Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we examined how the 5,000 men tried to take Jesus by force and make him king and how things didn’t go as the men had expected it to go.

Today we are going to pickup where we left off by looking at what happened next in Matthew 14:22-33.

With the crowd pressing on Jesus to take him he withdrew up the mountain but not before he sent his disciples away into the boat there on the Sea of Galilee.

Now there are two very important lessons we learn from our text today.

First we see Jesus “sent them into a storm.”

The text actually reads, in Matthew 14:22, “he made the disciples get into the boat.”

Too keep the disciples from getting caught up in the crowd Jesus made his disciples get into a boat.

However, there is no doubt that Jesus would have known the storm was coming and therefore it was “because Jesus sent them out” to the sea they got caught up in this storm.

The point I want us to understand is that Jesus/God will send us into storms.

In fact, it doesn’t take long after one obeys the gospel to realize that becoming a Christian doesn’t result in “smooth sail” for us.

Christians sometimes forget this fact and when troubles arise they question whether or not they have sinned and are being disciplined by God.

Don’t get me wrong, God does discipline those his children as the Proverb writer wrote in Proverbs 3:11-12…

However, like with Job, just because we are going through a “storm” in our life it doesn’t mean we have sinned.

The truth is God will place his children into situations where they will have to go through trails.

Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12…

Jesus said the same thing in John 16:33…

Listen, storms in this life are a part of life but why would God “send us into storms?”

As mentioned, sometimes we have sinned and God disciplines us to get us back into the fold of faith (Hebrews 12:7-11).

However, sometimes we are sent into the storms not for correction but perfection.

By that I mean God sends us storm to help us grow spiritually.

If we look at our text, up to this point no disciple had “confessed Jesus as the “Son of God.” Yet when Jesus rescued them from the storm all of them worshiped him and declared “Truly you are the Son of God” (Matthew 14:32-33).

Sometimes we are sent into the storm to help us remember how important it is to put our trust or faith in God and that he will always be there for his faithful children.

Hebrews 13:5 (ESV)

5 …I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Sometimes we are sent into the storms to help us grow in our spiritual maturity.

And sometimes God sends us into “various trials” so that we can get a better understanding of God’s word which has all the answers to godly living.

1 Peter 1:6–7 (ESV)

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The most important thing we learn every time we go through these “storms of life” is that God is always there to “rescue us” because he never actually left us.

Hebrews 13:5 (ESV)

5 …I will never leave you nor forsake you.

God will always send us into these storms of life to “help us” whether it be for discipline sake or spiritual growth it is always out of a love for us and a desire for us to be him, or God, for eternity.