John 6:15-21 - Panic Or Peace?

Main Idea: Embrace who Jesus is, and find His peace for your life.

• Living your life without Jesus’ presence invites panic.

  • You can live your whole life without Jesus.

  • You can live parts of your life without Jesus.

• Living your life in Jesus’ presence invites peace.

  • Jesus’ presence does not mean there will be no problems.

  • Jesus’ presence reminds you of His promises.

  • Jesus’ presence enables you to fulfill His purposes.

Sermon Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Today, we're continuing our series Pick A Side in John 5 through 10, where Jesus, for the majority of the passages that we look at, he's kind of laying down the gauntlet. He says, here's who I am. I'm not just a miracle worker.

I'm not just a teacher. I am God incarnate. I am God the Son, and you can take it or leave it.

And as we've been journeying through, we've seen him come to blows a couple of times with the religious leaders of the day that they said, here's how you practice religion. And Jesus says, no, that's not how I practice religion.

My, if you will, my religion is based on my relationship with God the Father and based on what the Word of God says and not what mankind says. And so we've seen him interact with some of that.

Two weeks ago, we saw as Jesus went into the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee, so where he's from, kind of his ministry headquarters here on earth was the city of Capernaum.

And across the Sea of Galilee, across from Capernaum, a region, depending on how far north or south you are, it's called the Decapolis or the Gennesaret. He was over in that area and he just wanted to take some time and pray to the Father.

He went up to a mountain to pray and crowds of people pursued him and they wanted to see him do some more miracles and they wanted to hear some more of his teaching.

And so Jesus, always wanting to declare the gospel to people, he taught them and he taught them for such a long time that they kind of ran out of any of the food that they would have brought.

And Jesus, in his kindness, he provided a miraculous feast from just five loaves and two fishes that he made enough to be able to feed the 5,000 men as well as all of the women and children. There were 12 baskets left over.

The people saw this, and especially in the agricultural setting of first century Judea, where almost everything was, almost all of your existence was, okay, am I going to have enough food for tomorrow? They were like, this is amazing.

We're going to make him the king. And that's what we read in verse number, I believe it was first number 15 of the passage, where they were going to make him king by force. However, that was not the way that Jesus' kingdom was going to come on earth.

And so he decided that he needed to go back up to the mountain, and he said, no, that's not the time.

And in today's passage, we're going to see what his disciples did, so those that followed him around, if you will, full time, we're going to see what they did and what Jesus did as a result. Today's message is entitled Panic or Peace. Panic or Peace.

I don't know if many of you have been outside of kind of this area of Baltimore, you know, the DMV area, and specifically, I don't know if you guys have had many coffee shops outside of this area.

As I enjoy caffeine, I enjoy coffee, I've been to, you know, a couple of different places throughout the US. I have one coffee place that is my least favorite. Now, this might cause a church split, and that's okay.

Fight me. I will fight you for this. I hate Dunkin Donuts.

Oh, how could you? That's so messed up. Some of you right now are drinking it, and you're like, I'm going to throw it at him.

And you would be, you know, semi-justified in doing so. I hate Dunkin Donuts. Here's why.

And this is a me problem. This is not a them problem. Not at all times in my life have I watched my weight as much as I should have.

Dunkin has like an option or two of sugar free things, but it's not a lot. And sometimes it's hard because they don't like just label everything. Hey, this is a sugar free this or that.

Like some places that I've been to. So back in April, this is pre-Easter.

And if you know anything about like churches, pastors, Easter, that's already like kind of a stress inducing time where you're like, oh, man, is everything going to go to pieces? I had gotten a drink at Dunkin with my wife.

We've gone up to visit my sister and my brother-in-law in York and spent some time with them. My parents were actually up that weekend as well. And so getting to spend some time with family.

And so I drank my drink. I tend to drink it all. I'm not one of those ones that will buy a drink.

And then like 17 hours later, it's still three quarters full. Some of you are like that. You need to stop.

You need to drink the whole thing. So I drank the whole thing. And to be completely honest with you, I just had a straight up panic attack, like anxiety attack.

I was having an existential crisis. I was going like, hey, should I be pastoring anymore? Should I just like give it up and like go somewhere else?

And I was a little worried, you know, in and of myself. I was like, man, is everything okay? Like what's going on with my mind?

And then I decided to look up the ingredients and the nutritional value of this Dunkin Donuts drink. 390 milligrams of caffeine in this drink plus like 95 grams of sugar. I instantly swore off, you know, Dunkin, at least I had drink ever, ever again.

And I went, oh, that's why I feel like I'm going to die, because I probably am going to die from this drink. I had a moment of just abject panic for, for many of us. Just having a caffeine-induced panic attack might be welcome.

For many of us, we've had moments of physical danger, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other things where we are truly facing panic in a way that is crippling to our lives. I've told the story before, so I'll keep it very brief.

My first year in ministry, we lived in a parsonage right next door to the church.

And one early in November, one evening on a Saturday night, right before Sunday, a person broke into the church building, stole all sorts of stuff, stole a guitar of mine, stole a guitar of my pastor's wife, stole a guitar from our music pastor,

stole my wife's laptop. And because there was a spare key in the church building, actually stole mine and Samantha's car.

And we discovered this when the pastor and the youth pastor were knocking on our door in the abject darkness and blackness at like 11 p.m. that night. And so it was woken out of a deep sleep with just a lot of loss and a lot of damage to the church.

And it made it so that for months afterwards, I could not go to sleep without like the kitchen light being on in my house, because the total darkness made me go, okay, I wonder, is it going to happen again?

For many of us, we struggle with anxiety and with fear. And I want you to know today that Jesus wants to be with you in your fear.

I don't want you to, as we talk about the message today, I don't want you to think, okay, if I'm ever scared, I'm sinning and I'm not in the will of God.

In fact, I seem to recall someone that was so nervous, so anxious about the coming difficulty in his own life, that he was sweating great drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And if even our Savior went through times of fear, but he knew who to talk to, and he knew who was present with him in that fear, then God wants that for you and I today. He wants us to know his presence in the middle of fear.

The CDC a couple years ago released some findings that 18% of Americans in their study reported experiencing mild to severe symptoms of anxiety in just a two-week period. And that number jumped to 26% of those in the 18-29 year old range.

Our world is incredibly anxious and incredibly scared. As we look at the news, we might go, yeah, it makes sense. That's why I'm anxious.

Or as you look at your bank account or your stock portfolio, or as you look at your kids, you go, God, where are you in all this? But what I want us to realize today is that God is present with you even in your fear.

We panic, we're scared, but that's not the way that God wants to leave us. As Paul told Timothy, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Or as Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not like the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled or fearful. So you go, great, that sounds nice.

I'd like to have some of that peace. How do we experience it? Simple, embrace who Jesus is.

And find his peace for your life. Embrace who Jesus is. And find his peace for your life.

Let's pray. And we'll dive into the passage today. And learn about who Jesus is.

And how to experience his peace. Dear Jesus, thank you for today. God, we ask that however you speak to us, we would be faithful to listen.

God, thank you for the gift of your word. Thank you for the gift of being able to experience peace in the middle of storms. God, for every person here, no matter what they're going through, they need to know your presence.

God, for those that do not know you as their Savior. God, I ask that today, as they hear about who you are and what you've done on their behalf, that they would choose you as their Lord and their Savior.

We love you, God, and we pray that you would be honored in your church. We pray all of this in your name. Amen.

Let's begin reading today in John chapter 6 and verse number 15. You can follow along on your physical Bible, on your phone, on the screens, or if you got a scroll, you can use that.

John chapter 6 verse 15, Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea.

They got into a boat and started across the sea to Capernaum. Darkness had already set in, but Jesus had not yet come to them.

When your whole life mission and job is follow around Jesus, and Jesus booked it because people wanted to forcibly make him king, and you don't know where he's at, and now it's reached the end of the day, and they're like, okay, well, Jesus is still

not here. He hasn't sent any word. So I guess we'll go back to headquarters, and maybe he went there. So it's nighttime, and they're gonna start across the sea of Galilee.

Verse 18, a high wind arose, and the sea began to churn.

After they had rode about three or four miles, which would be about halfway across the sea of Galilee, and if you'll recall, Peter, Andrew, James, and John were all from Capernaum, and were all fishermen that had grown up on this body of water.

So it's not just like, you know, bunch of random seminary grads trying to make it across the ship, and you're like, yeah, well, of course, they're having difficulty. No, no, no.

These are experienced fishermen on this body of water, and they have rode about three or four miles through the storm, and they see Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they were afraid.

Here, there's a statement of the miraculous that is happening. People don't normally get to walk on water. Being a kid that was raised in church, there was definitely a time or two where I was like, huh, I wonder if maybe I can do it.

I promise you, every single time you're just going straight into the water, you're not making it. Here, there is a miraculous thing that Jesus does for a reason that I'll highlight in a moment. And as he's walking, he's not even coming to the boat.

You can also look at Matthew chapter 14 and Mark chapter 6. Both have this account after the feeding of the 5,000. That it's almost as though, as we read the other passages, Jesus is going to pass by the boat.

He's like, you guys got this. I'm just going to walk over to Capernaum and they go, hey, like number one, they're afraid, they're freaking out. They think it's a ghost.

As you read the other accounts in scripture, they're really scared. And here they were afraid, but he said to them, it is I, don't be afraid. This phrasing, it is I, it's the Greek words, ego e me, it's I am.

It's the same thing that as the Jews during this time period, as they would read the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, when they would read about the burning bush and when they would read about the name that God gave to himself,

to Moses and to the children of Israel, that name, Yahweh, I am that I am. Jesus here is declaring to these scared people, I am, it's me. Don't be afraid.

Verse 21, then they were willing to take him on board, and at once the boat was at the shore where they were heading.

All night long, they're going, they're trying their best, they're only halfway there, but the moment that Jesus' presence appears in this boat, everything's okay.

They're at the shore, the storm has stopped, they are with Jesus again, and there is no need to fear because the master of the wind and waves is right there with them. Now, we would probably ask, why did Jesus do this? This seems incredibly random.

There's no, we could even imagine, as we look back at the beginning of Chapter 6, with all of the food, the loaves and the fish, we'd say, okay, well, it makes sense that Jesus would do a miracle there because they needed food.

He didn't want them to starve. And so that's the occasion of the miracle. This one seems more arbitrary, except when you look at the Old Testament, and you see this is actually Jesus showing the disciples that He is God.

He is not just some miracle worker. He is not just limitless bread and food for people. He is God Himself.

We would see this even in Psalm 107, Psalm 107, where the psalmist would write, Others went to sea in ships, Conducting trade on the vast water. They saw the Lord's works, His wondrous works in the deep.

He spoke and raised a stormy wind that stirred up the waves of the sea, Rising up to the sky, sinking down to the depths, Their courage melting away in anguish. They reeled and staggered like a drunkard, And all their skill was useless.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper, And the waves of the sea were hushed. They rejoiced when the waves grew quiet.

Then He guided them to the harbor they longed for. Jesus here in this passage, He is letting these disciples know who He is. He's not just saying, I have power over water, molecule density, though all of those would be cool things.

He wants them to know, here is who I am, and what I'm communicating to you is that I am not, if you will, beholden to what other people are controlled by.

Other people are controlled by the mobs, that if other religious leaders were going to be taken by force, to be made king, they'd rejoice in it. They'd love it. But Jesus wasn't going to be controlled by people.

And here, even nature itself, gravity and molecules, they could not control God himself. And as we look today for our own lives at Panic and Peace, I want us to see how Jesus' presence, how his identity shapes how we live.

Firstly today, living your life without Jesus' presence invites panic. Living your life without Jesus' presence invites panic.

Jesus' presence tells us that there is a God, that he is the one that is in control, that he has a plan, that he is working out in our world and in our lives individually. Without that kind of God, you are left adrift in your own life.

Your destiny only comes about through what you are capable of. And I can only speak for myself. I'm not very good at crafting a great destiny.

If the only story that's going to be written about my life is what I can do, it's going to be a terrible story.

But when I know that there is a God who is good, who loves me, who died for me, who rose again for me, who has promised me a home forever with him, who has promised me a purpose here and now, I can have some courage.

I can adopt a peace within my own mindset to be able to say, it will be okay because I belong to him. When we don't belong to anything, when there is no hope or future in our life, it does invite panic.

That doesn't mean that every person that is perhaps an atheist, or every person that does not believe in Jesus' Savior, it doesn't mean they always have anxiety attacks or panic attacks.

But if we take our world view to its logical end, a life without the presence of Jesus invites panic. First today, you can live your whole life without Jesus.

This would be perhaps someone that would call themselves an atheist or an agnostic or even someone that would just say, I don't really have any thoughts on religion.

I just know I'm not going to believe and follow what the Bible says about this person, Jesus. I'm just gonna go my own way and I'm gonna try my best. But the truth is this, scripture tells us that we have to live with Jesus.

He's not just an optional add-on to your life. He is the entire point of your life. Scripture calls this the gospel, that God created us, he loves us.

We as mankind have left his path. We have all sinned. We have done and said and thought things that go against the will and character and nature of God.

As a result, all of us are headed towards the destruction of our own souls in a place that scripture calls hell. And the Bible tells us that God is not willing that anyone would perish, but that everyone would come to repentance.

Scripture says God loved the world in this way that he gave his one and only son, Jesus, so that whoever believes in him would not perish, but would have everlasting life.

We would read in 1st John chapter 4 that the father sent the son to be the savior of the world, that though we deserved punishment, though we deserved judgment and condemnation as a result of what we have done, Jesus, on the cross, took that all on

himself, that he paid the price in full, so that everyone that accepts what Jesus did for them, they will experience salvation forever. Free and clear, not through their own efforts to make it to God, but through what Jesus Christ did on their

behalf. It is a full and free gift that anyone can receive by faith, by believing in what God has said. That is, he said, anyone that comes to him, he will never for any reason throw out, that we can believe him.

That when scripture says, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, we can believe it.

And the person that turns from their own way, turns from, if you will, at the ship of their own life, trying to steer where they're going, the one that gives the wheel over to Jesus and says, you call the shots.

I'm here for you, you're not here for me. When we do that, we experience salvation forever. Today, for perhaps someone that's here, maybe you came because your mom's here today, and you're like, listen, I guess I'll go.

Can I tell you, Jesus is speaking to you right now, and he wants you to accept him as your Lord and your Savior. And the truth is this, you don't have to clean up your life in order to get to Jesus.

Frankly, you could never get your life clean enough in order to get to Jesus. That's why Jesus came for you, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, will not experience judgment or condemnation, but will have eternal life.

Today can be the day that you accept Jesus.

And whether during the invitation time, after service, if you want to meet up with myself or one of our other elders or maybe a friend of yours during the week, we would love to walk you through how the Bible says you can experience salvation.

And you can do that even today, inviting Jesus into your life by asking him to forgive your sins and to be your Lord, the one in charge of your life. So you can live your whole life without Jesus, and you can live parts of your life without Jesus.

The areas of my life where I personally carry the most stress and anxiety are the areas that I'm not recognizing Jesus as Lord of. If Jesus is the Lord of my finances, then he's providing for my needs, and I can't panic.

Anything that Jesus is in charge of, if I know that he is good, if I know that he is faithful, and I'm turning those areas over to him, then I can believe that it's going to be okay.

And the areas in your life and mine, where we get the most freaked out, are the areas where we go, okay, Jesus, I don't really think you're in control of this, because if you were in control of it, then I would know that it's well taken care of.

If I give, let's see, if I give $300 to Samantha, I'm like, hey, take care of this. I know it's in good hands. It's like, it'll be safe.

If I give it to Evelyn, maybe, might be ripped up, might be stuck somewhere. What's the difference? I can trust Samantha with what is important, with what is, if you will, fragile.

And so in your life and mine, what are the areas that bring us the most fear? And have we turned those over to Jesus to say, okay, Lord, this is yours. You're in charge of it.

And so if anything happens to it, like that's your prerogative. You're going to do what is best in this area. Are you most fearful about your job, your kids or your health?

Recognize that Jesus is sovereign over it all, and anything that he's in charge of in your life will be all right. But that also means you have to surrender it to him.

You can't ignore or disobey him in your parenting or in your marriage or in your work ethic, and then expect to have peace that he's in control of it when you have intentionally told him, Jesus, take the back seat.

If you're trying to say, okay, Jesus, yes, you're in charge of my finances, but I'm also gambling on the ponies every week. Well, okay, is Jesus really in charge of your finances?

Is he the one that's lord of this area of your life when you're taking over it? No. Also, I don't know if anyone bets on ponies anymore.

That might be an old thing. We have to surrender it all to the Lord to say, okay, Jesus, I'm gonna obey you in this area, and then you're in charge of this. And whatever the Lord has for us, we know Romans 8 28 is for our good and for his glory.

It won't always be the choice that you or I would make, but it is the best choice. This week, pick one aspect of your life that you've currently been walking through without Jesus, and change that one aspect this week.

Maybe it's that you choose to read your Bible before you leave for work. Maybe you ask your friend what they did on Sunday so you can intentionally have a conversation about church and so you can invite them.

Maybe instead of spending your whole night on Netflix, you can take 15 minutes and read the Bible and pray with your kids or your spouse before you go to bed.

Instead of just talking about politics with your friend group, maybe you can tell them one thing God's blessed you with or encouraged you with recently from His Word.

We can live either our whole life or a part of our life, a portion of our life without Jesus, but all that does is invite panic. But then lastly today, living your life in Jesus' presence, it invites peace.

Living your life in Jesus' presence invites peace. Now, clarification. Jesus' presence does not mean there are no problems.

Jesus told us, in this world, you will have trouble. He says, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. A preacher from the 1700s, Matthew Henry, would say, clouds and darkness often surround the children of the light and of the day.

They see Jesus walking on the sea and are afraid. And even the approaches of comfort and deliverance often are so mistaken as to become the occasions of fear.

If we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, though the night be dark and the wind high, yet we may comfort ourselves and we shall be at the shore before long.

When we are encountering difficulties and problems and temptations and moments of fear, it does not mean that Jesus is not with us.

Just like there's soap at my house, there's soap at the kitchen sink, there's soap in my kid's bathroom at their sink, there's soap in the shower. But do you know that my kids still sometimes get dirty?

Now you might say, listen, if soap really existed, then there would be no dirt on any kids. But that's not the way it works. And so in your life and in my life, the problems that we go through doesn't mean that Jesus isn't there.

But it does mean that there is a balm for those moments. There is a way to be cleansed and to be healed. Through Jesus.

So next time you see your utility bell from BGE, choose to thank Jesus that he is with you in the middle of your difficulties.

When you see that there is another fight between your kids or between you and your siblings again, choose to thank God that he's there with you in the problem. Psalm 46 tells us God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

Whenever trouble shows up, you know that the Lord is right there. He has never abandoned you once in your life, and he's not about to start now. Secondly, today, Jesus' presence reminds you of his promises.

If Jesus lives in you, then you have been chosen by him before the foundation of the world, as Ephesians 1 says. You are a joint heir with Christ, who will inherit everything that the Father will give to the Son, as Romans 8 says.

You will never be forsaken or abandoned, as Hebrews 13 says. You have an eternal home with Jesus, as John 14 says.

You have a family bond with hundreds of millions of people all around the world who know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, as 1st Corinthians 12 says. These are the promises of God.

For my life and my anxiety as I was dealing with, you know, not even being able to sleep at night without having, you know, the kitchen light or whatever on that I would be able to see, I turned again and again to Psalm chapter 3, which says, I will

both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety, that I relied on the fact that, God, if I'm going to be safe, it's not going to happen because I've turned on a light. My safety is reliant on you.

And so, God, if there's another moment of fear, there was, but that's for another time.

When there's those moments, I know that it's coming through your loving hands and it's coming for the purpose of my sanctification, that I'd be more like Jesus, and so that you would be glorified.

And because I know that's going to be the end result, I can go through whatever right now, and I can rely not on my solutions to my fear, but I can rely on the Lord to carry me through my times of fearfulness.

I loved Psalm 56, what time I am afraid I will trust in thee. Or 2nd Timothy 1, God's not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and of sound mind.

The dearly loved pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle Charles Spurgeon said, trouble does not necessarily bring consolation with it to the believer. He says, your hard times don't bring comfort with them.

He says, but the presence of the Son of God in the fiery furnace with him fills his heart with joy. He is sick and suffering, but Jesus visits him and makes his bed for him.

He is dying and the cold, chilly waters of Jordan are gathering about him up to the neck, but Jesus puts his arms around him and cries, fear not, beloved, to die is to be blessed. The waters of death have their fountainhead in heaven.

They are not bitter. They are sweet as nectar, for they flow from the throne of God. Today, Jesus' presence is meant to remind you of the promises of God.

It's what he would want to say to you in the moment. Can I encourage you this week, whether through, I know the YouVersion Bible hat often has like a verse for the day. You can find anyone of a thousand ways to do this.

But will you choose to memorize, to meditate, to think about one verse and one promise of God for this week, in whatever area Satan wants you to fear, that you would instead choose to remember God's promises in your moments of fear?

And lastly, Jesus' presence enables you to fulfill his purposes. Jesus' presence enables you to fulfill his purposes.

God the Father did not send you God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, so that you could live your life exactly how you would live it without them. He has given you new life so that you would accomplish his will, not yours.

He has given you new life so that you would be his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works that he planned for you to do before your existence.

God's got a mission for you this week that you would show his love, you would declare the gospel, you would encourage someone, you would challenge someone. God made you to do that this week.

When my wife hands me a broom or a vacuum at the house, it's not because I need something to hold, it's because there's something I need to do. God has given you his Holy Spirit and God has given you his word.

You've got a mission to accomplish this week. However, that looks in your life, maybe you'd choose to have a meal with someone this week to show love to them, to share who Jesus is to you and to pray for them.

Maybe there might be someone that just needs a visit from you, that to see a smiling face who will communicate God's love would mean the world to them.

Jesus being with you is not just so you can feel happy, though, amen, there is joy in serving Jesus. That in the middle of the storm, when the water walker gets into the boat and you're instantly on dry land, you can thank the Lord for it.

But Jesus has a mission for you to accomplish this week. Today, our choice is panic or peace. We can live our life recognizing Jesus' presence, or we can choose to live either all of our life or part of our life without Jesus' presence.

The choice for you today is not necessarily between fear and bravery, but it's fear with no hope, with no recourse, or fear holding the hand of the Heavenly Father that loves you and is there for you.

And if you're going through a hard time, you're going through it with, if you will, your Heavenly Dad and he's there for you.

And he will, as he tells us in 1 Corinthians 10, he will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation, with the suffering, will make a way to escape so that you may be able to bear it.

This is what the disciples experienced. They were afraid, and yet they ended up discovering that in Jesus's presence, there is fullness of joy. And at His right hand, there are pleasures forevermore.

For you and I today, will we allow Jesus's presence to make us aware the problems will still be there, but it's going to be different because we're with Him.

That God has given us some promises that we can hold on to in the middle of our fear, and that God has given us a purpose for what we should accomplish as a result of what He has given us.

However, God spoke in to you today, I encourage you do business with Him.

Anything that you need to commit to Him, maybe an area where you have been fearing, that you want to invite Jesus's Lordship in to say, Jesus, I've been really scared about this.

I've had my stress and my fear about this, but God, I'm going to give it to you. I'm going to obey you so that you're actually Lord of it. I'm not just saying that it's your problem while I'm holding on to it.

But as I do that, I'm going to recognize who you are. You are good. You have only ever been good.

Your character, your nature says that you can never do wrong. And I'm going to trust in that. And I'm going to allow that to tell my fear, how I should interact in my life.