What does Jesus have to do with you?

Luke 8:26-39

Intro:  It’s probably safe to say that this story of the demoniac of the Gerasenes is neither the best known, nor is it the best loved text in the bible, but it’s a pretty great text for today. Today is the Second Sunday after Pentecost, and we’re well on our way into what will be a 24-week excursion through the scriptures as we learn about what they have to tell us about not only our lives, but in a larger sense, what they have to tell us about the life of the church.

            And so, as we begin this journey, we return to the Gospel of Luke and we have as our first reading this account of this man falling down before Jesus and asking, “What have you to do with me Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”.  This is a great question.  Not only is it a great question in regard to our own personal lives, but on an even grander scale, it’s a great question in regard to the life of the church.  “What do you have to do with me Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”.

            WITH THESE WORDS, WE ARE REMINDED THAT OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE IS TO BE LIVED OUT IN CONSTANT REMEMBRANCE OF WHAT IT IS THAT JESUS HAS TO DO WITH US THAT WE MIGHT NOT ONLY LIVE OUT OUR LIVES IN LIGHT OF HIS GRACE, BUT THAT OUR WORDS AND OUR VERY LIVES MIGHT BE A CONTINUAL TESTIMONY OF JUST HOW MUCH CHRIST HAS DONE FOR US.

 

I.  What has Christ to do with you?

A.  In the press, I’ve noticed that this text has been referred to several times in recent days.

            Commentators have drawn the parallel between these demons possessing this herd of swine and driving them straight off a cliff into a lake and how it would seem that the very same kind of forces are driving a lot of what’s going on in secular culture today: more or less, driving the “whole herd” off a cliff into presumably the proverbial “lake of fire” that the bible promises for the Devil and his servants on the last day.

B.  The problem is that, we have a hard time believing that this is happening.

            In today’s world, we hear the mention of “demons” and no matter how much we sort of enjoy and even fancy the imagery that the Apostle Paul creates of a Christian Soldier holding his “two-edged sword of the Word” and his “shield of faith” while wearing a “breastplate of righteousness”; and no matter how much we might agree that it really does seem as if we are not wrestling against flesh and blood anymore when it comes to some of the things going on in the world, but that it really does seem as if we’re wrestling against rulers and principalities in the unseen places...as soon as we hear an account of someone being possessed by a demon though, we sort of “wave it off” as a rather fantastic account of a by-gone age.  

            Demons may make for entertaining stories like “the Exorcist” or for “sleuthing the paranormal” on late-night TV, but we tend to think that this diagnosis of “possession” has a more “natural explanation”: like mental illness; epilepsy, or maybe just “chronic dysfunction” brought on by the latest psychological “catch-all”: PTSD.

II. But what if this battle for possession has everything to do with what is going on in your life?

            What if, as I know some of you believe, there really are forces that are deliberately and eagerly seeking to drive our whole nation (at least figuratively speaking) “off a cliff”?  What if these same forces, on a much smaller scale, are very real and would like to do the very same thing (not only figuratively speaking, but eternally speaking) to you?  What if these forces can possess and oppress a man that’s otherwise so powerful that he can bend bars and break chains?  What if, despite a myriad of talents, these forces can drive a man into the darkness to the point where he prefers to live among the things that are dead...to lose all sense of dignity and respect...to be driven in an overwhelmingly powerful way into a place in their life where they are completely alienated and utterly alone – like this demoniac in the desert?

III. Most of us know that these forces are real.

            We’ve seen them destroy some of the nicest, most talented and even powerful people we’ve ever known.  And all of us should know that these same forces are very much against you.  They might not make a mess of your life.  In fact, sometimes they’re more effective on the state of your soul if they do the very opposite.

            On one hand, these forces can wield God’s Word in such a way that a poor, miserable creature (like this demoniac) will hear it and hear nothing but law.  They’ll hear nothing but its descriptions of righteousness and what you “should do” and what you “should want” and what your life “should look like”...descriptions of holiness that he already knows very well, but descriptions that have eluded him, despite his best and most sincere efforts.  Have no doubt about it: the enemy loves to take God’s Word and wield it in such a way that it remains nothing more than a Word of torment.  It makes all these “contingent promises” based on “if you do this, then God will do that”.  “If you give your heart to Jesus, Jesus will bless you”.  “If do this work for Jesus, Jesus will work for you”.  “If you pay-it-forward in the name of Jesus, Jesus will give it back to you”.  And the poor, tormented souls knows, he can never do enough.  He can never want it enough...and ultimately, God’s Word remains something that only reminds him of what’s wrong with him.  It’s a torment.

            On the other hand, in the absence of God’s Word, these forces can use pride and self-esteem and self-assurance and personal satisfaction as a powerful weapon against God’s Word.  They can turn you into the same kind of people as these townspeople -- people that simply want God’s Word to just, “go away”.

            Both of these kinds of people are very real and both of these kinds of people are really subjects...possessions of very real spiritual forces.  And both of these kinds of people, without a more powerful intervention, are in a herd of unclean and unregenerate things that are careening down a hill into the lake of hell.  All of us, without this intervention, are like one, or in some ways both, of these people.  All of us, when we hear God’s Word recognize that without a Divine intervention, we would have remained on this same trajectory.  So, it’s important to remember, for each of us, just what Jesus, the Son of the Most High God, has to do with me”.   You could say this as a prayer, every morning when you wake up.  You could say, “Jesus, remind me once again, as I prepare to go about my day, just what YOU, the Son of the Most High God, have to do with me”.

Conclusion:  It was for the same reason that Jesus set his feet on the shore of the Gerasenes that, in a larger sense, the Son of God was sent into the world.  He came to break the bonds of these spiritual forces in the unseen world.  He came to set you free.  He came, not to torment, but to comfort and console.  He came to the hopeless that they might have hope; to the lifeless that they might have life; to the crowds in the cities and to those spread across every span of hills -- that he might redeem them from their malignant possessors and turn their life around.

            He came that you might hear His Word and that, no matter how powerful or manipulative your enemy tries to be, you might gladly hear HIS Word instead - and put your trust in the power that was able (and continues to be able) to raise up a man from the dead and to take Him up into heaven; to forgive sins for His Name’s sake; to nullify guilt and shame; and to bless the whole earth as His people go throughout their lives...declaring just how much Jesus has done for them.  In Christ, you are free.  This is now not only the heartbeat of the life of the church, this truth is now the heartbeat of your life as you joyously go about the new life he’s given you, singing His praises, In Jesus’ Name +

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