Sunday, July 15, 2012

Jesus Takes a Detour (Luke 8:26-39)

[This sermon was preached on July 15, 2012 at Folsom Community Church by Tim Lewis]
Jesus Takes A Detour
Luke 8:26-39

Introduction

In the movie The Hunger Games, 24 teens are selected to fight to the death, a boy and a girl from each of the 12 districts. In District 12, it is the boy Peeta and the girl, Katniss. For me, one of the most compelling scenes, they are discussing what to expect, since one of them must die. Peeta says, “I don’t know how to say it exactly. Only…I want to die as myself. Does that make any sense?” … “I don’t want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster that I’m not.” – taken from the The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, chapter 10, page 71.
Peeta was worried that somehow the world, the expectations of those watching and those people running the “games” would be able to manipulate him so that at the end of the process he would not even recognize himself—he would become a “monster” When I heard that, I could sympathize with his fear. There are many people who would want to give me instructions—how to raise my kids, how to raise my tomatoes, how to eat, how to live, how to love, how to laugh. If you stop and think about it, it is really quite invasive. Sometimes they call it a law. Sometimes they call it advice. Sometimes they call it wise. But all around us—just like the audience and game masters—is a world with an opinion about you.
And it is not always outside of us. Some of these voices we have actually invited inside of our heads, a sort of jury box with whom we go over each of our decisions, mentally anticipating their thumbs up or thumbs down. Maybe it is your Mom (like me) who, even though I haven’t lived with her for 25 years, I sometimes mentally look for her thumbs up or thumbs down. Or my grandfather, Waldo, a godly man who has been dead these 15 years. Maybe it is a teacher, or an older classmate, or a boss, or a hero. Each one of us accumulates a jury box who we give mental permission to pass judgment on our plans and mistakes. To some, we look for approval. For others, we are afraid of their negative opinion.
But, there is yet another level where we give up our own voice. We let go and another dictates our actions and behaviors, maybe to avoid getting hurt, maybe out of desire for something or maybe out of hopelessness. The Bible describes this spiritual condition-a sort of spiritual “loss of willpower” as demonization or (less precisely) demon possession.
Now, in the 8th chapter of Luke, one of the four biographies of Jesus found in the Bible, we see Jesus encounter a man in this very condition. It is one of the strangest episodes in Jesus life and yet, at the same time, is revealing as to what is at stake when Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, insists on the kingdom of God is coming to earth. This episode will show us what Jesus sees, what drives Jesus and what he expects will happen, not just for one troubled man, but for all of us. Why would Jesus take a detour?

Jesus Takes The Detour…Will You?

Maybe you heard the story this week about Bob Russell. Forty-two years ago, when he was a college student in Philadelphia, he returned home after a date with his then-future to find that his 1967 Austin-Healey sports car had been stolen. Reported to the police, there was no hope. Every time he saw a car that looked like his beloved lost vehicle, he checked closely, hoping he could recover it.
Then recently he was scouring on eBay when he saw one. Sure, the paint was faded, the hard top broken down and the interior worn down, but after comparing the vehicle identification numbers, sure enough, he had found his car. Some work with the car dealer selling it, who had no idea of its history, and after forking over the $600 impound fee he was reunited, 42 years after he lost it. His goal now is to completely restore it to its former glory.[1]
Forty three years ago, Jesus lost one of his children: me. But he didn’t give up on me. Instead he kept looking for me and, when he found me, he had paid the price so that I could be returned to him. Now he is in the process of restoring me to the glory in which he had originally created me.

When Jesus went looking for this man, he really took a detour. In order to rescue this one man, Jesus had to overcome at least six different obstacles. He never gave up. Let’s look at the six.
1.     Comfort Barrier. Jesus’ ministry was doing well. He was drawing crowds everywhere he went. In fact, according to verse 40 of this chapter, when Jesus went back, his whole fan club was there waiting for him. In order for Jesus to rescue this man, he had to set aside what was comfortable and even what was working, to do what God wanted.
2.     Physical Barrier. Jesus had to cross the lake and through a storm to get to this man.
3.     Cultural Barrier. These people were not Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. They raised pigs. Jews thought pigs were dirty. Jesus could have said, “They aren’t like me. They don’t look like me. They don’t talk like me. They don’t eat like me.” Instead he made the first move.
4.     Religious Barrier. In the Jewish religion, you cleaned yourself often. If you touched something or someone that was religiously dirty or “unclean” you became dirty yourself and were excluded from society and even public worship. This man lived in the graveyard. And the “evil” spirit (vs. 29) in the Greek is really “unclean” or dirty. Inside and out, he was defiled. But Jesus reached out to him, in a way no synagogue, church or “religious” person would.
5.     Social Barrier. This guy wasn’t exactly easy to get along with-he runs up to Jesus and starts shouting at him at the top of his voice (vs.28). And he’s naked. And he’s violent. No one in town till deal with him. But Jesus will.
6.      Spiritual Barrier. This man’s problem is a spiritual issue. He has given away his self to not just one demon, but many. The term “legion” typically consisted of 5,000 Roman soldiers.
Jesus took a detour from Galilee and conquered every barrier, even if there was just one man to rescue and believe. My friends, that is exactly what he has done for you. Jesus took a detour for you—from heaven to earth, from glory to the shame of the cross. You didn’t deserve it. He had every reason to turn his back on you, but he didn’t. The Bible says:
7Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:7-8 (NLT)
Jesus overcame every obstacle. Will you cross the street? Will you cross the room? Will you open your mouth? What excuse have we used to explain why we can’t go to the people God has called us to reach.

Jesus Sees The Person…Will You?

But why did he do it? He did it for us because he loved us and he could see us-really see us.
Everyone looked at this man and saw a wreck. Homeless. Out of control. Violent. Unholy. But Jesus saw that inside that rotten man was someone worth saving. From the trash heap of this man’s life, Jesus knew there was someone worth saving. Someone whose life, if redeemed, would change the face of eternity.
C. S. Lewis once said: “It is a serious thing…to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations … There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”[2]
We were all made in the image of God, but it is a failed, distorted image. But Jesus sees that when we are re-made in the image of Christ, we can be the people we were meant to be, not just the be people we have become. He saw that and gave this man hope. Do we see the people around us? Or do we see problems? Or do we see resources?
I think that up to this point, the man had lived in fear of demon. Up until this day, the spirits to whom he had opened the door of his life were the most powerful that he knew. But somewhere inside that naked, violent, vile, out-of-control man was someone desperate for hope—but paralyzed by fear.
Then something happened: the demon was afraid. Twice during the conversation, the demon begged Jesus not to hurt them (vs. 28, 31). The man was afraid of the demon, but the demon was afraid of Jesus. And that Jesus was reaching out to help.
Right now, we are living below our potential in Christ because fears rule us. But think…everything we are afraid of is afraid of Jesus. And fortunately, Jesus is more powerful and more loving that our fears. So replace what you are afraid of with the One who loves you. He doesn’t worry about who you are or what you have done—he worries about where you are going. He knows the heavy burden you bear, but you bear it unnecessarily. His yoke is easy and his burden is light.
Look around you, Folsom Community Church, at a community bearing the burden of fear, yearning desperately for hope, flailing blindly in the vain hope that the American dream will save them, when only Jesus can. Can you see?

Jesus Breaks Down Barriers…Will You?

Strangely enough, in this story, there is one obstacle that Jesus himself could not overcome.
The demons rush out at Jesus command into the herd of pigs nearby and the pigs promptly commit suicide of the edge of a cliff into the Sea of Galilee. The people from the town hear about it and come out to see for themselves the pig mass-murderer. One man. Thousand dead pigs. There’s the former naked wild man, dressed and sane. But the pigs! Sure the guy seems ok. But the pigs! Sayang ang lechon! So they ask Jesus to leave (kind of like the reaction of the demons). Jesus was too scary for them.
Jesus could reach the man, but Jesus could not reach them.
But watch what happens next:
38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
Jesus could not reach them, but that man could. And Jesus can’t reach Folsom, but we can. We can proclaim throughout the whole city how much Jesus has done for us. I’m guessing he’s done something for you, or else you wouldn’t be using up your Sunday afternoon.
Jesus told his followers this same lesson shortly before he died, when he said:
12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. – John 14:12
 I’m sorry, but Jesus couldn’t be here in Folsom today. Instead he left Mary, Max, Brian, Tito, Vergie, John and the rest of us to do his work because he knew that, with some help, we could do the job, even a better job. Look what Jesus said next:
13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-the Spirit of truth…

Conclusion

Maybe you’ve heard the proverb: “Give a man a fish, feed a man for a day. Teach a man to fish feed him for the rest of his life.” But there’s another one: “Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.”[3]
You may laugh, but there is some truth to this. God doesn’t just want to build us a fire, he wants to light us on fire for him—ablaze for the rest of our eternal life. Because our life was not designed to be maintained, our life was designed to be spent for God.
24Those who want to save [preserve/maintain] their lives will give up true life. But those who give up [spend] their lives for me will have true life – Luke 9:24
Jesus saw the man. He cared. He moved. Can we see? I can’t.
 [Picture 1]: All of Folsom. I know, in my mind, that the 400,000 people within 25 miles of this spot are hurting and crying and dying without Jesus. But somehow, I can’t see it. But that picture is made up of so many individual lives  [Picture 2]: One house (Beardsen Ct.)
I drive here almost every day. Why don’t I care? Why don’t I move? Am I the only one? Next Saturday, 10:30am I will be up here at the water tank on top of this hill to pray. It is as close as I can get to the view that God has of Folsom. And I am going to beg him to let me have his heart for people here. Frankly, I am afraid of what I will see and feel and have to do. https://maps.google.com/?ll=38.652346,-121.105932&spn=0.005698,0.012392&t=h&z=17
Jesus crushed every barrier. No excuses. My excuses are for my convenience, but convenience is not in God’s vocabulary when it comes to rescuing people’s souls for eternity. There are people I don’t talk to because I don’t like them, or they aren’t my type of person. How about you? Am I the only one?
Jesus sees the future for you. He has put you in this time and place. We could spend all of our time wishing we could leave (just like the man) or wishing our circumstances are different. And, in doing so, we miss seeing the reason God put us here. I am not here by accident. I am not with you by accident.  Can we commit to find out what that reason is, together?
Jesus took a detour for you. Maybe today, fear is holding you back. But God is bigger than your fears, and certainly Jesus is more living.
Jesus took a detour for you. Now, will you take a detour with him for others? He was a gate-crasher, a detour-taker, a barrier breaker, a risk-mismanagement-through-the-storm, take-on-your-cross sort of guy. Will you be one, too?
No excuses.



[1] Texas Man Finds Stolen Car 42 Years Later, ALON HARISH, ABC News (Jul 11, 2012), retrieved from http://news.yahoo.com/texas-man-finds-stolen-car-42-years-later-203003133--abc-news-topstories.html on July 12, 2012
[2] C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
[3] Terry Pratchett, Jingo (1997), p. 181

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