Sermon - Epiphany IV - Matthew 8:21-27

You and I, we’ve boarded a ship and have embarked upon the greatest voyage of our lives. On the day you were baptized, you were brought aboard the magnificent ship of Christ’s Christian church. Like a ship, the church sails from country to country. Christ is our captain. The pastors are the helmsmen, who steer the ship at Christ’s command. The gangplank which brought us aboard is faith founded in baptism. Hope is our anchor that keeps us from drifting. The cross is our mast upon which carries the sails of God’s Word. At the top of the mast, flies the flag of the creed, which identifies us to all the world as Christians. Our little ship is pushed along by wind, that is, God’s breath, the Holy Spirit. The Christians are the crew, each with a vitally important job. The harbor towards which our ship sails is heaven. 

As the ship set sail, the waters were calm, the skies were blue, the sun shined brightly in the east. At times the voyage is nothing but smooth sailing. The waters are clean and pristine. The crew is healthy and able bodied, working like a well-oiled machine. As we journey the open seas, meeting ships and stopping at ports, our crew grows and improves as many are brought aboard this Christians church. Our sights are set and the destination is clear. So it was with that little fishing boat so long ago, “When Jesus got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.” 

But not long into our journey, the sky begins to grow cloudy, the waters become rough, and soon the waves grow taller and taller, tossing our ship this way and that. “And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves.” Indeed, our Captain the Christ appears to be sleeping, not a worry, not a fret, not even out on the deck! 

Such is the Church. Surrounded by enemies, in the middle of a great storm, we appear to be sinking and dying. Though many perils do surround, let your anchor of hope hold fast; the ship of Christ’s church shall not be sunk.

Surely, the church is in great peril today, as it has always been. It started with but a few hundred believers, 12 apostles, and our Captain Jesus in heaven. Yet the church sailed on. For the next few hundred years, Christians were actively and violently persecuted. Rulers saw Christianity as a threat, and so did everything they could to stomp it out by force. Yet the church sailed on. Throughout the dark and middle ages, corruption and false beliefs infiltrated the church and satan sought to destroy us from within. Yet the church sailed on. Since the Renaissance era, false teachers, heretics, errorists, separatists, and all forms of lies and deceptions spread in the church. Yet the church sailed on. 

Today now, the church is still beleaguered by all of these false teachings and more! Many baptized Christians aboard are willingly jumping ship right into the jaws of bloodthirsty sharks, into the arms of the world promising prosperity and freedom from God; more jump every day. People at the ports are neither boarding nor welcoming our ship. Drowning people we meet in the sea scoff at the sight of us and would rather die than be rescued. Our sails are in tatters, as we abandon the Word. Our mast is cracked in half, as we reject the cross. We’ve pulled up our anchor at our loss of hope. The crew of Christians are cowering underdeck. The helmsmen, the pastors, have lost sight of the goal and often steer towards the nearest island of false hopes. All is soon lost as the storm will certainly capsize our boat. Where is Christ? Where is the captain?

Why He looks to be in His chambers, fast asleep, ignoring our plight. So we, like the apostles, hold onto our faith and run to our Captain, waking Him, crying: “Save us, Lord! We are perishing!” We have enough faith to still seek out our Captain Jesus, knowing that He alone has the power to save. We cry for salvation! We call Him our Lord! Yet, as our Lord says, our faith is rather small. “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” 

Our Captain He’s not asleep, I can tell you that. “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” Though He may be out of our sight, and seems quiet and still, He is the Lord who created the heavens and earth and sustains them still to this day. The church is His ship, He will not let it sink, that much is certain. In His divinity He watches us always and isn’t far but near. While He appears to be sleeping, He has kept watch of His church. Amidst the greatest waves and the fiercest winds, the ship of Christ’s church sails on. No wave is too tall, no wind is too strong, for nothing can capsize this boat.

Jesus but tests and strengthens His Christians through the trials and tribulations of this storm. After Jesus awakes he doesn’t first calm the storm. While the storm is still raging and the waves are still crashing, while the ship is being tossed to and fro, He first calms the storm in His disciples’ hearts. “Peace! Do not fear!” Jesus, your Captain, commands. 

“Then Jesus arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” Immediately, at the speaking of Jesus’ words “Peace! Be still!” the winds and the waves ceased their raging. The waters became as glass. The ship sailed peacefully on. While those yet in the boat exclaimed “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?” 

So do not fear, do not despair, though great peril surrounds. Although it does seem as if the church is sinking like a ship taking on water. Although it does seem as if it’s inevitable that the church will die. Although it does seem as if Christ is asleep and has forgotten us. Although it does seem as if the Word of God is no more than a hindrance as it makes people hate us all the more. Although the members of Christ’s church are fainthearted and cry out in despair “We are perishing!” Although many Christians leave the church and swim in the sea of the world. Although everything seems so terrible today, we have no reason to fear and despair, because Christ is in our ship and He does not sleep.

Soon He will arise and say to this mad raging world “Peace! Be still!” All of the insanity, all of the fighting, all of the hatred, all of the sinning, all of the idolizing; Christ will put it all to an end. This Man is the God-Man, and He shall put a stop to this storm. In that day He will lead His dear little ship to the shores of our heavenly home. So don’t fear, Christ is near; He promises “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

Do not despair and jump ship even in these last troubling times. Yes it is hard, yes the storm is raging, yes it looks like we’re sinking. But do not leave the ship of Christ’s church. For otherwise you will only regret it eternally. Just as there was no salvation outside of Noah’s ark, only eternal death, so is our only salvation on the ark of Christ’s Church.

In this ship, Christ promises to preserve you and keep you safe from the storms and the waves and the sharks and the great depths of the sea. In this ship, we’re kept afloat by the great and mighty deliverance of our God. While you are kept safely apart from the world here in this ship, rescued from it, you are still adrift at sea and great waves of this world will rise up and crash down upon you, but the church shall yet remain and you will remain safely in her. In this ship, the Word of God remains as our sail and the Holy Spirit pushes us along, though the waves beat us, we shall yet prevail with the power of God’s Word.

Noah’s Ark sailed successfully over the waves and the flood, finally landing safely upon Mt. Ararat. Jesus’ humble fishing boat successfully survived the great storm and came to the shore on the other side in the country of the Gadarenes. The ship of Christ’s church will sail safely over these treacherous waters of the world and land on the eternal mountains of Jesus’ grace in heaven. There on that shore, you too will cry out in amazement like the apostles, and be found eternally rejoicing. 

Let us pray: Lord God, heavenly Father, who in Your good and fatherly wisdom subject Your children here on earth to the cross, sending various tempests upon us to curb our sin and train us in faith, hope, and prayer: we beseech You to have mercy on us, hear our prayer in every trial and need, and provide Your gracious help, that we may acknowledge Your grace and fatherly assistance, and thus persevere unto the end of our long voyage through this great storm. In the name of Jesus our Captain, together with the Holy Spirit who blows us along and You our heavenly Father, we pray. Amen.