you knew he was still back at the startline but in actuality he had been running behind you without you knowing just waiting until you realized that you were out of control.
That’s what happens to the disciples here. They look up and they see Jesus walking towards them. 3 miles, 4 miles into the Sea of Galilee, here comes the man they just watched turn a lunch for one into a buffet for thousands. Now the circumstances are a little different than “it makes sense that my dad was running behind me.” They’re afraid. And I don’t blame them. They’re in the middle of a sea and walking on water is not something that they had seen happen much. Matthew and Mark tell us that they think it’s a ghost. The storms in our life have a way of doing that to us.
We see the miracles of Jesus and we know of his goodness, and we know what he is doing on this Earth, but then a storm hits us, and our boat is rocking, there’s water in the boat, there’s loss followed by loss followed by loss, and bill followed by bill followed by bill, and what feels like meaningless work followed by what feels like meaningless work, and you’re not married and you want to be or you’re married and the marriage isn’t what you had expected and you are in a storm…(SLOW AND EMPHATIC) and no matter when the last time you saw Jesus do a miracle you don’t think he’s going to do another one. But then you hear that voice. “It is I, do not be afraid.” The storm doesn’t vanish, but he is present with you. You’re not in control, but you are right where you are supposed to be. You’re with the Lord who has good plans for you.
So that brings us to our third point:
- Peace comes not through control, but through Him. (21)
We live in a “you got this!” culture. You can do anything you put your mind to. Find the strength within yourself. Make something with your hand no matter what cards you’re dealt. Our culture lies and it tells us that if you do certain things then total peace will come. If only you can find solace within your mind, if only you can get to financial independence, if only you can get yourself promoted. Once those things happen then peace will come.
Christianity tells us that it’s not up to us to accomplish the need for peace. It’s not up to us to make ourselves happy, satisfied or like we have purpose. In fact, when we try to get something done that God has already told us that he’s got done, we are going to be left feeling empty and purposeless.
Jesus tells us to not be afraid and he’s actually capable of doing something about the circumstance that we are feeling fear over. The disciples don’t paddle really hard to break free from the trouble that they are in. They don’t work hard and get around it. Jesus picks them up and takes them out of danger. I don’t think Jesus teleporting the disciples here looks like the Floo Network in Harry Potter, but I am certain that it broke any idea that they were still in control. You were here and now you are there.
It’s easy to see this text and say “Wow! Jesus walks on water!” and miss the second miracle that Jesus immediately takes them out of the circumstance that they are in that is causing them fear. Here’s a hard truth to reckon with: we won’t always be immediately removed from the storm that we are in. But once we recognize that Jesus has joined us in our storm, once we see that he has revealed himself to us, the storm loses the power that it has in our lives. Circumstances may or may not change, Jesus being with us is the very thing that we need and through his Spirit dwelling with us, that will never change. Jesus is always with you. The disciples find peace in Jesus being with them, and him getting them where he wants them. Which very well might be continuing on in the storm that we are in, BUT WITH HIM.
Sometimes our anxieties cause us to feel like we are weathering a storm twice. Once while we are in it, and once while we try to handle it ourselves. Anxiety says to plan better, work harder, keep thinking and analyzing, but Jesus offers us to rest, and in this passage, to put the oars down and let him take us where he wants us. His presence is the thing that carries us to be exactly where he wants for us to be.
Jesus doesn’t lecture his disciples about their response before he helps them! He isn’t shocked to be met with fear as he approaches the boat. There’s not a reminder of I just fed over 5,000 with a lunch for one and you’re surprised that I’m walking on the water to you? All Jesus offers is, “It’s me. Don’t be afraid.” I think that we often can get into shame cycles because we feel like we aren’t worthy to have Jesus meet us in our storm. But in his great graciousness to us, he comes to us in the storm, gives us himself and provides peace.
So the passage says that they were glad to bring him into the boat. And it’s their bringing him into the boat with gladness that then allows them to be removed from the situation they are in. Here’s a question for you, when you are in a storm; financial, relational, internal, whatever the storm in your life right now is, when you are in that storm are you able and willing to gladly welcome Jesus into the boat with you even if you’re not made aware of the exact details of how you will get out of this storm? Christ doesn’t explain the plan or the outcome, but he tells them who he is and what he wants for them, to not be afraid.
I’ve never raised a toddler, but having been around my nieces and nephew, and around friends who have raised toddlers I’ve learned what seems to be a really common catch phrase amongst my friends who are in the 2-5 year old age range, you ready for it? “But why?” A toddler melting down while simultaneously falling asleep at the dinner table gets told that it’s time to go to bed, “but why?” Don’t look at Jesus telling you to not be afraid, and say “but why?” Recognize that he is wanting to come into the boat, to give you peace and to take you where he wants you to be!
And I think even the removal from the storm doesn’t look like what the disciples expected it to look like. I’ve already talked about maybe there’s removal, maybe there’s not, but with Jesus in the boat there will always be peace. But I think Jesus shows them again and even more so how little control they have at this moment. With Jesus in the boat, surely they felt peace and assured that they weren’t facing death, but I don’t think they expected teleportation. But they are taken across the lake not because they were given super strength to row really well or because Jesus took an oar and miraculously rowed well, but because he just puts them where they are supposed to be. Jesus carries them. And Jesus carries you too.
I’m not sure what the storm that you are facing is. But I know there are people in this room who have gotten a diagnosis that they can’t imagine a way through. I know there are people here who are experiencing loss in so many different ways, people who are grieving that their life doesn’t look the way that they imagined it would, some of you are suffering for righteousness’ sake at your work or in your social circles. I know there are people here who have no idea how they’ll make the next rent check or mortgage payment. Some of you feel burnt out and exhausted in work, ministry or in your friend groups. Some of you are depressed and anxious and you feel like bringing someone in lets the depression and anxiety win. Hear this - Jesus wants to meet you in those things. He wants to give you peace, to graciously tell you to not be afraid. He has good plans for you and he is using these storms in some way for your good and his glory.
On the other side of this, as you weather storms and can confidently say I am not in control, but I am at peace because I have seen Jesus at work in this storm, walk alongside others who are still in the midst of a storm. Storms isolate. But we are not designed to be isolated people. The feeling of losing control is already a scary enough reality, the feeling of navigating a storm alone even more scary. Help your neighbor see Jesus as they go through a storm. Help them remember what he has said, that he is with them and that he has gone before them.
This is the essence of the Gospel! Jesus enters into our storm with us, before us! Jesus comes to us, Jesus dies for us, Jesus is raised for us, and Jesus ascends so that we can be with him, and he talks to the Father on our behalf! Jesus takes on the ultimate storm, which is a death that he does not deserve so that we don’t have to face the ultimate storm which is a death that we very much deserve. And he carries us on to that end. We are also saved into a community, this is why gathering together matters so deeply. The storm that we find ourselves in, it feels overwhelming until we are around people who we know have gone through storms that they made it through, and they remind us of the peace that Jesus gives. And we share with them the storm that we are facing and they bear that burden with us and point us to Jesus. When we walk alongside people in their storms, we play a role in sharing the peace that Jesus has for them.
The oars weren’t the disciples’ savior. The boat wasn’t their shelter. But Jesus coming to them on the water is their Savior, their shelter and their peace. We won’t find it anywhere else. Peace is not something that we can track down, it’s not the four leaf clover that we stumble upon. Peace comes from God coming to us and giving us himself and reminding us that he doesn’t want us to be afraid. Let’s pray.
