Episode 342: What's Your Other Side? | Andy Fetzer

Introduction

Good morning. Happy Thanksgiving to you. Bet you had your service. That I wasn't coming. Yeah. Quigg, that would be a fun that'd be a fun little gag to not show up when you're supposed to. Well, here we are. This is awesome. Today, we're gonna be in Mark four. If you wanna turn to the end of Mark four, we'll be there in a little bit of Mark five as well. And, you know, this might be a familiar passage to many of you. But as I was even as I was thinking about that, there's always gonna be a first time for everything. And this might be the first time that you've ever read or heard about Jesus calming the wind and the waves. And I don't wanna presume that everybody knows it. So we're gonna talk about it a little bit and have a little bit of fun with that as well. So before we dive into God's word, let me pray.

Lord, thank you for this day that you have made. Lord, I pray that your word would pierce our hearts and that we'd fall more in love with you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

The Context of the Passage

Alright, Mark four. We're gonna dive right in. That day, when evening came, he said to his disciples, let us go over to the other side. Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.

The first thing to notice is that they weren't just blindly going across on this field trip across the sea. There was a purpose behind this. Everything that Jesus does and everything that Jesus says, there's a purpose to it. It was true back then and it's true today. Jesus was on a mission and he was being obedient to the Father, directing him in everything that he was doing. And it's important for us to keep that in the forefront of our mind. We forget sometimes because this account ends and then chapter five starts. We don't link chapter five with chapter four. And there's a reason why they're going across the sea. Jesus says, let us go over to the other side. And the other side happens in chapter five and sometimes we forget about that.

Now, the other side for us geographically is just the east side of the Sea of Galilee. I've been there once, many years ago, and it was awesome. And if you ever have a chance to go, go. You know? If you ever have a chance, Quigg, you should go. Too soon? Too soon. But for the disciples, this was not something that they wanted to do. For us, it's just the other side of the Sea of Galilee. But for the disciples, they were like, no. No. There's no way we want to go over there. And I'll explain a little bit of why they would have thought that in just a little bit.

But their reaction to Jesus saying, let's go to the other side, might have been a lot like Jonah's reaction when he was told that he was gonna go to Nineveh. No. No, thank you. There's other things that we can be doing. In fact, when you read this account along with the account in Jonah, there are a lot of similarities and that's not by accident. There is a boat, there is a storm, there are people sleeping, there are people waking up people that are sleeping, there's a calming of the storm. And I wasn't gonna share anything about Jonah this morning but if you wanna go back and read, there's so many similarities to this. I think this is not by accident. Jesus is the better obedient Jonah in this.

For God so loved the world... — John 3:16

In verse 37, it says, a furious squall came up and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, teacher, don't you care if we drown? They're basically saying, are you good? Are you gonna save us? Are you good? You know, if I'm being honest, I fall into this trap all the time and I say to the Lord most of the time, not out loud because I don't want people to know that I have these thoughts. But I'll say stuff like, Lord, if you really cared about me, then fill in the blank. If you really, really cared about me then this would be the reality. Not what am I experiencing right now. Don't you care? He does care more than we can ever know. And he gets up, he rebukes the wind and says to the waves, quiet. Be still. And the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? He speaks to nature. He rebukes the wind. You know, to rebuke something implies relationship. We rebuke our dog when he messes in the living room. You know, we rebuke the dog. We rebuke our friend. You know, we rebuke people that we know generally. And there is an implied relationship between Jesus and what he is rebuking. And he is rebuking the wind, which sounds weird but that word is used on purpose. It implies relationship and there is a relationship because that wind and those waves know their creator. Jesus rebukes his creation.

You know, the disciples were primarily scared before they set off on this boat trip across the sea. And then they're terrified of this storm that they find themselves in. So much so that they think they're going to die. And then they're scared of the person that's in the boat with them. The one who stood up and spoke to nature and the nature listened to him. And they're not even over to the other side yet. They're probably a little on edge.

When Storms Come

Now, this is not an account that we would tell to say that Jesus will calm your life's storms. I think we fall into the trap sometimes to believe that. That he did it here so he's gonna do it all the time in our lives. He may but he may not. And we deceive ourselves to think that a life in Christ is smooth sailing. That our troubles and our turmoils will be gone in a life with Christ. On the contrary, storms are inevitable. If you have ears to hear and you're breathing right now, you know that storms are inevitable.

When you get a call in the middle of the night that you weren't expecting or when the police knock on your door and they remove their covers before they start talking to you, you know the storm is about to come. When you get a call back from the doctor and it goes the way that your prayers thought that it wouldn't. Jesus said in this world you will have trouble. You will have trouble, but take courage. I have overcome the world.

This account reminds us that there will be storms in our life. We're in a battle and our enemy does not want us to succeed. But, and this I think is what we can take away from this, Jesus will be with us through the storm.

The Other Side

Chapter five, they went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one can bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

Night and day, among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. This is exactly why they didn't wanna go. This encounter was vindication for the disciples that the other side was not some place they wanted to be. And the people on the other side were not people that they wanted to associate with. When this man saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at top of his voice, what do you want with me, son of the most high God?

The account says that when Jesus got out of the boat, it doesn't even say that the disciples got out of the boat. They might have but the account leaves that out. I'd like to assume that the disciples were like, we're just gonna we're gonna kick it right here in this boat. Jesus, you do your thing. We just thought we're gonna die in the storm. And now there's a crazy naked dude. This is not what we signed up for. This is naked, naked. We've all known crazy people. You know, we've known crazy people. It's a different level when it's naked crazy. When it's naked crazy, you don't know where to look. You know? So hopefully, you don't know too many crazy naked people. Anyway, naked.

Thank you, Quigg, for naked naked. What did these guys sign up for? What did these guys sign up for? What did you sign up for? You know, this kingdom of God that Jesus was talking about, that he was ushering in, these disciples rightly, probably, rightly assumed that this kingdom that he was talking about would only be for Jewish people. And it would only be in the old city of David. It would not be this place. This kingdom would not include this place. This is this is the part of Israel that's probably not even the promised land. It's on the other side. This is a place where people could have herds of unclean pigs, numbering in the thousands. This is not a place that they believe the kingdom would be incorporated with. And it definitely would not be in this pagan land. And it would not include this non-Jewish man who's crazy and the town that he comes from doesn't even want. He's been cast away by his own people.

What is Jesus thinking? Well, if I could be presumptuous enough to tell you what Jesus was thinking, I will. Based on the context of everything else that's in scripture that his gospel is for the world and the world needs to hear it. That's what he was thinking. And thank God to us that that was his plan all along because it came to us, pagans. Most of us non-Jewish.

I recently got back from a stint in North Asia. Some of you know this. I work for the company that Landon works for. I can't say it because we're being recorded. And I'm gonna say some stuff that can't get out. But I went over with the company that I work for that Landon works for. You know when he goes up to the high school and does his stuff with the chill kids, alright. So I went over to North Asia for six weeks, and my job now is to recruit, train, and send over teachers who will be leaders and share the good news with people that have never heard it before. And I went over there for six weeks to learn what it was like. So when I asked teachers to go, I know what I'm asking them to do.

And we did a lot of crazy things, a lot of weird things over there. There's not a lot of so I was at a university for six weeks and I was teaching. And there's not a lot of fun over there. Not a lot of smiling or laughing. So anything that we would do would be receptive, would be attractive. And we had this one night where we did this English dance night. You know, us crazy Americans when we get together on Friday nights and have our dance nights. You know what I'm talking about? You know, when we all get together and we're doing like the hokey pokey or Dave Sloop's favorite. Do you not know? It's a, you remember that. You got? Anyway, people at this university now think that every American gets together in large groups and does the hand jive together. But I wanted to show you a video of that night. There's probably, you can go ahead and play the video. The classic YMCA that all Americans do all the time. They don't speak English, but they know the YMCA now. There's probably a thousand folks front and behind. And we didn't sell this. We just, we were just kinda like, hey, we're gonna do English dance tonight and that's what happened.

They have a curfew in college, a public college. They have a curfew of 9:30. They have to be in their rooms. At six in the morning, they have to be awake and studying. And if they're not, they're punished. They have to sweep—sweep, not rake—sweep leaves into a waste bucket around campus if they're not up and studying at six in the morning. That's not what my son does in college. I guarantee you. I guarantee you that. But I was thinking to myself while I was there, how do we get to the next level with these kids? The gospel's not known. It's just not known. The name of Jesus is not known. And it's not really allowed to be known. What we were doing was secret stuff. And there was a risk in doing it. And I was just walking around campus and I was praying. I was like, Lord, how do you—how do we even try to make an impact? How do you even start the conversation? They don't even speak the, I don't speak their language. They don't speak my language.

And I was having lunch with a friend of mine. So the next picture? Oh no. I was gonna show this. I met some football guys. Go ahead and show the football guys. Okay. So I met some football guys. They're not football guys. The one guy had a rugby ball and their game consisted of what? Like smear the guy with a ball. You know, one guy has the ball and they just kinda run. They throw it to themselves. They didn't have any rules or anything. They just had a ball and they called it football and I was like, this is not football. So I taught them a little bit of football. Next picture.

This is a kid that decided to catch one of my throws. I still have it. I still have an arm and I tossed it. He tried to catch it with his face, and that is his name. That's his name. I'm not gonna say it, but and I think it means fish. But, and that's you and that's me right there. And then I was thinking about how we go to the next level. How do we make an impact in this world? In this crazy, dark, sad, not joyous world where they're just, there's an oppression. And I was going to lunch and I was gonna meet, next picture, the person that's right next to me.

Obviously, she picked her name before she met any Americans because I don't know if that is an American name, but she picked that name as her American name. And she brought her friend. And her friend lays her phone on the table upside down. And on the back of her phone is written in white nail polish, the name Jesus. I'm the first American they have ever laid eyes on. They do not speak English. They don't even—they have characters for all their stuff. There is no reason that his name should be on the back of her phone. And I even, I said, what is that? And she said, I don't know. And then I said, why is it on your phone? And she said, I don't know but I love it. That is the Lord saying, you think fats that you gotta come up with these schemes and these plans and these ploys to share the gospel? No. Just be obedient and go. You will see me already working.

I made the other side. I know the other side because I made it and I know these people because I made them. Just go and you will see me already working. The gospel is for the other side. But the other side isn't just China. And it's not just Rwanda. And it's not just The Philippines. And it's not just the places that we would think, gosh, I don't wanna go there. To be sure, the other side does include those places, but the other side is all around us. You don't have to go to China to make an impact for the gospel.

But if you wanna go, I will take you and we will have fun together. You will be a hero just because of who you are. People will think that you're the greatest thing in the world. And I did set the bar pretty high for the only American that they know. You don't have to go there. You can go up to the high school. Landon would love for you to go up to the high school or middle school and lead Young Life. But you don't have to be a volunteer Young Life leader to go to the other side.

The other side could be reaching out to your neighbors, inviting them over for a meal, or in January inviting them to Alpha. It might be you reaching out to a coworker and getting a meal with them and maybe sharing the hope that's within you. Is that scary? Does that make your heart go? You're like, gosh, don't even know what I would say. Say it anyway. You'll bumble and fumble your way through it.

But here's the beautiful thing. If you're in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit. And if you have the Holy Spirit, he gives us the power and the courage to say the things that we thought we'd never say. Not me. I'll leave that to the preacher. I'll leave that to the priest. I'll leave that to Quigg. Not me. Yes. You. And here's the beautiful thing. If you're in Christ and you have the Holy Spirit, then he will give you the boldness and the courage to speak truth in kindness, and he will even give you the words to say. And even better than that, he'll give your hearers, your audience, the ears to hear. So even when you mess it up, when you mess it up, he is divinely letting the people around you hear the good news the way they should. You can't mess it up. That's the beautiful thing.

Conclusion

The truth about everyone in here is that we all have an other side. And the Lord is calling us to go to the other side. You won't be by yourself. Jesus promises you that. He's already gone before us. And there will be obstacles to get to the other side. Time, money, pride, storms, real and imagined. One thing I know, when you go to the other side, you'll see some crazy things.

Like the name that is above every name written on the back of a phone case of somebody that's never seen an American with their own eyes. It's a billion people over there. That one happened to get lunch with me that day. That's weird.

My last story is my personal favorite. And again, I can't give you too much context. But my favorite student is this girl. When I first met her, she's she was a helper. That's how I met her. She was she was chosen by the school to carry my things. I didn't have anything to carry but she would come around and we would talk. And she loves pea-flavored ice cream.

And in this culture, and I don't know if it's just China or if this is an Asian culture thing. I'm still learning a lot. Next time I talk to you, I'll know a lot more. But I would write—they would give gifts and I would write thank you notes. And I would sign them love Fets. And they were like, what? I was like, no, that's what we do. We tell people that we love them. And I would tell them that I love them. I said, I love you guys. And they were like, that was something that they didn't hear a lot.

They didn't hear it from their parents. They didn't hear it from their friends. When you'd say thank you to them, they'd say, no. No. No. No. Thank you. We are friends. It was expected. They didn't wanna hear it. You'd thank people, strangers. You'd thank people that you weren't friends with.

And I said, I love—I had a lot of conversations with these friends about how in America we say this all the time. We always say it. I say it all the time. That might might have been stretching it a little bit. But on the last day, I was giving things away because I didn't wanna bring stuff home—like towels and pillows and blankets and soap and different things. And I gave this girl a deck of cards, among other things, but I gave her a deck of cards. And she said, teacher, won't you be—that's what they call me, teacher—won't you be bored? She thought that that's what I did in my free time is just play cards by myself.

I said, no. I actually have books to read. And I showed her two books, Robinson Crusoe—because that's what I felt like—and my Bible. This one actually. And she said, oh, I thought your holy book was smaller. And I said, it is. This one's for people with bad eyesight. I have—I actually have one that's smaller. And I gave it to her.

And I don't know why I did this because I risked her life and my everything. Like just giving her this was very scary and I was like, here—take this. And she took it, and that's how you take it—two hands. She took it and then she wrote me this letter. And she gave this to me the next morning as I got in the car to leave. You're gonna meet her one day, by the way. I'm gonna bring her here. She might stay at your house.

Dear Andy, I heard you will leave our school tomorrow morning. So I write this letter to show my appreciation to you. You are such a fun and gentle person. Thank you. Gentle is what I think about when I look in the mirror in the morning. When we talk to you, it always has many topics. And I also learned many American cultures from you and many English words such as hanger, clothesline, hang out, and plum. Thanks for your patience. I'm so happy that I met you this fall. You're the best teacher and friend. I only knew her for four weeks when this happened.

I also learned confidence from you. Just express the feelings, especially the love. I'll never forget that I'm loved. And I'll love others. I'll love my friends and I'll love my life. It's really precious and unforgettable. I must will miss you when you leave. And I will practice my English too. I will show you my English level next time when you come back.

And the book, Holy Bible—in quotes—that you gave me, I will read it carefully. And I will make a list just as you said. Next time when you come back, could I ask you some questions about this book? I guess your answer is yes. I plan to read this book in my spare time and in my winter holiday. There is no doubt that I will benefit a lot from Holy Bible. No truer words have ever been spoken. I will learn—no doubt—that I'll learn a lot from Holy Bible. We have it, and we don't even read it. And she's risking her life to have it.

Let's go to the other side. Jesus implores us to. There's no doubt that the other side will benefit from that obedience, and so will we. If you find yourself this morning and you've never called on the name of the Lord, or you've been here for decades and you've never trusted Jesus, today is a great day to do that. What's holding you back? There's no accident that you're here. He's come that you might have life and have it to the fullest.

Like always, the curved rails are for those of you who want to have a conversation with the Lord by yourself. The straight rails are for those that want other folks to pray with you. Take advantage of that gift. And folks, together, let's go to the other side.