Theme: SpringLife
Purpose: We need to go reach people where they are at—invest in people’s lives
This morning I want to have a little audience participation. Come on it will be painless. Hands raised, how many of you this morning love to bowl? How many of you love football? Nascar? Scrapbooking? Sailing? Shopping? Shopping? Working on cars? How many love gardening? Playing games? Hunting? Watching Movies? Video Games?
We’ll come back to this in a few minutes. Thank concludes my very scientific survey. Now let’s turn to the Scriptures. Pastor Marc read from Mark chapter 5 about the healing and deliverance of the demon possessed man. And right off the bat, we notice the Jesus is doing something different than people had always done. In fact, it probably made his disciples very uncomfortable. In fact, the religious leaders and Pharisees, had they known what Jesus was doing and about to do, they would have condemned him for sure. What was all the hubbub about?
A little history and geography is important here. The sea of Galilee was at the northern end of Israel. Jesus grew up just south west of the sea in Nazareth, while many of his disciples came from the towns surrounding the sea. As you know, many were fishermen. But the Jewish towns were on the north and west side of the sea of Galilee. That’s where the “ good “ people lived. Those are the ones you ought to go to Jesus. Those are the people worth saving—according to the religious, according to those who strictly held to the faith as the Pharisees practiced it.
You see on the east and south side of the Sea of Galilee, were towns that were not Jewish. They didn’t follow God’s laws. They didn’t care to worship at the right times at the temple in Jerusalem. They didn’t follow the dietary laws laid out in the commandments. They ate pork! Can you imagine? They were foreigners who had settled there, probably while the Israelites were exiled to Babylon, and they were not welcome.
God was very clear that he didn’t want the Israelites inter-marrying these kinds of people because they might influence God’s people to abandon Yahweh and serve foreign gods. Which by the way, is exactly what ended up happening. And so those who really wanted to live a godly life, would go out of their way not to go to those cities, not to bother with those people, not give them a second thought.
And Jesus sets out across the sea of Galilee with his disciples, knowing very well where he was headed. To those towns--to the place good Jews would never go--to the cities full of pagan people. And once on the shore, verse 2 says that “When Jesus got out of the boat, a man who had an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him.”
To the Jews of that day, even to touch a grave was to be unclean for 7 days. (Numbers 19:16) This man had been living in the tombs—probably caves near the shore where people were initially buried. This was not the kind of person that Jews of that day, or people of today would really have wanted to be around. The man lived in a graveyard after all. Not only that, but they are keeping a whole herd of pigs nearby. Okay Jesus. This is not where good Jews are supposed to go. Pigs are unclean and God told us not to eat them.
(By the way, do you know that all the food God said not to eat, was for the Israelites health. He said in the OT, don’t eat shellfish, vulture type birds, pork and other things. Think about it. If you don’t prepare pork well, you can get very sick. Refrigeration was not an option, so God said, don’t eat it.)
The encounter is explosive. The disciples’ boat beaches near a graveyard and a herd of pigs. Both are ritually and culturally unclean for Jews. As Jesus steps out, a crazy man storms out of a cavern. Wild hair. Bloody wrists. Scratched skin. Fury encased in flesh. Naked bedlam. Arms flailing and voice screaming. The apostles gawk and gulp and put a foot back in the boat.
He had an inner spiritual problem. The people tried to help him by restraining him physically when his problem was spiritual. All laws and regulations can do is treat the outer man, it just affects the behaviors without touching the source. No laws could change this man. No code of moral standards could free him. Most of us know what Christian behavior is and is not. But I am saying that a list of laws won’t change your heart, and that’s the part that needs changed.
In verse 3 the text says, “no one could bind him ANYMORE.” Apparently at one time they could subdue him but as he all he did was grew worse, so much worse that he was a hopeless situation. I believe that back in chapter 4 when Jesus said, "Let us go over to the other side", He knew exactly where He was going and who was there. I believe He heard him crying.
The disciples must have been thinking. Graveyard. Check. Herd of pigs. Check. We’re out of here Jesus. Except the man spoke before they could skip town. He fell on his face and in verse 7 the demon within him shouted, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!”
An important side note. Don’t give our spiritual enemy ground that does not belong to him. Even the demons have to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of the Most High God. Our enemy is already defeated and we need to trust in the power of God. Scripture tells us that our enemy is not other people, but the spiritual forces of evil that seek to deceive and destroy us.
On that happy note, back to the passage. Jesus commanded the demons to come out of the man, and they begged that they be allowed to enter the herd of pigs, instead of face their eternal punishment. Jesus allowed them to because he knew they would be dealt with soon enough anyway. The pigs took a kamikaze jump off the cliff and the man who was possessed, was transformed before their eyes.
Naked before, now he was dressed and in his right mind. The power of God not only dealt with the man’s sin, but the spiritual forces keeping him bound to the destructive influence of evil. It dealt with the man’s social isolation. Now the man could be accepted back into society, into his town, his family, the marketplace. But perhaps most importantly, the encounter with Jesus was spiritual and life-changing.
Two thousand dead pigs and a man who had the power to break chains sitting subdued in the presence of Jesus was enough to frighten the local yokels. It would seem that these people had no Messianic expectations, and therefore wanted nothing to do with One who had such awesome power, a power over which they had no control. These people saw the awesome power of God, and it frightened them. To truly understand the power of God is a frightening thing. And since Jesus never goes where he isn’t invited, he steps back into the boat.
Out of his gratitude, the man wanted to follow Jesus, but Jesus told him in verse 19, that he should go and tell his family and friends all that the Lord had done for him. So, (verse 20) in obedience, the man did just that, and he didn’t just tell his family and friends. It says he went to the decapolis—literally the 10 pagan towns on that side of the lake, to tell people what Jesus had done for him. The naked demon possessed man who lived in a graveyard became a Spirit empowered witness for Jesus Christ.
Pretty amazing stuff. And none of that happened in the local church. Don’t get me wrong. I do believe that the local church is the hope of the world. It is you and me making a difference where we are at for Christ. The local church is vitally important. But this man would have never darkened the doors. It took Jesus coming to him.
Think of all the interactions Jesus had with people outside of church. There was the woman at the well that Jesus talked to. That was scandalous—Jesus that woman is not a moral woman. Are you sure you want to talk to her? Or how about Matthew? He sought him out where he worked—at a tax booth. When you read the Gospels, it becomes apparent that so much of Jesus’ ministry took place outside the walls of the church. Jesus didn’t do this on accident—He was purposeful not only in what he said, but in where he said it. So, just like anytime we read Scripture we ask ourselves, what does this tell me about Jesus? What does this story from the Bible tell me about my life?
1. The Other Side
We read the opening words of Mark 5 and we say, “OK, Jesus went on a little boat trip, that’s nice.” But to the people of Jesus day, this would have been a huge statement. Jesus went to the OTHER side of the lake where “spiritual” people never went. So my question is, where is the OTHER SIDE in our community?
And maybe it isn’t so much a place, as it is people groups. Who are the OTHER SIDERS out there? Who is it in our community that we are not reaching? Because Jesus went intentionally to people who were not religious, who did not fit the mold of a religious person and he ministered to them. He went to fishermen, tax collectors, a woman of questionable moral character, a blind man everyone else had given up on and a man who defied all religious rules and conventions and was clearly demon possessed.
The reality is, that Jesus had a heart for those the church had forgotten about. Jesus loved those that didn’t fit in polite society. He could see their lostness, their hurt and pain, their loneliness while the religious only passed on their judgment. And then we see that Jesus….
2. Jesus went to Them
He went to where people were hurting. He didn’t invite them to a potluck. Jesus went to where people felt they had no need of God. He didn’t tell them how great his synagogue leader was. Jesus had compassion on those who were under the influence of the enemy. He didn’t write them off because of their sin or their lifestyle. Jesus went to them.
And every time without fail, when Jesus encountered someone, the person left profoundly changed and challenged. The power of God brought remarkable changes in those whom Jesus touched. Only those who could not believe, or allowed the enemy to deceive them walked away angry or frustrated. He went to them. What would that look like today? Well, where are the people far from God? But Jesus didn’t just love on people and wimp out on sin either.
3. Connection, not Compromise
Jesus never compromised his purity, but he continually went wherever He needed to go to interact with spiritually hungry people. He told the woman at the well that He had living water to give her, AND to go and sin no more. We ate with tax collectors but did not participate in their greed. God wants to use us outside the walls of the church, to be people who will lovingly interact with men and women who have not experienced his love firsthand, and to invest ourselves into relationship with them.
Remember our quiz? What are your hobbies? What are your interests? What would happen if you actually used the things you like to do in your free time as a tool to invest in other people? What would happen if you and I would use our leisure time, the things we enjoy doing anyway, and reclaimed them for Jesus.
Bowling for Jesus? Absolutely if we are intentional about connecting with people far from God. Scrapbooking for the Lord? Absolutely if our purpose is to interact with woman who need the hope of Christ. We have so much to offer if we will stop and think about the things we enjoy and re-claim them for Jesus.
And let’s look to the example of Jesus. He didn’t wait for them to come to church before he ministered to them. He went to them. This Easter, we are going to challenge you to invite your friends and loved ones to various events and worship services. But the reality is, that in many cases, you and I have to do some of the hard work of “going to them” first. We have to invest in relationships.
This week, why not look for opportunities to hang out with the person you’re praying for on his/ her turf. Chances are they will be much more open to a conversation about spiritual things in a setting they are comfortable with. The Spirit may even direct you NOT to say a thing about spiritual matters, but just to show interest in their world, their hobbies, their interests. In doing this you show you actually care about him / her and what’s going on in their lives. You build credibility to eventually talk to them about spiritual things.
We have prayed that God would identify who he wants us to invest in and reach. We have been interceding for them, and it may be time to begin to interact, to invest.
Lets pray.
Now receive this blessing from Jude 24, “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
