{"id":506,"date":"2013-06-23T14:27:55","date_gmt":"2013-06-23T19:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/?p=506"},"modified":"2014-11-25T10:17:58","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T16:17:58","slug":"follow-god-and-disgard-your-demons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/23\/follow-god-and-disgard-your-demons\/","title":{"rendered":"Follow God and disgard your demons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio Sermon Link<\/a><\/p>\n

Luke 8:26-39<\/p>\n

It is all to easy to dismiss, with our scientific knowledge of today, that this man who approached Jesus in Gerasen as being just mentally ill.\u00a0 We can so easily justify that the lack of knowledge of the people of Jesus\u2019s time, just did not understand mental illness and that this was a healing and not an exorcism of the daemons.\u00a0 What we cannot deny is something was going on in the man, something recognized Jesus as the Son of God, the God Most High.\u00a0 We also cannot deny the change in the man after the encounter with Jesus.<\/p>\n

Let me take a step back for a moment and look at this story through a\u00a0 historical perspective.\u00a0 The area that Jesus goes is not filled with Jews but gentiles.\u00a0 We know this by the location given.\u00a0 Now even the location is a little sketchy in the translations, some of the manuscripts show the location as Gadarenes<\/i>; vs. Gerasen but either way, it is across from Galilee, across the sea of Galilee or at least across the river Jordan.\u00a0 We know that in this land, there were pigs being raised.\u00a0 This therefore was a land of gentiles, not followers of the one God of the Jews. The gentiles would\u00a0 be considered\u00a0 pagans, and having all sorts of different beliefs in gods.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Okay, moving back to the text.\u00a0 The man Jesus encounters was most likely not a Jew, living in this foreign land.\u00a0 Jesus would be be the foreigner in this land.\u00a0 The man sees Jesus, this foreigner, and recognizes Jesus as the Son of God.\u00a0 The stage has been set, Jesus is addressed as the \u201c\u2026Son of the Most High God\u2026\u201d v. 28, the one God of the Jews and this man with demons, a gentile, cries out with great concern \u201c\u2026What have you to do with me\u2026.I beg you, do not torment me\u2026\u201d v. 28<\/p>\n

Do we not all have demons? These are demons that we dare not let out of the closet. \u00a0Sometimes it is better to \u201cdeal with\u201d our demons on our own, deal with the known then deal with the unknown. \u00a0At least that is what we often convince ourselves.\u00a0 We keep things status quo chugging alone like there is nothing wrong.\u00a0 All along we know in our heart in the back of our brain buried, there is something eating away and the chugging becomes more and more difficult over time but we become use to it.<\/p>\n

In this story that the author of Luke tells us, there is an individual that is dealing with their demons and then there is a community that is dealing with demons.\u00a0 In comes Jesus, the living embodiment of the gospel for all people.<\/p>\n

The gospel of Christ is what God in the Spirit and Jesus can and does for people, the lost, the disadvantaged, the sick, the poor, the poor in spirit, the poor in body, the poor in mind the poor period! The gospel makes no distinction between Jew or gentile, man or woman, the rich or poor.\u00a0 As we saw in last weeks reading, who appreciates and responds the most to the gospel? \u00a0The ones that receive the most,\u00a0 because they have the least, the widow, the orphans and the poor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This man that approaches Jesus, has nothing, he is unclean and is not living, not living in community with others.\u00a0 He has no home but the tombs, wears no clothes and has even been chained up away from others.\u00a0 He needs desperately Jesus, Son of the Most High God, but there is fear, fear of what Jesus will do.\u00a0 If look at this with the lenses of science, the man might be afraid of what will become of him when the demons are cast out.\u00a0 What becomes of him and all that he knew and lived with, his identity that he has come to be know by, his identity that he knows himself in?\u00a0 I believe that the demons wanted to fight to stay, however the demons acknowledged the power of God even over evil and relented to be cast out.\u00a0\u00a0 The demons were fearful of going into the depths of the abyss.\u00a0 Choosing the un-clean pigs as a haven they leave the man and go into the heard of pigs still they head to the abyss as the pigs run into the sea and die.\u00a0 Jesus has healed, Jesus has cured the man. In Greek, the same word word is used for, “heal” and for “cure”.\u00a0 How do you see it? \u00a0Has he been healed of the demons?\u00a0 Jesus at the end sends the man away to tell others how much God has done for him.\u00a0 Does God just heal or has God cured this man, cured him and made him whole, restored him from his uncleanliness, restored his mind and given him his dignity to be clothed and among his people again, restored is his life.\u00a0 Only God can do these things, take us from our deepest and darkest depths, exorcise our demons and restore us whole.\u00a0 God however will not impose God\u2019s will upon the unwilling and change them without permission.<\/p>\n

So what about the community of this man?\u00a0 Why do they fear what they have seen and heard of happening? \u00a0Is this not glorious news and all should be seeking out Jesus for more of what He can offer? Jesus comes to them, has demonstrated His power and His willingness to be among the gentiles and perform a great miracle to one of their own, an outcast of the utmost.\u00a0 This is just to much for them and they are frightened of the prospects and the changes they have been made aware of.<\/p>\n

It seems people, individuals and even more so groups of people, do not want to put trust in the unknown outcomes of God.\u00a0 Oh sure, we say we believe and trust in the Lord but we cling to the world of the known rather then step out of the boat to the unknown.\u00a0 We do not want to leave the safety of the boat and let the Lord guide us.\u00a0 If we do, IF WE DO, we have to confront the demons, the wrongs, take care of, in our response to what God does, the less fortunate, the lost people of society, the ones that God commands us to care for! That means when we see injustice we must stand against it.\u00a0 We cannot just observe any longer we must deal with it through the gifts that God has given each of us as individuals, as parts of the body of Christ.<\/p>\n

The cured man\u2019s own community is now forced to deal with a change when they see what has happened to him, the newness in life that the man has received, will change the entire makeup of the community.\u00a0 They had become accustomed to how things were, keeping status quo but now this man cannot be treated in the same way.\u00a0 They are forced with the prospect of acknowledging the God of the Jews and Jesus as God\u2019s son,\u00a0 who has power to cast out demons.\u00a0 This radical change of world views is to much and they are filled with fear.\u00a0 It was better the way they had it.\u00a0 Better than what the prospects brought through Jesus, the Son of the God of the Most High.<\/p>\n

We can get caught up in NOT following individually and as a group what God is calling us to do.\u00a0 We can often fail to stand up against the injustices of an individual or against an individual or group of people.\u00a0 It becomes easier to not deal with what we know we should be doing, what God is calling us to do. We turn a blind eye in fear of the unknown road and instead keep on the road of familiarity.<\/p>\n

God however keeps coming at us to give us the opportunity for what God wants us to be part of and all the goodness that is associated with being in relationship with our creator.<\/p>\n

The man that Jesus encounters wants to come along with Jesus and follow him.\u00a0 Instead, he is sent away, to stay in his land.\u00a0 He is to declare to those he encounters, the gentiles of the land, how much God has done for him.\u00a0 In this, this man formally filled with a legion of demons becomes an evangelist to the gentile world an evangelist of what God does and can offer and the marvelous wonders of God.<\/p>\n

Go forth today, go forth and declare of how much God has done for you and all people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Audio Sermon Link Luke 8:26-39 It is all to easy to dismiss, with our scientific knowledge of today, that this man who approached Jesus in Gerasen as being just mentally ill.\u00a0 We can so easily justify that the lack of knowledge of the people of Jesus\u2019s time, just did not understand mental illness and that … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29,40,41,42,10,14,83,39,4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-506","6":"format-standard","7":"category-community","8":"category-demons","9":"category-fear","10":"category-healing","11":"category-jesus","12":"category-love","13":"category-sermon","14":"category-sin-2","15":"category-spirit"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-8a","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2619,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2021\/06\/07\/a-house-divided\/","url_meta":{"origin":506,"position":0},"title":"A House Divided","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"June 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"6-6-2021 Genesis 3:8-15 (NIV)2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 (NIV)Mark 3:20-35 (NIV) https:\/\/vimeo.com\/560215260","rel":"","context":"In "Christ"","block_context":{"text":"Christ","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/christ\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2546,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2021\/03\/03\/go-and-tell\/","url_meta":{"origin":506,"position":1},"title":"Go, and Tell!","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"March 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Wednesday February 24th, 2021 Mark 5:1-20 (NIV) https:\/\/vimeo.com\/519184866","rel":"","context":"In "Demons"","block_context":{"text":"Demons","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/demons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1383,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/08\/07\/a-changed-reality\/","url_meta":{"origin":506,"position":2},"title":"A Changed Reality","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"August 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/YIDwdoGGhSM Audio Version Wayne Zion Lutheran Church,\u00a0Monticello IA Sunday, July 19, 2015 Jeremiah 23:1\u20136 Psalm 23:1-6 Ephesians 2:11\u201322 Mark 6:30\u201334, 53\u201356 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 There is so much in all of our texts today.\u00a0 Often, I do not see a relation in the readings, but throughout these,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christ"","block_context":{"text":"Christ","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/christ\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lds.org\/bc\/content\/bible-videos\/videos\/feeding-5000\/images\/jesus-feeds-the-5000.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2002,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2018\/01\/28\/who-needs-the-kingdom-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":506,"position":3},"title":"Who needs the Kingdom of God","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"January 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Sunday, January 28, 2018 | Epiphany Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany Year B Gospel Mark 1:21\u201328 https:\/\/youtu.be\/fj-Qyf6qn-A Jesus starts his ministry with four fishermen and he takes his ministry to the neediest. 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