Courage Through Faith | Dr. Kurtley Knight | September 1, 2024

The following is a teaching from Irving Bible Church.

To learn more about who we are, visit irvingbible.org slash new.

Good morning, everybody.

I said good morning, everybody.

Yeah, there you go.

It's great to be with you.

As was mentioned, my name is Kirtley Knight, and I'm an assistant professor of spiritual

formation at Portland Seminary of George Fox University all the way in Oregon, but I live

in Dallas, Texas.

In fact, my wife and I, we moved back from Portland this summer.

Some of you might remember we were here in the month of May for Memorial Day.

So I guess they've got me on the Memorial Day and Labor Day shift over here at IVC.

And so now we're here.

And.

Before we were in Oregon, we were here and I was on staff here at the church.

And so it's it's just great to be back amongst warm faces.

I want to thank pastors Barry and Andy and and Brian and Missy for inviting me back.

It's really it's always a joy to be among you.

Can I trouble you this morning?

Please stand to your feet.

Let me trouble you to stand.

And I want to read a passage of scripture in your hearing.

It comes from.

It comes from the book of Mark.

What book did I say?

Mark.

Mark chapter four.

And I want to read in your hearing verses 35 to 41.

The Bible says this.

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side.

And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.

And other boats were with him.

And a great windstorm arose and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling.

But he was in the stern.

Asleep on a cushion.

And they woke him and said, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still.

And the wind ceased.

And there was a great calm.

And he said to them, and this is our key for today.

Why are you so afraid?

Have you still no faith?

And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this?

That even the wind and the sea obey him.

The word of God for the people of God.

Bow your heads with me.

Father, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Amen.

You may be seated.

Now, if you remember, if you were here and remember last time I was here, I started in the theater talking about Les Mis.

Today, I want to start in the movies.

In the 2013 movie, After Earth, starring Will Smith, plays Cypher Rage, a military commander who has just crash landed on Earth with his son, Katai, which is actually played by his real son in real life, Jaden Smith.

And they land on Earth a millennium after human beings were forced to abandon.

And with Cypher injured during the crash, Katai embarks on a perilous journey over 100 kilometers to reach the tail end of the plane so that he can get the beacon and he can call for help.

And besides the dangerous terrain and the evolved predators on the planet, Katai also has to watch out for an alien species called...

Skrill.

And the Skrill hunt people by smelling human pheromones caused by fear.

Some of you have seen this movie.

And so because they smell fear, the defense strategy that people have come up with is to defeat the aliens is to learn how to manage or to subdue one's fear.

It's what they call in the movie ghosting.

And after escaping several predators along the journey and in a desire to be just like his daddy, Katai asks his father,

Dad, how did you ghost?

Dad, how did you overcome fear?

And in part of his response, Cypher tells his young son this.

He says,

Fear is not real.

The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future.

It is a byproduct of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist.

That is near insanity.

Do not misunderstand me, he says.

Danger is very real.

But fear is a choice.

Fear is a choice.

Our scripture lesson today comes on the heels of Jesus teaching about the kingdom of God in parables.

Stay with me.

We'll go somewhere today.

In the preceding chapters, preceding verses of Mark chapter four,

Jesus tells the parable of the sower and the seed to communicate the message.

That God will continue to grow his kingdom in our lives and in the world,

even when, especially when we do not know how.

That's the message of the parable.

But in our passage today, just a few verses later, the passage I just read,

Jesus changes his teaching approach and he starts to move away from parables.

Because now he wants the teaching.

The twelve, he wants the twelve.

He wants to give them a real life lesson of what it means that the kingdom of God has come near.

And so on that same evening, and with no explanation,

Jesus says to the disciples, let's go across to the other side of the sea.

And I can imagine the disciples are piqued with curiosity because we don't get it here and understand it here.

As we're reading.

But they're experienced fishermen.

And they know, surely, what Jesus has to know.

Which is that at that time of day, a storm can arise on the Sea of Galilee at any time

due to the warm air rising from the sun-heated water

and the coolness of the air sweeping down from the surrounding mountainside.

It can create storms.

Everybody in the area knows this.

And surely Jesus has to.

He has to know this.

He has to know that at any time, gale force winds and turbulent water can quickly develop on the sea

and can damage even the strongest of Galilean seaboats.

And yet, because Jesus tells them to go, they go.

And it doesn't take very long for their intuitions to be confirmed.

About midway through their journey, the Bible says,

that a great windstorm.

A great windstorm arose and caused the boat to toss back and forth violently on the sea.

The howling of the wind is deafening as they yell out instructions to each other

in their attempts to keep the boat afloat.

They're soaked with water as rain is whipping in their faces

and a soup of water is rising from the floor of the boat.

The twelve are now thrust into the sea.

They are now thrown into a situation that they do not have the ability to manage,

even though they are experienced fishermen.

And so the storm is so bad, they are completely out of their depth

and they don't know what to do.

And where is Jesus during the storm?

Where is Jesus at the time?

Where is Jesus in this growing emergency?

Where is the one who ordered them to go?

Where is the one who ordered them to go across the water in the first place?

Where is the one that insisted that they take this trip at the worst time of day?

Guess where he is?

He's cuddled up on a cushion in the stern of the boat and he's sleeping.

I love Jesus. I love him.

I love this guy.

My man is asleep.

He's like, man, I got to get 15, 20 minutes more in

because when I get to the other side of the land, I got to start teaching.

I need my nap.

My brother is asleep.

I need my nap.

And so they wake him.

Teacher.

They shake him.

Teacher.

Do you not see what's happening around us?

Do you not see this giant storm that has swooped us

and the boat that is filling and taking on water?

Do you not hear the howling of wind and the cries of desperation

coming from those who love you the most?

Do you not understand that we are in a state of kitsch Chronomic Sandy пл Wildlands Parkan.

Do you not understand that we are in a state of kitsch Chronomic Sandy Palsy.

situation, Jesus, that we cannot manage. And if we don't fix it, we are all going to die.

Do you not comprehend, Jesus, the gravity of the situation we're in? Do you not care, they ask,

that we are perishing? And hearing this word, Jesus, in my sanctifying imagination,

he seems to me in the text, he seems to be annoyed.

And he rises from his nap. He's trying to get 15 more minutes in. He can't get it.

He rises from his nap, and he stops the storm.

And after he stops the storm, he turns to the disciples,

and he invites them into the lesson. Here it is now. Stay with me.

He invites them into the lesson he experientially just taught them.

Holding nothing back, he looks at them, and he says,

listen to their wet and damp faces. And he says, why are you so afraid?

One version says, why are you so fearful? I love this one.

Another version says, why are you so cowardly?

And man, I can't lie. When I first read that, when I first read the Greek, I said, dang,

he told them they were cowards to their face. When I first read that, it's the same reaction.

I imagine.

I imagine they had the same reaction that we're having right now. This is a hard word.

It's a hard word because the proverbial storms of life

that can suddenly take over us are real, just like this storm.

We can awake to a peaceful life in the morning, and our life can be in chaos by the afternoon.

We all know it can.

It only takes one.

One careless act or one conversation with your spouse that went sideways.

Or one of your kids getting into an accident at school.

Or one conversation with your boss that tells you, where they tell you that you've been laid off.

Or one phone call or text from a friend that tells you that your husband or your spouse is having an affair.

Or one visit to the doctor's office.

Or your health, your good health, is ruined with one visit.

Or the unexpected loss of a spouse.

Or a parent.

Or a brother or a sister or a friend.

Or, God forbid, a child.

The uncertainty we face in life on a day-to-day basis is real and not imagined and completely overwhelming.

But it's also a hard word because the fear that the reality of life can trigger within us is also a primal human emotion.

It's a primal human emotion.

We can't help it.

Fear is actually a protective measure that alerts us to the presence of danger or the threat of harm.

Whether that threat of danger be physical.

Or psychological.

Whether it be actual or imagined.

There is a physical and biochemical actual reaction to fear that we have.

It's known as the fight or flight response.

And in this response, our body produces, our body provides us with the necessary adrenaline that we need to either flee or to fight.

Fear can give us.

A heightening awareness of the situations around us.

It can alert us to the dangers when we're walking home alone.

It can help us to anticipate the car that's coming when we cross the street so that we can jump back onto the curb.

It can motivate us and prepare us for the challenges that are ahead.

Fear can be very helpful.

And it can also be a problem.

Because when left unchecked.

When left unchecked.

When left compromised.

When left completely unregulated.

Fear can cause us to needlessly worry about things in which we have no control over.

Unrestrained fear can paralyze us from action that we need to take.

Or from defending the people or the things we love.

Fear is natural.

Hear me.

Fear is natural.

And it can also be a problem.

But the word that Jesus gives gets even harder because Jesus suggests, don't blame me.

I'm just reading the Bible.

Jesus suggests that for the believer, unchecked fear is rooted in a lack of faith.

Don't get mad at me.

It's just what Jesus says.

In Luke's version, actually, of the story, Jesus says, oh, you of little faith.

In Matthew's version of the same story, he says, where is it?

Where is your faith?

Here in Mark, he says, have you still have no faith?

Have you still no faith?

It's almost like he's saying, after all that you've seen, you don't walk with me a little while now.

You done seen some things.

After all you've seen, you mean to tell me you still ain't got no faith?

Did you not hear my first sermon, disciples, after I called you to walk with me,

wherein I proclaimed that the kingdom of God had come near?

Were you?

Were you not there for that sermon?

Were you not in Capernaum, disciples, when the kingdom of God was at work in me

and allowed me to bind the evil spirit that was in that man?

Did you not see what I did?

Were you looking the other way, Simon, when I healed your mother-in-law,

who you, by the way, brought to me with a fever?

Were you blind to the power of the kingdom that worked through me

and allowed me?

To heal the paralyzed man that made him walk?

Are you forgetting, disciples, all the times I provided for you,

all the situations that you were in,

and all of the ways that I came through for you,

times when you knew that that provision came from nowhere else but God?

Are you forgetting how I opened doors for you that no other man could open,

and I shut doors for you that no other man can shut?

How many Bible studies have you been to?

How many sermons have you heard preached?

How many notes have you taken?

And you mean to tell me you still don't believe?

Pistis in the Greek.

You still have no trust?

It's a hard word.

Don't blame me.

It's like he's saying, watch it.

It's like he's saying, what do I have to do to get you to relax and trust me?

Oh, okay, I know what I'll do.

I'll allow.

I'll allow a storm to come.

I'll allow it to happen.

This question is not a matter of one's belief system or one's orthodox theology.

It's not a question of us trying harder.

It's not a question of that.

It's a question of trust.

Said another way, the issue is not belief in God's existence,

but rather trust in Jesus' ability

to wield the potent power of God's kingdom in our lives and in the world.

Even more, the question is,

will we trust God's provision and power in a world

that trains us to distrust anyone outside of ourselves?

Invite me back.

I'll give you that sermon.

A world that oppresses us with the false story of self-dependence,

a narrative that is the antithesis of the gospel.

Will you trust God's power in a society

that seeks to imprint upon us a functional atheism

that blinds us to the amazing truth

that in and through Jesus,

God's kingdom has broken into the world

and subdued the principalities and powers of this age,

including death?

That's the gospel.

Will we trust it?

This is the lesson that Jesus wants to teach.

That we can have courage in the storms of life

because in and through Jesus,

God has broken into the world and has power over it.

I'm going to say it again so that you get it.

This is the lesson he wants to teach.

That we can have courage in the storms of life

because in and through Jesus,

God has broken into the world and taken power over it.

Who says amen to that?

I like to watch movies.

I like to watch shows.

Don't tell anybody my guilty pleasure

is watching reruns of Judge Judy.

Don't tell anybody that.

I like to watch movies.

I was thinking about this.

I was watching the old movie.

I hope this doesn't date me.

I was thinking about the old movie, The Matrix.

The first one, not the new one.

The new one's terrible.

The first one.

The first one with Keanu Reeves

who plays Mr. Anderson or Neo.

And I think it illustrates this question.

If you've seen that first movie near the end of the film,

Neo begins to believe that he is the one.

The promised person according to the movie's prophecy

who has power over the rules and natural laws

that govern the artificial reality called the Matrix.

And so when his enemies shoot at him

in that final hallway scene, if you remember,

Neo comes into himself.

He believes that he's the one.

He believes in his power and he simply says,

remember, the bullets are coming to him

and he puts his hand on it and he says, no.

And the volley of bullets flying in his direction,

he stops them.

And because he has power over the physical world,

because he is the one that can bend

the reality of the Matrix to his will,

the bullets slow down as they approach him

and then he plucks one of them out of the air

like he's plucking a blackberry.

He plucks it out of the air.

He takes his eyes.

He puts his eyes down as if to suggest

that the other bullets need to fall

and they fall on his command.

This is precisely what happens when Jesus wakes up.

He wakes up from his nap to deal with the storm.

In fact, Jesus doesn't calm the storm.

Notice this.

Jesus doesn't calm the storm as much as he overpowers it.

And he brings it to him.

He doesn't heal.

There's a difference.

He doesn't control it.

He overpowers it.

And standing with his hands towards the sea,

I can imagine in my sanctified imagination,

the Bible says that he rebuked the wind

by commanding it to be quiet.

And then he looks into the eye of the storm itself.

Notice there are two different commands.

It's be quiet.

He tells the wind, be quiet.

And then to the storm, he literally says, be still.

In the Greek, be muzzled.

It's the same word in the Greek he used in Mark chapter one

to subdue the unclean spirit.

Very interesting.

And this demonstration of power

causes his disciples to tremble.

And they say, who is this?

That even the winds and the seas obey him.

And like Neo in the matrix, the answer is very simple.

He is the one who can bend reality to his will.

He is the transcendent God who has come down

and broken into the world.

And now he has power over it.

As the living embodiment of the kingdom of God,

he is the same one the book of Job professes,

shut in the sea with doors and prescribed limits for it

and set bars and doors and said,

thus far you shall come and no further.

And here shall your proud waves be stayed.

Jesus is the one spoken of in Psalms 107,

the one who delivers those from trouble

by making the storm to be still, the Bible says,

and the storm to be still

and the waves of the sea to be hushed.

And this reality,

this reality that our world is not a closed universe,

but is in fact the very place that God has broken into

and has power over through Jesus,

should inspire within us the courage we need

to face the storms of life.

And the courage that we need

is not manufactured from ourselves.

It's not about our gifts or our talents or our skills.

It's not anything that can come from within,

but rather it comes to us as an outgrowth of our faith.

In fact, this is what one theologian I was recently reading,

Andrew Ruse,

says, he says,

the life of faith is not to assume

that every impinging circumstance will bring God's arrival,

but it is to open our eyes and anticipate

that our God, who is a minister,

may just move these waters of impossibility.

And for this, for this, for this, we need courage.

I use the word courage intentionally

for courage is not just a word,

it is not the absence of fear,

but rather courage is the victory of peace over fear.

Courage is the ability to act despite of fear.

Courage respects fear.

Courage doesn't act like stuff ain't going on,

but courage says, I see you, I respect you,

and yet I'm not going to choose you.

I won't let you overwhelm me.

And for the Christian,

the root of our courage to face the storms,

the uncertainties and the perils and the challenges of life

is not based on our own strength or ability,

but rather our faith in the one who is the storm calmer.

Faith in the one who has power over what the apostle Paul says,

the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Who says amen to that?

I only got a couple of minutes.

I got to go, I got to go, I got to go.

But I got to tell you this story first.

In his sermon entitled, Our God is Able,

the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

speaks about a time when he experienced

great hardship and discouragement in his pursuit of justice.

He gave a sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church,

I believe the year was 1967.

But he was speaking about events that happened in 1955

and he was speaking about events that happened in 1955

during the Montgomery bus boycott.

And during that time,

he had taken over leadership of the movement there in Montgomery

and the movement to stop the injustice that was going on

on the bus system there in Montgomery.

And so he took over leadership

and they're making plans and they're in the middle of this protest.

And as you can imagine, the weight that was on his shoulders.

and he begins to get phone calls,

death threats that people are gonna come

and kill him and his family

and he's getting all of these threats

and the weight of the world is on his shoulders

and he's in his kitchen, he's drinking coffee

and he just came off the phone

where someone said he's gonna kill him

and he's so afraid and he tells the story,

he starts shaking, he puts the cup of coffee down

and he sits down and he's totally paralyzed.

But in his paralyzation, he cried out to God in prayer

and here's what he said, I'm gonna read some of it

and some of it I'll put on the screen.

He said, I am here taking a stand

for what I believe is right, but now I am afraid.

The people are looking to me for leadership

and if I stand before them without strength,

they too will falter.

I am at the end of my powers, I have nothing left.

I have come to the point where I can't face

it alone.

And then in the sermon, he goes on later to say

that at that very moment when he was at his lowest,

he says, I experienced the presence of the divine

as I had never experienced him before.

It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance

of an inner voice saying, stand up for righteousness,

stand up for truth, God will be at your side forever.

And almost at once, he says, my fears pass,

passed me, passed from me.

My uncertainty disappeared.

I was ready to face anything.

The outer situation remained the same,

but God had given me inner calm.

Three days later, he continues, our home was bombed.

Strangely enough, I accepted the word of the bombing calmly.

My experience with God that night at the table

had given me a new strength and trust.

I knew now that God,

God is able to give us the inner resources

to face the storms and the problems of life.

And then he says this, here's on the screen.

This, let this be our ringing cry,

that there is a great benign power in the universe

whose name is God.

And he's able to make a way out of no way

and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.

This is our hope for becoming better people.

This is our mandate for seeking a better world.

Look, I got to go, I got to go.

Cypher rage was right.

Danger is real, very real.

But fear is a choice.

The gale force winds of tragedy that you are experiencing

and will experience when you walk back out that door

and go back to your life, they are real.

But so is our God.

The tsunami level waters

that are going to brush in your face

that already have last week and last month and last year

and will in the days and the years to come,

they are real, but our God is able.

Don't let the storms of life

sap your belief

that it's too much for God.

Don't let the tsunami winds of life

deprive you of the power and strength

that God wants to do in and through you and in your situation.

Because the same Jesus

who is all powerful

and might seem so distant from you

is not, I promise you he's not.

Guess what?

He's in the boat.

And he's got all power.