Under Whose Ownership?
Luke 8:26-39
June 20, 2010 – ©Rev.
Dr. Linnea E. Carnes
Introduction
I read
a story of a couple who were fairly recent immigrants to the US. They were
still struggling to learn English. They began attending a church and were
trying to get involved. The man noticed that the men in the Men’s Group all had
tee-shirts with something written on the front. Wanting to be like the other
men, he asked his wife to make him a tee-shirt like theirs. She didn’t know
what their shirts said, so she looked for something to put on his shirt. When
it was finished, her husband was very happy and wore it to the next men’s group
meeting. The men thought it was great! His wife had copied the words from a
sign in a store across from their apartment. On his shirt was written: Under New Ownership.
I like
that story because it reminds me that when we believe in Jesus Christ we too
are under new ownership. However, that
raises the question: are we really under new ownership or do we just wear a
shirt that says it?
The Danger of Demons
In
today’s story in Luke 8:26-39, Jesus had crossed the Sea of Galilee to the
region of Gerasenes. While there were
some Jews in that area, it was mostly Gentile country. As Jesus got out of the
boat, he met a scary-looking unclothed man who was possessed by demons. Chains
couldn’t hold him. He was wild and violent. The disciples probably looked at
the man and suggested to Jesus they should just get back in the boat and leave.
The man
lived outside town in the area of the tombs – a place for the dead, which was
appropriate for this man, since he was as good as dead because of the many demons
that possessed him. He was tortured by demons in body and soul.
These
demons, it says in verse 28, shouted out, “What
do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I beg you, don’t torture me.” They
knew who Jesus was, even when Jesus’ disciples were still asking a few verses
earlier, “Who is this? He commands even
the winds and the water, and they obey him.” [Luke 8:25].
In
James 2:19 we read, “You believe that
there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” The demons knew who they were dealing with
and they were afraid.
When
Jesus asked their name, the response was “Legion.” [v.30]. In the context of a Roman army, a legion could refer to several thousand soldiers.
Yet, the demons knew that even a legion of demons was no match for Jesus. Jesus
was more powerful than demons. So the demons pleaded with Jesus not to send
them into the abyss – the place of the dead and the place of judgment. [v.33]. The demons said they would rather go into the pigs that were nearby. So Jesus gave
the demons permission to go into the pigs.
One
moment the pigs were calmly wandering around on the hillside looking for food –
the next moment they went crazy. They were wild, totally out of control trying
to escape from what had just come into them. In their effort to escape from the
demons they ran to the edge of the cliff and plunged to their death into the
lake. The demons were the death of them.
I’m
sure that the man that had been possessed by those demons also felt that they
would be the death of him. But when the demons left him, he regained his life!!
He was free at last. His sanity returned. Verse 35 tells us that when the
people from town came out to see what had happened, they saw this man “sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his
right mind; and they were afraid.”
Before
they had been afraid of this man because he was possessed by demons. Now they were afraid
because they saw something or someone who was even more powerful than a legion
of demons.
Dancing with Demons
Maybe don’t
believe in demons. You have never seen someone who is possessed by demons. Many
people today aren’t worried about being possessed by demons possess. They don’t
go looking for opportunities to invite demons into their lives. The man in
today’s gospel lesson wasn’t looking for demons, but he still ended up with
many demons controlling him.
Darrell
Bock, a New Testament professor, wrote, “Our world plays with spiritual forces
rather than taking them seriously. Attraction to the devil and the demonic has
recently taken on an avant-garde air.” [Darrell L. Bock, Luke, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996) 243].
He
wrote those words almost 15 years ago. Today this attraction for the demonic
has dangerously escalated. Not only is it in popular music, but in many TV
shows and movies. Books on Satanism and the occult are available in most school
libraries. Psychics, tarot cards, and all sorts of other materials that draw
people into a fascination with demons are considered a part of our culture
today.
I don’t
think anyone really thinks about the fact that they may be inviting demons into
their life. They just think it’s the “fun” and “entertaining” thing to do. People
are literally dancing with demons today.
However,
those things are not the only demons in life. Not everyone gets involved in the
occult. Not everyone becomes possessed by demons as the man in Luke 8 was. Yet
everyone fights some sort of demon in their life.
One
author writes that “demons are like rats that are attracted to garbage. The
problem is the garbage, consisting of things like our persistent sinful
behaviors, our reactions to our emotional wounds, and sinful generational
influences and patterns. These are the issues for which we are responsible.
When we deal with them, when we get rid of the garbage, the rats won’t have
anything to feed on, and it’s easy to make them go away.” [Stephen Seamands, Wounds That
Heal: Bringing Our Hurts to the Cross (Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove,
IL) 93].
These
are things in our lives that control us –own us.
What
things in our lives control us? And even though we know those things could kill
us, we really don’t want to give them up.
What
things in our lives, do we do, even though we are ashamed of ourselves for
doing them? What bad habits do we try to hide from
others? What sinful behaviors do we find it difficult to let go of?
Then
there are the hurts from our past we hold on to, hating the pain that was
inflicted on us, but afraid to let go of them. Those who hurt us don’t deserve
our forgiveness we say to ourselves. So we hold on to the grudges, resentment,
and even hatred. Our painful past controls us.
All of
this collects in our life, our spirit, like garbage. Like garbage, it smells
bad. And like garbage, we need to throw
it out. The problem is that whatever possesses us, owns us. Our demons become
our master.
I read
a story of Muriel whose childhood had crippled her emotionally. She began
visits to the hospital’s psychiatric ward when she was in her teens. By her
late forties, she’d seen dozens of counselors, therapists, and psychiatrists.
She was on a cocktail of anti-this and anti-that medications so potent it could
have subdued a blue whale. She’d had at least 61 rounds of electric shock
therapy. Nothing really happened. The problem was what others had done to her:
cruel things, malicious things, godless things.
One day
she walked into the office of a new therapist. Muriel had low expectations. The
therapist heard her story, and simply asked a question: “How would your life
have been different if someone had come alongside you when you were 14 and
showed you your strengths instead of telling you that you were sick?” Muriel said that in all those years she had
never considered that. Then she saw it: She wasn’t stuck in her life as she
knew it. Her life could be otherwise. She decided there and then to live it
otherwise. She changed her mind about who she was, which allowed her to change
everything almost instantly.” [PreachingToday.com,
“Woman Decides to ‘Live Otherwise’” (Mark Buchanan, “Thy Kingdom Come,” Leadership Journal, Spring 2010, p. 98)].
Muriel
decided to stop allowing the demons in her life to control her, to define her.
Romans
6:16 says: “Don’t you realize that
whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which
leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval.” The
choice is ours. We can choose to obey the demons that we have allowed to become
our master. Or we can choose to obey God and let God be our master. God is able
to set us free from the things of this world that “own” us.
Living Under New
Ownership
If you
are tired of living under the ownership of something that controls you, then choose a new master, choose Jesus.
· Get
rid of the things that deal with the occult or the demonic.
· Stop
making excuses to yourself for why you can’t give up your sinful behaviors.
· Let
go of the past; don’t let it control you.
Jesus went
to the man possessed by many demons and set him free. He gave the man his life
back.
Jesus
came to set people free from sin and death.
· He
healed the lame, the blind, and lepers.
· He
even raised several people from the dead.
· He
forgave the sins of many.
They were
all set free. Each one received a new life. And each one turned and followed
Jesus because they had experienced the powerful love of God in Jesus.
Do you
still think that Jesus can’t set you free from the demon that owns you? Remember that the demons in that man were
terrified of Jesus. They knew that the power of God was in him. They didn’t
have a chance against Jesus. First John 4:4 says: “My dear children, you belong to God and have defeated them; because
God’s Spirit, who is in you, is greater than the devil, who is in the world.”
When we
tell Jesus we want him to be our Lord and our Master, the demons no longer
control over us, unless we continue to obey the demons instead of Jesus. We
must make a choice.
Moses
told the people before he died that they must make a choice – life or death. If
they obeyed God’s commands they would live, but if they didn’t obey God they
would die. [Dt. 30:15-16].
Jesus
too calls us to make a choice. He said, “Whoever
wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and
follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses
their life for me will save it. What good is it for you to gain the whole
world, and yet lose or forfeit your very self?” [Luke 9:23--25].
If Jesus
is to be our Master, we must give Jesus our all! We can’t continue to do the things Jesus says
we shouldn’t do. We are new creations. So we are to live lives that show the
world that we now belong to Jesus. We are under new ownership.
Conclusion
Our
Master Jesus calls us to make a choice.
· All
who call on his name must obey his commands.
· All
who truly have given their life to Jesus Christ should live like they are under
new ownership.
Call
upon the mighty name of Jesus today.
Let
Jesus be your Master and Lord.
You are
under new ownership.
Then,
worship God and God alone. Amen.
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This sermon is copyright ©2010 by Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes,
Immanuel
Evangelical
Covenant
Church,
Chicago,
Illinois.