Winds...

[00:00:00] Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our father and from our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. [00:00:11] Trusting Jesus for salvation, pardon, cleansing, guidance, power to keep us from falling for everything forever and for all. [00:00:33] That's the christian life, looking to Jesus and not any other thing. [00:00:38] And in that faith, in that trust in Jesus, we're safe. [00:00:43] Because you can trust in Jesus. [00:00:46] He'll guide and protect and forgive and save. [00:00:51] That's what he's all about. [00:00:57] In our epistle reading, Paul prays for the Ephesians. Kind of cool how he says it. He says, I bow my knees before the father. [00:01:07] In other words, I'm praying to the father that according to the riches of his glory. [00:01:15] So riches of his glory. Like he's lifted up like we talk about, right? Like he. He is the. [00:01:23] The worthy object of attention according to the riches of his glory. He's up there. He can do things. [00:01:33] He may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being. Strengthened with power how? [00:01:46] Through his spirit. [00:01:49] Now, spirit is the same word as breath in scripture and the same word also as wind. [00:01:56] Okay? So you can think of it as like, ah, you know, you get a breath of fresh air or a second wind, you know, and you're able to approach something now with. With courage and strength. Right. You're no longer out of breath or feeling weak. Right. It's just kind of natural to think of air as doing that for us. Right. There are a couple places in the Lord of the Rings which, you know, J. R. R. Tolkien is not apologetic about being christian, and so he kind of builds middle earth and his whole. All the imagery, a christian framework. But there are times in the Lord of the Rings, especially in the books, if you're paying attention, where wind and air become important. One actually shows up in the movies when they're in Moria. Sorry if you don't know Lord of the Rings, but we'll be done with this in a second. They're in the mines of Moria, down under the earth, and they're lost for a little bit. [00:03:00] Gandalf, who's leading them, doesn't know which way to go. He gives Frodo some words of encouragement, like he's in despair, and Gandalf kind of inspires him. It's like he's kind of speaking in faith or a little bit prophetically. [00:03:14] He's speaking almost God's word to him. And then when he gets done encouraging him, he goes, oh, I know the way. Follow your nose. He says, the air is a little. I don't know what he says. A little better up there, right? But it followed the air. Okay. But there's another place in the third book where things are looking real bleak. Gondor, this great city, is under siege. And, well, the army of Rohan is coming in to save the day. [00:03:49] And there's a change in the wind. That's how it's said. There's a change in the wind. And the king of Gondor, who. I mean, the king of Rohan, who's coming in to save the day, he had been in despair, looking at the city. It's burning, smoking, and he's thinking, we missed it. But then there's a change in the wind and he suddenly gets a bunch of courage, which is kind of cool. So again, it's wind that does this. And then the change in the wind also it blows the ships in with the other army that's coming in to save the day. Anyway, so wind. It's not unusual to think of wind this way. And Tolkien builds it into his books. Why? [00:04:28] Because it's in scripture and this is just a christian image. Okay, so hear that? [00:04:37] Paul is praying that the Ephesians, that God would grant them to be strengthened with power through his spirit, their inner being. You can think of that like you're in a ship and the sails are going to push you. That's the strength you need to get to where you're going. [00:04:56] So where is this going? [00:05:00] So the disciples are in the boat. Jesus has told them, go to the other side. [00:05:08] Okay. And then he goes up a mountain to pray. The disciples are in the boat, but they're making headway. Painfully, or like, they're not making much headway. [00:05:19] I see a few young people in here. You know kung fu panda? It's like the panda po, right? He starts going up the stairs and he's working so hard. And then you see it's getting late. The sun's beating down hard. Looks like time has passed. And then he looks back and he's only come up like five steps. You know, that's what we're talking about. It's like, ah, he's got to go all the way up to the jade palace. [00:05:46] The disciples, you know, they're sent across the lake, but they're making no progress. Why? Because the wind's against them. Remember, wind is spirit. Wind is an image that conveys what spirit is. Now, there are different kinds of spirits. [00:06:05] And Jesus, at his baptism, the holy spirit descends on him and remains on him, and then it drives him into the wilderness. This is the gospel of Mark. And in the gospel of mark, the spirit drives him into the wilderness. Think of that. Like wind blowing a sail. [00:06:21] Drives him into the wilderness to resist the devil, to beat the devil, as the devil tries to. To tempt him. Well, the devil's another kind of spirit. [00:06:34] Our struggle's not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. [00:06:40] The devil is the prince of the power of the air. We hear in Ephesians, actually, in chapter two, he's the prince of the power of the air. So there the disciples are in the boat, and they're making headway, painfully, because the wind is against them. [00:06:56] The wind is against them. And when Jesus steps in the boat, the wind stops. Like, all of a sudden, all that was, that was keeping them from moving forward, keeping them from getting to their desired destination. [00:07:10] All the opposition ceases, or at least, you know, what is the. I guess the wind did stop. Right. It's not just that Jesus is, like, know, diverting the wind or something like that. Right. But he actually, it says that the wind stopped. But why? [00:07:28] Because Jesus got in the boat. [00:07:33] So, you know, in a way, I feel a little silly preaching, like, well, you know, sometimes you feel like the wind's against you. It seems, like too obvious or direct a connection to the. What the disciples are experiencing in this boat. But for some of the reasons, like some of the imagery we've been talking about, I think this is exactly how we should read this. Like, do you ever feel like the wind is against you? [00:07:59] I do get in a situation where I'm thinking of last night. My kids aren't here, so maybe I'll do it a little differently in the next service. [00:08:13] It's like bedtime just won't happen. You know, we just cannot get them to bed, and then there are more and more problems. And, you know, maybe there are reasons for that, like, just to put the best construction on it. They're tired, and we kept them up and. And that kind of thing. But. But in that moment, you know, do you fall into despair and kind of give in to your emotions? You know, get angry or. [00:08:40] Right. Like, that's just one little example. But that's our struggle every day. It's like sometimes it feels like the wind is against you, and you might fall into despair, or you might choose kind of an easy way to get to your destination. Like, follow desires that you shouldn't. Right. Or you might. I mean. Yeah. Or despair. Those are kind of the two main paths. [00:09:06] Yeah. Fall into some other false kind of hope. Find strength somewhere else. Or just despair and give in to anger or dejection or something else, right? [00:09:19] So you ever feel like the wind's against you? Well, I do all the time. Right. And then what's the answer? [00:09:25] Look to Jesus. [00:09:27] Look to Jesus and remember his forgiveness and salvation and that he came for us and that he has power. [00:09:38] The wind doesn't stop him, right? He commands even the wind and the waves. [00:09:45] He's all powerful. [00:09:47] And our enemies, that would stop us in our tracks that would keep us from traveling the right direction. [00:09:56] Well, they've got nothing to Jesus. Jesus comes and it stops. [00:10:04] How could he do that? It's because Jesus himself has come down from above, right? You could say he's the bread of life. That's come down for the life of the world. That's what he says in the gospel of John. He's come down from above. So who can defeat the prince of the power of the air, right? The spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. [00:10:25] It's above our pay grade. [00:10:27] But Jesus came down from above like that's where he naturally is. He came down from above. It's the bread of life. [00:10:37] Come for the life of the world. Now we're not going to make all the connections here but bread of life. [00:10:46] Jesus in the gospel of Mark has just fed the 5000 with miraculous bread and fish. [00:10:55] And that ought to make us think of the Israelites in the wilderness. Remember, they can't make any headway. They're wandering. They're stuck out there and they can't get to their destination. [00:11:06] But they're fed bread from heaven. [00:11:10] And God says, I made you wander in the wilderness without what you needed. And then I fed you manna and water from the rock so that you would learn that man does not live on bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. So that you would trust in the word of God. And here Jesus comes down the bread of life come down from heaven for the life of the world. He is the word made flesh for our salvation. [00:11:40] I think maybe this is why Mark says they were astounded. [00:11:48] They were utterly astounded for they did not understand about the loaves. Like why about the loaves? Why not about the fish? [00:11:56] But they did not understand about the loaves that Jesus has come down from above for the life of the world that he's come down from above. He has power over all of that and he's come to save us from all that would stop us in our tracks. [00:12:13] So we're going to go out from here today and face the same struggle. You're going to feel the wind coming on, and it's going to feel like you can't get where you're going. And if you forget where you're going, if you forget that we're following Jesus and that he's taking us to the father, that he's giving us true life, that he's bringing us to our destination, not just wherever we want to go, but, like, where we should go, what's actually good for us. [00:12:44] If you forget? [00:12:46] If I forget, then I might just look to make some progress in some direction. [00:12:54] Here comes the wind. I'm going to go another direction. [00:12:59] But don't forget, don't forget, Jesus could make that wind stop and keep us moving forward, keep us headed in the right direction, right, the direction he would have us go. Don't forget Jesus, who has power over everything that would well come against us or stop us in our tracks, that he has come for our salvation, our forgiveness. [00:13:25] He's come to guide us, the direction that we would go. [00:13:30] He's come so that we would not fall. And you could say drown, because that's a real possibility, Paul. Or is it? Peter says somewhere that the danger is that we make shipwreck of our faith, right? We get blown off course into the rocks, that kind of thing. How do you stay on course? [00:13:53] Look to Jesus. [00:13:56] So I just want to close with words from our epistle reading. [00:14:03] Paul prays that ephesian Christians and that we would be strengthened with power through God's spirit in our inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. [00:14:42] Now, if that doesn't inspire you, I don't know what will be filled with all the fullness of God in Christ, knowing his love that knows no bounds. Now, to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, forever and ever. Amen.