Pastor Timothy Patoka
VBS Closing Service June 30, 2019 Jesus Came To Save Sinners Mark 4:35-41
This past week at Grace-Tucson, 50 plus different children had the opportunity to meet Windy, a talking sailboat, who taught the children all sorts of different things about sailboats and sailing. And even though we live in a desert, the children now know a thing or two if they were to go to the Patagonia Lake State Park. But we didn’t only talk about sailing. Each day we learned how various parts of a sailboat illustrated truths for us from God’s Word. On Monday, I played the part of Windy the talking sailboat and showed the kids this life jacket. A life jacket is necessary for every person who is riding in a boat. If a person were to go overboard, their life jacket would be indispensable to saving their lives. Simply put, life jackets save lives. It’s from here that we transitioned into our Bible lesson to see how Jesus saved his disciples during a particularly dangerous storm on the Sea of Galilee as recorded in Mark chapter 4 beginning at verse 35… A number of the disciples were fishermen who knew their way around a sailboat. Yet this storm had them scared to death. Once they got Jesus up and pleaded for his help, he immediately calmed the storm with a simple command. The disciples had learned that Jesus has the power to save them from life-threatening storms. Is that all that Jesus has power over? Why exactly did Jesus come to this world to do and how does his calming of the storm fit within that larger purpose? Some say that Jesus is only a role model of how we should love our neighbor. They look at this account and the other kind things Jesus did and tell us, “Do likewise.” Some look at Jesus’ miracles as his credentials to be a master teacher. If there’s anyone who’s qualified to correct the Pharisee’s corrupted teaching of God’s Word, it’s the one who has power over nature. Sadly, some deny that such miracles ever happened. They look at accounts like this and say that the early Christian Church made the historical Jesus larger than life with made-up stories. We know that God’s Word is true and that its miraculous accounts happened exactly as described. It’s true that Jesus gives us the standard of what Christian love is to look like and was qualified to correct the Pharisee’s corrupted teaching. But there’s a different reason why Jesus came to this world. As the kids learned on Monday and was repeated each day, 1 Timothy 1:15 tells us why Jesus came to this world, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Simply put, Jesus came to be our Savior. And his miraculous calming of the Sea of Galilee falls in line with that as well. Here’s how. We see from Jesus’ miracle that he has power over the forces of nature, something that only God has thus proving that Jesus is the Son of God. He uses this power out of concern for sinners by doing the things that only God can do: living a life that falls in line with every word of God, saving his 1
Pastor Timothy Patoka
VBS Closing Service June 30, 2019 disciples from an untimely death so they might witness to countless others after Jesus’ resurrection on Easter, dying a death that was powerful enough to pay the price for everybody’s sins, and rising from the grave to prove that he completed his mission to be our Savior. It’s not just Jesus’ disciples who benefited from this miracle as recorded for us in Mark chapter 4. We too benefit. Jesus has the power to save people from a storm. He has the power to save people from their sins. And that’s a promise which is more trustworthy a life jacket ever could be. Amen. Your Word Is A Lamp To My Feet Genesis 39:2-12, 16-20 I’m guessing that when you came in here this morning, it did not take you long to notice the big sailboat that is behind me. We don’t often have big objects like this in our altar area. What about that sailboat first got your attention? Was it the sails or its sheer size? Whenever I look at boats that are either in the front of church or moored at the dock, I’m often drawn to one of those things. But as eye-catching all those things are, there’s one small part that is critical to the sailboat’s function. That is part is the rudder. This little piece that is at the back of the boat is important because it guides where the wind will push the boat. If you don’t have a rudder, it’s near impossible to steer your boat. As a sailor relies on a rudder to guide their boat, so does a Christian rely on God’s Word to guide their lives. To see how important this truth is, our VBS kids learned about Joseph who said no to sinning with Potiphar’s wife. A little backstory on Joseph. He was the great-grandson of Abraham and wasn’t liked by his 11 brothers. So they ganged up on him, sold him into slavery, and sent him off to faraway Egypt. Joseph was bought by an Egyptian man named Potiphar who placed Joseph in charge of his entire household. We read what happened to Joseph according to Genesis chapter 39…. Most people in Joseph’s situation probably have given into the temptation that Potiphar’s wife proposed. A slave in ancient Egypt did not have legal protection. They were entirely dependent on their master’s goodwill. They would go to great lengths to appease their masters and remain in their goodwill. A crafty slave may have considered how he could leverage such an intimate relationship to advantage. Or, not to get too crass, it’s possible Joseph was physically tempted to indulge in this sinful behavior because of the positive feelings that come from it. But Joseph did not give in to the temptation. He followed God’s guidance and got unjustly thrown in prison because of it. We too daily face temptations that force us to decide whether we’ll follow God’s guidance found in his Word or follow something else. Even though we know what the answer should be following God, we also know that we don’t do so as well as we should. God’s Word tells us that we are love 2
Pastor Timothy Patoka
VBS Closing Service June 30, 2019 others as Christ loved us in thought, word, and action. And usually that means putting them before ourselves. We don’t like being last, especially if we’re the ones doing so. There are many things we’d like to do, things which God says we shouldn’t do. There are also things God’s Word says we should do which may not come so easily. But God’s Word does not only guide us in what we do or don’t do. It most importantly guides us to our Savior Jesus Christ. Even though we daily sin and will continue, we have forgiveness. It’s because of our Savior’s freely given gift that we look at God’s guidance as ways to show our thanks for such a gift. When we view God’s guidance with this thankful attitude, it is then that we can say with the kids who learned on Tuesday what Psalm 119(:105) says, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, and a light for my path.” God’s Word clears away the darkness and shows us the path to heaven. A path that is made possible only by faith in Jesus and shows itself by thankfully living according to God’s Word. When temptation puts us at a crossroads between the sinful dark path of sin and the godly lit path, let us imitate Joseph and follow God’s guidance even if it means we end up denying ourselves or suffering because of it. But we can be sure that, as a rudder guides a sailboat in the way it should go, so will God’s Word guide us to our home in heaven. Amen. Let Your Light Shine Acts 9:32-42 When you’re sailing out to sea, sailors often have visibility problems. Sometimes it’s because of fog that makes everything seem closer than it actually is. Sometimes it’s because a person is sailing at night and there’s darkness all around. When there are visibility problems, sailors tend to rely on a horn to let others know their presence. Now I don’t have a ship’s horn here, but I do have a bicycle horn. And when I honk it, you know right away where my presence is. Our last devotion this morning is titled “Let Your Light Shine.” The way Christians let their light shine, the way they let others know about their presence, is by living a life that brings glory to God. We see how Peter and Tabitha did that in our verses from Acts chapter 9… The Apostle Peter let his light shine with two public miracles: healing Aeneas who had been paralyzed for eight years and raising Tabitha from the dead. Tabitha let her light shine in much quieter ways: doing good in general, helping the poor, and making clothes which she likely gave away. Both believers let their Christian light shine in different ways. And God used both their unique lights to bring glory to himself and new children into his family of faith. Jesus speaks about Christians letting their light shine in Matthew chapter 5(:16), “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Christians should be willing to have others identify them as God’s children with the goal that they glorify our God. Yet we don’t always have such willing hearts. We can struggle with shyness. 3
Pastor Timothy Patoka
VBS Closing Service June 30, 2019 We don’t want people to notice us, so we hide our light from the public or do things in such an anonymous way that nobody ever learns that we seek to glorify God instead of ourselves. We know that Christians are not always welcomed with open arms. It hurts when that happens within our circle of friends and family. So we refrain from witnessing to those lost in sin’s darkness or act against our Christian conscience to keep the peace. These are very real obstacles we can deal with in letting our light shine. Perhaps you struggle with feelings of inadequacy. We read about the Apostle Peter and his public examples of letting his light shine. We see how God blessed our Vacation Bible School this past week and consider everyone who made it possible from the volunteers, the parents, and the children and think, “I can’t do that, I can’t let my light shine like that!” But let me assure you, these are not the only ways for you to let your light shine. Look again at Tabitha and how she let her light shine: she helped the poor and made clothing which was likely given away. Tabitha was probably not well-known outside the town of Joppa. Yet she let her light shine in her small way. Bringing it back to us. We have the same Christian light which the Apostle Peter and Tabitha had. All our faith is founded in Jesus Christ as our Savior. We have different skills, resources, and passions to guide how we let our light shine. And to help us do that, let us remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 5(:16), “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” As children of God, we live according to his Word which will naturally fill itself with all kinds of good deeds. Sometimes we’re going to need encouragement to do that because we struggle with various obstacles. But no matter how we let our light shine, let’s keep the focus on our God and give him the glory. And if God brings people to faith through our light-shining as he did with Peter and Tabitha, then let us rejoice all the more. Another soul is saved, another soul is going to be in heaven with us. Amen.
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