Exam time, Pass or Fail. (Mark 6: 45-56)
In the UK before your allowed to drive independently on the road you have to take a driving test. Less than half the people who take that test pass. The pass rate in the UK, last time I looked was on average is 47.1%. If you really want to make sure you pass your driving test don’t go to Cheetham Hill in Manchester only 31% passed there this year. Rather drive all the way up to Fort William at the top of Scotland where the pass rate is 72%, or if you can afford it and really want to push the boat out (literally) catch the ferry to the Isle of Mull where the pass rate is over 90%.
The question I would like to ask this morning is, have you ever failed a test or an exam? Now, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, I would like to submit to you, whether you are aware of it or not you face various trails and tests, and I suspect, that most of us probably fail some of those tests regularly.
For example, from the moment we accept Jesus Christ as are saviour we are given the gift of eternal life, yes, but spiritually we are newborn babes. However. God then starts His process of teaching us. That is done primarily through the church via the ministry of the word, or by other believers ministering, and by the conviction of the Holy Spirit. God by His Spirit begins to teach us how he wants us to live our new life, in Christ, and live it by faith. Then faith enables us to trust in him and through the Holy Spirit receive the power to enable us to do what he desires us to do. But what many people don’t consider is often after God has taught us something, things to come into your life, and we need to respond to things by making a freewill choice. Many of us as believers I suspect feel from time to time we fail these tests when they come along. What I want to ask the morning why when a trial comes along do, we so often fail the test.
There is a passage of scripture that I think illustrates beautifully the answer to that question. The passage of scripture we are going to look at very neatly divides into 3 parts. What I want to do this morning for the most part is work through this passage whilst at the same time acknowledging this passage is telling us something about being tested in life. So, let’s begin at verse 45.
Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
(Mark 6: 45-46)
You will recall in the previous passage to this he had been teaching and then he fed over 5000 people but at this point it’s getting late, so he sends the “crowd” away. The interesting thing I think about this verse is that it says he “made his disciples get into the boat”. The Greek word used means he compelled them, and that is how the word is translated in some versions of the bible. He didn’t just suggest it, he commanded it. John 6, records for us the same events with the added detail that some of the people in the crowd wanted to make him the king.
After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
(John 6: 14-15)
So, it seemed that some of the crowd at some level recognized he was the Messiah, but they were already getting way ahead of themselves in their interpretation of what that meant. But there is something else going on here, as the rest of the passage makes clear. Jesus who knows all things, knew that he was sending them into a difficult situation. He was sending them again into what he knew was going to be a fierce storm.
Before we continue, I want to pause here for a moment and make an observation. We need to note the disciples at this point were in the will of God. He had specifically said to them Go! So, they were not out of the will of God. As I just said Jesus had just; “compelled” them to get into the boat. The point I want to make is that not all trouble or difficulties in life are as a result of disobedience. In this case they obeyed him, and they still found themselves in a difficult, challenging situation. You see in life trouble may come your way and sometimes it will be for correction, however, but more often perhaps it will be will just happen but how you respond will be beneficial for your personal spiritual development. In this case Jesus is sending them into a difficult situation to test them and to strengthen them. The question is will they pass the test? Sadly, they didn’t on this occasion.
The secondary question is….why not?
Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.
(Mark 6: 47-48a)
Have you ever felt that the wind is against you? Have you been struggling against the winds in your life? Have you been struggling with work or with family, or even with ill health? In life we might often feel we are rowing against the wind or struggling up a steep hill and the wind is against us. Verse 48 then goes on to tell us;
Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified Immediately, he spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid!
(Mark 6: 48b-50)
They thought they had seen a ghost, and they were scared, terrified but the Lord calms their fears by saying it is I, do not be afraid. A common fear among believers is when we find ourselves in the middle of a testing situation, we are in fear of how it might turn out.
In other words, we worry. Then it says.
Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed,
(Mark 6: 51)
So again, Jesus for the second time is seen to calm a stormy sea, and these disciples who were previously troubled, who were terrified in fact, are now “amazed, astonished”.
So, what’s going on here?
They have just been tested with a storm in exactly the same as the way just a matter of a few days earlier.
Did the pass the first test?
NO, they didn’t.
Did they pass the test the second time?
The answer is, NO they did not.
Because:
For they had not understood about the loaves; and their hearts were hardened.
(Mark 6: 52)
This tells us that they had not even learned the lesson of the miracles which they had witnessed just a little earlier that day. In the passage we read and looked at together a couple of days ago, he fed the 5000, and by doing that he intended his disciples to learn a spiritual lesson.
And when He fed the crowd and met everyone’s need, there was even an abundance left over. The big lesson he had just taught them was to, “trust in me”. So, did they learn the big lesson, no they hadn’t. The had just witnessed an amazing miracle and they still didn’t get it. Why didn’t they get it?
Look at the verse again, “because their hearts were hardened”. Does this seem as incredible to you as it does to me? But then I look at my life and think, maybe it isn’t so incredible. How many times in my life has God met my need, in abundance, and yet still so many times I fail to trust in Him. I heard it once said, “A lack of faith is simply a failure to consider God working in the past and apply that knowledge of his nature, in the present”.
Let me ask you a question, has God worked in your life in the past, has he answered prayer, has he met your needs, has he revealed to you His spiritual truths. Then the next time you face a trial in life, just don’t forget what he has already done in the past. his text tells us the reasons the disciples did not learn this lesson was because of their “hardness of heart”. What does that phrase actually mean? It means the is a lack of openness to God, an unresponsiveness to God. He taught them something that day and they forgot it that night. Because they weren’t receptive, they weren’t sensitive to spiritual truths. They just saw him feed 5000 people and he even gave them 12 of the world’s largest ever doggy bag of leftovers, and they still didn’t get it.
A hard-hearted person is someone who when you try and tell them something that God wants them to know refuse to receive it. Being hard hearted means, you will not be able to receive spiritual truths even if they slap you in the face on a Sunday morning. His disciples had spent time with him, but in this area of their lives thy simply didn’t get it. Let me sum all this up and if I may, make a suggestion, or two. The message of this passage I believe is to show that when the Lord tested his disciples he did so to see if they had learned the lesson of trusting him that he had just taught them. But when he did that, they failed, and the reason they failed is that they were not sensitive to spiritual truths when taught. Be careful when you hear spiritual truths being taught, because if you do not respond properly, it can have dire consequences. Back in verse 50 Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, or, take courage” depending which translation you use. Please note this, he said this to them before he spoke to the sea. The next verse says, then he went up into the boat with them and immediately the wind ceased. Please note when he says to them do not be afraid, the waves are still churning. In fact, he told them to rejoice, to be of good cheer whilst in the midst of the storm. Get it! He calms their souls in the midst of the storm. You see we always want is God to do these things the other way around. We say to God, if only you will come and calm the storm, then I’ll will not be afraid, then I’ll rejoice, then I’ll be at peace. Bad news folks, this tells me this is not always the way the Lord works. He wants you to trust him, and he will give you peace even in the middle of life’s storms. He often calmed them on the inside therefore allowing you or him to deal with the outside. He always deals with our greatest need first, before dealing with the external problems on the outside. In order for us to experience the peace of God in the midst of any fearful situation. Paul writing to the church at Philippi tells them.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4: 4-7)
In the light of that, I have a suggestion for you. In the light of slogging uphill. In the light of rowing against strong winds, start by praying and asking God help, and then, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. To say the same thing another way.
“Be still and know that I am God”.
(Psalm 46 10a)
The seas outside the boat may be rough, but inside the boat, in our hearts we can be still and know that He is God. This passage tells me that not only can the Lord calm the sea around us, but he can calm the soul within us, and he usually does that in the midst of trouble. But underpinning that truth we also need to recognise this may means we are being tested. As we go through these things we may spiritually grow. And we might finally come to point where we can say, I am going to depend on the grace of God to help me do what he told me to do in the first place. Warren Wisbee, Pastor of the famous moody church in Chicago a great preacher of days gone by.
“The blessing of God must be balanced with burdens and battles otherwise we might become pampered children and not mature sons and daughters of God”.
Let me paraphrase it in today’s language. “If you didn’t have any trouble in life, it’s likely you will just grow up a spiritually spoiled brat”. God (to use Warren Wiserbee words), balances blessings with burdens and battles in order to bring us to maturity.
My final question is this. Why do we so often fail these tests? In this passage we are clearly told, it is when our hearts are unreceptive and unresponsive to spiritual truths and when we fail the test, we simply don’t get the blessing God intended us to get out of it. Remember this passage is talking to believers so our place in heaven is still secure, nothing can rob us of that. However, if we fail the trial, when we struggle against life’s gale force winds and give up. Then we slump into a life bereft of spiritual meaning. Instead of a life of real spiritual growth and joy.
Have you ever failed an exam, have you ever failed a test in life. Why do students in schools or universities fail an exam? For that matter way does anyone in life fail and exam or a test? I would suggest it is always one of three things happens.
First, we don’t listen, or we listen without thinking, which means we listen, but don’t learn.
Secondly, the reason many people fail and exam or a test is because, they don’t read the textbook. The more you know the textbook (The Bible) the more likely you are to pass the tests.
Thirdly, some people fail the test because they fall into bad habits. Is that your story, are you in the middle of a storm, are you lost in the middle of a lake and are the water all churned up around you.
Here’s the lesson, listen carefully. Have you stopped listening to God? Have you stopped referring to the textbook? Have you fallen into bad habits? Are you no longer trusting the Lord? Maybe you have grown so accustomed to where you are you have become unreceptive to what the Lord wants you to do from this point forward. Hence you too are failing your spiritual test. So, my question to you today is simply this. Do you trust in the Lord, always? Do you rejoice in the Lord always? Are you learning when you make a mistake or fall short. When you fall short do you get up again and as a disciple of Jesus, just keep moving forward in the Lord, and remember.
“The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”.