And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, so that the boat was covered by the waves; but He was sleeping. (Matt. 8:24)
What authority are we living under every day? As believers, we may follow the Lord and even have Him with us, yet in our daily life we may be like the disciples in Matthew 8 — tossed about by the winds and waves of our environments with nothing solid to anchor us. Where is the way to live powerfully and reign?
In Matthew 8, the matter of reigning is directly tied to authority. Both the disciples and the Lord are in the boat, but they are in a different kind of weather. The disciples are under the reigning of sin and death — scared, worried, insecure. Meanwhile, the Lord is not only able to sleep peacefully, undisturbed by the worldly forces, but in verse 26, the Lord rebuked the winds and the sea, which are representative of the power of Satan expressed through the environment. Just like the disciples, we followed the Lord into the boat, yet when faced by the winds and waves around us and even within ourselves, we go to the Lord praying for Him to save us. In this condition, the Lord’s rebuke is not just to outward forces of sin and death, but also to us in our disbelief: “Why are you cowardly, you of little faith?” As believers, our surety — our faith — is anchored on whether He is reigning to us. Whenever we live outside of Him, we are indeed in the winds and waves; we will surely taste the sting of death — the power of sin (1 Cor. 15:56; Rom. 5:12).
As believers, are we still living under the authority of the winds and waves? Since we’ve already followed the Lord, where is our experience of this reigning life? Don’t we know that even as sin and death reign, grace and the believer should reign “much more” in life through Jesus Christ? At the end of chapter 8, the men marveled, asking “What kind of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (v. 27). Do you know what kind of man this is? Do you know Who is in the boat with us?
This One is the reigning life over sin and death who has superabounded as grace to us (Rom. 5:17; 20-21). When we receive Him as grace and righteousness, we also reign in life. We are no longer tossed constantly by our environment under the power of sin and death. We have His clear word, and we have faith; all the outward forces fall away, having no authority over us. That’s the way to reign with Him in the boat. We are kings — receiving, living, and reigning by the Word who is tabernacling among us, full of grace and reality (John 1:14). As the church, we exercise the justification of life that we should also reign in life. Do you know how powerful the church life is? Even the winds and waves listen to us! We have already been set apart to follow Him; today we should receive, experience, enjoy Him as this living grace and reign!
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 8/28/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)